أبجد العلومIntroduction — Authorial Purpose and Sources

Abjad al-'Uloom

Siddeeq Hasan Khaan

Book: Abjad al-'Uloom

Author: Aboo al-Tayyib Muhammad Siddeeq Khaan ibn Hasan ibn 'Alee ibn Lutf Allaah al-Husaynee al-Bukhaaree al-Qannawjee (died: 1307 AH)

Publisher: Daar Ibn Hazm

Edition: First edition, 1423 AH–2002 CE

Number of volumes: 1

[The book's pagination corresponds to the printed edition and is furnished with footnotes]

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Introduction

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In the name of Allaah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, who made knowledge a ladder to the ascents of the known. The known is, as a matter of grace, acknowledged among those devoted to the expressed and the understood. He released the eyes of insight into the gardens of the sciences and the branches of knowledge—gardens whose flowers of meaning and eloquence bloomed, and whose breezes opened the lights of inherited and newly acquired excellence. From them, the hands of hope gathered the fruits of hearts and the sustenance of spirits, and plucked the harvest of truths and subtleties from among the white blossoms of morning. Thus it is the nourishment of the heart, the repose of bodies, the spirit of the body of perfection, and the guide of souls to the lands of joy. Through it, spiritual taste surpasses bodily sense by an excellence known only to one who has drunk deeply of it or tasted it; its true nature is grasped only by one who has plunged into the depths of its seas, swum through the midst of its rivers, and then excelled and surpassed.

And blessings and peace be upon the master of scholars, the support of the excellent, the crown of the perfect: Muhammad, the chosen Prophet, Ahmad, the unlettered elect, supported from heaven and to whom was revealed the Qur'aan, in which there is guidance and healing. Through him, exalted is He, Allah perfected the sciences of the earliest and the latest peoples, and singled him out from among His creation with the distinctions of knowledge and the hidden treasures of glory. How exalted in rank was that Prophet—no prophet rose to his elevation—and how exalted and noble in renown—no heaven reached him. May Allah bless him, his family, his Companions, and his party, those schooled in his conduct, for whom the sheaths of transmitted and rational knowledge opened, and whose collars were adorned with the necklaces of the sciences of the foremost men, until the souls of Islam and the Muslims were healed of the disease of their enemies, and the rabidness of unbelief and the illness of associating partners with Allah departed through the blood shed by them beneath the vault of heaven upon the face of the dusty earth. They are repositories of virtues and customary excellences, mines of favors and benefits, gatherings of noble qualities and praises, and paths to knowledge and aims. May the clouds of mercy continue to pour upon their resting places and the greetings of divine pleasure to descend upon their stations, so long as the suns of the sciences rise from the firmaments of registers and notebooks and the stars of the disciplines shine from the horizons of pens and inkstands.

To proceed: this is an outpouring of what has settled in my breast concerning the states of the elevated sciences and the biographies of the splendid disciplines, and a trace, after long absence, of the acquisition of that upon which the felicity of this world and the Hereafter depends. From their surging seas I drew sweet, limpid, pleasant water, and I drank deeply from

[Edition footnote 1] The middle, principal, or upper part of anything.

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their clear rivers whatever was pure of impurity and free of turbidities. I edited it to preserve what had become scattered concerning the states of the sciences and the biographies of their names and characteristics, and collected it to distinguish the disciplines while explaining their principles, purposes, and ends. In doing so I drew upon the books of the eminent imams and the pages of the leading masters, after learning their courses and learning to shoot from the bow, though I had once been its peer. When I came upon the book The Book of Lessons and the Register of Beginnings and Reports, by the chief judge Mu'ayyad al-Deen Aboo Zayd 'Abd al-Rahmaan Ibn Khaldoon al-Andalusee, I found that its author—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—had devoted its first book to a sixth chapter on the sciences, their kinds, all their paths and forms, and the conditions that arise in all of this. Then I saw Khwaaja Khaleefa-zaada Mullaa Kaatib Çelebi summarize those sciences and their conditions in the introduction to his book The Disclosure of Suppositions concerning the Names of Books and the Disciplines, and add to it material from Aboo al-Khayr's Key to Happiness. Then I examined the book City of the Sciences by al-Azneeqee, the pupil of Qaadheezaada Moosaa ibn Mahmood al-Roomee, commentator on Jaghmeenee; it explains the kinds of sciences and gives biographies of some scholars of the disciplines. Then I came across the book Kashshaaf Istilaahaat al-Funoon by the learned shaykh Muhammad 'Alee ibn 'Alee al-Tahaanawee al-Hindee, in which he mentioned kinds of the sciences in circulation and paths among the disciplines in use.

