Vol 1 · p 11

Knowledge that outlives you: the last reports on teaching

Book 1 · Knowledge كتاب العلم

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The hadith on teaching close: knowledge that goes on benefiting people after one dies, the one who points the way to good, the two people it is right to envy, and the Prophet's ﷺ successors, who bring his sunna to life and teach it. Then the sayings: Sufyān al-Thawrī leaves a town where no one asks him anything, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib weeps because no one asks, scholars are the lamps of their age, and knowledge has a price: it must go to those who will carry it well. The page ends with Muʿādh ibn Jabal's long praise of knowledge: it leads, and action follows.

سکھانے کے بارے میں حدیثیں پوری ہوتی ہیں: وہ علم جس سے مرنے کے بعد بھی لوگ فائدہ اٹھاتے رہیں، بھلائی کا راستہ بتانے والا، وہ دو آدمی جن پر رشک کرنا درست ہے، اور نبی ﷺ کے خلفاء جو آپ کی سنت کو زندہ کرتے اور سکھاتے ہیں۔ پھر اقوال: سفیان ثوری ایسے شہر سے نکل جاتے ہیں جہاں کوئی ان سے کچھ نہیں پوچھتا، سعید بن مسیب اس لیے روتے ہیں کہ کوئی پوچھنے نہیں آتا، علماء اپنے زمانے کے چراغ ہیں، اور علم کی قیمت یہ ہے کہ اسے انہی کو دو جو اسے سنبھال سکیں۔ صفحہ معاذ بن جبلؓ کے لمبے کلام پر ختم ہوتا ہے: علم آگے چلتا ہے اور عمل اس کے پیچھے۔

Key terms

الحسدal-ḥasadenvy
الخشيةal-khashyareverent fear

¶ 1 · continued from the previous page

وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا مات ابن آدم انقطع عمله إلا من ثلاث علم ينتفع به الحديث ¹

And he ﷺ said: "When the son of Adam dies, his deeds are cut off except for three: knowledge that is benefited from…" (and the rest of) the hadith.¹

وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم الدال على الخير كفاعله ²

And he ﷺ said: "The one who points the way to good is like the one who does it."²

وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم لا حسد إلا في اثنتين رجل آتاه الله عز وجل حكمة فهو يقضي بها ويعلمها الناس ورجل آتاه الله مالا فسلطه على هلكته في الخير ³

And he ﷺ said: "There is no envy (ḥasad) except in two: a man to whom Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has given wisdom, and he judges by it and teaches it to people; and a man to whom Allah has given wealth, and He has empowered him to spend it away in good."³

وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم على خلفائي رحمة الله قيل ومن خلفاؤك قال الذين يحيون سنتي ويعلمونها عباد الله ⁴

And he ﷺ said: "Allah's mercy be on my successors (khulafāʾ)." It was said: "And who are your successors?" He said: "Those who bring my sunna to life and teach it to the servants of Allah."⁴

وأما الآثار فقد قال عمر رضي الله عنه من حدث حديثا فعمل به فله مثل أجر من عمل ذلك العمل

As for the reports from the Companions and those after them: ʿUmar (RA) said: "Whoever tells a saying (ḥaddatha ḥadīthan) and it is acted on has the like of the reward of whoever does that deed."

¶ 2

وقال ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما معلم الناس الخير يستغفر له كل شيء حتى الحوت في البحر

And Ibn ʿAbbās (RA) said: "The one who teaches people good: everything seeks forgiveness for him, even the fish in the sea."

¶ 3

وقال بعض العلماء العالم يدخل فيما بين الله وبين خلقه فلينظر كيف يدخل

And one of the scholars said: "The scholar enters into what is between Allah and His creation, so let him look how he enters."

¶ 4

وروى أن سفيان الثوري رحمه الله قدم عسقلان فمكث لا يسأله إنسان فقال اكروا لي لأخرج من هذا البلد هذا بلد يموت فيه العلم

And it is reported that Sufyān al-Thawrī, may Allah have mercy on him, came to ʿAsqalān and stayed, and no one asked him anything. So he said: "Hire [a mount] for me, so that I may leave this town: this is a town where knowledge dies."

¶ 5

وإنما قال ذلك حرصا على فضيلة التعليم واستبقاء العلم به

And he said that only out of eagerness for the excellence of teaching, and to keep knowledge alive through it.

وقال عطاء رضي الله عنه دخلت على سعيد بن المسيب وهو يبكي فقلت ما يبكيك قال ليس أحد يسألني عن شيء

And ʿAṭāʾ (RA) said: "I went in to Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and he was weeping. I said: 'What makes you weep?' He said: 'There is no one who asks me about anything.'"

وقال بعضهم العلماء سرج الأزمنة كل واحد مصباح زمانه يستضيء به أهل عصره

And one of them said: "The scholars are the lamps of the ages: each one is the lamp of his own time, by which the people of his era seek light."

