Teachings
Knowledge
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
May prayer and peace be upon the noblest of Messengers, upon his family and upon all his companions.
Knowledge
Sayyidi Ibn ‘Ashir (may Allah be pleased with him) says in his famous poem:
And the first obligation incumbent upon every responsible person
is to know the Real and the Messengers
The first of the obligations incumbent upon the individual who has reached the age of reason is the Knowledge of Allah and of His Messenger ﷺ, or put differently: the Knowledge of the double testimony (shahada), a deep and true Knowledge. The gateway into the religion of Allah is therefore this double testimony. And the gateway out of this lower world towards the religion of Allah is this double testimony.
Knowledge is the reality of what constitutes the foundation of reverential fear, which is the theophanic mount and the object of contemplation of the esoteric Scholars. Allah ﷻ says: “Of His servants, only the Scholars fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.” [1]. Consider, may Allah have mercy on you, how the Real has joined Knowledge to divine fear (khashya), to show us the bond uniting these two spiritual stations. Thus, whoever’s Knowledge of Allah increases, his fear of Him will also increase. In this sense, we find an authentic saying reported from the master of creation ﷺ: “By Allah, I am the most Knowing of you through Allah, and the one who fears Him the most.”
The first mark of reverential fear manifesting in the servant is, on the one hand, to regard others with an exalting vision, contemplating the divine spiritual flow circulating in them… and on the other hand, to lower and abase his ego, taking care always to conform to the divine Law and remaining constantly in a state nourished by fear. This is the state of the fully realised Knowers (‘arifin), for it is the celestial mount (Buraq) towards divine Knowledge, subtly oscillating between the degree of imaginal representation and that of gnostic theophany.
And in al-Bahr al-Madid:
“Al-Rabi‘ ibn Anas said: whoever does not fear Allah is not a Scholar. As for Ibn ‘Abbas, he said in the exegesis of this verse: Asceticism suffices as knowledge. And Ibn Mas‘ud said: fear of Allah suffices as knowledge, and excuses suffice as ignorance. And in the Hikam: ‘The best of the sciences is that which is accompanied by fear.’ And in at-Tanwir: Know that, wherever it is mentioned in the Book or in the Sunna, knowledge (‘ilm) refers to beneficial knowledge, that which is accompanied by fear, surrounded by anxiety. Allah ﷻ says: ‘Of His servants, only the Scholars fear Allah’. He indicates to us here, ﷻ, that fear is necessarily accompanied by Knowledge, and from this we understand that the Scholars are in reality the people of reverential fear.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Know that beneficial Knowledge, on which there is unanimity among the first generations as among those who followed them, is the Knowledge that leads its possessor to fear and dread, the Knowledge that binds him to humility and self-abasement, to conformity with the characteristics of faith… as well as to the rejection of this lower world and to asceticism, making him prefer the hereafter, and all this while observing the proper conduct required towards Allah ﷻ, together with all the other noble characteristics of the Sunna.
And in Lata’if al-Minan: The sign of the Knowledge that Allah ﷻ asks for is fear. And the sign of fear is the servant’s conformity to what he is commanded. As for knowledge accompanied by desire for this lower world, by deference towards those who possess the greatest share of it, and by the wish to strive to imitate them, to amass and hoard, never caring about the consequences, forgetting the hereafter… there is no knowledge further removed than this from what is called the inheritance of the Prophets!
Could the inheritance pass to the heir without his fully conforming to the description of the one from whom he inherits? An example of the Scholar who answers to this description is the candle: it lights others, but burns itself. Allah made the knowledge taught by such a person a proof (hujja) against him and a cause for the increase of his punishment.
In the verse (“Of His servants, only the Scholars fear Allah”) (in the Arabic verse), the mention of the Name of Allah ﷻ precedes that of the Scholars, and in this lies an indication that only the Scholars, and none but the Scholars, truly fear Allah. Had the verse been phrased differently (placing the mention of the Scholars before the divine Name), the meaning would have been that the Scholars fear none but Allah.
And in a Prophetic Hadith: “On the Day of Judgement, Allah will address the Scholars, when He takes His place (lit.: sits) upon His Kursi to decide the judgement of His servants: I placed My Knowledge and My Discernment in you only because I wish to forgive you for what is in you, and I do not mind.”
