- By Muhammad al-Shareef -
Many years ago in Uzbekistan, a baby boy was born blind. His Mother, the strong Mu'minah that she was, did not lose sight of He who had the Power to cure him. She prayed and prayed for her sons sight. And within a few years the boy regained his eyes.
She was widowed, the boy an orphan. She traveled with him to Makkah so that he could receive an Islamic Education. She arranged that he attend the circles of the scholars, and in those circles, he began excelling in the science of Hadeeth. He traveled to distant villages in search of the most authentic sayings of Rasul Allah (pbuh). He would pray two raka'at before accepting a Hadeeth. His mother named him: Muhammad ibn Isma'il. And many of us know him today by the book he compiled, the book that stands after the Qur'an in authenticity: Saheeh Al-Imam Al-Bukhari!
Many years ago in Uzbekistan, a baby boy was born blind. His Mother, the strong Mu'minah that she was, did not lose sight of He who had the Power to cure him. She prayed and prayed for her sons sight. And within a few years the boy regained his eyes.
She was widowed, the boy an orphan. She traveled with him to Makkah so that he could receive an Islamic Education. She arranged that he attend the circles of the scholars, and in those circles, he began excelling in the science of Hadeeth. He traveled to distant villages in search of the most authentic sayings of Rasul Allah (pbuh). He would pray two raka'at before accepting a Hadeeth. His mother named him: Muhammad ibn Isma'il. And many of us know him today by the book he compiled, the book that stands after the Qur'an in authenticity: Saheeh Al-Imam Al-Bukhari!
In another land, in another time, chilly Baghdad winds would wake up another boy. Much before Fajr, his mother would bundle him in warm shawls and escort him through the darkness, making sure he reached the Masjid safely. After Fajr, she would wait for him as he read Hadeeth to the biggest scholars of the land. Then, long after the sun had come up, she would meet him outside and together they would walk home. She was a strong mother indeed, for her son grew up to become an Imam of the Muslim Ummah, an Imam by the name of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. (Manaaqib Ahmad, by Ibn Al-Jowzee)
Imam Suyuti authored his first book, Tafseer Bismillaah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheeem, when he was in grade 2!
Dear brothers and sisters, why should we try to follow in the footsteps of these many other stars of Islam? The information that we shall in sha' Allah learn is not like anything else. This knowledge is the law of Allah and the inheritance of the Prophets. It is our duty to preserve and protect the estate of Rasul Allah (pbuh), something that cannot happen without there being serious and sincere brothers and sisters spending long days and nights reading, reflecting, and teaching others.
Every Islamic revival that takes place is built on something. Some revivals are built on emotions, others on politics. Do you know which shall remain firm when the wind of woe blows? It shall be the one that was built on sound knowledge of the words of Allah and the Sunnah of Rasul Allah.
- sincere man once stood on the beach shore watching, to his dismay, the waves thrashing a fish up and down, left and right. The man concluded that he must save the fish. He thrashed into the water and grabbed the fish by the tail. He then thrashed back to shore and threw the fish on the beach, satisfied that he had saved it from the water!
Dear brothers and sisters, when we work for the sake of Allah without knowledge of what the path of Allah is, many times we do as that young man did.
We are living in an age of information. We have lights in every corner of the house when only yesterday our ancestors read by the light of the moon. We have publishing houses when only yesterday our ancestors wrote the books they owned with their own hands. We have CD's to search the Hadeeth archives when our scholars spent days upon days searching for proof and evidence in their libraries. Shouldn't the knowledge increase with all this ease? It should. But it has not.
Dear brothers and sisters, we know that when a prize is great, the responsibility, and the work required for that prize shall also be great. And because of this, we see the enormous reward promised to those scholars and students of Islam due to the heavy work required.
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