The Path of Knowledge
Islam is a path of seeking knowledge. Every Muslim ought to be a student—not only in their early years but throughout their entire life. When we first embrace Islam, or recommit to it, many of us experience the feeling of standing before a vast ocean of knowledge that we must learn and assimilate into our lives. This can feel invigorating or, in some cases, intimidating. So it is important to know that we stand on these shores with all of our brothers and sisters in faith. The Messenger of God ﷺ tells us, “Seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim.” Living a life of worship and spiritual growth requires learning that we implement into our daily practices. Knowledge is the lifeblood of this process. The path of seeking knowledge therefore is exactly where we are supposed to be, whether we are just beginning or continuing a journey of many years.
In my previous article, “Identity and Community,” I mentioned the narration of the Prophet, “People are like mines of gold and silver. The best of you before Islam are the best of you in Islam.” Here, I want to offer the rest of this narration: “The best of you before Islam are the best of you in Islam if you attain understanding of the religion.” Attaining knowledge distinguishes us within the religion because it allows us to take that gold and silver within ourselves and polish it until it shines. Yet many of us are left wondering where to begin. Should we start memorizing Quran, or perhaps learn Arabic first so that we understand it? Is it better to study law or hadith? What if we are attracted by the spiritual sciences and wish to start a daily litany or seek out a shaykh? Fortunately, the religion offers an order of priorities for those of us just starting out.
Our first priority as Muslims are those things for which we will be individually responsible when we stand before God in judgement. These points of belief and actions are known collectively as the individual obligations (fard al-ayn). These form the foundation of our religion and they are distinct from communal obligations (fard al-kifayah) and recommended supererogatory acts (nawafil). We often think of the individual obligations as the ‘basics’ of our religion because they comprise things like belief in God, daily prayers, and fasting in Ramadan. Yet, in God’s eyes, these are the greatest things we can accomplish. Allah tells us directly that “My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him.” God has put the greatest blessings in the foundational knowledge of our religion so that each of us may draw near to Him. It is therefore incumbent upon us to learn the individual obligations well.
Our first task is to fully develop our iman, or belief. The Messenger of God defined iman as belief in “God, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine decree, both the good and the evil thereof.” It is our testimony of faith that brings us into the religion; belief in the other creations of God mentioned here help us to fully develop and realize our iman. Belief in angels opens our eyes to the reality of the unseen, for example, whereas belief in the Last Day and the divine decree teach us that our lives, and creation itself, proceed according to God’s wisdom and ultimately return to Him. Like much else in Islam, each of these articles of belief are oceans unto themselves. We should expect our knowledge of each of them to deepen over the course of our lives. However, it is sufficient for us to simply be aware of their existence while remaining open to opportunities to learn more.
Our next duty is to learn the acts of worship, commonly referred to as the Five Pillars of Islam. These are the actions we take to save our belief from being a purely intellectual affair. Worship activates belief, just as belief directs our worship. The Messenger of God teaches us that the acts of worship are “to testify that there is nothing worthy of worship except God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God, to perform the prayers, to pay the purifying alms, to fast in Ramadan, and to make the pilgrimage to the Sacred House if you are able to do so.” These actions fill our lives with worship by giving us daily, yearly, and once in a lifetime devotions to perform. It takes knowledge to begin practicing them. Surprisingly for many of us, it also takes knowledge to keep going. Remaining consistent in your prayers, fasting, and giving away your hard earned money will lead you to a knowledge of yourself—your strengths, weaknesses, points of pain and pleasure—that is difficult to gain without consistent worship. Knowing yourself is also a form of worship, as the Messenger of God tells us that “The one who knows their self best, knows their Lord best.”
From here, the individual obligations placed upon us begin to change from person to person. We are called to understand the guidance Allah provides us for any major endeavor in our life. For example, if we intend to get married, it becomes necessary to understand the rulings on marriage. If we are entrepreneurs, there are rulings we must know on buying and selling in the marketplace, deploying capital, and borrowing money. Many Western Muslims are particularly well-versed on the rulings around the halal slaughter of animals since we cannot take for granted that our meat will be permissible to eat. One of the blessings in learning these types of individual obligations is that we get to experience God’s wisdom as it relates to things we already understand extremely well. This can deepen our appreciation of our worldly affairs and, indeed, turn them into acts of worship.
Beyond this, the path is wide and open. We may choose to learn about anything Islam has to offer—and we should. The things that speak to us most will contain the most blessing for us, God willing, because we will always seek to learn more about them over the course of our lives. This can take us from being a seeker of knowledge to being a truly learned person, or alim. The Messenger of God said, “Verily, the angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge. The inhabitants of the heavens and earth, even the fish in the depths of the water, seek forgiveness for the alim.”
If you would like to begin learning the individual obligations of the religion, we cover them every week in our Being Muslim class. We would love to see you there!