Importance of seeking knowledge in Islam

[Mohamad_Hussein 1]

(salam)

I was reading and I found a very interesting hadith about the Prophet pbuh. I never knew the importance of seeking knowledge till now and Id like to share it with others.

The Holy Prophet pbuh said: "He who searches for knowledge is similar to a person who fasts during the day and keeps vigil at night and is busy worshipping. If a person acquires a branch of knowledge, it is better for him than possessing as much gold as the height of Abu Qubais Mount which he would distribute in the way of Allah."

Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol.1, p.184

[Guest Sayedkk]

Salam

The Holy Prophet(SAAWAS) said: Seek knowledge even if its in China.

Wasalam

[thirstyseekerofknowledge 0]

The importance of seeking knowledge cannot be overstated.

"The ink of a scholar is more precious than the blood of a martyr"

[Ya Aba 3abdillah 1,697]

(bismillah)

(salam)

http://www.shia.org/sayings.html

Following quotes are from Imam Ali (as),

Knowledge and Ignorance

In reply to some one who posed Imam Ali (as) a difficult question, Imam Ali (as) said : 'Ask in order to understand, and do not ask in order to find fault, for surely the ignorant man who wants to learn resembles a man of knowledge, and surely a man of knowledge who wants to be difficult resembles an ignorant man who wants to find fault. '

The Station of the men of Knowledge

The man of knowledge is the one who recognizes that what is known is very little compared to what is not known, and as a result he considers himself ignorant, and accordingly he increases his efforts to know more by going out in search of knowledge.

The Purity and the Nobility of Knowledge

Do not talk about knowledge with the foolish so that they deny you, nor with the ignorant so that they find you oppressive, but talk about it with those of its people whom you meet who will accept it and understand it.

Knowledge and Acting on it

O you who carry knowledge around with you; are you only carrying it around with you ? For surely knowledge belongs to who ever knows and then acts accordingly, so that his action corresponds to his knowledge. There will be a people who will carry knowledge around with them, but it will not pass beyond their shoulders. Their inner most thoughts will contradict what they display in public, and their actions will contradict what they know.

The purity and nobility of knowledge

When a dead person is placed in his grave, four kinds of fire will cover him, but then the prayer will come and put one of them out, and the fast will come and put another one of them out, and then charity will come and put another one out, and knowledge will come and put the forth one out, and it will say : 'If I had come sooner, I would a have put all of them out, and given you delight for I am with you now, and you'll not see anything else distressing.

My favourite one is bolded. Imam Mahdi (as) will kill 40,000 "'aalims", i.e. those who carry knowledge yet their actions contradict what they know and preach. Their intentions for gaining and preaching knowledge is to augment their personal wordly corrupt means. Imam Ali (as) tells us "Verbal Knowledge is of the least value, while practical knowledge is of the highest." and "Practice makes knowledge perfect." furthermore "When you hear a tradition test it according to the criterion of intelligence not that of mere hearing, because relaters of knowledge are numerous but those who guard it are few." Be fooled not by the way one may preach, rather study their actions according to your own knowledge. Like wealth, it can be used for right and wrong purposes, however, it does have differences.

Here are some more quotes of Imam Ali (as) on the beauty of knowledge.

Imam Ali said: Knowledge is better than Wealth because of 7 (Reasons):

1. Knowledge is inheritence of Prophets while wealth is inheritence of Firauns (Pharohs).

2. Knowlege Does not Diminish (rather increases) with spending , while wealth diminishes with spending.

3. Wealth requires to be protected, while knowledge protects its owner.

4. Knowledge will enter the Kafan (Shroud) while wealth will be prevented from doing so.

5. Wealth reaches both believers and unbelievers (Kafir), while knowledge is reserved only for those who are worthy of it.

6. Knowledge will facilitate passing over the Seraat (Bridge over Hell) while wealth will pore hurdles.

7. People are always in need of scholars while they might not be in need of those possessing wealth.

Among the Characteristics of the believer there is neither flattery nor envy, except in the pursuit of knowledge.

The more knowledgeable the man, the more valuable the man.

Knowledge gives life to the soul.

Humility is the product of knowledge.

ws wrAllahi wb

[faithful_sister 4]

(bismillah)

(salam)

Ima`m Abu` Ja'far (al-Ba`qir), peace be on him, glorified knowledge. He summoned Moslems to cling to it. He urged them to seek it. He lauded those who sought it.

He said: "Learn, for learning is protection. Seeking knowledge is worship, studying it is glorification (of Allah), looking for it is jihad, teaching it (to others) is alms, and giving it to those who are appropriate for it is proximity (to Allah).

