Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen was asked:

Question:

“There are some people who prevent their brothers from studying and say, ‘verily in [school] there are theories that sometimes lead to disbelief. For example, [the theory] of rain, the rotation of the earth, and other than that’. So what should we respond to them with?”

Answer:

“Is the one who reads disbelief and the opinions of the disbelievers considered a disbeliever? No he is not considered one. In the Quran [it states]:

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا إِفْكٌ افْتَرَاهُ وَأَعَانَهُ عَلَيْهِ قَوْمٌ آخَرُونَ

‘Those who disbelieve say: “This (the Quran) is nothing but a lie that he (Muhammad SAW) has invented, and others have helped him at it’ [25:4]

This is their theory. Do we not read this in our prayer and you worship Allah by reading it? So there is no harm in knowing the theories of the disbelievers if a person does not believe in them if they are against the Shariah. So we say to this man, ‘May Allah reward you with good, you are a good-doer. However, do not prevent your brothers from studying. Leave them to study, to benefit themselves and benefit others if they graduate’.

Now, oh my brothers, is it possible for anyone, whatever the amount of his knowledge, to reach the position to teach in a university or school without a degree? It is not possible. If it is not possible, then how can we arrive at teaching people? How can we arrive at directing the people to good except with a degree? So like that, whoever seeks knowledge to reach leadership in teaching or other than it, then his intention is sound. There is no doubt in it.

However, leave us to read it and see what it is and know the falsehood to refute it. Also, we do not enter schools in order to read enemy theories. Verily, we enter in order to read the Quran, Hadith, Tahweed, and Fiqh”. End translation. [Taken from Liqaa ul-Baab il-Maftooh no. 164 found here]

Translated by

Faisal ibn Abdul Qaadir ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan