The Knowledge of Islam

Islam and Knowledge:

Knowledge - al-ilm - for Islam, is knowing Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) through the Quran and Sunnah. In the strict sense, knowledge is Islam, that is, submission to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). This is so because Islam reveals the true nature of Reality - which is much more than what we perceive, or may perceive, via our senses.

If we Muslims desire to understand the true nature of knowledge, we must first turn to Quran and Sunnah, for these are manifestations of the true Reality, which is Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). For Muslims, this recognition of, and submission to, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) is the reality, the very purpose, of our mortal life.

There are many Quranic Ayah concerning knowledge:

"Allah affirms that there is no god but Allah, as do the Angels and those who possess knowledge." (3:18 Interpretation of Meaning)

"Among His subjects, it is those who have knowledge that fear Allah." (35:28 Interpretation of Meaning)

"Allah will exalt those among you who believe, and those who have been granted knowledge [by Allah]." (58:11 Interpretation of Meaning)

For Islam, intelligence lies in understanding and knowing the Signs of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) which are those beings, both living and not-living, and those things, which are the creations of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). In truth, everything that exists is a creation of, a Sign of, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala).

"Allah (alone) has power over, and is the (sole) master of, all things. The creations in Heaven and Earth, the very change of Night to Day, are Signs for those gifted with intelligence, those who whether sitting, standing or reclining on their sides, give praise to Allah and who frequently recall these creations in Heaven and Earth, (saying): 'You who are our Rabb - You created all these things for a purpose; the achievement is Yours alone.'  " (3:189-191 Interpretation of Meaning)

The Distortion of Kufr:

One of the fundamental mistakes of the way of Kufr is to posit a "subject" and an "object" which the subject is assumed or believed to be separate from. Western philosophy - and especially epistemology - then attempts to define the relation between these two. Knowledge is then assumed to be the perception and understanding of the object by the subject, with there being debate about what is acceptable evidence for such perception and understanding.

This mistake concerning the true nature of Reality - like many such mistakes made by the kuffar - originated in Ancient Greece, and many Islamic scholars, such as Al-Farabi tried to accommodate Islam to this fundamental mis-apprehension.

It is a mis-apprehension because it conceals the truth of Tawhid - the most fundamental truth, and the very basis of Islam. The basis of the Islamic apprehension of Reality is that our real, true, nature is Muslim. That is, our nature is to know and acknowledge Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) and to be, to do, what Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) has willed. All beings - all that exists, whether designated living or otherwise - were and are born, or created, in a pure state of fitrah, that is, inclined to obey Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). 

"Do you not see how all beings that are in the heavens and on the Earth obey Allah - the sun, the moon, the stars; the hills, the trees, the animals, and even a great number of human beings?" ( 22:18 Interpretation of Meaning)

In essence, Islam asserts - or more correctly, reveals - that Reality is much more than what we perceive, or may perceive, with our senses. That is, we should conceive of reality as containing both a causal aspect and what we may call an acausal aspect, both of which are parts of The Unity.

The way of Kurf is a mis-apprehension because it is purely causal, neglecting the acausal aspect that Islam reveals is part of life. One aspect of this acausal, which is manifest (known) to us, is the Quran, and in the Quran is a truth beyond that of causal apprehension. In a very important sense, the Quran is a manifestation of Reality itself: an explanation of the true nature of Reality, and how and why we are part of this Reality. That is, the Quran is the literal word of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) and contains real knowledge, a learning or knowing of which makes us knowledgeable in the true sense. The Quran thus expounds the truth about knowledge.

This mortal, causal, life of ours is only a stage - it is not disconnected from Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) - from The One, The Unity - as those who are not Muslim believe it to be. That is, our apprehension of this mortal life should be, as Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) says, of an opportunity, of a test:

"He [Allah] created life and death that He might put you to the test and find out which of you acquitted himself best." ( 67: 1-2. Interpretation of meaning.)

"Every soul shall taste death. We shall try you in good and bad ordeals, and to the Unity you shall return." ( 21:35 Interpretation of meaning.)

If we apprehend the Unity we have apprehended our Muslim nature and the purpose of our lives. Jannah is what we can achieve by doing this, and the reality of Jannah is its eternal nature, its acausality. This acausality is part of reality, and a part which our mortal life, and especially our ahwah (temporal desires), tends to disconnect us from. Furthermore, this acausality itself was created by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) who is beyond even this acausality.

The nature of kufr is that we obscure or forget or ignore this acausality, and instead concentrate on the causal. This not only means that we ignore or forget about such things as Jannah, it means that we reject our Muslim nature and so act and think in ways which distance us still further from The Unity, from Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). In the allegorical sense, we turn our backs on Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) and, as Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) says, He then turns away from us. We, as human beings have been given this mortal life, and free will, by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) as a means to choose between kufr and Tawhid.

The Islamic apprehension, based at it is upon acausality, seeks to place and define us, as individuals, in relation to Reality - in relation to Existence, to Being; that is, in relation to Allah, the whole Cosmos, and the life in Jannah which is beyond the Cosmos, which Cosmos we can apprehend through our senses. Thus, Islam provides us with both a Cosmic and acausal perspective. In contrast, the concealment with is kufr - evident in the atheistic and modern Western view - seeks to define Reality itself, and thus the cosmos, in terms of the individual - in terms of the feelings, the senses, the ideas, the finite causal life, which an individual can think and know through their limited senses. Hence, Western philosophy does argue and has argued that Reality is only knowable in terms of ourselves, in terms of causal Space and causal Time. In contrast, the Islamic apprehension accepts the acausality which is beyond us, and accepts that this mortal world, we ourselves, and the beings of the Cosmos, are but a limiting case based upon causality.

The Messenger of Allah (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "The world is the prison of the Mu`min, and a Paradise for the Kaffir." (Saheeh Muslim, Kitaabuz-Zuhdi war-Raqaa`iq [18/93] Sharh an-Nawawi)

"The genesis of truth is Allah alone, so do not be among those who do not believe." (3:60 Interpretation of Meaning)

Our task - the very purpose and meaning of knowledge - is to find our way back to the natural state of fitrah: to follow the path that leads us to the Unity, to the acausal, to Jannah. One important thing to understand - which the Quran and Sunnah make clear - is that this acausal cannot and should not be apprehended through what is causal, through that which is kufr, Jahiliyyah. One manifestation of this causality are the terms, the methodology, the ideas, of the kuffar, for these things all conceal the truth of the acausal. In essence, the terms, words, ideas, of the kuffar embody their causal reductionism, and thus cannot be used to explain Islam, and any attempt to do so, is a distortion of Islam. This is why, for instance, the application of Islam - the creation of a true Islamic community - cannot be described or understood in the "political" terms of the kuffar.

Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala), being beyond even the acausal in both Time and Space, is not only far beyond the limited spatial and temporal (causal) apprehension which the West has assumed is, or rather, has projected upon, Reality, but also "closer to you than your jugular vein,"  (50: 16 Interpretation of Meaning). 

Siyasah is defined as the application of the Quran and Sunnah in the world: the means whereby Muslims can live in a community according to the command of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) . That is, it is the practical application of the knowledge of Islam. Siyasah basically means commanding the good, and forbidding the bad, defined as these are by Quran and Sunnah alone: that is, it means a community ruled by an Ameer, or Khalifah, who rules according to Shari'ah, and who is thus the representative of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) in this mortal world.

What is the aim of siyasah? To uphold, maintain and expand the Way of Al-Islam through such things as Shari'ah and Jihad. What are the fundamental principles of siyasah? Bay'ah and Shura.

It must be understood that siyasah neither means nor implies "politics". Politics is a kaffir term which expresses or manifests the concealment of The Unity, which  Unity is the essence of Islam. To understand Islam, and the Islamic apprehension - and in particular how Islam can be applied in the world - is to consider Islam in Islamic terms only. To apply something like "politics" to Islam and speak and write about "Islamic politics" is a fundamental mistake which constitutes imitation of the kuffar. Why? Because such words and terms, of the kuffar, are always referred back to kaffir ideas and concepts - just as "politics" is referred back to the polis of Ancient Greece, and "State" to Aristotle, Plato, Marx and others. This is, in effect, causal - historical - reductionism which is completely at odds with the acausal revelation of Islam. It is also a making profane that which is sacred: divorcing the Divinity from the practical application of Islam. It is exchanging knowledge for Jahiliyyah.

