Introduction :The Importance of

Al-Ilm(Knowledge).
To seek knowledge is a sacred duty, it is obligatory on every Muslim, male and
female. The first word revealed of the Quran was "IQRA" RE!" #eek knowledge"
Educate yourselves" $e educated.
#urah l%&umr, ayah ' reveals( "Are those eual! those who "now and those who
do not "now#"
#urah l%$a)arah, ayah *+' reveals( "Allah grants wisdom to whom $e pleases
and to whom wisdom is granted indeed he recei%es an o%erflowing &enefit."
,enturies old monarchy, colonialism and the o--ressive rule of their own -eo-le have
brought about moral and s-iritual degeneration of Muslims throughout the world. To
retrieve them from this degeneration, its about time that the Muslim .mmah
restructures its educational -riorities along /slamic lines, fulfilling the e0isting needs
as well. $y virtue of such an educational -rogram, the future generations will become
the torch%bearers of /slamic values and -lay an effective role in the -resent world. The
challenges of modern times call for rebuilding the structure of our educational
-rogram on such a foundation as to fulfil our s-iritual as well as tem-orary
obligations. Today we need an education system which can -roduce, what the late
#ayyid bul la Mawdudi said, "Muslim -hiloso-her, Muslim scientist, Muslim
economist, Muslim 1urist, Muslim statesman, in brief, Muslim e0-erts in all fields of
knowledge who would reconstruct the social order in accordance with the tenets of
/slam."
The Muslims today are the most humiliated community in the world. nd should they
-ersist in following the same educational -rogram as given by their colonial masters,
they will not be able to recover themselves from moral and s-iritual decadence.
I&n 'as(ud (Allah &e pleased with him) reported that the 'essenger of Allah
).A.* said: The position of onl+ two persons is en%ia&le, the person whom Allah
&estowed wealth empowering him to spend it in the wa+ of righteousness! and
the person whom Allah ga%e wisdom with which he ad-udges and which he
teaches to others.
According to Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah! I&n A&&as (Allah &e pleased with him)
narrated that the 'essenger of Allah ).A.* said: A single scholar of religion is
more formida&le against sha+taan than a thousand de%out persons.
/slam is our greatest gift. 2e have to be thankful for this gift. 2e have to render to
llah 3is due. llah has given us so much by making us a -art of the .mmah of the
4ro-het Muhammad so we must totally commit ourselves as followers of the 4ro-het.
2e must become true Muslims.
5ow how can we become Muslims in the true sense of the word6 7irst let6s define
what a Muslim is. Muslim is not a Muslim sim-ly because he6s born one. A
'uslim is a 'uslim &ecause he is a follower of Islam, a submitter to the 2ill of
llah. 2ere Muslim if we consciously and deliberately acce-t what has been taught
by the 4ro-het Muhammad #..2 and act accordingly. 8therwise were not true
Muslims.
The first and most crucial obligation on us is to ac)uire knowledge and secondly to
-ractice and -reach this knowledge. 5o man becomes truly a Muslim without
knowing the meaning of /slam, &ecause he &ecomes a 'uslim not through &irth
&ut through "nowledge. .nless we come to know the basic and necessary teachings
of the 4ro-het Muhammad #..2 how can we believe in him, have faith in him, act
according to what he taught6 /t is im-ossible for us to be a Muslim, and at the same
time live in a state of ignorance.
/t is essential to understand that the greatest gift of llah 6 for which we are so over
whelmed with gratitude 6 de-ends -rimarily on knowledge. 2ithout knowledge one
cant truly receive llahs gift of /slam. /f our knowledge is little, then we will
constantly run the risk of losing that magnificent gift, which we have received unless
we remain vigilant in our fight against ignorance.