¶ 6

وقال الحسن رحمه الله لولا العلماء لصار الناس مثل البهائم أي أنهم بالتعليم يخرجون الناس من حد البهيمية إلى حد الإنسانية

And al-Ḥasan, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Were it not for the scholars, people would have become like beasts." That is, by teaching they bring people out of the bounds of beasthood into the bounds of humanity.

¶ 7

وقال عكرمة إن لهذا العلم ثمنا قيل وما هو قال أن تضعه فيمن يحسن حمله ولا يضيعه

And ʿIkrima said: "This knowledge has a price." It was said: "And what is it?" He said: "That you place it with one who will carry it well and not waste it."

¶ 8

وقال يحيى بن معاذ العلماء أرحم بأمة محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم من آبائهم وأمهاتهم قيل وكيف ذلك قال لأن آباءهم وأمهاتهم يحفظونهم من نار الدنيا وهم يحفظونهم من نار الآخرة

And Yaḥyā ibn Muʿādh said: "The scholars are more merciful to the community of Muḥammad ﷺ than their own fathers and mothers." It was said: "And how is that?" He said: "Because their fathers and mothers protect them from the fire of this world, and they protect them from the Fire of the Hereafter."

¶ 9

وقيل أول العلم الصمت ثم الاستماع ثم الحفظ ثم العمل ثم نشره

And it is said: the first of knowledge is silence, then listening, then memorizing, then acting, then spreading it.

¶ 10

وقيل علم علمك من يجهل وتعلم ممن يعلم ما تجهل فإنك إذا فعلت ذلك علمت ما جهلت وحفظت ما علمت

And it is said: teach your knowledge to one who does not know, and learn from one who knows what you do not know; for if you do that, you will learn what you did not know and keep what you know.

¶ 11

وقال معاذ بن جبل في التعليم والتعلم ورأيته أيضا مرفوعا تعلموا العلم فإن تعلمه لله خشية وطلبه عبادة ومدارسته تسبيح والبحث عنه جهاد وتعليمه من لا يعلمه صدقة وبذله لأهله قربة وهو الأنيس في الوحدة والصاحب في الخلوة والدليل على الدين والمصبر على السراء والضراء والوزير عند الأخلاء والقريب عند الغرباء ومنار سبيل الجنة

And Muʿādh ibn Jabal said, about teaching and learning (and I have seen it also traced to the Prophet ﷺ, marfūʿ): Learn knowledge, for learning it for Allah is reverent fear (khashya), seeking it is worship, studying it together is glorification (tasbīḥ), searching for it is jihad, teaching it to one who does not know it is charity, and giving it to those fit for it is drawing near. It is the companion in loneliness, the friend in solitude, the guide to the religion, the giver of patience in joy and in hardship, the counsellor (wazīr) among close friends, the relative among strangers, and the waymark of the road to Paradise.

يرفع الله به أقواما فيجعلهم في الخير قادة سادة هداة يقتدى بهم أدلة في الخير تقتص آثارهم وترمق أفعالهم وترغب الملائكة في خلتهم وبأجنحتها تمسحهم وكل رطب ويابس لهم يستغفر حتى حيتان البحر وهوامه وسباع البر وأنعامه والسماء ونجومها ⁵

By it Allah raises peoples and makes them, in good, leaders, masters and guides who are followed: guides in good whose footsteps are traced and whose deeds are watched. The angels long for their friendship and stroke them with their wings, and every fresh and dry thing seeks forgiveness for them, even the fish of the sea and its small creatures, the beasts of prey of the land and its cattle, and the sky and its stars.⁵

لأن العلم حياة القلوب من العمى ونور الأبصار من الظلم وقوة الأبدان من الضعف يبلغ به العبد منازل الأبرار والدرجات العلى والتفكر فيه يعدل بالصيام ومدارسته بالقيام به يطاع الله عز وجل وبه يعبد وبه يوحد وبه يمجد وبه يتورع وبه توصل الأرحام وبه يعرف الحلال والحرام وهو إمام والعمل تابعه يلهمه السعداء ويحرمه الأشقياء نسأل الله تعالى حسن التوفيق

For knowledge is the life of hearts from blindness, the light of eyes from darkness, and the strength of bodies from weakness. By it the servant reaches the stations of the righteous (al-abrār) and the highest degrees. Reflecting on it equals fasting, and studying it together equals standing in prayer. By it Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is obeyed, and by it He is worshipped; by it His oneness is affirmed, and by it He is glorified; by it people become scrupulous; by it ties of kinship are joined; and by it the lawful and the unlawful are known. It is the leader (imām), and action is its follower. It is inspired in the fortunate and withheld from the wretched. We ask Allah, Exalted is He, for good success (tawfīq).

Study this page · not Ghazali's text

Hadith and al-ʿIrāqī's verdicts5 hadith

1

حديث إذا مات ابن آدم انقطع عمله إلا من ثلاث الحديث أخرجه مسلم من حديث أبي هريرة

Recorded by Muslim from Abū Hurayra (RA).

