 Dear brothers, dear sisters, we are approaching Ramadan and Ramadan is the month of blessings and the month of goodness and the month of the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In Ramadan we fast, many of us also pay the zakah in Ramadan and they do many acts of goodness. Today's khutbah is on a reminder that will help us achieve those goals which are Allah's. It's a reminder to learn, it's a reminder about knowledge, about knowledge in Islam. If you want to fast properly, we need to learn how to fast properly and teach our children, teach ourselves, remind ourselves of those rules and the benefit of fasting. Remind ourselves of zakah and the benefit of zakah and how to calculate zakah. But also knowledge in general. As you know in Islam knowledge has a specific place, has a special place. It is one of the shaa'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a this Ummah, it is one of the trademark of Islam and the Prophet ﷺ was sent as a teacher, one of his qualifications that he's a teacher and he said it himself, he said, «I was sent by the teacher». Allah ﷻ describe them in the Qur'an by telling us that it is He ﷻ, Allah ﷻ that sent to us from amongst ourselves a messenger that will recite to us his signs, will recite to us the scriptures, will deliver the scriptures as is. Will recite the words of Allah ﷻ as is, without addition, without subtraction. When we learn, we try to learn knowledge as is, without addition, without subtraction. When we quote people, we quote them accurately as is, without addition, without subtraction. We don't put words in their mouths, we don't twist their words. We quote knowledge accurately, we learn knowledge accurately and we transmit knowledge accurately and precisely because knowledge is one of the two things that make a person a human, that make us a humans, as a humans. As you know a human being is someone who is a rational living being, is someone who has life and has intellect. Someone who can think, someone who can learn, someone who can learn and the more we learn, the more we approach our humanity, the less we learn, the less we renounce our humanity. Allah ﷻ in the Qur'an says that, that He is the One that, wallahu akhrajakum min butuni umma hatikum la ta'lamuna shay'a. He is the One that brought us from the rooms of our mothers, knowing nothing. When we are born, we know nothing. We are a clean page, we are an empty page but He gave us the tools to learn, He gave us the tools to acquire knowledge and those tools are three, wa ja'ala lakumus sama'a wa al-absara wa al-afida, the three sources of knowledge and He gave us three tools in order to achieve and learn and acquire those knowledge through these three sources and the sources of knowledge are the senses and the intellect and transmission of information and Allah ﷻ gave us ears so that we can hear information when it's transmitted and gave us eyes so we can observe things and experiment, observation and experimentation and gave us hearts and mind and brain in order to reflect and think. Allah ﷻ and the Qur'an describe those that do not use these tools, our ulema emphasize the usage of these tools, these are the windows that Allah ﷻ gave to us, these are the keys that Allah ﷻ gave to us and with those keys we can open doors, we can open doors and then go inside and go deep and deep and deep as deeper, as deep as we wish and those who do not use those tools our ulema describe them as someone who has brought ignorance upon themselves. We are born knowing nothing but if we do not use these tools ignorance is brought upon ourselves by ourselves and in the Qur'an Allah ﷻ talked about those who do not use these tools and He said, wa lakad zara'na lijahannama kaseera minal jinni wal-ins, lahum quloobun la yasqahuna biha. They have hearts and intellect but they understand nothing with them, wa lahum a'ayunan la yumsiruna biha. They have eyes but they don't use their eyes to see things, wa lahum a'zanan la yasmahuna biha. They have ears but they don't hear with these ears and if we do not use these tools because knowledge is part of our humanity, learning is part of our humanity. The more we learn the more we educate ourselves we approach ourselves being human, we become more human, we become a complete human and the less we learn and the less we use these tools we approach other kinds of creatures. Allah ﷻ says in the Qur'an, ula'ika kal an'ami bel hum adal. Those who do not use their ears, do not use their eyes, do not use their hearts and their intellect, they are like cattle, bel adal, no they are worse than cattle, i.e. who does not learn it's like someone who has renounced his humanity. In the Qur'an Allah ﷻ told the angels that, I'm putting a successor on earth, they said oh Allah are you going to put on the earth someone who will corrupt the earth and shed blood? Allah ﷻ replied to the angels in two ways, by saying and by demonstrating. By saying he told them, inni a'lamu ma la ta'lamun and by demonstration by teaching Adam ﷺ. This creature that I'm putting on earth is a special creature, is a creature that can learn, is a creature that can acquire knowledge through education. And he told the angels this creature will learn, have the capability