Walking the Path of Knowledge : Steps Towards Jannah

Walking the Path of Knowledge: Steps Towards Jannah

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and there is none worthy of worship except Him, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

We take refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the sinfulness of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomever Allah misguides, none can guide.

Allah reminds us in Surah Al-Imran:

O you who have believed, have Taqwa of Allah with the Taqwa that is due to Him, and die not except in a state of submission, except in a state of Islam.

And He also says in Surah An-Nisa:

O people, have Taqwa of your Lord, who created you from one soul, and created from it its mate, and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And have Taqwa of Allah, through whom you ask one another and the wombs. Surely Allah is ever over you an observer.

The Story of Abu Hurairah and the Gift of Knowledge

From Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him — in an authentic narration also mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari — he says that one day he came to the Messenger of Allah and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I've heard so many hadith from you that I keep forgetting." And so the Nabi, صلى الله عليه وسلم, says, "Take your overgarment, your rida, and spread it."

He says, "So I spread it on the floor, and then the Nabi, صلى الله عليه وسلم, it's like he was gathering something with his blessed hands. And in one narration also mentioned in Bukhari, it's like he was putting something in it. And then he says, 'Now close it and wrap yourself with it.'"

And so Abu Hurairah says, "I did that, and after that moment, I didn't forget any hadith." And who is this, but the most prolific narrator of hadith? If it weren't for him, being so vigilant about conserving the hadith and protecting the hadith, much of what we know today about the Nabi, صلى الله عليه وسلم, we wouldn't know.

Yet what is it that caused him to go to the Nabi, صلى الله عليه وسلم, in the first place and ask him for this thing — to complain, to tell him, "I'm forgetting these hadith"? It was his vigilance, his hirs over what? Over knowledge, over ilm.

The Value of Knowledge in the Quran and Sunnah

And there is so much value for ilm, for knowledge. As Allah tells us in Surah Al-Mujadilah:

Allah will raise up by many degrees those of you who believed, and those of you who have knowledge — belief and knowledge, ilm. And Allah is well acquainted and aware of what you do.

And He says in Surah Az-Zumar:

How can those be equal — the ones who know and the ones who don't know? How can they be equal, in terms of their degrees, in terms of their status? And only those who have understanding will take heed and remember.

And we know in the famous hadith that is in the Forty of Imam Al-Nawawi, from Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 35, Hadith 6518; also referenced in Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2646)

That whoever walks upon a path, travels a path and seeks knowledge therein, then Allah will ease for him the path to Jannah. And so literally by seeking knowledge, it makes it easier for us to enter Jannah.

What Kind of Knowledge Are We Talking About?

So we might ask: what kind of ilm, what kind of knowledge is this? Are we talking about mathematics and science and engineering? Are we talking about degrees and graduate-level degrees? No, not in these ahadith.

Is there value in those? Yes. Even Al-Khawarizmi, رحمه الله تعالى, in his introduction to algebra, he talks very beautifully of mathematics and how he intends to help people split inheritance in the proper way. He's like, "I'm coming up with these formulas." And if it weren't for him, this tablet wouldn't be working. Our computers, our phones, our smart watches wouldn't be working if it weren't for him, رحمه الله تعالى. So there was immense value in that knowledge, of course.

But this is not what's being referred to here. This is referring to knowledge of the Qur'an, knowledge of the hadith, knowledge of fiqh — proper Islamic sharia, both ibadat and mu'amalat.

Ibadat: How do I personally worship Allah? Do I have wudu or not? How do I pray? Do I have to make up my prayer or not? Is my fast valid or not?

Mu'amalat: Now I'm in this business deal or even a small transaction — is it sharia-compliant? Is it proper what I just did? Is that halal or not? When it comes to family issues and even inheritance as we mentioned.

And also issues related to aqeedah: Who is Allah? What are His attributes? How can I better understand Him? So when I'm calling upon Him in the depths of the night, just me and Him, I better understand and I can engage with Him.

Maw'idhah vs. 'Ilm

The ulema have taken what we say as knowledge and general ways to seek knowledge, and split them up into two major categories. And I'm specifically mentioning this here to challenge us as a community to really level up.

You have maw'idhah — general reminders. Like this khutbah. It might be spiritually uplifting. It might cause you to think of something. It might be like the Islamic conferences we attend. Just a general lecture. It's beneficial. We go there, we benefit. Alhamdulillah. But sometimes it goes away afterwards.

And then you have what they refer to as ilm — and here in this technical terminology, it's referring to a structured curriculum. You're reading the Qur'an, studying it ayah by ayah, surah by surah. You're reading the tafsir. You're studying hadith and the meanings of the hadith. You're studying fiqh. It doesn't need to be in book form, but it oftentimes is in book form, in class form.

