O student of knowledge, I exhort you to purify your intention in pursuing knowledge and to strive to make your soul act according to knowledge’s dictates. For the science is a tree of which deeds are the fruit, and he is not counted learned, who doesn’t put his learning into practice.
… Surely, he who gathers books of knowledge is no different than he who gathers gold and silver. Surely, the devourer of books is no different from the greedy miser. Surely, the bibliophile enamoured with books is no different from the hoarder of gold and silver. Therefore, just as wealth doesn’t benefit except through its spending, likewise do the sciences not benefit except those who put them into practice and observes the requirements.
– Imam Khatib al-Baghdadi (392-463) in his Iqtida’ al-’Ilm al-’Amal
