All praise is truly Allah's. We praise Him, seek His help and ask His forgiveness. We take refuge in Allah from the evils of our selves and from the wrongs of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, none can lead him astray. And whomever He leads astray, there is none to guide him. I testify that there is no one worthy of worship but Allah alone, without any partner to Him. And I testify that Muḥammad is His slave and messenger. May Allah's prayers and peace be upon our master Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions.
To proceed:
Dear brothers and sisters! Our religion teaches us that the most important of all knowledge is learning that which is obligatory upon every single Muslim to learn (farḍ ‘ayn), such as having a sound belief about Allah and His Messenger, as well as matters without which a Muslim cannot fulfil his obligatory actions such as wuḍū’ and ṣalāh. As such, learning these must be prioritised over anything else. However, you have people who have their priorities in the wrong order. You have some who are really smart and educated when it comes to the knowledge of the dunyā, but when it comes to religious knowledge they still don't know some of the ABCs. This is concerning. Yes, they may pass all their tests and exams, but what's the point when you've got no clue about what you need to know to pass the ultimate test – the test of this dunyā?
I'll give you a few examples. The first one is istinjā’. After using the toilet, it is very important that you clean yourself with water, such that you clean all the najāsah (filth) from yourself and so that you don't get any najāsah on your clothes. And if water is unavailable, then you still need to clean yourself, but with a dry material like toilet paper. Because: 1) it is sinful to stain your clothes with najāsah. 2) if you use the toilet, then right away pull your pants up and leave, when you pray later on, your clothes will still have najāsah on them. And you know that you can't pray with najāsah on your clothes or body. So for people who don't do istinjā’ after using the toilet, what do you think this means for all the prayers they've prayed in the past? All of them don't even count! So this is very important – a ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim mentions that there's even a punishment in the grave for the one who doesn't take care to avoid getting splashes of urine on himself. That's why the school has watering cans in the toilets, you know…. So this is a very important matter that every Muslim is obliged to know, yet many are unaware of it.
Another example: in wuḍū’, you're supposed to wash your face, arms and feet. You're not supposed to wipe them. But there are people who only wet their hands and then wipe the area without actually washing it – they don't make the water flow over these areas. And so the wuḍū’ is not valid.
One last example: ṭuma’nīnah (a.k.a. ta‘dīl al-arkān). In the ṣalāh, when performing rukū‘, i‘tidal, the two sujūds and the sitting between the two sujūds, it is obligatory to pause and remain motionless in each of these positions. However, you have many people who, for example, rise from rukū‘, their hands still swaying by their sides, and then they go down to sujūd before their hands even stopped moving. And then you have people who do rukū‘ and sujūd so fast it's as if they're birds pecking on the floor. Not taking care of ṭuma’nīnah can invalidate your ṣalāh. And what did the Prophet ﷺ say about the ṣalāh?
“The first thing that the slave will be brought to account for on the Day of Resurrection is the prayer. If it is good/sound, then the rest of his deeds will be good/sound. And if it is corrupt, then the rest of his deeds will be corrupt.” (Narrated by al-Ṭabarānī)
There are so many more examples, but I hope these ones show you how important it is to prioritise learning your farḍ ‘ayn, i.e. things without which you can't fulfil your obligations before Allah such as ṣalāh. Not learning these things could devastate your outcome in the ākhirah. This is more important than useless things like how to win some time-wasting game, how to do card tricks, how to trick people…. You must prioritise what you learn. Yes, when it comes to beneficial worldly knowledge, go have your share of it. But remember that the success achieved by this worldly knowledge isn't necessarily guaranteed. Whereas with the success you can achieve through your religion, this has been promised by the Lord of the Worlds. You may not live to sit your next exam, but be sure that your examination in the Hereafter has been promised by your Lord. I'll end with an āyah:
“And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, has awe of Allah and is mindful of Him – it is they who are the attainers of success.” (Qur’ān 24:52)
To proceed:
Dear brothers and sisters! Our religion teaches us that the most important of all knowledge is learning that which is obligatory upon every single Muslim to learn (farḍ ‘ayn), such as having a sound belief about Allah and His Messenger, as well as matters without which a Muslim cannot fulfil his obligatory actions such as wuḍū’ and ṣalāh. As such, learning these must be prioritised over anything else. However, you have people who have their priorities in the wrong order. You have some who are really smart and educated when it comes to the knowledge of the dunyā, but when it comes to religious knowledge they still don't know some of the ABCs. This is concerning. Yes, they may pass all their tests and exams, but what's the point when you've got no clue about what you need to know to pass the ultimate test – the test of this dunyā?
I'll give you a few examples. The first one is istinjā’. After using the toilet, it is very important that you clean yourself with water, such that you clean all the najāsah (filth) from yourself and so that you don't get any najāsah on your clothes. And if water is unavailable, then you still need to clean yourself, but with a dry material like toilet paper. Because: 1) it is sinful to stain your clothes with najāsah. 2) if you use the toilet, then right away pull your pants up and leave, when you pray later on, your clothes will still have najāsah on them. And you know that you can't pray with najāsah on your clothes or body. So for people who don't do istinjā’ after using the toilet, what do you think this means for all the prayers they've prayed in the past? All of them don't even count! So this is very important – a ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim mentions that there's even a punishment in the grave for the one who doesn't take care to avoid getting splashes of urine on himself. That's why the school has watering cans in the toilets, you know…. So this is a very important matter that every Muslim is obliged to know, yet many are unaware of it.
Another example: in wuḍū’, you're supposed to wash your face, arms and feet. You're not supposed to wipe them. But there are people who only wet their hands and then wipe the area without actually washing it – they don't make the water flow over these areas. And so the wuḍū’ is not valid.
One last example: ṭuma’nīnah (a.k.a. ta‘dīl al-arkān). In the ṣalāh, when performing rukū‘, i‘tidal, the two sujūds and the sitting between the two sujūds, it is obligatory to pause and remain motionless in each of these positions. However, you have many people who, for example, rise from rukū‘, their hands still swaying by their sides, and then they go down to sujūd before their hands even stopped moving. And then you have people who do rukū‘ and sujūd so fast it's as if they're birds pecking on the floor. Not taking care of ṭuma’nīnah can invalidate your ṣalāh. And what did the Prophet ﷺ say about the ṣalāh?
أوّل ما يحاسب به العبد يوم القيامة الصلاة، فإن صلحت صلح سائرُ عمله، وإن فسدت فسد سائرُ عمله
“The first thing that the slave will be brought to account for on the Day of Resurrection is the prayer. If it is good/sound, then the rest of his deeds will be good/sound. And if it is corrupt, then the rest of his deeds will be corrupt.” (Narrated by al-Ṭabarānī)
There are so many more examples, but I hope these ones show you how important it is to prioritise learning your farḍ ‘ayn, i.e. things without which you can't fulfil your obligations before Allah such as ṣalāh. Not learning these things could devastate your outcome in the ākhirah. This is more important than useless things like how to win some time-wasting game, how to do card tricks, how to trick people…. You must prioritise what you learn. Yes, when it comes to beneficial worldly knowledge, go have your share of it. But remember that the success achieved by this worldly knowledge isn't necessarily guaranteed. Whereas with the success you can achieve through your religion, this has been promised by the Lord of the Worlds. You may not live to sit your next exam, but be sure that your examination in the Hereafter has been promised by your Lord. I'll end with an āyah:
وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَيَخْشَ ٱللَّهَ وَيَتَّقْهِ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَآئِزُونَ
“And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, has awe of Allah and is mindful of Him – it is they who are the attainers of success.” (Qur’ān 24:52)
