Importance of Seeking Knowledge - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem
By Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem | 2026-07-06T18:57:10.494365+00:00 | Topic: Knowledge
Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah
Praise be to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help, and we seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
Introduction: The Purpose of the Khutbah
My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, the Friday sermon, the khutbah of the Jum'ah, the main purpose of the khutbah is to give a reminder to the community — as the Prophet ﷺ used to remind his companions. I would like to take this opportunity today to give you a reminder. A reminder to myself first and foremost, and then to everyone.
And this is a reminder of something that we all are fully aware of, we all know. We know the reality and we know the significance and importance of this matter. And the topic that I would like to quickly discuss today is the significance of seeking knowledge.
Seeking Knowledge is an Obligation
We all know — every single Muslim knows and acknowledges — that seeking knowledge is crucial and important. And we all know that the very first revelation that came to the Prophet ﷺ was اقرأ — Read — which is to do with knowledge, seeking knowledge.
(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 224 — graded Hasan by al-Albānī)
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Seeking knowledge is compulsory upon every single Muslim." Every single Muslim has to have enough knowledge by which they can practice the deen of Allah and they can fulfill their duties and obligations to their creator, Allah. And there is no excuse for that. And if you do not seek the knowledge, that is one of the biggest mistakes that you will be committing as a Muslim.
Our Neglect of Seeking Knowledge
We all know the significance and importance of knowledge. But yet we find that only very few of us make efforts to spare some time to seek knowledge. To the extent that educational institutes have to look for strategies — the best way of marketing their courses. And particularly I am talking about Islamic knowledge, the knowledge of the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. We struggle to market the courses in order to attract people, in order to encourage people to seek knowledge.
Whereas in the past, in the golden era of Muslim history, we find that the scholars used to travel — they used to travel to other scholars in order to seek knowledge. Look at the history and biography of the previous Imams. I give you an example of only one Imam — Imam al-Bukhari. If you are to look and study his seerah, you will come to know that he traveled thousands of miles in order to seek knowledge — from Bukhara to Baghdad, to Basra, to Mecca, and so many other countries and regions — in order to seek knowledge. And nowadays we have scholars coming to us, teaching us, yet we do not spare any time to seek knowledge.
Why? Because we do not realize the need of seeking knowledge, or perhaps we are not aware of the dangers of not seeking knowledge.
The Dangers of Ignorance
1. Your Imān is at Risk
There are so many harms and dangers of not seeking knowledge. If you remain ignorant, you have so many dangers. You will be putting your Imān first and foremost at risk. If you do not seek knowledge about Allah, you do not learn your aqīdah, and you do not learn the tawḥīd of Allah, then you will be putting your Imān at risk.
And this is a fact that we all know and are aware of — that many Muslims nowadays have doubts in their Imān. And one of the core reasons is that they do not have the solid foundation of knowledge. They do not know Allah. And it is not only our youth who are suffering and struggling with their Imān. Even some elders have doubts in Allah. And one of the core reasons for that is that they never sought knowledge. They never studied the names of Allah. They never studied the aqīdah. They never studied the tawḥīd of Allah.
And we constantly hear people saying: "Don't talk about the aqīdah, because this is something that divides the community." Unfortunately, whereas we know that tawḥīd and Imān is the foundation of our religion. How can you ignore your aqīdah? How can you ignore your Imān in Allah? How can you unite the community, the Muslims, the ummah on anything other than the tawḥīd of Allah?
As a Muslim, we have our duty — and it is our responsibility — it is farḍ upon every single Muslim to seek the knowledge of Imān billāh, believing in Allah. It is not, my dear brother and sister, sufficient to say: "I believe in Allah, that Allah is alone and He alone deserves our worship." Yes, this is the very first step you have to take in order to enter into the fold of Islam. But it does not mean that it is enough and you stop there.
No. If this were the case, then why did Allah reveal one third of the Quran talking about His tawḥīd? One third of the Quran. And this is the reason that Rasulullah ﷺ said that Sūrah al-Ikhlāṣ — one single short surah — is equivalent to one third of the Quran. What do we find in Sūrah al-Ikhlāṣ other than the tawḥīd of Allah?
How many times have we actually made efforts to pick up the copy of the Quran and go through the translation of those āyāt — particularly those āyāt that talk about the tawḥīd of Allah?
So this is one of the dangers and one of the harms of not seeking knowledge — that you put your Imān at risk. And hence we find many Muslims unfortunately having those kinds of practices that are not allowed within the deen of Allah.
2. Ignorance Damages the Entire Community
Therefore, my dear brother and sister in Islam, we need to understand and realize that not seeking knowledge — not making efforts for seeking knowledge — is really harmful for us individually as well as for the whole community. Your ignorance does not only damage your Imān and your life; rather it damages the whole community.
Because just imagine — as a father and mother, if you are ignorant, you do not realize the significance and importance of seeking knowledge, and you will not be encouraging your children to do so. And then generation after generation — and unfortunately this is what we see within our community around us — so many issues and problems.
