Loh E Qurani

Scholars are considered to be like angels (3:18), in view of their potential for discovering the oneness and the glory of the Creator. To inculcate this importance of knowledge in the minds of the believers, the Prophet once observed that “the worship of a learned man is a thousand times better than that of the ignorant worshipper.” By way of encouraging reflection on the universe and nature in order to explore divine glories, the Prophet is reported to have said: “An hour of reflection is better than a hundred years of worship without reflection.” (Al-Bayhaqi).

According to Islamic ideology, a Muslim is supposed on the one hand, to seek knowledge for the pleasure of his Lord and for on the other. The better promotion of the welfare of humankind. In other words, the motto of education in Islam would be acquisition of knowledge for the sake of serving God and His creatures. That is why from the very beginning almost equal attention has been paid to the learning of both the religious sciences and the worldly or secular sciences.

On the one hand, Islam places great emphasis on learning, and on the other, all those factors which are necessary to make progress in learning have been provided by God. One of these special factors is the freedom to conduct research.

For example, once the Prophet passed by an oasis where he found the farmers, who were date planters at work. When he asked what they were doing, he was told that they were pollinating the clusters of dates in order to produce a better yield. The Prophet expressed his disapproval of this process. Knowing this, the farmers immediately stopped it. But later on the Prophet was told that due to lack of proper pollination the yield had been very low as compared to the previous years. On hearing this, the Prophet replied. “You know your worldly matters better.” (Sahih Bukhari) In other words, experiment and observation should be the final criteria in such worldly matters.