The Significance of Knowledge

By: Nayyereh Towhidi

“Read in the Name of Your Lord Who created; created man from a clinging mass. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.”  The Holy Qur’an, Al-Alaq 1-5 

To understand the significance of reading, writing, teaching and learning before Allah, The Gracious, suffice it to ponder upon the above-mentioned verses of the Holy Qur’an, Allah’s last Book revealed to His Last Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), for the perfection, happiness and elevation of mankind. It is really thought-provoking, among other facts that in these verses of the Holy Qur’an, Allah’s Generosity and Graciousness have been pointed out in connection to His creation, the pen and teaching man what he does not know. No doubt, Allah’s Generosity, Greatness, Beneficence and Graciousness can be observed in connection with the innumerable other blessings He bestows upon His creatures too. Yet, the point to be emphasized is that it can be reasonably inferred from these Divine verses that Allah’s having granted us the ability to listen, to read, to write, to learn and to think are rated by Himself as among His most generous gifts and likewise that through benefitting from these God-given gifts we can by Allah’s help attain the spiritual positions He has Himself desired us to attain, besides of- course obtain innumerable benefits for our worldly lives, including getting to know how to enjoy good-health, how to make the best use of  natural resources and soon….

Unfortunately not all of us human beings whom Allah has honored above His other creatures (as pointed out in the Holy Qur’an) are mindful and considerate enough to thank Allah for such invaluable blessings through using them properly, in the way He has shown us and for the sublime purposes He has shown us through His Messengers (AS).

As inferred from these verses of the Holy Qur’an and from many other verses of that Prophetic Miracle, The Holy Qur’an, one of the greatest aims of Allah in His having granted human beings eyesight, hearing and of course intellect has been for human beings to believe in the Day of Judgment and Reckoning, when all will be called to account and when the righteous and the benevolent will receive endless rewards and the wrongdoers and disbelievers will face Divine punishment. No doubt, those who really believe in Divine commands are careful of their duties towards the Omnipresent Creator Whom they know sees and hears all deeds and words and so, they try their best to do good to the others.

Now, dear sisters and brothers! Just take a brief look at the history of mankind on this planet as well as on today’s world situation, to see for yourselves how most human beings have been and are being thankless to their Generous, Loving Creator by using His blessings in wrong ways and for harmful purposes and how, instead of following the teachings of Divine Messengers (AS) they have chosen to follow in the footsteps of the agents of Satan. Had it not been the case, the history of mankind would not have been overflowing with heart-rending accounts of wrongs, bloodsheds and corruption and likewise today we would not be witnessing every day and every night shocking  scenes of the murder of innocent children and defenseless women and men in various parts of the world, such as in the occupied Palestine, at the hands of those who use the very powers and talents Allah has granted them against their fellow human beings, whereas had they used their God-given minds properly, they would come to believe that they should put their abilities at the service of and not against humanity.

In this regard, it is of particular significance to remember that those who wrong the others cruelly and do not fear God, have not been born heartless, and rather it has been due to repeated sins and wrongs committed by them that they no longer feel the sting of conscience even when they kill and/or render homeless thousands of their fellow-human beings. Imam Khomeini (ra), the founder of the Islamic revolution, has on various occasions reminded his followers of this reality and warned them against neglecting even sins which might seem small and negligible to some.  Following in the footsteps of the Infallible, Imam Khomeini (ra) was himself invariably conscious of Allah’s Omnipresence and would repeatedly advise all to be dutiful to Allah  by such expressions as: “The whole universe is in the presence of Allah, The One and Only. So, take care not to sin in the presence of Allah.” In this regard, Imam Khomeini urged people to embark upon both gaining knowledge and self-purification. And following in the footsteps of Imam Khomeini (ra) his righteous successor, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has been continuously making the effort to have people benefit from more and more sources of beneficial learning through encouraging the publication and presentation   of useful books, magazines and other reading material and through urging all to make reading part of their lives.

Truly how blessed are those who gain the knowledge which takes them out of ignorance, the very ignorance the Holy Qur’an has repeatedly warned us against. Read this verse of the Holy Qur’an as an example: “Even if We had sent down angels to them, and the dead had spoken to them, and We had gathered before them all things manifestly, they would [still] not believe unless Allah wished. But most of them are ignorant.” The Holy Qur’an, Al-An‘am, 111

No wonder the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) has said: “Ignorance (Jahl) is the worst poverty.” May Allah help all get rid of the worst poverty and be enriched through knowledge.