Human passion and interest
Generally humans are interested in many things in filling up their temporary lives in this world.
Some are interested in sports. Example a person who is interested in an English Football Club such as Liverpool, will put in extra effort, time and money towards experiencing that interest. He will book plane tickets to go for a Liverpool match. He will buy an original Liverpool jersey and merchandise. He will stay awake at night to watch Liverpool matches on subscribed TV Sports Channel. A person who is barely interested in Football will not do all that.
Some are interested in Musical Entertainment. A person may buy any new Album of a singer or band he adores. He will purchase tickets and spend the night at their “live” concerts. He will keep track of the lives of these celebrities.
Some are interested in movies. Any new movies that are at the cinemas, he will be the one who watches all of them. Hours after hours of movie time. He will subscribe to “Movie on Demand” TV channel so that he can re-watch those old movies. He will buy T-Shirts, toys or merchandise related to those movies. He will memorize all the names of actors and actresses and diligently followed their life and times. He is proud of his “knowledge”.
Some are interested in animals. He becomes an animal rights advocate. He will rescue any stray cats or dogs. He will join an animal enthusiast club or association. He will go on a travel Safari in Africa and many more.
There are people who are interested in acquiring worldly knowledge so that they can apply it in this world, such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Botany, Psychology, Medicines, etc.
Some are interested in cooking or growing plants. Some are into Politics. There exist so many humanly interest.
Islamic Religious knowledge
The point of what I’m trying to say is that out of all the many humanly interest, one of them is the interest to learn any kind of Islamic Religious knowledge, be it Tajweed, Quran recitation, Tafseer, Arabic Grammar, Islamic inheritance, Aqeedah, Fiqh, etc. The person will spend hours attending classes, listening to lectures and short talks, reading books and websites, etc. His interest is in Religion.
A person who look at Tajweed terminologies and feels that it is not that relevant to him, it means that he has no interest in that field. However any religious knowledge whether it is directly relevant you or not, you will still get the Reward (“Ajr” or “Pahala”) from Allah so as to add into your “good deed” scale on Judgement Day. That is why we see many aunties and uncles attended Tajweed classes or any other religious classes conducted in the masjid or online. Even if they cannot fully grasp the full knowledge, but they will still get to retain bites of it.
A person may performed all the religious rituals but without understanding or having more knowledge of the religion. His interest might be in Engineering and he is an Engineer. His interest is not on studying more of the Religion. That is fine as long as he is a good Muslim.
The Quraish of Makkah will not be bothered with the Prophets s.a.w if he recite the Quran to a bunch of non Arab people who do not understand a thing of what is being recited. That is listening to the Quran without knowledge. Theoritically, listening to the Quran is an “Ibadah” which will earn you reward but many people are without the knowledge to understand what was recited. A person may performed solah all his life but does not know the meaning of what he is reciting. That is performing rituals without knowledge. People are only concern about doing the rituals without the interest of the knowledge that comes with it.
Some may perceived Religious Knowledge is only about Fiqh. The “How” and “When” to do the Rituals. The step by step technicality of each rituals. Memorizing the Pillars of Islam and performing them. As for the Pillars of Eeman (faith), generally they are to just believe in the pillars without further thought.
Having Passion towards Religious Knowledge
Religious knowledge is so much more. Even though we are just a layman Muslim and not having any Degree, Master or PhD in any Islamic Discipline in the Universities, however the effort to learn at own pace shows that we are someone whose interest is towards Religious knowledge. As mentioned before, not all people has the same interest and that is fine. A husband and a wife’s interest may not be the same but they can still live fine with each other. People of the same interest will tend to flock together hence we see people attending religious lessons as if it was fun entertainment to them.
The takeaway for the layman in learning more Religious Knowledge is to be in awe and amazement of Allah and the religion that he has prescribed to us. This will increase our Eeman. We need Eeman upgrades time and time again. When we are on the death bed, the knowledge & Eeman that we posses are shields against the whispering of Syaithan trying his last attempt to derailed us from the true path.
Mental Health
Studying, absorbing knowledge and memorizing are good exercises in preventing dementia and alzheimer and avoiding becoming senile in old age. The brain is just like the muscles in our body. Example, if we don't walk for several years, we will loose the ability to walk. If we don't have a habit of thinking, we will loose our brain.
Go to NEXT PAGE to learn more on Critical Thinking