100 Principles for Purposeful Living

upbringing but also the place of their education and training. Every home should be a cradle of education and training, otherwise, it would remain incomplete. 7. The Superiority of Knowledge According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam once said, “The ink of a scholar's pen is superior to the blood of a martyr.” (Tarikh Baghdad by Al-Khatib AlBaghdadi, Vol. 2, p. 190) This tradition shows that knowledge is greater than all other things. Learning is like food for our minds. It expands our mental horizons. A higher level of education is associated with better mental functioning, with better planning. Any physical activity is finite. After a certain point, we reach our physical limitations. But the case of knowledge is different. Since there is no limit to knowledge, a person possessing the wealth of knowledge becomes limitless. 8. Keeping a Record of Knowledge The Prophet of Islam is reported to have said, “Preserve knowledge through writing.” (Sunan Al-Darimi, Hadith No. 514) This means that knowledge should be preserved in writing. In this way, the knowledge which was stored in a person’s memory can be transferred onto paper to record and pass along to future generations. Thus, writing enables us to preserve the knowledge for posterity. One way of using this knowledge is to transfer it in the form of books. Scholarly books should be written on every subject to preserve knowledge and be made available in libraries.