I consider, rightly or wrongly, that many Muslims view and even understand, or try to understand, Islam in the terms of the kaffir. One result of this is that Islam, and Islamic things, always get referenced to some kaffir theory, or some kaffir historical example: there is always some comparison made between Islam and the West - for example, in terms of so-called "type of government", type of so-called "State", and so on. This is wrong. Islam does not need such comparisons. It is unique, and perfect. It must be apprehended, understood, known, in and on its own terms.

Thus, Khilafah does not refer to a type of "government" of some "State". It refers only to Khilafah - it is the application of siyasah. Now, if I had written "What is the aim of an Islamic State or government," the question itself assumes many things, and the answer or answers are confined, narrowed, distorted, by these underlying, and kaffir, assumptions concerning "State", "politics" and "government". Thus, those sort of questions amount to a type of al-mussaadarah 'ala la-matlub al-awwaal. Yet if I phrase the question Islamically - as above in relation to siyasah - there is no such confinement or distortion; no underlying and kaffir assumptions; no making profane what is and should be sacred.

Correctly understood, siyasah is "a Divine siyasah and the Prophetic clarification, which the ruler and the ruled cannot do without..." (Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taimiyyah: Siyasatush-Shariah). That is, siyasah relates to what is Islamic and Islamic only - the divine revelation manifest in the Quran and Sunnah whose guidance can be made real, on this Earth, through a Khalifah who rules according to Shari'ah alone, and who judges according to Quran and Sunnah alone.

"And whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, such are the Kaffiroon." (5:44 Interpretation of meaning)

In effect, siyasah is sacred: it belongs to, and manifests, what is sacred, divine. This is in complete and utter contrast to the temporal, profane - and lower - nature of kaffir politics.

Democracy and Siyasah:

Democracy gives the attributes of Uluhia to human beings, by giving and allowing human beings the right to make laws and prescribe limits. This implies an Ilah, at best alongside and at worst above, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). This is most certainly Kufr Akbar, which nullifies one's Islam, for rights, and the duty, knowledge and perfection necessary to make laws and prescribe limits, as well as to determine what is good, and what is bad, belongs to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) alone. In addition:

"Because obedience is a form of worship, it is not allowed to obey anyone unless it conforms with obedience to Allah and His Messenger (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam)." Sheikh Muhammad Abdul-Wahhaab: Kitaab At-Tawheed

"And it is known by necessity in the Deen of the Muslims and by the agreement of all the Muslims that whoever follows a Shari'ah other than the Shari'ah of Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) then he is a Kaffir and it is like the Kufr of the one who believes in some of the Book and disbelieves in some of the Book."  Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taimiyyah: Al-Fataawa, Vol. 28/524

"Allah does not forgive that partners should be set up with Him to be obeyed, even though - if He pleases - He forgives whom He pleases everything else, for whomsoever sets up partners with Allah in obedience, has most certainly manufactured a grievous error. " (4: 48 Interpretation of Meaning)

 

Democracy - and all forms of kaffir politics - is a concealment of the reality of Tawhid, for in democracy - and in Dar al-Kufr in general - individuals take their own hawaah as their Ilah. In contrast, siyasah - manifest in Khilafah - is an acceptance of the perfection of Islam, and implies a striving to do what Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) has commanded, which is to strive to live according to Quran and Sunnah alone.

"It is not for the believer - man or woman - when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter, that they should have any option in their decision. For whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has indeed strayed into plain error." (33:36 Interpretation of Meaning)

"This is My path which is straight, true. Therefore follow it, and do not follow other paths all of which will lead you astray you from this, His Way." [6:153 Interpretation of Meaning]

"This day I have perfected your Way of Life for you and completed My Favour upon you and have chosen for you as your Way of Life Al-Islam" (5:3 Interpretation of Meaning)

Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) knows best.

Abdul Aziz
11 Rajab 1424
(Revised 29 Rajab 1424)