Documents of the Right Word

knowledge is the most necessary and the most useful for me? What
is the knowledge that will come to my rescue in the Hereafter,
which will be my companion in grave when all my friends go away
and leave me alone, and will save me on the Rising Day when
mothers will forsake their children, brothers will run away from
one another, worldly friends will overlook each other and
everybody will be in a flurry of saving his head? And what
knowledge is unnecessary in the world and in the Hereafter? I
wish I knew it and discard it? For our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi
wa sallam’ stated, ‘May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us against learning
useless knowledge, against a heart who does not fear Allâhu ta’âlâ,
against a nafs that will not be satiated with worldlies, against eyes
that will not weep for Allah, and against a prayer that will not
deserve acceptance’.” After thinking for a long time, he decided to
learn the answers to his questions and wrote a letter to his teacher
Hujjat-ul-islâm Imâm-i-Ghazâlî (may Allâhu ta’âlâ fill his grave
with nûr). Begging his teacher to pronounce benedictions over
him, he added, “The answer to this question of mine is written in
your books, i.e. in Ihyâ-ul-’Ulûm, Kimyâ-yi-sa’âdat, Tafsîrs,
Hadîth-i-Erba’în, and Minhâj. However, will you please write me
a concise, clear and useful answer so that I shall read it every
morning and act accordingly.”
Hujjat-ul-islâm Imâm-i-Ghazâlî wrote the following answer
and sent it:
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