Ignorant Readers

One of the dangers of self-study – as mentioned by Khatib al-Baghdadi – 1,000 years ago:

وكان غير واحد من المتقدمين، إذا حضرته الوفاة، أتلف كتبه، أو أوصى بإتلافها، خوفاً من أن تصير إلى من ليس من أهل العلم، فلا يعرف أحكامها، ويحمل جميع ما فيها على ظاهره
“Many scholars of the classical times had – at the time of death – either destroyed their books themselves or instructed others to do so on their behalf.

This was due to the fear that it may end up in the hands of ignorant ones who would not understand its verdicts and would only take the apparent meanings there from.”

(“Taqyid al-‘Ilm”, 62).