for they bring him to what Allah—Mighty and Majestic—is intending in His Book, and they unlock for him the rulings of the Qur’an in full.

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk, commenting on the Almighty’s words,
“But be godly scholars because of what you have taught of the Book” (Q 3:79),
said: “It is incumbent upon everyone who has learned the Qur’an to become a jurist.”

Ibn Abī al-Jawzī relates:
“We came to Fudayl ibn ʿIyāḍ in the year 185 AH, a group of us together. We stopped at his door, but he would not admit us. Some of the company said, ‘If he will come out for anything, he will come out for the recitation of the Qur’an.’ So we asked a reciter to read aloud. When he began, Fudayl looked down at us from an opening.

“We said, ‘Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.’

“He replied, ‘And upon you be peace.’

“We asked, ‘How are you, Abū ʿAlī? How is your condition?’

“He said, ‘With Allah I am in wellbeing; with you I am in distress. What you are engaged in is a novelty in Islam. We belong to Allah and to Him we return! This is not the way we used to seek knowledge. We would come to the elders, deeming ourselves unworthy to sit with them; we would sit below them and steal a hearing. When a ḥadīth passed by, we would ask them to repeat it and would write it down. You, however, seek knowledge in ignorance. You have neglected the Book of Allah. Had you sought the Book of Allah, you would have found in it a remedy for what you desire.’

“We said, ‘But we have learned the Qur’an.’

“He replied, ‘Your learning of the Qur’an is occupation enough for your lifetimes and the lifetimes of your children.’

“We asked, ‘How so, Abū ʿAlī?’

“He said, ‘You will never truly learn the Qur’an until you know its grammatical parsing, its definitive verses from its allegorical ones, and its abrogating verses from those abrogated. Once you know that, you can dispense with the words of Fudayl and Ibn ʿUyaynah.’

“Then he said, ‘I seek refuge in Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, from Satan the accursed. In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate:

“O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, a healing for what is in the breasts, and guidance and mercy for the believers. Say, ‘In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy—in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate.’” (Q 10:57-58).’

I (the author) say: When these ranks are attained by the reciter of the Qur’an, he is skilled in the Qur’an, knowledgeable of the Furqān, and near to the One who draws him near. Yet he will benefit from none of what we have mentioned until he purifies his intention for Allah—Glorified be His remembrance—whether at the outset of his quest for knowledge or after embarking upon it, as noted earlier. A student may begin seeking knowledge desiring through it ostentation and worldly distinction; but as his understanding deepens he realizes the error of his motive, repents of it, and makes his intention sincere for Allah Most High. He then profits from that knowledge and his state improves.

Al-Ḥasan said, ‘We used to seek knowledge for worldly gain, and it dragged us to the Hereafter.’ Sufyān al-Thawrī said the same.

Ibn Abī Thābit remarked, ‘We pursued this discipline without any intention, then the intention came afterwards.’