I Don't Know
\r\nIt is one of the most difficult skills to master, but it is essential for those who wish to speak about religious matters.
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\r\n You are confronted with a question. You are in a position where an answer is expected of you. It is something a person in your position should not be ignorant of. Your reputation is at stake. The matter pertains to Allah, the tenets of religion, or something affecting someone else’s rights. You do not want to look uninformed or be thought a fool.
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\r\n What do you do?
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\r\n The greatest minds of the past knew what to do. They would say: “I don’t know.”
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\r\n Malik is one of the greatest scholars in Muslim history. He was humble and God fearing when it came to religious knowledge. He would only speak about what he knew. Haytham b. Jamil said: “I once listened as Imam M?lik was asked forty-eight questions. He answered thirty-two of them by saying: ‘I do not know.’ He answered the other sixteen with what he knew.”
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\r\n Malik used to say: “The words ‘I do not know’ are the scholar’s shield. If he loses them, he will be lethally wounded.”
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\r\n Ibn Abd al-Barr, one of the greatest Maliki jurists, relates that the Prophet’s Companion Abu al-Darda used to say: “To say ‘I do not know’ is half of all knowledge.”
The key to being able to say “I do not know” is humility. If a person’s concern in seeking knowledge is fame and fortune, it becomes an extremely difficult thing to do.
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\r\nIf a person’s concern is for knowledge itself and for Allah’s pleasure, it becomes the easiest thing to say “I don’t know.”
Compiled From:
\r\n "Learn to Say: 'I Do Not Know'" - Salman al-Oadah