Al-Mundhiri said: consider the divine Word: “My Knowledge and My Discernment”: it is clear and evident that this does not refer to the knowledge common to the majority of people in this age devoid of Knowledge through Him and of sincerity (ikhlas)…
And in another version of this Hadith: “I placed My Wisdom in you only for a good that I want for you: so enter Paradise, despite what is in you.”
And he ﷺ also said: “On the Day of Judgement, the ink of the Scholars will be weighed against the blood of the martyrs, and the ink of the Scholars will outweigh the blood of the martyrs.”
Esoteric indication:
The Scholars are to be considered as two clearly distinct groups. On the one hand, the Scholars of the Laws of Allah, and on the other, the Scholars through Allah. The Scholars of the Laws of Allah fear His wrath and His punishment, whereas the Scholars through Allah fear His distance and being veiled from Him. The Scholars of the Laws fear committing sins, whereas the Scholars through Allah fear lacking proper conduct in the Presence of the Supreme Sovereign. The fear of the Scholars through Allah is therefore denser and stronger. They take their Knowledge from Allah, unlike the Scholars of the Laws who take their Knowledge from the dead.
Shaykh Abu Yazid (may Allah be pleased with him) says thus of the Scholars by chain of transmission (riwaya): They are poor people whose Knowledge is taken from the dead, who took it from the dead. As for us, we draw our Knowledge from the Living who does not die.
As for the difference between the terms “khawf”, “rahba” and “khashya”: Khawf designates fear of punishment, rahba fear of blame, and khashya [2] fear of distance.
Al-Qushayri said: The difference between the terms “rahba” and “khashya” is that the former refers to a fear that forces the one affected by it to flee, and it is then a rout. Khashya, by contrast, has the effect of restraining and curbing the one it touches, and it is thus that he remains with Allah. Khashya therefore prevails over rahba.
The term “khawf” belongs to faith (iman). Allah ﷻ indeed says: “And fear Me (khawf) if you are believers.” The term “khashya” belongs to Knowledge and to divine Majesty.
The exoteric Scholar fears (khawf) falling short of the right his Lord has over him, whereas the gnostic fears (khashya) transgressing the proper conduct and respect he owes to Him; he dreads letting himself go at the inappropriate moment, through a misplaced word, or by neglecting the fulfilment of what is a priority.
Al-Wartajabi said: the term “khawf” is proper to the common people, whereas “khashya” corresponds to the elite. And He ﷻ has indeed made khashya accompanied by Knowledge (‘ilm), that is, Knowledge through Allah ﷻ, linked to His Omnipotence, to His Lordship and to the servitude owed to Him. The reality of khashya is the descent of the ennobling of the Real into the hearts of the gnostics (‘arifin), mingled with the shimmering of divine Magnificence, with the vision of His Pride and His Majesty. But none reaches this except the one who attains the contemplation of the pre-eternal and uncreated, of persistence and eternity. And whoever’s Knowledge through Allah increases, his khashya will increase too, in accordance with the Prophetic Word ﷺ: “I am the most Knowing of you through Allah, and the one who fears Him (khashya) the most.” and in another Hadith: “It was said: O Messenger of Allah, what is the best of deeds? He replied: Knowledge (al-‘ilm). It was asked: Which Knowledge? He said: Knowledge through Allah, glory be to Him.” [3].
And in the Hikam: “Beneficial Knowledge is that whose rays spread in the chest, and by which the veil of the heart is lifted.” Knowledge (al-‘ilm) is thus made up of rays of gnosis (‘irfan), and once its Lights spread in the heart, they remove the veils of otherness and duality. The darkness of the created world fades, and the Attributes of the Creator then appear. Its Lights branch out in the heart, and this is what is called beneficial Knowledge: the contemplation of the Light of Allah and of His Messenger ﷺ.
The Real has indeed described Himself as Light, exalted is He: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His Light is like a Niche (mishkat) within which is a Lamp (misbah). The Lamp is within a Crystal (zujaja), the Crystal as if it were a brilliant Star (kawkab). It is lit from a Blessed Tree, an Olive neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon Light. Allah guides to His Light whom He wills, and Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.” [4].
And He described His Prophet as an illuminating lamp, saying in these terms: “O Prophet! Indeed, We have sent you as a witness, a bringer of good tidings, a warner, and one inviting to Allah by His permission, and as an illuminating lamp.” [5].
