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 Knowledge in the Qur’an and the Hadith
By

Mohammad Zakir Khan
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies, B.A. (Honors) in English, M.A. in English, MA in Islamic Studies Student

Islam is a religion based upon knowledge for it is ultimately knowledge of the Oneness of Allah combined with faith and total commitment to Him that saves man. The text of the Qur'an is replete with verses inviting man to use his intellect, to ponder, to think and to know, for the goal of human life is to discover the Truth which is none other than worshipping Allah in His Oneness. There are three important sources of authentic knowledge as is in the following Hadith:

Abdullah ibn Amir ibn Al As (r.a.) narrated that Prophet  (s) said, “Knowledge consists of three things: the decisive verses (Qur’an), authentic Hadith and prescriptions rightly deduced from the two.  What is beside them is superfluous (extra).”[1]   

Knowledge, both oral and textual, forms a central part of the Islamic scholarly tradition. As Jonathan Berkey aptly puts it, classical Muslim society ‘esteemed knowledge and education above almost every other human activity’.[2] The written word is central to Islam, for it is a religion in which the holy book plays the most vital role. The Qur’an is the literal word of Allah (S.W.T). The word Qur’an itself means ‘recitation or reading’, and as Muslims, we believe that Allah communicates with humankind principally through the medium of revelations (wahi) that take the form of books and the prophets (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them.).

Being Muslims, we believe that Allah has commissioned a series of messengers to preach the one primal religion (din) of al-Islam to humankind as Qur'an says: "Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam".[3]  The Qur’an tells us that at least one prophet has been sent to every human community. "And there never was a nation but a warner had passed among them".[4] Although all the prophets taught the same basic faith, some of them were also granted a scripture or holy book by Allah (S.W.T). Thus, for instance, Moses (PBUH) was given the Torah, Jesus (PBUH) the Gospels, and David (PBUH) the Psalms. We as Muslims, believe that Muhammad (PBUH), is Allah’s last prophet who was given the Qur’an, through the agency of the angel Gabriel (Jibra’il), containing Allah’s will for all humankind. Since the Qur’an is seen as the very word of Allah, it has always occupied a central role in the lives of Muslims. Because of the pivotal importance of the Qur’an in Islam, the religion can be said to represent one of the most remarkable instances of what Sardar and Davies call a ‘documentary faith’, and Muslims the most striking example of a ‘book-centered community’.[5]    

The Prophet (PBUH) is presented as, above all, a teacher (mu‘allim), and Islam as the first religion to enjoin universal literacy.[6] At one occasion the Prophet (PBUH) himself asserted:  ‘I have been sent only as a teacher’. The importance that Islam places on the acquisition of knowledge for every believer is clearly evidenced in the Qur’an itself. The very first revelation revealed to Muhammad (PBUH) regarded him being unable to read and write, stressed the importance of knowledge and the written word thus:

Read: in the name of thy Rabb (Cherisher and Sustainer) who creates,

Creates man from a clot.

Read: And thy Rub is the Most Bounteous,

Who teaches by the pen,

Teaches man that which he knew not.[7]

Of the 6347 verses of the sacred text, the obligation to offer prayers is mentioned in some 200, while the verses exhorting the believers to ponder on the mysteries of nature and reflect on Allah’s creation and to use their reason are more than three times that number. The Qur’an repeatedly exhorts the believers to acquire knowledge, going so far as to insist that the knowledgeable are actually the truly Allah-fearing. It tells the believers that Allah exalts those who have faith as well as knowledge, the two being seen as inseparable. It also refers to the superiority of human beings over the angels on the grounds of knowledge. It speaks of Allah commanding the angels to bow down before Adam, whom He had appointed as His ‘deputy’ (khalifa) after providing him knowledge of the ‘names’ of all things on earth. When the angels remarked that human beings, despite their knowledge, might create strife on earth, Allah silenced them, stressing Adam’s knowledge over their own infallibility.[8]

