Shaykh Abdul-Kareem bin Abdullah al-Khudayr [May Allaah Preserve him]
He's a loser and his applaud will be exchanged with regret
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us not to lose our intention, do not make your intention homeless. A person may come to study and gain knowledge but then he may become negligent about his intention, thus his intention becomes missing. So the one seeking knowledge must seek knowledge out of sincerity to Allaah, the Exalted and Glorified, seeking the reward of Allaah, the Exalted and Glorified, and a place in the Hereafter. He should be careful and be warned about showing off and been seen by people.
Member of the Senior Committee of Scholars, Saudi Arabia
The knowledge of Shariah is something which is directly and purely connected to the Aakhira, therefore it is not permissible for us to do Shirk when seeking it. Seeking this knowledge means we must have a better intention than merely seeking knowledge for the sake of showing off, reputation or wanting people to talk about you. There has come a very stern warning against this as it is from the worst situations one could die upon. It has been narrated that three people will be brought on the Day of Judgment; the first of them that will be casted into the Hellfire is one who was learned and taught others. He spent his whole life learning and teaching and involving himself with knowledge, maybe he lived a hundred years, fifty years learning and fifty years teaching. After all of this, he still became one of the three that were casted into the hell fire, what happened to this man!? He learned and gained knowledge to teach the people - No - he gained knowledge so that people would call him a scholar, and this is what they did! And to Allaah we complain.
Shaykh Haafidh al-Hakamee [May Allaah have Mercy on him] gives the student of knowledge some precious advice in his treatise al-Meemiyyah. In fact, this treatise was written especially for the student of knowledge so that they may memorise it, he [May Allaah have Mercy on him] says (in poetic form):
If a person seeks knowledge so that people talk about him
The student of knowledge should also be careful about being filled with pride, meaning he should not be proud that he has been given more than others. He shouldn’t think he is better than others and has a better status than others. He should not be proud or arrogant towards others in the least bit. This is because, pride nullifies the very reason why one seeks knowledge, and it nullifies its benefits. Especially if one studies the Noble Quraan as the Quraan is the source for all disciplines and sciences, it says:
"I shall turn away from My Ayat (verses of the Qur'an) those who behave arrogantly on the earth"
[A'raaf 7:146]
The one who is proud and arrogant turns himself away from benefitting from knowledge, this is why the Muftee of Hadramoat [a well known place in Yemen], Shaykh Abdur-Rahmaan bin 'Ubayd Allaah as-Saqqaaf, refuted those who accused Shaykh al-Islaam of being a proud person. Some people who have written biographies of Shaykh al-Islaam have accused him of being proud and arrogant, however he is Shaykh al-Islaam, he is an Imaam from the Imaams of the Muslims. He is an Imaam who had knowledge and he acted upon this knowledge, he was humble, he had Taqwaa, and he spread his knowledge and strove for the sake of Allaah in doing so. And then someone comes and accuses him of such a thing! So what did the Muftee say in his defence? He has a lecture which he discusses the difference between one who acts upon on his knowledge and one who doesn’t, in which he defends and refutes allegations that Shaykh al-Islaam was arrogant and proud. It maybe that you differ with Shaykh al-Islaam in certain issues, however the truth remains, he was free from pride and arrogance.
How can the Quraan be made easy for you if you are proud? Imaam Bukhaaree narrates from Mujaahid that he said, “The person who is too shy or too proud will not learn anything.” Shyness here refers to being shy in your social ability not shy in a religious sense because shyness in a religious sense is something praiseworthy, but what this is referring to is you being shy and not being able to mix will mean you will not learn. You will not be able to forbid wrongdoings when you see people commit them, you will not be able to give advice if you are sought to give it, you will not be able to guide people, all of which is blameworthy. Therefore, this type of person will not learn. A person may sit and study but if he has a problem in understanding something, he is too shy to ask a scholar. Or even worse, he is too proud to ask a scholar, so he remains and continues upon these doubts and problems. So how can these doubts and problems in understanding be lifted if he doesn’t ask?
So don’t be proud, being proud and anti-social can lead one to feel he is better than people, as a consequence it may seem to the people that he is better and no need of asking question and thus because of his attitude he is prevented from attaining any knowledge.
Another thing that the student of knowledge must be wary of is not to think he is something special, don’t give yourself any status. There is no doubt that this is a type of a severe disease. If a person thinks highly of himself based on the worldly affairs, then he will live for the worldly life. He will be given and expect to be given in this worldly life and his benefit will only be placed in this life alone, so when will he be humbled? If a person transgresses, when will he be transgressed over? If a person thinks he is special and feels that he has no need of others…so there is a student of knowledge who thinks he is better than anyone else and that he doesn’t need others, he thinks himself to be special so because of this he will be destroyed. If a person has this type of attitude then there is no doubt that he is suffering from a chronic illness and he is need of a substantial cure. He is deflected from having any knowledge or acting upon it.
So it is upon the student of knowledge that he doesn’t lose his heart. All of the aspects of Shariah revolve around one thing, which is a person’s heart: ‘Verily! There is a part in your body, if it is healthy then the rest of the body is health but if it is corrupt then the rest of the body is corrupt, verily it is the heart.’
"The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail; except him who brings to Allah a clean heart [clean from Shirk (polytheism) and Nifaq (hypocrisy)]"
[Shu'araa 26:88-89]
So the heart, for the student of knowledge, is where the knowledge is. All sickness and diseases will be averted because of his heart.
Also, the student of knowledge must pay attention to another affair, which is that he should not be lazy. He should always be serious in learning and studying because knowledge doesn't come about by one relaxing. Imaam Muslim narrated from Yahya bin Abee Katheer, that he said, “Knowledge will not come by a relaxed body.”
If this was the case then everybody would be a scholar, all of the people would be raised in their status to be form the scholars, without even having planted any seeds. So it is necessary that the student of knowledge strives hard. It is imperative that he checks himself and cleanses himself from all desires. The scholars didn’t get what they got except by staying up late. So if a person intends to be a scholar, then he needs to behave in this manner and take the relevant precautions. He must free himself from anything that would prevent him from being a scholar, as we have highlighted above, and take the measures he needs to prevent this from happening. He should seek a path to be with the people of knowledge, align yourself with the established scholars, those who teach you in an organized fashion so that you may benefit in your knowledge and actions, based on the Kitaab and the Sunnah and the ‘Aqeedah of Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jamaa’ah.
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