The Meaning of the Hadith: The World Is Cursed
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Your Eminence, the father, I bear witness to Allah regarding your love for Him. Al-Tirmidhi narrated from Abu Hurayrah that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:Riyad as-Salihin 1384. What is the authenticity of this hadith and what is its meaning? And do permissible worldly sciences, such as medicine, engineering, and others, fall under the curse? And may Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Yes, there is no harm with its chain. "The world is cursed" means it is blameworthy; there is blame in it. This is the meaning of the curse. And what a great sin it is, except for the remembrance of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), which is obedience to Allah, and a scholar and a student: a scholar of what benefits people in their religion, and a student of what benefits him in his religion. Likewise, one who learns what benefits him in his worldly life is not blameworthy, though it is blameworthy in itself. Otherwise, most of the world is blameworthy in it, because it diverts from the Hereafter. Competition in the world, and the eagerness for the world, all of this is blameworthy, except for the remembrance of Allah and what is connected to it of learning and understanding the religion, and learning what benefits of crafts and others, by which Allah benefits the Muslims. Likewise, the scholar who benefits people, the one who understands the religion of Allah, and the student of what Allah has prescribed and what benefits people, is not included in the blame.
He says: Your Eminence, the father, I bear witness to Allah regarding your love for Him. Al-Tirmidhi narrated from Abu Hurayrah that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:
The world, with all that it contains, is accursed except for the remembrance of Allah that which pleases Allah; and the religious scholars and seekers of knowledge.
الدنيا ملعونة ملعون ما فيها إلا ذكر الله تعالى وما والاه، وعالما أو متعلماAnswer:
Yes, there is no harm with its chain. "The world is cursed" means it is blameworthy; there is blame in it. This is the meaning of the curse. And what a great sin it is, except for the remembrance of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), which is obedience to Allah, and a scholar and a student: a scholar of what benefits people in their religion, and a student of what benefits him in his religion. Likewise, one who learns what benefits him in his worldly life is not blameworthy, though it is blameworthy in itself. Otherwise, most of the world is blameworthy in it, because it diverts from the Hereafter. Competition in the world, and the eagerness for the world, all of this is blameworthy, except for the remembrance of Allah and what is connected to it of learning and understanding the religion, and learning what benefits of crafts and others, by which Allah benefits the Muslims. Likewise, the scholar who benefits people, the one who understands the religion of Allah, and the student of what Allah has prescribed and what benefits people, is not included in the blame.
Source
فضل العلم وآدابه — islamhouse.com (41:31)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.