The Hadith, the corpus of traditions attributed to the Prophet (PBUH), also contains numerous exhortations of the Prophet (PBUH) that stress the importance of acquiring knowledge as a religious duty, with the quest for knowledge being considered a lifelong vocation. ‘Knowledge is the life of Islam and a pillar of faith’, Muhammad (PBUH) remarked. A hadith relates that the Prophet (PBUH) declared it a duty binding on all Muslims, men as well as women, to acquire knowledge. ‘Seek knowledge from cradle to grave and search for it even if you are to go to China’, another prophetic tradition advises Muslims. If Allah wishes to benefit someone, a hadith has it, He grants him knowledge of the faith.[9] ‘For he who goes out in search of knowledge, Allah makes the path to heaven easy’, another hadith says. The seeker of knowledge is regarded as one who strives in the path of Allah (jihad), and Muhammad (PBUH) is said to have declared, ‘The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr’. Insisting on the need for all Muslims to acquire knowledge, the Prophet said, ‘Valueless is the Muslim who is not a teacher or student’.[10] Another hadith relates that the superiority of a scholar (‘alim) over a worshipper (‘abid) is like that of the Prophet over the least of his companions, or, as another report expresses it, like that of the moon over all the stars. ‘To listen to the instructions of science and learning for one hour’, the Prophet is said to have declared, ‘is more meritorious than attending the funerals of a thousand martyrs, and more meritorious than standing up in prayer for a thousand nights’. A similar hadith mentions, ‘One hour’s meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer’.[11] That is why Muhammad (PBUH) is said to have remarked that the scholars (‘ulama) are the heirs of the prophets.[12]

In the Islamic tradition, acquisition of knowledge is not regarded as an end in itself or as a means for purely utilitarian purposes or materialistic pursuits. Rather, the aim of knowledge in Islam is to understand the will of Allah and to lead one’s life according to it, serving Allah and abiding by His commandments in one’s life. True knowledge is said to be that which leads to piety (taqwa), which, in turn, is expressed in the form of virtuous actions (‘amal-i saliha).  ‘Ilm and ‘amal (practice) are thus seen as integrally related to each other—a truly knowledgeable person is defined as an ‘alim bi’l ‘amal (‘a scholar who acts [on his knowledge]’). On the basis of true knowledge alone can one’s worship approach perfection and one’s dealings with fellow creatures of Allah be conducted in accordance with the Divine Will. Only this sort of knowledge is said to be useful (‘ilm-i nafe) and to be able to assist one in life in the hereafter.[13] True knowledge is thus different from bookish learning, and need not be acquired from spending years studying various books at all. In fact, it is often pointed out, several of the companions (sahaba) of the Prophet (PBUH) were themselves completely illiterate, but yet possessed true knowledge and, accordingly, acted upon it in sincerity.

Because of this integral link between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’, education (ta‘lim) in the Islamic tradition is seen as inseparable from ‘training’ (tarbiyat) of the self. This explains the great importance that is given to the deep personal bond between teacher and student. The ideal teacher is not simply a means of transmission of knowledge, but, rather, a living embodiment of that knowledge, a spiritual guide for the student, a representative of the Prophet (PBUH) and a model for the student to emulate. Hence the value of suhbat or keeping the company of pious men as a means to acquiring true knowledge. Books of Islamic pedagogy, from the earliest times down to our own, repeatedly stress the centrality of suhbat and the inculcation by the student of appropriate moral values and normative behaviour patterns (summed up as aklhlaq and adab) through a close emulation of his teacher, this being seen as more important than the mere bookish learning. Without the former, the latter is seen as hollow and meaningless, and, in Allah’s eyes, indeed as reprehensible. Knowledge without the appropriate practice is said to be a dangerous thing. It threatens to drive people away from the path of religion, tempting them to use religious knowledge for worldly gain and hence to ultimately lead them to punishment in Hell. 

