Dars Ususl Kafi – Kitab Fazail Ilm
Chapters 1, 2 and 3
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Blessings and peace upon our master and leader, Abul Qasim Muhammad, and upon his pure, holy, and infallible household. My Lord, expand my chest, ease my task, and untie the knot in my tongue so they may understand my speech. I seek forgiveness from Allah and ask Him for repentance.
Kitab Fadl al-Ilm — Al-Kafi
Alhamdulillah, at this point you have completed three books of Usul al-Kafi. Which three books?
First, keep al-Kafi in mind. When we say “al-Kafi,” it refers to all eight books: two from Usul, five from Furu al-Kafi, and one from Rawdat al-Kafi — making eight in total.
Now within Usul al-Kafi, which has two volumes, there are also eight books. You began reading from Kitab Fadl al-Quran, then Kitab al-Ishra, then from the beginning — Kitab al-Aql wal-Jahl — which is now complete. Now the fourth book, Kitab Fadl al-Ilm (the Excellence of Knowledge), is beginning. After that comes Kitab al-Tawhid (fifth), then Kitab al-Hujja (sixth), then Kitab al-Iman wal-Kufr (seventh), and Kitab al-Dua (eighth). These are the eight books of Usul al-Kafi.
As for all of al-Kafi, it contains approximately 16,199 hadith. If you were to gather all the hadiths of the six major Sunni collections (Sahih Sitta) and remove repetitions, you would struggle to reach even seven thousand. Yet our single book, Usul al-Kafi, contains 16,199 hadiths. Alhamdulillah, you have already completed three books from it, and now you are beginning the fourth.
Chapter One: Fard al-Ilm — The Obligation of Seeking Knowledge
The first chapter deals with the obligation and necessity of acquiring knowledge. Hadiths on this subject have been narrated, and encouragement is given to seek knowledge.
We begin with the first hadith, narrated through a chain ending at Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (peace be upon him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said:
“Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.”
Just as there are other religious obligations, learning knowledge is also an obligation. It will not do for a person to keep acting without learning — his actions will become corrupted, and he will be held accountable: “Why did you not learn?” In other narrations, the word “Muslim” also appears.
Allah loves — whom does He love? Those who seek knowledge, those who are in pursuit of it. If someone goes out in search of knowledge, Allah loves such a person.
The second hadith is similar — “Seeking knowledge is an obligation” — narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him).
The third hadith comes from Imam Musa al-Kazim (peace be upon him). Someone asked: “O Master, seeking knowledge is an obligation — but what if a person knows there is something he is ignorant of, yet does not seek to learn it and simply lives his life that way? Is this permissible?”
You understand the problem — a person knows his wudu may not be correct, his prayer may be invalid, his understanding of ritual purity and impurity may be wrong, his beliefs may be incorrect — yet he does not ask anyone and just carries on.
The Imam was asked: is it permissible for people to abandon asking about matters they are in need of? The thinking being: “If I don’t learn, I won’t have to act on it.” This mindset exists in society — “Let it be, when we learn, we’ll have to practice, so let’s just ignore it.” The Imam was asked about this. He said: No, it is absolutely not permissible.
In another narration, it is mentioned that when such a person reaches the afterlife, he will be asked: “Why did you not act?” He will say: “I did not know.” The reply will come: “Why did you not learn? Knowledge existed — why did you not seek it?”
The case of the jahil-e-muqassir (a negligent ignorant person) is different from someone who genuinely had no way of knowing. But the one who deliberately avoided learning is in a different category.
The fourth hadith is from Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him):
“O people, know that the perfection of religion lies in seeking knowledge first, and then acting upon it. Seeking knowledge is more obligatory upon you than seeking wealth.”
A person cannot be lazy about this. He must seek wealth to provide for his family. But the Imam says: seeking knowledge is even more obligatory than seeking wealth. Why? Because Allah has taken responsibility for sustenance. Wealth can be earned through trade; there is no single exclusive source for it. But for knowledge, there are specific people — and you must go to those specific people to acquire it.
The Imam said: wealth has already been apportioned and written; its responsibility has been taken. Every creature — human, animal — Allah has taken responsibility for their sustenance. But there is a hadith that Allah has taken special responsibility for the sustenance of the seeker of knowledge. The Imam said Allah will fulfill this. But knowledge is kept as a treasure with the people of knowledge — first and foremost being Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon them). And you have been commanded to seek knowledge — not from the ignorant, but from the people of knowledge. So go and seek it from them.
