USUL AL 'ILM: The Pillars of Knowledge

AYAAT OF QUR’AN EMPHASIZING KNOWLEDGE

47:19. Know, therefore, that There is no god But God, and ask
Forgiveness for thy fault, And for the faults of men and women who believe:
For God knows how ye Move about and how Ye dwell in your homes.

Allah SWT begins with knowledge.  “Then know that there is no god but Allah.”  Knowledge that there is only one god is the highest knowledge.  Adepts of other religions, particularly those that posit multiple gods, spend lifetimes in contemplation to reach this highest degree of knowledge.  At the highest levels of Hindu and Buddhist thought, one attains the understanding that there is but One.  Belief in Unity rests at the heart of every religion of mankind.  The other universal belief is that we are held accountable for our actions, and that those who seek forgiveness will obtain forgiveness, while those who do not will receive punishment.  We are held accountable for our actions because, even if done while no human is watching, many unseen eyes are watching, and Allah – the Unity, the One – has knowledge of all we do.  We begin with the greatest degree of human knowledge – divine unity – and end with the greatest knowledge – that of Allah who know all.

11. O ye who believe! When ye are told
To make room In the assemblies,
(Spread out and) make room: (Ample) room will God provide
For you. And when Ye are told to rise up, Rise up: God will
Raise up, to (suitable) ranks (And degrees), those of you
Who believe and who have Been granted Knowledge.
And God is well-acquainted With all ye do.

Allah SWT gives us instruction in how to obtain knowledge.  Here He describes an important aspect of acquiring knowledge by humans.  We are social, and benefit most from communal activities that increase our individual and collective knowledge.  The institution of the majlis, the gathering of people sitting in assembly, is the primary means of communicating knowledge.  We have lost something very critical in our uncritical embracing of “modern” Western methods of teaching.  The class room, with its lectures, individual homework assignments, and discouraging of discussion, has produced generations of students who have not really learned a thing.  Yes, they have rote memorized reams of material, but they are unable to analyze or synthesize it.  They do not understand it.  In the past, all schools of religious learning used the majlis method.  Students read the text with their teachers, who then guided them through questions and answers based on the text.  Students met in study groups after class to further discuss what they had learned.  Such techniques are only now being re-discovered in graduate level programs.  Finally, Allah reminds us where knowledge comes from.  It is a gift from Allah.  And only He is Alim.  This is important to remember because knowledge is like wealth.  It is a gift and it can be taken away.  Today, many are proud of their degrees and think they are the ones who acquired the knowledge.  But they could lose it tomorrow through amnesia or Alzheimer’s.  As we say, Allah SWT ta’ala Alim.

9:122. Nor should the Believers All go forth together:
If a contingent From every group Remained behind,
They could devote themselves To studies in religion,
And admonish the people When they return to them,—
That thus they (may learn) To guard themselves (against evil)

This ayat emphasize the importance of knowledge.  Some assume the groups referred to here are armies sent out for armed conflict.  This is not necessarily so.  We “go out” for various reasons.  We go out for trade, for business.  We go out of our homes everyday for jobs, and to take care of family needs.  We “go out” every time we are caught up in the hayaat al duniyyah and risk the chance that we will become so distracted by it that we will forget Allah. 

This ayat speaks to groups of people, reminding them that even in the midst of group activities, supporting the acquisition of knowledge is essential.  It is, in fact, a fard kifayyah, a communal obligation.  So from every group, ever town, every unit of human beings, we need to make sure some one is meeting this obligation to acquire knowledge.  It also speaks to individuals, reminding them to set aside time to acquire knowledge themselves.  The Prophet stated that seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim.  (This hadith is quoted below). 

39:9. Is one who worships devoutly During the hours of the night
Prostrating himself or standing (In adoration), who takes heed
Of the Hereafter, and who Places his hope in the Mercy
Of his Lord—(like one Who does not)? Say:
"Are those equal, those who know And those who do not know?
It is those who are Endued with understanding That receive admonition.

Here Allah SWT teaches us something of the nature of knowledge or ilm.  It is more than the accumulation of data.  A hard drive does that.  It is to understand the implications of that data in such a way as to affect our behavior.  A person of ilm is endued with knowledge and understanding to such a degree that they “get it.”  Their behavior shows this in that they “qaanitun” – a difficult word to translate in that it indicated devout supererogatory worship.  The ayat also mentions those acts which bring us the closest to submission to Allah, including sajda.  Moreover, such a person remembers the Hereafter and fears his end.  He does not assume his pious acts will be enough to save him.  He fears punishment, but has hope in the Mercy of Allah.  It is this hope that sustains him.  He does not pretend to have certainty as do the Christians.  He respects Allah enough to know that it is His Mercy that saves us.  Such a person truly has knowledge.

HADITH EMPHASIZING KNOWLEDGE

Anas ibn Malik narrated, “The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 74, also related in meaning by Ibn Majah.

