What a Muslim needs to know ?

[Khushboo]

The Muslim and His Own Self

What a Muslim needs to know ?

The first thing that the Muslim needs to know is how to read the Qur’an properly (with tajwid) and to understand its meaning. Then he should learn something of the sciences of hadith, the sirah of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.), and the history of the Sahabah and Tabi‘in, who are prominent figures in Islam. He should acquire as much knowledge of fiqh as he needs to ensure that his worship and daily dealings are correct, and he should ensure that he has a sound grasp of the basic principles of his religion. This is the duty of the Muslim who is not a specialist in the sciences of Shari‘ah. If he is a specialist in a branch of Shari‘ah, then he does what every true Muslim should do, which is to do his best to learn his specialty thoroughly and be successful in it. It goes without saying that every Muslim also needs to learn Arabic properly.

The Muslim should be proficient in his specialty

Besides this, the Muslim turns to his own specialty and gives it all of his energy and pays a great deal of attention to it. He approaches it like a Muslim who believes that it is a religious obligation to work in his field of specialization, whether it is in Shari‘ah or in another area of religious knowledge, or in another field such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, astronomy, medicine, industry, commerce, etc. Therefore he should become proficient in whatever field he has specialized in, and should spare no effort to read whatever has been written about it, both in his own language and in others if he is able to. He should keep abreast of developments in his field through continual reading and study of all its aspects. This is because, in these times, the smart Muslim is the one who achieves great academic success, which will raise his status in the eyes of other people. This in turn will enhance his da‘wah, so long as he presents it sincerely and earnestly, and in accordance with the spirit of Islam and its teachings about knowledge.

Islam has made knowledge a duty, whereby the one who seeks it draws closer to Allah (S.W.T.) and adopts it as a means of earning His pleasure. So we see that the scholars of the early generation used to emphasize these sublime principles in their introductions to their books, because through the knowledge that they spent their lives spreading, they were seeking to earn the pleasure of Allah (S.W.T.), and they presented the results of their study purely for His sake.