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
Last week we
talked about the importance of science in the series of Islamic lessons, and we
said that in the view of the great prophet of Allah, science is superior to
worship and benevolence that has no faith in it. The advice
of the Prophet Muhammad to Amir al-Mu minin is very enlightening in this
regard:
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ
صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ وَ سَلَّمَ: يَا عَلِيُّ، إِذَا تَقَرَّبَ
النَّاسُ إِلَى خَالِقِهِمْ بِأَبْوَابِ الْبِرِّ، فَتَقَرَّبْ إِلَيْهِ
بِأَنْوَاعِ الْعَقْلِ فَتَسْبِقَهُمُ بِالزُّلَفِ وَالدَّرَجَاتِ، عِنْدَ
النَّاسِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَعِنْدَ اللَّهِ فِي الآخِرَةِ
O Ali, when
people approach God in various ways of doing good deeds, you will approach the
Lord in various ways doing rational actions, in this case you will be ahead of
them with a great degree, both in the world between peoples and in the
Hereafter, at the presence of the Lord.
On the other
hand, we have said that science which is described with the term “non-beneficial
science” are forbidden, as far as the famous prayers of the Prophet pbuh
are quoted so:
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?
Beneficial and
non-beneficial science
“benefecial”
and “non-beneficial” are two contradictory definitions for science
that cannot be combined or eliminated, it means that a science cannot be either
benficial or non-beneficial science. So, in any case, any knowledge will fit
into one of these two aspects. In the words of the great scholars of Islam,
they all encourage us to use beneficial science and to avoid non-beneficial
science. Amir al-Mu minīni considers the listening to beneficial science as a
sign of the goodness of people of virtue, and the Prophet pbuh turn to God form
non-beneficial science.
Science can be
divided into two categories from the viewpoint of beneficial and non-beneficial:
first from the point of view of science itself, and second, from the effect
that it would appear in the soul of the men of knowledge.
Science is
beneficial itself
A science that is
not intended to solve a mental, livelihood, vital, individual or social problem
will be known as a non-beneficial science to us. From Islamic sources,
“science for science” is not desirable and right. The accumulation of
science without a specific purpose would be non-beneficial science. Beneficial
and non-beneficial will be determine in proportion to the target of the science.
There will be no
question for people who are suffering from pain and the personal and social
needs of others, and if they are faced with questions that do not apply to
relieve the social and individual pain of humans, they will not devote their
time to respond to these kind of questions.
In many cases we
see that the scientific research’s, with all of their precision and accuracy,
does not solve any problem and does not fulfill any reasonable objective. Such
studies, with the exception of the waste of time and scientific facilities,
have no other benefit.
Roll of
beneficial science in shaping the character of the scholar
A science that brought
a scientist to some of the personal abnormalities will be a non-beneficial
science. In narrations, science is the greatest factor for keeping a person
away from divine mercy:
العلم هو الحجاب الاکبر
The science of
the greatest veil.
If there will be
no refinement at work and act, the science of monotheism has no value. If a
person is not completely accomplished, the more science that accumulate in his
brain and heart, the person will get more distance from the god. A
science that leads to the creation of pride in a person and makes a scientist
more ostentatious to others and makes himself superior to human beings will be
a non-beneficial science.
Sometimes
knowledge is not only unprofitable due to its impact on the personality of the
scientist, it is harmful and causes perish of the individual. There are some
sciences that are better to be unknown to some people that doesn’t have the
enough capacity to understand them. Every science
does not qualify for anyone. So, the beneficial and non-beneficial science differ
from one another to another due to the character of the individual. Maybe a
Science is beneficial for someone and non-beneficial for another. In the story of Noah s storm and the response of his
son, Canaan, to the invitation of his father, we could see that Canaan was
pride to his swimming knowledge that finally led to his death in water. The
Qur an says:
وَنَادَى نُوحٌ ابْنَهُ
وَكَانَ فِي مَعْزِلٍ يَا بُنَيَّ ارْكَبْ مَعَنَا وَلَا تَكُنْ مَعَ
الْكَافِرِينَ؛ قَالَ سَآوِي إِلَى جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِي مِنَ الْمَاءِ قَالَ لَا
عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَنْ رَحِمَ وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا
الْمَوْجُ فَكَانَ مِنَ الْمُغْرَقِينَ ﴿هود:42-۴۳﴾
And
Noah called to his son, who had kept away, “O my son! Embark with us, and do
not be with the disbelievers.” He said, “I will take refuge on a mountain—it
will protect me from the water.” He said, “There is no protection from God’s
decree today, except for him on whom He has mercy.” And the waves surged
between them, and he was among the drowned.
From the point of
view of Islam, a science is beneficial which is either used to satisfy the real
needs of this world s life, or to bring mankind the way to prosperity in the
other world, while at the same time does not led to becoming pride, alienation,
and self-forgetting.
