"هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ"
“Are those who know equal to those who know not?”
[al-Zumar:9]
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“Knowledge does not cease to be a great legacy in which people of nobility follow one another, generation after generation. For those who seek out things of high value, there is no other concern but this, and no desire for any other goal besides this. How could it not be so, when the happiness of both worlds and the good of both lives are achieved by getting it!?
It is the honour of everything that exists, and the light of every peak and valley. It is the adornment of the greats, and the pleasure of those who behold it. Whoever is inclined toward it is blessed, and whoever carries it around with them has gained a great prize, and whoever acts according to it will be safe.
If it were a product that was sold, huge amounts of money would be spent on it, and if it were high up in the sky, the people of nobility would have risen up to it. Out of every marketplace, it is the most profitable, and out of every source of pride, it is the most honourable. Achievements in it are the most noble of achievements, and its resources are the most praiseworthy of resources. The eternally happy is the one who spurs himself to seek it, and encourages the journeying of his soul towards it; while the wretched is the one who turns away from it or he makes others do so, and distances himself from it, or makes others do so. His nose is blocked from the fragrance of knowledge, and his neck is sealed with the words 'This is a slave who is bereft'.
Knowledge enters the heart of every successful one; without any doorman or seeking permission;
And the bereft repels it due to his failure; O Allah! Do not make us wretched by prohibiting us from it!”
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- Except from the translation of تَعْظِيْمُ الْعِلْم by Shaykh Salih al-’Usaymi
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“Allaah has praised knowledge of the Sharee’ah and the people of knowledge, and has encouraged His servants to seek this knowledge, inclusive of the authenticated Sunnah, and equip themselves with it.
So seeking knowledge is amongst the most superior and virtuous acts as it is also amongst the most superior and honourable acts of worship. This is because it is a type of ijtihaad in the path of Allah..
