However, it is strange that many Muslims doubt that it is necessary, but rather most of them do not consider it obligatory; because they think that gaining knowledge is obligatory for a group of them, and it is abolished to others with the action of that group, and it is sufficient for others to imitate them. Whereas seeking knowledge is obligatory due to the necessity of knowledge, and imitating others, whether they are dead or alive, does not cause knowledge, and therefore, imitators are not considered knowledgeable, and this is a fact on which there is no disagreement, and accordingly, most Muslims are ignorant; as God Almighty has said: ﴿وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَجْهَلُونَ﴾[1]; “But most of them are ignorant”; because their cognition are imitative; but rather a group of them who have tried to gain knowledge are mostly not considered knowledgeable either; because they have sought knowledge based on imitating the predecessors, whereas knowledge is not gained based on imitation; considering that knowledge is certain, and imitation is conjectural, and what is certain is not gained through what is conjectural; as God Almighty has said: ﴿وَمَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ ۖ إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ ۖ وَإِنَّ الظَّنَّ لَا يُغْنِي مِنَ الْحَقِّ شَيْئًا﴾[2]; “They have no knowledge about it; they follow nothing but conjecture, while conjecture is not sufficient for (proving) the truth.” Therefore, most Muslims who imitate them actually imitate people who themselves imitate others, and this is nothing but gaining conjecture through another conjecture that God Almighty has said about: ﴿ظُلُمَاتٌ بَعْضُهَا فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ﴾[3]; “Darknesses that some are above some others.”

[Ignorance; the origin of Muslims’ problems]

There is no doubt that Muslims’ problems are primarily due to ignorance that has encompassed them, because they are surrounded by ignorance from three sides:

[Ignorance about Islam]

On the one hand, they do not know Islam, nor do they strive to know it; but rather their efforts are devoted to the life of the world, and their cognition is based on imitation;