The Need to Study - Formatted Khutba
By Abdul Nasir Jangda | 2025-12-24T23:17:59.21582+00:00 | Topic: Knowledge
"The Need to Study"
Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda | IOK ILMspiration Conference 2019
Opening
"In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions, all of them. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings."
Introduction
So inshallah continuing the discussion that mashallah Sheikh Farhan got started, the subject of my discussion here, my brief presentation is going to be the need to study. Why is it important? Why is it fundamentally necessary? Why is it of the utmost significance that each and every single person commit themselves to the study of this religion and the study of this deen?
In order to do that, there are a few different points I'd like to make here today.
Historical Perspective
First and foremost, I'd like to share a little bit of our history and share a historical perspective. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), there's a hadith, a narration in the Musnad of Imam Ahmed (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى), an authentic narration in which the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) informs us that there were no prophets sent by Allah between Isa (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) and the Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
The verse of the Quran also does allude to that:
Where Isa, Jesus basically says that the next prophet right after me will be named Ahmed. But the Prophet explained it in very explicit words that there were no prophets between the Prophet Isa and the Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
We know that that duration of time was about 6 centuries, give or take a few decades. It was 600 some plus years. That is a very long period of time for there to be no revelation and no prophets during that time.
The Difference Between Then and Now
Someone might be saying it's been 1400 years since the Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). But there's one big difference. The big difference between our 1400 years and the 600 years before the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) is that we have the Qur'an.
As the poet says:
The poet talks about this and says that when different prophets came, they came with signs, they came with miracles. But when those prophets departed and left, their miracles departed with them. Except for the Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). When he left this world, وَجِئْتَنَا بِكِتَابِ غَيْرِ مُنْصَرِمٍ - He left his miracle behind as a living miracle.
And so for that reason we can survive for 1400 years a lot better than people were able to survive for 600 years. Because we have the Qur'an and they didn't have anything like that.
The First Revelation
Due to that, the scholars explain: The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), the time that he was sent was the darkest, lowest point in human history. Humanity had reached its lowest point - total deprivation.
Now here there's a tremendous challenge. There's a very serious challenge. How do you enlighten people when they have fallen so low? How do you lift people back up?
And what's fascinating about this is the very first revelation that came to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). The first verse, the first word. When God opened the gates of the heavens after six centuries and sent his word, revelation, light back into this world. The very first word that God spoke into this world again was اقْرَأْ (Quran 96:1), was "read."
Read. Open your mind. Open your hearts. Read. Educate yourself. Enlighten yourself. Open your mind. Read.
And Allah reiterated. In that first revelation of five verses, He said اقْرَأْ twice. Read
And so this education, this gaining an understanding of our religion, this is not a luxury. This is not some, you know, vanity. This is a necessity. This is absolutely essential for each and every single person.
The Problem of Commoditization
The second point that I wanted to make, after hopefully everyone grasps and understands this idea. The second point I wanted to make is: We live in a time of commoditization, commercialization, commoditization. Everything is commoditized.
You take something and you commoditize it. How do you make it a commodity? How do you make it an asset? How do you package it? How do you market it? How do you sell it?
What we are also witnessing right now - everything, this is being done with everything. And knowledge is no exception to this. Knowledge is being commoditized. It's being packaged. It's being marketed. It's being sold as a separate thing.
It's almost kind of like taking your vitamins. You buy your vitamins. You take your vitamins. Here's the knowledge. And you take the knowledge.
So it's being sold completely devoid of any kind of human interaction. And that concept does not exist within Islam. In Islam you cannot separate the knowledge from the knowledgeable.
The Question of Character vs. Knowledge
One of the most frequent questions I get - tragically and unfortunately - one of the most frequent questions I get in the time that we live in right now, where we have failed what was asked of us, where we have failed the expectations, the dreams, the hopes that were placed within us, we have failed the standard that was set by our messenger (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
Communally, I'm talking about all of us together. One of the common questions I get asked about a lot of times is this whole idea of - and I'm just gonna give a very drastic example that is unrelated to anyone - that if there is someone who is knowledgeable and then that person goes and murders 8 people. That's a bad person. And we're gonna go out on a limb here. I know that everyone is very cautious and sensitive about everything. We're gonna go out on a limb and we're gonna say objectively this is a bad person. He murdered 8 innocent people. We're gonna call him a bad person, okay?
Now, you get asked - I get asked the question all the time: "Well, can't we just kinda still take the beneficial knowledge from that person though?"
It's the most ridiculous, ludicrous, asinine thing anyone has ever said. Again, I don't mean to be insensitive, but I'm just gonna, again, trying to make a point.
If someone has committed - again, somebody has murdered 8 people. Somebody has murdered 8 people. But they're a preschool teacher. Can we still just take the expertise in childhood education? And Sheikh Farhan, let's go drop our kids off. Right? Would you drop your 4-year-old off to be taught pre-K by somebody who murdered 8 people?
