KUALA LUMPUR - The importance of seeking knowledge is to improve deen (religion), says Interactive Dakwah and Tarbiyah Association (IDT) founder Lim Jooi Soon.
Through his observation, he said Muslims today were too engrossed in their amal (practice) that they overlooked its equally significant core foundation which was knowledge.
"We always focus on the amal but that will never improve, not until we improve the fundamental understanding of Islam.
"Once the aqidah (faith or creed) is strong, knowledge would increase, then what will happen? The iman (belief) grows, and then, the practice will come naturally,” he said during an exclusive interview with Sinar Daily on its Fireside Chat programme.
Lim quoted the Prophet Muhammad saying, "If you want the dunya (worldly), you need to have knowledge, if you want the akhirah (hereafter), you need to have knowledge.”
He recently gave a lecture in an event called The Straight Path Convention 2022 themed "Wahn: Desiring Dunya, Belittling Hereafter” in which he stressed that the lack of knowledge led to the inadequate state of iman which resulted in the imbalance of attention paid by Muslims towards their intertwined dunya and akhirah affairs.
"In order for them to be able to focus on the akhirah, I think there's one step that we need to do, something that we need to know is that they need to understand the religion, they need to be excited about the religion because only when they have the knowledge about the religion, the iman grows and then, they will start to focus on the akhirah,” he said.
He went on to note another problem at present which was the approach that Muslims used which was talk about the do’s and don’ts.
"We talk very little about the ‘aqidah and the approach as well, we do not make Islam sound like a cool, fun, interesting religion. Instead, we make Islam sound very narrow-minded,” he said.
"People, when they learn about Islam, they do not ask the questions that they have in mind because the moment they do, the ustaz will say, something's wrong with your aqidah.
"So if you ask me about people focusing a lot on the dunya, that's simply because they do not feel excited and interested to learn about Islam due to the approach.
"So make them excited and interested to learn about the religion and then, you can settle the problem,” he suggested.
Lim said when Allah revealed the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad in Mecca for 13 years, the majority of the verses touched on the subject of aqidah.
Later on when the aqidah was strong, as the prophet and the believers migrated to Yathrib which is now Medina, then only Allah revealed verses talking about the do's and don'ts and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).
"If you were to look at the time of the Prophet Muhammad in Mecca for the 13 years, many of the companions even though they have already embraced Islam, they still drank alcohol, but Allah and the Prophet didn't make it haram. Why? Because they were in the progress of building the foundation.
"Until when their foundation was strong? When they migrated to Medina, then only Allah revealed the do's and don’ts bit by bit for a duration of 10 years.
"For example, in Mecca, they still consumed alcohol, Allah didn't make it haram, He only educated. Alcohol has little benefit, brings more harm. He said don't approach prayers when you're drunk,” he said.
He said only on the 17th year, the Quran was revealed, Allah revealed Surah Al-Ma'idah, chapter five, verse 90 in which He made alcohol haram and the companions stopped drinking.
"It’s just like building a high-rise building. What do you build; the wall or the ceiling or the pillar first? It's the pillar, so the 13 years is about the pillar, but the problem is when you don't build the pillar of a high-rise building properly and then, you start building the wall, the ceiling, even the interior design, what will happen to the building? It can collapse any time,” Lim said.