Ignorance is not a bliss

Read. Study. Knowledge.

3 simple words that mankind shall take heed of.

This is because knowledge is a powerful weapon that can change the course of mankind. History dictates that with great knowledge mankind evolved and civilization was build.

" Read! In the name of your lord who has created (all that exists)" [ Quran 96:1]

By reading, knowledge can be gained and through knowledge, light enlighten our path. Through knowledge we are able to be free from the current state of darkness.

But most of us choose to be ignorant. To us, ignorant is a bliss. We choose not knowing, we choose to be in the darkness, and we choose wrongly. This is because ignorant is not a bliss.

Without knowledge, we choose to be left behind, and without knowledge we choose not to grow.

One of the advice left by Imam Syafie

"Gain knowledge as much as you can since that it is knowledge that will make you succeed in this world and the hereafter"

A little bit about Imam Syafie, to those who wish to know. He is one of the four great Imams existed in mankind. These four great imams were born years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his fellow companions. Imam Syafie came from the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w himself from his father side. His real name is Muhammad bin Idris bin Al-Abbas bin Uthman bin Syafie bin Sa'ib bin Abd Yazid bin Hasyim bin Abdul Mutalib bin Abd Manaf bin Qusai  al-Quraisy. He was called Syafie since that his face bears a striking resemblance of his great grandfather Syafie who is also said to resembled the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w himself.

Imam Syafie memorizes the Holy Quran at the age of 9. Then, he went to further his studies in the field of Quran, poetry, hadith, fiqh and others. He went travelling many miles and many days to Medina, Iraq and Egypt in order to gain knowledge. He was born poor, with his father died when he was very young, yet, his dedication and thirst for knowledge was so strong that he was not willing to give up in his quest to search for knowledge.

I was touch and inspired when I read his bibliography. It was evident that back then, it is truly difficult for you to study or gain knowledge. In comparison to today in the modern age, knowledge can be gain at the power of our fingertips. We have internet, digital books and libraries.We can easily 'google' anything that we want to know. Furthermore, with the current advance of technology, we can read and browse online wherever we go through our smartphones, tabs, ipads and others. Wherever we are, we can gain access and read articles, books and journals from international authors that came from various parts of the world. We can watch their online videos and youtubes.

Nowadays, knowledge is not scarce and hard to find as it once used to be. We do not have to travel many miles to study. Everything is within our fingertips. Yet, we choose to be ignorant because to us, ignorant is such a bliss.