Comparing the Seeking of Knowledge with Voluntary Acts of Worship
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I am a student of knowledge who strives to acquire knowledge through attendance, memorization, and research, and this takes up most of my time. Before that, I used to strive in worship, dhikr (remembrance of Allah), and reading the Qur'an, and I felt in my heart that I was closer to Allah and mindful of Him, and that my soul was humbled. He asks: Should I continue with seeking knowledge and striving in it, or should I combine both matters, or should I return to worship?
Answer:
No, my brother, seeking knowledge is better than voluntary acts of worship. Seeking knowledge is better than voluntary acts of worship. So turn to seeking knowledge, for seeking knowledge is worship and righteous deed. So turn to seeking knowledge, for it is good, and it is light for you, and it is faith.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I am a student of knowledge who strives to acquire knowledge through attendance, memorization, and research, and this takes up most of my time. Before that, I used to strive in worship, dhikr (remembrance of Allah), and reading the Qur'an, and I felt in my heart that I was closer to Allah and mindful of Him, and that my soul was humbled. He asks: Should I continue with seeking knowledge and striving in it, or should I combine both matters, or should I return to worship?
Answer:
No, my brother, seeking knowledge is better than voluntary acts of worship. Seeking knowledge is better than voluntary acts of worship. So turn to seeking knowledge, for seeking knowledge is worship and righteous deed. So turn to seeking knowledge, for it is good, and it is light for you, and it is faith.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل في القلب الميت — islamhouse.com (1:02:38)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.