The sixth hadith comes from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (peace be upon him):
“Engage in tafaqquh (deep understanding and learning) in the religion of Allah.”
What does tafaqquh mean? To have comprehension, reflection, and learning. Be serious about learning the religion. Why, O Master?
“Because whoever among you does not engage in tafaqquh in religion — he is an Arab bedouin (a‘rabi).”
An a‘rabi means an uncivilized, ignorant person. So regardless of whether someone is a great lecturer, professor, engineer, doctor, or scientist — if in matters of religion he does not even know basic rules of purity, the Imam considers him ignorant. The Imam says he is an a‘rabi — a jahil (ignorant person).
Allah says in His Book (Surah al-Tawbah): It is not possible for all believers to go out together — rather, a group from each community should go out in order to gain deep understanding of religion, and when they return, they should teach their people and warn them, so that perhaps they may learn.
Their learning or not learning is their affair — but you must teach them. Whether they accept or not has no bearing on your success or failure. The prophets preached for long periods and no one believed — does that mean their efforts were wasted? Hazrat Ibrahim (peace be upon him) preached his entire life, showed miracles in the land of Iraq — yet only three people remained Muslim when he left.
The last hadith of this section is from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him):
“It is obligatory upon you to engage in tafaqquh in the religion of Allah, and do not become like uncivilized people — be civilized and refined. For whoever does not engage in tafaqquh in religion, on the Day of Judgment Allah will not look at him with mercy, and He will not purify his deeds.”
There is a difference: one who learned and sinned can repent; after some accountability, his deeds may be purified. But the one who stubbornly refused to learn — out of arrogance, thinking “Why should I go sit and learn? Who is he to teach me?” — Allah will not turn His gaze of mercy toward him on the Day of Judgment.
If you do not know something and someone asks you, do not be ashamed to say: “I don’t know.” The scholars say “la adri” (I do not know) — this is itself a form of knowledge.
Then comes an even stronger hadith. Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) expresses his wish:
“I wish that my companions’ heads would be struck with whips — so that they may learn and gain knowledge of the religion.”
This is a stern hadith. May Allah grant all of us the ability to always live in the path of religious knowledge.
A question was posed to Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him): there is a person who has recognized this affair (i.e., the Imamate and wilayah), is a true believer, but has shut himself away at home and has no connection with any friends or companions — no coming and going.
Now in today’s world, perhaps he is watching online lectures, reading, gaining knowledge, writing. But he is isolated at home. The Imam immediately asked: “How will this person engage in tafaqquh in religion? How will he learn the religion locked away at home?”
This also points to another meaning: perhaps he acquired knowledge but is not spreading it. Other narrations point to this as well. The Imam criticized this behavior. The Imam also disavowed monasticism — isolating oneself from society.
One lesson I take from this: if books alone were sufficient, the Imam would not have criticized this. The meaning is that you must come to scholars. You are being directed to go to the people of knowledge. Simply reading hadiths on your own is not enough. Even the greatest companions of the Imam would come and ask: “O Master, if we face a difficulty, what should we do?” And the Imam did not say: “Read our hadiths and you’ll be fine.” He said: “Go to so-and-so in your area — what he says is from us.”
Chapter Two: Sifat al-Ilm wa Fadluh wa Fadl al-Ulama — The Qualities of Knowledge, Its Excellence, and the Excellence of Scholars
The Prophet (peace be upon him) entered the mosque. There was a gathering — people sitting in a circle around one man. The Prophet asked: “What is this? Who is this man?”
They said: “He is an allama — a great scholar.”
The Prophet asked: “What is an allama?”
They said: “He is the most knowledgeable person about the events of the Arabs, the genealogies of the Arabs — who their forefathers were, what they did — and also the poetry of the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah); he has memorized it all.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) responded:
“This is knowledge that harms no one who does not know it, and benefits no one who does know it.”
Think about it — if someone knows every street, every door, every light in the city — what is the benefit of this knowledge? What harm comes from not knowing it?
The Prophet then said: Knowledge is of three types:
- A clear verse (ayah muhkama) — sound beliefs and theology.
- An established obligation (farida adila) — acting upon religious laws.
