On Protecting knowledge

Abu al Hasan Abd al Aziz al Jurjani said :

ON PROTECTING KNOWLEDGE

They say to me that you are withdrawn, but they saw a man more humiliated and withdrawn.

I saw people who belittle any humble soul who drew near to

them;

anyone who was exalted by pride they received with honour.

I gave not knowledge its due,

And every time a craving for the world came to me,

I used my knowledge as a staircase to attain it.

When it was said, “This is a fountain.” I said, “I see”.

I strove not in the service of knowledge,

Nor as a servant of the needy souls I met.

I sought, instead, to be saved.

Am I to be made wretched by the seedling I planted,

Harvesting only humiliation?

If this is so, it would have been better to have sought ignorance!

If only the people of knowledge had protected it,

It would have protected them.

If they had magnified it in their souls,

They would have been magnified.

To the contrary, they belittled it,

And thereby became despicable.

They disfigured its face with their craving for the world, leaving it frowning and dejected.