Is a person to be blamed for leaving work to devote himself to knowledge?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Nowadays, combining knowledge with seeking a livelihood, or trade, creates a conflict. For this reason, many young people are forced to leave their jobs to devote themselves to knowledge. Are they to be blamed for that?
The Shaykh:
No. Seeking knowledge does not conflict with seeking a livelihood. You seek knowledge at its proper time. You do not seek knowledge night and day. You seek knowledge for a few hours, and the rest of the time you go out to seek a livelihood through buying, selling, and working. Yes, this does not conflict with that. Yes.
The presenter:
Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh:
Seeking knowledge used to be in the mosques or in the schools. In the schools, seeking knowledge was only for a few hours. Then you would leave and spend the rest of your time seeking a livelihood. There is no conflict. All right. Yes.
Nowadays, combining knowledge with seeking a livelihood, or trade, creates a conflict. For this reason, many young people are forced to leave their jobs to devote themselves to knowledge. Are they to be blamed for that?
The Shaykh:
No. Seeking knowledge does not conflict with seeking a livelihood. You seek knowledge at its proper time. You do not seek knowledge night and day. You seek knowledge for a few hours, and the rest of the time you go out to seek a livelihood through buying, selling, and working. Yes, this does not conflict with that. Yes.
The presenter:
Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh:
Seeking knowledge used to be in the mosques or in the schools. In the schools, seeking knowledge was only for a few hours. Then you would leave and spend the rest of your time seeking a livelihood. There is no conflict. All right. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يلام المرء على ترك العمل والتفرغ للعلم؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.