Importance Of Seeking Knowledge

Bismi-Llah, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdu li 'l-Lahi Rabbi al-‘Alamin, wa as-salatu wa as-salam 'ala Muhammad, wa 'ala Ahli Baytihi, at-tayyibin, at-tahirin. Wa la'natu Allahi 'ala ada'ihim ajma'in. Today I wanted to come and talk about some various topics, and I will be making some more videos. But today I just wanted to bring a topic about seeking knowledge and what type of knowledge should we seek.

There is all types of knowledge out there, but we know that the most beneficial knowledge for us is the knowledge about the Akhirah, or the Hereafter. One aspect of knowledge that I see is often overlooked, and is thought of as a simple concept, or a simple thing is the topic of Tawhid or the Oneness of Allah.

A lot of people, they say, Okay, I believe in one God. That is all I need to know. That is all there is to it. I have correct Tawhid, because I just believe in one God. But this is not the case. Tawhid has so many different layers and is so deep. It doesn't matter if you know all the Fiqh, masa'il, all these questions and you know the risala from front to back, MashaAllah, that is great. But if you don't know the One that you are worshipping, it is of no use. That is why they call Tawhid, Fiqh al-Akbar.

We should strive to learn and know who Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is, not coming to our own conclusions, but we should go to the ones that Allah sent to us as guides. He said: there is a guide for all mankind, and every time there will be a guide sent to mankind (10:47; 16:36; 35:24). We should go to the ones that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala sent for us, and that is Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, and Ahl Al-Bayt, alayhum as-salam.

We see that the importance of seeking knowledge that it is highly recommended and it is even wajib on every Muslim man and woman. We have some narrations. Imam as-Sadiq in Al-Kafi says: 'The best form of worship is to contemplate about Allah and His power'. So, we must think and sit back and think about Allah and ponder about the power that He has, and His creation and what He has created, and look at the signs that Allah has given us.

There is another narration from Imam Ridha', alayhi as-salam, he said: 'praying and fasting is not the true worship. The true worship is pondering over Allah'. This is in Tuhaf Al-Uqool, page 521, hadith number 1. We see that the true worship is knowing Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, having Ma'arifa of Allah. This is the true knowledge. This is the essence of our Deen, of the religion, is to know Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala.

Once you know Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, you have Ma'arifa of Allah and know who Allah is, and you know about Allah, and you know about Tawhid, then you recognize that there is one God. Then you come to know that if there is a God, when you know that there is a God, you come to the conclusion that He must make others aware of Himself.

This necessitates that Allah sends prophets to mankind. Then we go to the prophets in order to learn, because the prophets are the representatives of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. Then when the prophets leave, they have successors. This is why our Prophet was the last prophet. We followed the successors of the Prophet in Ahl Al-Bayt, alayhum as-salam.

There is many hadiths about seeking knowledge, and it states that an hour's contemplation is better than a whole night's worth of worship. This is a prophetic tradition, and that even we have some narrations that say one hour's contemplation is better than one year's worship. In another tradition, it is stated that one hour's contemplation is better than 70 years of worship.

We should look and reflect on things that are around us, and nature and even within our own selves. We will see how complex the creation of Allah is, and how organized it is. This will cause us to appreciate Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, and to recognize Him. We see that these things, they don't come from accidental things. It is not like an accident happens, because accidents do not produce organized results. Accidents produce chaos. We see that everything is organized, and this is one of the signs that there is a Creator, and we cannot accept that the universe just came together out of all of coincidence.

We should contemplate and think about Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, and His power, and continue to learn about Allah, and to study Tawhid, and to follow what the Prophet said about Tawhid and what the Imams said about Tawhid. We should go to them and study the narrations that they have, and what they have explained to us, and we should seek a good Ma'arifa, or a good knowledge about Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. When we do this, then we will draw closer to Allah and we will notice it in our worship, because when we are praying, we will know more about the One who we are praying to, and we are directing our worship to, and we will know the One that we do our good deeds in order to please Him.

But if we do not know, we just say, Okay, I take Shahadatayn, and I say: "la ilaha illa Allah", that there is just one God, and okay, that is it. That's all there is to it. No, this is incorrect. We need to sit down. We need to be able to explain to somebody, if they come to us, and asked us who is Allah? We should be able to explain to them about Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. When atheists come with their doubts and their debates and their arguments, we should be able to answer them.

We see the arguments that Ahl Al-Bayt, alayhum as-salam, have presented to the atheists. We have them all there. All we have to do is study these narrations that we have, and take the guidance from the source that Allah provided us with. And It said that, I will end with this narration that says, from the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa alih, that one learned Muslim is harder on the shaytan than 1,000 ignorant worshippers. We see the status of having knowledge.

InshaAllah, He will grant us this station of having knowledge, and being able to learn more, and more, and more, as as we put more effort into it, inshaAllah. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad, wa 'ajjal farajahum, wa la'an ada'uhum.