Whoever does not taste the hardship of learning for an hour will drink the humiliation of ignorance for a lifetime.
Imam al-Shafii (Diwan)
“Whoever does not taste the hardship of learning for an hour will drink the humiliation of ignorance for a lifetime.”
What does Imam al-Shafii (Diwan) mean?
From the Diwan attributed to al-Shafi‘i. The line is built on an exact exchange rate — an hour against a lifetime — and the verb in the second half is “drink,” which in the Arabic makes the humiliation something swallowed daily rather than suffered once.
Written from Written from Al-Mukhtasar fi at-Tafsir and Tafsir Ibn Kathir.