Good understanding of religion and its virtue

All praise be to Allah and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone who has no partner and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.

There are many texts in the Qur'an and the Sunnah urge a Muslim to understand the matters of his religion well. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "And it is not (proper) for the believers to go out to fight (Jihâd) all together. Of every troop of them, a party only should go forth, that they (who are left behind) may get instructions in (Islâmic) religion, and that they may warn their people when they return to them, so that they may beware (of evil)." [Surat At-Tawbah: 122].

Imam Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their books of authentic Hadiths on the authority of Mu`awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "If Allah wants to do good to a person, He makes him comprehend the religion." [1].

Some scholars said: Whoever does not understand the religion well, Allah does not like him.

Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their books of authentic Hadiths from the Hadith of Abu Musa Al Ash`ary (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The example of guidance and knowledge with which Allah has sent me is like abundant rain falling on the earth: Some of which was fertile soil that absorbed rain water and brought forth vegetation and grass in abundance. (And) another portion of it was hard and held the rain water and Allah benefited the people with it and they utilized it for drinking, making their animals drink from it and for irrigation of the land for cultivation. (And) a portion of it was barren which could neither hold the water nor bring forth vegetation (then that land gave no benefits). The first is the example of the person who comprehends Allah's religion and gets benefit (from the knowledge) which Allah has revealed through me (the Prophet) and learns and then teaches others. The last example is that of a person who does not care for it and does not take Allah's Guidance revealed through me (He is like that barren land.)"[2]

Scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) said: Understanding the religion means to understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the definition of a Faqih according to the Pious Predecessors was those who understand both of them.[3]

It was reported in Sahih Al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim from the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Those who were best in the Pre-lslamic Period, are the best in Islam, if they comprehend (the religious knowledge)." [4]

Of the good understanding of religion is to reach the great reward with little effort or in other words: Knowing the way of getting great reward. Of these examples is the Hadith which Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their books of authentic Hadiths from the Hadith of Maymunah bint Al Harith who told him that she manumitted a slave-girl without taking the permission of the Prophet (peace be upon him). On the day when it was her turn to be with the Prophet (peace be upon him), she said: Do you know, O Allah's Messenger, that I have manumitted my slave-girl? He said: Have you really? She replied in the affirmative. He said: You would have got more reward if you had given her (i.e. the slave-girl) to one of your maternal uncles.[5]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) explained to Maymunah, the Mother of the believers, that emancipation has a great reward but the bigger reward is to give that slave girl to her maternal uncles to serve them; this contains maintaining good relationships with one's kinship.

Imam Muslim reported in his Sahih from the Hadith of Ibn `Abbas that the Prophet (peace be upon him) came out from my apartment in the morning as I was busy in performing the dawn prayer. He came back in the forenoon and found me sitting there. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Are you still in the same position as I left you.'' I replied in the affirmative. Thereupon the Prophet said: "I recited four words three times after I had left you. If these are to be weighed against all you have recited since morning, these will be heavier. These are: Subhan-Allahi wa bihamdihi, `adada khalqihi, wa rida nafsihi, wa zinatah `arshihi, wa midada kalimatihi [Allah is free from imperfection and I begin with His praise, as many times as the number of His creatures, in accordance with His Good Pleasure, equal to the weight of His Throne and equal to the ink that may be used in recording the words (for His Praise)]."[6]

This Hadith shows that the Mother of the believers, Juwayriyah (may Allah be pleased with her), used to mention Allah in Subh Salah until the time of Duha [forenoon] which is a long time, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) informed her that few words which do not exceed few minutes may contain greater reward than the reward she received in that long time.

Of these examples also the Hadith which Abu Dawud reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of Abu Sa`id Al Khudry (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "Two persons set out on a journey. Meanwhile the time of prayer came and they had no water. They performed tayammum with clean earth and prayed. Later on they found water within the time of the prayer. One of them repeated the prayer and ablution but the other did not repeat. Then they came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and related the matter to him. Addressing himself to the one who did not repeat, he said: You followed the Sunnah (model behavior of the Prophet) and your (first) prayer was enough for you. He said to the one who performed ablution and repeated: For you there is the double reward."[7]

The important point is that the person who repeated ablution and Salah did more work than his friend who did not repeat Salah and only prayed once, however he received more reward as he did it according to the Sunnah.

Ibn Al Qayyim (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) mentioned that one of the entries of Satan is to busy a Muslim with things that have less reward rather than things that contain great reward.

Of the good understanding of religion is to advance things which have greater reward to things of lesser reward such as two righteous actions.

Of the good understanding of religion is to advance things that must be done immediately to things that may be delayed such as repeating the Adhan when hearing it and stopping the recitation of the Qur'an because the time of Adhan ends rapidly, whereas reciting the Qur'an may be done in other times.

For example, advancing things which have benefits to people to things which have benefits to oneself such as teaching knowledge and advancing it to the acts of worship. It was reported in the Hadith: "The superiority of the learned over the devout worshipper like my superiority over the most inferior amongst you (in good deeds)."[8] And the Prophet's saying: "The merit of knowledge is dearer to me than the merit of the acts of worship."[9]

Part of good understanding of religion is to advance essential matters to secondary matters such as delivering knowledge is advanced to the supererogatory Salah and fasting.

Part of good understanding of religion is advancing things which one's soul desires such as breaking the fast on the Day of `Arafah for a pilgrim to the virtue of fasting on that Day.

Part of good understanding of religion is choosing the right time. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "If you disclose your Sadaqât (alms-giving), it is well; but if you conceal them, and give them to the poor, that is better for you." [Surat Al Baqarah: 271].

Scholars said: Giving in charity secretly is better than giving it publically, but if giving it publically contains a benefit to others, it will be better.

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds [i.e., people], and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions.