Is jihad better than seeking knowledge?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: Do we take from the hadith "better than the world and all it contains," and the other hadithSunan an-Nasa'i 3119Sahih (Darussalam), that jihad in the cause of Allah is the best of acts of worship and obedience, to the extent that it is better than seeking knowledge?
Answer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement regarding the best of deeds after the obligatory ones. The best of deeds are the obligatory ones, without doubt. But after the obligatory ones, which of the voluntary deeds is the best? It was said that jihad in the cause of Allah is the best, meaning jihad of seeking, because it is a collective obligation. It was said that seeking knowledge is the best of deeds. And it was said that the night prayer is the best. Allah knows best that this varies according to the people.
According to the people. So, the one who has the capacity for jihad, the strength of the mujahid, and knowledge of military strategy, for him jihad is the best. And the one who has the aptitude for memorizing the texts, understanding them, and seeking knowledge, for him seeking knowledge is the best.
And the one who does not have the strength for jihad or for seeking knowledge, for him standing in night prayer is the best. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: Do we take from the hadith "better than the world and all it contains," and the other hadith
better than everything on which the sun rises and sets
خير مما طلعت عليه الشمس وغربتAnswer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement regarding the best of deeds after the obligatory ones. The best of deeds are the obligatory ones, without doubt. But after the obligatory ones, which of the voluntary deeds is the best? It was said that jihad in the cause of Allah is the best, meaning jihad of seeking, because it is a collective obligation. It was said that seeking knowledge is the best of deeds. And it was said that the night prayer is the best. Allah knows best that this varies according to the people.
According to the people. So, the one who has the capacity for jihad, the strength of the mujahid, and knowledge of military strategy, for him jihad is the best. And the one who has the aptitude for memorizing the texts, understanding them, and seeking knowledge, for him seeking knowledge is the best.
And the one who does not have the strength for jihad or for seeking knowledge, for him standing in night prayer is the best. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل الجهاد أفضل من طلب العلم؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.