The Importance of Education in Islam

(The Importance of Education in Islam) ;

To seek knowledge is a sacred duty, it is obligatory on every Muslim, male and female to get education. The first word revealed of the Holly Quran was "Iqra" READ! Seek knowledge! Educate yourselves! Be educated.AIIAH says in glories Quran Surah Al-Zumr, ayah 9 reveals: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?" Surah Al-Baqarah, ayah 269 reveals: "Allah grants wisdom to whom He pleases and to whom wisdom is granted indeed he receives an overflowing benefit
" The Holy Prophet of Allah (pbuh.) said: "Talabul ilmi farizatun ala kuli mulsim " This Hadith means: "Attainment of knowledge is a must for every Muslim.
At Gangi Badur Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) set an option to unbleviour prisoners to teach ten muslims to get free.
So it is clear from The glories Quran and Hadith,that to get education is obligatory for every muslim weather it is religious or worldly education.
The Muslims today are the most humiliated community in the world. And should they persist in following the same educational program as given by their colonial masters, they will not be able to recover themselves from moral and spiritual decadence.
Ibn Masud (RZ) reported that the Messenger of Allah said: The position of only two persons is enviable; the person whom Allah bestowed wealth empowering him to spend it in the way of righteousness, and the person whom Allah gave wisdom with which he adjudges and which he teaches to others.
According to Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: A single scholar of religion is more formidable against shaytaan than a thousand devout persons.
Islam is our greatest gift. We have to be thankful for this gift. We have to render to Allah His due. Allah has given us so much by making us a part of the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) so we must totally commit ourselves as followers of the Prophet (PBUH). We must become true Muslims. Now how can we become Muslims in the true sense .First let`s define what a Muslim is ? A muslim is not a muslim simply because he is born one. A muslim is a muslim because ,he is a follower of islam, a submitter to the will of Allah.We are Muslim if we consciously deliberately accept ,what has been taught by the Prophet Mohammmad (pbuh) and act accordingly.Otherwise we are not true muslims
The first and most crucial obligation on us is to acquire knowledge and secondly to practice and preach this knowledge. No man becomes truly a Muslim without knowing the meaning of Islam, because he becomes a Muslim not through birth but through knowledge. Unless we come to know the basic and necessary teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) how can we believe in him, have faith in him, act according to what he taught? It is impossible for us to be a Muslim, and at the same time live in a state of ignorance.
A person without knowledge is like someone walking along a track in complete darkness. Most likely his steps will wander aside and he easily can be deceived by shaytaan. This shows that our greatest danger lies in our ignorance of Islamic teachings and in our unawareness of what the Qur?an teaches and what guidance has been given by the Prophet (S). But if we are blessed with the light of knowledge we will be able to see plainly the clear path of Islam at every step of our lives. We shall also be able to identify and avoid the dangerous paths of Kufr, Shirk and immorality, which may cross it. And, whenever a false guide meets us on the way, a few words with him will quickly establish that he is not a guide who should be followed.
Every one of us, young or old, man or woman, should at least acquire sufficient knowledge to enable ourselves to understand the essence of the teachings of the Quran and the purpose for which it has been sent down. We should also be able to understand clearly the mission, which our beloved Prophet (pbuh) came into this world to fulfil. We should also recognize the corrupt order and system, which he came to destroy. We should acquaint ourselves, too, with the way of life which Allah has ordained for us..
Knowledge is identified in Islam as worship. The acquiring of knowledge is worship, reading the Quran and pondering upon it is worship, travelling to gain knowledge is worship. The practice of knowledge is connected with ethics and morality with promoting virtue and combating vice, enjoining right and forbidding wrong. This is called in the Qur?an: amr bil- maruf wa nah-y ani-l munkar. We are monitoring world now in a little screen that too in a kitchen .The single touch of finger will expose the inner happenings of any country .If one can do it ,he is a literate, So the first moral obligation is to bestow thought bank with the fresh information. It is only possible ,when one will be educated,
Not only we should seek knowledge, but also when we learn it, it becomes obligatory on us to practice it. Though we must remember that correct knowledge should come before correct action. Knowledge without action is useless, because a learned person without action will be the worst of creatures on the Day of judgement. Also, action should not be based on blind imitation for this is not the quality of a thinking, sensible human being.Knowledge is pursued and practiced with modesty and leads to beauty, dignity, freedom and justice.
A muslim should be an engineer, a doctor,a pilot , a scentist ,an officer a professor to serve the people, that all is possible if we keep in touch with modern education.
Obviously, what we may call the reservoir of knowledge is deep and profound. It is a vast and open field that is not limited.It is impossible for anyone to gain anything more than a fraction of what there is to know in the short span of one`s life. We must therefore decide what is most important for us to know and how to go about acquiring this knowledge.
The following hadith shows how important and how rewarding knowledge is. "He who acquires knowledge acquires a vast portion." AND "If anyone going on his way in search of knowledge, God will, thereby make easy for him the way to Paradise."
We, the children, are the future. The future lies in our hands, but only through knowledge because whoever neglects learning in youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
May Allah give us strength to behave and act just as He likes us to do and be pleased with us, and that should be the purpose of our lives. Rabbi zidnee ilma (O Lord, increase us in knowledge). Aameen.