I wouldn't. Maybe you would. That doesn't make you a good person. Okay? Doesn't make you better than me. Makes you dumber than me. This is just - these are just truths. We live in this bizarre time where we have no ability to grasp truth.
"O Allah, show us the truth as truth, and grant us the ability to follow it."
Right? So the Quran does not separate between knowledge and knowledgeable people:
Are those who know equal to those who don't know?
It doesn't say: "Can knowledge be equal to ignorance?" No! Because knowledge doesn't exist unless it is inside of a person. You cannot access it. You cannot gain it except through people. Knowledge lives within people. Breathes in people. Is transferred by people. Continues with people.
Knowledge Leaving Through Scholars
What did the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) say? We've - you know again, it happens all the time, but it particularly - it's kind of, I guess, been - we've been very conscious of it more recently. We've been seeing the string of deaths and passing of so many knowledgeable people from our communities. Right?
I know that the students from Al-Azhar, you all had a teacher who passed recently. Correct? Our colleague and friend Brother Mufti Kamani, and so many of the other students, so many of the scholars who studied in the UK, they just lost a teacher and a mentor in Sheikh Yusuf Mutala (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ). So many people passing. Sheikh Nouman and I, over the years, we've lost so many of our teachers.
So what did the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) say? How will knowledge leave this world? By people of knowledge leaving this world. (Bukhari 100)
If knowledge could exist outside of people, why would knowledge have to leave just because people are leaving?
Knowledge Requires Learning from Teachers
And that leads me to the third point that I wanted to make. And that point is: The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in a narration that is narrated by many people, namely by Khatib al-Baghdadi (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى) in Tarikh Baghdad, by Abu Huraira (رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ) in which the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says:
(Khatib al-Baghdadi hadith)
"Knowledge is sought by learning. Knowledge comes through learning."
Now that might seem like obvious to somebody. Like, duh, of course. Where else would knowledge come from? No, no, no, no, no. Let's back up though.
If we engage, if we entertain the idea and the theory that is being peddled and marketed in today's world that knowledge is separate from people, then you wouldn't have to sit down and learn from someone to get knowledge. You could just go buy it.
The Question of Books
And that's gonna lead me to the next point that I wanted to make. And that is the fourth point is: Well, what about books? Yeah. Does knowledge have to be attached - I mean, right here is someone who's written books. So now those books are there. I don't need Sheikh Farhan. Farhan is expendable. Right? Sheikh Farhan is expendable. There's three books with all of his knowledge in it. That's it. I just need those books. I don't need him. He's irrelevant. I have the books.
Everyone's smiling as if I'm saying something funny. But that's how we're acting as a community, is it not? That's how we're functioning. That's how we're operating as a community.
And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) saying إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ بِالتَّعَلُّمِ is countering that idea.
The Danger of Self-Teaching
There's an age-old idea and concept that has been elaborated upon by a number of different scholars of this deen and this religion. Namely amongst them, I wanted to share some observations that I had about this. It's been said and noted by many scholars that:
"Whoever enters into knowledge by themselves - not with a teacher, not with a mentor, not with somebody more learned than themselves, not even with cohorts and classmates and colleagues someone who enters into the endeavor of knowledge by themselves will leave and exit by themselves."
This has two meanings:
- Somebody who walks in empty-handed but does not come into the endeavor of knowledge with people will leave empty-handed. Will not gain any knowledge.
- Somebody who never had a teacher will never actually have a student. They will call people their students. They will probably be more customer than student. But somebody who never had a teacher will never have students.
And that's a reality. This is exactly why the scholars used to say. There is an age-old expression. It's one of those expressions that they don't really know who said it because everyone from the early centuries used to say this. And that idea was:
"Do not learn how to read the Qur'an from someone who learned how to read it from a book. And do not write down a hadith from someone who read it in a book."
Learn how to read the Qur'an from someone who learned how to read it from someone else, going all the way back to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). And write down a hadith from someone who was taught that hadith by someone else, going all the way back to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
The Example of Ali Ibn Ridwan
This is very, very important. In fact, Imam Al-Dhahabi - there's this huge discussion - Imam Al-Dhahabi in his masterpiece سِيرٌ أَعْلَامِ النُّبَلاءِ he notes that there is one person who was known - his name is Ali Ibn Ridwan Al-Misri. This one person is known as someone who did not have a teacher. He was very
eloquent. He was very well-read. And he was very outspoken. And he specifically wrote books on the subject of why it is not necessary to have a teacher and why you can just basically seek your knowledge from books and then put them into books.
And Imam Al-Dhahabi (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى) he writes about him. He says:
"He did not have a teacher to take from. Rather, he took his knowledge directly from books."
