PROCESS OF SEEKING KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAM....................................By: Abdulmanan E.

Harid

‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

Introduction

There are many texts from the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH speaks about
importance of seeking knowledge in Islam. It suffices to mention one text from the Qur’an and
Hadith.

The Holy Qur’an: Allah says:

ِ ِّ‫)و َما َكانَ ا ْل ُم ْؤ ِم ُنونَ لِ َينفِ ُروا َكا َّف ًة ۚ َفلَ ْواَل َن َف َر مِن ُكل ِّ ف ِْر َق ٍة ِّم ْن ُه ْم َطائِ َف ٌة لِّ َي َت َف َّق ُه وا فِي ال د‬
‫ين َولِ ُين ِذ ُروا َق ْو َم ُه ْم إِ َذا َر َج ُع وا إِلَ ْي ِه ْم‬ َ
َ
.122 ‫لَ َعل ُه ْم َي ْحذ ُرونَ ( التوبة‬ َّ

[And it is not for the believers to go forth [to battle] all at once. For there should separate from
every division of them a group [remaining] to obtain understanding in the religion and warn their
people when they return to them that they might be cautious] Surah 9: 1221

Hadith: The Messenger of Allah PBUH said, "When Allah wishes good for someone, He bestows
upon him the understanding of Deen." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] 2

Definition of Islamic Knowledge (‫)العلم الشرعي‬

The Islamic Knowledge or Science composed of two words, namely Knowledge and Shari’ah
and each of them has its own connotation.
1- Science in language refers to Feeling (‫ )الشعور‬Knowledge (‫ )المعرفة‬Certainty (‫ )اليقين‬and Perception (
‫)اإلدراك‬. In the terminology, it indicates the perception of a thing on what is in it.
2- Shari’ah means statement and demonstration and in the terminology of scholars is what Allah
has enacted for his servants in terms of ideological, practical, or ethical rulings.3
After this definition, we can define the Islamic Knowledge that it is the knowledge that serves
the Shari’ah and includes what was required to be learned for its own sake, such as knowledge of
the Qur’an, Interpretation, Hadith, Jurisprudence, Tawheed and Biography. It includes what was
required in terms of means such as auxiliary sciences such as Language, Grammar,
Fundamentals of Jurisprudence, terminology of Hadith and Rhetoric.

The Rule of seeking Islamic Knowledge

Ruling on seeking Islamic Knowledge can be divided into the following;

1- Fardul Ayn (individual duty) in the case of knowledge of an act of worship he wants to do or
interaction he wants to engage in. In this case he has to know how to worship Allah by this act of
worship, or how to engage in this interaction.

1
- The Qur’an Saheeh International.
2
- Riyadh as-Salihin, Imam Nawawi, Book of Knowledge, Hadith no. 1.
3
- www.islamweb.net Fatwa no. 61284 (‫)العلم الشرعي في اللغة واالصطالح‬
PROCESS OF SEEKING KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAM....................................By: Abdulmanan E. Harid

2- Fardul Kifaya (duty of sufficiency) it is the knowledge that people need in establishing their
religion such as memorizing the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, their sciences, Fundamentals of
Jurisprudence, Jurisprudence, Language and Morphology, Knowledge of narrators of Hadith,
Consensus and Disagreement, also from Fardul Kifaya the knowledge that people need in
worldly matters such as Medicine, Arithmetic, And the crafts that are the cause of the rise of
worldly interests, such as Sewing, Agriculture, etc.
3- Mandub (recommended) expansion in Islamic Knowledge. 1

Steps of seeking knowledge2

There are steps for seeking Islamic Knowledge, some of which are ethical and others are
practical. Among the ethical steps that the student should take are the following;
1- Sincerity. (‫)اإلخالص‬
2- High motivation (‫)الهمة العالية‬
3- Serious determination (‫)العزيمة الجادة‬
4- Love knowledge (‫)حب العلم‬
5- To have good moral (‫)التحلي باألخالق الحسنة‬

As for the practical steps are the following:

1- To learn knowledge from the scholars.
2- To learn Jurisprudence (‫ )الفقه‬on one of the four approved schools (‫)التمذهب‬ for example Mazhab
Shafi’e if the student in the Philippines, and
3- Gradation and Consideration of learning ladder.3

Thank you.

1
- www.islamweb.net Fatwa no. 48216 (‫)العلم الشرعي في اللغة واالصطالح‬
2
- Steps for seeking Islamic Knowledge, Jammaz Abdul rahman El Jamaz, www.saaid.net/mktarat/alalm/14.htm
3
- How to seek Islamic Knowledge, Abdullah Elkiswani, published by https://mawdoo3.com