A Guide to Best Worship Allah

12: Worship of Salaf (Part Six)

B) Striving for Knowledge

Our pious predecessors were especially stringent on this area and strove their best to excel in seeking and implementing knowledge. They would sacrifice their health, wealth and whatever they had at their disposal, sometimes just to learn a single hadith.

'Urwah b. Al-Zubayr was the son of Al-Zubayr b. Al-'Awām and Asmā bint Abī Bakr, and the nephew of Ā'ishah - Allāh be pleased with them all. He studied under her and was regarded as one of the senior scholars of his time. He is one of the famous Seven Jurists.

It is reported that Hishām b. 'Urwah said, reporting from his father, 'Urwah b. Al-Zubayr - Allāh have mercy on him, "He used to say to us when we were youths, 'Why do you not seek knowledge? Even though [today] you are the youngsters, you are about to be the elders [in the future]. What is the use of being a shaykh when the shaykh is ignorant? Four years before the death of 'Ā'ishah, I would say, if she died today, I would not feel regret about a single hadīth she had, for I had gathered them all from her. I would hear that a Companion had a hadīth and would go to him. I might find that he was napping, so I would sit at his door and wait, and then ask him about it [later when he woke].'"
(Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A'lām Al-Nubalā', in his biography of 'Urwah b. Al-Zubayr)

It is reported from 'Abdullâh b. 'Abbâs - Allâh be pleased with them - that he said:
After Allâh's Messenger SA passed away, I said to a man from the Ansâr, "Come, let us ask [and learn from] the Prophet's Companions, Allâh's peace and blessings be upon him, for they are many in number today."
He replied, "I am surprised at you Ibn 'Abbâs - do you really think people need you when there are so many Companions of the Prophet - Allâh's peace and blessings be upon him?"
So he did not involve himself in this endeavor, but I busied myself asking [the Companions about issues]. If I heard of a hadîth being reported by a man, I would come to him and if he was taking his midday nap I would lay down my garment and lie outside waiting for him, with the wind blowing dust in my face. The man would come out [for Dhuhr] and see me in that state, and he would exclaim, "O nephew of Allâh's Messenger! What has brought you here? You should have sent for me and I would have come to you!"
I would say, "Rather I should come to you [to seek knowledge]."
I would then ask him about the hadîth I heard. The man [who I originally invited to seek knowledge with me] remained as he was, and when he saw how people would gather around me [to seek knowledge] he said, "For sure, this young man was more intelligent than me."
(Al-Dârimî, Al-Sunan Vol. 2 p129)

It is reported that Alī b. Ḥusayn - Allāh have mercy on him - would enter the masjid and cut his way through the people until he would sit in the circle of Zayd b. Aslam. Nāfiʿ b. Jubayr said to him, "Allāh forgive you, you are the sayyid of the people, yet you come traversing the people to sit with this slave." So ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn replied, "Knowledge is to be sought and come to and looked for wherever it is."
(Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:388)

It is reported from Nu'aym b. Hammâd: 'Abdullah b. Al-Mubârak used to often stay at home, so he was asked, "Don't you get lonely?" He replied, "How could I get lonely when I am with the Prophet SA [i.e. I read his hadîth]?"
(Ibn 'Asâkir, Târîkh Dimishq Vol. 32 p458)

C) Implementing Knowledge

The primary motive behind knowledge is to implement it in our lives to get closer to Allah, the Exalted. Our pious predecessors never forgot this and warned people from ever forgetting it.

Al-Hasan Al-Basrī - Allah have mercy on him - said:
When a man sought knowledge, it would not be long before it could be seen in his humbleness, his sight, upon his tongue and his hands, in his prayer, in his speech and in his disinterest (zuhd) in worldly allurements. And a man would acquire a portion of knowledge and put it into practice, and it would be better for him than the world and all it contains - if he owned it he would give it in exchange for the hereafter.
(Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā'iq Vol.1 p.156)

It is reported that Ḥabīb b. ʿUbayd - Allāh have mercy on him - said:
Learn knowledge, understand it and benefit from it (live by it); and do not study it in order to decorate yourself with it, for if you live long you will likely see a time when knowledge will be used for beautification like a man beautifies himself with his garments.
(Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqāʾiq no. 1056)

It is reported from Al-Awzâ'î - Allâh have mercy on him - that he said:
I have been told that it used to be said, "Woe to those who study [their religion] for a purpose other than worship, and those who seek to permit what is forbidden through doubts and specious arguments."
(Al-Khattîb Al-Baghdâdî, Iqtdâ Al-'Ilm Al-'Amal, p77)

Muʿādh b. Jabal - Allāh be pleased with him - used to say:
Ahead of you are times of trials (fitan) in which there will be much wealth and in which the Qurān will be opened and taken (read) by believers and hypocrites, men and women, young and old and freemen and slaves. At that time it is likely that there will be people who will say, "Why aren't the people following me when I have read the Qurān? They will not follow me until I invent something else." So, beware of everything that is innovated (in religion), for those things that are innovated are misguidance.
(Ibn Waḍḍāḥ, Al-Bidaʿ p62, Al-Lālakāʾī, Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah wa Al-Jamāʿah 1:125, and others)

It is reported that there was a young man who was from the people of knowledge who used to put himself forward, speak and behave haughtily with his knowledge in front of those older than him. This angered Sufyān [Al-Thawrī] and he said, "The Salaf were never like this; they never used to claim leadership, or sit at the head of the gathering until they had sought this knowledge for thirty years, and you act haughty in front of those who are older than you. Get up, I never want to see you even come close to my circle."
(Al-Bayhaqī, Al-Madkhal ilā Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā 2:74)