Fulfilling the Vow to Seek Knowledge
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
A man who vowed to devote himself to seeking knowledge while he was ill, then Allah cured him, but he became unable to fulfill it, and due to certain circumstances he turned away from the Shari'ah, so that his religion was compromised.
The Shaykh:
He must fulfill his vow, because seeking knowledge is an act of worship, and when one vows to perform an act of worship, it becomes obligatory upon him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Ibn Majah 2126Sahih (Darussalam). Therefore, he must seek knowledge; he should seek knowledge. Yes.
The questioner:
The method of the master.
The Shaykh:
It is not necessary that he seek all knowledge and become deeply versed in it; that is good, but it is not required. It is not obligatory for him to seek all knowledge by virtue of this vow. Rather, he should seek that knowledge by which he knows the matters of his religion and that without which his religion would not be sound. This is obligatory upon him from the beginning, before the vow. But if he made the vow, it became obligatory upon him from two aspects: by the original ruling of the Shari'ah and by the vow. Unless he intended a specific knowledge in his vow, such as if he vowed to learn grammar, or vowed to learn jurisprudence, or vowed to learn exegesis. If he intended a specific branch of Islamic knowledge, then that specific knowledge becomes specified for him. But if he made the vow general, he should learn whatever knowledge is facilitated for him. Yes.
A man who vowed to devote himself to seeking knowledge while he was ill, then Allah cured him, but he became unable to fulfill it, and due to certain circumstances he turned away from the Shari'ah, so that his religion was compromised.
The Shaykh:
He must fulfill his vow, because seeking knowledge is an act of worship, and when one vows to perform an act of worship, it becomes obligatory upon him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Whoever vows to obey Allah, let him obey Him, and whoever vows to disobey Allah, let him not disobey Him.
من نذر أن يطيع الله فليطعه، ومن نذر أن يعصي الله فلا يعصيThe questioner:
The method of the master.
The Shaykh:
It is not necessary that he seek all knowledge and become deeply versed in it; that is good, but it is not required. It is not obligatory for him to seek all knowledge by virtue of this vow. Rather, he should seek that knowledge by which he knows the matters of his religion and that without which his religion would not be sound. This is obligatory upon him from the beginning, before the vow. But if he made the vow, it became obligatory upon him from two aspects: by the original ruling of the Shari'ah and by the vow. Unless he intended a specific knowledge in his vow, such as if he vowed to learn grammar, or vowed to learn jurisprudence, or vowed to learn exegesis. If he intended a specific branch of Islamic knowledge, then that specific knowledge becomes specified for him. But if he made the vow general, he should learn whatever knowledge is facilitated for him. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، كتاب الصلاة : باب المواقيت — islamhouse.com (26:58)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.