Faith and Knowledge
A-úthú billáhi minash shaytánir rajím. Bismilláhir Rahmánir Rahím!
[Arabic du’á]
The greatest gift of Allah in this world is Islam. We should feel grateful to Him for having included us in the Ummah of the Prophet Mohammad and for having bestowed on us the blessings of Islam.
Allah has reckoned this as His greatest blessing to His servants as is mentioned in the Quran:
This day I have perfected your deen for you, completed My favor upon you And have chosen for you Islam as your deen (religion) 5/3
We can never praise Allah and thank Him enough for this great favor that He has conferred on us. The least that any Muslim can do is to be grateful and to remember what he owes Allah.
The best expression of gratitude is to obey the commands of Allah, follow the sunah of His Prophet and to become full-fledged Muslim.
Is a person a Muslim just because he is a son or a grandson of a Muslim? Is A Muslim….born a Muslim just as a Christian son is born a Christian or a Jewish son is born a Jew?
You may answer these questions and say that a man is a Muslim because he “accepts Islam”, and if he renounces Islam , he is not a Muslim any more.
Any person who may be Jewish, Christian , Hindu or Buddhist will be incorporated in the Muslim community on accepting Islam – while another person in a Muslim house is expelled from the Muslim community if he gives up Islam even though he may be the son of a Mufti or a sheik.
From this answer we can see a clear fact. The fact that has been established here is that the greatest gift of Allah of being a Muslim, which we enjoy, is not a racial asset that we automatically inherit from our parents and which clings to us automatically all our life whether we bother about it or not.
It is a blessing to be acquired through effort. If we make an effort for it then we can acquire it and if we do not care for it , it can be snatched away from us, or we may lose it. May God forbid.
You may say that a man becomes a Muslim by accepting Islam. But what does the acceptance of Islam signify? Does it mean that whoever says: “I am a Muslim” or “I have accepted Islam” becomes a Muslim? Or does it mean that a man who utters some phrases in Arabic without understanding their meaning becomes a Muslim then and there?
One may say that the meaning of accepting Islam is that a man should consciously and deliberately accept what has been taught by the Prophet Mohammed and act accordingly. Whoever does this is a Muslim and whoever does not do this is not a Muslim.
Again, from this answer the fact automatically comes to light that Islam requires Knowledge, and then requires putting that knowledge into practice.
Unless a person comes to know what the teachings of the Prophet are, how can he affirm his faith in them, and how can he act accordingly.?
And if he has not affirmed his faith knowingly and after fully understanding it, how can he become a Muslim and remain a Muslim while in a state of ignorance. ?
A person who is born in a Muslim home, who has a Muslim name and calls himself a Muslim is not necessarily a Muslim if he does not know what Islam stands for and affirms his faith in it with full consciousness.
The real difference between a Kafir and a Muslim is not that of a name , that one is called John and the other is called Abdullah, so, one is a Kafir and the other is a Muslim. How many Muhammads do you know who do not deserve to carry this beautiful name?
How many Davids and Richard are there who are better Muslims than many of us.
The real difference between a Muslim and a Kafir is not in the name nor in the way they dress, the colour of their eyes or hair or the length of their beards.
The real difference between the two is in their knowledge, the knowledge that leads to strong faith, commitment and action.
We must understand that the gain or loss of Allah’s greatest gift of Islam depends entirely on this knowledge . If there is no knowledge then one can not get this gift. Even if there is little bit of knowledge, there is always the risk of losing the magnificent gift of Islam due to ignorance.
The person who is totally unaware of the difference between Islam and Kufr and the difference between Islam and Shirk is like one who is walking in darkness on a track . Maybe while following a straight line, his steps swerve to another path and he is unaware of this deviation from the right course. And it is likely that he may meet an impostor – Dajjaal – on the way who may tell him :
“O my friend! you have lost your way in darkness. Come let me lead you to your destination”. The poor man being surrounded by darkness cannot see with his own eyes which is the right path.
Therefore , this poor man will grasp the hand of the impostor who will lead him astray.
