Sister who seeks knowledge through books and tapes which are translations...

Shaykh Abdullah al-Ghudayan was asked the following question (mp3) regarding a sister who seeks knowledge through books and tapes which are translations and whether she is allowed to teach in the mosque:

أَحْسَنَ اللهُ إِلَيكُمْ وِبَارِكَ اللهُ فِيكُمْ ، وَهَذَا سُؤَالٌ تَسْأَلُ السَّائِلَةُ تَقُولُ : الْمُسْلِمَةُ الَّتِي طَلَبَت الْعِلْمَ عَنْ طَرِيقِ الْكُتُبِ وَالْأَشْرِطَةِ الْمُتَرْجَمَةِ وَلَدَيهَا فُرْصَةٌ لِلْاِتِّصَالِ بِالْعُلَمَاءِ بِمَا يُشْكِلُ عَلَيهَا ، هَلْ يَجُوزُ لَهَا أَوْ يُمْكِنُ لَهَا أَنْ تُدَرِّسَ الْمُسْلِمَاتِ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ بَنَّاءاً عَلَى عَدَمِ وُجُودِ أحَدٍ غِيَرِهَا لِتَعْلِيمِهِنَّ لِلْأُمُورِ الأخلاقية وَالْعَقِيدَةِ وَالْمِنْهَجِ ؟

May Allaah be benevolent to you and bless you. And this question, the female questioner says: A muslim woman who seeks knowledge through the route of translated books and cassettes and she has the opportunity to contact the scholars for matters that become difficult for her (to understand). Is it permisible for her, or possible for her to teach other Muslim women in the mosque built upon the situation of there not being anyone besides her to teach them matters of etiquette, creed and methodology?

The Shaykh answered:

من المعلوم أنَّ الشخص يأخذ العلم من أفواه العلماء ويأخذ كل علم من الشخص المتمكِّن في هذا العلم، فعندما يريد أن يأخذ علم تفسير القرآن يأخذه عن شخص متمكِّن في هذاالعلم وهكذا سائر العلوم الأخرى هذه وسيلة.والوسيلة الثانية: أنَّ الشخص يقرأ الكتب؛ ولكن لا يقرأ الكتب ويعتمد عليها إلا إذا كان مؤهَّلا لفهمها على وجه صحيح، لأنه إذا كان عنده قصور في فهمه فقد يفهم الشيء على غير وجهه وبعد ذلك يتكلم بما فهم وما تكلم به يكون خطأ فيعمل الناس بما فهَّمهم به على سبيل الخطأ فيتحمَّل إثمهم.
وبالنسبة لهذه المرأة أنا أنصحها أنها لا تدرِّس بناءً على أنها تقرأ الكتب بدون أحد يفهِّمها هذه الكتب. هذا الجواب عن هذا السؤال.

It is known that a person takes knowledge from the mouths of the scholars and takes every (type) of knowledge from the person who is grounded in this knowledge. So when you wish to take knowledge of tafseer of the Qur'ann you take it from a person grounded in this knowledge and likewise for all the other sciences. This is one means.The second means is that a person reads books, but he does not read books and depend on them unless he is fit and capable of understanding them upon the right way. Because if he had deficiency in his understanding he may understand something upon other than the correct way and afterwards he may speak with what he has understood and what he speaks with is a mistake, then the people act upon what he has made them to understand erroneously and hence he will carry the burden of their sin.
And in relation to this woman, I advise her that she does not teach because she reads from (translated) books without anyone to make her understand these books. This is the answer to this question.