by Yusuf Alzeera

Created on: March 02, 2008

The religion of Islam has encouraged education and learning to a great extent that is so unimaginable. In numerous qur'anic verses as well as the Prophet's teachings and traditions, one can find the present and future rewards of being an educated person. In Islam, men and women not only have the right, but the obligation to seek knowledge. Interesting! That means you could be punished not only for stealing, lying and killing but also for not learning! Let us have a look for the verses and the prophet's traditions that call for education and the rewards awaiting educated people.

EDUCATION IN QUR'AN & NARRATIONS

The first word revealed of the Qur'an, which consists of tens of thousands of words, was "Iqra" which means READ! Are you joking? Nowadays, there are around one million words in some languages. Why god had chosen " READ" as the first word to reveal of the Qur'an? There must be something special about it. The Qur'an uses repetition in order to imbed certain key concepts in the consciousness of its listeners. Allah (God) and Rab (the Sustainer) are repeated 2,800 and 950 times respectively in the sacred text; Ilm (knowledge) comes third with 750 mentions. Let us quote other verses that talk about the importance of education.

A. Qur'anic Verses

* "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?"
* "Allah grants wisdom to whom He pleases and to whom wisdom is granted indeed he receives an overflowing benefit."

B. Prophetic Narrations

* " A single scholar of religion is more formidable against Satan than a thousand devout persons."
* "He who acquires knowledge acquires a vast portion."
* "If anyone going on his way in search of knowledge, God will, thereby make easy for him the way to Paradise."

WHY EDUCATION?

An educated community brings prosperity to the society. Furthermore, education is a means to foster the individual's, society's, and even humanity's future development. That is why Islam have made it an obligation to seek knowledge. In essence, it is the only way to stay alive !

As Muhammed Albaqer said " Learn as education is paradise, searching for it is worship, learning it is remembrance (of God), seeking it is struggle ( in the way of God ), teaching it is giving charity, giving it to deserved people is proximity. Education is the lighthouse of Paradise, pleasure in wildness, a companion in exile, a soul mate in loneliness, a compass in good times, an aid in bad times, kind to friends, weapon on the enemies "

A WEAPON

Education is a peaceful weapon not in the sense that it eradicates others but it protects you from annihilation and total destruction by others. That is why Islam encourages people to spend their lives learning but, unfortunately, yet there are some who disobey and use the real weapon instead of the peaceful one.

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