And this is what I want us to challenge ourselves with — how can I level up in terms of that type of knowledge? Alhamdulillah, I come to the masjid. Alhamdulillah, I attend Salatul Jumu'ah. I attend the khatiras. I attend different lectures. If there's a conference, I go. But how can I really level up in terms of that next level of ilm?

People might ask, must I drop it all? And we do have examples here in DFW and even here at VRIC where people took a gap year and moved down here, saying, "I want to study Arabic. I want to study Islam." Or just in this past academic year, I know of a handful of examples of people who are working full-time and also enrolled full-time studying Arabic — why? For the sake of ilm. MashaAllah, crazy schedule — you're working full-time, you're studying full-time. But they did it.

Do you need to do it? No. You don't need to go to that extent. But there are — insha'Allah — five practical reminders that we can apply today, all of us, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, of how we can make ilm a part of our lives.

Five Practical Steps to Seek Knowledge

1. Limit Distractions

The devices that we use — we're all susceptible to it. Whether it's scrolling endlessly from video to video, or post to post, or even things that are kind of very shallow in terms of knowledge: Wikipedia, this article to this article to this article. We're not really building depth in terms of knowledge, but rather it's shallow — a mile wide and an inch deep, as they say.

So try to limit that. Try to have times in your life where you say, "Okay, I'm going to just unplug from WhatsApp for a little bit. I'm going to turn off my phone for a little bit. I'm going to put it aside. I'm going to limit my own screen time. I don't need to watch all these shows and binge-watch all of these seasons and movies and everything. Let me give it a little bit of a break."

2. Focus on the Basics

Some of us might not have finished our fard 'ayn — which is a fard upon every single Muslim. What do I have to know? The essential things I have to know about Allah. The essential things I have to know about fiqh — how do I live my life as a Muslim? What are these instructions? Start with that. And if you've done that, then move on. But you don't need to move on to complicated things. You don't need to pontificate over very complicated philosophical matters that might not even have a transformative impact on your day-to-day life.

Start with the Qur'an. Ask yourself: when is the last time I read the Qur'an cover to cover with the translation of the meaning in my language? Simple. Cover to cover, Al-Fatiha to An-Nas. When was the last time I did that? Or, if we know Arabic, when was the last time I recited just a very basic tafsir? It doesn't have to be a complicated one — a very basic one.

SubhanAllah, because the Qur'an is kalamullah — the speech of Allah — it's endless. It's infinite in terms of the fountains of knowledge that we can derive from it.

Now, you might be surprised that when it comes to tafsir and they talk about the big mufassirin, the famous mufassirin, they mention Al-Imam Al-Alusi, رحمه الله تعالى. And you'd think, maybe he's a contemporary of Al-Tabari, maybe from a thousand years ago. He passed away in the 1850s, رحمه الله تعالى — an Iraqi scholar. Less than 200 years ago, and his book is considered one of the pillars of tafsir, classical tafsir. Yet after a thousand years of scholarship, he was still finding things, especially from the linguistic aspect of the Qur'an.

Ibn 'Ashur, رحمه الله تعالى — amazing, it's phenomenal. He passed away in the early 1970s; he's from Tunis, Tunisia. And if you read his tafsir, you're like, "Wow." He's come across new things about the Qur'an, just synthesizing what's been said in the past and adding things about Arabic grammar. SubhanAllah — there's no end to the Qur'an.

Hadith, seerah — when was the last time you read the seerah, cover to cover? So, focus on the basics.

3. Set a Program and a Regimen

It could be a self-disciplined, self-guided course — and there are some of them online. I'm not saying to study without a teacher, but there are some online where it's like, "Okay, you do this," and you can ask questions on a forum, but it's kind of self-guided. Or: am I going to join a class?

SubhanAllah, I cannot keep up with all the institutes here in the metroplex — they keep popping up. A new sheikh moved to town, mashaAllah, he started an institute. He's teaching this book, and this book, and this book. Oh, he has classes on this, and this, and that. And also sisters — mashaAllah — scholars, female scholars, coming to the community, or guest scholars. Amazing opportunities we have.

Start locally and look for those opportunities. Say, "I'm going to enroll one day a week. I'm going to enroll online, and sometimes attend in person." What can you do? See what you can do in your capacity and take advantage of local resources.

4. Don't Dismiss the Barakah of Doing It in a Group

Halaqat. So simple — SubhanAllah. It's been happening since the time of the Nabi, صلى الله عليه وسلم. You get together with a few brothers, or a few sisters, or sometimes families, sometimes children, and you say, "Let's meet once a week, for one hour." You'll be amazed — in 52 hours a year — how much progress can be made in terms of studying things, SubhanAllah.

