Tuesday 1 November 2016

How to Increase Your Knowledge

 ‘Alee bin Abee Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Knowledge increases by spending while wealth decreases by spending.” Whenever a scholar offers his knowledge to the people and spends from it, its spring will gush forth thereby growing in abundance, strength and visibility. Through his teaching, he will gain the preservation of what he had learnt and acquire the knowledge he does not previously possess. An issue may be unclear to the scholar or within the scope of complication, but when he talks about it and teaches it, it may become clear and simplified to him, which may open up other forms of knowledge to him.
In addition, the reward for an action is from the type of action; just as he taught the people what they did not know, Allah will reward him by teaching him what he did not know. The proof is contained in Saheeh Muslim from the hadeeth of ‘Iyaad bin Himaar who reported that the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said in a lengthy hadeeth: “Allah said to me, ‘Spend I will spend upon you.”[1] This includes spending knowledge by conveying it, awakening it or mentioning its essence.
There are two paths to the growth and development of knowledge: the first is by teaching it and the second is acting upon it. Indeed, acting upon it will also cause it to grow, increase it and open its doors and its hidden assets for the one acting upon it. This is because teaching it and acting upon it is trading in it; just as wealth grows by trading with it, the same is applicable to knowledge.
Source: Miftaah Daar as-Sa’aadah wa Manshoor Wilaayah Ahl al-‘Ilm wal-Iraadah by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. Translated by Abdus-Samee Abdus-Salaam.




[1] Recorded by al-Bukhaaree (4684) and Muslim (993)

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