Knowledge

Seeking Knowledge – طلب العلم

Imam ash-Shafi’i رحمه الله was asked :

ﻓﻘﻴﻞ ﻟﻪ : ﻓﻜﻴﻒ ﻃﻠﺒﻚ ﻟﻪ؟!
ﻗﺎل اﻟﺸﺎﻓﻌﻲ. : ﻃﻠﺐ اﻟﻤﺮأة اﻟﻤﻀﻠﺔ وﻟﺪﻫﺎ
“How do you seek [knowledge]?”
He replied:
“Like a mother frantically searching for her missing child.”

[“Taḏkirah al-Sāmiʿ”, p. 32].

And Imam Malik is reported to have said:

قال الإمام مالك :”إنّ العلم يؤتى ولا يأتي “.
“Knowledge is SOUGHT, not BROUGHT.”

[“Al-Mudawanah”, 1/42].

The beauty of this statement is lost in translation.

It could actually be argued that in todays age – knowledge has COME to us, inside our homes, available at our fingertips.

We can get an entire library of 50,000 books – on 1 small memory chip.

But it still requires seeking, as Imam Malik said.