Islahi Centre

Written by Abdullah ibn Adam

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

All praise be to Allah, the Most High. Peace & Blessings be upon the Prophets of Allah, especially our Holy Prophet, Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa aalihi wa sallam).

“Contemplation & Two Kinds of Knowledge”

Assalamu ‘alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

Man has an inborn quest to know all that is around him. We see children enquiring, sometimes too much, about those things that are new to their experience.  This curiosity, however, gradually decreases as our involvement in this world increases. If we try to arouse that same curiosity in us now, we might be able to know a lot more than what we already know, i.e. we can profoundly learn about the Universe, about our own life and existence. Moreover, with this same curiosity we can learn about our Creator so that when we meet Him, we meet Him with our utmost humbleness and with a word of His Beautiful Praise. We are so much engaged in this world that we feel much of nothing about Allahu ta’ala when His Name is mentioned before us. Allah says: “Wama Qadaroo Allaha Haqqa Qadrihi” (They have not recognized the Greatness of Allah as His greatness should be recognized). He (subhanahu wata’ala) further says: “On the Day of Resurrection the whole earth shall be in His grasp and all the heavens shall be rolled up in His right hand.” [az-Zumar - 39:67]. Today we can realise how much (nuclear) energy can a tiny little atom release, but we don’t notice the Power of Allahu ta’ala, who has created the whole Universe, i.e. every single atom!

Quran regularly prompts us to observe the world around us, “Say: Look at whatever exists in the heavens and the earth…” [Yunus - 10:101]. “Surely in the heavens and the earth there are signs for the true believers.” [Jaathiya - 45:3]. Contemplation in the creation of the universe can reveal the components of the attributes of Allah such as His Mercy, Wisdom, the Authority, His Justice and so on. When a believer (Mo’min) witnesses these magnificent attributes of the Creator, his Faith (Iman) becomes stronger. When the believer continues to witness the realities of the Creation, his certainty (Yaqeen) grows stronger, he becomes certain about the Unity Of Allah (Tawheed), and such a person is counted among the Mu’qineen (Firm Believers). Allah says: “Thus did we show Ibrahim the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he be one of those who have Faith with Certainty (Mu’qineen).” [Al-An'aam 6:75].

A part from reflecting in the creation of the Universe, Quran also asks us to reflect in our own selves, “In the earth, there are signs for the firm believers, and also in your own selves; can you not see?” [Zaariyaat - 51:20-21]. We should not just look at our bodily creation but we actually need to understand our existence, since our existence does not end with the end of this material body. When we have learned about our own existence i.e. soul, we will have altogether different but much better perception about the universe than we have it now. First of all, we need to understand the learning process known as Tafakkur (contemplation). For example, how does a scientist discover the phenomena of nature? We might say, because he closely observes the nature. The whole technological world would not had come this far without men contemplating in various fields of nature. This is an external way of thinking. We will now take a different approach to understand this.

When Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala created the universe, all the Laws governing in all sections of the Heavens and Earth were established. Al-Qur’an says: “So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing.” [Fussilat 41:12]. A proper system was created to run the affairs of the Seen and Unseen Worlds. For example, how a person will come into this world, how he will progress in this world, and where he will go after his death were all established. Furthermore, the relationship between all the creation and how they will interact with each other was also established, i.e. water satisfies the thirst. This is to say: whatever was/is to exist in the Cosmos, it had already been written in its full form and features. Anything that does not exist in there cannot be found in this world. This type of knowledge is the internal knowledge, where everything from the tiniest particle to the celestial system and the rest is recorded. Prophets of Allah are expert in its understanding and this is also their inheritance for their followers.

If a scientist discovers the ‘force of gravity’, it is only a discovery of a part of the preordained Laws. We can understand that the ‘force of gravity’ was ‘existing’ long ago, but it only came into our understanding when someone observed the nature. This type of observation is made by the material organs, i.e. eyes, ears etc, therefore this type of knowledge is called acquired knowledge. It is the externally acquired knowledge. It is limited by the material limitations, and it is also prone to errors, therefore it is an unreliable source of knowledge. In contrast to the external knowledge, the internal knowledge is observed through the eyes of the heart (soul) and it goes closer to the reality. The reality is what Allah has defined, rather than what our eyes can see.

After briefing through the Internal and External forms of knowledge, we can now have a look at the sayings of Abu Hassan Sayyidina Ali (radi Allahu ‘anhu):

Tirmidhi has recorded a similar saying by Hassan (radi Allahu anhu) as:

We can explain this with an example. A Muslim is someone how knows Islam externally, i.e. Islam is Shahadah, Salah, Fasting, etc. Whereas, a Mo’min (Believer) is someone who is acquainted with the Internal understanding of Islam. In this respect, a Believer will be different from a Hypocrite even if they both have some scholarly degrees of Islamic doctrine. Therefore, the internal knowledge, which the believer possesses, is the knowledge perceived by the heart and it will profit him, but not the sole external knowledge. We have the example of the Ulama (Scholars) of the previous nations, who had the Books of Allah. But this (external) knowledge did not benefit them because they were left out of the internal knowledge. A person whose heart has been sealed by Allah, he is left out of the internal knowledge. Acquired knowledge is perceived through the bodily senses and it is prone to errors, where as the Internal knowledge is granted to the heart, which we can call The Guidance from Allah (Hidayah).

After knowing the two types of knowledge (external and internal), we can now talk about perception. Perception is one’s view about something. A Muslim will have different perception about the Creator than a Non-Muslim. Someone might say that the Universe is like this, and another person could propose something different. Here we need to understand that the real view, lets say, about the Universe is what Allah has defined (created) it as. So whatever is written in the Book is Real (Haqiqah) and what we perceive could be false. In order to reach to the reality, we need to tune-up our perception. For this reason, Allah has sent Prophets and Messengers to tell the people about the reality. When someone follows the Prophet with conscious (sincerity), his views about things become the same as the views of the Prophet; and the Prophets had reached to the reality of the things. The path of the Prophets and their followers lead to the Reality and this is what we continuously ask in al-Fatihah:

We need to view things as the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) had viewed, and discard our own views. For example, we need to pray in the same way as our Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa aalihi wa sallam) used to pray. We need to adopt the real sunnah, i.e. when we pray we should totally negate this world and humbly present ourselves in front of Rahman. Therefore, our intentions and actions should both be in accordance to what our Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa aalihi wa sallam) used to have. It is only after this that we might be acquainted with the real understanding of Quran. We will not understand Alif-Laam-Meem through Arabic, even if we could master Arabic; an appropriate way is to see Alif-Laam-Meem as our Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa aalihi wa sallam) had seen it.

When our perception is sound, we see things clearly. If we could learn to see things Internally, we will be able to observe anything from the tiniest particle to the clusters of galaxies; even if it is impossible to do because of the material limitations. We need to ask Allah for Knowledge and Guidance because He is the only one who can provide this request; however the ways are. The more we learn about Rahman the more we appreciate His Greatness and humble ourselves before Him. Insha’ Allah, we will talk some more on it and other related topics in the future.

wa Assalamu ‘alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,,

Abdullah ibn Adam