ISLAM IS NOT AGAINST KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE

ISLAM IS NOT AGAINST KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE

 

How could Islam ever be defied through knowledge? Islam is the very essence of knowledge. Many parts of Qur’an al-karim command knowledge and praise men of knowledge. For example, it is declared in the ninth ayat ^[1] of Surat-uz-Zumar ^[2]: “Is it possible that he who knows and he who does not know be the same? He who knows is certainly valuable!” Rasulullah’s ‘sall-Allahu alaihi wa salam’ words praising and recommending knowledge are so numerous and so famous that even our enemies know about them. For example, in the books Ihya-ul-’ulum and Mawdu’at-ul-’ulum, the following hadith ^[3] is written in a section describing the value of knowledge, “Acquire knowledge even if it is in China!” That is, “Go and learn knowledge, even if it is at the farthest place in the world and in the possession of disbelievers!

    Do not say, ‘I don’t want it; it is invented by disbelievers’. ” And it is declared in another hadith-i-sharif: “Study and learn knowledge from the cradle to the grave!” That is, an old man of eighty, one of whose feet is already in the grave, should sudy. It is an act of worship for him to learn. And once he declared: “Work for the next world as if you were to die tomorrow, and work for the world as if you would never die. ” He declared in a hadih-i-sharif: “Little worship done with knowledge is better than much worship done without understanding. ” Once he said, “The Devil is more afraid of a savant than of thousands of ignorant worshippers. ”

    Muslim woman cannot go on supererogatory hajj (pilgrimage) without taking her husband’s leave; she cannot set out on a journey or pay a visit, either. However, she can go out for the purpose of learning without his permission, if he does not teach her or allow her to learn. As it is seen, though it is a sin for her to go on hajj without permission, which is a great worship liked by Allahu ta’ala, it is not a sin to go out to learn without permission.

    Then how can disbelievers ever attack Islam through knowledge? Does knowledge blame knowledge? Of course not, it likes, praises it. He who attacks Islam through knowledge will suffer a defeat.

GLOSSARY

[1] ayat: a verse of al-Qur’an al-kerim; al-ayat al-karima. [2] sura(t): a Qur’anic chapter [a chapter of the Qur’an]. [3] hadith (sharif): i) a saying of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam).; al-Hadith ash-sharif: all the hadiths as a whole; ii) ‘ilm al-hadith; iii) Books of the hadith ash-sharif. iv) Al-hadith al-qudsi, as-sahih, al-hasan: kinds of hadiths (for which, see Endless Bliss, II).