Benefiting from Islamic Knowledge
October 10, 2009 by: adminMirza Yawar Baig
It is one of the paradoxes of our time, the Age of Paradox that we find more and more people who have a lot of knowledge about Islam but who seem to use it to find ways of getting away from the obedience of Allah . They believe that their knowledge enables them to escape from Allah and to ‘legalize’ all kinds of prohibited activity. I call this a paradox because when we look at the early generations of Muslims, the Sahaba of Rasoolullah, their students the Tabayeen we find that the more knowledgeable they acquired, the more submissive they became to Allah and the more careful of His Hudood and boundaries. This is in keeping with what Allah says about those who have knowledge. He said:
Faatir 35:28 It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allâh.
Fearing Allah and having His taqwa is a sign of knowledge. The more knowledge of Islam you have the more careful you become about Allah and the more Muttaqi you become. The reward for this is high stations with Him about which He said:
Hujuraat 49:13 Verily, the most honorable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa. Verily, Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Aware.
So knowledge about Allah and His Glory and Majesty and Power and about the Aakhira, about His Messenger and His Deen only makes a person realize more and more who he is worshipping and makes him that much more submissive.
However as I mentioned, today we are seeing the strange phenomenon where people claim to have read many important and weighty books on Islam, they claim to have an understanding of Qur’an and Sunnah to the extent that they have the courage to advise others, yet when you see their actions or listen to their speech you see that they are showing people ways to indulge their base desires, to find loop holes in the Shari’ah or to somehow escape the ‘restrictions’ of Islam that Rasoolullah and his Sahaba lived by joyously. We see such people twisting the Ayaat of Allah and the Ahadith of His Nabi to extract meanings which they want and which they think now license them to do what Rasoolullah clearly pronounced as Haraam. Clearly this is wrong and has no parallel in the lives of the Sahaba yet we see this happening today more and more. So what is the reason?
Actually the reason is not so difficult to understand. It relates to three basic principles of agriculture. These three principles relate to the sequence of activities which must be done if you want to grow a successful crop. This sequence is as follows: Prepare the soil > Plant the seed > Water the soil. If this sequence is not followed or is interrupted then you will find that despite the fact that you may have the best seed it will either not germinate at all or it will germinate and die. To explain this a little more, if you plant the best seed on rocky ground full of thorns and weeds, insects and disease, the seed will not germinate or will germinate and die. Similarly if you plant the seed in good soil, but don’t water it, it will still germinate and die. So all three steps of the sequence are important if you want the seed to germinate and flourish.
If we relate this to the teaching methodology of Rasoolullah and the great teachers of Islam, we see that for Islamic knowledge to take root, the heart must be prepared first. It must be cleansed of personal desire, arrogance, deceit, rebellion. It must be prepared to bow in submission and ask, “What pleases you O Allah ? Tell me so that I can do that?” Only then will knowledge benefit. That is why knowledge acquired without the preparation of the heart results in misguidance and more ignorance. Not in opening of the inner eye of Ma’arifat (enlightenment).
You may well ask how this is different from learning math or physics or chemistry. Why this whole emphasis on Tarbiyyat (training)? Why can’t we simply read the Qur’an (or translations) some books of hadith and then we are ready to give out rulings or to teach others Qur’an or hadith?
The answer is very simple. It lies in the difference in teaching methodology between teaching a class of history students and a class of aircraft pilots. Both require to read books, but one needs also to fly a plane and his and the lives of all the passengers in the plane will depend on how well he learns to fly. A student of history only needs some knowledge of facts and events. The pilot needs the knowledge plus he needs training. If he does not train himself then reading all the books in the world on aerodynamics or aero-engineering will not make him a pilot. The knowledge of aerodynamics is important but it must be understood while experiencing the fear and thrill of flight. The sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach as the plane gathers speed and the air flow over the aerofoil of the wings producing lift drives the principles of aerodynamics into the brain with a welding torch. The fact that the plane is flying is proof that the laws of lift are true. The pilot needs no convincing and he is not in any doubt. But he needs to sit in the cockpit and pull the stick back as he opens the throttles to truly understand this principle. The student of history does not need any of this because nobody’s life depends on his knowledge.
Allah said about the Sahaba:
Hujuraat 49:15. Only those are the Mu’mineen (believers) who have believed in Allâh and His Messenger, and afterward doubt not but strive with their wealth and their lives for the Cause of Allâh. Only Those! They are the truthful.
To reach this stage of not doubting, which Allah is categorically calling a sign of being a Believer (Mu’min – Only those are the Mu’mineen) it is necessary to first train yourself by preparing your heart to receive the Hidaya of the Qur’an. That is the reason Allah trained the Sahaba in the 13 – year long training course in Makkah by exposing them to all kinds of hardship so that their hearts would be opened to Islam and His Power and Majesty. Only then did the doors of futuhaat open for them. Until then they were being tempered in the fire of hunger and hatred and enmity and poverty – hardships which were both physical and emotional. Then when like fine steel, they emerged, tempered from this fire, they were ready to be shaped into swords that would then rise to establish justice in the land.
