Islamic Conception of Knowledge By Dr. A. J. Halepota

The Islamic conception of knowledge can be properly defined only when we look at its significance from the point of view of the hundreds of Aydt of the Holy Qur'an in which knowledge has been referred to in various contexts and from the point of view of the Ahadlth of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), as well as from the point of view of what our salaf salihln have stated about knowledge, its requisite conditions, its scope, its objectives and the purpose that it serves in the process of the development of man into an evolved, Kamil and fully developed human personality. 

The Holy Qur'an is the greatest fountain-head and source of the fundamental and universal knowledge, in the light of which humanity is able to keep through the vistas of the universe around i.e. afaq into the spiritual fields of human experience i.e. anfus. Hundreds of ayat point towards innumerable fields of observation and possible discoveries. Some of these fields have been explored and some still remain to be explored and probed into through assiduous activity of tafakkur and tadabbur and through the use of the faculties of the sense perception namely sama' (hearing), basar (seeing) and fu'ad (mind).

Knowledge is a source of purification and bliss of the individual and also of the societies in general. Upon the righteous 'ulama depends the life and advancement of society. With the removal of the 'ulama degeneration of the society starts and the mawt al-'alim becomes virtually mawt al 'alam. But when the learned slip from their stations assigned to them, they become the cause of ruin of the nation. There is a Hadith that if Islam and Islamic community is dismantled, it would be through the slips committed by its learned and the wrong decisions made by its misguiding leaders. The worst of the people are those who are mischievous and evil doers from amongst the learned. 'Ulama' Sff - the learned belonging to the category of the evil, are the source of the greatest evil due to whom the community and nation is bound to suffer. Therefore it is the duty of the learned to keep up their standard of high character and personality, purity of thought and mind, sincerity and seriousness of purpose. They have to be the model of the best character and embodiment of 'Uswa-e-Hasana and practical example of takhallaqu bi akhlaq Allah.