Reflection

Many of us grew up believing that quality is tied to price — that the more expensive something is, the better it must be. This may be true regarding worldly goods, but do NOT approach Islamic knowledge with this same mindset. Allāh ﷻ said: { ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَن لَّا یَسۡـَٔلُكُمۡ أَجۡرࣰا وَهُم مُّهۡتَدُونَ } “Follow those who ask you for no payment, and they are rightly guided.” [Yā-Sīn: 21] The purest and highest quality of knowledge is found with the inheritors of the Prophets (the scholars) — and they continue to pass on this knowledge in many parts of the world for free. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets. The Prophets did not leave behind dinar or dirham; rather they left knowledge. Whoever takes it has taken an abundant portion.” Thus the aṣl in conveying ‘ilm is that it is given for the sake of Allāh, without price. Charging for it is a far‘ and an exception, not the principle. Because of the widespread commercialisation of Islamic knowledge today and the shift of knowledge away from the masājid into paid institutes, many people have become skeptical when lessons are offered freely. They fear the quality will be low, or that the free lessons are merely bait to market something else, or that there must be some hidden agenda behind teaching without payment. This is not the way of Ahlus-Sunnah. The Prophet ﷺ taught his entire Ummah without a fee. The Sahābah learned from him freely and conveyed that knowledge freely, and the same for all consequent generations... جزاهم الله عنا خير الجزاء The companion who transmitted the most from the Prophet ﷺ — Abū Hurayrah — was among the poorest of them. And one cannot help but wonder: if the Messenger ﷺ had run an institute that charged tuition, how much of his Sunnah would have reached us? Ahlus-Sunnah have preserved this prophetic legacy. This was the way in Dammāj, and it remains the way in the other Marākiz of Sunnah, as well as in Madīnah, Makkah, and the lands where the people of ḥadīth continue to teach for Allāh’s sake alone. When knowledge is taught for free, the benefit reaches not only the students. It benefits the teachers, their teachers, and everyone in the chain reaching back to the Prophet ﷺ — all of whom share in the reward for conveying the guidance of the Messenger of Allāh.