Why Don't We Apply What We Learn

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

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

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

Why Don't We Apply What We Learn?

Brothers and sisters in Islam, the title of our khutbah today is: Why is it that we do not apply what we learn? لِمَاذَا لَا نُطَبِّقُ مَا تَعَلَّمْنَا؟

How many khutab have we heard? How many books have we read? How many articles have we read? Lectures we've listened to? Advice we've received? How much Qur'an have we read? And how much of all that actually sunk in? And how much of that did we actually apply in our lives? How many times we know the command, and we don't act upon it. We know the prohibition, but we approach it. Why is it that we're called to the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and we don't apply it? Why is it that ayat which would crumble solid mountains are revealed to us, and we're not moved? We pass by a situation, and we don't act upon the ruling for that situation.

Or sometimes we act upon it, and other times we don't. Many people attend courses and workshops, and yet you don't see results in their actions nor behavior. And the signs of knowledge are not apparent in them.

We fall short in obligatory deeds, and even more so when it comes to extra good deeds. And for that reason, the need for this topic: Why do we not apply what we learn?

Someone will come to you wearing a gold necklace, and he'll ask you, "Is gold halal?" And you'll tell him, no it's not. It's not permissible for a man to wear gold. And he'll smile, shake your hand, and thank you, and just walk away. Why did you come and ask for this information if you're not going to act upon it? You just want to confirm that you're upon the haram? Why didn't you act upon it? Why didn't you remove it immediately?

Iman is the Root of Action

Brothers and sisters in Islam, application comes forth from iman. And action comes forth from the heat of iman. So if the iman is deficient, or cold, or non-existent, why would you expect any action to come out of someone?

The difference between the believer and the non-believer — why does this one pray and care about some of the commands and stay away from the prohibitions? Because he has iman. And that's why when Allah in the Qur'an wants to call us to action, wants to command us to do something, He calls us with this description of being believers — with the appellation of:

O you who believe, fear Allah.

O you who believe, why do you say that which you do not do?

O you who believe, believe in Allah and His Messenger. So He calls us with iman so that we can move forth from it.

Coming to Knowledge with the Right Intention

Perhaps some people are lacking the seriousness that propels them to action. The audiences that attend khutab and lessons — do they necessarily come with the intention of seeking knowledge, with the intention of learning something so they may go home and act upon that knowledge? That's the intention. You come to a class, a lecture, a khutbah — you want to seek knowledge with the intention of going home and starting to apply it immediately.

And sometimes people come to see how flowery the talk is, whether the speaker is good or eloquent or not, whether he makes grammatical mistakes in Arabic or not — الأخطاء اللغوية — that's all they're listening for. Or they want to hear a moving story to see if he'll make them cry or feel sad. But how many people come to a lecture thinking, "Let me go and learn something new, so I can come home and start applying it immediately"? Except the only ones are the ones that Allah has mercy upon.

The Example of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As — the famous story that most of us know — when he is negotiating with the Prophet ﷺ about how many days he should fast. The Prophet ﷺ tells him, "Fast one day, and you'll have the reward of nine days." He says, "I can do more than that." He says, "Fast two days." He says, "I can do more than that." "Fast three days." He says, "I can do more than that." The Prophet ﷺ kept giving him different options, until he said, "Fast the fast of Dawud ﷺ." He would fast one day and break fast the next day — he would alternate.

So that's the deal he made with the Prophet ﷺ, and he continued upon that. He wasn't just arguing to show that he's religious, but he sincerely wanted to continue upon that. And he continued until he became an old man, and the fasting every other day became difficult for him. And he said, "I wish I had taken the advice of the Prophet ﷺ. He gave me something moderate, and I was young, and maybe with a lot of zeal." We all know — you can break your fast if it's voluntary, and there is no sin whatsoever. He could have broken it; he was an old man now. But he said, "I wanted to remain upon a deal I made with the Prophet ﷺ." He saw it like a deal. So he continued upon it, even though he became old and it was difficult.

The Example of Abu Fatima — Thawban

A companion by the name of Abu Fatima, known as Thawban, said, "O Prophet of Allah, inform me of an action to do and remain upon." Look at the language — "Teach me an action to do and to continue doing." From the beginning you see his intention. The Prophet ﷺ tells him:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 990)

"I advise you with much sujood" — meaning much prayer to Allah — "for you do not make a prostration to Allah except that Allah will raise you a rank with it and remove a sin from you because of it."

So the first thing is that we must be prepared to take in knowledge with the intention of acting upon it, with the intention of applying it. So when we read the mushaf, we act out what it tells us, because the commands in it are directed to us and not to someone else. When we attend a class or a khutbah, even if we know the topic, we are testing ourselves against these ayat and ahadith — "I've known this ayah my whole life. Do I act upon this verse?" And it's all about acting upon it, because even as we know from the hadith, the ayat will come on the Day of Judgment and they will testify either for or against you, whether you acted upon the ayah or you ignored the ayah. So that means it was there for you to act upon to begin with.

