Islamic Concept of Knowledge

Humbleness Stands for Dignity

When a person is blessed with knowledge by Allah Almighty (SWT), he gets immersed in gratitude. He bows down before his Lord and prostrates to submit his thanks and obedience. But if unfortunately, assuming high position for his knowledge and worship, he rebels and transgresses and becomes stiff-neck he turns into Satan because arrogance and disobedience are Satanic qualities. But humbleness and submissiveness are angelic traits; they in return beget dignity and splendour. Bowing down earns elevation. When a servant bows down before his Creator, He showers respect and honour on him. They turn towards Him to quench the thirst of knowledge. Man continues to bow down seeking more and more knowledge. Allah Almighty (SWT) keeps raising his status higher and higher. Iqbal says:

Humble yourself to exalt yourself;
The seed gets buried to become flowers.

The gist of the discussion is that humbleness, modesty and humility are the outcome of knowledge. Feeling of lacking knowledge overpowers him welling eyes with tears. Knowledge and arrogance cannot be yoked together or rather they cannot exit together. Knowledge does not dwell in a heart filled with arrogance; it departs forever. Contrary to that knowledge illumines the heart imbued with humility and modesty; it flourishes there with in peace and comfort.

The sources of knowledge

“Sources of knowledge” is a broad subject. Much can be written on it. We, however, confine ourselves to the dictates of first five verses of Surah Al-Alaq which is our subject here. Allah Almighty (SWT) says:

Oالَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ

“Who taught knowledge by pen.”

The light of knowledge radiates from the nib of the pen. The pen is a significant milestone on the way to learning. The sources of knowledge and learning are numerous which Allah (SWT) has not mentioned here. He only mentions that which helps us start our quest for knowledge and which is the most effective and reliable means of learning. So the pen represents all other ways and means of learning. Mentioning pen as source does not negate other sources of knowledge; it only highlights the significance of pen in the process of gaining knowledge and its role as the most helpful means to preserve knowledge and transfer it to the coming generations. With this significance of pen in view we also need to know other sources of knowledge as well which are briefly discussed below.

The sources of knowledge are divided into three parts:

1. Five Physical Senses
2. Five Spiritual Senses
3. Five Subtleties of Intuition

The five physical senses

Allah (SWT) has endowed man with five sources of knowledge for contact and communication with the surrounding environment and milieu. He learns through them about the physical world and its realities and develops his awareness about them. They are called five physical senses. They continue growing along with age. These are:

1. Sense of Touch (sensations from skin; cutaneous senses: pressure, warmth, cold and pain)
2. Vision (sense of seeing)
3. Audition (sense of hearing)
4. Gustation (sense of taste)
5. Sense of Smell (sensations of olfactory organ, nose)

These senses provide the human mind with only raw sensory information. Each one of them works in its specific sphere. These senses cannot replace one another. If one of them malfunctions, the others cannot be depended upon for its peculiar function to perceive the reality of a thing. If any of the senses fails or breaks down, the rest of them cannot make up its deficiency even jointly. For example, a voice is sensed through ears, the colours through eyes, fragrance through nose, hot and cold through touch and bitter and sweet through tongue. On the contrary, an eye cannot hear, the skin cannot see, nor an ear can taste. All the five senses have their respective functions. Sense of taste cannot even temporarily work in the place of sense of smell, nor touch can become its standby. None can step away from its fixed course to give a judgment in an area it is not meant for. So it is established that if a thing exists but the specific sense to perceive it does not exist, the thing cannot be sensed even by deploying all the other senses jointly. From these premises we infer the conclusion that we cannot claim non-existence of a thing on the basis of ineffectiveness of the limited scope of our physical senses.