It was narrated that Abu Hurairah said: “The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Allah wills good for a person, He causes him to understand the religion.’”
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Sunnah, Hadith no 220)
It was narrated from Zaid bin Thâbit that the Messenger of Allah said: “May Allah cause his face to shine, the man who hears what I say and conveys it (to others). Many are those who have knowledge but no understanding, and many are those who convey knowledge to those who have more understanding of it than they do” 
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Sunnah, Hadith no 230)
It was narrated that Abu Hurrairah said: “The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Whoever acquires knowledge by which the pleasure of Allah is sought, but he only acquires it for the purpose of worldly gain, will not smell the fragrance of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection.”
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Sunnah, Hadith no 252)
It was narrated from Thu ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever seeks knowledge in order to argue with the foolish, or to show off before the scholars, or to attract people’s attention, will be in Hell.”
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Sunnah, Hadith no 253)

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, God will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge. The inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and (even) the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man. The superiority of the learned over the devout is like that of the moon, on the night when it is full, over the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave (no monetary inheritance), they leave only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion.
(Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1631)

Imam Ali stated, “Knowledge is better than wealth. Knowledge guards you while you have to guard wealth. Wealth decreases by spending while knowledge increases by spending, and the results of wealth die as wealth decay. With it a man acquires obedience during his lifetime and a good name after his death. Knowledge is a ruler while wealth is ruled upon.”

Imam Ali stated, “Acquire knowledge, because he who acquires it, in the way of the Lord, performs an act of piety; who speaks of it praises the Lord; who seeks it, adores God, who dispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and who imparts it to its fitting objects, performs an act of devotion to God. Knowledge enables its possessor to distinguish what is forbidden from what is not; lights the way to Heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our companion in solitude, our companion, when bereft of friends; it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is our ornament in the company of friends; it serves as an armour against our enemies. With knowledge, the creatures of Allah rise to the heights of goodness and to noble position, associates with the sovereigns in this world and attains the perfection of happiness in the next.”

DUA FOR KNOWLEDGE

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ وَمِنْ دُعَاءٍ لَا يُسْمَعُ وَمِنْ قَلْبٍ لَا يَخْشَعُ وَمِنْ نَفْسٍ لَا تَشْبَعُ

0 Allah, I seek refuge with You from knowledge that is of no benefit, from a supplication that is not heard, from a heart that does not fear (You) and from a soul that is not satisfied.

(Sunan Ibn e Majah, Book of Sunnah, Hadith no 250)

اللَّهُمَّ انْفَعْنِي بِمَا عَلَّمْتَنِي وَعَلِّمْنِي مَا يَنْفَعُنِي وَزِدْنِي عِلْمًا وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى كُلِّ حَالٍ

0 Allah, benefit me by that which you have taught me, and teach me that which will benefit me.
(Sunan Ibn e Majah, Book of Sunnah, Hadith no 251)

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

O my Lord! Expand my breast for me, And make my affair easy to me, And loose the knot from my tongue, (That) they may understand my word;
(Surah Taha 20:25-28)

MUQADIMAH

Before we can begin any investigation or study of any subject, we must first tackle the issue of knowledge.

 What is knowledge? What can we know?  How do we know it? 

The classic philosophical study of epistemology or theory of knowledge begins with perception.  From the moment we are born into this world, our senses detect and send signals to the brain.  At first, we perceive everything as a chaotic mass of data, but over time, we learn to filter that information and organize it, we learn to distinguish.  We also learn to distinguish what is “background noise” from what is important in terms of our needs at that moment.  We learn to focus.  If our focus changes, then we let in other input and filter out things that we were allowing in just a moment ago.  Without this filtering and focusing ability, our brains would go into overload and “shut down” in autistic attacks. 

This ability to focus our attention has benefits, but it also has draw backs.  We can become so focused that we miss important input.  Without this data, we may make erroneous decisions. 

Our ability to perceive, then, is a process whereby raw data coming into our senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell are filtered by the brain.  The brain then performs other processes on that raw data in an effort to organize the experiences into some form of order.  This includes comparing it to previous experience, and naming what we are experiencing.  Our ability to “name” is innate, and it is described by Allah in the Qur’an.

Al Baqara 2:31. And He taught Adam the names

All of them; then He placed them
Before the angels, and said: "Tell Me
The name of these if ye are right."

32. They said: "Glory to Thee: of knowledge
We have none, save what Thou
Hast taught us: in truth it is Thou
Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom."

33. He said: "O Adam! tell them
the names." When he had told them,
God said: "Did I not tell you
That I know the secrets of heaven
And earth, and I know what ye reveal
And what ye conceal?"

---

As we can see from these ayaat, the names of all things are part of the innate fitrah of Mankind.  We filter experience into piles of similar data.  These piles become concepts or what the Platonic philosophers call “Forms.”    This is what we call tasawwir.    

But if these concepts are based upon our personal experiences, are they only subjective?  Are my concepts solely mine, or do I share them with other creatures having the same sensory apparatuses?  If I same a name, for example, “apple” do other humans have the same concept attached to that name?  If so, then how? 

