Adab and Knowledge

Adab without knowledge and knowledge without Adab- both are detrimental for mominin.

Ibn Al-Mubarak rh.a said, “Mukhlid Ibn al-Husayn once said to me,

'‘We are more in need of acquiring adab than learning Hadith’'.

This highlights that knowledge and adab both are essential for us.

Imam Zakariya al-Anbari rh.a said:

'‘Knowledge without Adab is like fire without wood, and Adab without knowledge is like a spirit without a body’'.

What use is knowledge to a Muslim, without the practical mannerisms and etiquettes that really define us as Muslims?

The mother of Imam Malik rh.a would place an imama on his head and send him to his teacher Rabi'ah ibn Abdurrahman (nicknamed: Rabi’ah Ar-Rai’) to learn first from his manners, his adab and then his knowledge.

''Indeed the deen of Islam is itself manners, where anyone that surpasses you in manners, is better than you in deen''
(Ibn al-Qayyim).

Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه narrated, that the Prophet (saw)

said:

“I have not been sent as a Messenger, except to perfect character (Akhlaaq)”

He also said that:

“The nearest of you to me on the Day of Judgement will be the one who is best in character.”
(Bukhari)

All the books of Hadith have chapters on Adab. For example:

1.Muwatta’, Imam Malik:The book of good behaviour
2.Sahih al-Bukhari:The book of manners
3.Sahih Muslim:The book of dutifulness, ties of kinship and manners.
4.Sunan Abi Dawud:The book of manners
5.Sunan at Tirmidhi:The book of manners, and the book of dutifulness and ties of kinship.
6.Sunan Ibn Majah:Chapters on Manners.
The book Al Adab Al Mufrad was separated by Imam Bukhari rh.a because he was aware of its great importance in everyday living.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells us in the Quran that in His manners and style, the Prophet (saw)

was a perfect example:

“Truly, you have the best of manners”
(Quran Al Qalam: verse 4)

It has been narrated by many Ulema that if parents give any inheritance, there is no greater inheritance than adab.

Al-Walid ibn Numayr rh.a said that he heard his father saying:

“They used to say, ‘Righteousness is (a gift) from Allah سبحانه وتعالى, but adab (right conduct) is from the parents”.

In this sense however, adab holds such importance that the actions of a believer are rendered null and void if they lack manners. In pointing out the status of adab in comparison to actions,

Imam al-Qarafi rh.a said:
“You should know that a little of good manners is better than a lot of good actions”.

Ruwaym rh.a the righteous scholar told his son;

“Oh my son, make your deeds salt and your manners flour. So much like the “perfect dough”, many good manners with a few good deeds are better by far than many good deeds with a few good manners''

Imam Malik bin Anas rh.a (b. 93 AH, d. 179 AH) was one of the greatest Islamic scholars of all times. Among his 1300 disciples were people from all walks of life; rulers, judges, historians, Sufis, poets, and scholars of Qur'an, Hadith, and Fiqh. The Khalifah attended his class as an ordinary student along with others.
In the best traditions of this Ummah Imam Malik rh.a considered his knowledge as a trust. When he knew something to be right or wrong, no intimidation could stop him from declaring so. It was his fatwa that divorce given under compulsion is invalid, that earned him the wrath of the ruler (as it implied that pledge of allegiance given under compulsion was also invalid). He was punished with lashes and at every strike he said, "I am Malik bin Anas and I declare that divorce given under compulsion is invalid."
Yet it was the same Imam Malik rh.a who was more likely to say "la adree" (I don't know) or "la ahsin" (I don't know it very well) in response to the constant flow of queries directed toward him. Once a person approached him and told him that he had come from Marrakesh --- after a six month journey --- only to ask a question. "My people back home are waiting for your answer," he said. After hearing the question Imam Malik replied, "Please tell your people that I do not know the answer to your question." In one case he was asked forty-eight questions and in response to thirty-two of them he said, "I don't know." It was commonly said that if somebody wrote down Imam Malik's answers to questions, he could easily fill pages with "I don't know" before writing a real answer.
The reason for this extraordinary care was nothing but a deep sense of accountability before Allah. It was the caution of a person who was standing between Hell and Heaven, fearful that one wrong step could lead him to the former. "Before you answer a question about religious law, visualize that you are standing at the gates of Hell and Heaven," he used to advise others.
Of course, he was not alone. Ibn Jareej used to attend the majlis (sitting) of Abdullah ibn Umar, Radi-Allahu anhuma. "In answer to more than half the questions he used to say I don't know." Ibn Abi Layla saw 120 Sahaba (companions). "Whenever one of them was asked a question he wished that someone else would answer it."
Nor was this caution restricted to Fiqh (Islamic Law). In interpreting the Qur'an or the Hadith, they exercised same care. Imam Muslim whose Sahih Muslim is unanimously considered second of the two most authentic collections of Hadith, had set for himself only the task of Hadith collection leaving the job of interpreting them to others. He was so concerned about this that he did not even divide the book into chapters for such classification would amount to interpretation .............

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Adab and Knowledge

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