Seeking Knowledge is An Obligation

Since knowledge of the religion is what distinguishes
the people of excellence from all others, it is then
incumbent upon every person to have a share of it.
Allah ta`ala commands us in His Infallible Quran: “Ask
the people of the reminder if you do not know.”

This is a command from Allah ta`ala responding to a
postponed conditional statement, the condition being
lack of knowledge. And since no human was created
knowledgeable of the religious requirements
(takleefaat), seeking knowledge becomes incumbent upon
everyone.

Thus, the command ‘to ask the people of the reminder’
is a universal obligation, which does not include
extracting legal judgments from their sources. This is
because ‘those who do not know’ lack the prerequisites
to search into that which they are obligated to know
in the affairs of the religion.

Therefore, they are required to seek out those more
knowledgeable than themselves (a`alim mimhum) in their
time and place and question them about the religious
issues and obey them in their legal decisions
(fatawa). As a result, the individual, the family and
the society are commanded to make effort in seeking
out the most knowledgeable people of their times, ask
them for guidance and to obey them in their commands.

Similarly, the scholar is obligated to follow the
scholar like himself in those legal proofs and
opinions (daleel wa nadhar) in which he is deficient.
Thus, he will be able to revive his thoughts and
opinions until he too stops at what is desired from
knowledge in those issues.

Consequently, everyone is obligated to “ask the people
of the Reminder if they do not know.”

Ibn Zayd said: “The ‘reminder’ referred to in this
verse is the Quran.” Jaabir al-Ja`afi said: “When this
verse was revealed, Ali, may Allah be pleased with him
said: ‘We are the people of the Reminder’.” He meant
by that statement the knowledgeable people among the
family of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, as well as the notables among the
Companions.

Therefore, all the scholars are agreed that it is an
obligation upon the common people (al-`aama) to follow
the scholars of the religion.

They also agree that what is meant by Allah’s words:
“Ask the people of the reminder if you do not know”,
means that it is incumbent upon the common people to
follow those who are more knowledgeable in the
religion in every issue of the religion where their
ignorance prevails. This also means that the common
people cannot pass legal decisions (fatwa) regarding
the religion.

It has been related by Ibn Maja on the authority of
Muhammad ibn Sirin on Anas ibn Malik that the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace said: “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon
every Muslim. And placing knowledge with other than
its rightful people is like adorning pigs with
precious diamonds, pearls and gold.”

This in no way implies that ignorant people are to be
left in their ignorance. What it means is that
knowledge should be transmitted to everyone, but only
those who are qualified both in character and learning
should be given the license (ijaaza) to teach.

To give license to people who are not qualified to
teach is like turning loose a wolf among the sheep.

An antidote to this is what Ahmadu Baba related
regarding the merits of the rector of the Sankore’
University, the learned Modibo Muhammad Kaburi. He
said about him: “This blessed shaykh had many
remarkable miracles. Among them was that one of the
so-called scholars from Marrakesh let loose his tongue
concerning him and said things about him which were
not fitting until he went as far as mispronouncing his
name "al-kaafiri" instead of "al-Kaburi".

By that insinuating that the Shaykh was a disbeliever.
This man was among the people of high rank and great
affluence among the ruling notables. He used to
narrate to them the Saheeh of al-Bukhari during the
month of Ramadhan. As a result of what he said, Allah
subjected him with elephantiasis.

There came to him medical practitioners (legitimate
and bogus) from every region and place until one of
the bogus doctors said, "He cannot be cured except
with the heart of a young child, which he must eat."
As a result, the ruler on behalf of this man unjustly
slaughtered many innocent children.

However, this brought no benefit to him until he died
in the most disgusting of conditions. We seek refuge
with Allah from that!”

This story indicates the extreme dangers of seeking
knowledge for the wrong reasons. Both the above
tyrannical ruler and the envious scholar destroyed
themselves by placing a thing where it did not belong.

This is also illustrated in the following tradition
related by Abu Nu`aym on the authority of Ibn Abass
that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace said: “There are two groups of people
who if they are corrected then the people are
corrected, but if they are corrupted then the people
are corrupted; the scholars and the rulers.”

If society is to be transformed, if a family is to be
transformed and if the individual is to be transformed
then knowledge has to be taken as an obligation and a
prerequisite to transformative action.