The first word God revealed was a command to read. Before law, before ritual, before any instruction on how to live, the Qur'an asked a man to learn. That order still stands over every student hunched at a desk and every mind that goes quiet before a hard question.
Knowledge in these verses carries humility with it. The more a person understands, the more clearly they see how much remains hidden, and that awareness draws them nearer to their Lord. These passages hold both the invitation to seek and the reminder that all understanding begins and ends with the One who taught.
96:1 — Read, in the name of your Lord who created —
20:114 — Exalted is God, the True Sovereign. Do not rush ahead with the Qur'an before its revelation to you is complete, and say, 'My Lord, increase me in knowledge.'
39:9 — Is the one who is devout through the hours of the night, prostrating and standing, wary of the hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord — like one who is not? Say: are those who know equal to those who do not know? Only those of understanding take heed.
58:11 — You who believe, when you are told, "Make room in the gatherings," then make room — God will make room for you. And when you are told, "Rise up," then rise — God will raise, by many degrees, those of you who believe and those who have been given knowledge. And God is fully aware of what you do.
35:28 — And among people, and creatures, and livestock — likewise — there are varying colors. Of all his servants, it is those with knowledge who stand in awe of God. Indeed, God is mighty, forgiving.
2:269 — God grants wisdom to whomever he wills, and whoever is granted wisdom has been granted abundant good. Yet none take heed except those endowed with understanding.
3:190 — Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those of understanding.
17:36 — Do not pursue what you have no knowledge of. The hearing, the sight, and the heart — each of these will be called to account.