Application Increases You in Goodness and Steadfastness

From the interesting things you see: when you apply what you learn, application increases you in goodness and increases you in steadfastness. That's why Allah says in Surah an-Nisa':

If they acted out what they were commanded, what they were admonished with — if they acted upon it, it would have been better for them, وَأَشَدَّ تَثْبِيتًا — and that would have made them more steadfast. So acting upon your knowledge increases you in steadfastness, increases you in good.

Information vs. Application

Some of the problems: we live primarily in societies where it's not much about action and applying the knowledge, as much as it is about information — just gathering and knowing the information. Many times you pull someone aside and give him advice about something that he's doing incorrectly. He will interrupt you in the middle of your recitation of the hadith, continue and finish it for you, and tell you, "Al-Bayhaqi has a different narration." He has all the different narrations and he knows them. Why do you know it if you don't act upon it?

How 'Aisha Taught the Companions

Aisha radiallahu anha used to teach a young boy ahadith. He came to her the first day, so she taught him two ahadith. He came the next day to learn two more. She said, "Did you act upon the ahadith that you learned yesterday?" Look at how they were different from us — it was all about applying it. So she asked him, "Did you act upon the two ahadith that you learned yesterday?" He said, "No." She said, "Then why are you increasing the arguments of Allah against you?"

What does that mean? On the Day of Judgment, if he doesn't act on this hadith, Allah has an argument against him. He sat down, heard the hadith, memorized it — it's different from someone who never heard a hadith. So Allah has an argument against you. So why are you increasing the arguments of Allah against you? Go act it out first — act upon the hadith. Then you come back and learn more. That's how they learned.

And everyone knows famously the example of the companions: they would memorize 10 verses and act upon them, live with those verses, then come and memorize 10 more. In their environment, the way they were raised, in their schools, with their teachers, in their homes — it was about applying the knowledge, not just gathering the information. And today we have our focus on other things. When it comes to Quran or learning the religion, not even half the effort, not even half the amount of energy is placed into that compared to, say, driving children back and forth to soccer practice, basketball, swimming.

Not Being Aware of the Great Rewards

It could also be that most people don't apply what they learn because they're not familiar with the great rewards. Why does Allah mention the rewards of something in the Quran? So it can motivate us into action. Just like if someone offers us money, it motivates us to action — someone tells you, "You do this, you'll get this much more in your paycheck." People immediately rush to that. They know the reward, so they immediately put effort into it.

Allah tells us so many different rewards in the Quran. Even reciting the Quran itself — we know that each letter, not each word, but each letter of the Quran earns ten rewards. And the Quran has over 300,000 letters times ten — that's like 3 million rewards. And Allah, on top of that, multiplies for whomever He pleases.

The Reward of Two Rak'at After Wudu

Nabi ﷺ said: whoever makes wudu, and he does wudu properly — like an act of worship, not just rushing through getting wet, but does it properly — and then prays two rak'at without talking to himself, focusing as much as possible, will have all his past minor sins forgiven. Just from these two rak'at. You would think that to get such a great reward, it would be a difficult action. But it's a simple action. And you wonder how many of us, having just heard this, will do it tonight — just perform wudu nice and slow, and pray two rak'at, try to focus as much as you can, and have past sins forgiven.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 2, Hadith 234)

The Du'a After Eating

The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever eats a meal, and then says:

— his past sins will be forgiven. How many meals have we had? Hundreds, or thousands of meals, and maybe we didn't say this du'a. But that's not the point. The point is, shouldn't we feel hurt when we discover that we missed out on so many great opportunities?

I'll tell you something — I purposely, when I mentioned this hadith in lectures, wouldn't mention the du'a, just to see how many people, after a lecture on "why don't we apply what we learned," care and come and say, "What is that du'a?" And usually from a room of 200-plus people, typically one person will come and say, "What is the du'a after eating? I want to know it so I can use it." Happens every time — not just in America, but in Malaysia, everywhere. One person will usually come and say, "What was that du'a?"

The Story of Ibn Umar and the Janazah

Let me share the example of Abdullah ibn Umar. This is Amir, the son of the famous companion Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. He says: we were sitting with Ibn Umar, and then Khabbab appears and says, "O Abdullah ibn Umar, didn't you hear what Abu Huraira says? The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever leaves with a janazah from its home, prays over it, and then follows it until burial, will have two qirats of reward — two measures of reward, each qirat the size of the mountain of Uhud. And whoever prays over it and then returns, without going to the cemetery, will have the reward of one qirat — as much as Uhud."

Ibn Umar used to pray over the janazah and not follow it to the graveyard. So when he hears this, he wants to confirm it. He sent Khabbab to Aisha radiallahu anha to ask if this is true. And while he's waiting for Khabbab to return, he takes some pebbles in his hand and is just playing with them — as if he is nervous, unable to wait to hear the result. Then Khabbab comes back and says, Aisha says: صَدَقَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ — "Abu Huraira has spoken the truth."