I saw the affluent incapable, through the weakness of their aspirations, of knowing these sciences and disciplines, and found the scholars content with a drop from the abundant, pouring rain. Each of these two groups is therefore independent of its collections yet falls short of reaching its goal, except for whatever Allah Most High wills among the rare members of the tribes and the singular individuals of humankind.

The subject of the first book is the history of the conditions of the world. The subject of the second is the collection of the names of the books composed by the children of Adam. The first contains nothing beyond mentioning those sciences in particular chapters, except for the conditions of civilization, the nations of humankind, and the events of ages and times. The second contains nothing beyond biographies of those sciences and discourses, except the disclosure of the names of books. The third is restricted to mentioning the kinds of sciences and biographies of their authors. The fourth is devoted exclusively to mentioning the terminology current in the books of the disciplines.

[Edition footnote 1] Its complete title is The Book of Lessons and the Register of Beginnings and Reports, concerning the Days of the Arabs, Persians, and Berbers. Its author, Ibn Khaldoon, died in 808 AH = 1406 CE.

[Edition footnote 2] He means Ibn Khaldoon's Introduction.

[Edition footnote 3] His name was Mustafaa ibn 'Abd Allaah, Kaatib Çelebi, known as Hajjee Khaleefa. Turkish by origin and Arabized in culture, he was a historian and researcher. He was born and died in Constantinople: 1017–1067 AH = 1609–1657 CE.

[Edition footnote 4] The title of the book is Key to Happiness and Lamp of Sovereignty, and it concerns the subjects of the sciences. Its author was Mawlaa Aboo al-Khayr Ahmad ibn Mustafaa, known as Taashkubreezaada, who died in 968 AH–1561 CE.

[Edition footnote 5] He was Muhammad ibn Qutb al-Deen al-Azneeqee al-Roomee, Muhyee al-Deen, a scholar who participated in several sciences. He died in 885 AH = 1480 CE.

[Edition footnote 6] It is Mahmood ibn Muhammad al-Jaghmeenee's book The Epitome on Elementary Astronomy.

[Edition footnote 7] That is, Ibn Khaldoon's Book of Lessons.

[Edition footnote 8] That is, Hajjee Khaleefa's Disclosure.

[Edition footnote 9] That is, al-Azneeqee's City of the Sciences.

[Edition footnote 10] That is, al-Tahaanawee's Kashshaaf Istilaahaat al-Funoon.

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I wanted to set apart from these works the conditions of the sciences and the biographies of the disciplines in a concise composition—bringing the distant near and achieving abstraction—adding to it what I had encountered while examining and arranging unusual books, and gathering and plucking the fruits of benefits from exceptional pages. Let this complete, intended work and desired star rising from the horizon of good fortune be easy to obtain for whoever seeks to reach it, and let its yield be readily available to whoever wishes to draw from it and rely upon it: for it consists of numerous studies in limited notebooks and sound insights in well-known sheets, adorned, through Allah's aid and His good granting of success, with every embellishment, and arranged in two divisions:

The first: an explanation of the conditions of the sciences.

The second: biographies of them, both those expressed and those understood. Each of these two divisions contains an introduction, a conclusion, and chapters arranged in the most complete structure and fairest style, leading the eyes of students of knowledge from their quest to the most precious aim and most precious object of desire. If you are among those who have read and examined the books mentioned, you know that after this abstraction of their contents, only a small remainder of the scholarly aims remains: biographies of books and their people.

But what concerned me most was that I saw the people of this age whose dispositions do not turn toward apprehending the sciences and their foundations, or toward gleaning the benefits of the disciplines, even by understanding some of their meanings—let alone encompassing all their aims and ends and reaching the utmost limits in knowing and mastering them. Except for one among thousands upon thousands, and an individual among the many parties, who possesses lofty ambition and discerning reflection in acquiring knowledge and the sciences; or one endowed with splendid power and pervasive ability in gathering what is apportioned. Such a person may raise his head to learn the science from beginning to end and set out to investigate the matter of the first and the last. Yet all creatures, or most of them, are submerged in immediate, erring, false, perishing pleasures, and they prefer them—even when they are in straitened circumstances—to the lasting, permanent, abiding blessings of the hereafter. Except those whom God Most High protects. It is as though all people had become species without distinctions, or females without males. Yet the human being is distinguished from the animal only by speech, knowledge, and cognition. If knowledge did not exist among human beings, then they and all animals would be equal in every respect. Truly, we belong to God, for the loss of knowledge and its people, and for the spread of ignorance and the elevation of its possessors.

