When Allah revealed the first verses of His final heavenly book to the last Prophet (peace be upon him), He began by emphasizing the importance of reading and learning:
“Read in the name of your Lord who created,
Created man from a clot of blood.
Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught man what he did not know.”[1]
Reflecting on these verses, one is led to ponder that if there had been a gift greater than the blessing of creation, Allah would have undoubtedly distinguished humanity with it. Yet, He chose to highlight the gift of knowledge in the first verses of revelation, signaling its paramount importance over other blessings.
Subsequent verses were also revealed regarding knowledge. In the very first verses, Allah swore by the pen as a sacred object [2], and later, He repeatedly spoke of the dignity of scholars and their great status in His words.[3]
These verses highlight the esteemed place of knowledge and its acquisition in the religion of Islam, particularly in a time when many people could not even read or write. In such a time, filled with ignorance and fanaticism, the Prophet (peace be upon him) not only regarded the acquisition of knowledge as a duty for every Muslim [4], but also considered spreading it as a form of charity, equating teaching knowledge to an act of generosity.[5] He even considered teaching as one of the core goals of his mission.[6]
In this context, what place do the scholars, who are both guided on the straight path and dedicated to guiding others, have? The example of the daughter of the Prophet, Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her), provides an answer:
A woman came to Fatimah (peace be upon her) and said, “My mother, who is weak, has encountered some difficulties concerning prayer and has sent me to you to ask her questions.” Fatimah (peace be upon her) responded to her question. The woman then asked another question, and Fatimah (peace be upon her) answered. She continued to ask several questions, eventually reaching ten, to which Fatimah (peace be upon her) responded to all of them.
Eventually, feeling embarrassed due to the numerous questions, the woman said, “I will not trouble you any further.” Fatimah (peace be upon her) replied, “Whatever question comes to your mind, ask it, and do not feel shy.” Then, to encourage her to continue asking, she asked:
“Suppose a person has to carry a heavy load all day long and climb a high peak, and in return, receives a reward of a thousand dinars. Would the burden of carrying such a heavy load be intolerable to him, given the great reward?”
The woman replied, “No!”
Fatimah (peace be upon her) then said:
“I, too, have made myself a servant of Allah, and the reward for answering each question is far greater than the pearls that could fill the space between the heavens and the earth… I heard my father, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), say: On the Day of Judgment, scholars among our Shia will be resurrected in such a way that according to their knowledge and their efforts in guiding the servants of Allah, they will be adorned in glorious robes of honor. Each of them will be dressed in a thousand thousand shining garments, and then a caller will proclaim from Allah: ‘O you who have taken the orphans of the family of Muhammad [7] under your care, guiding and educating them when they were separated from their fathers (the Imams), know that these orphans are the students whom you have guided and cared for.’ Then he will add: ‘By Allah, every thread of those garments is worth a thousand thousand times more than anything the sun shines upon!’”[8]
Fatimah al-Zahra’s (peace be upon her) words clearly demonstrate the high status and great reward that await those scholars who follow her path, striving in the pursuit of religious knowledge and guiding Allah’s servants during the time of occultation. They spent their past in the service of the religion of Allah, and today, in accordance with their level of knowledge and practical effort, they earn the medal of honor.
(Taken from the book “The Etiquette of Teaching and Learning in Islam” (translation of Menyat al-Murid by Shaheed Sani), written by Dr. Syed Mohammad Baqir Hojjati, with slight additions)
Footnotes:
[1](Surah Al-Alaq, verses 1–5)
[2] (Surah Al-Qalam, verse 1)
[3] Surah Al-Imran, verse 7; Surah Al-Isra, verses 107-109; Surah Ankabut, verses 43 and 49; Surah Fatir, verse 25; Surah Zumar, verse 9; Surah Mujadila, verse 12; …
[4] ‘Iddat al-Da‘i, page 72
[5] (Al-Irshad al-Qulub, Vol. 1, page 14) (‘Iddat al-Da‘i, page 72)
[6] Menyat al-Murid fi Adab al-Mufid wa al-Mustafid, page 106
[7] According to a Prophetic tradition, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Imam Ali (peace be upon him) are referred to as the two fathers of the Islamic Ummah. The reason they are called the orphans of the Shia is due to the loss of the guiding presence of these two fathers, and after them, the loss of subsequent Imams, who have left the Shia in a state similar to being orphans. (See Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 65, page 76)
[8] Tafsir attributed to Imam Hasan Askari (peace be upon him), page 340; Bihar al-Anwar, Book of Knowledge, Vol. 2, page 3; Mahajat al-Bayda, Vol. 1, page 30