Khutbahs
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Is All Knowledge Good? | Khutbah
The Prophet ﷺ often sought refuge in Allah from knowledge that is of no benefit. In this khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman talks about the signs of beneficial knowledge, and how we can use what we learn to grow closer to Allah.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. We bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is His final messenger. We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. So brothers and sisters, we continue in the du'a of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam where he used to seek refuge in Allah from four things. And again, if the only takeaway you get from this series of khutbah is that you memorize the du'a and that you say it every single day, then that is enough bi'idhnillahi ta'ala. That the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to seek refuge in Allah frequently from four things. And this is narrated by multiple companions. And so you would hear the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam making this du'a with the order sometimes of the qualities different, but the same four things. He used to say sallallahu alayhi wasallam, Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min ilmin la yanfa' wa min qalbin la yakhsha' wa min nafsin la tashba' wa min du'ain la yusma' Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min ilmin la yanfa' wa min qalbin la yakhsha' wa min nafsin la tashba' wa min du'ain la yusma' He would say sallallahu alayhi wasallam, O Allah, I seek refuge in you from knowledge which is of no benefit, from a heart that has no humility, no awe of you, from a soul or a self that is never satisfied. The cravings of that self which we talked about last week are never satisfied. And from du'as, from a supplication that is not heard. Now subhanAllah, this particular part, because we've covered qalbin la yakhsha' and nafsin la tashba', ilmin la yanfa', knowledge that is of no benefit, sometimes it's automatically
assumed that if I'm not a student of knowledge, if I'm not someone that's trying to become a scholar, I'm not someone who's even that particularly interested in religion, I'm not someone who's really into the whole realm of ilm in that sense, then this part of the du'a might not really resonate with me, but hold on, because every single part of this du'a is immediately relevant to you as a Muslim. And so what does it mean when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam says, min ilmin la yanfa' knowledge that does not benefit. And there are two things to separate here. Is the knowledge itself beneficial or not, and is your heart in a condition in order for it to be beneficial if the knowledge itself is beneficial. So is the knowledge itself that we're speaking about in the category of what is beneficial? And then the second thing, is there a proper receiver for that beneficial knowledge if it is indeed beneficial knowledge? And there's a profound narration from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and it's what the scholars of hadith would class as sahih li ghayrihi, it's authentic because of the numerous chains through which it comes, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, man ta'allama ilma li yubahiya bihi il'ulama, wa yujariya bihi al-sufaha wa yasrifa bihi wujuha al-nasa ilayhi atkhalahu allahu jahannam. Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, whoever learns knowledge, whoever acquires sacred knowledge for one of three things. Number one, he said sallallahu alayhi wasallam li yubahiya bihi il'ulama, to argue with those that are more learned than him as a tool of argumentation. Or wa yujariya bihi al-sufaha, to shame someone who is less knowledgeable than him. So either to argue with someone who has more knowledge or to put someone down, to shame
someone who is considered less knowledgeable than him, those who are considered ignorant. Or yasrifa bihi wujuha al-nasa ilayhi, to turn people's faces towards him, meaning what? To be the center of attention. Atkhalahu allahu jahannam. Allah would enter that person into the fire. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. Allahumma ameen. Now subhanAllah, what makes this narration so profound first and foremost is that every version of it ends with atkhalahu allahu n-nar, atkhalahu allahu jahannam. Allah would enter this person into the fire. Allah would enter this person into jahannam. And we know that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam famously said that whoever seeks out a path of knowledge, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will facilitate the path to Jannah for that person. Knowledge is a path to Jannah. So how here does knowledge become a path to the fire? Now if you're speaking to a person who's trying to learn this beautiful religion, then obviously you would talk about how important it is to not fall into the traps of trying to acquire this knowledge for any of the reasons that are mentioned in this hadith. But even if you are not seeking sacred knowledge or trying to become a scholar, this hadith is still applicable to you because the underlying spiritual condition of all three of those scenarios applies to every single Muslim, whether it's sacred knowledge or not. And so do you seek knowledge as in Islamic knowledge so that you could win a WhatsApp conversation or an argument online? Do you seek knowledge so that people will turn their faces towards you to become the center of attention? Now remove the Islamic elements. Let's say that you're talking about something completely irrelevant to Islam. Everything is relevant to Islam but completely irrelevant to the pursuit of sacred knowledge. All of this still applies. You're on Twitter and you want to win something.
