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.

Keeping a diary is another form of the preservation of knowledge. Keeping a diary is advisable for everyone. A personal diary may include a person’s experiences, thoughts, and summaries of his daily studies.

Someone who keeps a diary is known as a diarist. A diary is a collection of notes, kept in chronological order. Through a diary, one can thus keep the record of one’s daily intellectual journey. A diary can also serve as an effective means of self-introspection and accountability. By writing a diary, a person can continue to improve himself by knowing his successes and failures. Thus, a diary can become a source of one’s intellectual development.