So he wrote a book about how to learn from books, how to be self-taught. This is another one of those ideas. There's this whole conference convention going on next door about people who are self-made, self-made millionaires.
We took a dunya-y concept. We took a ludicrous, ridiculous concept in money. Nobody is a self-made millionaire. You were born with that (رِزْق) written to your name. You didn't make nothing. What you made - all you are is you are an observation of what we like to call dumb luck. Alright? That's all it is. That's all it is.
But we took that concept and then we applied it to the deen. And now people talk about being self- taught as if that's something admirable or praiseworthy. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
So he says that he wrote a book about how to learn, how to be self-taught:
And he says how he tried to argue that learning from books was more objective and better than learning from people.
And Imam Al-Dhahabi says: "And he is completely mistaken. This is completely false. This is completely wrong."
And in fact, others also talked about this idea. As-Safadi and Al-Wafi, he rejected him and refuted him. Zubaydi and Ishar of the Ihya also narrated from multiple scholars about how they completely rejected this idea.
So there is no concept of being self-taught. But rather, in Islam we value the concept and the idea of being part of a living, connected tradition going all the way back to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
The Importance of Human Transmission
And to be a person of value, to be a person who is enlightened and enriched by the knowledge that they have, you have to have connected with people who are similarly enriched, who are similarly enlightened by knowledge. And that is how it is transferred. And that is how it is carried on.
Many of our scholars like Al-Khattabi and Ibn Hajar and others have even noted about the fact that even when Jibreel (عليه السلام) came and brought the revelation to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in the cave of Hira, and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says:
(Bukhari)
That when Jibreel pressed him, he held him and he pressed him. That even the purpose - one of the symbolic purposes of that physical interaction between the Archangel Jibreel and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was again to illustrate and to demonstrate that even the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was receiving that knowledge through a means.
Yes, ultimately it is the word of God. But it comes to everyone through a means. And that means is profoundly important and very, very significant.
Five Key Points About Studying
So when I talk about the need to study, the need to study - again, the points that I've tried to make here is:
Number one: Everyone needs to study. I will talk about more practical steps in regards to that in just a moment. But first, grasping the importance and the significance that everyone needs to study.
Number two: Knowledge cannot be separated from the knowledgeable, from people. People need to be vessels of knowledge. And the knowledge will only bring about the kind of benefit as the vessel that contains that knowledge allows. So if you take this very beneficial knowledge and you put it inside of a dirty, rotten container, you will pollute that knowledge. We have to dispel with this notion and this idea that knowledge is somehow going to be separate from the person inside of which that knowledge is.
Number three: Knowledge requires devotion, dedication, commitment. Some kind of commitment. And again, I will come back to this point in just a moment.
Number four: We have a tradition of taking knowledge, seeking knowledge from people who dedicated themselves to knowledge and passing it on from person to person, generation to generation.
Number five: Again, to kind of build upon the point that I made previously, that knowledge cannot be separated from people.
The Paradox of Available Knowledge
We have more knowledge - more knowledge is accessible. Rather, I'll backtrack. Excuse me, I'd like to use a better word. More knowledge is available today than it has ever been in the history of the ummah.
Think about the contradiction there. The conundrum. We just got done hearing about how we are in a crisis of knowledge and it's getting better, but it is still a crisis. But more knowledge is available today than it has ever been before. How is it possible?
And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) already talked about this. It's narrated by Abdullah bin Mas'ud. It's narrated as a statement of Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رضي الله تعالى عنه). But because it's talking about the future and prophecy, many of the muhaddithin have considered this hadith to be fi hukmil marfu' - that this statement, even though it's the statement of Abdullah bin Mas'ud, the companion of the Prophet, it (صلى الله عليه وسلم) obviously is coming from the Prophet
When Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رضي الله تعالى عنه) said:
(Ibn Mas'ud hadith)
He was talking to the people at the time of the companions, the time right after the time of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And he said, "Y'all live in a time where there are many, many people who properly understand this religion, and there are very few people who just talk about the religion but don't really properly understand it. Everyone who talks about it, and even those who don't talk about it, everyone knows it."
But he says that, and then he goes on to mention some other things. But then the point that I wanted to make, he says that:
"But a time is coming after you where very few people - even those who talk about the religion - very few of them will properly understand and know the religion. But in spite of that, there will be many, many people who talk about the religion because it will be available everywhere."
Each and every single person that's got one of these devices in their hands or in their purse or in their pockets or in their bags or whatever - you can literally access hundreds of tafasir of the Qur'an, hundreds of books of hadith in an instant. But that speaks to nothing about our actual knowledge and understanding of the religion.
That in and of itself is the greatest testament of the fact, of the truth, the wisdom, the vision of what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was saying when he said:
You will not be knowledgeable by having access to knowledge. You will become knowledgeable by learning, by reading, by spending an entire life studying.