You know, you want to appear to be a certain way or you're in some sort of a dialogue so you want to Google something so that you can have the answer to prop yourself up or to put someone down. It could be fantasy football. It's still an underlying spiritual condition here. It still applies to you. Do you try to attract people's attention to you? Do you put people down in conversation and seek out knowledge, Islamic or worldly, for the sake of trying to put someone down? And do you seek out those things so that you could have an argument or put yourself on a level with someone that knows more than you because you don't like the feeling of being a degree less than anyone in anything? Then it becomes just like a person who wants to build a house that is as big as someone else because they don't like having a smaller house. Or a person who wants to outshine someone in a wedding because, you know, they don't want to be outshined in this way. Or a person who wants to dress a certain way. The only thing that changes here is that the tool by which those things are sought is sacred knowledge, is ilm, which makes it that much more dangerous. Because that means that you're craving for attention, your pride and your ego, nafs la tashba' connected to last week, a soul that is never satisfied, a self that's never satisfied, will even resort to using religion in order to feed those cravings. So even the Quran, like I'll use an ayah of the Quran, I'll find a hadith, I'll learn some poetry if I have to. I'll do anything in order to become a center of attention or to put someone down or to argue with somebody because I have nafs la tashba' wa qalb la yakhsha' a heart that is not humble and a self that I have to keep on feeding. And subhanAllah it becomes more flammable with ilm, with knowledge. Why?
Because as Bishr al-Hafi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu wa rahim wa Allah, he said that I'd rather someone seek out the material world through becoming a singer than becoming a scholar. Why? Because at least you're using batil to achieve batil. You're using means of falsehood to achieve an output of falsehood versus using something that is sacred to achieve something that is so lowly. Don't use the Quran to try to win an argument. Don't try to throw in your religion thing and subhanAllah we see this, you know, and it is the case, right, that religion becomes the conversation of the day and it becomes a form of gossip, it becomes a form of namima, it becomes a form of all sorts of lowly things. And because someone wants to win an argument so bad or wants to appear educated on something, they'll start talking about something they have no business talking about. Why? Because I want to be the center of attention at the table. I want to appear to be knowledgeable. I want people to say certain things about me. So you have to solve the underlying spiritual condition and certainly not increase it, not increase it, with something that is so beautiful and so pure. So it's that sacred knowledge, ilm-an-laa yanfa'a, that sacred knowledge should never, I mean the worst thing you could do is take sacred knowledge and use it as a means of a false ideal. And subhanAllah the ulema say, look at the Prophet ﷺ. Who is more knowledgeable than Rasulullah ﷺ? It would be kufr to say it's anyone but him, right? He is the most knowledgeable person of this ummah by consensus. What did revelation do to him ﷺ? No one tolerated the quote-unquote ignorant, the masses, better than he did. He was patient with the Bedouins when they would come to the masjid. More patient than anyone from this ummah, though he was the most knowledgeable person of this ummah. No one was more humble with the people. No one, and I don't want to say shamed people less because he never shamed you ﷺ.
He didn't condescend, he was not condescending towards people. He didn't put people down. And even when it comes to attracting attention, subhanAllah, look at the humility of the Messenger ﷺ. When he had to say something in relation to himself, he was shy ﷺ. So he would mention that on the Day of Judgment, as he was narrating the scenes of the Day of Judgment and how Allah ﷻ would privilege him in certain places, he would say ﷺ with his head down, wa la fakhr. I'm not trying to boast, just know that I'm not putting anyone down here. I'm giving you the factual scenes of the Day of Judgment. So what does that tell you? If sacred knowledge makes you an arrogant person, and it makes you someone who's judgmental and condescending and someone who slanders and someone who gossips and someone who's in soap operas and dramas all day, just with the ilmi twist to them, a knowledgeable twist to them, either something is fundamentally wrong with the knowledge that you're pursuing or the one who's giving it to you or your intention as you're pursuing it. Two sacred things with sacred outcomes in mind. Otherwise it's like Isa ﷺ, it's narrated that Isa ﷺ said that to give knowledge to someone who is pursuing it with the wrong intention is like dressing a pig with jewelry. It's gold, but you're putting it on a pig. You have to change the condition of yourself when you pursue this. Why do you want to learn? Why do you want to know? Why do you want to be heard? Why do you want to pursue? What is it that you are looking for? Because the main thing that you want from this ilm, from this knowledge, is that it purifies you. You zakihim, that it purifies you on the inside and then it produces the beautiful fruits, the beautiful seeds that will go on to benefit you bi-idhnillahi ta'ala for many, many, many years to come and be a sadaqah jariah for you. But you want knowledge and you ask for it. And the one thing that Allah ﷻ told us to ask Allah for is rabbi zidni ilma.
