Bismillahirrahmanirrahim..
May this post serve as a reminder for myself, and only then to others.

Ironic isn’t it that up to now, we must have read dozens of text books cover to cover (and of course, for several times), fictions, comics, magazines, to name a few; and we are proud of what we garner from reading such materials (me myself, guilty as charged). I’m not implying that reading all those stuffs are a waste of time. In fact it’s simply awesome that we do so.
Yet, how many of us, have ever finished contemplating (tadabbur; digest; try to understand) what Allah have to say to us? How on earth does the writing from the pen of a writer of New York Bestseller be compared to the Revelation sent down by Allah through his angel Jibril, whom passed it on to our dearest, Rasulullah s.a.w. Yeah, so I guessed we pretty much messed up on our priority list.

So let’s put all those fictions, and magazines garb aside. And assuming that you and I both only read academic stuffs (silent chuckle), after all, Islam does put a very high standards on knowledge. And Islam do need intellectuals to improve the status quo of this deen. From the words of Umar ibn Khattab, "teach your young the knowledge of their time", this shows us that the seeking of the knowledge of dunya is very important. But it should be made clear that knowledge is a mere tool, and we have a greater goal ahead. Why would a lumberjack spend more time sharpening his axe instead of chopping more woods? We may argue (sometimes i do too), that being a student, there's simply too much time constrain. A solution to this, is to understand in what perspective should a muslim view education and knowledge.


A narration from Rasulullah s.a.w "the seeking of knowledge is made compulsory (fardh) for every muslim".

Note that in arabic, the word used is fardh, which by itself doesn't only mean that it is compulsory. There are three pronged meanings to it. If something is fardh, then it should;

1) be made compulsory
2) be made as a form of ibadah (worship)
3) be made as medium for us to be closer to Allah.

And the knowledge referred here doesn't necessarily means knowledge of the deen only, but also to the knowledge of dunya as well. HOWEVER, if we burn the midnight oil studying and end up missing fajr in the masjid the next day, what's the point of it? Are we living up to the expectation of fulfilling our fardh in the seeking of knowledge? If we holed up in our study space for hours and end up missing salah in groups, are we living up to the standards of fardh? If we are preparing for exams by doing extensive reading while the quran is allowed to gather dust, is that fulfilling our fardh? Are we going to be that much closer to Allah all because of a graduation scroll?

If we truly stick true to the code of fardh, what should happen is that the more knowledge we gain, should take us ever closer to Allah azza wa jalla. The more we study, the more we want to be involve in da'wah, the more enthusiastic we become when there is an Islamic seminar, the more curious we are in the study of this deen, the more hyped up we turn up to be to attend weekly 'bulatan gembira'.

Being in the path of Allah's Mercy, and Blessings doesn't mean you have to read the quran 24/7 or stay in the masjid all day long. When we allocate our time for our studies and understand that that is only the input. And the outcome is not only a degree; If we study according to the guidelines of fardh, our every effort in dunya will be credited and none wasted. So study smart and with ease fellas, balance your dunya and your deen, renew your niyyah, and reap the benefits from each, hereafter. Insyaallah.

Wallahualam.... For He knows best.