-erson without knowledge is like someone walking along a track in com-lete
darkness. Most likely his ste-s will wander aside and he easily can be deceived by
#haytaan. This shows that our greatest danger lies in our ignorance of /slamic
teachings and in our unawareness of what the Quran teaches and what guidance has
been given by the 4ro-het #..2. $ut if we are blessed with the light of knowledge
we will be able to see -lainly the clear -ath of /slam at every ste- of our lives. 2e
shall also be able to identify and avoid the dangerous -aths of 9ufr, #hirk and
immorality, which may cross it. nd, whenever a false guide meets us on the way, a
few words with him will )uickly establish that he is not a guide who should be
followed.
8n this knowledge de-ends whether our children and we are true Muslims and remain
true Muslims. /t is therefore not a trivial to be neglected. 2e do not neglect doing
whatever is essential to im-rove our trades and -rofessions. $ecause we know that if
we do neglect, we will starve to death and so lose the -recious gift of life. 2hy then
should we be negligent in ac)uiring that knowledge on which de-ends whether we
become Muslims and remain Muslims6 !oes such negligence not entail the danger of
losing an even more -recious gift 6 our /man6 /s not /man more -recious than life
itself6 Most of our time and labor is s-ent on things, which sustain our -hysical
e0istence in this life. 2hy can we not s-end even a tenth -art of our time and energy
on things, which are necessary to -rotect our /man, which only can sustain us in the
-resent life and in the life to come6 /t is not necessary to study e0tensively to become
a Muslim. 2e should at least s-end about one hour out of twenty%four hours of the
day and night in ac)uiring the knowledge of this !een, the way of life, the /slam.
Every one of us, young or old, man or woman, should at least ac)uire sufficient
knowledge to enable ourselves to understand the essence of the teachings of the
Quran and the -ur-ose for which it has been sent down. 2e should also be able to
understand clearly the mission, which our beloved 4ro-het #..2 came into this
world to fulfill. 2e should also recogni:e the corru-t order and system, which he
came to destroy. 2e should ac)uaint ourselves, too, with the way of life which llah
has ordained for us.
5o great amount of time is re)uired to ac)uire this sim-le knowledge. /f we truly
value /man, it cannot be too difficult to find one hour every day to devote for our
/man.
9nowledge is identified in /slam as worshi-. The ac)uiring of knowledge is worshi-,
reading the Quran and -ondering u-on it is worshi-, travelling to gain knowledge is
worshi-. The -ractice of knowledge is connected with ethics and morality 6 with
-romoting virtue and combating vice, en1oining right and forbidding wrong. This is
called in the Quran( amr bil-l maruuf wa nah-y ani-l munkar.
5ot only should we seek knowledge, but when we learn it, it becomes obligatory on
us to -ractice it. Though we must remember that correct knowledge should come
before correct action. 9nowledge without action is useless because a learned -erson
without action will be the worst of creatures on the !ay of Resurrection. lso, action
should not be based on blind imitation for this is not the )uality of a thinking, sensible
human being.
9nowledge is -ursued and -racticed with modesty and humility and leads to beauty
and dignity, freedom and 1ustice.
The main -ur-ose of ac)uiring knowledge is to bring us closer to ;od. /t is not sim-ly
for the gratification of the mind or the senses. /t is not knowledge for the sake of
knowledge or science for the value of sake. 9nowledge accordingly must be linked
with values and goals.
8ne of the -ur-oses of ac)uiring knowledge is to gain the good of this world, not to
destroy it through wastage, arrogance and in the reckless -ursuit of higher standards
of material comfort.
nother -ur-ose of knowledge is to s-read freedom and dignity, truth and 1ustice. /t is
not to gain -ower and dominance for its own sake.
8bviously, what we may call the reservoir of knowledge is dee- and -rofound. /t is a
vast and o-en field that is not limited.
/t is im-ossible for anyone to gain anything more than a fraction of what there is to
know in the short s-an of ones life. 2e must therefore decide what is most im-ortant
for us to know and how to go about ac)uiring this knowledge.
The following ahadith shows how im-ortant and how rewarding knowledge is.
.$e who acuires "nowledge acuires a %ast portion.. A/0 .If an+one going on
his wa+ in search of "nowledge! 1od will! there&+ ma"e eas+ for him the wa+ to
2aradise..