- A confirmed sunnah (sunna qaima) — confirmed prophetic practice.
And what is beyond these? The commentators say: it is either superfluous, or it is a fadl — an extra blessing. If you have the first three and also have this fourth type, it is a grace. If this extra knowledge serves as a foundation for learning the primary religious knowledge — for example, learning pre-Islamic Arabic poetry to better understand the language of hadith — then there is nothing wrong with that up to a point.
Then comes another hadith from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (peace be upon him):
“Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.”
The primary example of scholars here is Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon them), but it applies broadly to scholars as well.
A natural question arises: an inheritor takes wealth and property — so what do scholars inherit? The Imam answers this directly: the prophets did not leave behind dirhams and dinars for the scholars. Rather, they left behind their hadiths — their teachings. Whoever acquires even a little from this wealth of knowledge has acquired a great deal.
But look at your knowledge — are you acquiring it from the people of knowledge? From those who hold the knowledge of the Prophet, the knowledge of the prophets? The Imam is pointing toward the Ahl al-Bayt — they are the center of knowledge. They reject and refute those who exaggerate (ghulat) and those who distort through false interpretation (ta’wil). If a person stays connected to the door of the Imam, he will remain protected from false ideologies.
“When Allah intends good for a servant, He gives him understanding and insight into the religion.”
A desire and enthusiasm arises in him — to leave behind his comfortable life and go out to seek knowledge. This enthusiasm itself, this desire awakening in a person, is a door of good being opened by Allah.
From Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (peace be upon him):
“The fullness of perfection — all of perfection — lies in three things:”
- Tafaqquh fi al-Din — deep understanding and learning of religion.
- Patience in hardship.
- Taqdeer al-Ma'isha — managing one’s livelihood wisely.
This means living within one’s means with contentment and good planning. Another narration also mentions this: be a planner in financial matters — spend according to what is coming in.
Earning money is not the art — knowing how to spend it, that is the art. Contentment is a treasure that never runs out. Even if millions keep coming in, without contentment it will all be wasted and a person will keep wanting more. But with contentment, even a little will be managed well and life will run smoothly.
There are three things: first, deep understanding of religion; second, if difficulties come — no money, hardship — then patience in adversity; third, managing one’s livelihood and lifestyle properly, stretching one’s cloth according to one’s means. Then a person will move forward well.
This is also a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him).
Scholars are trustees — they are trustworthy. What does trustworthy mean? It does not mean someone entrusted money with them and they did not run off with it. What it means is that scholars will convey exactly the knowledge they have received — this is a quality of scholars.
Scholars are trustees. The second quality?
They are fortresses — husun is the plural of hisn. Those who are God-fearing and pious are like fortresses. They are the fortress of religion. If an attack comes from outside, the one inside the fortress of piety is protected from that assault.
The legacy of the Awsiya (successors) is with them — they are leaders. Another hadith similarly says: scholars are lighthouses — they are minarets from which light radiates.
A hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him):
“There is no good in one of our companions who does not learn the religion. O Bashir, there is no good among our companions in one who does not make himself self-sufficient through his understanding of jurisprudence.”
This is a very important hadith. Among our companions, among the believers, among the Shia — if someone does not make himself independent through his own religious knowledge and understanding, what will happen? He will become dependent on others.
He is not asking his own scholars — those connected to the Ahl al-Bayt. So will he become dependent on others? Yes, he will become dependent on others. And what will be the result?
“When he becomes dependent on them, they will lead him into the door of their misguidance, and he will not even realize it.”
So if you want to learn, learn from the door of the Ahl al-Bayt. Whether you go east or west, the Imam told his companions: you can go wherever you wish, anywhere in the world — you will not find the true knowledge except at the door of the Ahl al-Bayt. Wherever truth is found, it ultimately came from Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad.
“There is no good in life except for two kinds of people.”
What is the good in living? If there is any good, it is for two people. Who are they?
A scholar who is obeyed (alim muta') — this can mean one whose obedience is followed, or one who himself obeys. Both meanings are possible. The second is a deeply attentive listener — one who listens with understanding and reflection. So a scholar who teaches knowledge, and one who truly listens and absorbs it.
From Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him), narrated through Abu Hamza:
“A scholar whose knowledge is benefited from is superior to seventy thousand worshippers.”
