In other words...

In other words, he has believed in the primacy of the world and not that of religion. This thought is a result of lack of faith in the basic principles and values of religion and has no end save being driven away from Allah, as the Prophet states: “A person whose knowledge and awareness have been increased but [he] has not become detached from the world has in fact got very far from Allah.”[^3] The Consequences Of Acquiring Knowledge For The Sake Of Deceiving Others “O Abu Dharr!

A person who acquires knowledge for the sake of deceiving people will not smell the sweet scent of paradise.” Some people not only embark upon acquiring knowledge for the sake of attaining fame and position but worse than that, they get education in order to deceive and mislead people.

Up to this section of the hadith , mention has been made about the importance of harmonizing our actions in accord with our knowledge and purifying the intention: that man ought to conceive of what intention he has when he embarks upon the acquisition of knowledge and should not let evil intentions appear in his heart.

He ought not to set out gathering knowledge for the sake of titles such as ‘Hujjat al-Islam’, ‘Ayatullah’, ‘Philosopher’ [ filsuf ] and ‘Interpreter of the Qur’an’ [ mufassir ] and attracting the people’s respect [and attention]. Maybe people who take the trouble of getting education for the sake of attaining fame imagine that every person who is more popular among the people is more beloved by Allah too. This illusion is vain and void.

Has every one who is popular among the people discharged his responsibilities in order for him to be beloved by Allah and [thus] attain prosperity? Even if he is very popular among the people, he is still the most ashamed and disgraced of all people in the sight of Allah because the criteria of man’s works are knowledge, action and piety. The standard of judgment is that man ought to be beloved by Allah, not by the people.

Admitting Ignorance is a Quality of the Divine Scholars In a hadith , the Prophet (S) states: “Every person who learns divine knowledge, which is supposed to be learnt only for [the good pleasure of] Allah, for attaining worldly goals and position will not smell the sweet scent of paradise on the Day of Resurrection.”[^4] “O Abu Dharr!