Virtue of Knowledge

Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَفِيُّهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ وَخَلِيلُهُ، بَلَّغَ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّى الْأَمَانَةَ وَنَصَحَ الْأُمَّةَ، تَرَكَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَحَجَّةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ لَيْلُهَا كَنَهَارِهَا لَا يَزِيغُ عَنْهَا إِلَّا هَالِكٌ، صَلَاةُ رَبِّهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ.

عِبَادَ اللَّهِ، يَقُولُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فِي كِتَابِهِ الْكَرِيمِ، بَعْدَ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ:

Amma ba'd — all praise is due to Allah. We seek His guidance and His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and the whispering of our desires. Whomever Allah guides, no one can misguide, and whomever He allows to be misled, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone, having no partners, and that Muhammad ﷺ is His slave and His messenger and His perfect worshipper.

The Command to Seek Increase in Knowledge

Allah says in the Qur'an:

"Say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge."

And there is nothing that Allah commands you to ask Him of an increase of, other than knowledge. He doesn't tell you to ask Him for an increase in wealth, an increase in children, an increase in love, an increase in relationships, an increase in happiness, an increase in anything — but knowledge.

The praise that Allah has for knowledge is so clear and so abundant in the Qur'an, and the praise that the Prophet ﷺ has for knowledge is so much in the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Allah Bears Witness on Behalf of the People of Knowledge

Allah says:

Allah says that Allah bears witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except for Him. Allah bears witness to lā ilāha illallāh — the greatest statement that you can bear witness to, through which we enter into Islam. Allah bears witness to lā ilāha illallāh, and He said the angels bear witness to lā ilāha illallāh — Allah is testifying on behalf of the angels, which is enough of a praise for the īmān of the angels. And Allah does not testify to humanity broadly, but Allah testifies to a portion of humanity. He says وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ — and the angels and the people of knowledge.

The scholars say: if there is no greater tazkiyah, if there is no other testimony to the people of knowledge in the Qur'an beyond this verse, it would be enough that Allah testifies on their behalf that they testify to His oneness.

True Knowledge Produces Fear of Allah

Allah says in the Qur'an:

"The only ones who fear Allah from His creation are the people of knowledge."

إِنَّمَا is a clause in Arabic that indicates restriction — the only ones who fear Allah from His creation are al-'ulamā', the people of knowledge. This indicates to us that true knowledge of Allah is supposed to — it is, as a consequence, supposed to — bring about fear of Allah. And if a person has the Qur'an memorized and they have books of fiqh memorized and they have hadith that they can regurgitate, but all of that information does not cause them to fear Allah, then they are not of the people of knowledge. Similarly, if a person has knowledge that causes them to fear Allah privately and publicly — in their actions, in their business, in their speech — that is beneficial knowledge.

Whoever Allah Wants Good For, He Gives Understanding of the Religion

But this praise of knowledge exists in the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ as well, and we are all inspired to be an ummah that seeks knowledge. Rasulullah ﷺ says in the hadith of Mu'āwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, reported by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 71; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1037)

"Whoever Allah desires good for, He gives them understanding of the religion."

And there is a concept called مَفْهُومُ الْمُخَالَفَةِ — an opposite inference. If the Prophet ﷺ said whoever Allah wants good for He gives them understanding of the religion, then if a person is not given understanding of the religion, the opposing inference is that Allah did not desire good for them. And so seeking knowledge is an action that we do in hopes that this is an indication that Allah desired good for us.

The Only Two People Worthy of Envy

The Prophet ﷺ says in another hadith, reported by Ibn Mas'ūd:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 73; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 816)

"There is no envy except in two cases: a man whom Allah gave wealth to and he spends it rightfully in truth, and a man whom Allah gave knowledge to and he judges according to it and teaches it."

The Prophet ﷺ says these are the only two people to be envied. We envy people naturally who have money — this person has money, this person has got a lot of wealth — they are naturally envied. But the Prophet ﷺ says they are not to be envied just for having money. The only person who is envied is a person who has money, yes, but uses that money spending it rightfully. Otherwise, that wealth a person has becomes a cause of questioning for them on the Day of Judgment, becomes a cause of interrogation, and may become a cause of remorse for them. So that person whom Allah gave wealth to and spends it properly — that's a person to be envied. But not only that — a person whom Allah gave knowledge to, and they judge themselves according to that knowledge, they weigh their actions and act in accordance with that knowledge, but also they teach that knowledge to others. Knowledge becomes a reason for other people to be guided.

One Person Guided Is Better Than Red Camels

The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith, also reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, to 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him:

"For one person to be guided to Allah through you — just one — it is better for you than red camels."

And that was considered to be the best of their wealth. For one person to accept Islam through you — through your actions, through your da'wah — that is better for you than the world and everything in it. One sheikh of mine, I remember, he was corresponding with someone who accepted Islam in South Africa, and he lived in Canada, رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى. He said that when he got the email saying that that person had accepted Islam, he said: "I felt in my heart like I won the lottery." And the Prophet ﷺ said you actually won more than that — you won red camels; or in another narration, it is better for you than the world and everything in it.