You may guess from this example that the greatest danger to a Muslim lies in his own ignorance of Islamic teaching and his unawareness of what the Quran and Sunnah teach.
Due to the lack of knowledge, the person in question will feel his way in the darkness and may be led astray by another ignorant person or an impostor. But if he is blessed with the light of knowledge he will be able to see the plain path of Islam at every step in his life. He will discover and avoid the misleading paths of Kufr, Shirk, heresy, and immorality.
Whether or not you and your children remain Muslims depends on this knowledge.
This is not an ordinary thing that may be neglected. Lack of knowledge entails the danger of losing a precious thing like Iman. We spend a lot of time and effort on things which sustain our life and things which are less important. We go to great lengths to protect our property, wealth and assets; can not we spend one tenth part of them on things which protect our Iman?
I do not say that everyone here should become a scholar or a Grand Mufti, read a great number of books and spend many years of your life in this pursuit. It is not necessary to read so much to become a Muslim. Each one of us should try to spend one hour or even half an hour out of the twenty four hours of the day and night to acquire the knowledge of Deen. At least that much knowledge should be acquired by every Muslim youth , adult and old person as may enable him or her to understand the essence of the teaching of Quran and the purpose for which it was revealed.
He should be able to clearly understand the mission with which the Prophet came into this world. What was wrong he wished to be demolished and what was right he wished to be established.
He should also get acquainted with that particular mode of life which Allah has ordained for Muslims.
Not much time is required to acquire this amount of knowledge . And if Iman is dear to us, it is not so difficult to find a little time every day to acquire it. We spend so much time on mundane matters. In a life of an average length, we spend 20 years of our life sleeping, 4 years eating, 10 years watching TV, and 5 months waiting for the bus.
Western man spends 2 years of his life on reading books. I am not aware of how much time a Muslim man or woman spends on reading, but it would not be far from the truth to say that such time is much less than it should be.
The Islamic attitude towards the pursuit of knowledge and education is summarized in the following Quranic verses and Hadiths:
And say (O Mohammad ) : My Lord increase me in my knowledge .20.114
Say: Are they equal , those who know and those who do not ? . It is those who are Endued with understanding who receive admonition. 39/9
It is a great thing when a man knows the truth about life and its purpose and gets into the attitude of humble devotion to Allah.
To him, the Hereafter is a real thing. He prepares for it with good deeds. He does not build his hopes on the vanities of the world, but on Allah’s Grace and Mercy. Such a man is endued with knowledge and understanding. He is not to be compared with the cynic or the unbeliever who knows nothing of the real value of inner life.
The prophet said : “Seeking knowledge is a duty on every Muslim man and woman” and said also : “Seek knowledge even if you have to go to China.”
The most essential knowledge, which a Muslim should seek before every thing else, is the correct understanding of Reality and the principles of Islam, for upon this knowledge all his life and deeds depend. However, secular knowledge is also of great importance and should not be neglected. These two branches of knowledge, those of spiritual and material matters, should be studied and mastered side by side, each supplementing and complementing the other as was done in earlier times in the Muslim world.
In this way there may be no split or conflict between “sacred” and “secular” matters, between the domain of the world and the spirit, either within the Muslim’s personality and behavior or within his society.
Knowledge is to be sought both for its own sake, for the love of learning, and for its application. It is the duty of those who have knowledge to impart it to others.
According to a Hadith, a Muslim who has gone out for, or who is traveling in search of knowledge is in the way of God until he returns.
While Muslims are permitted and urged to acquire the knowledge of science, technology, and the like from non-Muslim sources , they are not permitted to acquire with that knowledge, the values and the behavior of people and societies which are not ruled by a strict sense of accountability to God. Learning science and technology dose not necessarily mean giving up our Islamic values and principles. Modernization is not synonymous with Westernization. Whatever practical and scientific knowledge we acquire, whether from the West or from the East, must be subjected to the Islamic criteria and standards, to apply whatever is appropriate and beneficial towards the building of an Islamic society governed by God’s laws in all aspects of life .
[du’á in Arabic]
Ameen! Aqeemus Salaah!