Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Introduction
Friends beloved by Allah, have you ever felt inferior while learning? Seeing others understand after reading something once, while you have to read it back and forth ten times just to grasp it. Or when studying Arabic and reading classical texts, your tongue feels stiff and your mind slow to respond. Internal barriers in the form of basic ability limitations often make us whisper in despair, “Ah, I’m just dumb. This knowledge isn’t for me.” Psychologically, every human has a different imprint of intelligence and learning speed. But spiritually, Allah SWT never judges His servants by the finish line, but by how much sweat and tears are shed along the process. Basic limitations are not a sign that Allah has closed the door of knowledge; rather, they are Allah’s way of multiplying our reward through greater struggle. Let us cool our souls with Allah’s promise in the Qur’an:
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ 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)
For those of us who stammer through a text or are slow to understand, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gives a warm embrace through his comforting words:
الْمَاهِرُ بِالْقُرْآنِ مَعَ السَّفَرَةِ الْكِرَامِ الْبَرَةِ، وَالَّذِي يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَيَتَعْتَعُ فِيهِ، وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِ شَاقٌّ، لَهُ أَجْرَانِ
“The one who is skilled in reciting the Qur’an will be with the noble, dutiful scribes. And the one who recites the Qur’an and stammers through it, finding it difficult, will have two rewards.” (HR. Muslim)
2. Lessons and Message
Intelligence is a gift, but perseverance is a choice. Before Allah, the perseverance of someone with limited ability is far nobler than the intelligence of a smart person who is lazy and arrogant. Knowledge is acquired through learning (ta‘allum), not inherited talent.
Let us remember the story of Ibn Ḥajar al-‘Asqalānī in his youth. He went to a madrasah, but his mind felt dull. He struggled to memorize lessons and fell far behind his classmates. Feeling hopeless and ashamed, he decided to return to his hometown and quit school. On the way, heavy rain fell, and he took shelter in a quiet cave. Crying as he lamented what he saw as his stupidity, his gaze fell on a single drop of water falling onto a large black stone. Drop after drop fell on the same spot, and astonishingly, the hard stone had become perforated! Ibn Ḥajar was shaken. He wept and said, “My heart is not harder than this stone, and knowledge is not softer than this water. If I am consistent, I surely can!” He returned to the madrasah and studied tirelessly, until history recorded him as _Amīr al-Mu’minīn fī al-Ḥadīth_—the Leader of the Believers in the Science of Hadith. The process of seeking knowledge with limited basic ability is like cutting down a large tree with a blunt axe. A smart person is like someone with a sharp axe; two swings and the tree falls. But what about us? Our axe is blunt—reading one page alone takes an hour! But remember, every time we swing that blunt axe at the tree—even if the tree hasn’t fallen—we’re still exercising and breaking a sweat, right? In Allah’s sight, reward is counted per swing! So the person with the “sharp axe” only gets reward for two swings, while we with the “blunt axe” get reward for a hundred swings because we keep swinging back and forth. In fact, we come out ahead—our reward is wholesale!
3. Conclusion and Closing
Brothers and sisters, never curse your basic ability limitations. If you cannot yet read fluently, learn from the letter alif. If you don’t yet understand the language of classical texts, enjoy the process of memorizing vocabulary one by one. Allah does not ask us to become the smartest people on earth; Allah only asks us to be servants who never stop learning. Supplicate with the prayer Allah taught us: “Rabbi zidnī ‘ilmā” — “My Lord, increase me in knowledge.” Be certain that if a hard stone can be pierced by drops of water, how much more so can our minds and hearts when they are continually flooded with the light of knowledge
والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmaullahi Wabarakatuh.
ِAbu Sultan Al-Qadrie