Knowledge is the signpost of the garden. It is an intimate in lonesomeness, a companion in exile, a friend in estrangement, a guide to ease, a help against affliction, adornment with friends, and a weapon against enemies. By it Allah promotes some people to make them Ima`ms (leaders) for good. So, (people) follow their example and report their works. All wet and dry things, the whales and vermin of the see, and the animals and livestock of the land ask (Allah) to bless them.(Ibn Hamadun, al-Tadhkira, p. 26)

Wassalam

[Mohamad_Hussein 1]

Mashallah!!!

[chingari 0]

salam,

this is some good stuff guys. keep up the good work. keep bringing out those hadiths since i am a slacker. Do the research for me. :D :D

i especially like the following:

Imam Ali  tells us "Verbal Knowledge is of the least value, while practical knowledge is of the highest." and "Practice makes knowledge perfect." furthermore "When you hear a tradition test it according to the criterion of intelligence not that of mere hearing, because relaters of knowledge are numerous but those who guard it are few."

good work Ya Aba 3abdillah. Thumbs up.

wasalm.

[Serenity` 20]

(salam)

I was just wondering, when the Prophet (pbuh) or the Imams (as) speak about knowledge, is it both wordly knowledge and Islamic knowledge? Or is their emphasis on Islamic knowledge? (I would think their emphasis is on Islamic knowledge, obviously).

I was also curious to know is there Hadeeths talking about the importance of worldy knowledge? I need something to motivate me, i'm sourt of slacking off in school and i only got a couple of weeks to go before my final exams, so any words of wisdom that can motivate me would be much appreciated.

In desperate need of motivation,

Zeinab.

[Mohamad_Hussein 1]

(salam)

Good question sister Zeinab. I asked the same question to a 'Alim before. He told me that we must seek knowledge about Islam and wordly knowledge. If you reaserch the life of the Ma'someen (as) you'll see that they carried books of science with them.

Wasalaam

[zainab786 0]

Sis ZeinaB i always wonder too if these hadiths refere to Islamic knowledge or accademic/scientic etc. Any one know??

I have this that is sort of relevant:

Knowledge creates fear of God - Imam Ali (as)

When you increase your accademic knowledge eg that regarding the creation of Allah swt, you tend to also increase your awe of Him.

And if you need inspiration for your exams:

"The like of students among the ignorant is the alive among the dead." - Prophet Muhammed pbuh

With Duas,

Zainab

[Mohamad_Hussein 1]

(salam)

I was also curious to know is there Hadeeths talking about the importance of worldy knowledge? I need something to motivate me, i'm sourt of slacking off in school and i only got a couple of weeks to go before my final exams, so any words of wisdom that can motivate me would be much appreciated.

Maybe this can answer your question.

Kumayl bin Ziyad Nakha'i says that once Imam Ali put his hand in his hand and took me to the grave-yard. When he passed through it and left the city behind, he heaved a sigh and said "Kumayl, these hearts are containers of the secrets of knowledge and wisdom and the best container is the one which can hold the most and what it holds, it can preserve and protect in the best way. Therefore, remember carefully what I am telling you. Remember that there are three kinds of people: one kind is of those learned people who are highly versed in the ethics of truth and philosophy of religion, second is the kind of those who are acquiring the above knowledge and the third is that class of people who are uneducated. They follow every pretender and accept every slogan, they have neither acquired any knowledge nor have they secured any support of firm and rational convictions. Remember, Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth because it protects you while you have to guard wealth. It decreases if you keep on spending it but the more you make use of knowledge the more it increases. What you get through wealth dis- appears as soon as wealth disappears but what you achieve through knowledge will remain even after you.

O Kumayl ! Knowledge is power and it can command obedience. A man of knowledge during his lifetime can make people obey and follow him and he is praised and venerated after his death. Remember that knowledge is a ruler and wealth is its subject.

O Kumayl ! Those who amass wealth, though alive, are dead to realities of life, and those who achieve know- ledge, will remain alive through their knowledge and wisdom even after their death, though their faces may disappear from the community of living beings, yet their ideas, the knowledge which they had left behind and their memory, will remain in the minds of people".

