Acting Upon the Knowledge One Gains Question: What is your advice regarding acting upon knowledge? Answer: It is mandatory that a person acts upon his knowledge, because the fruit of knowledge is action. If a person does not act upon his knowledge, he will consequently be from amongst the first people to be punished in the fire on the Day of Judgement. It was mentioned (in lines of poetry): “The scholar who did not act upon his knowledge will be punished before the worshippers of idols.” Thus, if a person does not act upon his knowledge, this will lead to failure in knowledge, loss of blessing, and forgetfulness of knowledge. This is based on the statement of Allaah: "Due to their breach of their covenant, We cursed them and made their hearts grow hard. They change the words from their places and have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them." (Surat Al-Mā’idah 5:13) The abandonment mentioned in the above verse includes: 1. A mental abandonment 2. A physical (in actions) abandonment Thus, the meaning is: they abandon the knowledge mentally, or they abandon it physically by not acting upon it. This is because Al Nisyaan in the Arabic language refers to abandonment. But on the other hand, if a person acts upon knowledge, then Allaah will increase him in guidance. Allaah said: "Those who are guided, He (Allaah) increases their guidance." (Surat Muĥammad 47:17) He (Allaah) will also grant them Taqwa, as Allaah continues to mention in the verse: "and He grants them Taqwa" (Surat Muĥammad 47:17) Thus, if a person acts upon his knowledge, Allaah will grant him further knowledge that he did not previously possess. Due to this, some of the Salaf mentioned: “Knowledge searches for action; if it does not find it, it will depart.” — Shaikh Saalih ibn Al ‘Uthaimeen (rahimahullaah)
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 21:36:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015