Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Imam Ibn Hazm's Golden Words on Knowledge

31. If knowledge had no other merit than to makethe ignorant fear and
respect you, and scholars love and honour you, thiswould be good
enough reason to seek after it. Let alone all its other merits in this
world and the next!
32. If ignorance had no other fault than to make the igno-rant man
jealous of knowledgeable men and jubilant at see-ing more people like
himself, this by itself would be reason enough to oblige us to flee
it. Let alone the other bad results of this evil in this world and the
next!
33. If knowledge and the action of devoting oneself to it had no
purpose except to free the man who seeks it from the exhausting
anxieties and many worries which afflict the mind, that alone would
certainly be enough to drive us to seek knowledge. But what should we
say of the other bene-fits too numerous to list, the leastof which are
the above-mentioned, and all of which accrue to the knowledgeable man.
In search of benefits as small as these the petty kings have worn
themselves out in seeking distraction from their anxieties in games of
chess, dicing, wine, song, hunting expe-ditions and other pastimes
which bring nothing but harm in this world and the next and absolutely
no benefit.

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