Islam is the perfect religion that gives importance to success both in this world and the life hereafter. As Islam sees it, to conduct one’s worldly affairs in accordance with Allah’s will is also a form of worship (‘ibadat). Thus, knowledge of Allah’s creation is said to lead to knowledge of the attributes of Allah (ma‘rifat-i rabbani), through which alone can one’s worship of Allah approach perfection. This is why the Qur’an repeatedly asks the believers to use their brain or mind (‘aql) to ponder on the wonders of nature, which are described as the ‘signs’ (ayat) of Allah. Thus, the Qur’an says: ‘Lo, in the Heavens and the earth are convincing proofs for those who truly fear.[14] In a similar vein, elsewhere it says: ‘Lo, in the creation of the Heavens and the earth and in the alternation of night and day are signs for people of wisdom; they who perform worship of Allah, standing and sitting and reclining, and contemplate on the creation of the Heavens and the earth, saying “O, our Rub! Thou hath not created this in vain”’.[15] As the Qur’an sees it, knowledge of the Work of Allah, as reflected in His creation, cannot contradict the Word of Allah, as manifested in the Qur’an. Thus, Islamic knowledge is seen as in accordance with reason, with both emerging from the same divine source. As a hadith puts it, ‘Knowledge is the friend of the true believer and reason is his guide’. The Prophet (PBUH) went so far as to insist that his followers should acquire all manner of useful knowledge, for, as he said, ‘A word of wisdom is the lost property of the true believer. Wherever he finds it he takes it’. Because of this, as we shall see, the early Muslims emerged as the torchbearers of science at a time when Europe was entering the Dark Ages and scientists were being put to the stake by the medieval Church.

In the Islamic tradition, knowledge is understood as Allah’s gift that must be freely shared with others, this been seen as a binding religious duty in accordance with the Qur’anic commandment of ‘commanding the good and forbidding the evil’. The Qur’an and the Hadith are replete with references to the importance of spreading knowledge among others. Thus, the Prophet (PBUH) is said to have declared that the angels, all the creatures living in the skies and on earth and even the ants in their holes pray for the person who spreads knowledge of what is good.[16] ‘There is no better alms than giving knowledge to others’, Muhammad (PBUH) taught. On the other hand, the hadith sternly warns those who barter their knowledge for worldly trifles, promising them a painful doom in this world or the next. Thus, the Prophet is reported to have declared that those who used the knowledge ‘through which the pleasure of Allah (S.W.T) is gained’ for worldly pleasures would be ‘denied the fragrance of heaven’ on the Day of Judgment. Another hadith has it that the scholar who deliberately conceals his knowledge from others would be punished in the next world. Yet another hadith warns that scholars who do not act according to the knowledge they possess would be consigned to Hell.[17]

In Makkah, the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions were reviled and stiffly opposed by the leading tribe of the town, the Qur’aish. The Qur’aish found Muhammad’s (PBUH) message of monotheism and egalitarianism a major challenge to their system of crude polytheism and a grave threat to their own social privileges. Faced with the opposition of the Qura’ish, the Prophet (PBUH) and his small band of followers would gather secretly at the house of one of the Prophet’s (PBUH) companions, ‘Arqam bin Abi ‘Arqam, hidden in a valley outside Makkah. There they would pray together and listen to the Prophet (PBUH) recite passages of the Qur’an. This is said to have been the very first Muslim ‘school’. After suffering thirteen long years of persecution in Makkah, the Prophet (PBUH) decided to shift along with a group of his followers to the town of Madinah. The people of Madinah welcomed him, and here the Prophet (PBUH) laid the foundation of a first Islamic State. One of the first ventures that he undertook in Madinah. Madinah was to construct a mosque for the community, which later came to be known as the ‘Prophet’s Mosque’ (masjid-i nabawi). The mosque served as a prayer house for the Muslims of the town. Besides, in the mosque the Prophet (PBUH) discussed the administrative affairs of Madinah, decided legal disputes and planned military strategies. It was also here that he imparted religious education to his followers, the sahaba. He recited portions of the Qur’an, which the sahaba committed to memory. He also explained to them the importance of the divine revelation, and answered their queries. He also arranged for some of his disciples to teach others how to read and write. Interestingly, after the Battle of Badr, two years after his migration to Madinah, the Prophet (PBUH) agreed to release Makkahn prisoners of war if they would each teach ten Muslims how to write.[18] Some 600 Muslims were educated in this way. Muhammad (PBUH) is said to have specially commissioned some sahaba to learn foreign languages such as Syriac, Hebrew and Coptic and subjects such as mathematics and medicine.[19] The remarkable impact of the educational jihad that the Prophet (PBUH) ushered in can best be appreciated if we recall that literacy was almost unknown among the Arabs in pre-Islamic times, there being, it is said, only 17 literate people in Makkah before the Prophet’s (PBUH) birth.[20] Although the pre-Islamic Arabs had a rich oral tradition of their own, excelling in poetry and composing legends of the deeds of their ancestors, they seem to have paid little attention to the written word. 

