Is Seeking Knowledge an Individual or a Communal Obligation?


Answered by Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Abu Bakr Badhib

Question

Is seeking knowledge an individual obligation (fard ‘ayn) or a communal obligation (fard kifaya)?

Answer

In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, his Family, his Companions, and those who follow him.

Islam places great emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge. The first verse revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) was: “Read!” [Quran, 96:1], which is a command to learn. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) also said:

“Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.” [Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Jami‘ Bayan al-‘Ilm]

Scholars have divided the pursuit of knowledge into two main categories:

Individually Obligatory Knowledge (Fard ‘Ayn)

This refers to the knowledge that every Muslim, male or female, must acquire. It includes understanding the meaning of the two testimonies of faith (shahadatayn), which encompass the knowledge of Allah (Most High), His attributes, the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), and aspects of his life and characteristics.

It also includes learning the essential rulings on purity, prayer, fasting, zakat, and pilgrimage, as well as the six pillars of faith (arkan al-iman). This type of knowledge is obligatory for every individual, and no Muslim is excused from being ignorant of it. Therefore, acquiring this knowledge is a personal obligation.

Communally Obligatory Knowledge (Fard Kifaya)

This category includes other religious sciences such as Quranic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, its methodology (mustalah), Arabic grammar, and the sciences related to language, as well as worldly sciences like medicine, engineering, and other general fields of knowledge.

This type of knowledge is a communal obligation—if some members of the community pursue it, others are exempt. However, this does not mean that such knowledge should be neglected, as acting on it can be more virtuous than fulfilling an individual obligation.

This summary highlights the difference between fard ‘ayn and fard kifaya knowledge. For further details, refer to books of scholars who have elaborated on this topic, such as Imam Ghazali’s “Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din,” and works by contemporary scholars.

And Allah is the source of success and guidance to the straight path.

[Shaykh] Dr. Muhammad Abu Bakr Badhib

Shaykh Dr Muhammad Abu Bakr Badhib is a prominent Islamic scholar from Yemen born in Shibam, Hadhramaut, in 1976. He received his degree in Shari‘a from Al-Ahqaf University, a master’s degree from the Islamic University of Beirut, and a PhD in Usul al-Din from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

He studied under great scholars such as Shaykh al-Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad, Shaykh Fadl Ba‘ fadl, Habib Salim al-Shatiri, Habib Ali Mashhur bin Hafeez, and others. He has served as the Director of Publications at Dar al-Fiqh, the former Deputy Director of Cultural Relations at Al-Ahqaf University, a former Assistant for Employee Affairs at Atiyah Iron Company, a researcher at the Sunna Center affiliated with the Dallah al-Baraka Foundation, and a researcher at Al-Furqan Foundation’s Makka al-Mukarrama and Madina al-Munawwara Encyclopedia branch.

Currently, he is a researcher at Al-Furqan Foundation’s Makka al-Mukarrama and Madina al-Munawwara Encyclopedia branch, teaches traditionally through the Ijaza system at Dar al-Fuqaha in Turkey, supervises the Arabic department at Nur al-Huda International Institute (SeekersGuidance), and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Manuscript House in Istanbul.

His works include “The Efforts of Hadhramaut Jurists in Serving the Shafi‘i School,” “Contributions of Hadhramaut Scholars in Spreading Islam and its Sciences in India,” “Hada’iq al-Na‘im in Shafi‘i Fiqh,” in addition to verifying several books in Fiqh, history, the art of biographies, and Asanid (chains of narration).