This page gathers what the scholars set out in the books about seeking knowledge (talab al-ilm): its virtue in the Qur’an and in the Sunnah, the rank the scholars give it, the duty of seeking it, and the intention it must be sought with. The knowledge meant throughout is knowledge of the religion: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ.
What Knowledge Means Here
Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, explaining the first of the four matters in the Three Fundamental Principles, says that knowledge comes only by way of the evidences from the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The statements of the scholars only explain and clarify the speech of Allah and His Messenger: the evidences are the verses and the narrations themselves, and the scholars’ speech explains them and is not an evidence by itself. Knowledge, he says, is the first issue, and it is the foundation.
The greatest part of this knowledge is knowing Allah Himself. Shaykh Ibn Baz writes in Knowledge and the Manners of Its People that by knowledge a person comes to know the best and greatest obligation, which is worshipping Allah in His Oneness (Tawheed [Allah’s oneness, that He alone is God]) with sincere devotion, and that there is no happiness and no salvation for a person except through the knowledge of these obligations, holding fast to them and being upright.
The Virtue of Knowledge in the Qur’an
Allah praises knowledge and its people in His Book. In Surah az-Zumar (39:9) He says, in the printing of Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s The Book of Knowledge, and the Shaykh comments on the verse:
“Are those who know equal to those who know not?” It is only men of understanding who will remember.”
“There is no comparison between one who has knowledge and one who does not, just as there is no comparison between the living and the dead; the one who hears and the one who is deaf; and the one who can see and the one who is blind. Knowledge is light with which one is guided, and it removes one from the darkness (of ignorance) to the light (of knowledge, i.e. Islaam).”
Worship performed without knowledge can become mere habit, done because it is what others do; worship performed with knowledge is done with insight. On the same page of the book, the Shaykh writes that with knowledge Allah raises the ranks of whom He wishes from His creation, and he prints the promise of Surah al-Mujadalah (58:11):
“Allah will exalt in degree those of you who believe, and those who have been granted knowledge.”
The Qur’an also teaches the student to ask Allah for more. Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ in Surah Ta Ha (20:114), quoted here in Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di’s printing in his tafsir:
“So exalted be Allah, the True Sovereign. Do not hasten to repeat [the newly-revealed verses of] the Qur’an before its revelation to you is completed, and say: O my Lord, increase me in knowledge.”
As-Sa’di explains why the command came at that moment:
“Because the Prophet’s hastening to repeat the Revelation was indicative of his perfect love for knowledge and his eagerness to acquire it, Allah instructed him to ask Him for more knowledge, for knowledge is good and to have a great deal of goodness is something that is required. It is from Allah, and the way to attain it is by striving, longing for knowledge, asking Allah for it, seeking His help and acknowledging one’s need for Him at all times.”
He adds that the verse also teaches the etiquette of receiving knowledge, and that the one who listens to knowledge must be patient and wait.
The Virtue of Knowledge in the Sunnah
The Prophet ﷺ called seeking knowledge a path to Paradise. Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah said, in the printing of The Book of Knowledge:
“Whoever treads a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Paradise.”
A fuller narration of the same promise came from Abu Darda’. Kathir ibn Qays reported that he was sitting with Abu Darda’ in the mosque of Damascus when a man arrived from Madinah who had come only to ascertain a hadith that Abu Darda’ had narrated. Abu Darda’ said that he heard Allah’s Messenger say:
“He who treads a path in search of knowledge Allah will direct him to tread a path from the paths of Paradise, and the angels would accord welcome to the seekers of knowledge and all that is found in the heavens and the earth and even the fish in the depth of the water seek forgiveness for the scholar and the superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like that of the full moon at night over the rest of the stars and verily the scholars are the heirs of the Prophets who leave behind neither deenaar nor dirham. They only leave knowledge as their heritage: so whoever acquires it has acquired a huge fortune.”
Shaykh Ibn Baz’s booklet grades this narration Saheeh [authentic], reported by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah. In it the scholar stands above the worshipper as the full moon stands above the rest of the stars, and the scholars are named the heirs of the prophets.
Mu’awiyah reported that the Messenger of Allah said, in the same book’s printing:
“Whoever Allah wishes good for, He grants him understanding of the religion.”
The Shaykh comments that if there were no evidence from the Qur’an or the Sunnah about the virtues of seeking knowledge except this one hadith, it would have sufficed in encouraging the seeking of knowledge of the Sharee’ah [the Islamic law and teachings] and the understanding of it.
