Knowledge That Benefits

In the hadith: Allāhumma innī asʾaluka ʿilman nāfiʿan wa aʿūdhu bika min ʿilmin lā yanfaʿ — O Allah, I ask You to give me knowledge that will benefit me, and I seek refuge in You from knowledge that does not benefit.

Subḥān Allāh — if you look at the method of the Qur'an, the methodology of the Qur'an, you find that the Qur'an does not mention dates, and did not mention places. I mean, there is no historical record in the Qur'an; you do not find any dates mentioned whatsoever. Why? Because the dates of when things happened have nothing to do with the hidāyah. This book, the Qur'an, is a book of guidance, so Allah (swt) put the hudā in it. But when you compare it with the Bible, you find that everything in the Bible has dates, and numbers, and places, and the names of the family members of every person mentioned in it, and whom they married, and their life story.

If you look in the Qur'an, you find that the Qur'an has not even mentioned the stories of the births of the anbiyāʾ of Allah (swt). It did not give the dates of their births. It did not even mention the stories of the births of the anbiyāʾ — with the exception of ʿĪsā. Why? Because of the importance of the birth of ʿĪsā for guidance. Why? Because ʿĪsā was worshipped besides Allah (swt). Why? Because of his miraculous birth; they said that he is the son of God. That is why Allah (swt) talked about the birth of ʿĪsā in the Qur'an.

But Allah did not talk about the birth of Muhammad (peace be upon him). He did not talk about the birth of Ṣāliḥ, or Hūd, or Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), or Nūḥ. Allah did not talk about their births. And Allah (swt) mentioned only the bishārah, the glad tidings, of the births of Ismāʿīl and Isḥāq, because of the miracle in it — because it was to an old man, Ibrāhīm, and an old woman, Sārah.^**** And Allah (swt) also talked about the birth of Yaḥyā, because of the miracle in it too: Zakariyyā was old in age, and his wife was old in age. And Allah talked about the creation of Ādam, which is his birth. But Allah (swt) did not talk about the birth of anyone else. Mūsā — Allah talked about the birth of Mūsā because of the miracle, the ayah, in his birth; at least the early part of his life has a miracle in it. So we need to concentrate on the knowledge that will benefit — the knowledge that will benefit.