In the name of Allah the most gracious the most merciful
Islam is the religion of knowledge. The very first verses revealed upon the Prophet (PBUH) were directly related to knowledge, as Allah (SWT) says in the holy Quran “Read! In the name of your lord”.
Throughout the Quran Allah has honoured the seeking of knowledge and honoured the people of knowledge. Allah says in the holy Quran, “Allah bears witness that La ilaha 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”. Allah honours those with knowledge in this verse by including them amongst those who truly bare-witness to the fact that he alone is worthy of knowledge. This along with the verse of Allah in which he says, “And we did not create the Jinn or mankind except for worship”, shows us the link between seeking knowledge and worshipping Allah correctly.
As with everything in life, seeking knowledge has certain etiquettes once must follow and implement to benefit from it. The first and most important etiquette related to seeking knowledge is the purity of one’s intention. Seeking knowledge is a form of worship and as with all forms of worship they must be done for the sake of Allah alone and to gain his pleasure. One must be wary of seeking knowledge to show off or feed his ego as this will lead him down a path which only leads to destruction; the Prophet PBUH) said “Whoever seeks knowledge to compete with the scholars or to prove himself superior to the ignorant or to make the people look up to him, Allah will cause him to enter Hell”.
Al-Alaq 96/1
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:18]
Adh-Dhariyat 51/56
narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 2654; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i.
The second etiquette is acting upon what one learns. Acting upon what one knows is the fruit of knowledge. We must be careful to not be of those who know much and but act little, Allah says about such people in the holy Quran, “The likeness of those who were entrusted with the (obligation of the) Tawraat (Torah) (i.e. to obey its commandments and to practise its laws), but who subsequently failed in those (obligations), is as the likeness of a donkey which carries huge burdens of books (but understands nothing from them)”.
Another etiquette is to choose who you study from carefully. We must remember that not everyone who is called a ‘sheikh’ deserves to be taken from. We must ensure the knowledge and character of our teachers are in line with that taught and shown by the greatest example, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The final etiquette we will mention (despite there being many more) is to be patient in the pursuit of knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge is a long journey and one will not gain much of it without struggling and striving as Abu Tamaam said, addressing himself: “Let me scale the heights that cannot be scaled, for reaching high things is difficult whilst reaching low things is easy. You want to scale the heights without any effort, but honey cannot be gathered without bee-stings.”
To conclude, the seeking of knowledge is of the greatest acts of worship one can commit themselves to, through it one can gain the pleasure of Allah and its path is indeed one which can lead one to paradise.
al-Jumu’ah 62:5