"A fully integrated life" - Imam Ghazali's advice to students by Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad
The lower part of us always wants not to make an effort, we would rather take shortcuts. We'd rather write an essay that's not quite as good as we could do, and we'd rather not focus on what the lecturer is saying all the time, there is that lower possibility. But to the extent that that lower possibility overmasters us, we are not fulfilling our possibility as created human beings, as 'ibaad.
1. Watch your ego and yourself and keep it pure. Be aware of tendencies of your ego and it's antics to be lazy. Just as the prayer is validated by wudhu before it, so also the mind and it's application has to be preceded by the process of purification. Self awareness and purity.
2. Use the travel (to the university) as an opportunity to cut your attachment to Dunya. Seize the opportunity to reduce your need for Dunya. Treat this as a sort of wandering in the desert for knowledge.
3. If you're gonna be a good student you need to cultivate the virtue of humility. (Don't swagger into the lecture room.)
4. If you're a beginner, don't start with the things there are differences of opinion about. Learn what the teacher has to say, attach yourself to the teacher. Take them seriously.
6. When you read/write/think, recognize what is really important , (not merely interesting) and make sure that you understand that.
7. Be methodical. When you have finished a lesson, ensure you have really grasped it before going onto the next.
8. "Knowledge is noble because of its outcomes, not because of of the strengths of its proofs." i.e. medicine is more noble than something else that doesn't benefit humanity.
9. Make sure you have the right intention. If you have a religious intention, you will be given a religious reward and it will become ibaada.
10. Know how each subject relates to its purpose and to the purposes of religion... What is the "deeny" benefit of what you're studying?
