Which is more important: seeking knowledge or jihad in the path of Allah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, Shaykh. We often see young men who go to jihad, and then when they return, they regret that they did not seek religious knowledge. So what is your advice for those who want to go to jihad recently?
The Shaykh : A person is the doctor of himself. We might say to one person: It is better for you to devote yourself to seeking knowledge. And we might say to another: It is better for you to go to jihad.
If a person has a desire to seek knowledge and is a vessel for knowledge—he has a good memory, understanding, and intelligence, but is not so in jihad; he is a coward, a physically weak person—then here we command him with what? With seeking religious knowledge. And conversely, if a man is physically strong, brave, bold, and knowledgeable about the tools of war, but is weak in memory and has little understanding in knowledge, then here we tell him: Go to jihad. And if there is a man who is intelligent, has a strong memory, and is physically strong, but he is plagued by boredom and laziness in seeking knowledge, and he has a desire for jihad, we tell him: Fight in jihad. So a person is the doctor of himself, and every person can be addressed with something other than what we address another man with.
The questioner : He might overlook minor issues...
The Shaykh : What did they agree on?
The questioner : He might overlook minor issues.
The Shaykh : He might overlook them? Meaning he might be ignorant of them? Praise be to Allah, if he is ignorant of them, he learns them. But as long as he is qualified for fighting, people need fighting in some Muslim territories.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, Shaykh. We often see young men who go to jihad, and then when they return, they regret that they did not seek religious knowledge. So what is your advice for those who want to go to jihad recently?
The Shaykh : A person is the doctor of himself. We might say to one person: It is better for you to devote yourself to seeking knowledge. And we might say to another: It is better for you to go to jihad.
If a person has a desire to seek knowledge and is a vessel for knowledge—he has a good memory, understanding, and intelligence, but is not so in jihad; he is a coward, a physically weak person—then here we command him with what? With seeking religious knowledge. And conversely, if a man is physically strong, brave, bold, and knowledgeable about the tools of war, but is weak in memory and has little understanding in knowledge, then here we tell him: Go to jihad. And if there is a man who is intelligent, has a strong memory, and is physically strong, but he is plagued by boredom and laziness in seeking knowledge, and he has a desire for jihad, we tell him: Fight in jihad. So a person is the doctor of himself, and every person can be addressed with something other than what we address another man with.
The questioner : He might overlook minor issues...
The Shaykh : What did they agree on?
The questioner : He might overlook minor issues.
The Shaykh : He might overlook them? Meaning he might be ignorant of them? Praise be to Allah, if he is ignorant of them, he learns them. But as long as he is qualified for fighting, people need fighting in some Muslim territories.