Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Introduction
Friends whom Allah has blessed, in modern motivation theory, a major movement or change in society only occurs when there is strong intrinsic motivation and realistic, actionable steps. Islam from the very beginning has not only commanded its followers to move, but also promised that every step taken to seek knowledge is counted as striving in the path of Allah (jihad fī sabīlillāh).Psychologically, when a person has a great life vision for their religion, laziness naturally wears away. To motivate the ummah to rise from passivity,
Allah ﷻ gives a beautiful promise in the Qur’an: َ
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّه لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
“And those who strive for Us—We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.” (QS. Al-‘Ankabūt: 69)
To clarify this motivation, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave an extraordinarily high spiritual rank to anyone willing to step out of their comfort zone for the sake of knowledge:
مَنْ خَرَجَ فِي طَلَبِ الْعِلْمِ كَانَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ حَتَّى يَرْجِعَ
“Whoever goes out to seek knowledge is in the path of Allah until he returns.” (HR. Tirmidhī)
2. Lessons and Message
The main moral message of this talk is: stop complaining and start taking your role. The solution to the ummah’s backwardness today is not to blame each other on social media, but to rebuild a culture of learning in our homes. Our greatest motivation should be to save future generations from ignorance of religious knowledge and from falling behind in worldly knowledge.Look at the struggle of a remarkable mother in the 3rd century Hijri. She was the mother of Imām Al-Bukhārī. A poor widow, she raised her son as an orphan who had been blind since childhood. Amid financial hardship and her son’s physical limitation, she never gave up. She wept and begged for his healing in the last third of the night, cooked whatever little food she had, and faithfully led little blind Bukhārī by the hand to gatherings of knowledge.Because of the strength of his mother’s motivation, Allah restored Al-Bukhārī’s sight, and he grew to become the greatest hadith scholar in world history. What is sad today is that many parents have complete facilities, financial stability, and physically healthy children, yet they are prouder to equip their children with expensive gadgets to play games all day than to motivate them to sit in gatherings of knowledge or memorize the Qur’an. We have lost the “spirit” of Imām Bukhārī’s mother in this age of ease.Motivating the ummah to be active in seeking knowledge is like restarting the engine of a great ship being tossed in a storm. For a long time, the engine has been dead because we were too lazy to fuel it with knowledge. As a result, our ship is dictated by the winds and waves of other civilizations.The solution is not to jump off the ship, but for each of us to take whatever role we can—whether as a teacher, a student, a provider of facilities, or a financial supporter—to collectively restart the “engine of knowledge” so that the ship of the ummah can sail upright toward glory.
There is a story about a young man complaining in a WhatsApp group: “Ah, I wish I had lived in Imām Shāfi‘ī’s time. I would have become a great scholar. These days it’s so hard to study, there are too many distractions!”
A more critical friend replied, “Come on, don’t act like you know. If you lived in Imām Shāfi‘ī’s time, forget becoming a scholar—just to study one chapter you’d have to walk hundreds of kilometers through the desert without sandals. Now free classes are on Zoom, free books are in PDF, and you’re just lying around commenting ‘send me a link for a trusted slot site.’”The lesson: The problem isn’t the era, it’s our mentality and intention. A practical solution to be active in learning in this digital age is simple: cut at least 30 minutes a day of unbeneficial screen time, and redirect that time to reading a book or listening to a scholarly lecture. Don’t wait for motivation to come from the sky—force yourself to start with the smallest thing and be consistent.
3. Conclusion and Closing
Friends, an active pursuit of knowledge is the lifeblood of the Muslim ummah. The solution to all our regression today begins with our own steps toward the study desk. Don’t let the rest of your life be spent only as a spectator of history; be a maker of history who illuminates the world with the light of knowledge you possess. Make every day a new classroom to improve yourself in seeking His pleasure.May Allah ﷻ ignite a burning spirit in our hearts to become an active, resilient, learning ummah that brings benefit to all of creation.
والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmaullahi Wabarakatuh.
ِAbu Sultan Al-Qadrie
