The excellence of knowledge lies in learning it and teaching it purely for Allah’s sake.
As for the fourth verse, it is the Almighty’s statement: “Only those of His servants who possess knowledge truly fear Allah.” Awe (khashyah) is fear coupled with veneration; it is therefore more specific than ordinary fear. Every khashyah is a kind of fear, but not every fear is khashyah. A person may fear a lion, for example, yet he does not revere it. With Allah, however, one both fears and reveres Him. Allah, exalted is He, says: “So do not fear people; fear Me.”
Who, then, are the people of genuine khashyah? They are the scholars—those who are truly acquainted with Allah, His names, His attributes, His actions, and His rulings. They discern the wisdom and hidden purposes contained in His decrees and His laws, majestic and sublime is He, and they know that He is perfect in every respect, that no deficiency touches either His actions or His judgments. For that reason, they stand in awe of Allah. This demonstrates the virtue of knowledge and that it is one of the causes that bring about fear of Allah. When a person is blessed with such awe, he is shielded from sin; and if he does slip, he seeks forgiveness and repents to Allah, for he fears and magnifies Him.
The author then moved on to the hadiths, beginning with the report of Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān (may Allah be pleased with him) in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “When Allah intends good for someone, He grants him understanding of the religion.”
Allah, majestic and exalted, wills for His creation whatever He pleases, whether good or evil; His will itself is pure good, while the things willed may involve both good and evil. All of His decrees are good, though their outcomes for people may entail good or evil. Human beings are but vessels: among them are those in whose hearts Allah knows good, and so He grants them success; and among them are those in whose hearts He knows evil, and so He forsakes them—may Allah protect us. Allah the Exalted says: “So when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.” He did not cause their hearts to stray until they had first strayed themselves and chosen evil; consequently, they were not granted success in any good.