Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Introduction
Friends whom Allah has blessed, in the Islamic educational tradition, knowledge and adab_—good manners and etiquette—are inseparable. From an educational psychology perspective, _adab is the mental readiness and purity of soul (tazkiyatun nafs) of a student to receive new information. Without adab, a person’s ego will lock the door of their heart against the truth. That is why the scholars of the past would spend decades studying adab before they even began studying the core of a subject.Knowledge is sacred, and it will only reside in a place that is also pure. The highest form of adab is sincerity for Allah and respect for the teacher who serves as the _wasilah_—the means—through which knowledge reaches us.
Allah ﷻ describes how a student, Prophet Musa ﷺ, sought permission with complete humility and courtesy from his teacher, Khidr
عَلَىٰ أَنْ تُعَلِّمَنِ مِمَّا عُلِّمْتَ رُشْدًا ﷺ:قَالَ لَهُ مُوسَىٰ هَلْ أَتَّبِعُكَ
“Musa said to him, ‘May I follow you so that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgement?’” (QS. Al-Kahfi: 66)
When adab is established, Allah will pour the blessing of knowledge into our hearts. Conversely, arrogance will close the path to knowledge itself.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
تَعَلَّمُوا الْعِلْمَ وَتَعَلَّمُوا لِلْعِلْمِ السَّكِينَةَ وَالْوَقَارَ وَتَوَاضَعُوا لِمَنْ تَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُ
“Seek knowledge, and seek for knowledge calmness and dignity, and be humble toward the one from whom you seek knowledge.” (HR. At-Tabarani)
2. Lessons and Message
Brilliance without adab only produces arrogance, while limitation accompanied by adab produces nobility. The value of a seeker of knowledge is reflected in how they treat their books, how they listen to their teacher, and how they respect differences of opinion among fellow seekers.Consider the story of Ibn ‘Abbās RA, the cousin of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and one of the great scholars among the Companions. Despite his noble lineage as part of the Prophet’s family, he was never arrogant. One day, he wanted to learn from Zayd ibn Thābit RA. Ibn ‘Abbās went to Zayd’s house, only to find him taking an afternoon nap.Did Ibn ‘Abbās knock loudly or call out to him? No. He chose to sit in front of Zayd’s house under the scorching desert sun, letting the wind blow dust onto his face, waiting for his teacher to wake up so as not to disturb his rest.When Zayd came out and was startled to see the Prophet’s cousin sitting in the heat at his doorstep, Ibn ‘Abbās gently said, “This is how we have been commanded to treat our scholars.” It is deeply moving. Compare that with the sad portrait we see today: students who dare to shout at their teachers, mock them on social media, or even report them to the police simply for being corrected when they are wrong.Adab in seeking knowledge is like an empty cup placed under a flowing spring. Clear, fresh water—knowledge—will only be held well if the cup is clean and positioned beneath the flow, i.e., if the student is humble before the teacher.If the cup is dirty, with a heart stained by sin, or if it is placed higher than the spring—thinking oneself smarter than the teacher—then the water of knowledge will never enter or remain in it. It will only spill away in vain.
There is a story about a young man who had studied religion for only one semester. When he returned to his village for the holidays, he felt like a great scholar. During congregational prayer at the village mosque, the elderly imam recited a verse using a valid but uncommon _qirā’ah_—a mode of recitation—that the young man had rarely heard.After the prayer, in a condescending tone and loud enough for others to hear, the young man said, “Pak Imam, your recitation just now was wrong and doesn’t match the modern tajwīd I learned in the city!”The old imam smiled and handed him a large mushaf and a book of tafsīr, saying, “Oh really, my son? Please show me on which page the mistake is. My eyes are getting a bit weak.”The young man immediately fumbled, flipping through the book with trembling hands because he didn’t even know where the verse was located. Finally, he whispered, “Uh, Uncle, I think that chapter’s page is still back at my boarding room in the city.”The lesson: Don’t let it be that after studying just a page or two of knowledge, we lose our adab and feel entitled to judge people who have spent decades keeping knowledge alive long before we were born. Adab teaches us to know ourselves and to know our place.
3. Conclusion and Closing
Friends, adab is the adornment of the knowledgeable person. Without adab, abundant knowledge will only become a boomerang that harms oneself and those around us. Before we busy ourselves with increasing memorization and insight, let us first busy ourselves with refining the adab within our hearts. Honor your teachers, ennoble the gatherings of knowledge, and guard the purity of your heart so that the divine light will be willing to visit and remain as a guide for your life.May Allah ﷻ always adorn us with noble character, and grant us knowledge that is blessed and beneficial in this world and the Hereafter
والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmaullahi Wabarakatuh.
ِAbu Sultan Al-Qadrie