In sum, this work, which gathered the states of the sciences and their biographical notices in a single [ken]1 and contained the scattered parts of the disciplines in a steadfast vessel, caused its light to appear at the end of the age of the world, when its youth had passed away and nothing remained of the seas of its life but their mirage, while afflictions and trials followed one another in it and calamity and hardship encompassed its people. Therefore, it was like a trace after its object had vanished, or like an old tale of Hunayn's hidden sandals.

Nevertheless, by the praise of God Most High, it has arrived in its field as a marvel of form, impregnable in attainment, bringing forth wondrous marvels. When asked, it gives; when called upon, it answers. It is as though a sky of sciences whose stars are its marvels had risen, and an earth of disciplines whose clouds had rained their rarities: a beauty mark on the cheeks of subtle points; an amulet on the necks of proven and accomplished men; a garden whose trees are leafy, a flowerbed whose blossoms are radiant; its fruit everlasting, its shade abiding, its bliss permanent, and its drink drawn from Tasneem. A vessel of salvation by which the righteous cross seas of distant depths, and a laden ark in whose encompassing current travelers sail. Enough that it is a mount by which the rider reaches the gardens of

1 [Edition footnote 1] al-ken: the house.

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paradise and there the drinker drinks from the pools of cognition. I compiled it for the varied reflections of the two noble, fortunate boys and for the training of the minds of the two honorable, praiseworthy sons: Sayyid Noor al-Hasan al-Tayyib and Sayyid 'Alee Hasan al-Taahir. May God bless them, in them, and upon them in this world and in religion; grant them a truthful tongue among those who come after; and lead them along the path of the righteous forebears—particularly for them, and generally for all others among the people of knowledge and excellence.

I named the first section of this book al-Washee al-Marqoom, “The Embroidered Brocade”; the other section al-Sahaab al-Markoom, “The Gathered Clouds”; and the book itself Abjad al-'Uloom, “The Alphabet of the Sciences.”

Its composition and compilation took place in the protected town of Bhopal in the year 1290 AH (1873–1874 CE), and its printing and ripening took place in the holy year 1295 AH (1878 CE), at the press named after the possessor of lofty praises and exalted virtues—one before whose generosity the clouds were put to shame and shed sweat, and whose governance made the thunder roar and tremble with fear. The light of her compassion shone from the darkness of the lands of Maalwaa and the Deccan, just as the light of sight shines from the darkness of the eye. Thus it reached both near and far, among the people of tents and brick dwellings. Whoever alighted at her thresholds forgot homeland and companions, and whoever sought refuge at her door found his requests coming to him from every door.

She combined royal appearance with royal conduct and joined Yemenite wisdom with Yemenite governance. Here I recited, addressing the east wind and the north wind, as is the practice of the masters of spiritual longing and inward state:

You have reached the sanctuary of Bhopal, my soul, so alight ...

For you have attained the hoped-for benefits, the object of reliance

How lovely its courtyards! You have attained them; indeed,

The east wind has come, bearing the scent of clove

I remembered a covenant at the sanctuary and those who dwelt there:

“Halt, let us weep at the remembrance of a beloved and a dwelling”

For it is none other than the Presence of Might that

Addresses the Crown of India among the peers

A refuge for the people of excellence from every calamity,

A sanctuary for the notables, the lofty and excellent

A succor for the possessors of favor and understanding,

A support for orphans, a protection for widows

She is a sea in generosity, whose outpouring encompasses creation;

Every petitioner has received from her beneficence

She is a sun in favor, whose gifts extend

To all subjects, from every tribe and class

She has bestowed noble gifts through her ambition,

For which there is no equal among any counterpart

She poured forth effusions that put Haatim's generosity to shame,

Sending down upon us shower after shower

Tell us, who can take her place?

And who now can answer a petitioner's distress?

Tell us, does she have any likeness?

Tell us, does she have any equal?

For she is nothing but a welcome mercy,

Encompassing all people, rich and poor

May the Lord of creation perpetuate for her favors

That leave every barefoot and shod one unable to match them

And may He increase her prosperity with the prosperity of might,

Making it a support for her whenever one comes down upon her

By her I mean the sovereign of the world, the lady of my household, Nawwaab Shaahjahan Begum. May her days and nights be blessed, and may the eyes of calamities sleep, heedless of her lofty merits.

This is what I ask God: that He raise this book to the summit of acceptance, make it sincerely for His noble Essence, benefit through it the people of knowledge

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and the eminent masters whom it leaves behind, and lower over the slips of its compiler the longest hems of His pardon, well-being, forgiveness, and good pleasure.

When my discourse had reached this point, I began to set out the aims of the book in chapters; I lifted a veil from the faces of the brides of the sciences and their biographical notices; I disclosed within it causes and reasons; I stripped the robe from the countenances of its disciplines; I followed in it an unfamiliar course and selected from among the various approaches a wondrous method. From God comes help, and from Him success in all that I compose and say; upon Him is reliance, and to Him belongs praise in every state. He is the best One to be asked and hoped in.

