Devoting Oneself to Seeking Knowledge and Abandoning Dawah Activities

Question:
Your Eminence, Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz, may Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you. What is your guidance regarding the person who says, "I want to devote myself to seeking knowledge and leave dawah activities so that I can become academically capable and firmly rooted in knowledge, and then I will engage in dawah activities"? What is your guidance?

Answer:
There is no conflict between learning and dawah. A person must first learn and strive to seek knowledge so that he can call others to Allah, for dawah is a branch of knowledge. Therefore, the student of knowledge should focus on study, learning, and understanding the religion. If Allah grants him knowledge and opens the door of knowledge to him, let him engage in dawah. Indeed, Allah is with those who teach and those who seek knowledge. The intelligent, true student of knowledge remains a learner until death, even if he lives for a thousand years; he continues to benefit and to be of benefit. Things remain hidden from him, and he is delighted by them until he benefits from the words of Allah, the words of His Messenger, and the words of the scholars, and he teaches others. This is the student of knowledge: he always benefits and is of benefit. Whoever thinks he has reached the pinnacle of knowledge and has no need for more has erred and made a mistake. The student of knowledge remains in need of knowledge until death; he benefits, and at the same time, he benefits people. He organizes circles of knowledge, calls to Allah, and his seeking of knowledge does not prevent him from dawah or from circles of knowledge. He seeks knowledge from those who are more knowledgeable than he is, and he holds circles of knowledge to benefit others. He asks the scholars and consults the books of the scholars. Thus, it is a matter of knowledge, practice, dawah, and teaching. This was the way of the scholars: they had lessons where they taught people what they knew, and they had lessons with other scholars to benefit from them. They called people in the road, in the mosque, and in every place where dawah was facilitated. This one advises him, this one commands him to do such and such, this one forbids him from such and such, this one points out an error in his prayer, an error in his fasting, or an error in his dealings. So, he calls to Allah according to his ability. If it becomes easy for him to devote himself to dawah after Allah has facilitated learning and understanding the religion for him, and he has taken his share of knowledge and is able to call and devote himself to dawah, that is a great good. For dawah is the path of the Messengers, peace and blessings be upon them, . However, dawah does not prevent him, nor does engaging in it prevent him from reviewing the books of knowledge, reviewing the Qur'an and the Sunnah to benefit and to correct his errors and mistakes. Every person has mistakes, so he must review the books of truth, the Qur'an and the Sunnah, to correct what may be hidden from him or in which he may have erred. He should not think that he has reached the end and that he has not begun anything. He should never think he has reached the end, no matter who he is. He must have missed something, he must have overlooked something, and he must have forgotten something. So, let him always be a seeker of knowledge, devoted to knowledge, reviewing the Book and the Sunnah, benefiting from others, and being of benefit to others. He benefits and is of benefit, and he believes that he has a deficiency. He does not believe in perfection; he believes he has a deficiency and is in need of learning, in need of more, in need of caring for the Qur'an, the authentic Sunnah, and benefiting from the scholars who are more knowledgeable than he is. This is the successful student of knowledge: he continues to know that he has a deficiency and that he is in need of more knowledge.