Sunan Ibn Mājah 224, Grade: Sahih
"Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar comments on the Quranic verse '...And say, My Lord, increase me in knowledge,' is a clear indication of the merit and excellence of knowledge, for Allah never commanded His Prophet (peace be upon him) to invoke Him for more of anything other than knowledge...
...There is no doubt that before one starts doing something one should know how to perform it in the best way, so as to perform it well to harvest its desired fruits. Likewise, it is by no means reasonable that one starts worshipping one's Lord, the way through which one's salvation from Hellfire and admittance to Paradise are gaines without knowledge." [Summary of Islamic Jurisprudence, (1/2-3).
Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaanee said, " the one who takes the path of the khalaf (i.e. the later generations after the Salaf who deviated from the way of the Salaf in these issues of taweel) cannot be sure that that which he makes ta'weel of is the intended meaning, and it is not possible to be certain of the correctness of the ta'weel."
['Fath al-Baaree' of ibn Hajr (13/436)]
" He would not waste any moment of the day or night but he would spend it busy with attaining knowledge. Even when he is walking in the streets he will be busy going over what he had remembered and reviewing his notes. He continued gaining knowledge in that way for a period of six years."
[ Commentary on the forty hadith of Al Nawawi (pg.14) ]
It is not permissible for me to waste an hour of my life even when my tongue is not busy with memorizing or debating with others, or my eyes are not busy in reading. I would think even when I am resting or relaxing, so I would not get up without an idea to write down. I limit the time I spend eating as much as I can, to such an extent that I choose a few crumbs and follow it with water rather than bread, because bread takes more time to chew, so as to save my time for reading or writing down some useful ideas. The best thing for the wise man to save is time."
[ Salaah al-Ummah (4/169-175) ]
