The Dangers of Knowledge and the Characteristics of Scholars Who Perish in the Hereafter
We have already mentioned some verses and hadiths that explain the virtues of knowledge and scholars.
There are also great warnings that indicate that those who perish in the hereafter will face the heaviest punishment on the Day of Judgment.
One important claim is that the scholars of this world, who are only concerned with worldly matters, wealth, rank, and position, are different from the scholars of the hereafter. The blessed eyes of the Prophet distinguish between these two:
“Those who will face the heaviest punishment on the Day of Judgment are the scholars who do not benefit from the knowledge of Allah the Almighty.”
Again, the Prophet says:
“A person cannot be a scholar unless he acts upon what he knows.”
He has said. Again, the Prophet says on this subject:
“Who are they? Who are you referring to?” In response to this question, he said: “They are the corrupt imams.”
Knowledge, “when it increases but the morality does not improve, can only bring about distance from Allah the Almighty.”
Jesus, peace be upon him, said to the scholars: “When will you show the way to those who walk at night (those who fast)? You are still among the bewildered.”
These statements and other reports indicate the great dangers of knowledge. Because the scholar is either facing eternal destruction or eternal happiness. If he cannot find happiness through knowledge, he will be condemned to ruin.
Hz. Omar (RA) said: “The thing I fear most about this ummah is the hypocrite who possesses knowledge.” When asked, “How can a knowledgeable hypocrite be?” he replied: “He is a scholar in speech, but a fool in heart and deeds.”
Hasan (RA) said: “Do not collect the innovations of the sages and the knowledge of the scholars, but be a simple person who does not act upon his words.” When someone said to Abu Hurairah (RA): “I want to learn knowledge, but I am afraid I will lose it afterwards,” Abu Hurairah replied: “Losing noble knowledge is not the same as not acquiring it.”
When asked, “Who is the most guilty?” Ibrahim ibn Uyayna replied: “The one who does good deeds in this world but is not appreciated, and in the hereafter, the one who is a scholar but has extremely deficient deeds.” Halil ibn Ahmed (a grammar scholar) said: “People are divided into four categories.”
1 — Those who understand and know what they understand (i.e., they act upon what they know); this is the scholar, follow this example.
2 — Those who understand but do not know that they understand. This is the ignorant. Warn them.
3 — Those who do not know but know that they do not know (this is called simple ignorance); they are seeking the way, show them the right path.
4 — Those who do not understand and do not know that they do not understand (they think they know, this is called complex ignorance, and they do not accept treatment); leave them.
Sufyan al-Thawri (RA) said: “Knowledge invites to action; if action comes, it is good, if not, knowledge also departs.”
Ibn Mubarak said: “As long as a scholar continues to read, he remains a scholar. When he thinks he is a scholar and stops increasing his knowledge, he becomes a fool.”
Fudayl said: “I have compassion for three kinds of people:
1 — A person of a nation who is humiliated,
2 — A rich person who becomes poor,
3 — A scholar who has the world as a toy in his hands.”
Hasan said: “The punishment of scholars is the death of their hearts. The death of their hearts is seeking worldly matters with the knowledge of the hereafter.” In this regard, the poet says:
“I am amazed at those who are given guidance but lead others astray. More amazing is the one who gives up religion for the world. Even more amazing is the one who sells his own religion for the world of others.”
The Prophet, in a hadith, said: “The scholar is subjected to such a punishment that the people of Hell visit him.” He was referring to the corrupt scholar.
Usama ibn Zayd (RA) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah say:
“On the Day of Judgment, the scholars will be taken and thrown into Hell, their intestines will be pulled out, and they will be made to rotate like the center of a mill. The people of Hell will visit them and ask: ‘What is this you are suffering?’ The scholar will reply: ‘I commanded good but did not do it myself; I forbade evil but did it myself (this is my punishment).”
The reason why the punishment of the scholar is so much more severe is because he rebels knowingly. For this reason, Allah the Almighty says:
“There is no doubt that the hypocrites are in the lowest part of Hell.”
Because they deny after knowing. For this same reason, the Jews are considered worse than the Christians. Although most of them did not say that Allah has offspring, they said that the third one is Allah. However, they denied the Prophets they knew.
In fact, the Quran says:
“Their children knew that he was a prophet.”
It is stated. In another noble verse, it is said:
“When the knowledge came to them, they denied it. The curse of Allah is upon the disbelievers.”
In the story of Bel’am ibn Bahr, it is said:
“Read to him the story of Josgasim, for we have presented our verses to him, but he ran away from them. Then Satan followed him and he became one of the corrupt. If we had wished, we would have elevated him with our verses, but he fell to the ground and hid behind his shame. His story is like that of a dog: if you strike it, it will bark, and if you leave it, it will bark again.”
Indeed, the corrupt scholar is like this. Although Allah the Almighty gave Bel’am knowledge from His book, he fell into lust and was compared to a dog. That is, no matter how much wisdom is given to such people, they are always driven to lust.
Jesus, peace be upon him, said: “A corrupt scholar is like a stone in the mouth of water; he does not drink the water himself and prevents it from flowing to the gardens. Again, a bad scholar is like a plant that grows on filth; it looks bright on the outside but smells of filth inside. Again, a corrupt scholar is like a tomb; it has a beautiful tomb on the outside but is full of bones inside.”