Knowledge also outlives its owner. The Prophet ﷺ said, in the book’s printing:
“When a man dies, his actions come to an end, except for three: recurring charity, or knowledge by which people benefit, or a pious son, who prays for him.”
The Shaykh counts further virtues on the same pages of the book. He counts the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas’ood among them: the Messenger of Allah did not encourage anyone to be envious of anyone else over any blessing, except in two cases, a person whom Allah has given wealth and spends it righteously, and the one whom Allah has given wisdom, who acts according to it and teaches it to others. And he gives the Prophet’s ﷺ example of guidance and knowledge as abundant rain falling on the earth: one land takes the water in and brings forth vegetation, one holds the water so that people benefit from it, and one is barren and does neither; the first is the example of the person who understands Allah’s religion, learns and then teaches others.
What the Scholars Say About Its Rank
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen opens the virtues chapter of The Book of Knowledge with the rank of knowledge itself:
“Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala) has praised knowledge of the Sharee’ah and the people of knowledge, and has encouraged His servants to seek this knowledge, which includes knowledge of the authenticated Sunnah.”
“So seeking knowledge is amongst the most superior and virtuous acts as it is one of the most superior and honourable acts of worship.”
Imam al-Nawawi gathered the statements of the early generations about this in his book Al-Majmu’, and his conclusion is quoted here in the translation checked against the Arabic of the book:
“The conclusion is that they are agreed that busying oneself with knowledge is better than being occupied with voluntary fasting, prayer, tasbih, and other voluntary bodily acts of worship. Among the proofs for this, besides what has already been mentioned, is that the benefit of knowledge reaches both the one who possesses it and other Muslims, while those voluntary acts are limited to the individual alone.”
“Also, knowledge corrects other acts of worship, whereas other acts depend on knowledge and cannot be correct without it, and this is not the case in reverse. The scholars are the inheritors of the prophets, but those devoted to acts of worship are not described in this way.”
The voluntary acts he names, fasting, prayer and tasbih [glorifying Allah], benefit mainly the one who does them. Knowledge benefits its owner and everyone he teaches, and the scholars carry a title the devoted worshippers are not given: the inheritors of the prophets.
Knowledge also guards the one who carries it, and it needs little guarding in return. The Shaykh lists this among its virtues in the same chapter:
“That he who has knowledge does not become tired in protecting it. This is because if Allah bestows knowledge upon you then its place is in the heart, and there is no need for containers or keys or the like. It is protected in the heart and soul, and in time itself. It is a protector for you, because it protects you from danger, with Allah’s (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala) Permission. So knowledge protects you, whilst the opposite can be said about property; you protect it by placing it in locked up containers, and despite all this you still remain insecure about it.”
The scholar himself is a light for other people. Among the virtues the Shaykh lists is “that the scholar is light with which people are guided in their religious and worldly affairs”, and he tells the story that shows it. A man from the tribe of Israa’eel [the Children of Israel] had killed ninety-nine people. He asked about the most knowledgeable person in the land, and he was directed to a pious man, a worshipper. He asked him whether there was any possibility of repentance for him; the man, amazed at the enormity of his actions, replied no, so he killed him too, and his count became a complete hundred. Then he approached a scholar and asked him the same question. The scholar told him that there was a possibility of repentance for him, and that there was nothing to stand between him and the repentance, and he directed him to a land where the people were upright and virtuous. He set out heading towards it, and he died during the journey. “So, look at the difference between the scholar and the ignorant!” The full story belongs to the subject of repentance, and it is left there.
Seeking Knowledge Is an Obligation
Seeking knowledge is not only a virtue. The part of it that a person’s worship stands on is a duty, and Shaykh Ibn Baz states it plainly in his essay Knowledge and Its Excellence:
“Upon all of the creation is the obligation to learn and understand their religion. It is upon everyone, both men and women to understand their religion. Upon them is to learn that which will enable them to remove their ignorance of matters, this is obligatory upon everyone, because you are created to worship Allah.”
“Their is no way to recognise this worship except by learning and understanding the religion. It is obligatory upon everyone to learn the religion and not be ignorant of how to pray, fast, give zakat, perform the Hajj, how to command with the good, refrain from the evil, how to teach their children, how to help their family and how to stay away from that which is unlawful.”
