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'Ilm - Gotta Have It

Muhammad Alshareef

category: Knowledge

source: Khutbah.com

reads: 11150

... continued from Page 2

Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala says:

"Indeed the Shaytan is your enemy, so treat him like your enemy." [Al-Fatir 35/6]

Do not treat him like a best friend. You always see in these cartoons that Shaytan is always the good one, the one who takes them to have fun. They go up to Paradise and it is just someone playing the harps, but in Hellfire, they are having a party. This is the tazeen. They make all the people think that it is so beautiful to go to Hellfire and to live this life.

In the Qur’an Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala says:

Iblees said, "By your might, I will surely mislead them all. Except, among them, those servants of yours who are sincere."

Take a look at two of the weapons Shaytaan will use against you.

One: in the fight against Shaytan, the sofa. The name of this in English actually has a meaning in Arabic. In Arabic, ‘sofa’ means ‘to procrastinate.’ In Arabic, when a person says, "I want you to study for your exam," he will say in Arabic, "Sofa." It’s called ‘tasweef.’ If you ask the teacher to define it: "What is tasweef?" He will say, "Sofa, sofa, sofa, sofa." It means, "I’ll do it tomorrow."

Or someone will say, "The halaqa is on Saturdays, let me just get through this semester and then I’ll start to come to the halaqa. Let me finish the university, and then I’ll start learning the deen. Let me pay off these debts that have accumulated, after I finish the debts, then I’ll come to the halaqa." He finishes the debts, halfway through he gets married, and now he says, "You know, let me get my house, let me get my nice car, let me have ten children, and then I’ll come to the halaqa." If you have ten children, when are you going to come to the halaqa? You have to take care of those kids.

This is how Shaytan leads them until finally the person is really saying that after he’s dead, that is when he’ll really come to the halaqa. And when he gets to that stage right before his death, he will say, "I wish I had done it differently."

Two: a person might not lead an upright life so when they hear of a halaqa they say, "I can’t come to this halaqa because I’m not at their level." This is the wrong attitude, because it is in the sequence of knowledge that the person will come closer to Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. By not learning about the deen, the person will go further away from Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala.

If someone is sincere and feels like that, he should know that the tawbah is there in those halaqas. When a person comes forward and takes a step toward Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala, then He will come closer to them.

PART IV: The Rewards of Seeking Knowledge

First, if you study the deen then know that there is paramount reward from Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala for those who seek knowledge sincerely for His sake and pass it on to others.

Second, if you pass it on to others, not only will you see the reward yourself, but you also see and get the continual reward of those following it. To teach someone something is a sadaqah jaariyah (continusou sadaqah). For example, if a person learned how to pray from Imam Abu Hanifah, and it is correct, then Imam Abu Hanifah gets continual reward because he learned it from him. Similarly, if that person teaches someone else how to pray based on Abu Hanifah’s teachings, Abu Hanifah and that person both will get the continual rewards for the person following them. So the teacher will continue to get the reward for the knowledge he/she passes on.

Third, know that this knowledge is the inheritance from the prophets. The prophets never left any money behind for anyone, but they left behind knowledge.

Finally, know that when you seek this knowledge, and alleviate yourself of this ignorance, you will be walking in happiness. It is only those people who have knowledge of the deen that are the ones who truly fear Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala.