Preface
Indeed all praise is for Allah. We praise Him andwe seek His aid and
we ask for His forgiveness. We
seek Allahs refuge from the evils of ourselves andfrom our evil deeds.
Whomsoever Allah guides
no-one can misguide him and whomsoever Allaah misguides then there is
none to guide him. I bear
witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, alone,
having no partner and I bear
witness that Muhammadis His slave and His Messenger. To proceed:
Allaah has protected the homeland of Islaam withthe mujaahideen (those
who fight jihaad) and He
has protected the prescribed way of eemaan with the teachers. Since
He, the Most High, says in His
clear Book:
It is not right for the Believers that all of themshould go off to battle.
Rather from every troop of them some of them should remain in order that
they should attain knowledge in the Religion. That they should warn their
people when they returnto them so that they can beware of evil.
[Soorah at-Tawbah
(9):122].
So Allaah, the Perfect, placed the Believers into two groups. On one
of them He has made it
obligatory that they fightjihaad in His way. And upon the other one,
He has made it obligatory that
they attain knowledge ofHis Religion, in order that not all of them go
off to fight jihaad. Because if
they all went off to fight jihaad, then the prescribed laws would pass
away and knowledge would
pass away. Then it would not be possible for them to seek knowledge
after that and so the
unbelievers would therefore gain dominance over the Religion. Thus,
Allaah has raised up high the
levels of the two groups of people.1 And the great scholar Ibn
Qayyimal-Jawziyyah (may Allaahhave
mercy on him) said in hisbook, Miftaah Daaris-Sa'aadah, [vol.1,
pp.50~51]. "And Allaah, the Perfect,
has informed in His Bookabout the raising high ofthe levels four
times. Thefirst of them is His
saying:
O you who believe, when it is said to you to make space in the gatherings,
then make space such that Allaah may grant you spacious dwellings in
Paradise and if it is said to you, `Arise,' then rise up. Allaah will raise up
those of you who have Eemaan and those of you who have knowledge in
ranks. And Allaah is fully aware of whatever you do. [Soorah al-Mujaadilah
(58):11].
The second aayah is His saying:
The Believers are only those who, when Allaah is mentioned, their hearts
tremble with fear. And when His signs are recited to them, it increases
them in Eemaan and they depend upon their Lord. They are those who
establish the prayer and spend out of that which Allaah has provided for
them. They are the true Believers, they have ranks with their Lord and
they have forgiveness and generous provision in Paradise from their Lord.
[Soorah al-Anfaal (6):2~4].
And the third aayah is the saying of Allaah, the Most High:
And whomever comes toAllaah as a true Believer, having done righteous
and correct deeds, then for them there are the high ranks. [Soorah Taa Haa
(20):75].
1 Taken from the introduction of Al-Faqeeh wal-Mutafaqqih, the book of
al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee, and has been adapted
slightly.
And the fourth aayah is the saying of Allaah, the Most High:
Indeed Allaah has preferred the ones who fight jihaad over those who sit,
with a very great reward:degrees of higher gradesfrom Him and
forgiveness and mercy. [Soorah an-Nisaa (4):95~96].
So these are four places. In three of them, the raising up of the
ranks is for the people of Eemaan,
that is those who have the beneficial knowledge (al-'ilm un-naafi')
and righteous and correct action
(al-'amalus-Saalih). And the fourth aayah mentions the raising up of
ranks due to jihaad. So all of
the aayahs about the raising up of ranks refer back to knowledge and
jihaad, which are the two
supports of this Religion."
And from this we see that the scholars, (who have the correct
knowledge and wisdom,and teach
people the knowledge insuch a manner that they teach them the easy
things first and then the
harder things) those by whom the proof is established, and by whose
sayings doubts are removed in
the sittings of knowledge and whose sittings are fields where the
souls are purified, and in the fields
of calling to Allaah-(we see) that they are like those fighting jihaad
in the way of Allaah, those who
rebut the enemy and those who cut off the desires of the Unbelievers,
who go to the battlefronts
defending the frontiers.
And this understanding is reported from a group of the first Salaf,
Abud-Dardaa (radiyallaahu 'anhu)
said, "Whoever holds that going off in the morning or going off later
in the day to gain some
knowledge is not jihaad,then he is deficient in hisintellect and
deficient in his opinion."
And Ka'b al-Ahbaar said,"The student of knowledge is like the one who
goes off in the morning, or
later in the day to fight in the way of Allaah, the Mighty and the Majestic. :->
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