In the nine books:
Sahih Muslim 1631, Sunan Abi Dawud 2880, Jami al-Tirmidhi 1376 and Sunan al-Nasai 3651, from Abū Hurayra, in Muslim's words «إذا مات الإنسان انقطع عنه عمله إلا من ثلاثة إلا من صدقة جارية أو علم ينتفع به أو ولد صالح يدعو له». The collection's English: "When a man dies, his acts come to an end, but three, recurring charity, or knowledge (by which people) benefit, or a pious son, who prays for him (for the deceased)."
2

حديث الدال على الخير كفاعله أخرجه الترمذي من حديث أنس وقال غريب ورواه مسلم وأبو داود والترمذي وصححه عن أبي مسعود البدري بلفظ من دل على خير فله مثل أجر فاعله

Recorded by al-Tirmidhī from Anas (RA), who said gharīb; and Muslim, Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it sound, from Abū Masʿūd al-Badrī (RA), in the words: "Whoever points the way to good has the like of the reward of the one who does it."

In the nine books:
Jami al-Tirmidhi 2670, from Anas, in the words «إن الدال على الخير كفاعله»; and Sahih Muslim 1893a, Sunan Abi Dawud 5129 and Jami al-Tirmidhi 2671, from Abū Masʿūd, in the words «من دل على خير فله مثل أجر فاعله». In all of them a man asks the Prophet ﷺ for a mount, and is pointed to someone who gives him one.
3

حديث لا حسد إلا في اثنتين الحديث متفق عليه من حديث ابن مسعود

Agreed upon (Bukhari and Muslim), from Ibn Masʿūd (RA).

In the nine books:
Sahih al-Bukhari 73 and 1409; Sahih Muslim 816; Sunan Ibn Majah 4208; all from Ibn Masʿūd. Twice more in Bukhari, in Judgments (كتاب الأحكام) and in Holding Fast to the Qur'an and Sunnah (كتاب الاعتصام بالكتاب والسنة), cited by name: the two read so alike that their standard numbers cannot be told apart by the text. Bukhari's wording: «لا حسد إلا في اثنتين رجل آتاه الله مالا فسلط على هلكته في الحق ورجل آتاه الله الحكمة فهو يقضي بها ويعلمها». The collection's English: "Do not wish to be like anyone except in two cases. (The first is) A person, whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it righteously; (the second is) the one whom Allah has given wisdom (the Holy Qur'an) and he acts according to it and teaches it to others."
4

حديث على خلفائي رحمة الله الحديث رواه ابن عبد البر في العلم والهروي في ذم الكلام من حديث الحسن فقيل هو ابن علي وقيل ابن يسار البصري فيكون مرسلا ولابن السني وأبي نعيم في رياضة المتعلمين من حديث علي نحوه

Recorded by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-ʿIlm and al-Harawī in Dhamm al-Kalām, from al-Ḥasan: some say he is Ibn ʿAlī, and some say Ibn Yasār al-Baṣrī, which would make it mursal; and Ibn al-Sunnī and Abū Nuʿaym have something like it in Riyāḍat al-Mutaʿallimīn, from ʿAlī (RA).

In the nine books:
not in them; al-ʿIrāqī names where it is recorded (above).
5

حديث معاذ تعلموا العلم فإن تعلمه لله خشية وطلبه عبادة الحديث بطوله رواه أبو الشيخ ابن حبان في كتاب الثواب وابن عبد البر وقال ليس له إسناد قوي

Recorded by Abū al-Shaykh ibn Ḥibbān in Kitāb al-Thawāb and by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, who said: it has no strong chain.

In the nine books:
not in them; al-ʿIrāqī names where it is recorded (above).

Words of the day2 words

رجل (rajul), a man: ra-jim-lam
السنة (al-sunna), the way, the practice: sin-nun-nun

Sentence breakdown

The session's sentence is on V1 p12.

Open questions

¶1e «فعمل به» has no vowels: «فَعُمِلَ به», "and it is acted on", or «فَعَمِلَ به», "and he acts on it". We read the first, because the reward is "the like of the reward of whoever does that deed", which points to someone else acting on it.
¶11 The edition opens Muʿādh's words with « and never closes them (checked on the scan). We read ¶11c, «لأن العلم حياة القلوب…», as still part of the saying, since it begins "because" and gives the reason for what came before; the closing prayer, «نسأل الله تعالى حسن التوفيق», may be Ghazali's own. Not settled.
¶11a Ghazali says he has also seen the saying traced to the Prophet ﷺ. Al-ʿIrāqī names where it is recorded and gives Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr's verdict, "no strong chain", but does not say in which of those books it is the Prophet's ﷺ words and in which Muʿādh's.
The sayings on this page (ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Sufyān al-Thawrī, ʿAṭāʾ, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, al-Ḥasan, ʿIkrima, Yaḥyā ibn Muʿādh) are not traced by al-ʿIrāqī, who traces only reports from the Prophet ﷺ; we have not looked for them.