Knowledge and the Straight pathMubashir HassanReligious knowledge is a great blessing and it is a great favour of Allah if apersonisbestowedwithknowledgeandthattoowithin-depthandprofoundunderstanding. Such type of people are assets for the whole body of ummah andeverybody can benefit from their knowledge, understanding and interpretativepower. Prophet Mohammad SAhas said!hen Allah wishes good forsomeone, "ebestowsuponhimtheunderstandingof#een.!$Agreedupon%."owever, knowledge is not and should not be regarded as an end in itself but itis a means to an end & it is a torch to help us traverse the road to salvation, to'annah. knowledge the sole thing which is re(uired from us but it is )ust a torchto help us tread our way safely. *eing bestowed with religious knowledge is noassurance that youwouldtreadonthe straight pathandplease your lord.#espiteknowledgeonemayget lost onthewayandtreadacrookedpathinstead of the straight one $Sirat ul Musta(eem%, because one may beoverwhelmedbytheSatanorworldlydesires. "emay,besidesgoingastrayhimself, leadotherstoperditiontoo. +herearesomanye,ampleswhereanAalim, after having a clear road before him, fell to his temptations and followedup his own desires and abandoned the commands of Allah.-n the .uran Allahnarrates various incidents so as to open our eyes to various dangers that we mayencounter whilegoingalongour way. /nesuchincident isabout apersonwhom Allahhadgivenknowledge but he disregarded that knowledgeforhisworldly benefit and as such fell from the grace and is compared to a dog. 0Relate to them the story of the man to whom e sent our signs but he passedthem by1 so Satan followed him up and he went astray. -f it had been /ur wille should have elevated him with our signs2 but he inclined to the earth andfollowed his own vain desires. "is similitude is that of a dog1 if you attack himhe lolls out his tongue or if you leave him alone he $still% lolls out his tongue.+hat is the similitude of those who re)ect our signs2 so relate the story2perchance they may reflect.3 $Al .uran 41 546-544%+hecommentatorshaveidentifiedvariouspersonswiththeincident andthemost common identification is with *el7am ibn *a7ura. -t is related that he wasapiousreligiousscholarbut lateronhefell totemptationsandmisusedhisknowledge, so fell from the grace.-t is of not much significance as to who thatpersonwas. +he messageis general. +he significance lies inthelessonitteaches. +he person in (uestion is having the knowledge of revelation and it iseasy for him to e,alt himself by following the straight path, instead he abandonsthat path and in words of Syed .utb, gives up the 0protective cover3 and letsSatan assail him and to drag him down to mud. -f an individual loses the way it is an individual matter and the effects arelimited. +hematter mayturnout tobemoredangerousandleadtomanyramificationsincaseofan Aalimwhohasgreat fameandfollowingamongpeople. -n today7s world, which is characteri8ed by communication revolutionandtheservicesofmediaareavailabletosuch Aalimthedangersaremoreprofound and the effects may be long lasting.+he "adith re)ecters were having the knowledge of #een and they appeared tobe sincere in their dealings. +hey too would appear as talking reason and that isthe reason they were followed. *ut these were the people who had lost the wayand had their own a,e to grind. +he impact of "adith re)ecters has weakened,but there are people who are misinterpreting #een for their own selfishpurposes.+here have always been people who were associated with kings andwould not lose any opportunity to gain the pleasure of the king and the peoplelike -mam Ahmad *in "anbal were scarce who stood against the authority touphold the true message of -slam. Simultaneously, there were so called ulemawho stood on the side of the Mamoon Rashid to gain his blessings and to en)oyvarious benefits, perks and closeness of the 9halifa$:%. "ad not imam Ahmad-bn "anbal defied that authority what would have been the result: "ow manynobleMuslimswouldhavelost theway:Suche,amplesaretobefoundinevery epoch.-n today7s world there is no dearth of such Aalims and they have largenumber of promoters and helpers. hen an Alim stoops to earth it takes variousforms and which may be dangerous at the times. +his is not a single incident,therearesomanye,amplesinourownsociety,wheretheconvictionswerecompromised for such petty considerations, throwing away all responsibilities.Such a person, donned in religious attire, may misinterpret religion, may derivealien concepts from the self evident simple religious in)unctions. "e might bepromoting some hidden cause which is (uite contradictory to the spirit of -slamitself. ;or instances, we are not oblivious to the fact that some of them havetried to prove obodycanclaim tohaveunderstood thetraditions ina betterway than theSahaba. "ow can we ignore their opinions without endangering our own faith.-f we find anybody going against the Salf in the matters of a(aed or in ahkaam,caution should be observed. +hese so called scholars have got deviated themselves and have misled others.-n today7s world of ours the apprehensions of losing the straight path are more.e should search for those ulema who are themselves on the right path and areinvitingotherstoit tooandnot thosewhogot deviatedthemselvesandareinvitingothertoperditiontoo. eshouldunderstandtheimport ofthe#uawhich our beloved Prophet SA used to make 00/ Allah, make 0truth3 appearto us as the truth and grant us its following, and make 0falsehood3 appear to usas falsehood and grant us its abstinence $prevention%.3?et me conclude with an advice of "adhrat Mu)addid Alfi-+hani $SayedAhmedSirhindi%$Rahmatullahalayh%wroteinoneofhisletterswhichwaswritten to Montana Amanullah ;a(eeh1!@. it isalsonecessarytoadheretothosemeaningsof the.uranandthe"adithwhichthe Alemahaveunderstood from the*ookand -he Sunnat@.-t is a fact that every perverted one wished to prove the correctness of his viewsfrom the .urBaan and "adeeth alone.!"e misleads many thereby and guides many thereby.3 C-- v DE%Andthis fact, that themeaningsunderstoodbytheselearnedmenaloneiscorrect, is because they have understood these meanings from the sayings of theSahaabah and the +ahiBeen, $May Allah he pleased with them all%. +hey havederived them from Clie ?ight of the Stars of Fuidance. "ence, eternal salvationand everlasting well-being is their lot and their destiny.0?o, they are Allah7s party. Gerily Allah7s party is successful ones.3 C?G --- vDDH@@@. 0*ut for the light emanating from them we would not have been guidedaright, and but for their discriminating between right and wrong we would havegone astray. +hey are the people who spent their efforts in elevating the firm#eenandguidemanytothestraight path. hosoeverfollowsthemwill besuccessful and reach salvation and whosoever opposed them is astray, leadingothers astray!. CGol. 5 chapter 6, Maktob Page DIEH