We must now investigate two issues.  The first concerns the nature of sensory perception and the other concerns the nature of language and its effect on our perceptions.  We have learned much over the years about our ability to perceive.  Not only biology, but robot technology has taught us much about how organs of sense work.  We have discovered a few important factors.  First, the organs of sense perception are our points of contact with the world “outside” of us.  At some point in infant development, babies begin to look at their hands.  They begin to distinguish “parts” of their own bodies.  After some time, they begin to distinguish between this newly discovered body and other bodies.  We call this world outside our body, objective reality, and the world of our own body is the subjective world. 

Our sense organs, then act as a bridge between our subjective reality and the objective reality.  While subjective experience is direct.  Our perception of the objective reality is indirect.  The medium is the organs of sense.  Some sense organs function by perceiving particles – the particles could be of light, smell, or taste.  We have come to learn that light appears to consist at a certain level of particles called photons.  Smell and taste are also the product of the interaction of particles with our senses. 

Touch and hearing; however, seem to be different.  Hearing is accomplished through signals sent by the small bones and tympanic membrane of the inner ear after they are impacted or touched by sound waves.  Touch sensation is triggered by contact between the skin and the “concrete” world.  Molecules of our body come into contact with molecules of other bodies. This triggers electrical and chemical signals that reach the brain.  One question we might consider here is how we can tell the difference on the molecular level.

One thing that should become apparent from this investigation is that sense perception, being indirect, has the potential to be affected by interference.  The sense organs might be faulty, the signals sent to the brain be affected by interference, and the brain might make mistakes in organizing the data.  This propensity of the senses to be “fooled” has led many philosophers to relegate any “knowledge” obtained through the intermediation of the senses to be doubtful or dhanni. 

Moreover, in investigating tasawwir, we first notice that some, the concrete tasawwir, do not require language to convey.  They are not dependant on language.  We can think of them by recalling a sight, sound, smell, taste or touch.  They are concepts based on sensory perception.  But other tasawwir require definition.  To define them, we must use language.  In his book, Ontological Relativity, the author notes that language plays a significant role in epistemology.  This is a very important lesson.

As we touched on before, we often need to convey data and experience to others.  In order to so communicate, humans used language.  In this regard, there are two kinds of tasawwir.  The first are known from direct sensory experience; they are “concrete.”  Because they are based on sensory experience obtained through similar sensory apparatuses, we can easily convey them to other people.  Some simple visual cue, sound, or other means of triggering a sensory memory is enough to convey the concept to others. The Guarani of Brazil, for example, uses onamatapia to name bodies in their environment.  A bird which makes a particular sound will have a name that sounds like the sound it makes. In English, we call a bird that makes a certain sound a cuckoo, because its call sound like “koo-koo.” 

However, other concepts are known only through mental familiarity.  These concepts are “abstract” and are not objects of perception.  Hence, they require a non-sensory means to enable us to convey them to others.  In this case, we name such concepts in an arbitrary manner, and require repeated examples from usage and context in order to gain sufficient familiarity with the name and its associated concept.  Such abstract concepts require definition, and definition consists of other concepts. 

As we are aware, all humanity does not speak the same language.  There are thousands of languages and dialects shared by groups of people, and billions of individual usages of concepts by each person alive today.  While concepts based on sense perception would seem to be shared by all people or at least potentially, if we have had the direct experience of that thing; abstract concepts would seem to be more fluid. 

Philosophers have considered this problem of translation for some time.  Even ideas about “concrete” concepts are not universal.  For example, in Hindi, the word for brown and gray is the same.  The Indian how speaks Hindi sees these as variations on the same color.  However, an American does not.  She sees two distinct colors, one a color, the other, gray, a shade of black or a mix of black and white.  In English we speak of things being “black and white” to indicate opposites.  Gray is the neutral - the in-between.  This is not necessarily so in other language cultures.  Such differences affect our ability to communicate information between each other. 

How important is exact correspondence in communicating knowledge?  It is enough to get the rough idea?  Most of the time, it may not matter, but as any married couple knows, accurate understanding of what the other is trying to convey is extremely important.  Divorce is painful.  In the social setting, we call it “fitnah.”  “Fitnah akbar min al qatl.”  “Fitnah is worse than violent fighting.”

So now we have a grasp of why epistemology or the Usul al Ilm is so important.  The Pillars of Knowledge, the Usul al Ilm, constitute the foundation of every Science, be it Islamic or otherwise.  In building the edifice of Islam, we must make sure the foundations are sound.  In modern buildings, an engineer is often assigned to check the foundations on a regular basis.  At one mosque in Virginia, the women’s section is actually suspended by cables, not cantilevered over load bearing walls.  Therefore, once a year, an engineer volunteers to inspect the cables.  His job is a fard – an obligatory act, but as long as he does it, that obligation is fulfilled.  The same is true of the metaphysician and epistemologist who guards the foundations of the edifice of Islam.  It is a fard kifayyah, but not everyone has to do it.  Many dislike Usul.  They prefer the data of fiqh or aqeedah or other sciences, but without Usul, those building blocks cannot stand.  So, while it is not for everyone, no one should question its necessity.  If we neglect this foundation, we are building no more than sand castles that will blow away in the wind.

(This is intended to be an introduction to a fuller investigation on Islamic Metaphysics)