Why Knowledge Must Come Before Action

I'm going to say.

[Silence]

Alhamdulillah. These.

[Silence]

Are bad.

[Silence]

These verses are the first verses that the prophet sallallah sallallah.aii wasallam received and were the verses with which he was sent as a messenger to the people of Quraysh. In these verses, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives very particular instructions on not only the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam and sending him as a messenger to his people, but specific instructions with how to organize his da'wah or his invitation or his calling of his people to Islam. There are things which are haram and there are things which are more haram. There are things which are obligatory and there are those things which are more obligatory. There are issues which are of shik and there are issues which are of minor shik. There are issues of major kufur and minor kufur major vul minor vul major minor neph etc. All of these things are the details which are necessary in order to have a fruitful daer. It's not that all of the commandments were you know just sent down upon the prophet sallall.aii wasallam all at once. It wasn't just one book that was sent down to him all at once. It was organized. It came in parts and it began with the most important then that which is important then that which is of of secondary importance etc. And so this is why the scholars of Islam have put so much energy and have concentrated their efforts so much on detailing the order in which the chapters and verses of the Quran were revealed and also the sun and narrations of the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam as much as possible because of this order. This order it doesn't just give us the order of the prophet's story or a timeline. It's not just a historical thing. It's an issue of it reflects what is most important, what is of lesser importance, what is most dire, what is not as dire, etc. If we understand this, we look not only at the order of the chapters and how they were revealed, but also the order of the verses. So we notice first of all that the first word or the first five verses that Allah sent to the prophet sallall.aii wasallam, they began with the word which is to read or to recite. The next group or cluster of verses that were revealed to him began with the word the first command. Right? So first we have recite and read. Then we have stand up and go forth and give da. What do we understand from this? What do we learn from this? We learn from this what imar understood is one of the core principles of Islam and that is as alkari says in his That knowledge comes before action and speech. Before speech and action, before we attempt to do something, we first learn how to do it. We first learn, then we follow that with action. Any action that is not predicated on knowledge is going to be misguided. And any knowledge that is not succeeded by action, it is what incurs the anger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What do we recite every day in every of every salah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us guide us the straight path the path of those whom your grace is upon not the path of those whom your anger is upon nor those who have gone astray. Who are these three types of people? Every human being. Every human being at every moment is every human being who is conscious. Every human being who has a consciousness, who has an intention, every human being who is sane and so forth of age, they fall into one of these three categories in some actions. And generally, holistically, they fall into one of these three categories. Number one, those whom Allah's grace favor is upon. Number two, those whom Allah's anger is upon. Number three, those who are misguided. Who are those whom Allah's grace is upon? They are those who know. They are upon knowledge and they implement that knowledge. They are those who know and act upon that knowledge. Who are those whom Allah's anger is upon? Those who have knowledge but fail to act on it. Who are those who have gone astray? They are those who act upon ignorance. they do not have knowledge. So we have the the only type of person that is successful are those who have action with knowledge. They know and they implement. Then we have those with the knowledge but no action. Then we have those with action and no knowledge. The more a person has knowledge and implements that knowledge, the more the individual becomes guided, the more the individual incurs grace and favor from Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. So he says the chapter regarding it's one of the chapters in in the second in the third book of his the book of knowledge and that is that knowledge comes first then action and implementation. then speech. Right? This sounds like it's a given. It sounds yeah, of course, how can a person do something without knowing? But it is not as obvious as you think. It's not as obvious as many people think. Many people they are either learning and it's it's a kind of abstract knowledge. It's almost a hobby. It's almost you know something that entertains them and so they to learn. But this knowledge is nothing more than that. It's it's trivial. It's very good to to know and to learn but it's not something that they take serious enough that they implement it. On the other hand, there are those who are very very sincere. They have a lot of sincerity and that sincerity drives them to action. But action without knowledge is destructive. It doesn't matter how good a person's intention is. Arguably one of the most dangerous combinations is good intentions with no knowledge. Ignorance and good intentions breeds chaos and destruction and it breeds also an illusion of knowledge. We have also the other side which is knowledge that is abstract. I learn something but I use it as a vanity. And knowledge is just wealth. It's the same thing. As a matter of fact, throughout the Quran, Allah mentions knowledge and wealth together. Throughout the Sunnah, the prophet sallall.aii wasallam mentions wealth and knowledge together. He says for instance that only two types of people are worthy of your envy. One whom Allah has given knowledge to. He's given the Quran to and he recites it and implements it and judges by it. And the second is one whom Allah has given wealth to and he spends that wealth for the sake of Allah. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us that two types of seekers will never be satisfied. Two types of seekers will never be satisfied. The seeker of knowledge and the seeker of wealth. Those two they will never be satisfied. If you understand this, you understand that knowledge is a vanity. It can be a vanity. As a matter of fact, it is even arguably more of a vanity than wealth is because the human being was created to know. And so that which satisfies us the most is when we learn. That which gives us vigor the most is learning. Whatever it is, whatever that knowledge is, knowledge in itself is incredibly powerful in its motivations. And this is why the greatest insult arguably as a human being, one of the things that is the most insulting things is to be looked at as being ignorant or looked at as being having a lack of intelligence. This is something very insulting to us as human beings. Why? Because we pride ourselves on our intelligence, on our knowledge. Knowledge in Islam is not just a vanity. It can be, it can become a vanity and it is very powerful. However, if a person uses knowledge as such, this is a this is a person whose journey to Allah is incomplete. They have to be together. There has to be knowledge and there has to be implementation. And so when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us and demands of us that we repeat over and over throughout our prayer all through the day at different times of the day. Guide us the straight path, the path of those whom your favor is upon. meaning those who know and implement. Not those whom your anger is upon. Meaning those who know and do not implement, nor those who have gone astray, meaning those who do not know but seek to implement. One final point regarding this. We see that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always or most usually mentions knowledge before actions all through the Quran. He says subhanahua those who believe and work righteous deeds. What is belief? Belief begins with knowledge. It's knowledge. That's what belief is. It is a knowledge that is held with conviction in the heart such conviction that it demands implementation. That's what eman is. And Allah mentions throughout the Quran, believe and work righteous deeds. Believe and work righteous deeds. They know and they implement. They know and they implement. The more a person knows, if they implement, then the more they will know. And the more they know, if they implement, then the more they will know and so on and so forth. This is why we are taughtallahillahillah that is your intention. None is rightfully worshiped but Allah. That's the intention. Those are the good intentions. But good intentions alone, it's not enough. What's the second part? Those are the actions. That is what the implementation of those the manifestation when we put those when we embody those good intentions and express them. How do we express them? We only express our good intentions in the way that Muhammad taught us. Sallallah.aii was the opposite of or what negates sincerity and good intentions is a what negates good actions is what innovation. So these two come together and these are the first two. This is the first lesson Allah teaches the messenger. He begins with what? Recite read. The second lesson stand. The second lesson implement these two now go together. Subhanahu waala and you know.

[Arabic recitation]