What did al-Nawawi say about seeking knowledge?
Al-Nawawi wrote on the etiquette of the student and the teacher in both the Riyāḍ and his Muqaddimah. His standards — humility, purification, patience with ignorance — are exacting.
10 passages from 5 books in the library
On seeking knowledge, the cited passages — from al-Ghazali's Ihya and Ibn Kathir's account of Musa — frame all human learning against the infinity of God's: "His knowledge is infinite, while the knowledge of creation is finite." The "highest knowledge," al-Ghazali writes, "is the knowledge of divine unveiling." Knowledge is meant to be lived — one is praised when "he acts upon his knowledge" — and it is "of two kinds." The story of al-Khidr and Musa is invoked: "My knowledge and your knowledge, compared to Allah's knowledge," are as nothing, teaching the seeker humility.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 5 books by Imam al-Ghazali and Ibn Kathir — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
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"knowledge beyond measure, for His knowledge is infinite, while the knowledge of creation is finite."
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"the knowledge of past and present generations compare to God's knowledge? His knowledge"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"The highest knowledge is the knowledge of divine unveiling, which surpasses the knowledge"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"he acts upon his knowledge. Furthermore, he stated, Knowledge is of two kinds, knowledge"
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"A person who seeks knowledge, but does not understand and a person who understands knowledge, but does not seek it"
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"This applies to the knowledge that leads to teaching not to the inherent knowledge that does not extend to others"
14th century · Bosra, Syria
Monumental history Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, the world's most widely read Qurʾanic commentary, and the classical Stories of the Prophets.
More on Ibn Kathir →
· Provenance →
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"Al-Khidr said to Moses, My knowledge and your knowledge, compared to Allah's knowledge,"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"For example, there is no doubt when someone aims a needle at your eye or a sword at your body, your knowledge does not hesitate that pushing it away is better for you, and so will arises inevitably from knowledge."
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"The eternal power does not emit will except after knowledge, no knowledge except after life, and no life except after the place for life,"
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"They confined knowledge to the five senses and thus denied power, will and knowledge because they are imperceptible by the five senses."
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