Since knowledge was seen as a religious duty binding on all believers, men as well as women, the Prophet (PBUH) also devoted his attention to the education of the Muslim women of Madinah. In response to a complaint by the women that he was paying more attention to the education of men, the Prophet (PBUH) arranged to teach women in the mosque, and allotted one day a week to them for the purpose.[21] Women of Madinah would also regularly meet the wives of the Prophet, some of them (like Hazrat Ayesha Radhi Allahu Anha) were themselves literate, and sought answers to their questions from them. The Prophet (PBUH) is said to have appointed a teacher for one of his wives, Hafsah, in order to teach her how to write.[22] Of Ayesha, Muhammad (PBUH) is said to have remarked, ‘Seek half of the knowledge [of the faith] from her’. Ibn Zubayr, a companion of the Prophet (PBUH), asserted that Ayesha knew more that all the sahaba put together.[23]

Islamic education in the Prophet’s (PBUH) time was imparted in the mosque and people’s homes, there being no separate institution for the transmission of Islamic learning. As Islam spread to neighboring areas, delegations of various tribes flocked to the mosque in Madinah to learn from the Prophet (PBUH). Later, on returning to their homes they set up mosques there, where they taught their people the Qur’an.[24]

Allah subhannahu wa ta’ala in the Holy Qur'an invites the human beings to travel through the earth to learn and to find out the truth. The truth which is the base of all knowledge, the truth which is dominating the entire Universe from the very first day, and who ever rejects it whether an individual , a tribe or a nation they would be destroyed and would become history like the nations of past. Allah subhannahu wa ta’ala asks, those who are wise, to learn from the mistakes of previous nations. Allah says:

"Travel through the earth and see what was the end of those who rejected truth."[25]

"Do they not travel through the land so that their hearts (and mind) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind but their hearts which are in their breasts."[26]  

"Go ye through the earth and see what has been the end of those guilty (of sin)."[27]

 "Travel through the earth and see how Allah did originate creation: so will Allah produce a later creation: for Allah has power over all things."[28]

"Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before them? They were superior to them in strength: they tilled the soil and populated it in greater numbers than these have done: there came to them their apostles with Clear (Signs) (which they rejected to their own destruction): it was not Allah Who wronged them but they wronged their own souls."[29]

"Travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before (you): most of them worshipped others besides Allah."[30]

"Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before them (who did evil)? Allah brought utter destruction on them and similar (fates await) those who reject Allah."[31]

"He Who has made for you the earth like a carpet spread out; has enabled you to go about therein by roads (and channels); and has sent down water from the sky." With it have We produced divers pairs of plants each separate from the others."[32]

It is obviously evident from the above discussions that knowledge, particularly the authentic knowledge of Qur'an and Sunnah, plays a vital role success of Muslim ummah both in this world and the hereafter. To be righteously guided and to discharge the duty of 'enjoining the right' and 'forbidding the wrong',[33] we must stick to the three fundament sources of Islamic knowledge i.e., Qur'an, Sunnah and the perceptions rightly documented from the two. Our Prophet (PBUH) struggled and worked very hard in spreading the message of Islam. So, we must strive to seek the correct Islamic knowledge and communicate it to others. As the many of the above Qur'anic verses highlights, we should take all the pain to seek the proper knowledge. The knowledge of the Qur’an and the Sunnah is the key of success. It is knowledge that teaches us what is good for us and what is bad for us. Being a follower of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it is our religious duty to strive to disseminate the true message of Islam to the slaves of Allah. This cannot be achieved without seeking the correct and authentic knowledge of Islam based on the Qur'an and Sunnah.

In view of the above, it can be stated without any reservation that the Muslim Societies around the world will stay behind the civilized world if they do not understand and appreciate the principles behind the message of Islam. The ideas require reinterpretation in all ages at different times. This new century has many new challenges. Even America is continuously updating their laws and methods to face the new problems of information age and beyond. Islam ushered in the age of reason. We as Muslims have to understand the spirit behind the rituals and follow the spirit and not get bogged down in the differences between various sects and national customs. The Muslims can reclaim the heritage of learning charity, kindness, brotherhood, unity, justice and peace again by following the tested principles of Islam with the understanding of underlying universal truth that is based on the knowledge of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

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