Question: What is
your advice regarding acting upon knowledge?
Answer by Sheikh Al-‘Uthaimeen رحمه الله : It is mandatory that
a person acts upon his knowledge, because the fruit of knowledge is action.
If a person does not act upon his knowledge, he will consequently be from
amongst the first people to be punished in the fire on the Day of Judgement.
It was mentioned (in lines of poetry):
“The scholar who did not act upon his
knowledge will be punished before the worshippers of idols.”
Thus, if a person does not act upon his
knowledge, this will lead to failure in knowledge, loss of blessing, and
forgetfulness of knowledge.
This is based on the statement of Allaah
سُبحانه
وتعالى:
فَبِمَا
نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَاقَهُمْ لَعنَّاهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَاسِيَةً
يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَن مَّوَاضِعِهِ وَنَسُواْ حَظًّا مِّمَّا ذُكِّرُواْ
بِهِ
'Due to their breach of their covenant,
We cursed them and made their hearts grow hard. They change the words from
their places and have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to
them.'
(Al-Maa’idah 5:13)