The Value of Knowledge
Al-Risala (English), August 1987, p. 5
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
The Value of Knowledge
1987 8 August 5 The Value of Knowledge (249) At an informal gathering on February 5, 1987, Mr. Abdur Rahman Antulay, Barrister–at–Law and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra narrated an incident which took place in 1954 when he was studying law at the Council of Legal Education in London. His English professor, elaborating upon a point of law during his lecture, told of how a large – scale factory had suddenly come to a halt, foiling all attempts of the engineers to re-start it. Finally, an expert had to be called in. Taking a round of the factory to inspect the machinery, he stopped at one point and asked for hammer. When it was brought, he struck one particular part of one of the machines, and this set everything in motion again.
The expert then took himself off and sent them a bill for £100. Thinking that this seemed excessive, the factory manager wrote back to him, “You hardly did any work. A bill for £100, for just one blow of a hammer, is beyond our comprehension. Kindly furnish my client with further and better particulars”. The expert replied that the bill was quite in order. £99.19 to diagnose the disease and one shilling to pick up the hammer and strike the right spot.
Knowledge is of inestimable value in this world. Likewise, awareness of God shall be of the highest value in the Life after death. The position that one attains in the Hereafter shall be exactly according to the level of one’s awareness of God.