The reality of Knowledge (al-‘ilm) is therefore nothing other than the adornment by the Light of the Lordly Presence, manifesting in the form of the Lamp (misbah) of Knowledge, in the Crystal (zujaja) of our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, apparent through the Niche (mishkat) of inner and hidden revelation, through the Star (kawkab) of Union within the night that preserves the Secret… a Light whose fuel comes from the Tree of the Secret, free of and transcending every spatial dimension.
And may Allah reward al-Shafi‘i justly, who says in verse:
I complained to Waki‘ of my poor memory
And he enjoined me to abandon sinsInforming me that Knowledge is Light
and that the Light of Allah is not given to the sinner.
Knowledge (al-‘ilm) is therefore Light, and not a series of written lines. It is a Light by which one understands, inwardly and esoterically, what Allah wills for everything. It is a sanctified Water, descended from the heavens of the unseen (ghayb) onto the earths that are the hearts of the believers.
The Prophet ﷺ says thus: “The example of that with which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sent me of Guidance and Knowledge is like abundant rain falling on land, part of which was good and able to receive this water, and on whose surface pastures and grass grew in abundance. Another part (of this land) was impermeable and held the water, so that Allah benefited people through it, and they drank, watered (their flocks) and cultivated (their fields). (This abundant rain) also fell on another part of land, barren, which neither keeps water nor makes any grass grow.
Such is the example, on the one hand, of the one who learned the religion of Allah and benefited from that with which I was sent, by studying it and teaching it, and on the other, of the one who benefited in no way from it and did not accept the Guidance of Allah with which I was sent.” [6]
Consider, may Allah have mercy on you, how the one who says nothing out of passion has made the people of the Lights the true Scholars. They are the first group (of the first land), the possessors of the reality of Knowledge. As for the second group, they possess only the form and appearance of Knowledge. And lastly the third group, which is the group of those who have neither the reality of Knowledge nor even its form.
The first group consists of those who received the Water of Prophetic Knowledge in the lands of their fertile souls. Thus what appeared of those lands became green, through the deep meanings of the divine Names, and it is then on those lands that the fruits of Knowledge appeared. This land is the one the Beloved ﷺ compared to the land that made pastures and grass grow in abundance. Because they received the Water of Revelation from the world of the unseen (ghayb) in the lands of their fertile hearts, they grasped with true Knowledge the descent of the Names into the divine Attributes, the descent of the Attributes into the Acts, and the descent of the Acts into the Laws… so that they addressed people according to their understanding, and disclosed at every moment what would be beneficial to the servants. And it was said of them:
Perform your ablutions with the Water of the ghayb, if you hold a Secret
otherwise, perform dry ablution (tayammum) with earth or stoneTake as Imam the one of whom you are yourself the Imam
and perform the fajr prayer at the beginning of the ‘asr (time)Such is the prayer of the Scholars
through their Lord: if you are one of them, then sprinkle the firm land of the ocean.
The second group is that of those who took and absorbed the Water, and who gave of it. Such is the state of the people of exotericism, particularly in this age of ours. The person memorises, then gives back what he has memorised, nothing more. The Beloved ﷺ described them by telling us that through them, the Real made people benefit from their safeguarding of the Water of the ghayb, though they themselves draw no benefit for their own souls, beyond the reward that accompanies this memorisation. The reward is therefore theirs, but the benefit of their memorisation and of their safeguarding of the Water of the ghayb goes to the people of the first group, for it is they who were able to drink, give to drink and cultivate.
As for the third group, it is that of the barren, those who neither retain the Water nor make pastures grow. Or put differently, those who have neither the reward of memorisation nor the Secret that preserves the inner Lights, may Allah protect us from this.
Knowledge (al-‘ilm) does not therefore consist in memorising and then displaying your memorisation, in which case you would be nothing more than an automaton playing back a recording. Knowledge is, on the contrary, that you understand the verse or divine sign (ayah), then put it into practice, and finally pick the fruit of your works: a fruit that will present itself to you in the form of Lights, by which you will understand the Will of Allah. It is then that you will be able to give each one his just due, observing the most perfect conduct, the finest spiritual state and the finest tasting.
[1] Surat Fatir, verse 28.
[2] this is the term mostly used in this chapter and translated as “fear”.
[3] Al-Bahr al-Madid, pages 120/121.
[4] Surat an-Nur, verse 35.
[5] Surat al-Ahzab, verses 45/46.
[6] Sahih Muslim, Hadith no. 2282.