He says the same in Knowledge and the Manners of Its People: knowledge of the Sharee’ah is incumbent on the student, because Allah has created jinn and men so that they may worship and fear Him, and that worship cannot be reached except through Islamic knowledge, knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah.
The Prophet’s ﷺ own statement on the point is quoted by Shaykh Sulayman ar-Ruhayli in his Explanation of the Nullifiers of Islam:
“Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.”
The book’s footnote is open about the narration’s chain: Ibn Majah narrated it (no. 224) from Anas ibn Malik, with a chain that is very weak, and it has other routes, all of which are weak in chain; some scholars have declared it authentic, and others have graded it hasan [good]. The footnote points to al-Albani’s commentary on al-Mishkah (no. 218). So the duty is not carried by this narration alone: it stands on the words of Shaykh Ibn Baz above, and on The Book of Knowledge, whose chapter on the ruling of seeking knowledge rests the obligation on the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
The duty has two sides. Some knowledge is a collective duty, which the community must have people to carry. And learning becomes a duty on each person himself for whatever his own worship and dealings need. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen sets out when learning becomes an individual duty at the start of that chapter of The Book of Knowledge, and his words are quoted in full on How Can a Beginner Start Seeking Islamic Knowledge?, which also gives the order a beginner follows.
Seek It With a Sincere Intention
Virtue and duty both assume the knowledge is sought for the right reason. In the Manners booklet, Shaykh Ibn Baz says knowledge should be sought for the right reasons and so that a person acts upon it: to be acquainted with his religion and to have insight into what Allah has made incumbent upon him, not for the sake of ostentation (riyaa’ [showing off]), fame, or any other gain from the passing gains of this world.
Speaking of the path hadith in the same booklet, he says:
“So this shows us the great excellence of the students of knowledge. For whoever corrects his intention in seeking knowledge and desires only His Face, he is on a road to salvation (from the Fire) and happiness (in Paradise).”
And the path is not only the road a traveller takes. Every path a person takes in search of knowledge is a way to Paradise, whether the path is literal or otherwise, and the Shaykh counts memorising and studying Islamic books, and writing, among its ways. Showing off itself, what it is and how it spoils deeds, has its own page: Showing Off in Islam (Riya).
Knowledge is praised in the Qur’an, promised Paradise in the Sunnah, ranked by the scholars above voluntary worship whose benefit stops with the one who does it, and made a duty on every Muslim for the part his religion needs. It guards the one who carries it in this life, and it goes on benefiting people after he dies. That is the inheritance the prophets left behind.
References
The Book of Knowledge, Vol. One: Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen; Fatwa-Online Publishing, 2nd edition, Ramadhaan 1431 / August 2010, translated by Abu ‘Abdullaah Mohammed Akhtar Chaudhry (printed pp. 32, 34, 39, 41-44).
Knowledge and the Manners of Its People (Al-‘Ilm wa Akhlaq Ahlihi): Shaykh ‘Abdul-‘Azeez ibn Baz; Al-Hidaayah Publishing (the booklet prints no page numbers; cited by the PDF page of the held copy: pp. 8, 9, 13-14, 22).
Knowledge and Its Excellence: Shaykh ‘Abdul-‘Azeez ibn Baz; SalafiManhaj, 2004 (printed p. 6).
Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 6 (Juz 16-18): Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di; IIPH, English Edition 1, 2018, translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab (printed pp. 166-167).
Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles: Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan; Authentic Statements, translated by Raha Batts (printed pp. 26-27).
Explanation of Nawaqid al-Islam (The Nullifiers of Islam): Shaykh Sulayman ar-Ruhayli; Ship of Salvation, 2025 (printed p. 7).
Al-Majmu’ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab, Vol. 1: Imam al-Nawawi (printed pp. 43-44). The held copy is in Arabic; the passage is quoted in the English translation that stood on this page, verified against the Arabic on 2026-10-20 and re-checked on 2026-10-25.
In quotations, the divine name is written “Allah” throughout. The Book of Knowledge and the Manners booklet print it with the long spelling, “Allaah”; the spelling is standardised here, and nothing else in the wording is changed.
Further Reading
- How Can a Beginner Start Seeking Islamic Knowledge?: where a beginner starts and in what order.
- Returning Matters to the Scholars: why questions go back to the people of knowledge.
- Learning Before Debating: knowledge before argument, and the harm of debating without it.
- Can Muslim Women Seek Islamic Knowledge?: women seeking knowledge, its evidences and its limits.
Verified on 2026-10-25 against the books listed above.