In the era of Sheikh Kulayni, seventy thousand worshippers may have come and gone — but Kulayni’s name lives on to this day, and millions of people benefit from his knowledge. He conveyed the knowledge of the Ahl al-Bayt, the knowledge of Islam, to us. One scholar from whose knowledge people benefit and gain is better than seventy thousand worshippers.
This is on the assumption that one has only knowledge and the other has only worship — otherwise if the scholar himself becomes a devoted worshipper, he becomes even more superior. And a scholar is not a sinner to begin with.
Ibn Ammar said: I asked Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him): “O Master, we have two individuals among us. One is rawiyatan —” What does rawiyatan mean? Rajulun is masculine, rawiyatan is feminine in form — but here the ta is for exaggeration (mubalaghah). So rajulun rawiyatan means a person who narrates — who recounts your hadiths — and rawiyatan means he does so in very great abundance.
A person who narrates your hadiths very prolifically, who instills and strengthens those hadiths in the hearts of both general people and your Shia — he conveys your hadiths to people so extensively that they reach them widely.
The second person does not reach that level of teaching people. So I asked: which of the two is more excellent?
The mind should not immediately jump to: one is a turbaned scholar and the other is just a common man. No — it is possible that the common man is spreading the religion among people more than the turbaned scholar. That must be kept in mind. But also keep in mind that one may have taken on religious dress merely for fame or some other purpose, without actually pursuing knowledge — using it as a garment, but with no knowledge inside that garment. The dress and the respect it carries is one thing, but this point must always be kept in mind.
So the two scenarios are: one narrates hadiths extensively to people; the other is a common worshipper — one who also narrates something, but not as prolifically.
Imam said:
“The one who narrates our hadiths in the greatest abundance, and through this brings comfort and steadfastness to the hearts of our Shia, is superior to a thousand worshippers.”
You mentioned one worshipper — bring a thousand such worshippers, and still the one conveying hadiths among the Shia is more excellent.
Chapter Three: The Categories of People
From Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him):
After the Messenger of Allah, people turned in three directions — three types of people emerged:
- Some went to the scholar.
- Some went to the ignorant.
- There was a third type who went to the learned student.
Those who came to the scholar — in this hadith there is a great hidden meaning alongside the importance of knowledge. The scholar — guidance from Allah was with him. That scholar, through his knowledge, made those who came to him independent of the ignorant. Salman came, Abu Dharr came, Miqdad came — they came to the door of Ali, and after that they never needed to go to any other door. They became self-sufficient. They succeeded.
The second type — who went to the ignorant. Not a ruler or government figure. He was ignorant — how ignorant? He had no knowledge, but he had the claim of knowledge. So when someone came to ask, what would he say? He would redirect them elsewhere, or make something up. He had the pretense of knowledge but nothing of substance. And whatever little he did have, he was self-admiring about it: “We have great knowledge.” He was afflicted with compound ignorance. Whoever went to such a person — “the world led him into corruption, and he led others into corruption.”
The third type: those who went to the muta'allim — the learned student. Not the scholar himself, not the ignorant — but someone who had learned from a scholar. Some could not reach the Imam directly, so they went to Salman, Abu Dharr, Sulaym. They went to one who had learned from a scholar who was on the path of guidance from Allah — one who had salvation’s path. And those people found their way.
Then the Imam concluded: “Successful is the one who made a true claim, and destroyed is the one who fabricated.” The one who falsely claimed knowledge was ruined. And the one who invented lies — he too was lost.
People are of three types: alimun, muta'allimun, wa ghusaa — a scholar, a learner, or scum (worthless remainder). As the Imam said:
“Begin your morning as a scholar, or as one who is learning, or at the very least as one who loves the people of knowledge.”
If you are not a scholar, no matter. If you are not a learner, no matter. At minimum, love the people of knowledge. If you hold love for them, you will begin to learn from them. And beware of being the fourth kind — do not be destroyed through hatred of them.
I heard Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) say:
“People wake up in three categories: scholars, learners, and scum.”
Who is the scholar, O Master? “We — Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad — are the scholars. Our Shia are the learners, ever engaged in learning. And the rest of humanity is scum.”
The chapter on the reward of the scholar and the learner will be covered next, God willing.
Glory be to your Lord, Lord of Honor. Peace be upon the Messengers, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.