Urging the Seeking of Knowledge and Understanding in the Religion

Question:
O His Eminence the Shaykh, may Allah preserve our religion and the religion of the Muslims. We are in need of da'wah and preachers, especially in the outlying areas of the Kingdom, particularly the South. There is a lack of concern for gathering in the mosques, and there is sorcery and ignorance of the religion. We have noticed that they pray the sunnah before Fajr and after it, and that is only due to a lack of knowledge and understanding. We ask Allah, and then we ask you, to urge the sending of preachers. May Allah reward you and preserve you.

Answer:
These preachers, by the praise of Allah, are active in this regard. They guide and strive for this good in the South and the North. There is no doubt that ignorance exists, but we ask Allah to help the preachers to perform the obligatory duty, and to help the common people to understand the religion, seek knowledge, and ask about what is difficult for them. We also ask Him to help them to attend the advice sessions and listen to the benefits.
Some people hear about the benefit, the seminar, the sermon, and the lecture, but they do not attend. They refuse to attend and to listen. So we ask Allah to guide the Muslims so that they attend the circles of knowledge, and so that they rejoice in the seminars and lectures in any place, so that they seek them, attend them, and benefit from them.
And here, as I have said many times, and I repeat: the Quran broadcast has benefits that are known, read, and heard by those in the South, those in the North, and those outside the Kingdom. The program "Nur 'ala al-Darb" and the Quran broadcast are these circles of knowledge from which everyone who listens benefits, whether they are inside the Kingdom or outside it.
So I advise the one who loves good and wants good to listen to the circles of knowledge wherever they are, and to attend them, and to seek knowledge. And to listen to this program, "Nur 'ala al-Darb," on the Quran broadcast. There is much good in it, and several scholars and righteous people deliver it between Maghrib and 'Isha' in the lands of Islam, and at nine-thirty at night every night, from the Quran broadcast.
So I repeat and advise those present, and others, to advise others to benefit from this program, and to benefit from the circles of knowledge in every place; in the South, and elsewhere. If they hear that there is a seminar in such a mosque, in such a neighborhood, they go to it, listen to it, and benefit from it from the people of knowledge in Dammam, in al-Ahsa, in Buraydah, in Hail, in Abha, in Khamis Mushait, in Jizan, in any place, and so on. And outside the country, in seminars that are held outside the country, with the well-known scholars in Egypt, or in the Levant, or elsewhere.
This is how the student of knowledge is. Allah says: [Surah al-Nahl: 43], and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
Knowledge does not come to your door for you to take. Knowledge requires seeking. You seek knowledge, you listen to the benefits on the radio, and elsewhere, in a sermon, in a seminar, in a lecture, in circles of knowledge. You seek, you ask.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and you heard in the seminar that Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said: "Nafaru" means: travel here and there [Surah al-Tawbah: 122]. One does not sit and want knowledge, and I am sitting with my mother and my wife. No, one seeks knowledge, one looks for knowledge.
Allah says: [Surah al-Dhariyat: 56]. How do you worship your Lord when you do not seek knowledge? It is necessary to seek knowledge, it is necessary to attend the circles of knowledge; so that you know the worship, what is the worship for which you were created? You are commanded to do it, from the tawhid of Allah, and sincerity to Him, and prayer, and fasting, and the other rights that are upon you for Allah and for His servants. So you must seek this knowledge.
And another hadith in the two Sahihs, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This great hadith: The meaning of this hadith is: the one for whom Allah does not intend good does not understand the religion. This is the meaning of the hadith, its implication is that the one who turns away and is heedless, who does not care, its meaning is that Allah does not intend good for him—may Allah grant us safety.
As for the one who seeks knowledge, and understands the religion, and asks, and attends the seminars of knowledge, and asks the scholars, and also listens to what is broadcast regarding knowledge, this is the one who seeks knowledge. And whoever seeks it, finds it.
And you have the Quran, the greatest book and the most noble book. You have the Quran, listen to it, reflect on it from those of your brothers who recite it. Let them recite, sit in the gathering instead of the idle talk that has no fruit. Read a part of the Quran, a page of the Quran. Read for us, we may hear. Listen, understand, reflect, and act. This is the Quran broadcast you have, in which the Quran is broadcast with various voices, with various recitations, with good voices, with well-recited recitations. Listen, but it is not the listening of the one who turns away and is heedless. No, it is the listening of the one who wants the benefit, who wants to know what Allah intends; so that he acts. This is how the student of knowledge is.
So the one who wants good, and wants understanding in the religion, and wants happiness; it is upon him to seek knowledge, and to attend the circles of knowledge, and to listen to knowledge, and to listen to the Quran, and to reflect on the Quran. He reads it himself, or listens to it from his brother in the mosque, or on the radio, or in any place. This is how the seeking of knowledge is.