The ruling on entering the mosque without wudu and the virtue of seeking knowledge over jihad
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : He says: Honorable Shaykh, I entered this lecture without wudu, and I did not perform the sunnah, and the reason for that was my desire to listen to this lecture, knowing that I am not from this area.
The Shaykh : From which area? No, I believe that Unayzah is all one area, indeed all of Qasim is one area. This man who entered the mosque without wudu cannot pray the greeting of the mosque, and he is not required to pray the greeting of the mosque, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Do not sit until you pray two rak'ahs," and this is not possible for a person who is not in a state of wudu. For this reason, we say that whoever enters the mosque while in a state of wudu should not sit until he prays two rak'ahs, and whoever enters without wudu, there is no harm on him, and he will not pray while he is without wudu.
Then we say to the brother who left off wudu in hope of listening to knowledge: what you did is better than if you had performed wudu and prayed the greeting of the mosque, because learning and teaching knowledge is better than voluntary acts. That is to say, a man says, "I will sit for a quarter of an hour and read knowledge," meaning religious knowledge, or I will pray; which is better? The first is better: seeking knowledge. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "Nothing is equal to knowledge for one whose intention is sound."
The questioner asked: With what intention is the niyyah (intention) valid, O Abu 'Abd Allah? He said: One intends to remove ignorance from oneself and from others. Then, Allah the Exalted made knowledge, or the seeking of knowledge, equivalent to jihad in the path of Allah. He said:[At-Tawbah 9:122] a group, meaning a group sat to gain understanding in the religion, namely those who sit [At-Tawbah 9:122] So Allah made the seeking of knowledge equivalent to jihad in the path of Allah. In reality, jihad in the path of Allah is based on knowledge. No person can do any good deed except with knowledge. Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his Sahih: "Chapter on knowledge before speech and action," and then cited as evidence the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Muhammad 47:19]. Therefore, if we asked the questioner: Which is better, seeking knowledge or jihad? Yes.
The correct view is that there is a distinction here. Some people say that jihad is better, and some people say that seeking knowledge is better. If a brave, strong man comes to us who knows the methods of modern warfare, but his understanding is average and his memorization is average—yes, he can read but he does not interpret—which is better for him, seeking knowledge or jihad? Jihad. But if a smart man comes to us who is a good memorizer, with a good grasp of issues and applying texts to them, but he is a coward in war—if the wind blows and he runs away, or even less than that—what is the important point in any case, which is better for him? Seeking knowledge. So the correct view in this distinction is
The Shaykh : From which area? No, I believe that Unayzah is all one area, indeed all of Qasim is one area. This man who entered the mosque without wudu cannot pray the greeting of the mosque, and he is not required to pray the greeting of the mosque, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Do not sit until you pray two rak'ahs," and this is not possible for a person who is not in a state of wudu. For this reason, we say that whoever enters the mosque while in a state of wudu should not sit until he prays two rak'ahs, and whoever enters without wudu, there is no harm on him, and he will not pray while he is without wudu.
Then we say to the brother who left off wudu in hope of listening to knowledge: what you did is better than if you had performed wudu and prayed the greeting of the mosque, because learning and teaching knowledge is better than voluntary acts. That is to say, a man says, "I will sit for a quarter of an hour and read knowledge," meaning religious knowledge, or I will pray; which is better? The first is better: seeking knowledge. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "Nothing is equal to knowledge for one whose intention is sound."
The questioner asked: With what intention is the niyyah (intention) valid, O Abu 'Abd Allah? He said: One intends to remove ignorance from oneself and from others. Then, Allah the Exalted made knowledge, or the seeking of knowledge, equivalent to jihad in the path of Allah. He said:
And it is not for the believers to go forth [to battle] all at once. For there should separate from every division of them
وَمَا كَانَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لِيَنفِرُوا كَافَّةً فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِن كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِّنْهُمْin the religion and warn their people when they return to them
فِي الدِّينِ وَلِيُنذِرُوا قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْSo know, [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin
فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنبِكَThe correct view is that there is a distinction here. Some people say that jihad is better, and some people say that seeking knowledge is better. If a brave, strong man comes to us who knows the methods of modern warfare, but his understanding is average and his memorization is average—yes, he can read but he does not interpret—which is better for him, seeking knowledge or jihad? Jihad. But if a smart man comes to us who is a good memorizer, with a good grasp of issues and applying texts to them, but he is a coward in war—if the wind blows and he runs away, or even less than that—what is the important point in any case, which is better for him? Seeking knowledge. So the correct view in this distinction is
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1416هـ - 1 — binothaimeen.net (37:34)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.