of learning, have the capability of acquiring knowledge. And through knowledge there is no corruption, there is no shedding of blood. Knowledge is a double-edged sword, there is beneficial knowledge and there is knowledge that will, that is not beneficial. In the Qur'an the first surah that was revealed is Iqra, Bismi rabbika allazi khalaq, recited in the name of the I Lord, allazi khalaq, the one who created, the ni'ma of knowledge, the ni'ma of recitation, the ni'ma of qura'a, the ni'ma of learning, the bounty and the mercy of learning is like the bounty of creation, it's like the bounty of giving us life, ni'ma tul ulmi ka ni'ma tul khalaq. And in this surah Allah swt talked about this, and mentioned qura'a many times, and mentioned knowledge many times, and mentioned khalk many times, and also mentioned four types of knowledge. And one of them is the worst knowledge that a person can learn, a knowledge that will cause a person to tughyan, if you acquire a particular type of knowledge that will destroy humanity, that will cause corruption on earth, that will shed blood, this is the worst type of knowledge. It will cause a person to become arrogant and to become proud and to have pride above everything else, money above everything else. The priorities are messed up, completely messed up, and this will cause them to tughyan. And Allah swt gave us the ni'ma or the trust of more responsibility, at the end inna aradna al-amanata, al-as-samawati wal-arzi wal-jibali, fa'abayna an yihmilna wa ashfaqna minna wa hamalaha l-insan, inna hu kana wal-luman jahulah. Those are two qualities that will prevent people, prevent us from fulfilling the trust that Allah swt interested us with. What are those two qualities, idna hu kana wal-luman jahulah, al-zulmu wal-jahluh, injustice, oppression and ignorance. Those two qualities will prevent us from fulfilling our mission on earth, will prevent us from being Muslims. Religion of Islam is about life, how to live our life in a way that will benefit us in this world and in the next. And the opposite of zulm and jahl is ilm and adil, is knowledge and justice. Allah swt told the angels, Inni aalamu ma la ta'lamoon wa aalama adam al-asma'a kullaha. And He taught Adam all the names and He brought them in front of the angels. He said, And in their apology they mentioned that they have no knowledge of anything. Because ignorance is an apology. We have to apologize for our ignorance. The Prophet ﷺ taught us a principle that if we do something let's try to keep doing it. If we recite the Qur'an let's try to keep reciting the Qur'an. It's better that we do something a little continuously than to recite the Qur'an for one week and then stop for a year. It's better to recite one ayat every day than to recite the Surah one day and then stop for ten years. The Prophet ﷺ cana is a amila amalan asbatah. If he was to do anything he would keep doing it. Continuity is something that our shariha encourages and learning is something that doesn't start. We start learning as soon as you are born and we end learning when we die. The knowledge will benefit us even in the hereafter. In the hereafter two things will remain with us, everything will disappear. Our ulama told us marriage and knowledge. Our spouses in this world will be our spouses in the hereafter inshaAllah and paradise. And knowledge will also be with us in the hereafter. Allah swt in the Qur'an talked about a discussion and a conversation between the believers and the disbelievers and he says, wa qaalal lazeena utu l'ilma wal iman. Those who are given knowledge and face and iman, they were given knowledge when? They were given knowledge in this world and that's on the day of judgement. Those who are given knowledge in this world and iman in this world will say to the disbelievers they say, laqad labistum fi kitabillahi ila yawmi al-baas. So haza yawmi al-baas and this is the day of resurrection. And they say this to the disbelievers on the day of resurrection. After this they tell the disbelievers, my dear brothers and sisters we can talk about knowledge for a week and there are benefits and features of knowledge. I shall mention one and we close with this. One of the benefit of knowledge that it will take us from dalaad to hudah, from misguidance to guidance. Allah swt says that He sent to us a messenger from amongst ourselves. Knowledge will transform us from being misguided to being guided. And knowledge is something that will benefit us even after our death. When a person dies, the Prophet swt says, ila min salat. And one of them is ilmun yuntafa'u bihi. Maybe he learns something and taught it to others and the benefit is gone. And this benefit will continue even after he dies. Allah swt says that Allah swt says that He sent to us a messenger from amongst us, from amongst us, from amongst us, from amongst us, from amongst us, from amongst us, from amongst us, from among us, from among us, from amongst us, from amongst us. Al-Mu'minina wal-Mu'minat, al-Ahyā'i minhum wal-amwāt, innaka yāmaw lāna samī'un arīb al-mujīb al-ta'wāt, ibad allāhi, innallāhi yāmaru bil-adli wal-iḥsāni wa'ītāri zilqrbāt wa yannhā'i al-fahshāhi wal-munkari wal-bahl yā'izukum la'allakum tazafarūm wa'atim al-salaḥ.