The unfortunate generation

The Unfortunate Generation

And today we have an unfortunate generation. We have two problems today. The first is the crisis of information.

Everyone can find out any piece of information on the internet with a few taps of their fingers. There was a time when if you wanted to narrate a hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari, you would have to travel 600 miles to Bukhara, find one of his narrators al-Firabri, sit with him for two weeks and copy the whole book cover to cover, get permission from him to narrate from it, go back to your land. Now you can find one hadith and you can say it. Now anyone can access anything.

They say information is powerful, but it is also extremely dangerous. Now you have the wrong people quoting the right sources for the wrong reasons.

The Story of Musa and Khidr

The story of Musa and Khidr — the Prophet Musa عليه السلام is asked: who is the most knowledgeable person on this earth? And he claims: it is I. I am the prophet of Allah after all. And he is then told by Allah: no, there is a man more knowledgeable than you, but you have to travel long distances to find him — because knowledge should never come easy. Knowledge is sought.

You have to seek it, search for it. It's not going to be brought to you. You have to sweat for it.

Knowledge Must Be Sought

How many times in the last 10 years, somebody has asked me — I want to learn Arabic. I want to memorize the Quran. I said, look, do this, go to this website, sign up to this course, Furqan College, go sign up, go do this, go this. Three years later, they come: how do I learn Arabic? I traveled three years, I came back and you're still standing in the same spot. Knowledge is not for you. Stick to mechanics or whatever else you were doing. That's not for you then.

Because as Musa عليه السلام says: I am so determined to find this man, this knowledgeable man. I'm going to find this point — the meeting point of the two seas — where I'm supposed to meet this man. Either I'll find him, or a hundred years can pass. I don't care. I will travel as long as I need. I will sweat.

This is a person who's going to get the knowledge that he needs — because he's willing to sweat for it.