The 365 · Verses · Day 131 · Knowledge
Even the Prophet ﷺ was told: ask for more knowledge. 3 seconds before any reading.
Qur'an Quran 20:114
فَتَعَـٰلَى ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمَلِكُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ وَلَا تَعْجَلْ بِٱلْقُرْءَانِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يُقْضَىٰٓ إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُۥ ۖ وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدْنِى عِلْمًا
“Exalted be God, the one who is truly in control. [Prophet], do not rush to recite before the revelation is fully complete but say, 'Lord, increase me in knowledge!' (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: Upphöjd över allt är Gud, Konungen, den yttersta Sanningen! Undvik jäkt och brådska vad Koranen beträffar... men be: 'Herre! Låt min kunskap växa!' (Knut Bernström)
The story
The verse comes in the context of the Prophet's ﷺ eagerness to memorize revelation as Jibrīl recited it. The Prophet ﷺ would move his tongue rapidly, fearing he would forget. Allah revealed Q 75:16-19 instructing him not to rush. Q 20:114 is the parallel instruction: the cure for rushing is the duʿāʾ for increase in knowledge.
In the language
Zidnī (increase me) is in the form of structural request for incremental growth: not 'give me knowledge' but 'increase me in it,' implying the believer is already on a path. ʿIlmā is indefinite: any knowledge, of any category. The verse pairs this open request with the verse's opening, which names Allah as al-Malik al-Ḥaqq.
Why this verse
Q 20:114 contains the only Quranic instruction to the Prophet ﷺ to ask for an increase in something. Of all the things Allah commanded the Prophet ﷺ to ask for more of, the named category is knowledge. Rabbi zidnī ʿilmā (Lord, increase me in knowledge) is therefore the Quranic-Prophetic duʿāʾ for the believer's lifelong learning. Ibn Kathīr cites Ibn ʿUyaynah: 'The Prophet ﷺ did not cease increasing in knowledge until Allah took him.'
Bring it into today
Recite 'rabbi zidnī ʿilmā' before every reading session (Quran, hadith, beneficial books, even academic study). The cost is 3 seconds; the foundational duʿāʾ of the entire scholarly tradition.
A reflection to carry
Q 20:114 establishes the structural priority of knowledge in the believing life. The Prophet ﷺ, the most knowledgeable human, was instructed to ask for more. The believer who is not asking for more is structurally below the Prophetic floor.
Read the longer reflection
Ibn ʿUyaynah: 'The Prophet ﷺ did not cease increasing in knowledge until Allah took him.' The implication: the Prophet's ﷺ knowledge at the time of his death was greater than at his prophethood by the structural increment of every learning-event between. The believer's life follows the same trajectory: knowledge accumulates; the lifelong duʿāʾ ensures the trajectory continues. Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī's Iqtiḍāʾ al-ʿIlm al-ʿAmal: this verse establishes the structural Quranic-Sunnah precedent for the believer's lifelong learning.
Sources: Ibn Kathir. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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