And we already have plenty of halaqat in the community. Inquire, seek them out, and join them, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, or start one. Engage your family members. Maybe it's something spouses can do, or a family together. "Okay, you know what — we're going to read this hadith book. We're going to read Riyad al-Salihin, or the Forty of Imam An-Nawawi, and we're going to go deeper in terms of our sharh of it."

In our masjid, we have The Firsts — phenomenal, so detailed in terms of the biographical accounts of these first believers, by Dr. Omar Suleiman. We have the ta'sil class — again, this is so ilmi, so organized; we're going through a classical book.

When you look at the major Muslim cities, it's always like, "Oh, I want to study this book — this sheikh is giving it in his house on Mondays and Wednesdays after maghrib. This sheikh gives it at this famous masjid on Tuesdays and Thursdays after fajr." There are so many opportunities, and insha'Allah, with our seeking of knowledge, we can increase them here locally.

5. Don't Discount the Time That You Have

We have the same 24 hours that they did in the time of the Nabi, صلى الله عليه وسلم. Yes, there might be less barakah in it, but we have the same hours. We're just so often distracted that we waste those hours. We squander those opportunities, SubhanAllah.

How many taxi drivers do we know — or have we heard of — especially in Muslim-majority countries? But I saw a video recently about one brother in the UK. He said, "I memorized the Qur'an while being a taxi driver." How? Well, between customers, he'd open up the mushaf, he'd read the ayah, and then just keep repeating it, and then he memorized it. And then he did the next ayah, and the next ayah, and the next ayah. "Oh, I finished a page — now let me do the next page, and the next page, and the next page." And then, insha'Allah, he finished, and now he's reviewing. And there's no end to reviewing the Qur'an, of course — until you pass away, you keep reviewing the Qur'an.

I love the story of the shopkeepers of Damascus. I heard it from one of the ulema of Damascus, Syria. He said the shopkeepers in Souq al-Hamidiyya — this ancient, centuries-old market, next to the Umayyad Mosque — he said they wake up at fajr and they go to the mosque, they walk to the mosque, and then they attend a dars after fajr. So maybe they're doing fiqh on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and aqeedah on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And they come with their notebooks, and they take notes. And then they go home after the dars — maybe at shuruq time — they pray duha, they have breakfast with their families, and then they go and open their shops.

When dhuhr time comes, they go to the masjid, they lock up, and then they go home, take a nap, have lunch with the family, and then they go and reopen. They might open till asr or maghrib. At that time, they close their shop again and go to the masjid — again, another lesson or two. SubhanAllah. They bring their notebook, bring the book that's being studied. And he said, in this way, if a person has been doing this for 10 years, 20 years — imagine the knowledge they have. If they were to come to America, we'd say, "Sheikh, you're so knowledgeable, you're like a scholar, mashaAllah, you've studied so much." How are we sacrificing the way they sacrifice their time?

You hear of a sheikh who's visiting and suddenly, "Oh, he's giving an ijazah in one of Imam Al-Tirmidhi's books." He's going to recite to you — as he heard from his teacher, from his teacher, from his teacher, all the way to Rasulullah, صلى الله عليه وسلم — and he's going to give a sharh, a very basic sharh, but a sharh, an explanation. I know some people, SubhanAllah, they're flying out there, using their PTO — to what? To take advantage of it.

Every single moment, every single dollar that we spend for ourselves or for our families to gain knowledge, we should think of it as even more than professional development. At our workplaces, what do we do? We say, "Of course, I'm going to spend $5,000, $10,000, $20,000 on this course or this certification. Why? It's going to come back to me tenfold." Well, this is going to help us with our akhira.

Seeking Knowledge in the Face of Adversity: Gaza

And as we think of the people of Gaza and of Palestine — SubhanAllah — till this day, with the bombs falling, till this day, we see the evacuations. "No, run over here to this so-called safe zone" — while the bombs are falling in that safe zone. Lies being told to them. Massacres on a daily basis, SubhanAllah.

They're still seeking knowledge. I saw a video recently of girls who had finished their hifz of the Qur'an and said, "Okay, we want to do this exam again where we recite the whole Qur'an in one day." This is like an exam. So they sat with their teachers in a shaded area, a makeshift sort of tent room outside, from morning until the end of the day, reciting what? Reciting the Qur'an.

We have an amazing opportunity before us. We're in safety, alhamdulillah. We have prosperity, alhamdulillah. We have health, alhamdulillah. Every one of us — young and old — can take advantage of ilm, of seeking knowledge and leveling up what we do.

Let us not be like those who expect it of our children — "Become a hafidh" — and then we have nothing to show for it ourselves. "Oh, I want you to become knowledgeable," but we're not doing anything ourselves.

Second Khutbah

Allah says:

And the Messenger of Allah, صلى الله عليه وسلم, said:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2647)

Whoever goes out in pursuit of knowledge is in the path of Allah until he returns.