Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

He may respond to that in several ways:

Firstly, he should not aim for the certificate itself,

rather these certificates should be used as a means to work in order

to benefit people in any given field, because nowadays work is based

on certificates, and people usually cannot find a way to benefit others

except by these means. If he develops this intention, then his intention

is sound.

Secondly, anyone who wants to gain knowledge can only

find it in these colleges, so he should enter with the intention of

seeking knowledge and not let himself be affected by whatever certificates

he may gain after that.

Thirdly, if a person wants to earn the good things of

both this world and the Hereafter by means of his work, there is nothing

wrong with that, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And whosoever fears Allaah and keeps his duty to

Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty).

And He will provide him from (sources) he never could

imagine”

[al-Talaaq 65:2-3]

This is encouragement to fear Allaah with regard

to a worldly matter.

If it is asked, with regard to a person who does

what he does for worldly purposes, how can we say that he is sincere?

Our answer is:

If he is being sincere in his worship, and he does

not pay attention to people at all, and he is not doing it to show off

to people and earn their praise for his worship, rather his aim to earn

some materialistic gains as one of the results of his worship – then

this is not the same as showing off and trying to draw closer to people

by doing things which are only for drawing closer to Allaah, hoping

that people will praise him for that. But by hoping for material gain

from this action, his intention is undermined and it becomes a kind

of shirk, and his status is lower than that of someone whose intention

is focused solely on the Hereafter.

I would like to take this opportunity to point

out when some people speak of worldly gains, such as saying that prayer

involves physical exercise and calms the nerves, and that fasting cleanses

the body and disciplines eating habits, we should not make worldly gains

the main aim of worship, because that will lead to a weakening of sincerity

and negligence in seeking the Hereafter. Hence Allaah has explained

to us in His Book that the wisdom behind fasting, for example, is to

promote taqwa (piety). The religious benefits are the primary aim, and

worldly benefits are secondary. When we speak to the common people we

should tell them of the spiritual aspects, and when we speak to those

who cannot be convinced by anything other than materialistic considerations,

then we can tell them of both the spiritual and worldly benefits; it

is a matter of addressing each in the manner he understands best.