Piety and Knowledge

Mahmud Sami Ramazanoğlu

Allah the Almighty states in the Qur’an: “And (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good. (Al-Ankabût, 29:69)

In other words, Allah is declaring that His guidance will be dependent upon the striving of the servants in the path of Allah. The following verse clearly confirms this reality: “And that man shall have nothing but what he strives for.” This verse not only includes the actions for worldly causes but also the actions for religious causes. Hence, we should work hard in the way of Allah if we want to attain high places in the Hereafter.

The Prophet (pbuh) states that “the scholars are the heirs of the prophets. (Bukhari, Muslim). We can understand this hadith in two different ways. One is that scholars are the real heirs of the prophets and the second way is to understand the hadith is that only those who are the heirs of the prophets can be accepted as scholars. Those who do not recognize Allah and commit sins cannot be named as scholars even though they have a large amount of knowledge. The real scholars of Islam are those who invite people to the fulfillment of the commandments of Islam and teach their religion without expecting any worldly gains. Describing this characteristic of the Muslims, the Qur’an states: You are the best of the nations raised up for (the benefit of) men; you enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong and believe in Allah; and if the followers of the Book had believed it would have been better for them; of them (some) are believers and most of them are transgressors. (âl-i Imrân, 3:110)

“Those of His servants only who are possessed of knowledge fear Allah; surely Allah is Mighty, Forgiving.” (Al-Fâtir, 35:28)

The hadith informs that: “learning the religious sciences are obligatory for both male and female Muslims.” (Ibn Maja)

Learning necessary sciences is so important in Islam that one should even travel in order to attain knowledge. In a famous hadith among the Muslims the Prophet (pbuh) states that: travel even to China in order to learn knowledge. (Kashf al-Khafâ, 1/54)

Prophetic traditions that command learning sciences include both the physical sciences as well as religious ones. Knowledge that does not increase one’s knowledge of Allah cannot be accepted as real knowledge. Real knowledge is one that makes one fear Allah more and makes one turn away from the transient pleasures of the world.

In another hadith the Prophet (pbuh) states that if the knowledge one attains does not increase one’s renunciation of the world, it only serves to increase one’s remoteness from Allah.

Once Moses became sick and asked cure from Allah. Allah the Almighty revealed to him that such and such plant was the cure. Moses used this plant but his sickness was not cured. Once again he asked from God a cure. The same plant was advised for the cure, yet he did not recover. In the third prayer, he received the answer that he should go to a certain doctor. The doctor advised him the same plant and this time he used that plant and he recovered. Having been surprised with this, Moses asked Allah:

O my Lord! I have used the same plant myself but only after I have seen the doctor has the plant benefited me. What is the wisdom behind this?

Allah answered: O Moses! One cannot apply to me whenever one is sick. One needs to apply to the specialists for his needs. For that reason, you have benefited from the advice of the doctor.

The Prophet(pbuh) advises us that we should ask the help of specialists when we are in need of certain services. Hence we should learn any science from its specialists. In particular, concerning our religion we should learn it from sincere scholars. As one learns how to cultivate the land from agriculturists, similarly religious matters should be learned from scholars.

The key of learning is to ask about the things that we do not know. The Prophet (pbuh) urges us to ask questions whenever we face a problem from those who have the necessary knowledge, stating:

“Knowledge is a treasure and its key is asking.”

www.altinoluk.com