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Now, SubhanAllah I love gaining Islamic education but I am just worried that whether the purpose of it is wrong in the sight of Allah, may he be glorified and exalted, or not. I basically gain knowledge of the Quran to do Dawah and my motive is to benefit my ownself (meaning that even I would gain knowledge) as well in the long run. Is it correct to have this purpose in mind while gaining knowledge or not ?

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  • What do you mean by "to benefit my ownself"? Care to elaborate more on that?
    – Amir Syafrudin
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 22:36
  • @Amir Syafrudin edited
    – user16528
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 23:20
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    I don't think that any of the added tags fit here!
    – Medi1Saif ♦
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 13:19

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If I understand correctly, your direct benefits of gaining knowledge are:

  1. To be more knowledgeable during da'wah.
  2. To be more knowledgeable in living your life as a Muslim.

While those are sufficient (that's also what I'm aiming at when studying Islam), explicitly stating your indirect benefits, e.g. gaining paradise, is also important. Why? So that we can separate which knowledge is beneficial for that indirect benefit and which one is not. Otherwise, we might walk in a path of gaining knowledge that is not rewarded by Allah.

I think we all have seen people went astray when they're studying Islam. They study Islam, but in the end, the "play" with the rulings. They took the liberty of questioning everything to the point where it corrupts their own faith (and, perhaps, the faith of others). Instead of bringing themselves (and others) to Islam, they put some kind of a distance to Islam (and put others with them). This, in my opinion, might serve all those direct benefits, but definitely defeats the purpose of gaining paradise. This is the path that we all should avoid.

In short, you should continue down the path you're taking right now, but please be sure that the end of the path is (being rewarded by) Allah.

Allah knows best.

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  • You understood my direct benefits really well ...
    – user16528
    Commented Jun 28, 2016 at 0:44
  • We simply think alike in this matter, Brother. :)
    – Amir Syafrudin
    Commented Jun 28, 2016 at 2:17
  • Well, what's the actual criteria, moral and scientific, to determine the extent to which we should keep questioning our religious beliefs? I mean why is it wrong to freely question them no matter how well-established they have been in the past? I mean isn't our instinct to question things itself a God-given faculty? Why do we tend to think that a God-given faculty which is vital for our understanding should be prevented from performing its natural function for preserving our current belief system while our existing belief system itself is an outcome of our past questions and researches?
    – infatuated
    Commented Jul 7, 2016 at 11:21
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The Qur'an is full of promises of heaven for those who obey God, and hell for those who disobey. Although interpretations may differ, perhaps it could be taken as a sign that self-interest is ok: if God didn't expect you to act in your own self-interest, it seems he would not offer punishment/reward as your motivation. That is not to say that punishment/reward would be your only motivation; presumably love for God is a big factor. But punishment/reward is by far the most abundantly mentioned motivation, at least in the Qur'an.

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