Oh my Lord, increase me in knowledge. Increase me in knowledge. Knowledge that fits the other categories of this dua. Knowledge that brings khushu' to the heart. innama yakhshallaa min ibadihi ilmama. Knowledge that makes your heart more humble. Knowledge that curbs the ego. Knowledge that curbs the self. Knowledge that leads you to action that makes your dua heard. Because we know that dua is heard when there is action to that dua. So you want knowledge that inspires the other things that are mentioned in this dua. And someone might say, well, what about worldly knowledge? What if I just want to learn something because it's cool? What if I want to learn something because it gives me purely worldly benefit? And the answer is innama al-a'malu binniyat. Actions are by intention. Seeking knowledge is an action. Therefore, if you are seeking knowledge for something that is halal, it is halal. And if you're seeking knowledge for something that is haram, it is haram. And if you're seeking knowledge for something that is praiseworthy, it is praiseworthy. If you're seeking it for a particular outcome, that's what's going to judge the very thing that you are seeking. Now what does this mean for us as we study Islam? Because we are not a people as Muslims who should accept ignorance for ourselves. You know, when someone says, I don't want to even know what's halal and haram because that way you're kind of spoiling it for me. I'd rather just be in the ignorant because that way if I'm in the category of the ignorant, then I can plead some version of the fifth on the day of judgment. It doesn't work that way. You have to seek knowledge. Rabbi zidni ilma. Everyone is supposed to pursue knowledge. There's a collective fard of some sort to where you need to know something of your religion and you need to want to increase in your religion starting with the Quran. Do not be satisfied. Do not be satisfied with memorizing a few surahs from Juz Amma and then coming to the
masjid and saying, you know, mashallah, Quran competitions, hif competitions. Don't be satisfied with yourself. With the halakat and saying, well, I come to Jumma. No, push yourself to do more, but want more from that knowledge and how you pursue that ilm. And subhanallah, with all of the means by which things are available to us, I'll end with a couple of narrations. One of them is from Ibn Mas'ud radiallahu ta'ala anhu, which shows you how the companions would read the Quran. Some of the tabi'een asked him, how did the companions used to read the Quran? Not many of them were huffaf. Not many of them were huffaf. Not many of them memorized the Quran. Very few of them memorized the Quran. And he said, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, that we the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, kanu yaqtari'una min rasoolillahi salallahu alayhi wasalam ashra ayat fala ya'khuduna fil ashri alukhra hatta ya'lamu ma fi hadhihi min al'ilm wal'amal qalu fa'alimna al'ilm wal'amal. He said, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, we the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, we take ten ayat at a time. This is how the sahaba used to study Quran. We took ten ayat, and we would not move on to the next ten until we sat and we pondered upon all of the implications of those ten verses. And then we took those ten verses, and once we felt like we pondered the implications and the application, then we moved on to the next ten. So we would learn al'ilm wal'amal. We would learn the knowledge and the application of those verses simultaneously. Someone might say, you know, you say to someone, why don't you memorize the Quran? Oh, because the companions used to not memorize the Quran until they moved on. So you're going to stick to ten surahs of Juz'a Amma and just say, well, that's enough for me. You're not going to do the hifth or the amal. It doesn't work that way. This is to infuse your hifth with something else, to put something into the memorization of the Quran, the application of it as well, so that you can see how you can further benefit
