The year was 610 AD. The place was Makkah, a rich desert town on the caravan road that ran from Yemen to Syria. The riches it had were not just due to its location but also because it had great religious value to the tribes of peninsula. This was the place that Ibrahim and his son Ismail (Peace and Blessings be upon them) had built the House of Allah so many centuries ago. Their teachings of belief in the oneness of God had been long forgotten and divinity for the people meant that Allah was considered the overall chairman of the gods.
Not far from Makkah, a man climbed up a mountain to find a cave that he used to live in whenever he needed solitude away from the corruption that was prevalent in the city and the society in general. The rich oppressed the poor, the strong abused the weak, the master tortured his slave, the men treated women as property or even worse, blood feuds between tribes would go on for years over some trivial issue and biggest of all was that the House of Allah was now filled with pagan idols numbering over 300.
The man would pack some food and head out to the cave because he felt distressed with the conditions that existed and he wondered how things could change. One night he was lost in his thoughts when he suddenly felt a presence in the cave with him. The presence in the form of a man spoke a single word and the world was changed forever. The word was Iqra and it meant Read.
I am sure students of history and religion would recognize the characters mentioned here. The man who would go up to the cave was the Prophet Mohammed (Peace and Blessings be upon him) and the presence that he felt in the cave was the angel Jibraeel, the same angel that had visited Maryam with the tidings of a blessed son Isa or Jesus (Peace and Blessings be upon him).
The Prophet who was an unlettered man said, "I do not know how to read!" at which Jibraeel embraced him so hard that the Prophet could not withstand it then asked him to read again. The Prophet replied in the same vein, "I do not know how to read." The angel held him again and squeezed hard repeating the command to read. The Prophet this time replied, "What shall I read?"
Jibraeel squeezed him again and this time said:
- Recite in the name of your Lord who created -
- Created man from a clinging substance.
- Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous -
- Who taught by the pen
- Taught man that which he knew not.
Surah Alaq (Chapter 96: 1 - 5)
Doesn't it feel a little weird that with all the problems society was facing at the time, the first command that Allah gives the Prophet wasn't to have faith in one God or not to drink or not commit adultery or whatever but it was to read. The last verse in the first revelation above refers to ilm or knowledge. What is this ilm and why is it so important that Allah tells us about it even before anything else.
Abu ʿAbdillah Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i, the famous jurist also known as Imam Shafi'i once famously remarked, "Al-‘ilm ‘ilman: ‘ilmul abdan wa ‘ilmul adyan" which means "Knowledge has a dual nature: One concerning bodily matters, and the concerning religious affairs." In other words, knowledge comprises both religious and secular knowledge. Allah refers to this knowledge many times in the Quran, as per scholars close to 850 times in various forms while encouraging man to use the powers of reasoning that Allah has granted him. Some examples of that are:
And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth - all from Him. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
Surah Al-Jathiyah (Chapter 45: 13)
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.
Surah Aal-Imran (Chapter 3:190)
And it is He who spread the earth and placed therein firmly set mountains and rivers; and from all of the fruits He made therein two mates; He causes the night to cover the day. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
Surah Ar'Rad (Chapter 13:3)
From the examples above we can get a feeling of what Allah wants us to do with the knowledge that we have acquired. He wants us to use it to recognize his dominance over all other beings by recognizing the signs that are prevalent all around us. He wants us to use secular knowledge and understanding to come to the conclusion that He alone controls them all and all these are not by a matter of chance.
With this idea of knowledge and learning, it is no surprise that the Prophet stressed repeatedly on the importance of knowledge and the blessings that one can acquire from pursuing it.
The Messenger of Allah said, "He who follows a path in quest of knowledge, Allah will make the path of Jannah easy to him. The angels lower their wings over the seeker of knowledge, being pleased with what he does. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth and even the fish in the depth of the oceans seek forgiveness for him. The superiority of the learned man over the devout worshipper is like that of the full moon to the rest of the stars (i.e., in brightness). The learned are the heirs of the Prophets who bequeath neither dinar nor dirham but only that of knowledge; and he who acquires it, has in fact acquired an abundant portion."
