What is the importance of education in Islam?

No religion and no ideology places as much emphasis on education and knowledge as much as Islam does and makes the seeking  of knowledge and implementation of what has been learnt incumbent on both men and women.   Knowledge and education is to be taken here in the broad sense (ie. Advancement in every field). Here are some hadiths that are accepted by all schools of thought:   1. “the ink of the learned man is holier in Allah’s eyes than the blood of the martyr”. 2.  “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”. 3. “Search for knowledge is the duty of every Muslim. Verily Allah loves the seekers of Knowledge”.   Here are some  relevant hadiths related by the Ja’farite School of thought with regards to knowledge and its practice:   1. “The way of conjecture leads to destruction. He who gives legal jugement without knowing the abrogative (Quranic verses) from the abrogated or the definite from the ambiguous and obscure leads to the destruction of himself and others” Prophet Mohammad.            2. “O people know that the maturity in religion lies in the pursuit of knowledge and putting it into practice. Indeed the pursuit of knowledge is more incumbent upon you than endeavour for livelihood, for your livelihood has been apportioned and guaranteed by the Just One and will be provided to you. Knowledge is stored with its possessors and you have been commanded to acquire it from them” Imam Ali   3. “A man’s actions must be better than his words, his words must not be better than his actions”. Imam Ali   4. “Never feel ashamed to learn something you do not know”. Imam Ali 5. Knowledge is the only thing that when given it does not decrease . Iam Ali . (I am giving this hadith from memory but it is along those lines, so I did not put quotation marks.    The following are hadiths from Imam Ja’far al Sadiq:   6. “It is incumbent upon you to understand well the religion of Allah, do not be like the wanderers of the desert. On the day of judgement, Allah shall not take any notice of him who has not understood his religion and shall not attach any weight to his [good] deeds”   7. “Scholars are the heirs of the Prophets, for Prophets have not left behind any riches but the inheritance of traditions and whoever takes anything of it gains a lot. However, be careful as to where you get your information [knowledge] from. Verily, in every generation, there are just ones from us the Ahlulbait, who purge religion of the distortions of fanatics, the plagiarisms of liars and the misinterpretations of the unenlightened”.   8. “There are three classes of people : scholars and students – the rest are empty “ (PS: not sure of accuracty of translation of last word).   9. “The one who acquires knowledge and puts it into practice and instructs others, all for the sake of God; on the day of judgement he will be summoned to a high station and told: “Thou learnt for the sake of Allah, acted for the sake of Allah and taught for the sake of Allah”.     10. “The learned man is the one whose acts substantiate his words”.   11. “The death of a scholar exhilarates Satan as much as that of a non-believer”   12. “He who acts without knowledge (and certainty) is like him who travels without knowing the way, his speed and despatch only take him further away from his goal”. History books also relate that Prophet Mohammad asked literate prisoners of war to teach  5 illiterate people, then set them free.   There  is a verse in Quran that describes people who know but do not put in  practice their knowledge  as “they like donkeys with books on their back”.   There are many more hadiths on the topic but the above should be sufficient to substantiate the claim that Islam is pro-knowledge, pro-education for all. Of  course, note that knowledge without conscience causes one’s and others  loss (eg. what use do you make of atomic energy?  Do you use it to serve  human beings or destroy them?) How many ‘educated’ / ‘knowledgeable’ a person are actually the worst when it comes to practice.  It is said that when Imam Mahdi comes the first he will strike are scholars (those who preach and do not practice, those who mislead people for wordly gains, those who are hypocritical and fear people but do not fear God, etc. ). History testifies, for example of people who were hafiz (knew the whole of Quran by heart) yet committed the wors atrocities.    In light of the above, the immediate question that will come to a critical mind is : well, if Islam emphasises  knowledge and education so much why are so many Muslim countries not on the edge of science and technology? Why is illetaracy (partucularly amonsgt women - pillars of the family) so high, why this? Why that?  The answer is simple they are left behind because they have left Islam (the practice of it) and become empty vessels that are happy to just consume and have little conscience left; they have kept of Islam the shell and discarded its essence.    Ponder over these words of wisdom:   “I lived in the West, I saw Islam, but never saw Muslims. I lived in the East, and I saw Muslims, but I never saw Islam” Sayyid Jamal-ad-Din Asad Abadi