Rafed English

Directing the Energy of the Mind - Part 4

Adapted from: "The Role of Ideology in Constructing The Human Being" by: "Ar-Risaleh Center"

Fifthly: directing Man to attain science and knowledge: 

It is indisputable that the Islamic religion urges on attaining science and knowledge. He who contemplates on the verses Qur’an finds that repeated clearly or by hint: “Say are those who know and those who do not know alike? 

Only the men of understanding are mindful” 72.

“Allah will exalt those of you who believe, and those who are given knowledge, in high degrees, and Allah is aware of what you do” 73

“Say: O my Lord’ increase me in knowledge” 74

“Those of His servants only who are possessed of knowledge” 75

because of the importance of knowledge Allah Has taken the covenant of “Ahlilkitaab” to reveal it to people and not to monopolize it: “Allah Has made a covenant with those who were given the Book you should certainly made it known to people and don’t hide it” 76

After the verses of Qur’an there come the “hadeeths” of the prophet (S.W.A.) and his purified progeny (A.S.) as they lead to this direction, and state that knowledge is the pillar of religion and the life of Islam is in it.

They prompt to gain it, uncover its merit, so the ink of scholar is superior to the blood of martyrs, and the superiority of a scholar to a worshiper is such as the superiority of the moon to other stars. In this concern the prophet (S.W.A.) says:

“Seeking knowledge is prior-with Allah- to prayer fasting “hajj” and striving in the path of Allah” 77

it is enough to quote Ameeralmu’amineen’s (A.S.) saying:

“The value of every person is what good he does” 78; it gives evidence to Ahlilbait’s prompt to get science and knowledge.

Look closely at the excellent comparison which Imam Ali (A.S.) made for Kumail Ibn Zeyaad Alnekhaei about the superiority of knowledge to funds and money He (A.S.) says: “O Kumail’ knowledge is better than funds, knowledge guards you while you guard funds and money becomes less when you spend it while knowledge flourishes when you spend it and the favor done by wealth vanishes with its vanishing.

O Kumail bin Zeyaad’ attaining knowledge is a religion followed, with it one can achieve the course of Allah’s obedience in his life, and the good remembrance after his demise, knowledge is a governor while money is governed. 

O Kumail, the treasurers of funds perished while they are alive, while Scholars are alive as long as there is time, their bodies are absent and their statues in the hearts are present.” 79

Because of this rich epistemic sustenance the Moslem set off, being released from the shackles of ignorance and retardation, to the wide horizons of knowledge so he began to contemplate the universal phenomenon discover the secrets of nature through the empirical manner to which his ideology had directed; and this is the procedure on which modern science has been built.

Gebb says in his book “The modern directions in Islam”: “I think that it is agreed on that the detailed precise observation which Moslem researchers practiced had helped to achieve the scientific development in the material field, and that through these notices the empirical procedure had reached Europe in the middle ages” 80

Man has the right to be astonished at the greatness of the Islamic ideology which had brought in that civilizational revolution in the souls of the desert inhabitants till they have become the pioneers of the whole world in science and knowledge and other sides of civilization and culture. 

Notes:

72. Alzumar : 9: 39.

73. Almijaadalah: 11: 58.

74. Taaha: 20: 114.

75. Faatir 35: 28.

76. Aalaumraan 3: 187.

77. Kanzel U’maal 10: 131/ 28655.

78. Nahjil balaagha, Subhi Al-Salih: 482/ saying 81.

79. Nehjilbalagha: 496/ saying 147.

80. Look up: Menhaj alterbeia Aleslaameia: Mohammad Kutub 119, Dar Damascus pub.2.

 

 

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