- Speaker: .Shaykh Muhammad al Maliki
- Category: ILM- ULAMA
- Language: ENGLISH
Seeking Knowledge to attain the love of Allah and his Messenger – Shaykh Muhammad Al-Maliki
To love Allah and to love his messenger Muhammad (saw) means to follow the religion of Islam.To follow Islam ones needs to have Knowledge of Islam.
Allah created man and provided him with the tools for acqruiring knowledge, namely hearing, sight and wisdom. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And Allâh has brought you out from the wombs of your mothers while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allâh) [al-Nahl 16:78]
Islam is the religion of knowledge. The first ayah of the Qur’an to be revealed enjoined reading which is the key to knowledge. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists).
He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood).
Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.
Who has taught (the writing) by the pen.
He has taught man that which he knew not” [al-‘Alaq 96:1-5]
In Islam, knowledge comes before action; there can be no action without knowledge, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “So know (O Muhammad) that Laa ilaaha ill-Allâh (none has the right to be worshipped but Allâh), and ask forgiveness for your sin, and also for (the sin of) believing men and believing women” [Muhammad 47:19]
Allah warns every Muslim against speaking without knowledge, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “And follow not (O man, i.e., say not, or do not, or witness not) that of which you have no knowledge. Verily, the hearing, and the sight, and the heart of each of those ones will be questioned (by Allâh)” [al-Israa’ 17:36]
Emphasizing the status of knowledge and the scholars, Allah calls upon the scholars to bear witness to His Oneness, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “Allâh bears witness that Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), and the angels, and those having knowledge (also give this witness); (He always) maintains His creation in justice. Laa ilaaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the All-Mighty, the All-Wise” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:18]
Knowledge and fear of Allah may be attained by knowing His signs and creation. The knowledgeable are those who know that, hence Allaah praises them by saying (interpretation of the meaning): “It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allâh” [Faatir 35:28]
Islam calls us to seek knowledge. The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) made seeking knowledge an obligation upon every Muslim (male and female), and he explained that the superiority of the one who has knowledge over the one who merely worships is like the superiority of the moon over every other heavenly body. He said that the scholars are the heirs of the Prophets and that the Prophets did not leave behind dinars and dirhams (i.e., money), rather their inheritance was knowledge, so whoever acquires it has gained a great share. And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that seeking knowledge is a way to Paradise. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever follows a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allaah will make a path to Paradise easy for him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-‘Ilm, 10)
Islam calls us to learn all kinds of beneficial knowledge. Branches of knowledge vary in status, the highest of which is knowledge of share’ah, then knowledge of medicine, then the other fields of knowledge. The best of all branches of knowledge are the sciences of share’ah through which man comes to know his Lord, and his [His?} Prophet and religion. This is the knowleadge with which Allah honoured His Messenger; He taught it to him so that he might teach it to mankind: “Indeed, Allâh conferred a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves, reciting unto them His Verses (the Qur’ân), and purifying them (from sins by their following him), and instructing them (in) the Book (the Qur’an) and Al-Hikmah [the wisdom and the Sunnah of the Prophet (i.e. his legal ways, statements and acts of worship)], while before that they had been in manifest error” [Aal ‘Imran 3:164 — interpretation of the meaning]
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