Foundations of Felicity:
Following the Path of Knowledge
Allah the Exalted says, Allah bears witness that there is no god except Him—as do the angels and people of knowledge.” [Quran 3:18] And the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever Allah wills good for, He grants him an understanding in religion.” [Bukhari & Muslim]
Imam al-Ghazali states, “With respect to the human being, nothing is greater than attaining eternal felicity. And nothing is more virtuous than the means to it. Eternal felicity is only attained through knowledge and action. One can only truly act when he has the knowledge of how to perform the action. Therefore, the foundation of felicity in this world and the next is knowledge. It is the best of all actions.”
Objectives:
Learning the merits of knowledge and differentiating between beneficial and blameworthy knowledge
Internalizing Imam al-Ghazali’s conception of the Science of the Way to the Hereafter (‘ilm tariq al-akhira)
Etiquettes of teaching, learning, and debating
Identifying the qualities of the scholars of the Hereafter