Salam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatu
Allah says in his Noble Qur'aan: "Know that there is nothing worthy of worship beside Allah, then seek Forgiveness for your sins". The first thing Allah commanded us to do is to "know that there is nothing deserving at worship except Him"; the second thing is to seek His forgiveness.
As Muslims our ultimate goal is to meet Allah in a good state. We want forgiveness of our sins so that we can enter Paradise, the home of eternal happiness. this is an excellent objective. But how do we accomplish it? The answer is fairly simple, we do righteous deeds and avoid the sins. Yes, this is certainly correct, but another question comes to the mind: How do we know what constitute a righteous deed or an evil one? Many of us have reverted to Islam from Iudeo – Christian religions backgrounds. Certain acts are universally accepted as virtues: charity, honesty and chastity are indisputably righteous acts. But Allah, our Lord, has completed his religion with the mission of Mohammed ( Peace Be Upon him ) and out of hid infinite mercy has shown us many ways to Paradise. He has also made us aware of everything would harm us in our religion. If we will use this information wisely, we will surely be from the blessed and from the saved. Allah made us from the righteous people, Ameen! But we first need access to this knowledge. We need to seek it, memorize it, understand it and apply it. It is the duty of every single Muslim, male or female, young or old to seek knowledge of the basic tenets of the religion.
And the path to knowledge is a blessed one. It is recorded from Abu Hurairah that the prophet (SAS) said: “ Whoever travel a path seeking knowledge, Allah made a path to Paradise easy for him.”
What greater blessing is there than that! Allah mentioned in his Noble Book: “Allah raises the believers amongst you and those who were given knowledge” ( Suratul Mujaadilah, Ayah 7 ). Knowledge is a cause for a slave status with Allah to be raised. In another verse, Allah informs us that nobody truly fears him except the ones who have knowledge. The Messenger also said: “If Allah wants good for someone he gives him understanding of the religion.” ( recorded by Bukhary al Muslim ). Ones seeking and gaining religious knowledge is a sign that Allah wants good for us. Then we must try our best to take this road, the road to knowledge. When we do this, we must be sure that our goal is to earn Allah’s pleasure and Love. It is not permissible to perform the righteous acts in order to be seen of men. No, this is a form of idolatry. Our only good is Allah and all of our worship is for Him alone. The Prophet (SAS) stated man will brought before the creation on the last day, a scholar as he will be thrown into Hell because he learned so that the people would say he was knowledgeable. We do not want to fall into this dangerous trap of the devil. Let us be someone to our Lord!