This hadith from the Prophet Mohammed serves as a call to save humanity through knowledge. Prophets are teachers, so are scholars, priests, ministers, imams, and rabbis.

“Indeed, we revealed the Torah, containing guidance and light, by which the prophets, who submitted themselves to God, made judgments for Jews. So too did the rabbis and scholars judge according to God’s Book, with which they were entrusted and of which they were made keepers.” Quran 5:44.

 Ahmed Chawqi said, “Stand up for your teacher and honor him with praise, for the teacher is almost a prophet.” 

“And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.”

Khalil Jubran, aka Kahlil Gibran, from his work: “Self-knowledge.”

 Ignorance is the source of all the problems the world faces. Racism is built on ignorance because humans reject what is different or new to them. From racism and the refusal to accept and coexist with those who are even slightly different, hate was born, and hate creates violence because hate is based on ignorance.

Violence is a barbarian resort to solve conflicts between nations, and we call it war. Sometimes people do not have the choice other then to defend their land, their honor, their homes, or their sovereignty and often people living in dictatorships peacefully protest to defend and demand human rights out of political awareness because they have the right to be free, to express their opinions, and to be given the basic rights as citizens that are privileges in dictatorial regimes. The government in dictatorships responds with violence and the killing of innocent people.

Money and power are more important to powerful people than their dignity, ethics, and morals, and resorting to violence is what seems to them to be the only way to maintain their high status. All these are different reasons in different contexts, but we, as humans, should not fall into the “divide to rule” trap. God does not care about our color, ethnicity, language, race, or our differences, but about our belief in him, our piety, and our will to be decent human beings.

All nations need peace and education to prosper. We cannot build a nation with ignorance or violence; we need to educate our people so that ignorance does not blind them into believing that they are superior to other fellow human beings. The more we know, the better we live, and peace is crucial to maintain brotherhood and harmony.

Our nation was founded by highly educated scholars who believed in the importance of knowledge, freedom, and human rights. This is why the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution guarantee all rights to American citizens and defy any form of totalitarianism. Knowledge and freedom are the most important pillars on which a nation rests.

“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” was included in the Declaration of Independence by one of the fathers of our great nation, Thomas Jefferson. The pursuit of well-being, including moral and intellectual growth. Wealth was not included as a main factor, but knowledge and morals were.

Moses taught that true knowledge comes from God and includes wisdom, knowing God, and fearing God. Who fears God will live righteously, which is a common principle in the three monotheistic religions. The spiritual knowledge, teaching that true wisdom comes from fearing God and living righteously,

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Psalm 90

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”             Proverbs 18:15

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:7

“For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”

Proverbs 2:10

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Hosea 4:6  

“A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might.”

Proverbs 24:5

“Choose my instructions instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies.”

Proverbs 8:10

“Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.”

Psalm 119:66

“The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge.”

Proverbs 14:15

“For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.”

Proverbs 2:6

Jesus insisted that true knowledge involves learning but also putting divine wisdom into action, leading to salvation, freedom, and a deeper understanding of God.

“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,”

I Corinthians 12:8

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.”

Proverbs 1:5

Prophet Mohamed said:

“Learn and when you learn teach.”

 “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim male and female.”

 “You must seek knowledge from birth till death.”

The holy scriptures of the three religions emphasize the importance of knowledge. The first verse of the Quran, which was revealed to Prophet Mohammed, contains the word read:

“Read in the name of your Lord who created, created humans from a clot, read and your Lord is the most generous, who taught by the pen, taught humans what they knew not.” Quran 96:1-5

In our nation, we have the best schools, high-quality teaching by competent teachers, efficient professors, eminent scholars, and a strong commitment to education. In 2025, more than 420 Americans won the Nobel Prize for their work and contributions to the intellectual world. Forty percent of the laureates globally.

