Know Your Self!
Whoever goes forth to seek knowledge is in the way of Allah until he returns.
Tirmizee, Knowledge 2, (2649)
A couple of questions arise right away: What does it mean to be in the way of Allah? What should we understand from the word "knowledge"?
Let us start with the second question. Perhaps the most important solid sign that the Quran is sent by Allah and that it is not a human word is the emphasis on "knowledge" in it. Because in that time period and in that region, a mentality to appreciate knowledge was just unthinkable.
Really, at that time of ignorance, the number of the literate people in the society was very few. Actually, the most admired profession was poetry. One of the two things that existed in the name of knowledge was to preserve family trees for they had such a keen interest in their ancestry...and the other one was astronomy, by which they not only found their way while traveling in deserts but they also used in fortunetelling.
So then, what is the perception of knowledge in Islam? Why is Amr bin Hisham - who was one of the very few literate people and one of a couple of people who knew a foreign language at that time period - considered in Islam as "Father of Ignorance" (Abu Jahl)?
Anyway, my job here is just to ask questions...not to find answers to them.
Three cornerstones come to my mind when I think about knowledge:
The first and of course most important one is how much we appreciate the Islamic studies. Do we treasure and cherish them? Have we committed ourselves to being a lifetime student of Quran?
Second one is the understanding of Popper, who has drawn the boundaries of the worldly knowledge clearly and by doing so he has crushingly defeated those who have held the notion of sacred "science" against religion.
Finally, that lovely line which takes us all the way from al-Ghazali to Yunus: How should one conduct himself towards learning knowledge? How our increased knowledge should also protect us from arrogance? Let us listen to Yunus for the answer:
Knowledge...a total grasp of knowledge
Knowledge...to know your soul, your self
If you've not learned a thing about your self
Then what you've learned is only nonsense
There are some other questions to ask...but not now...some other time...
May our Lord let us to be among those who go forth to seek knowledge and who remain in the way of Allah.
Tirmizee, Knowledge 2, (2649)
A couple of questions arise right away: What does it mean to be in the way of Allah? What should we understand from the word "knowledge"?
Let us start with the second question. Perhaps the most important solid sign that the Quran is sent by Allah and that it is not a human word is the emphasis on "knowledge" in it. Because in that time period and in that region, a mentality to appreciate knowledge was just unthinkable.
Really, at that time of ignorance, the number of the literate people in the society was very few. Actually, the most admired profession was poetry. One of the two things that existed in the name of knowledge was to preserve family trees for they had such a keen interest in their ancestry...and the other one was astronomy, by which they not only found their way while traveling in deserts but they also used in fortunetelling.
So then, what is the perception of knowledge in Islam? Why is Amr bin Hisham - who was one of the very few literate people and one of a couple of people who knew a foreign language at that time period - considered in Islam as "Father of Ignorance" (Abu Jahl)?
Anyway, my job here is just to ask questions...not to find answers to them.
Three cornerstones come to my mind when I think about knowledge:
The first and of course most important one is how much we appreciate the Islamic studies. Do we treasure and cherish them? Have we committed ourselves to being a lifetime student of Quran?
Second one is the understanding of Popper, who has drawn the boundaries of the worldly knowledge clearly and by doing so he has crushingly defeated those who have held the notion of sacred "science" against religion.
Finally, that lovely line which takes us all the way from al-Ghazali to Yunus: How should one conduct himself towards learning knowledge? How our increased knowledge should also protect us from arrogance? Let us listen to Yunus for the answer:
Knowledge...a total grasp of knowledge
Knowledge...to know your soul, your self
If you've not learned a thing about your self
Then what you've learned is only nonsense
There are some other questions to ask...but not now...some other time...
May our Lord let us to be among those who go forth to seek knowledge and who remain in the way of Allah.
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