In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
“Is he who payeth adoration in the watches of the night, prostrate and standing, bewaring of the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (to be accounted equal with a disbeliever)? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Are those who know equal with those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed.” (39:9)
The Splendor of Knowledge according to the Wise.
By Dr. Hamzah Ibn Fayi' Al Fathi.
May Allah preserve him.
Lovers of the Inkwells.
Abu Bakr Al Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"I visited Sahl Ibn 'Abdullah Al Tustari,
and I had my inkwell with me.
He said to me,
'Are you writing?'
I replied, 'Yes.'
He said,
'Write.
For if you are able to meet Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, while you have your inkwell with you,
then do so.'"
The inkwell is the vessel for ink.
Carrying it signifies writing and a love for knowledge,
as well as intellectual engagement,
and finding comfort in benefit and cultural enrichment.
Life is only pleasant with an inkwell and a book,
a pen and parchment,
and books and study.
“Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth,” (96:1)
This serves as evidence for the importance of writing,
which is one of the means of acquiring and seeking knowledge.
It has been authentically narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"Write it down for Abu Shah,"
a man from Yemen.
And the hadith:
"Bind knowledge with writing,"
meaning: secure it and preserve it from being lost,
"with writing," meaning by recording it,
because human memory cannot encompass everything.
He also said to 'Abdullah Ibn 'Umar,
"Write,
for by the One in Whose hand is my soul,
nothing comes out of it [my mouth] except the truth."
In the inkwell,
there is the binding of knowledge and the securing of what has been memorized,
the preservation of understandings and the classification of books,
the shaping of the minds of people and the intelligent among them,
and their protection from being lost.
So, for the sake of Allah,
how many sources have been bound,
and how many volumes and treatises have been preserved!
People have transmitted them, students have memorized them,
paths have been made easy,
and distances between lands and understandings have been bridged.
Peace.