…the believer who is a worshipper, by seventy degrees."1 (This ends the hadith begun on V1 p6 ¶3c. The hadith: our translation of Ghazali's wording, here and to the end of ¶1.)
وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم إنكم أصبحتم في زمن كثير فقهاؤه قليل قراؤه وخطباؤه قليل سائلوه كثير معطوه العمل فيه خير من العلم وسيأتي على الناس زمان قليل فقهاؤه كثير خطباؤه قليل معطوه كثير سائلوه العلم فيه خير من العمل 2
And he ﷺ said: "You have come into a time whose people of understanding (fuqahāʾ) are many and whose reciters and preachers are few, whose askers are few and whose givers are many; in it, action is better than knowledge. And there will come upon people a time whose people of understanding are few and whose preachers are many, whose givers are few and whose askers are many; in it, knowledge is better than action."2
وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم بين العالم والعابد مائة درجة بين كل درجتين حضر الجواد المضمر سبعين سنة 3
And he ﷺ said: "Between the scholar and the worshipper are a hundred degrees; between every two degrees is the gallop of a trained racehorse (al-jawād al-muḍammar) for seventy years."3
وقيل يا رسول الله أي الأعمال أفضل فقال العلم بالله عز وجل فقيل أي العلم تريد قال صلى الله عليه وسلم العلم بالله سبحانه فقيل له نسأل عن العمل وتجيب عن العلم فقال صلى الله عليه وسلم إن قليل العمل ينفع مع العلم بالله وإن كثير العمل لا ينفع مع الجهل بالله 4
And it was said: "O Messenger of Allah, which deeds are best?" He said: "Knowledge of Allah, Mighty and Majestic." It was said: "Which knowledge do you mean?" He ﷺ said: "Knowledge of Allah, glorified is He." It was said to him: "We ask about action, and you answer about knowledge!" He ﷺ said: "A little action benefits along with knowledge of Allah, and much action does not benefit along with ignorance (jahl) of Allah."4
وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم يبعث الله سبحانه العباد يوم القيامة ثم يبعث العلماء ثم يقول يا معشر العلماء إني لم أضع علمي فيكم إلا لعلمي بكم ولم أضع علمي فيكم لأعذبكم اذهبوا فقد غفرت لكم 5 نسأل الله حسن الخاتمة
And he ﷺ said: "Allah, glorified is He, will raise the servants on the Day of Resurrection, then raise the scholars, then say: O company of scholars, I did not place My knowledge in you except because of My knowledge of you, and I did not place My knowledge in you to punish you. Go, for I have forgiven you."5 We ask Allah for a good end (ḥusn al-khātima).
وأما الآثار فقد قال علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه لكميل يا كميل العلم خير من المال العلم يحرسك وأنت تحرس المال والعلم حاكم والمال محكوم عليه والمال تنقصه النفقة والعلم يزكو بالإنفاق
As for the reports (al-āthār): ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (RA) said to Kumayl: "O Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth (al-māl). Knowledge guards you, and you guard wealth. Knowledge is a judge, and wealth is judged over. Wealth is decreased by spending, and knowledge grows by giving it out."
وقال علي أيضا رضي الله عنه العالم أفضل من الصائم القائم المجاهد وإذا مات العالم ثلم في الإسلام ثلمة لا يسدها إلا خلف منه وقال رضي الله عنه نظما
And ʿAlī (RA) also said: "The scholar is more excellent than the one who fasts, stands in prayer and fights in Allah's way. And when the scholar dies, a breach is made in Islam that nothing closes except a successor from him." And he (RA) said, in verse:
ما الفخر إلا لأهل العلم إنهم على الهدى لمن استهدى أدلاء
Glory belongs only to the people of knowledge: / for whoever seeks guidance, they are the guides to right guidance.
وقدر كل امرىء ما كان يحسنه والجاهلون لأهل العلم أعداء
The worth of every man is what he does well, / and the ignorant (al-jāhilūn) are enemies to the people of knowledge.
وقال أبو الأسود ليس شيء أعز من العلم الملوك حكام على الناس والعلماء حكام على الملوك
And Abū al-Aswad said: "Nothing is mightier than knowledge: kings are rulers over people, and scholars are rulers over kings."
وقال ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما خير سليمان بن داود عليهما السلام بين العلم والمال والملك فاختار العلم فأعطي المال والملك معه
And Ibn ʿAbbās (RA) said: "Sulaymān son of Dāwūd, upon them both be peace, was given the choice between knowledge, wealth and kingship. He chose knowledge, and was given wealth and kingship with it."
وسئل ابن المبارك من الناس فقال العلماء قيل فمن الملوك قال الزهاد قيل فمن السفلة قال الذين يأكلون الدنيا بالدين
And Ibn al-Mubārak was asked: "Who are the people?" He said: "The scholars." It was said: "Then who are the kings?" He said: "The renouncers (al-zuhhād)." It was said: "Then who are the base (al-sifla)?" He said: "Those who eat the world by means of the religion."
ولم يجعل غير العالم من الناس لأن الخاصية التي يتميز بها الناس عن سائر البهائم هو العلم فالإنسان إنسان بما هو شريف لأجله وليس ذلك بقوة شخصه فإن الجمل أقوى منه ولا بعظمه فإن الفيل أعظم منه ولا بشجاعته فإن السبع أشجع منه ولا بأكله فإن الثور أوسع بطنا منه ولا ليجامع فإن أخس العصافير أقوى على السفاد منه بل لم يخلق إلا للعلم
And he did not count anyone but the scholar among the people, because the special quality by which people are set apart from all other beasts is knowledge. A human being is human by that for the sake of which he is noble; and that is not by the strength of his person, for the camel is stronger than he is; nor by his size, for the elephant is bigger than he is; nor by his courage, for the beast of prey is braver than he is; nor by his eating, for the ox has a wider belly than he has; nor in order to mate, for the meanest of sparrows is stronger at mating than he is. Rather, he was created only for knowledge.
وقال عليه الصلاة والسلام من أوتي القرآن فرأى أن أحدا أوتي خيرا منه فقد حقر ما عظم الله تعالى
And he, upon him be blessing and peace, said: "Whoever has been given the Quran and then thinks that anyone has been given something better than it has made small what Allah, Exalted is He, made great." (Our translation of Ghazali's wording.)
وقال فتح الموصلي رحمه الله أليس المريض إذا منع الطعام والشراب والدواء يموت قالوا بلى قال كذلك القلب إذا منع عنه الحكمة والعلم ثلاثة أيام يموت
And Fatḥ al-Mawṣilī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Does not the sick man die, if he is kept from food, drink and medicine?" They said: "Yes." He said: "So too the heart: if wisdom (al-ḥikma) and knowledge are kept from it for three days, it dies."
ولقد صدق فإن غذاء القلب العلم والحكمة وبهما حياته كما أن غذاء الجسد الطعام ومن فقد العلم فقلبه مريض وموته لازم ولكنه لا يشعر به إذ حب الدنيا
And he spoke the truth: for the food of the heart is knowledge and wisdom, and by them is its life, just as the food of the body is food. Whoever has lost knowledge, his heart is sick and its death is certain, but he does not feel it, since love of the world… (The sentence ends at the top of the next page.)