America walked on the moon, invented the telephone, the television, the pacemaker, the phonograph, the light bulb, the steel plough, the transistor, the sewing machine, the electric guitar, the microwave oven, the computer technology, the internet, smartphones, CRISPR gene editing,  the electrocardiograph, organ transplant, portable defibrillators, AI-driven diagnostics for imaging and cancer detection, coronary bypass and the first kidney transplant, autonomous vehicles, traffic lights, the airplane, liquid fuel rockets, air conditioning, vaccines, like the Polio vaccine, artificial pancreas, retinal implants, chemotherapy, the escalator, 3D printing, the barcode, personal computers, video games, Artificial Intelligence, streaming, the segway and so many inventions that I can’t name them all. America excelled in the seven arts, producing the best the world has seen and made history.

All this comes from the thirst for knowledge and excellent education provided by American schools. What happened to our civilization to make it look like it is slowing down? Knowledge becomes inaccessible when it is too expensive. Students must pay tuition for state public schools. State colleges provide housing through private companies, which charge students $10,000 a year to share a room with four other students and a bathroom with twenty students. How do IVY league schools justify ninety-five-thousand-dollar tuition a year while they get grants from the federal government?

Our American history has shown that affordable education produced the best of America after WWII, thanks to the GI Bill. Almost eight million Americans attended college under the GI Bill, including Wilson Greatbatch, who invented the pacemaker in 1958; 450,000 engineers, 238,000 teachers, 91,000 scientists, 67,000 doctors, 240,000 accountants, and 17,000 journalists. Some veterans became presidents, like George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford; some talented entertainers, like Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, Walter Matthau, Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, Tony Curtis, and Kirk Douglas. The GI Bill also produced authors, business innovators, politicians, and Supreme Court Justices. The bill allowed veterans from middle- and working-class backgrounds to pursue higher education and enter various professional fields. This is proof that making education affordable, a right and not an expensive privilege, can help the nation grow and give chances to good and smart citizens to prove themselves, contribute to the building of a great nation, and fulfill their dreams. In other words, the pursuit of happiness in a nation that guarantees freedom and love of knowledge.

High school students work hard in after-school activities and volunteering to qualify for a scholarship. Time they could use to do their homework or simply rest, instead of spending the night catching up and ending up exhausted from lack of sleep during the day.  Internships for college or high school students are considered forms of volunteer work without pay. Students often can’t take advantage of the opportunity because they must work to earn a living and pay rent. Even after graduation, six digits in debt, if they find a job in the city, they share housing with peers because none of them can afford the non-regulated rent. They cannot buy a house, while in the greatness of America, a college degree or even a high school degree could provide a job and a house, during the time when mom did not work or drive. Now, mom must work and put the children in daycare, not always because she prefers it, but because the bills can’t be covered on a single income. Single mothers suffer even more. Men and women must have equal opportunities to build families, pursue education, pursue careers, and pursue happiness simultaneously.

What happened to the greatest nation on earth is that education is no longer prioritized; young people might decide to abandon college and education if they do not have wealthy parents. Despite all the difficulties, people struggle but maintain a decent life and pursue their dreams with persistence and determination. America is still the greatest country on earth and a place we are proud to call home, because we have freedom.

We need education to continue building our country and to offer opportunities to future generations, as we used to. Because if we do not, we will have a nation or people who, out of ignorance, fight and hate each other instead of building together, influenced by hate speech and lies repeated by some media sources. We do not need racists and xenophobes, but smart and educated people who believe in peaceful coexistence and human brotherhood. This is the difference between our great America and the rest of the world. A welcoming land of pious people, where the impossible becomes possible, where the belief in God and family is primordial, where everyone can fulfill their dreams and live in peace. It is the only country in the world where folks from every corner of the earth can call home, even if they are not natives of the land of the free and the home of the brave, but they know it is where they are free. An immigrant in France can never be totally French; an immigrant in England can never be totally English; the same in any country in the world, except America, because anyone who comes to America becomes American. No country on earth has achieved the degree of freedom, democracy, and human rights that the American Constitution provides its people with. Our freedom will make no sense, nor will it help us if it were not built on knowledge. Education is the foundation of our nation. Let’s make sure we keep it, nurture it, and see it grow like a tree of virtue, integrity, and righteousness. Let’s teach our children that knowledge is indeed the treasure.