Purpose of knowledge – 1

Auto-generated transcript:Allah is the Greatest, the Merciful, and the All-Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honour of the Prophets and Messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. My brothers and sisters, Allah SWT taught us about education, about how to educate, about what must prioritize, what should the priorities be in education. Allah SWT told us in Surah Al-Azim Raan, إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاقْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَى جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقُتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَاظَ بَنَّارٍ Allah SWT said, which means, Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and the night are signs for people of intelligence, people who reflect, people who think, people who have minds. And Allah described these people, al-wurid, al-bab, as people, people who remember Allah SWT standing, sitting and lying down. This is the beauty of the economy of the bayan, the narrative of the Quran, wherein just one or two words, Allah SWT collects and encompasses everything that goes under the description of the Quran. This is the beauty of knowledge. So Allah SWT is saying the first condition of a person of intelligence is that they recognize their Rabb, Jalla Jalaluhu, and they are obedient to Him because they reflect, they remember Him in every aspect of life, standing, sitting and lying down. Every aspect of life. They remember their Rabb, whether they are at home or they are in their workplace, whether they are in their home, whether they are in their workplace, Whether they are kings or paupers, whether they are married or single, whether they have children or no children, whether they are rich or poor, whether they are healthy or sick, in every aspect of life, they remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not just a passive state of being. It doesn't mean merely repeating the names and attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this dhikr or that wazifa. Remembering Allah means being aware of the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives and becoming totally obedient to His commands as they apply. Being aware means being obedient to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives and becoming totally obedient to His commands as they apply. Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala means being obedient to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives and becoming totally obedient to His commands as they apply. So the first quality of people of intelligence is that they recognize the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the first quality of people of intelligence is that they recognize the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They think, they ponder, they research. As a result of their research, they discover. They go deep into. All of these means of understanding or phrases of understanding are encompassed in the word yatafakkarun. Fikr. To be concerned. Concerned. In what? In the creation of the heavens and the earth. In the creation of the heavens and the earth. Allah used the preposition and. Now, those of you who know Arabic, if you write a sentence, Alladheena yadhkuruna allaha qiyamahum wa qu'udahum wa ala junubihim aw yatafakkaruna fee khalqis samawati walad. This sentence would be grammatically correct. What it would mean is that these are the people who remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala standing, sitting and lying down. Or those who reflect upon, who are concerned about and who do research in the creation of the heavens and the earth. Now, so in this sentence, though it is grammatically correct, we are talking about two different kinds of people. Who are the people who are al-ulil al-baab? People who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying down. Or. Those who reflect on, research in and who are concerned about the creation of the heavens and the earth. But this is not the ayat of the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not describing two different kinds of people. Allah is not saying that either this or that both are OK. No. Allah is describing two qualities of the same person, of the same people. The first quality is to be concerned. To be concerned about the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In everything that we say or we do. And this is the definition of taqwa. To be concerned about the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In everything we say or do is the definition of taqwa. So Allah is saying the first quality of the person who is fit to be called, to be included among al-ulil al-baab is a mutaqi. Somebody who has a good heart. Somebody who has a good heart. Somebody who has a good heart. Somebody who has taqwa. And, not or, and, somebody who reflects the same person. The mutaqi is also now reflecting on the creation, on how this creation came about. So in the first case, the mutaqi is inwardly focused. He is purifying his heart. He is concerned. He is concerned about his own relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He is concerned about living a life which is according to the sunnah of Muhammad rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And when he has this right, he is concerned now in the second stage, looking outwards at the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like in surah al-ankabut, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, قُلْ ثِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْنَا وَتَعَالَىٰ. وَقَيْفَ بَدْءَ الْخَلْقِ Allah said, go, roam around in the world, travel in the land, and see how we have created things. It's not merely tourism. Allah is not promoting tourism. Allah is not saying just go around, have fun. No, Allah is saying, when you travel, travel with this consciousness. Travel with this awareness. Travel with this focus. Travel with this focus. To say, let me look at the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and marvel at it. And say, subhanAllah, this is my Raqqa. I remind myself and you, the purpose of education is to connect us to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And when the person does that, the ayat completes with that, what happens when the person is concerned about the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in all that he says and does, and reflects on the creation of the heavens and the earth, he automatically or she automatically comes to a position where they say, رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاتِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ ثَقِنَا أَذَبَ النَّرِ Wallah, I bear witness that you have not created all of this without purpose. You have not created all of this in vain. All glory be to you. Save us from the hellfire. The person automatically gets oriented towards and turns towards the reality of life, which is that one day they will meet Allah. And they are concerned about that meeting. May Allah make us aware like this. This is the purpose of education. So when we look at education, we must look at it from this perspective and this position to say that what is education doing for me? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? By the sign... . . . ego if it's not purifying my actions if it's not purifying my life then this education is not education this is a waste of time if this education is converting me into somebody who is becomes rebellious with Allah SWT somebody who becomes an atheist somebody who says all of this is an accident that is a sign of of blindness of spiritual and intellectual blindness nobody in their right minds can even think or imagine that a grasshopper happened by itself that an ant happened by itself that the entire system of an ant hill the way the ants work together the way bees work together which is one of the finest examples of of dictatorship of absolute monarchy people like to think of ants and bees as this great benign system which is where everyone is walking............... ... ... ... ... ... ... to the ants, gave a command and said, get back inside the anthill, get back into your holes. Otherwise the army of Sulaiman alayhi salam might trample on you. Qalat. It was centuries later that people discovered the entire hierarchy and the entire system of how ants live and how ants work together. There is only one command of an anthill or of a beehive, and that is a queen bee or a queen ant. It's not a male, it's a female. And only one. None of the others have independent will. All the others are workers, they are slaves. And any slave that gets out, falls out of line, is immediately executed. Imagine, this is the whole point of education. The whole point of education is to marvel at creation and say, SubhanAllah, this is my Rab. This is how He has created things. I mean, I can go on endlessly about this and, you know, really each one of you must think about these things and say, what kind of creation, what kind of things has Allah SWT created? Recently, I heard about a case where, I think it was off the coast of Australia, where a father and his daughter was swimming, and suddenly they got surrounded by dolphins, bottlenose dolphins. And these dolphins herded them and kept them in one place. And these two are now treading water in the ocean. And the dolphins have completely surrounded them. And they will not let them come out from there. And then they noticed that there was a great white shark, which was cruising around. And as the shark came close to them, the dolphins started slapping their tails and making a lot of noise and splashing and so on. Eventually, they drove the shark away. And then they gently escorted this father and daughter back to the shore. They... They... They... They... They... They... They... They...