2e, the children, are the future. The future lies in our hands, but only through
knowledge because whoever neglects learning in youth, loses the -ast and is dead for
the future.
May llah <#2T= give us strength to behave and act 1ust as 3e likes us to do and be
-leased with us, and that should be the -ur-ose of our lives. Ra&&i 3idnee ilma <8
>ord, increase us in knowledge=. ameen.
#o, / am going to discuss the issues that are currently ha--ening that are related to the
im-ortance of Al-Ilm (Knowledge). The to-ic that / chose for my article review is
Al-Ilm al-I"tisa&i ( Acuired Knowledge).
The 4 *$ Questions
?. *hat (
1od 2article( )cientist win /o&el 2h+sics 2ri3e
*. *hen (
7ounded the @ ;od 4article on Auly ?B, *C?*
3e was granted the 5obel -ri:e on 8ctober '
th
, *C?D
D. *here(
#tockholm, #weden.
;eneva, #wit:erland.
B. *h+ (
The boson e0-lains why other elementary -articles E the basic building
blocks of the universe E have mass. /ts discovery "fills a ga- in our
understanding of the laws of nature that govern all matter, and throws
light on what was going on in the early universe," e0-lains -hysics
-rofessor #teven 2einberg in the 5ew Fork Times.
Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/55487/peter-higgs-
qa-god-particle-man-wins-nobel-prize-physics#ixzz2ypJxh1Y3
G. $ow :
/n *CCH, the Euro-ean 8rgani:ation for 5uclear Research <,ern= began
building the worldIs largest -article accelerator near ;eneva. The
J?Cbn >arge 3adron ,ollider is designed to "re-roduce the incredibly
high energies found in the first trillionth of a second after the $ig
$ang, which brought our universe into e0istence". 8n B Auly, ,ern
scientists confirmed that a -article found in the ,ollider during
e0-eriments conducted in *C?*, was the elusive 3iggs boson
Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/55487/peter-higgs-
qa-god-particle-man-wins-nobel-prize-physics#ixzz2ypKLSaUP
56/578)I6/):
ccording to Quranic -ers-ective, knowledge is a -rere)uisite for the creation
of a 1ust world in which authentic -eace can -revail. /n the case of countrys
disorder or war the Quran em-hasi:es the im-ortance of the -ursuit of
learning, llaah says <what means=(
"5or should the believers all go forth together( if a contingent from every
e0-edition remained behind, they could devote themselves to studies in
religion, and admonish the -eo-le when they return to them % that thus they
<may learn= to guard themselves <against evil=." Quran '(?**
The teachings of religion of /slam came to us well over ?BCC years
ago. 7rom the beginning of revelation, there was an em-hasis on
seeking and ac)uiring knowledge. / remind you that the first words of
revelation were KReadL.
The intention of this article is not so much to remind you the
im-ortance of seeking knowledge. /t is assumed that we know as
Muslims that we have been commanded to seek knowledge. The )uest
for knowledge is a com-ulsion on every Muslim. M3adith 3assanN
5ote( The knowledge referred to above is knowledge in deen because
that is the only knowledge that is wajib <com-ulsory=.
The main goal of this article is to motivate you to continue to seek
/slamic knowledge, and to encourage you to take 1oy and -ride in
doing this act of worshi-, because we can understand from various
Quranic statements and ahadith <statements of the 4ro-het= that there
are definite returns for these efforts in the form of rewards and
blessings from llah.
R9:9R9/59):
?. htt-(OOen.islamway.netOarticleOHPDB
*. htt-(OO)uran.comO?B
D. The Malay Mail 8nline.
B. ,om-rehensive 5otes for .nderstanding /slam by
$ro. 9a::man 9amaru::aman
G. 5ews#traitsTimes 5ews-a-er% 8riginal ,o-y
;A)I5 T$9'9) 6: A7-Q8RA/
ARTI579 R9<I9* A))I1/'9/T
Topic: The Importance of Al-Ilm (Knowledge)-
Al-Ilm al-I"tisa&i ( Acuired Knowledge)
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