Sitting at the feet of Scholars
The great legal compilation of the Imam Mâlik (b. ca. 91/710, d. 179/795) takes us back into the eighth century. The Muwatta contains a chapter on “the search after knowledge,” which occurs within the context of other moral prescriptions. It consists of only one tradition, or rather, wisdom saying, going back to Imam Malik himself, which quotes the pre-Islamic sage from the Qur’an, Luqman (AS), as exhorting his son in these words:
“Son, sit at the feet of the scholars and close to them, for God gives life to the hearts through the light of wisdom, like as He gives life to the dead soil through rain from heaven.”
حدثني عن مالك أنه بلغه أن لقمان الحكيم أوصى ابنه فقال: “يا بني جالس العلماء، وزاحمهم بركبتيك، فإن الله يحيي القلوب بنور الحكمة، كما يحيي الله الأرض الميتة بوابل السماء”.
We ask Allah to bless and protect our scholars.
Dr Haroon Sidat.
