Thirst for Learning

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) says:

“After the passing away of the Prophet (peace be upon him), I said to an Ansari friend of mine: ‘The Prophet is not now with us. But a large number of Sahabah are still among us. Let us go to them and get knowledge of the Islamic practices.’ He said: ‘Who is going to approach you for learning a regulation in the presence of these eminent Sahabah?’ I was not discouraged. I kept up my quest for knowledge and approached every person who was supposed to have heard something from the Prophet. I managed to gather substantial information from the Ansar. If on my visit to someone of the Sahabah, I found him asleep, I spread my shawl at the gate and sat waiting. Sometimes my face and body would get covered with dust, but I kept sitting till they woke and I was able to contact them. Some of them said: ‘Abdullah you are the cousin of the Prophet; you could have sent for us. Why did you take the trouble of coming to our places?’ I said to them: ‘I must come to you, for I am a student and you are my teachers.’ Some people for whom I had waited said: ‘Since when have you been waiting for us?’ I informed them that I had been sitting there for a pretty long time. They said: ‘What a pity! You could have awakened us from our sleep.’ I said: ‘I did not like to disturb you for my own sake.’ I thus carried on my pursuits, till there came a time when people began to flock to me for learning. My Ansari friend realized this at that time and remarked: ‘This boy has surely proved himself more sensible than us.’”

Source: From the book “Stories of the Sahabah” by Shaikh Muhammad Zakariyya Kaandhlawi.

Besides our quest for knowledge to earn a livelihood in this world, we must as well gain sufficient knowledge of Islam. No matter what age group we belong to at this moment, we should atleast have that much Islamic knowledge with which we can turn our 24 hours life into worship. Those with knowledge and practice will be exalted in this world and in the hereafter.