Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said:
“Knowledge from which no benefit is derived is like a treasure out of which nothing is spent in the cause of Allah.” – (Tirmidhi, Hadith 108)
This hadith expresses further obligation required in seeking knowledge, and demonstrates the purpose we intend to seek knowledge for.
Thus it is a priority to consider a cumulative sum of the right form of education. If we are to look at educational purposes in the world today, we will find that the development in educational experiences is coming to static behavior trends, following terms of market demands -however,in many developing countries such trends are becoming below the standards of any beneficial educational experiences.
As human beings, we consider and take many pursuits in life, and regardless of how varied and colorful such pursuits are, or how they differ from one person to another, they can only be defined within two categories;they either seek life’s pleasures, or seek Allah’s pleasure and His rewards in the afterlife.
If we seek pleasing Allah and His mercy before anything else, then seeking true knowledge is a must! Any activity without true knowledge will have some form of falsehood in it, which results in wasted efforts and deviation,and eventually leads to bane.
For instance, driving a car without a steering wheel is doomed to destruction, constant movement without knowledge is always deemed dangerous, and knowledge without movement is the definition of death itself. So we have to constantly ask ourselves: what is the purpose of that which we seek during this limited span of life?
If we are to seek wealth and status, or take the seekers of life pleasures as our role models, then clearly we have deviated from the purpose of rightful seeking.
Instead, shouldn’t we ask ourselves: When will the beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) be our role model? When will he be instilled in our minds and moves? When will his morals, ethics and attitudes be the highest example to follow?
Imam Al-Ghazali said:
“We sought after knowledge for other than Allah’s sake, but it refused to be other than for the sake of Allah.”
True knowledge for the sake of Allah always has alluring forces that pull its seekers closer to Allah; you read Qur’an, you read the prophetic biography, and expect nothing to happen!? That is inconceivable; the effects of Islamic knowledge on human beings are always crystal clear.
Surely, there are many objectives and goals to be considered, but there are always paired paths to be considered as well, and our choices require us as Muslims to follow one path.This path can bear resemblance to a hill, and at the top of that hill is a palace possessing all that we can and can’t imagine inheriting, and the other path is a fast track filled with clueless ditches.
The hill path will take you to Paradise, and the fast track will lead you straight to Hell-fire. Of course, that uphill will always have detours which can lead us back to square one, and that necessitates from us to have certainty in taking the path which leads to Paradise, and that path is the path of faith.
5 replies on “Pursuits of knowledge”
MaashaAllaah, a great reminder for sincere seeker of knowledge. Jazaakumullaah Khayran for the piece, but; I think the hadeeth reference and source is not correct because the hadeeth number in Tirmidhy’s Sunan is a different hadeeth [hadeeth of ‘Aisha (r.a.) regarding obligation of ghusl upon intercourse]. The correct citation is Ahmad: 10481, Daarimy: 556 and graded good (hasan) by ash-Shaykh al-Albaany in Mishkaat al-Masaabih: [83] 280. Allaah knows best.
Assalamu Alaikom Dhoon,
Thank you for taking the time to read our post, we hope to always bring benefit to our dear readers and followers. As for the above hadeeth, you are correct about the citation of that hadeeth, there has been a mix up in referencing it and we will make sure to quote the correct reference. We appreciate your extended courtesy in making sure that we provide authentic and accurate information and Jazaakom Allah khairan for bringing our attention to the mistake.
Wassalamu Alaikom wa rahmato Allahi wa barakatoh
May Allah help us purify our intentions
masha Allah, may Allah bless you and your family, the efforts you did.
jazakumullah Khayrain