Practical Application
Now, I'd like to end and conclude here by addressing a very practical reality of our community. Every single thing that I've said here, obviously I stand by it and I mean it. However, from what I've said up here, it would be understandable for someone to walk away with the understanding or the impression that what I'm saying is: There's only one way to properly study and know your religion, and that is to study full time. You gotta be a full-time student. Six days a week. Eight hours a day. You gotta be one of those nerds at IOK. That's the only way to study your religion.
That's the impression maybe someone got. And I'd like to correct that. That that is not - by no means am I trying to say that. Absolutely not.
Different Levels of Commitment
There were companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) who did not have a job, did not have a house, and did not even have family. All they did was day and night, morning and evening, all the time, they just watched, observed, listened, followed around the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) every minute of his waking day. There were some people who studied like that.
There were some companions who studied with him on a daily basis for a part of the day. There were some companions who studied with him every other day. There were some companions who came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) a couple of times a week. There were some companions who came to him once a week.
But they were all companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). They were all seekers of the truth.
The Reality of Our World
It is a reality of our world that we live in. There are people sitting here who are all equally dedicated and devoted and committed to knowing and understanding their religion. Somebody is able to study as I described before - six days a week, eight hours a day for the next six years and study their religion. Great, fantastic.
Somebody is not able to do that. Somebody can study three times a week for an hour each time. Part time. Somebody can only study once a week. Somebody can attend a class once a month. Somebody can only attend a class periodically.
That does not make a difference. What I'm trying to talk about here, what I'm trying to communicate and convey is the mindset, the mentality, and the spirit of learning. Take it seriously.
Even if you do it once a year - which is very drastic, by the way, which is very drastic. I'm deliberately using a drastic example. We all got time to learn a little bit more regularly than once a year. All you literally have to do is cut a little bit of, you know, Instagram time out of your day. All you gotta do is watch one less football game a week. I'm talking to myself when I say that. Alright? Go Cowboys.
But my point is just simply that it doesn't matter if you study once a week. Subhanallah, Allah has given you a lot of responsibility. And mashallah, you are a very amazing person who is fulfilling all those responsibilities. You are someone who has elderly parents and you serve your parents and take care of them in their bad health. You are married. You have kids. You're helping out people in your community. You have a very, very hard job. You work 80, 90 hours a week to support all these dependents in your life.
Mashallah, Tabarakallah. May Allah bless you. I understand. So you're like, "I can only take out one day a month where I attend a class and I learn." That's fine. Subhanallah. We'll give you so much barakah and blessing in that time.
The Right Mindset
But I'm talking about the mindset and the mentality and the philosophy. Take it seriously. Make sure that you are seeking from people of knowledge. Make sure that you are following a system and a curriculum of learning.
There's no minimal bar that you have to have covered this much material in order to be blessed by Allah. You are just maybe on a little bit of a slower, a little bit more of a deliberate pace, but working towards the same goal. But Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) will reward you for your intention, for your dedication, for your commitment, for your sincerity, for your sacrifice.
And you'll be surprised how many times I've seen this in my life. You'll be surprised that at some point in your life, if you take it seriously, Allah will make the miraculous happen. Allah will make the impossible possible. A situation will appear, will come into your life where you will be able to study a whole lot more than you ever would have thought was possible. It will happen.
A Personal Story
I'll share one little quick story in 30 seconds and then I'll conclude. There is this beautiful brother whose wife mashallah, she studied traditionally for many, many years. She's a very serious, advanced student of knowledge. And he's a really amazing brother. Lovely brother. Married. They have a kid. They have two kids. He's a very responsible person. Provides for his family. Takes care of his parents. His father passed away. He takes care of his mother. Amazing guy.
He's had a dream. I've known him for 10 years. He wanted to be a full-time student of knowledge. And he just wanted it so desperately. And we talked throughout the years. And I told him, "Do what you can do, but do it seriously."
And so that was - he picked two halaqas a week, like regular series. One of them was the seerah class that I used to teach that the moderator was talking about. And he picked two classes. And he came to them
consistently. And always came up and checked in with the teacher. "Assalamualaikum." "Waalaikumussalam." And just took it very seriously. Gave it its due and its respect.
He reached out to me in Ramadan. May - he reached out to me and he said, "I need to talk to you." I said, "Okay." I got on the phone with him. And he said that a brother walked up to me in the masjid and said, "I've been watching you for a while. Really amazing guy. You can do a lot of good in our community. Have you ever thought about studying full time?"
And he said, "I just started laughing. I was like, 'Because it's my dream.'" And I didn't know who this brother was. And he said, "Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed me with resources, finances." So he said that, "I would like to completely sponsor you, and you just go study."
And he came to us. And he's studying. And he's planning on being there for five years and studying full time in his mid-thirties. Mad, just miraculously disappears.
So Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) rewards you when you try to do things the right way.
Closing
I apologize for going overtime.