Sixteen pieces of

advice for the exams

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Acquired from multiple answers
By the Sheikh, Dr Muhammad al-Mukhtar ash-Shinqiti

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Contents

The First Advice ..................................................................................................................... 3
The Second Advice ................................................................................................................ 4
The Third Advice ................................................................................................................... 5
The Fourth Advice ................................................................................................................. 7
The Fifth Advice .................................................................................................................... 9
The Sixth Advice .................................................................................................................. 10
The Seventh Advice ............................................................................................................. 11
The Eighth Advice ................................................................................................................ 12
The Ninth Advice ................................................................................................................. 14
The Tenth Advice ................................................................................................................ 15
The Eleventh Advice ............................................................................................................ 16
The Twelfth Advice .............................................................................................................. 17
The Thirteenth Advice ......................................................................................................... 19
The Fourteenth Advice ........................................................................................................ 21
The Fifteenth Advice ........................................................................................................... 22
The Sixteenth Advice ........................................................................................................... 23


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The First Advice




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Having taqwah (piety and righteousness) of Allh:

Whosoever has taqwah of Allah, He (Allah) will relieve him of
every distress and provide an exit from every hardship he
encounters. He will rectify for him his religion and his worldly
affairs, and all of his affairs will result in good.

There is nothing a person can do that is more beloved to Allah
than having taqwah in Him (Glory be to Him) because the
foundations of the religion are built upon this taqwah and this is
being sincere in actions for the sake of Allah.

Allah said: And take a provision for indeed the best provision is
at-Taqwa.
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1
Surah al-Baqarah [2:197]
4

The Second Advice

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Making actions sincerely for the face of Allah, and desiring that
which is with Allah, for indeed Allah rewards a person according to
the degree of his intention.
Therefore, the student of knowledge should never allow his
inclination for this world to overcome that of the hereafter.

Knowledge is not acquired for this world, rather it is acquired
seeking the face of Allah, so the person should seek the face of
Allah with sincerity.
He should make whatever he obtains from the bounties of this
world secondary and not his ultimate goal.


















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The Third Advice


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Putting your trust in Allah:

Allh said: And put your trust in the Ever Living One Who dies
not, and glorify His Praises
2


So you should not depend on your intellect, nor on your
memorisation or the proficient teaching style of your teacher,
rather put your trust in Allah.

Indeed Allah is able to leave a person whilst he is on the highest of
platforms pertaining to intelligence and memory to such an extent
that when he enters the exam, he forgets what he has memorised
in its entirety. It is also possible that He could afflict him with an
illness preventing him from reaching that which he intends for. So
we must understand that we are under the mercy of Allah.


2
Surah al-Furqan [25:58]
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The Prophet (pbuh) used to say in an invocation: Rectify for me
all of my affairs and do not place me in charge of my soul even
for the blinking of an eye (i.e. a moment).
3


The days of exams are difficult; in it is grief and sadness, so a
person can remove these by placing his trust in Allah and always
having good thoughts about Him.






























3
Collected by an-Nasaai, al-Bazzar and al-Hakim. Al-Hakim said; This hadeeth is authentic and fulfils
the conditions of the two sheikhs (al-Buhkari and Muslim). Al-Albani also authenticated it in as-Silsilah
as-Saheehah.
7

The Fourth Advice


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Compassion between students of knowledge and staying away
from selfishness and miserliness in regards to being good to fellow
brothers.

So if your brother needs an explanation to an issue, a book, or a
summary, give it to him.

And beware of the whisperings of shaytan for he may say, This
person is careless and this person is lazy. No!
From now on, be of those who help, for maybe this person was
busy or had certain commitments. Summarise for him and advise
him.

And it is for this reason that a person must not be miserly to the
people. The student of knowledge who is miserly today, people
will be miserly to him tomorrow.
Allah is in the assistance of the slave so long as the slave is in the
assistance of his brother. And knowledge is a mercy between its
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people. Therefore you find that a person is always keen to love
good for the people.

You will find that the student of knowledge who is generous at the
time of exams and competition, doing one's utmost to give and
help, that tomorrow he will be most deserving to lead the people,
guiding them to goodness. This is because he accustomed himself
upon goodness in religious, worldly and hereafter affairs.
































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The Fifth Advice


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Staying away from sins like cheating in the exams:

Because cheating, without doubt is a major sin.

The Prophet (pbuh) said; Whoever cheats us is not from us.
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This leads to many prohibited things because a person will obtain
a false certificate whilst in reality he is not from its people.

