Significant of Knowledge in Islam It may be said that Islam...

📌Significant of Knowledge in Islam It may be said that Islam is the path of “knowledge.” No other religion or ideology has so much emphasized the importance of ‘ilm as Islam does. In the Qur’an, the word ‘alim has occurred in 140 places, while al- ‘ilm in 27. In all, the total number of verses in which ‘ilm or its derivatives and related words are used in the Qur’an is 704. The occurrence of aids of knowledge such as book, pen, ink etc. in the Qur’an amount to almost the same number.

The term Qalam (i.e. pen) occurs in two places, al-kitab (i.e. The book) in 230 verses, among which al-kitab for al-Qur’an occurs in 81 verses. Other words associated with writing occur in 319 verses. It is important to note that pen and book are essential to the acquisition of knowledge. The Islamic revelation started with the word iqra’ (‘read!’ or ‘recite!’). According to the Qur’an, the first teaching class for Adam started soon after his creation and Adam was taught ‘all the Names’.

Allah is the first teacher and the absolute guide of humanity. This knowledge was not imparted to even the Angels. In al-Kafi, there is a tradition narrated by Imam Musa al-Kazim (PBUH) where he said that ‘ilm is of three types: ayatun muhkamah (an irrefutable sign of God), faridatun ‘adilah (a just obligation) and sunnat al-qa’imah (an established traditions of the Prophet).

This implies that ‘ilm , the acquisition of which is obligatory upon all Muslims include the sciences of theology, philosophy, law, ethics, politics and the wisdom imparted to the Ummah by the Prophet. Islam actually does not consider any type of knowledge as harmful to human beings. However, what has been called in the Qur’an as useless or rather harmful knowledge, consists of pseudo sciences or the lores prevalent in the Jahiliyyah .

‘Ilm is of three types: information (as opposed to ignorance), natural laws, and knowledge by conjecture. The first and second types of knowledge are considered useful and their acquisition is made obligatory. As for the third type, which refers to what is known through guesswork and conjecture, or is accompanied with doubt, we shall take that into consideration later, since conjecture or doubt are sometimes essential as a means for knowledge, but not as an end.

Besides, various Qur’anic verses emphasize the importance of knowledge, and likewise, there are hundreds of Prophetic traditions that encourage Muslims to acquire all types of knowledge from any corner of the world.

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