Knowledge Is Heavy

Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi said:

رأيت الاشتغال بالفقه وسماع الحديث لا يكاد يكفي في صلاح القلب؛ إلا أن يمزج بالرقائق، والنظر في سير السلف الصالحين.
فأما مجرد العلم بالحلال والحرام، فليس له كبير عمل في رقة القلب
“I realised that going deep into jurisprudence and listening to Hadiths are not sufficient to rectify (soothe) the hearts, unless you mix them up with heart-softening anecdotes (al-raqaa’iq) and stories of our pious predecessors.
As for the knowledge of Halal and Haram, they don’t have a major impact on softening the heart.”

[“Said al-Khatir”, 1/228].

The scholars say ‘العلم ثقيل’, meaning ‘knowledge is heavy’, it is difficult to carry it on its own. Assistance should be sought in stories of our pious predecessors, interesting historical incidents, humour, etc.

If you take a deep dive into these sciences without anything else – you end up grumpy or burn-out.