All these reports clearly show that those who acquire knowledge for worldly matters will suffer more than the ignorant. Those who will be saved and find what they hope for are the scholars of the hereafter, and they also have their characteristics.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOLARS OF THE HEREAFTER
1 — Not seeking worldly matters with knowledge. Because the lowest degree of scholars is knowing that the world is insignificant and temporary before Allah, while the hereafter is noble, lasting, and full of blessings, and that the world and the hereafter are two opposites that cannot be combined. They are like two pieces of cloth: when you please one, you anger the other. They are like the two eyes of a scale: when you favor one, you neglect the other. They are like East and West: when you approach one, you move away from the other. They are like two glasses, one full and the other empty: when you pour water from one to the other, the other will be empty. They must know all these things.
Those who do not know that the world is full of hardship and suffering, that its pleasures are mixed with sorrow, and that good deeds will soon disappear are the ignorant. Our experience and observations show that this is the case. (Of course, the one who does not understand this has no mind.) Can a person without a mind be a scholar? One who does not know the continuation and nobility of the hereafter is a disbeliever. Can a person without faith be a scholar?
Those who do not understand that the world is opposite to the hereafter and that trying to combine them is a futile effort are ignorant of all the prophets’ laws and may even be disbelievers of the entire Quran. How can someone with low knowledge join the ranks of scholars? Those who know all these things but prefer the world over the hereafter are the captives of Satan, who kills them with lust and defeats them with hypocrisy. How can they enter the ranks of scholars?
In the news of Prophet Dawud, peace be upon him, Allah the Almighty says: “The least punishment I will give to the one who prefers my love to the world is to make the taste of my supplication forbidden to him. O David, do not ask me about the scholar who is intoxicated by the love of the world, for such people prevent others from loving me and cut off the ways of my servants. O David, if you see someone seeking me, serve him. O David, the one who returns a runaway to me is a wise and understanding scribe. If I make a wise scribe, I will never punish him.”
For this reason, Hasan (RA) said: “The punishment of scholars is the death of their hearts. The death of their hearts is seeking worldly matters with the deeds of the hereafter.” Again, for this same reason, Yahya ibn Mu’az said: “The light of knowledge and wisdom is lost when they seek the world.”
Sa’d ibn Musayyib (RA) said: “The scholar who falls and rises with his superiors is a true scholar.”
Hazrat Omar (RA) said: “Have you seen a scholar who inclines towards the world? If so, accuse him of your religion, for everyone loves what they love.”
Malik ibn Dinar said: “I read in some old books that Allah the Almighty says: “The least punishment I will give to the one who loves the world is to remove the love of supplication from his heart.”
Someone wrote in a letter to his brother: “You have become a scholar, so do not extinguish the light of knowledge with the darkness of sin, for while scholars walk with the light of knowledge, you will remain in darkness.”
Yahya ibn Mu’az al-Razi addresses the scholars of the world as follows: “O scholars! Your palaces are the palaces of kings, your homes are the homes of Kisra, your clothes are the clothes of Vizier Tahir, your shoes are the shoes of Caliph, your carriages are the carriages of Karun, your furniture is the furniture of Pharaoh, your eating and drinking is like the time of ignorance. The path you have taken is the path of Satan, where is Islam?”
The poet says:
“The shepherd protects the sheep from the wolf, but if the shepherd becomes a wolf, what will happen to the sheep?”
Another poet says:
“O scholars of the country! Salt preserves everything, but when salt is spoiled, what will fix it?”
Some mystics were asked: “Can you decree that a person who enjoys sin does not know Allah?” In response, they said: “We will never accuse those who consider the world superior to the hereafter of not knowing Allah, for preferring the world is much more sinful than enjoying sin.”
Do not think that merely giving up wealth is enough to enter the ranks of scholars of the hereafter, for the desire for position is worse than wealth. Indeed, Bisr said about such people: “He read a hadith to us from the door of the world.” He also said: “When someone says to us, ‘Tell us a hadith,’ understand that he is trying to show us a favor.” Bisr buried more than ten thousand books. Again, Bisr said: “My soul is asking me to speak. (For this reason, I do not want to speak.) If I could overcome my soul’s desire, I would speak.” Again, Bisr and others said: “Speak when you want to, and speak when you do not want to. Because the taste of guidance and the rank of expression is above all the pleasures of the world. In this regard, those who fall into lust are materialistic people.” For this reason, Sufyan said: “The fitness of speaking is above the fitness of wealth and the fitness of family. How dare you avoid the fitness of speaking, while the Prophet speaks?”
It was said to the Prophet:
“If we had not supported you, you would have leaned slightly towards them.”
Sehl said: “All knowledge is for the world. That which is for the hereafter is acted upon with a knife. All deeds are for the world, except those done for the pleasure of Allah. Again, Sehl said: “All people are dead, only the prophets are not; scholars are asleep, only those who act are awake; those who act are deceived, only those who act with sincerity are different; those who act with sincerity are afraid until they know the result.”
Abu Sulayman ad-Darani (RA) said: “When a person searches for hadith, gets married, or goes on a journey for livelihood, he is inclined towards the world.” Here, he meant searching for hadith that are not suitable for the hereafter (weak hadiths and their chains).
Jesus, peace be upon him, said: “How can a person who turns back to the world when his destination is the hereafter be a scholar? How can a person who learns knowledge only to tell others and not for action be a scholar?”
Saleh ibn Keysan al-Basri said: “I have reached many great people; they would seek refuge with Allah the Almighty even though they knew the sunnah but committed sins.”
Abu Hurairah (RA) relates from the Prophet, saying:
“He who is with Allah the Almighty’s pleasure, he will not be harmed.”