بسم الله
الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله ربّ العالمين و الحمد لله الذی لا مُضادّ له في
مُلكه و لا مُنازِعَ لَهُ في أمره. الحمدالله الذی لا شريك لَهُ في خلقه ولا شبيه
لَهُ في عَظَمَتِه جزء من دعاء الإفتتاح وصلّی الله علی سيدّنا ونبيّنا محمّد
صلّی الله عليه وعلی آله الطاهرين واصحابه المنتجبين.
عبادالله ! أُوصيكم و نفسي بتقوی الله و اتّباع امره و
نهیه
Fifth virtue:
Just paying attention to beneficial science
وَقَفُوا أَسْمَاعَهُمْ عَلَى اَلْعِلْمِ
اَلنَّافِعِ لَهُمْ
They just pay
attention to the science that benefits them.
The value of the
valid word :
According to the lessons
of the Qur an and the hadith, not every word is worth hearing, and you should
not leave your ear open to hear whatever it wants and it’s around you. The Holy
Quran says about a word that worth hearing:
الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ
فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَاهُمُ اللَّهُ وَأُولَئِكَ
هُمْ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ ﴿زمر:۱۸﴾
Those
who listen to the Word, and follow the best of it. These are they whom God has
guided. These are they who possess intellect.
According to this
verse, one has to listen to the words of
“Hassan”, to distinguish “Ahssan” from among them.
Therefore, words that do not possess goodness should not be heard and let them
to reach the limits of soul. The hearings, as seeing, affect the human soul, and
cause attention and flying to Allah, or cause a crash and
keep you in the superstition.
Imam Jawad peace
be upon him says:
مَنْ أَصْغَی إِلَی
نَاطِق فَقَدْ عَبَدَهُ فَإِنْ کَانَ النَّاطِقُ عَنِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ عَبَدَ
اللَّهَ وَ إِنْ کَانَ النَّاطِقُ یَنْطِقُ عَنْ لِسَانِ إِبْلِیسَ فَقَدْ عَبَدَ
إِبْلِیسَ. مستدرک الوسائل، ج 17، ص 308
The one who
listens to a speaker is actually worshiping a speaker, so if the speaker speaks
of God and the words of God, the listner has worshiped the God, and if the
speaker tells the words of Satan, the listener has worshiped Satan.
Amir al-Mu minin
says that the hearings of pious people are those that have knowledge and
science, and those that add something to the
knowledge of the listener.
The Value of
Science
Knowledge and science
have a great importance in the Qur an and the word of the infallibles. As far
as the first verses of Quran that came to the Holy Prophet pbuh refer to
human science, And the vocation of the last Divine prophet begins with this
issue:
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ؛خَلَقَ
الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ؛ اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ؛ الَّذِي عَلَّمَ
بِالْقَلَمِ؛ عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ علق:1-۵
Read: In the Name
of your Lord who created. Created man from a clot. Read: And your Lord is the
Most Generous. He who taught by the pen. Taught man what he never knew.
And also
in the story of the creation of man, when the creation of adam is confronted
with the protest of the angels, the science that God teaches to Adam leads to
his superiority against others and this was the best response to the angels
that protested:
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ
الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلَائِكَةِ فَقَالَ
أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَؤُلَاءِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ﴿بقره:۳۱﴾
And He taught
Adam the names, all of them; then he presented them to the angels, and said,
“Tell Me the names of these, if you are sincere.”
In the narratives
and speeches of the Prophet pbuh and the infallible Imams, great emphasis are
placed on the importance of science and learning:
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ
صلى الله عليه وآله : طَلَبُ الْعِلْمِ فَرِيضَةٌ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ
The learning of
knowledge is obligatory for any Muslim [man and woman].
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ
صلى الله عليه وآله : مَنْ سَلَكَ طَرِيقاً يَطْلُبُ فِيهِ عِلْماً سَلَكَ
اللَّهُ بِهِ طَرِيقاً إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ، وَ إِنَّ الْمَلَائِكَةَ لَتَضَعُ
أَجْنِحَتَهَا لِطَالِبِ الْعِلْمِ رِضاً بِهِ، وَ إِنَّهُ يَسْتَغْفِرُ لِطَالِبِ
الْعِلْمِ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَ مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ حَتَّى الْحُوتِ فِي
الْبَحْرِ
The one who steps
in the way of science, God puts him in the way of heavens and paradis, and the
angels put their wings under his feet because of satisfaction to let him fly,
and all the creatures of the heavens and the earth, even the fish ask for his
forgiveness.
Superiority of
the men of knowledge on the worshiper
There is no doubt
that worship and spiritual communication with God and the acquisition of
spirituality are the necessary things for living with piety. The worship cleans the human soul and cleans him from evil deeds. But at
the higher level, the question is whether someone who has spent his life on
learning science is superior or who only worships all of his time and his young
days? Does God love his servant more to worship or gain knowledge?
It has been
quoted that one day the Prophet of Islam pbuh came to the mosque and saw that
they were two groups, the first group was sitting and mentioning God and
practicing worship, and the other group was negotiating with one another about
knowledge and science. The Prophet said that both of this deeds are good, but God
has sent me as a teacher, and he sat down with the people who were negotiating
on science. Prophet Muhammad says:
فَضْلُ الْعَالِمِ عَلَى الْعَابِدِ كَفَضْلِ
الْقَمَرِ عَلَى سَائِرِ النُّجُومِ لَيْلَةَ الْبَدْرِ
The superiority
of the scientist on a worshiper is like the superiority of the moon of the fourteen
night most beautiful time to watch the moon compared to other stars.
In the deeds of
the Qadr night, which is the most important night of the year, according to the
Holy Qur an:
«لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ قدر:3
The Night of Decree is better than a
thousand months
We see in the
books that the learning of science at this holly night is better than the other
deeds.
Classification of
Sciences
One of the topics
discussed in the philosophy of science is the classification of sciences. It is
clear that not all sciences have the same scientific value, but some have
precedence over others. What is the criterion of the supremacy of a science for
other science is from the discrepancies between the owners of opinion in this
field that we are not entering it, but this is precisely the point that there
is no specific order in Islam in relation to all of the sciences.
On one hand,
there are some sciences that have been prohibited in Islamic jurisprudence, and
on the other hand, the sciences that are mentioned with the term of “non-beneficial science” are
forbidden, as far as the famous prayers of Prophet Muhammad has been quoted:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي
أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ قَلْبٍ لاَ يَخْشَعُ، ومِنْ دُعَاءٍ لاَ يُسْمَعُ، وَمِنْ
نَفْسٍ لاَ تَشْبَعُ، وَمِنْ عِلْمٍ لاَ يَنْفَعُ، أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَؤُلاَءِ
الأَرْبَعِ. الصحیح الجامع:رقم1297
O God, I take
refuge to you from four things, a heart that does not have mercy, and a prayer
that is not heard, and a soul that is not filled, and a non-beneficial science.
Now the question is:
what is the criterion of beneficial
science and non-beneficial science? And what kind of knowledge is it that the people
of piety only listen to it and take it to the depths of their souls?