All
praises and lauds are for Allah Who taught the man whatever he did not know, and
the blessings of Allah are for His beloved Prophetﷺ
Who has said Himself “the city of knowledge”, Who has said that attaining
knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim, and for His followers till the day of
Judgement.
There
are a lot of Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophetﷺ
telling about the “importance of education” as The Almighty Allah commands:
اِقْرَاۡ
بِاسْمِ رَبِّکَ الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَ ۚ﴿۱﴾خَلَقَ
الْاِنۡسٰنَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ ۚ﴿۲﴾اِقْرَاۡ
وَ رَبُّکَ الْاَکْرَمُ ۙ﴿۳﴾الَّذِیۡ
عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ ۙ﴿۴﴾عَلَّمَ الْاِنۡسَانَ مَا لَمْ یَعْلَمْ ؕ﴿۵﴾][1][
(Read with the
name of your Lord Who created, created the man from clot. Read, and your Lord
only the most beneficent, the one Who taught to write with the pen. The one Who
taught man all what he did not know)
In another verse, Allah says emphasizing
upon the superiority of a learned person over the ignorant one:
قُلْ
ہَلْ یَسْتَوِی الَّذِیۡنَ یَعْلَمُوۡنَ وَ الَّذِیۡنَ لَا یَعْلَمُوۡنَ][2][
(Proclaim, “Are the knowledgeable and the ignorant equal?”)
Above all, Allah has
raised the positions and grads of knowledgeable one when He said:
اِنَّمَا
یَخْشَی اللہَ
مِنْ عِبَادِہِ الْعُلَمٰٓؤُا][3][
(Among the bondmen of Allah, only the people of knowledge fear Him)
Here are some sayings of Prophetﷺ proclaiming the
significance of attaining knowledge:
·
عن أنس بن
مالك، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: " اطلبوا العلم ولو بالصين،
فإن طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم " ][4][
(Hazrat
Anas son of Malik narrated that messenger of Allah (peace and blessing of Allah
be upon Him) said: “attain knowledge whether it was in Chaina, because getting
knowledge is mandatory upon every Muslim)
·
عن أبي هريرة،
قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: الكلمة الحكمة ضالة المؤمن، فحيث وجدها
فهو أحق بها.][5][
Hazrat Abu Hurairh radi Allah ta’la narrated that the messenger of
Allah (peace and blessing of Allah be upon Him) said: “science is the lost
wealth of believer, he deserved it wherever it found)
The above verses of the
Quran and the holy sayings of the Prophet ﷺ and numerous
besides them, enjoin a believer to get knowledge.
Now, a very
serious question is aroused here, and the people have different opinions
regarding it, the question is: what type of knowledge is emphasized upon in the
holy verses of the Quran and in the holy Hadiths? Whether it is religious sciences
or practical/worldly sciences or the both?
I would like to
place here the gist of a lecture delivered by well known sufi scholar Ali jifri
regarding the topic, according to him the division of knowledge towards
religious and worldly, is now no more, both could be exchanged each other,
because the aim of knowledge is to be
close to Allah, and getting insight regarding Him. If the religious sciences are
taught or got to be enriched in this mortal world, no more, it would be
religious whereas if the practical sciences are attained aiming religious
factors, it would be religious.
After the
knowledge of basics teaching of Islam, a Muslim is free to be well versed in
any branch of knowledge with the condition that the intention of learner should
be right and good, because the holy Prophetﷺ said:
(إنما
الأعمال بالنيات وإنما لكل امرىء ما نوى فمن كانت هجرته إلى دنيا يصيبها أو إلى
امرأة ينكحها فهجرته إلى ما هاجر إليه)][6][
(The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person
will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for
worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he
emigrated for.)
And the Hijra
(leaving the home for Allah and His Prophet ﷺ) was strongly
recommended that time.
According to Imam Ghazali: “There
should be a physician in every inhabitation of Muslim who met the needs of
Muslims”
How could a man be a physician if he
did not learn the physical sciences?
The fact is
that Almighty Allah has crowned the Muslim with His caliphate in this world,
therefore they have right to learn every beneficial science and knowledge, I
repeat that “science is the lost wealth of believer, he deserved it wherever it
found”
Come on! And throw a deep glance on Islamic history, you will find
that all the sciences, upon which the West is asserting its monopoly, are
rooted in great Muslim scholars writings.
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