Chapter I: Acquisition of Knowledge
HADIS: The Holy Prophet said: If a man seeks the path of acquiring knowledge, God guides him to a path leading to Paradise. He said: Angels spread their wings out of cheer for the seeker of knowledge. He said: To rise up at dawn and learn a section of knowledge is better for you than to pray one hundred rak'ats. He said: If a man learns a chapter of knowledge, it is better than the world and its contents. He said: Seek knowledge even if it be in China. He said: To seek knowledge is compulsory on every Muslim, male and female. He said: Knowledge is a treasure house and its key is enquiry. So enquire and there are rewards therefore for four persons - the enquirer, the learned man, the audience and their lover. He said: The ignorant should not remain silent over their ignorance, nor the learned over their knowledge. He said: To be present in an assembly of a learned man is better then praying one thousand rak'ats, visiting one thousand sick men and attending one thousand funerals. The Prophet was asked: O Messenger of God, is it better than the reading of the Quran? He said: What benefit can the Quran do except through knowledge? He said: He who seeks knowledge to .
revive Islam and dies in that condition, there will be the difference of only one step between him and the prophets.
SAYINGS OF SAGES:
Hazrat ibn Abbas said: When I sought knowledge, I became degraded, but when I was sought for knowledge, I became exalted. Ibn Mubarak said: I wonder for one who does not seek knowledge. How can he call himself towards honour? A certain wise man said: I do not feel sympathy for anybody more than two persons 1) one who seeks knowledge but does not understand it and 2) one who understands knowledge but does not seek it.
Hazrat Abu Darda's said: To learn one point is better than to pray the whole night. He said: Either be a learned man, or a student, or an auditor, but not anything else. Hazrat Omar said: The death of one thousand persons who pray all the nights and fast all the days is a lesser calamity than the death of one learned man who is versed in lawful and unlawful things of God. Imam Shafeyi said:
To seek knowledge is better than optional prayers. Hazrat Abu Darda'a said: He who thinks that to go at dawn in search of knowledge is not jihad is deficient in intellect.
24 THE BOOK OF WORSHIP Vol-I
EXCELLENCE OF TEACHING