Abu Dawud & Tirmidhi
The Prophet said: "The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim."
Tirmidhi
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God, His angels and all those in Heavens and on Earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial knowledge."
Tirmidhi
The great Islamic scholars and scientists did not separate the two fields of knowledge but were well versed in them both. It was this drive to understand the signs of Allah in the world around them that led them to make amazing discoveries and inventions. The likes of which are remembered to this day.
This decline has affected research in Muslim countries even today has mostly resulted because of forced separation of the two avenues of knowledge. It is considered unreasonable for a man of religion to be a prominent scientist and vice versa. This attitude goes against what both Allah and His messenger have taught us. There has to be a change in our attitudes towards knowledge, a change that would let both religious and scientific knowledge work hand in hand with each other rather than be two banks of a river that never meet.
Proficiency in one aspect without any knowledge of the other will only create a very skewed point of view towards everything around us. And with a skewed view, everything looks crooked even if its the evident truth.
And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth - all from Him. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
Surah Al-Jathiyah (Chapter 45: 13)
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.
Surah Aal-Imran (Chapter 3:190)
And it is He who spread the earth and placed therein firmly set mountains and rivers; and from all of the fruits He made therein two mates; He causes the night to cover the day. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
Surah Ar'Rad (Chapter 13:3)
From the examples above we can get a feeling of what Allah wants us to do with the knowledge that we have acquired. He wants us to use it to recognize his dominance over all other beings by recognizing the signs that are prevalent all around us. He wants us to use secular knowledge and understanding to come to the conclusion that He alone controls them all and all these are not by a matter of chance.
With this idea of knowledge and learning, it is no surprise that the Prophet stressed repeatedly on the importance of knowledge and the blessings that one can acquire from pursuing it.
The Messenger of Allah said, "He who follows a path in quest of knowledge, Allah will make the path of Jannah easy to him. The angels lower their wings over the seeker of knowledge, being pleased with what he does. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth and even the fish in the depth of the oceans seek forgiveness for him. The superiority of the learned man over the devout worshipper is like that of the full moon to the rest of the stars (i.e., in brightness). The learned are the heirs of the Prophets who bequeath neither dinar nor dirham but only that of knowledge; and he who acquires it, has in fact acquired an abundant portion."
Abu Dawud & Tirmidhi
The Prophet said: "The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim."
Tirmidhi
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God, His angels and all those in Heavens and on Earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial knowledge."
Tirmidhi
The great Islamic scholars and scientists did not separate the two fields of knowledge but were well versed in them both. It was this drive to understand the signs of Allah in the world around them that led them to make amazing discoveries and inventions. The likes of which are remembered to this day.
- Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, considered the father of Algebra. The word Algorithm is a corruption of his name while the word Algebra is based on (al jabr) one of his methods to compute quadratic equations.
- Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā, or popularly known as Avicenna. He was a polymath whose writings included subjects such as philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. His book, "Canon of Medicine" was used as a textbook in universities in Europe as well for as late as 1650.
- Abu Mūsā Jābir ibn Hayyān, or known as Geber in the west. He was a polymath and well versed in subjects such as chemistry, astronomy, engineering, geography, philosophy, physics, and medicine. He is also considered the father of chemistry.
- Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, or popularly known as Ibn al-Haytham. He is considered the father of modern optics and scientific methodology.
This decline has affected research in Muslim countries even today has mostly resulted because of forced separation of the two avenues of knowledge. It is considered unreasonable for a man of religion to be a prominent scientist and vice versa. This attitude goes against what both Allah and His messenger have taught us. There has to be a change in our attitudes towards knowledge, a change that would let both religious and scientific knowledge work hand in hand with each other rather than be two banks of a river that never meet.
Proficiency in one aspect without any knowledge of the other will only create a very skewed point of view towards everything around us. And with a skewed view, everything looks crooked even if its the evident truth.
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