Convey from Me, Even if It Is a Single Verse

But perhaps you say, "I don't know a lot. You're telling me to teach people and I'm not qualified, I'm not a teacher." The hadith of 'Abdullāh ibn 'Amr ibn al-'Āṣ, also in al-Bukhārī and Muslim — Rasulullah ﷺ says:

"Convey from me, even if it is a single verse. And narrate from the Children of Israel, and there is no harm. And whoever lies about me intentionally, let him secure his place in the Hellfire."

The Prophet ﷺ says narrate from me even if it is a single verse. If all I know in this world is قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ, the Prophet ﷺ says teach قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ.

So there are two extremes here. Number one is a person who says "I'm not comfortable sharing anything" — no, the Prophet ﷺ says narrate from me; it is a command. Narrate from me even if it's a single verse. If all I know is one verse of the Qur'an, then let me share that verse, let me teach that verse, let me spread that verse. Do that, as long as you are sure of it. You are required to share what you know. And what you don't know, you are also required to be quiet about. Because the Prophet ﷺ says on the opposite end, there are those who don't know and just make things up — and lying about the Prophet ﷺ is not like lying about anybody else. He says مَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا — whoever lies about me intentionally, then let them secure their place in the Hellfire.

So these are the two extremes. We want to be in the middle — we want to share what we know about Rasulullah ﷺ, we want to share with others what we know about Allah, whatever knowledge we have, that we be dispensaries of that knowledge.

The Reward of Guiding Others to Good

Why? The Prophet ﷺ says in another hadith, reported by Abū Hurayrah and collected by Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2674)

"Whoever calls to any guidance will have a reward equal to the rewards of all those who follow him, not diminishing their rewards in the least."

Whoever calls to any guidance — whoever teaches anybody anything — you will have the reward of everyone who follows you in that, not taking away from their reward at all.

We used to play a game of who could teach kids Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. You wanted to be the one who teaches Sūrat al-Fātiḥah — your nephew, you've got a newborn in the family — you want to compete with everybody else and make sure that when they're 3 or 4 or 5 or 2 or whatever it is, you're the one who teaches them Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. Why? Because if they learn Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, inshāAllah they're going to recite it for the rest of their life. I had one niece, one nephew of mine — we were waiting for him to become like 3 so that we could teach him Sūrat al-Fātiḥah — me and my siblings, everyone had dibs. And then we realized to our surprise one day he just recited Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. I said, "Who taught you Sūrat al-Fātiḥah?" Apparently his older sister — she was 5 — she taught him Sūrat al-Fātiḥah privately; nobody knew. But you get the reward of everybody who does it. And who knows for how long — imagine he teaches Sūrat al-Fātiḥah to his children and they teach, and you were the one who taught them, and so you get the reward of everyone.

Everyone's talking about creating generational wealth — there's also something called creating generational ajr. You create generational ajr for yourself, and that is done — one of the greatest ways is by teaching and spreading knowledge. Because the Prophet ﷺ says in another hadith of Abū Hurayrah, also reported by Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1631)

If a person dies, their actions are cut off except for three things: a continuous charity, or knowledge that benefits, or a righteous child that prays for you. And so trying to secure for yourself ajr that will last — of the greatest ways to do that is through knowledge.

How to Seek Knowledge

I ask Allah that He make us of the people of knowledge, and those who teach knowledge, and those who love knowledge.

There's a popular question that gets asked after a discussion like this, and that is: how do I go about seeking knowledge? Number one — I just want to mention that every hadith that I've shared with you that talks about knowledge is talking about knowledge of the deen. It's not talking about the material world, it's not talking about the secular sciences. Because the Prophet ﷺ says whoever Allah desires good for — that's not to say that we are an ummah that is supposed to just focus on one thing. No. But everyone, no matter what their field of expertise is, should have a level of Islamic literacy. We should all dedicate — just as we dedicated our time to all of these different subjects that we've mastered — we should all dedicate some of our time to learning about this deen. There are people who know everything about this apparent world, but when it comes to the Hereafter they are ignorant. We don't want to be of those.

But number two — the popular question of how do I go about seeking knowledge: what programs, what books, what teachers? I've heard this question for a very long period of time, and I want to say that the best answer that I heard — and that's what I want to close with — was a scholar who said: take all of the books, take all of the programs, take all of the teachers, take all of them, and cast them all to the side, and make your preoccupation that you ask Allah for knowledge. If Allah destines for you to have knowledge, then Allah will guide you to the best teachers, and guide you to the best books, and guide you to the best programs, and guide you to the best opportunities, and will give you the tawfīq after that to take advantage of them.

And that brings us full circle — we ask Allah to accept from us and to bless us and to bless our families, and to grant us knowledge that benefits us, and to make us love that which benefits us, and to make knowledge the inheritor of us, and to grant us victory over those who oppress us, and grant us victory over those who are our enemies. O Allah, have mercy on the weak among us as You have mercy on my children. O Allah, have mercy on our weak people who are repressed everywhere. May Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.