Some of the scholars have said that this puts his provisions in
doubt until he repents to Allah so that he may be forgiven. It is for
this reason that if a person obtains a certificate in this manner
(and we seek refuge in Allah from this) Allah destroys the
blessings in his wealth and therefore you find that he has a lot of
wealth but there is no blessing in it. If he were to repent to Allah
then Allah may forgive him but he must rectify himself from his
current condition.




4
Collected by Muslim
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The Sixth Advice


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To exalt and magnify the symbols of Allah:

Verily, students during exam period may throw away papers or
tear pages from the Quran. If this is so, then a sincere advice
regarding this matter is needed. It is not permissible to mistreat
the book of Allah, nor tear any pages from it.

It is also not permissible to mistreat the Quran by placing it on the
paths lest people stand on them. For this reason it is feared for a
person that if he throws a page away and it is trodden on, he will
incur the burden upon himself as he was the cause behind it, and
being the cause behind something necessitates its compensation
and what arises from it.











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The Seventh Advice


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The student must take care of certain rights which are obligatory
upon him, and from them are rights he must give to himself:

Some students stay up late in the night and burden themselves
with that which they cannot bear. You find that they stay up late
in the night and this possibly results in them missing the Fajr
prayer, and also perhaps leads to an illness or the weakening of
the body.

The Prophet (pbuh) said: The one who has exhausted his animal
whilst on a journey has no animal left to ride nor has he
completed his journey".
5


Indeed your body has a right over you.
6
The student of
knowledge who has been blessed makes time for sleep, time for
rest, time for recreation, and time for study and revision. If he
gives his body its rights, then it will, by the permission of Allah,
respond to him and assist him in the good he seeks.

5
Collected by al-Bazzar, al-Hakim, al-Bayhaqi and others. The meaning of the hadeeth has been
supported by other ahadeeth but the chain of this hadeeth has been weakened by many scholars
such as al-Bukhari, ad-Daraqutni and others.
6
These are the words of Salman al-Farisi collected by al-Bukhari in his saheeh.
12

The Eighth Advice


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Maintaining the remembrance of Allah:

Whenever a person increases in distress and sadness, this distress
and sadness is only removed by Allah according to his
remembrance of Allah.

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Allah said; Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find
rest.
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By Allah, the hearts will remain in worry, distress, unhappiness,
fatigue and exhaustion until it remembers its Lord.

Whoever remembers Allah, Allah remembers him. The one who
Allah remembers will never be lost, and he will have a good
ending and the best abode.

Allh said: No doubt! Verily, the friends of Allah, no fear shall
come upon them nor shall they grieve. Those who believed and
used to fear Allah much.
8


Some of the students become deficient in their prayers. They
delay going to the congregation prayers and do not arrive except
when it is in its final stage. They also hasten to leave immediately
after the prayers, thus they do not remember Allah and do not
preserve the Sunnah.
On the contrary, they are in more need of this (preservation of
Sunnah) in times of difficulty.

















7
Surah ar-Rad [13:28]
8
Surah Yunus [10:62-63]
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The Ninth Advice


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After the exams:
Always be pleased with Allah. If it was easy then say; Glory be to
Allah, for Him are all virtues and favours. And if it was difficult
then say; Glory be to Allah, whatever Allah wills happens...
This is very important because some people insult and become
discontent with the decree of Allah if they fall short in their
exams.

It is possible that Allah decreed this because He knows that if you
were to pass with the highest of grades, then this would have
harmed you and you may have been afflicted with the evil eye, so
always be content.














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The Tenth Advice


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O student of knowledge... The people are not expecting you to
receive the highest grade nor are they expecting you to be from
the top ten. Rather they are waiting upon two matters:

a) Your religion, steadfastness and that which it encompasses
from good etiquettes and morals, that which your Islam is
explained through. If Allah blesses you with this then you will
be from the forefront even if it happened that you were last in
your exams.

b) Your knowledge and precision.
If it happened that you got the lowest grade but you are
precise in what you say then you will be at the front and Allah
will raise you even if it is after some time.

So do not make this world your main concern. Rather strive in
being steadfast and in having good etiquettes, knowledge and
precision.


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The Eleventh Advice

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Advice to the fathers:

I advise the fathers to fear Allah in regards to their sons and
daughters. Indeed the days of exams are difficult and the students
may be in a state of distress and sadness so it is required from you
to be gentle and lenient with them, to assist them, ease their
affairs and strengthen their relationship with Allah.