3. Errors in Worship — The Ḥadīth of the Misperforming Ṣalāh
Likewise, after the Imān, after the aqīdah and learning about the tawḥīd of Allah — our ṣalāh. We need to actively learn how to offer our ṣalāh, because this is the most important act of worship within the deen of Allah.
We all know the very famous hadith that is collected by Imam al-Bukhārī and many other muḥaddithīn — that a companion came into the masjid and he offered two rak'ahs, then he came to the Prophet ﷺ and gave salām to him, and the Prophet ﷺ replied back and then said:
"Go back and offer your ṣalāh, for in fact you have not prayed." (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 793; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 397)
Although the Prophet ﷺ saw him offering two rak'ahs, he sent him back. He went back, offered another two rak'ahs. It happened three times, and then eventually he realized — and the wording in one of the narrations is that this companion said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have tried my best, I have tried my best — but now please show me and teach me." He understood; he realized the need of seeking knowledge, knowing how to offer ṣalāh.
If this can happen in front of Rasulullah ﷺ, in his masjid, by one of his companions — what about ourselves? How can we claim that we learned our ṣalāh in our childhood and for the rest of our life there are not going to be any mistakes in our ṣalāh? Rather, we find in the seerah of the companions — riḍwānullāhi alayhim ajmaʿīn — that they constantly used to show each other how to offer ṣalāh in order to rectify any mistakes.
4. Family and Marital Problems
Likewise, many other issues. One of the dangers of not seeking knowledge is social problems — the problems within our families, marital issues. One of the core reasons for marital problems is that a man and woman get married without knowing, without understanding, without seeking the knowledge of their responsibilities and obligations towards each other. And then, if something goes wrong in their marriage, they do not even know how to separate, and they do not know how to divorce. We have so many issues — all of these because of not seeking knowledge.
Therefore, my dear brother and sister in Islam, we need to realize the significance of seeking knowledge and we have to bear in mind that if we do not seek knowledge, we will be putting ourselves at risk — not only our Imān, but our acts of worship as well.
5. Being Unable to Answer in the Grave
Rasulullah ﷺ said in a long hadith — part of which is — that a person who did not truly believe in Allah, when he is buried in his grave and is questioned by the angels, will not be able to reply. He will not be able to answer those questions.
And now all of us know those three common questions: Who is your Lord? What is your religion? And who was your Prophet? A Muslim — someone who studied about Allah, someone who sought knowledge of the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ, someone who truly studied Islam — will be able to answer correctly. But the one who never made any efforts, the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ says that such a person will say — even in the grave — "I do not know." But saying that, will it save him from punishment? No. It will be too late.
May Allah give us tawfīq and ability to actively make efforts for seeking knowledge. And may Allah increase us all in our knowledge.
Second Part of the Khutbah
إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.
6. Giving Preference to Culture Over Deen
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, one of the dangers of not seeking knowledge is that people end up giving their culture preference over the deen of Allah. You grew up in one particular culture, and your mindset is that your culture is the deen — that it is in accordance with the deen of Allah — which in reality is not true. And people stick to their culture more than the deen of Allah. And this is again due to the lack of knowledge, due to ignorance.
May Allah give us tawfīq and ability to realize the dangers, harms, and disadvantages of remaining ignorant and not seeking knowledge.
The Du'ā of the Prophet ﷺ for Increase in Knowledge
And finally, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah instructed His Nabī ﷺ — who was directly taught by Allah. As Allah says: "Allah taught you what you did not know, O Muhammad ﷺ." Allah is the direct teacher of our beloved Nabī ﷺ. Yet Allah orders His Nabī to make this du'ā:
"O my Lord, increase me in my knowledge." O Allah, give me more and more knowledge.
How many of us actually make this du'ā? How many of us keep this du'ā as part of our ṣalāh? We do not do so. Why? Because we probably do not realize the need of seeking knowledge, and we do not understand the dangers, disadvantages, and harms of not seeking knowledge.
May Allah give us tawfīq and ability to connect ourselves to Him by seeking knowledge, and by learning the Quran as well as the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ.
Announcements
Alhamdulillah, there are many institutes within our community that teach Islam. And this particular masjid, alhamdulillah, we have so many courses. We have education for children. We have education for adults. And we run our courses throughout the year.
A new academic year is going to start in September, inshāAllāh, through Greenland Academy for Sacred Sciences, which is known as GLASS for short. So please make efforts to enroll in those courses.
As you have heard the announcement before the khutbah — today inshāAllāh, in the afternoon, we will have a course on Sūrah al-Baqarah and Sūrah Āl ʿImrān, which will be delivered by the esteemed scholar Shaykh Kareem Abu Zaid ḥafiẓahullāh, who has traveled all the way from the USA. He will be delivering this course today inshāAllāh, starting at 6 o'clock, and it will continue tomorrow inshāAllāh from 10 o'clock until 5 p.m. So I encourage all of you — please sign up by visiting GreenlandAcademy.org and make efforts for seeking knowledge.
May Allah give us all tawfīq and ability.