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  • Woman in Islam
  • Sunday, May 22, 2011

    The Command to Seek Knowledge in Islam

    The Command to Seek Knowledge in Islam

    God created human beings by providing them the means of science and knowledge in the form of hearing, sight and sense, as the word of Allah “It is He who brought you forth from the wombs of your when ye knew nothing; and He gave you hearing and sight and intelligence and that ye may give thanks (to Allah)”. (Qur’an Sura An-Nahl, verse 78)

    Islam is a religion that respects science and knowledge, therefore the first verse revealed to Prophet Muhammad SAW is the verse that commands to read. Reading is the key to unlock the treasures of science. Allah says “Proclaim! (or read!) In the name of Thy Lord and Cherisher (1), who created, Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed Blood (2), Proclaim! and Thy Lord is Most Bountiful (3), He who taught (the use of) the pen (4), Taught man that which He knew not (5)”. (Qur’an Sura Al-Alaq, verse 1-5)

    God forbid any Muslim to say or do something without any knowledge about it. Allah says “And pursue not that of which Thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)”. (Qur’an Sura Al-Israa, verse 36)


    As a compliment to the position of science and the knowledgeable people, god explains the dignity of people knowledgeable in their statement about the oneness of God. Allah says “There is no god but He: that is the witness of Allah, His angels, and those endued with knowledge, standing firm on justice. there is no god but He, the Exalted In power, the wise”. (Qur’an Sura Ali-Imran, verse 18)

    God praise the knowledgeable people, because they are the ones who can receive the lesson. Allah says “Is one who worships devoutly during the Hour of the night prostrating Himself or standing (in adoration), who takes heed of the Hereafter, and who places His hope In the Mercy of His Lord - (Like one who does not)? say: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? it is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition”. (Qur’an Sura Az-Zumar, verse 9)

    people who have knowledge are the fastest class to know and trust the truth. Allah says “And that those on whom knowledge has been bestowed may learn that the (Qur'an) is the truth from Thy Lord, and that They may believe therein, and their hearts may be made humbly (open) to it: for Verily Allah is the guide of those who believe, to the straight way”. (Qur’an Sura Al-Hajj, verse 54)

    Islam recommends Muslims to seek knowledge. Messenger of Allah made ​​it compulsory for every Muslim to seek knowledge, he explained that the primacy of the knowledgeable people compared with those who always do worship is like the moon against the stars in the sky, and in fact the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets, the prophets are not even bequeath property nor money but they bequeath knowledge, then anyone who has knowledge meant he had to have something more valuable than wealth. Prophet Muhammad PBUH said: "Anyone on the path to study, God will make it easier for him the path to heaven" (Hadith Bukhari, No.10).

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