You must fulfil what is obligatory upon you and fulfil your
responsibilities. Some fathers do not give priority whether their
children gain knowledge or not and Allah will question them
regarding the precision of their sons knowledge.
This is because instilling religious cognisance in ones child about
the affairs of his religion, including those that he requires for his
life is desired. This is one of the forms of your sincerity to your
child.






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The Twelfth Advice




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Advice to the teachers:

To those who Allah tests with teaching the people, I ask Allah, the
Most Great to thank you for your endeavours, to magnify your
reward and to reward you with every good for what you are doing
for the Muslim children. It is amazing what the teachers are doing
from their good and beneficial words and no one knows what the
teachers are giving and what they will receive for it except Allah.

Being kind to the students, having good thoughts of them, not
confusing them and not making things difficult on them are all
necessary for the Prophet (pbuh) said; O Allah, whoever has
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been given authority over the affairs of my people and is gentle
with them, then be gentle with them, and whoever has been
given authority over the affairs of my people and makes things
difficult on them, then make things difficult on them.
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Some of the teachers produce very difficult questions trying to
make things really difficult upon the students, as if the exam is
some sort of competition which contains harm and pain.
This is not permissible because the Prophet (pbuh) said; There is
not to be any causing of harm nor is there to be any
reciprocating of harm.
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Kindness, kindness to the Muslim children. We must fear Allah
with regards to the child who comes to you in a state of
nervousness, absentminded, distressed, worried and troubled. He
may have stayed up the entire night and exhausted himself, so it is
upon you to be especially gentle with these types of people
because they are weak children.
Indeed Allah called those children small in age weak children.



















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Collected by Muslim
10
Collected by Ibn Majah, ad-Daraqutni and others
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The Thirteenth Advice

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Also they (students) should not be insulted, cursed or scorned at.
If some teachers see a deficiency in a student, they insult him,
curse him, belittle him, and sometimes they make things difficult
on him. It is possible that this could cause distress and sadness to
the student and could possibly remain with him for his entire life.
This could also afflict him with certain illnesses relating to his body
and mind.
This (form of scorning) is not permissible.

If you are in the school and you see someone being harsh then
remind him about Allah, remind him that his power is from Allah
and his strength is from Allah, and that Allah is merciful to those
who show mercy.

Also, excessive harshness could drive away students, even if the
teacher is imparting knowledge regarding the greatest of subjects.
It is even possible that some students begin to dislike the book of
Allah (and we seek refuge in Allah from this) due to their young
age and ignorance because of the harm and pain that was caused
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(by this scorning). It is compulsory that we prepare that which will
aid the students to reach this pleasant objective.






































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The Fourteenth Advice


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The exam questions are a trust that you have on your necks.

The Prophet (pbuh) said, There is no Eemaan for the one who
has no trust.
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Revealing the secrets, or informing the students about the
questions or remaining silent when someone cheats is a grave sin
and a great evil.

People will come out from this ummah and knowledge will be
attributed to them when in reality they are cheaters and those
who have done evil, and you will hold the burden when you are in
front of Allah.
















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Collected by Ahmad
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The Fifteenth Advice



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The exam results are a trust, so fear Allah with regards to your
students, give everyone their rights, be just and do good, for
indeed Allah loves the good doers.

Yes, we do not make equal the lazy and the hardworking. It is
possible for the blessed and successful teacher to give everyone
their due rights, and this must be done in a manner whereby no
harm is caused.



















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The Sixteenth Advice


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The exam of this world reminds us of the exam of the hereafter:

The student enters the exam and many different things have been
prepared for him.
So how will he be when he meets Allah on the day when the eyes
will stare in horror?

It is strange that we find fathers and mothers who care about
their sons and daughters taking them to the exams and their
hands are raised supplicating (to Allah) yet they do not care about
those same children in regards to what state they will meet Allah
for the greatest exam!

Who from us asks Allah for himself and his children to be saved
from the punishment of the hereafter?

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For indeed the greatest test is the test of the hereafter. In this
world, if an individual does not succeed (in an exam), perhaps he
may do the second time round.
However, in the hereafter if the father and his child are separated,
then there will be no meeting for them after this separation for
eternity, for indeed a group will be in paradise, and a group will be
in the hellfire.


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We ask Allah that he eases the affairs of the Muslim children and
He writes for them guidance and success. And Allah knows best.


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Uploaded, compiled and summarised from four different audio
recordings to four questions in addition to a sermon delivered by
the great Sheikh, Doctor Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Mukhtar
ash-Shinqiti teacher at the Prophets Mosque and a member of
the committee of major scholars.