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| Knowledge: Fixing Borders and Limits | | | Aaqib Anjum Aafi
Knowledge in Islam is widely and highly praised. The traditions of the Prophet regard seeking knowledge as obligatory for both the Muslim man and woman. However, in the Qur’an, the knowledge or reading appears in a much beautiful manner. The first ever verse revealed to the Prophet was “Read in the name of Allah”; which blessed knowledge, a connection with the Creator of everything. Each discipline of knowledge needs to be connected with the name of Allah Ta’ala, as it creates a sense of accountability. This connection ends the connections of knowledge with corruption and materialism. Wise people do not seek knowledge for materialistic gains. They serve a higher purpose.
What part of knowledge is compulsory for a Muslim? Does he need to study each and every available current discipline of knowledge? A sane answer would be that it is not easy to be such a polymath however a person may master in a few sciences, but those are rare cases.
Studying the Qur’an, knowing how to read it, and learning the permissible and impermissible (halal and haraam) is decisive necessity or individual obligation of every person. It is necessary for each person to know, how do we deal with the 24/7 life with regards to the permissible and impermissible. There should remain no person who does not know how to lead the salah, and there should be no one who does not know what things are necessary in funeral and how it is done. These are general necessities of every Muslim and we must take care of it.
There are areas where we depend on each other because we are made to depend on one another. This is the area where the concept of “Farz-e-Kifayah” (communal obligation) works. Each and every person cannot study medicine, law, maths, economics, and/or any other sciences, at the same time.
A doctor necessarily depends on a Mufti for juristic rulings and an engineer depends on a doctor for medical advises. They help each other but they need to be well equipped in the foundational basics. All of them should be having the equal understanding of the portion of knowledge, which we regard as “farz-e-ayn” however for the other portion, they are interdependent. This is a setup that I propose based on my findings in the old and recent experiences from the past.
The poet of East, Iqbal says:
Cosmos and life are one, the world is one and same.
The tale of old and new is merely false and lame.
The ken is vision dim, in which the wise man’s lore.
And sight that Moses viewed, keep apart and merge no more.
The requirements of time demand us that we accept Islam as a system of life. We accept it as such a system that guides us how to live the life and how to walk the road. Islam connects knowledge with the name of Allah Ta’ala and we need to adopt the same passion.
Years ago, Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi spoke at the Kashmir University that dividing the knowledge as East and West, Old and New, is a fallacy. It doesn’t hold any virtue. Knowledge is a gift of Allah Ta’ala which neither belongs to the East nor to the West.
Nadwi narrated a beautiful story of a few boys who went on to explore nature and sat in the ship. They questioned the shipman, “Uncle, what and what sciences have you learnt?” They asked him if he had studied science, geography and history. The sailor would negatively answer each of their questions. They enquired his age to which he answered, 40. “You’ve wasted half of your age,” the boys exclaimed. The sailor felt undignified and opted silence. A few moments passed then there appeared a storm and it seemed that the ship is going to drown. It was now his turn and he questioned the young lads that what and what sciences had they learnt. The boys counted a number of academic disciplines. “It is fine but tell me if you boys have learnt the art of swimming for if this ship drowns, how would you reach the coast.” None among the boys knew swimming and they answered with utmost grief that they have just left one discipline of knowledge from learning.
The sailor proclaimed, “I have wasted half of my age, and you’ve wasted your whole age because none of the sciences that you’ve learnt would avail you any help. Swimming is the only way out and you don’t know it.”
This story intends to share a lesson with us that we are interdependent on one another and we must not belittle others who do not know the sciences that we know, the same way we are not knowledgeable of a number of sciences that others know and we do not. |
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