Why Seek Sacred Knowledge?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate 

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam. 

Knowledge is the key to arriving at following Allah’s command and following the way of His beloved Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wasallam (Sunnah). This knowledge is that knowledge that is acquired with the intention of acting upon it as well as teaching it.

A person is elevated in the following, starting with leaving prohibitions and fulfilling obligations. Then he continues to rise to a point of adhering to the Sunnah and leaving offensive actions (al-makruhaat). They continue to be elevated in following until they adhere to the Prophetic etiquettes and manners (adab) in dealing with permissible things and having pious intention in doing permissible things.

There is a great magnificent station of following and this station is for the one who sincerely endeavor to oppose the lower self (nafs) and force it to follow Allah's command. By doing so, it produce in the heart an affinity or comfort with following which causes the affinity of the self to follow it such that the self takes comfort and following becomes pleasant to the self and the self grows to incline towards following what His beloved Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam brought forth.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was reported to have said, "None of you is a true believer until his Hawaa (blamable inclination of the self in its love and desires]) is in accordance with what I have brought forth."

Allah Most High says,

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِۦ وَنَهَى ٱلنَّفْسَ عَنِ ٱلْهَوَىٰ ﴿٤٠﴾ فَإِنَّ ٱلْجَنَّةَ هِىَ ٱلْمَأْوَىٰ ﴿٤١

But as for him who feared standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from al-Hawaa (impure evil desires, and lusts.) (40) Verily, Paradise will be his abode. (41)

[Qur'an, an-Nazi'at 79:40-41]

We all know many hadiths (some may have read the entire Sahih Bukhari or memorized the entire 40 Hadith of Imam Nawawi) and many verses of Qur'an (some may have memorized the entire Qur'an), and have learned this Deen (some may have a PHD in Islamic studies). 

In the last few days, have we sat and sincerely taken our self to account for the days which have gone by and the days which are coming? In these days that are coming what kind of aspiration do we have to turn to Allah? Have we asked our self about perfecting fulfillment of obligation and controlling our limbs from doing things which are prohibited --backbiting, lying, talebearing, stealing, cheating, eating/drinking haram, speaking ill of others, spreading evil, seeing/listening to haram, zina,  ...? Have we spoken to our self about adhering to supererogatory worship, beginning with prayer before and after obligatory prayers, dhuha prayer and witr prayer? Are we telling ourselves to leave the offensive actions -- anger, laziness, wastefulness, arrogance, showing off, procrastination, miserliness, hatred, ingratitude, selfishness, ... ? Are we encouraging our self to get up and worship at the end of the night and actually stood up and pray? Are we good to our parents, spouse, children, neighbors and people around us?

The real benefit of knowledge manifests in the physical form of action, not in compiling and displaying them on bookshelves and storing them in electronic media.

O Allah, the One who gave the people of goodness tawfiq to perform goodness and help them, give us tawfiq to perform goodness and help us.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam. 

And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all. 

Wassalaam