Knowledge
“My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.”
Surah Taha 20:114
From the day we are born, we are curious beings. As children, we naturally wonder and ask: Why this? Why that? Seeking knowledge is part of our ‘fitrah’ (our primordial disposition, our natural instinct). Seeking knowledge is the greatest investment and an act of worship.
“Seek knowledge even if you must travel as far as China” is a widely known saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), mentioned in hadith text. In our day and age, we have infinite access to the universal web of knowledge at the touch of a screen. We have books, courses, experts, podcasts, and countless sources of external knowledge. Invest in learning about yourself too, for it is said, “He who knows himself knows his Lord.”
Seek the spark of curiosity and enjoy the process of expanding your mind. You will begin to notice how your whole being lights up.
Furthermore, there is a deeper kind of knowledge, the knowledge of knowing the Creator. Imam al-Ghazālī mentions in The Alchemy of Happiness that the heart has two doors. One is an outer door, open to the senses and the world, learning through books, teachers, experience, and observation. This knowledge informs and nourishes the mind and heart.
The second is an inner door, open to the unseen, knowledge gained through purification, reflection, and turning inward. When this inner door opens, we do not merely learn about the Creator; we come to know Him. External knowledge is nourishment, but inner knowledge is light.
“Knowledge is Power”
Francis Bacon
Look around you and reconnect with that innate curiosity within you. If you can, spend some time with a child, they will remind you.
Let that spark of interest fuel your pursuit of knowledge. What are you curious about?
Search online, seek expert advice, listen to a podcast, read a book, or attend a workshop.
Do something new, and share the knowledge you gained from the experience.
“An important verity about knowledge is that the brain works most effectively with consciously retained information. We more easily remember what we want to recall later. When we feed our fourteen billion brain cells with information that will enrich us and help others, we are really learning to Think Big.”
Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence – Ben Carson
“Man is My secret and I am his secret. The inner knowledge of the spiritual essence (‘ilm al-bāṭin) is a secret of My secrets. Only I put this into the heart of My good servant, and none may know his state other than Me.
and:
I am as My servant knows Me. When he seeks Me and remembers Me, I am with him. If he seeks me inwardly, I seek him with My Essence. If he remembers and mentions Me in good company, I remember and declare him as My good servant in better company.
In all that is said here, the only way to satisfy one’s wish is meditation—that means of knowledge which the common man uses so seldom.”
Secret of the Secrets – Abd el Qadir Al Jilani
