How Is Knowledge Taken Away in the Last Era, Even as We See Its Abundance with the Establishment of Universities and the Spread of Information through the Internet?
Answered by Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad
Question
How is knowledge taken away in the last era, even as we see its abundance with the establishment of universities and the spread of information through the internet?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Messenger of Allah.
Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (Allah be pleased with them) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Indeed, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the servants, rather He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars. Then when no scholar remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons. They will be asked and will give fatwas without knowledge, leading astray and being led astray.” [Bukhari, Muslim]
How Knowledge Will Diminish
Allah (Most High) has made knowledge a beacon and guidance to His path. Without knowledge, people stray from the path. True knowledge prevents falling into error. In this hadith, the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) informs us that Allah does not remove knowledge from people by erasing it from the hearts of the scholars and wiping it from their chests, but rather by taking the scholars away through death, thus resulting in the loss of knowledge. There will be no one to replace those who have passed, and as each scholar departs, they take their knowledge with them, until Allah leaves no scholar alive and the true scholars of knowledge die.
The ignorant will reach scholarly positions they do not deserve, such as teaching and issuing fatwas. People will consider them scholars and ask them questions, and they will issue fatwas without knowledge due to their ignorance, allowing the forbidden and forbidding the permissible. Thus they stray from the truth themselves and lead astray those laymen who follow them and accept their fatwas.
Books, articles, websites, and the like cannot replace the presence of scholars, as those sources cannot be understood correctly without their assistance.
An Encouragement to Preserve Knowledge
This hadith encourages seeking and preserving knowledge, as it is only removed by taking away the scholars. It warns against appointing the ignorant as leaders and cautions the authorities against appointing ignorant people in religious positions.
We also learn from the hadith that issuing fatwas is the true position of leadership. In it is a condemnation of those who undertake it without knowledge.
This emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge, caring for it, and taking it directly from the mouths of scholars. Simply reading books is not sufficient, and no one has ever become a student of knowledge through books alone; knowledge is taken from the mouths of scholars.
Only Speak about Religion with Knowledge
Speaking about religion without knowledge is misguidance in oneself and misleading to others. It is forbidden for a Muslim to speak about Allah’s religion without knowledge. They should adopt the proper manners instead, saying “I do not know” when they do not know something, and train themselves on this until it becomes second nature. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the leading scholars of the past, who are our role models and predecessors, even said this.
Muhammad ibn Jubayr ibn Mut‘im reported from his father that a man came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and asked, “O Messenger of Allah, which lands are the worst?” He replied, “I do not know.” Then when Gabriel came, he asked, “O Gabriel, which lands are the worst?” He said, “I do not know until I ask my Lord.” Gabriel then left and stayed as long as Allah willed, then came back and said, “O Muhammad, you asked me which lands are the worst, and I said, ‘I do not know,’ so I asked my Lord, and He said, ‘Their markets.’” [Hakim, Ahmad, Abu Ya‘la, Bazzar, Tabarani]
Abu Abdullah al-Hakim (Allah have mercy on him) in al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn said this hadith is a basis for the scholar’s saying, “I do not know.”
Asking Experts When You Do Not Know
Allah has obligated the ignorant to ask the people of knowledge; as He says, “If you do not know, then ask those who have knowledge.” [Quran, 16:43, 21:7]. It is not permissible for a Muslim to ask someone who lacks knowledge or to follow their opinion; doing so leads them astray from the religion of Allah (Most High).
Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (Allah have mercy on him) confirmed this issue, saying, “Indeed, this knowledge is religion, so look to whom you take your religion from.” [Muslim in his Introduction to his Sahih collection; Darimi; Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba; Shama’il al-Tirmidhi]
Speaking without Knowledge is a Trap from Satan
One of Satan’s strategies to mislead Muslims is to make them speak about Allah’s religion without knowledge, leading them into a great trial and a grave sin. Allah says, “He only incites you to commit evil and indecency, and to claim against Allah what you do not know.” [Quran, 2:169]
Allah also commands us to say, “My Lord has only forbidden open and secret indecencies, sinfulness, unjust aggression, associating ˹others˺ with Allah ˹in worship˺—a practice He has never authorized—and attributing to Allah what you do not know.” [Quran, 7:33]
It is forbidden for a Muslim to speak about Allah’s religion without knowledge, as it leads to the sin of speaking about Allah without knowledge.
Allah is ultimately the one we seek for help in acquiring knowledge, acting upon it, understanding His religion, and advising for His sake.
[Shaykh] Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad
Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad, born in Damascus, Syria, in 1965, pursued his Islamic studies in the mosques and institutes of Damascus. A graduate of the Islamic University of Medina in 1985, he holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Bahauddin Zakariya University in Pakistan.
He has extensive experience developing curricula and enhancing the teaching of various academic courses, including conducting intensive courses. Shaykh Awad has taught Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Quranic sciences, the history of legislation, inheritance laws, and more at several institutes and universities such as Al-Furqan Institute for Islamic Sciences and Majma‘ al-Fath al-Islami in Damascus.
He is a lecturer at the Sultan Muhammad al-Fatih Waqf University in Istanbul, teaching various Arabic and Islamic subjects, and teaches at numerous Islamic institutes in Istanbul. Shaykh Awad is a member of the Association of Syrian Scholars, a founding member of the Zayd bin Thabit Foundation, a member of the Syrian Scholars Association, and a member of the Academic Council at the Iman Center for Teaching the Sunna and Quran.
Among his teachers from whom he received Ijazat are his father, Shaykh Muhammad Muhiyiddin Awad, Shaykh Muhiyiddin al-Kurdi, Shaykh Muhammad Karim Rajih, Shaykh Usama al-Rifai, Shaykh Ayman Suwaid, Shaykh Ahmad al-Qalash, Shaykh Muhammad Awwama, and Shaykh Mamduh Junayd.
