Masters and Millennials: Acting Upon One’s Knowledge
Acting Upon One’s Knowledge
Masters And Millennials (thirteen) by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan
This is the thirteenth part of a series of articles that are based on al-Fawa’id al-Mukhtarah, one of the seminal works of the great scholar al-Habib Zayn bin Sumayt. The book focuses on a range of topics relevant to daily life and modern challenges for Muslims living in the West. In particular, this series is useful for anyone on the path of knowledge or seeking scholarship.
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Acting upon one’s knowledge
In the past few podcasts, we have been discussing calling people to Allah by teaching them. In this podcast, we turn to the importance of acting on our knowledge. Imam al-Ghazzali said in Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din, “al-‘amalu bila ‘ilmin la yakun” (action does not exist without knowledge). We need knowledge to act. He also said, “wa al-‘ilmu bila ‘amalin junun” (knowledge without action is madness).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), said, “For whoever acts upon his knowledge, Allah will grant him the knowledge that he does not have”. This hadith, which is transmitted by Abu Nu’aym in his Hilyah, has two meanings. Firstly, it means Allah will increase the knowledge of such a person. Secondly, it means Allah will grant him knowledge from Himself (al-‘ilmu al-ladunni”). Allah favoured Sayyidina Khidr with this kind of knowledge.
Habib Ahmad bin Hasan al-Attas narrated a story of a man travelling from Hajrayn to Qaydun every day, which is a four-hour journey. He would travel every day to receive one question and answer from his teacher and then return to his city to act on it. One day he was travelling to Qaydun with his daughter and, when they were about halfway there, he wanted to relieve himself. As he descended from his riding animal, his daughter told him to be patient. She said, “Let me soften the soil so that when you urinate, the urine will not splash on you and soil your clothes”. After he had finished relieving himself, he told his daughter to take him back to Hajrayn. She asked why he did not want to go to Qaydun as he usually did, so he replied, “I have learned a question and answer from you today, and it has benefited me. I have received my knowledge for today. Let me return home. There is no need to go to Qaydun”.
This story illustrates that we can learn from our daughters and sons, and from our younger sisters and brothers. Allah grants knowledge to whom He pleases. We should not reject the bearer of knowledge simply because we regard ourselves as senior to him or her.
Sufyan al-Thawri – a great hadith scholar known for his amazing contribution to the science of hadith – said, “Knowledge calls out to action. When action responds, i.e. when one acts on the knowledge, the knowledge remains. When one does not act on the knowledge, it departs”. He means that the essence and reality of knowledge leaves, and only its form remains. In other words, the turban is there, the jubbah is there, the beautiful speeches are there, but the essence of the knowledge has gone, and it is this essence that benefits us in our relationship with Allah.
Ibrahim ibn Adham said, “I was walking in Makkah one day when I saw a stone upon which was written: ‘Turn me over’. I turned it over and the following words appeared on the other side: ‘You do not act upon that which you know, so how can you seek that which you do not know’”.
Imam al-Haddad said the knowledge you receive is against you until you act on it. Once you have acted on it, it is for you, i.e. it is for your benefit and a means to attain Allah’s mercy and proximity. Students of din must bear this in mind.
Another important issue concerns one who goes against that which he preaches. Allah says, “Do you enjoin right conduct on the people and forget yourselves?” Allah is rebuking the person who does so.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said the first person to be thrown into the fire will be the one who, when Allah says, “We have given you knowledge. What did you do with it?” responds, saying, “I taught people and spread Your din and did da‘wah”. Allah will say, “You have lied”. In other words, you have taught and showed off with your knowledge. You have wanted people to talk about your beautiful classes and your intelligence and your excellent fatwas. Allah will instruct the angels to throw such a person head-first into the fire of Jahannam.
Ibn Simak said, “I admonished people on one occasion and my admonishment pleased me. As I was admonishing, I became impressed with myself. Then I heard someone in the spiritual realm calling to me. He said, ‘You are prescribing for those who are ill and unhealthy so that they may attain good health while you are ill. Do you not know that you must apply this advice to yourself before you apply it to others? Do not prohibit people from following a bad way and then follow it yourself. That is a dishonourable thing to do’”.
In other words, we cannot command others to get up for night prayer (Tahajjud), and to increase in performing good deeds and giving charity while we sleep in the early hours of the morning. However, it is not a problem to encourage others to do good while acknowledging our own weakness.
Our next narration is important. Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri was at home when a group of slaves arrived, telling him that their masters were treating them badly. They asked him to give a Friday sermon about freeing slaves so they could be saved from being treated badly by their masters. Hasan al-Basri listened to their complaints but did not give a khutbah on the topic until after three or four Friday prayers had passed. He then spoke about the importance of freeing slaves and emphasised that Islam encourages owners to set their slaves free.
Islam arrived in a world in which slavery was part of the economic system. Islam did not encourage this economic system but the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) knew that abolishing slavery while it was so important economically would have been disastrous. So Islam adopted a piecemeal approach instead, encouraging the gradual ending of slavery by emphasising the importance of freeing slaves.
After the jumu’ah prayers were over, everyone left the masjid and freed their slaves. One would have imagined that the slaves would be happy. However, they approached Hasan al-Basri, asking why he had allowed them to suffer for three or four weeks before delivering the lecture. He said he had delayed the lecture because it would have been difficult for him to talk about freeing slaves, as he had not owned a slave and therefore could not free one. He had not had the money to buy a slave. He said, “So when Allah made it possible for me to earn some money, I purchased a slave and then set him free. Then I was in the position to call people to do the same, because I had the knowledge and had acted on it”. When you have the knowledge and act on it, and then call others to do the same, you will be much more effective.
Maulana Qasim, said that a bad practice existed in the Indo-Pak subcontinent, in terms of which a widow would not remarry. The practice was apparently based on a Hindu custom. No one proposed to widows, and their families would not marry them off. This caused great hardship for widows and went against the Qur’anic injunction to marry widows. One day Maulana Qasim delivered a lecture. He spoke about this practice, saying it has no basis and women are suffering. While he was delivering the lecture, someone raised his hand, saying he wanted to ask a question. Maulana Qasim said, “Yes, you may, but please excuse me for a few minutes”. He then left the masjid and returned after a few minutes. He asked the man about his question. The man responded, saying, “You are talking to us about marrying off widows and the bad, un-Islamic practice we may have inherited. What about your sister? She is a widow and hasn’t been married for many years”. Maulana Qasim said, “I felt you were going to ask me about this and I felt guilty that I am not practising what I preach, so I left the masjid and married my sister to the gatekeeper, whom I found to be a good man. I have acted on my knowledge, and this will have a much better impact on the hearts of the people I am teaching”.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) spoke out strongly against scholars or callers to Allah who do not practice what they preach. He called them “‘Ulama al-su’” (evil scholars or scholars of misguidance).
We ask Allah to allow us to act on our knowledge. We do not seek in this podcast to discourage you from encouraging others to do good. You should encourage them to do good. However, we must all resolve to act on all the knowledge we are given, no matter how insignificant we think it is. Consider the example of using siwak. Do not regard it, or anything like it, as a small matter. Such practices will elevate our status.
We began our podcast with the narration, “one who acts on their knowledge will be granted knowledge from Allah Himself”. May Allah make that a reality for all of us, Amin.