So now Ibn Umar discovers that he was missing out on an opportunity of getting another mountain of Uhud's size in rewards. So he took the pebbles and threw them to the ground. He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1325; Sahih Muslim, Book 11, Hadith 2162)

"We have lost so many qirats because I didn't follow it to the burial." The point is that it hurt him to know that he had missed out on so much reward. Just like with the du'a after eating — a person should be hurt. "How many meals have I missed this opportunity?" That should hurt.

Being Frugal with Extra Good Deeds

Some people only want to do the wajibat — the obligatory actions — and not the mustahabbat, the extra deeds of reward. As if they are not in need of reward. You find someone when they first start to practice: they only pray with a sutra in front of them, they pray all the sunan after the salawat, they only sit down to drink — and then they leave all that. And when you ask them what happened, they say, "There are more important things."

But the question is: why are we frugal with our extra deeds? If we compare it to money — you have your salary, but if you do this, you'll get more in your paycheck. If you work this extra hour, this weekend, this holiday, you'll get this much more. People go above and beyond to get more pay. Why are we frugal when it comes to good deeds?

Ibn Umar and the Sunnah of the Nahr

Ziyad ibn Jubair says: I saw Ibn Umar approaching a man who had put his camel on the ground for the nahr — he was about to sacrifice the camel. And Ibn Umar tells him — and just listen to his words; you can feel the love of the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in them:

He's telling him: the way of the Sunnah is to stand it up and tie one of its legs, so that after the nahr it falls over to that side. The point is that you can hear the love and the respect he has for the Sunnah just from the way he is speaking.

Abu Huraira and the Sujud of Tilawah

Abu Rafi' says: I prayed al-'atama — the Isha prayer — with Abu Huraira. He prayed with Surah al-Inshiqaq, and then he made sujood. After the salah, Abu Rafi' asked about it, and Abu Huraira explained: "I prayed Isha once with Abu al-Qasim ﷺ. He made this sajda in this surah."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 766; Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 1026)

"And I will continue to do that until I meet him on the Day of Judgment." This is not obligatory. He didn't make a deal with you that you have to do it. But this is how naturally they loved the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, and how much they cared to apply what they learned.

With that, we ask Allah to make us of those who apply what they learn.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ جَمِيعِ الذُّنُوبِ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ، فَيَا فَوْزَ الْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ — Ask Allah for His forgiveness. Indeed, those who seek His forgiveness are the ones who succeed.

Second Khutbah — Further Reasons for Not Applying Knowledge

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْأَمِينِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Lack of Role Models

Perhaps another reason for not applying what we learn is that there is no leadership or no role models for people to take. Having a role model is something that is very important. The Prophet ﷺ was not just a messenger for us, but a messenger and a role model:

In the Messenger of Allah, there is an excellent role model for you. And that's why the companions used to follow him in things. And sometimes they followed him in things that were not even part of the religion — which is not what you're supposed to do — but just to show you how they went above and beyond.

And that is a big problem today for our youth. They don't have someone to look up to. So they start to look up to whoever is trending or whoever is on social media and is eloquent. You find a lot of our youth — and we had this discussion just a week or two ago — when we asked the youth who they like, they started to mention Jordan Peterson and people who have clips on YouTube where they're debating certain issues and have become the mouthpiece for political topics. Because they don't have anyone to look up to from amongst the Muslims in that sense.

And not only that, but you'll find that when there's a Muslim fighter — someone who basically punches someone else in the face — he becomes a role model, and everyone is following that, because they don't have anyone else. So someone who hits people in the face becomes a role model. That's a big problem.

The Influence of Environment

The other thing is that the environment in which people are raised is one where application is rare, and there isn't much effort put on applying what you learn. An environment is extremely important and it affects people more than anything else. There was one study once where they asked young men what is the number one thing that keeps them from practicing their religion, and 96% of them said: their companions, their friends.

Part of the proof of that — Allah in Surah an-Naml mentions that Bilqis, the queen of Yemen, was affected by her environment. Even though Allah confirmed in the Qur'an that she was a very wise woman — very intelligent, very wise. But even she was affected by her environment. Allah says:

What kept her from worshipping Allah, and what made her worship things besides Allah, is that she was from a people who were disbelievers. She was affected by her environment. We are all affected by our environment.

And that's why Allah says in the Qur'an:

وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ — as some of the mufassirin said, meaning: contain yourself, be patient with those who worship their Lord during the night and the day. They are worshipping their Lord continuously. يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُ — they have ikhlas on top of that; they are doing it purely for the sake of Allah, seeking His pleasure. And then Allah says: don't let your eyes pass beyond them desiring the adornments of this worldly life, تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا. Don't let your eyes pass beyond these people who are patiently worshipping their Lord and obeying their Lord. And don't obey those whose hearts have been made heedless.

The environment has a huge effect as well. And there are other reasons — perhaps we'll continue in another khutbah, insha'Allah.

We ask Allah to make us of those who hear the truth as clear truth and follow the best of it. And to make us of those who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain from it.