This is the reason that when one wants to learn Islam, it is necessary first to subject yourself to some tests: Here are some questions you may like to answer:
Tarbiyyat Self Test
- Do I love Allah and His Messenger more or do I love myself, my wealth, position, society, friends and associates more? Because Allah said:
Tawba 9:24. Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight … are dearer to you than Allâh and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allâh brings about His Decision (torment). And Allâh guides not the people who are Al-Fâsiqûn (the rebellious, disobedient to Allâh).
- Do I want to live to establish Allah’s law on the face of the earth or do I want to really live my life the way I feel like and follow whatever is suitable to it in Islam and either leave the rest or try to change it? For Allah said:
An-Nisa 4:65 But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you (O Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission.
Al-Ahzaab 33:36 It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allâh and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allâh and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in a plain error.
An-Nur 24:51 All that the believers say, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger that he may judge between them, is that they say, ‘We hear, and we obey: ’it is these who are successful.
- Am I ready to enter into Islam fully or am I among those who want to take what suits them and leave the rest? Because Allah said:
Baqara 2:208. O you who believe! Enter completely into Islâm (by obeying all the rules and regulations of Islâm) and follow not the footsteps of Shaitân (Satan). Verily! He is to you a plain enemy.
Baqara 2:85 Then do you believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allâh is not unaware of what you do.
- Am I proud of being a Muslim, confident in myself, following the Sunnah of Rasoolullah with love as a standard bearer of Islam or am I among those who laugh at the ways of Muslims and consider the ways of others superior to the ways of Rasoolullah? Am I among those who make fun of the orders of Allah and the blessed Sunnah of His Messenger because it is not fashionable in today’s world? Allah says about such as these:
Al-Furqaan 25:41 And when they see you (O Muhammad SAW), they treat you only as a mockery (saying):”Is this the one whom Allâh has sent as a Messenger?
At-Taubah 9:65 If you ask them (about this), they declare: “We were only talking idly and joking.” Say: “Was it at Allâh, and His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and His Messenger (SAW) that you were mocking?
At-Taubah 9:66 Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after you had believed. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you because they were Mujrimûn (disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, criminals, etc.).
An-Nisa 4:140 And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur’ân) that when you hear the Verses of Allâh being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them. Surely, Allâh will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell,
This self test is not exhaustive by any means and I am sure you can add some more questions of your own. My intention is to give you an idea of the framework. Once you are ready with the answers it will give you an idea of the areas you need to work on to get yourself ready to receive the message.
For the Baraka of Islam to manifest itself in our lives it is essential to prepare the heart to receive the message by intense training. This is by no means easy or painless. How much difficulty and pain you will suffer in this preparatory stage depends on the degree to which your heart has become used to worshipping your desires. It is like the famous Native American story of the two wolves – one good and one bad – that are in eternal combat in our heart. The child asked his grandfather who told him the story, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?” His grandfather smiled and replied, “The one you feed.”
Similarly the Nafs – desire – which you nurtured all your life and allowed to have its own way and to grow fat and strong on self indulgence will not take kindly to being curbed and prevented from fulfilling its every desire. After all this is what you allowed it to do all its life until now. Suddenly now you say, “You can’t do this and that and the other. You have to pray regularly and lower your gaze and cover yourself.” Naturally the Nafs will rebel. So be prepared for pain and turmoil. This sometimes takes the form of doubts, fears and anger with yourself – though you may not recognize it as such and direct the anger at others. But you have to get through this stage and subdue your Nafs to the law of Rasoolullah. Because he said, “Your Imaan is not complete until you submit your desires to the Deen which I have brought.” (Approximate meaning). Allah said about the Nafs;
Al-Anbiya 21:35 Every human being is bound to taste death; and We test you [all] through the bad and the good [things of life] by way of trial: and unto Us you all must return.
Al-Furqaan 25:43-44 Have you (O Muhammad) seen him who takes as his ilah (god) his own vain desire? Would you then be a Wakil over him?? Or do you think that most of them hear and understand? They are only cattle – nay they are even farther astray from the Path (worse than cattle).
Al-Anam 6:44 Then, when they had forgotten all that they had been told to take to heart, We threw open to them the gates of all [good] things until -even as they were rejoicing in what they had been granted – We suddenly took them to task: and lo! they were broken in spirit;
So you see, if we want the Baraka of the knowledge of Islam to permeate our lives then we have to make some effort to become ready for the knowledge to work.
Otherwise let us remember that knowledge that only increases us in disobedience and which we use to try to deceive Allah and His Messenger and to try to find ways to indulge ourselves at the expense of the laws of Allah is knowledge from Shaytaan and on the Day of Judgment this knowledge will become witness against us instead of helping us to achieve salvation.
Baqara 2:8-10 And of mankind, there are some (hypocrites) who say: “We believe in Allâh and the Last Day” while in fact they believe not. 9. They (think to) deceive Allâh and those who believe, while they only deceive themselves, and perceive (it) not! 10. In their hearts is a disease (of doubt and hypocrisy) and Allâh has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies.
I ask Allah for His help to do what is pleasing to Him at all times irrespective of whether it pleases anyone else or not.