Kumayl says that after this brief dissertation, Imam Ali pointed towards his chest and said, "Look Kumayl! Here I hold stores and treasures of knowledge. I wish I could find somebody to share it with me. Yes, I found a few, but one of them, though quite intelligent, was untrustworthy, he would sell his salvation to get hold of the world and its pleasures, he would make religion a pretence to grasp worldly power and wealth, he would make this Blessing of Allah (knowledge) serve him to get supremacy and control over friends of Allah and he would through knowledge exploit and suppress other human beings. The other person was such that he apparently obeyed truth and knowledge, yet his mind had not achieved the true light of religion, at the slightest ambiguity or doubt he would get suspicious of truth, mistrust religion and would rush towards skepticism. So neither of them was capable of acquiring the superior knowledge that I can impart. Besides these two I find some other person One of them is a slave of self and greedy for inordinate desires, which can easily drag him away from the path of religion, the other is an avaricious, grasping and acquisitive miser who will risk his life to grasp and hold wealth, none of these two will be of any use to religion or man, both of them resemble beasts having appetite for food. If sensible trustees of knowledge and wisdom totally disappear from human society then both knowledge and wisdom will suffer severely, may bring harm to humanity and may even die out. But this earth will never be without those persons who will prove the universality of truth as disclosed by Allah, they may be well-known persons, openly and fearlessly declaring the things revealed to them or they may, under fear of harm, injury or deaths hide themselves from the public gaze and may carry on their mission privately so that the reasons proving the reality of truth as preached by religion and as demonstrated by His Prophet may not totally disappear. How many are they and where could they be found? I swear by Allah that they are very few in number but their worth and their ranks before Allah are very high. Through them Allah preserves His Guidance so that they, while departing, may hand over these truths to persons like themselves. The knowledge which they have acquired has made them see the realities and visualize the truth and has instilled into them the spirit of faith and trust. The duties which were decreed as hard and unbearable by them. They feel happy in the company and association of things which frighten the ignorant and uneducated. They live in this world like everybody else but their souls soar to the heights of Divine Eminence. They are media of Allah on this earth and they invite people towards Him. How I love to meet them O Kumayl ! I have told you all that I have to say, you can go back to your place whenever you like".

Nahjul Balagha

[Serenity` 20]

(salam)

MashAllah that was a beautiful read :D

Good question sister Zeinab. I asked the same question to a 'Alim before. He told me that we must seek knowledge about Islam and wordly knowledge. If you reaserch the life of the Ma'someen  you'll see that they carried books of science with them.

Thanks brother much appreciated :rolleyes:

"The like of students among the ignorant is the alive among the dead." - Prophet Muhammed

I need more quotes like these, so i can hang them ontop of my study table for motivation ^_^

But inshAllah with the help of Allah (swt) this is enough to motivate me :)

P.S- I owe use each a Dua ;)

Fee ameen illah,

Wasalaam.

[Mohamad_Hussein 1]

(salam)

Dont worry sis were glad to help you any time.

[Ya Aba 3abdillah 1,697]

(bismillah)

(salam)

The splendid post of brother Mohamad_Hussein about Imam Ali (as) and Kumail (ra) has been made into audio and found here

http://media.shiachat.com/

under

وصايا الإمام علي(ع) لكميل

Commandments of Imam Ali(as) to Kumail

by

Hajj Maytham Kathim.

Sub7ana'Allah it's so full of wisdom. Ya 7aidar !!!! :cry:

[Mohamad_Hussein 1]

Mahallah brother!!!

[mr_ismaili 1]

Haq Ali Ali !!!!! Ali is with the truth, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

High above all is Allah, the King, the Truth! Be not in haste with the Qur'an before its revelation to thee is completed, but say, "O my Lord! advance me in knowledge."

Quran 20:114

Thus the prophet used to pray; "Rabbi zidni ‘ilmaa", My Lord, Increase me in my knowledge

Edited August 29, 2004 by schatoor

[Ya Aba 3abdillah 1,697]

Thus the prophet used to pray; "Rabbi zidni ‘ilmaa", My Lord, Increase me in my knowledge

(bismillah)

(salam)

Which prophet (as) was quoted in the qur'an as saying it ;)

[Guest abaleada]

(bismillah)

(salam)

http://www.shia.org/sayings.html

Following quotes are from Imam Ali (as),

...

Knowledge and Acting on it

O you who carry knowledge around with you; are you only carrying it around with you ? For surely knowledge belongs to who ever knows and then acts accordingly, so that his action corresponds to his knowledge. There will be a people who will carry knowledge around with them, but it will not pass beyond their shoulders. Their inner most thoughts will contradict what they display in public, and their actions will contradict what they know.

...

(bismillah)

(salam)

Out of curiosity, is it considered "acting on knowledge" to insist on typing with absurd "abbreviations," "ghetto" lingo, and so on, or to exemplify popular rap artists who use vulgarity, objectify women, and glorify materialism and violence? Or is that just something that people expect to get away with on discussion forums?

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34561