from that knowledge, because on the Day of Judgment, that knowledge will be a proof for you or against you. It'll be a proof for you or against you. And then subhanAllah, taking that attitude of not just how you read the Quran, but how you read everything else. One of my favorite narrations in this regard, and subhanAllah, the narration is from Imam Ahmed, who narrates from Al-Waqi' Ibn al-Jarrah, who narrates from Sufyan al-Thawri, three of the greatest scholars of Islam, who were schools not just of how to learn, but how to practice. These were three men that were distinguished by their piety as well as their knowledge. And guess who the last person being narrated from is? Sufyan says, I narrate from my mom. Sufyan al-Thawri has a narration from his mom. He said, when I was a child, my mom told me, and we were very poor, she said, اذهب فاطلب العلم حتى اعو لك انا بمغزلي. She said, go and learn. Go to all the halaqas you can. I want you to learn. I want you to go to this scholar and go to that scholar and go to this scholar and go to that scholar. And she said, I'll support you with my sewing and my washing the dishes and cleaning up. I'll do what I have to do. You know, most of the imams had single moms. Most of them came from single moms. SubhanAllah, that produced these incredible people. Sufyan al-Thawri said, my mom said, I'll figure it out. I'm going to earn this money. I'm going to spin and sew and wash. I'll do all the odd jobs so that you can continue to go and learn from the best scholars in the world. But then she said to me, يا ابني, oh my son, اذا كتبت عشرة احاديث فانظر هل ترى في نفسك زيادة في خشيتك وحلمك ووقارك. She said, oh my son, every time you go and you write 10 hadiths down, I want you to stop with those 10 hadiths. And I want you to ask yourself with those hadiths because that was the ilm of the time. Go and collect the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ.
Ask yourself, have you increased in your fear of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala? Have you increased in your humility? Have you increased in your dignity and your character? And if you have not, فَعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا يَضُرُّكُ وَلَا يَنْفَعُكُ. Know that all the stuff that you're learning is not going to benefit you or harm you. It's just information at that point. It's only knowledge when it transforms. It's only knowledge when you look at how to apply it in yourself. Think about what we teach our children in regards to learning this religion. We send our kids to learn the Qur'an. We send them to Islamic schools. We send them to learn hadiths. We send them to learn this, learn that. But if they're coming home and they're not seeing a house of Qur'an and a house of seerah and a house of hadith, you're teaching them early on cognitive dissonance. This mom is saying, look, I'm going to do this and I'm happy to do this, but I'm not doing this so that I can put you, you know, hold you as a trophy when you memorize so many hadiths and say, my son is Sufyan al-Thawri. I'm doing this because I want you to take every ten hadith and see how you can apply them in your life and how you can grow closer to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ibrahim ibn Ismail, he said that the Salaf used to say, كنا نستعين على حفظ الحديث بالعمل به that we used to in fact memorize by practice. Meaning what? We learned to memorize this religion, to memorize the sacred texts of this religion because we practiced them daily and we would tell ourselves that this is how we're going to keep memorizing them because they were constantly making the connection between everything that they do in life with that sacred knowledge. And so when the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to say, اللهم إني أعوذ بك من علم لا ينفع Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you from knowledge that is of no benefit. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to increase us in knowledge that is beneficial, that transforms us and it goes back to us being willing to commit the time and to refine the intention as we approach this knowledge. Anything that you're reading, anything you're listening to, take the time to ponder upon
it and see how you benefit from what you are listening to and what you are learning. اللهم زدنا علما نافعا Oh Allah, we ask you to increase us in beneficial knowledge. اللهم زدنا علما وإيمانا ويقينا May Allah increase us in knowledge and in faith and in certainty. اللهم آمين Wathemeen adadabula taboo اللهم آمين فاستغفروا إنه الغفور الرحيم Oh Allah, we ask you to forgive us, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful اللهم آمين فاستغفروا إنه الغفور الرحيم Oh Allah, we ask you to forgive us, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful اللهم آمين فاستغفروا إنه الغفور الرحيم Oh Allah, we ask you to forgive us, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful
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