The Philosophy of Islamic Teachings (31)

The source of perfect knowledge is the Divine revelation 

Bear in mind, dear listeners, that no one can fight against the designs of God. Be assured that the source of perfect knowledge is the Divine revelation granted to the holy Prophets of God. And God, the ocean of Grace, never wished to close the gates of Divine revelation, thus destroying the world. The doors of His revelation and His conversation are always open. If you seek them by the right way, you will find them without difficulty. The water of life has descended from heaven, and has fallen in the right place. What must you do in order to drink of this water? You must reach the fountain, by whatever means possible, and by drawing your mouth near, drink your fill of the water of life. All human happiness consists in always going in the direction of the light that is perceived, and following the path wherein you find a sign of the Friend Whom you seek. You have observed that light always descends from the heavens upon the earth.  

In like manner, the true light which guides us also descends from the heavens. Can you behold God without His manifestation? Can you see in the darkness without the aid of the heavenly Light? If so, perhaps you will see in this case also. But our eyes, though they are in perfect condition, depend upon the heavenly Light; and our ears, though they hear perfectly, depend upon the air which circulates under Divine direction. The God who is silent, and leaves us to our own conjectures, is not true. The Perfect and Living God is He who manifests Himself. The time is at hand which He has appointed to reveal His being; the windows of the heavens will be opened, and the dawn will be born. Blessed are those who arise and seek the True God, Whom no adversity can overcome, and Whose bright glory never diminishes! 

In The Holy Quran it says that from God comes all the light of the heavens and the earth, which illuminates all things. God is the Sun that gives light to the sun and is the life of all animate beings on earth. He is the Living and True God, blessed are those who accept Him (24:36). 

The third source of knowledge consists of certainty through experience, i.e., all the adversities, sorrows and ailments suffered by the prophets or the righteous at the hands of their enemies, or imposed upon them by Divine decree. Through these hardships and adversities, all the commandments and precepts of the Law, already intellectually accepted by the mind, take a practical form and become experience. Then, through the stimulus provided by this practical exercise, their development reaches its apogee, and at that moment man becomes a perfect embodiment of the Divine guidance. All the moral qualities, - forbearance, retribution, perseverance, clemency, etc.- which hitherto existed as theoretical concepts in the mind and heart, now become part of the personality through practical experience, and leave their imprint on the whole character of the sufferer, as God the Glorious says: 

"Verily We shall try you with some fear and with hunger and, with the loss of your goods and your lives, and of the fruit of your labour, that is to say, you shall suffer all this at the hands of your enemies or by Divine decree. Give good tidings, then, to the persevering ones, who in the face of adversity do not lose heart, but affirm: "To Al'lah we belong, and to Him we shall return". To those are the blessings and mercy of their Lord, and they are those whom He guides perfectly in the straight path." (9:156-158) 

These verses indicate to us that there is no virtue in knowledge that is limited to the heart and mind. True knowledge is that which arises from the mind and controls and dominates all the members, manifesting in practice all that has been stored in the memory. In this way knowledge is strengthened and reinforced, leaving its mark on all members through practical experience. No kind of knowledge, no matter how elementary, reaches its peak without practice.  

For example, we have known for a long time that it is easy to make bread, and that it requires no art. All that is needed, after kneading the flour and preparing the dough, is to divide the dough into suitable parts, flatten it between the hands and spread it in a hot frying pan, and move it around until it becomes bread. But this knowledge is purely academic. When we start making bread without any experience, our first difficulty is to prepare the dough properly, so that it is neither too hard nor too soft. Even if, after much effort and fatigue, we manage to prepare the dough, the bread we make will be half burnt and half unbaked, and very caked, despite having observed this bread-making process for half a century. In this way, relying only on academic knowledge that we have never put into practice, we would lose a great deal of flour. And if such is the case with regard to our academic knowledge in such elementary things, how can we rely only on our academic knowledge without any practice, in things of great importance? In these verses God the Exalted teaches us that the sufferings He imposes on us are the means by which we can perfect our knowledge through experience. 

Later, He warns us: 

"Verily you will be tested with regard to your property and your lives; that is, people will steal your wealth, and kill you; and you will suffer many misfortunes at the hands of the Jews, the Christians and those who worship gods other than Al'lah; but your strength and your patience will be proof of a high degree of resolve." (3:187) 

The meaning of these verses is that only knowledge that has been applied in practice benefits us, whereas purely academic knowledge, which has never been tested in practice, does not benefit us at all. 

Just as wealth is multiplied by trade, so knowledge reaches its spiritual apogee through practical experience. Thus, practical experience is the primary means of perfecting and illuminating knowledge. The ultimate certainty of knowledge is acquired with the experience of every part of it. This is what happened in Islam. God the Exalted gave the Muslims the opportunity to illustrate in practice all that the Holy Quran taught them, so as to be filled with its light. 

(lpbD) - peace and blessings of God be upon him. 

(To be continued in the 32nd installment, where we will expound on the two phases in the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (lpbd), which exemplified what we have just expounded.)