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The First Section: al-Washee al-Marqoom on the States of the Sciences

Introduction: On what is called by the name of knowledge, its relation, locus, permanence, and the knowledge of God Most High

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The First Section: From the Book Abjad al-'Uloom on Its States, Called al-Washee al-Marqoom

Introduction: On what is called by the name of knowledge, its relation, locus, permanence, and the knowledge of God Most High

Knowledge, with the kasrah on the 'ayn and sukoon on the laam, in the usage of the scholars, is applied to several meanings. Among them is apprehension without qualification, whether conceptualization or certain or uncertain assent; this is the view adopted by the philosophers.

Among them is assent without qualification, whether certain or otherwise. al-Sayyid al-Sanad1 says in his marginalia on al-'Adhudee: “The term knowledge is applied to the genus, namely apprehension without qualification, and to one of its divisions, namely assent—either by homonymy, in that it was also coined for it, or because usage came to prevail in this sense, since it is the intended meaning in most cases, while conceptualization is intended for its sake.” Among them is certain assent in the imaginary realm. According to the theologians, knowledge has no meaning other than certainty. In al-Atwal, in the chapter on simile, it says: “Knowledge, in the sense of certainty, is [its meaning] in the language, because it belongs to the category of the acts of the heart.” End quote.

Among them is that which includes certainty and conceptualization without qualification. In Sharh al-Tajreed: “Knowledge is sometimes used to mean the image formed in the mind; sometimes it is used to mean certainty alone; and sometimes it is used to mean that which includes certainty and conceptualization without qualification.” End quote.

It has been said: This is the doctrine of the theologians.

Among them is intellection.

Among them are supposition and imagination. In Tahdheeb al-Kalaam: “The kinds of apprehension are sensation, imagination, supposition, and intellection. Knowledge may be used for apprehension without qualification, for the last three, for the last of them, and for confirmed, corresponding, decisive assent.”

1 [Edition footnote 1] He is 'Alee ibn Muhammad ibn 'Alee, known as al-Sayyid al-Shareef al-Jurjaanee, one of the philosophers and leading scholars of Arabic. He authored many works and died in 816 AH = 1413 CE.

2 [Edition footnote 2] What is meant by al-Tajreed is the book Tajreed al-Kalaam or Tajreed al-'Aqaa'id by Naseer al-Toosee, who died in 672 AH. There are many commentaries and marginalia on al-Tajreed, the most important being the marginalia of al-Sayyid al-Shareef al-Jurjaanee, which are relied upon by the scholars of Room and India.

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Among them is apprehension of the universal, whether conceptually or judgmentally.

Among them is apprehension of the composite, whether conceptualization or assent.

Among them is apprehension of propositions through proof.

Among them are the propositions themselves that have been demonstrated.

Among them is the faculty acquired through apprehending those propositions; some have not stipulated that the propositions be demonstrated.

He said: Knowledge is applied to apprehending propositions, to the propositions themselves, and to the faculty acquired through them. The recorded sciences are likewise applied to these last three meanings.

Among them is a faculty by which one is able to employ the subject matters of something toward one of its purposes, proceeding with insight according to what is possible in it; it is also called an art. Thus it is in al-Mutawwal1, in the discussion of simile.

Al-Sayyid al-Sanad refuted this by saying that the aforementioned faculty called an art exists only in the practical sciences—that is, those concerned with how to act, such as medicine and logic—and that specifying knowledge by it is not established; indeed, knowledge may be mentioned in contrast to art. Yes, applying it to the faculty of apprehension so that it includes the theoretical and practical sciences is not far-fetched and is appropriate to common usage. End quote.

The theologians said: Knowledge necessarily involves an attribution and a specific relation between the knower and the known, by which the knower is a knower of that known and the known is known to that knower. This attribution is what they call relation. The majority of the theologians hold that knowledge is this relation, since nothing else has been established by proof. Thus knowledge multiplies with the multiplicity of known things, just as an attribution multiplies with the multiplicity of that to which it is attributed.

Some of the Ash'arees said: It is a real attribute possessing a relation. According to them, there are therefore two things: knowledge, which is that attribute, and being a knower, namely that relation. On this basis, knowledge does not multiply with the multiplicity of known things, since the relation of one attribute to many things does not require the multiplication of the attribute; it is possible for one thing to have relations to many things.

Al-Qaadhee al-Baaqillaanee affirmed knowledge, which is an existent attribute, and being a knower, which according to him belongs to the category of states. Along with these he affirmed a relation: either relation to knowledge alone or to being a knower alone. In that case there are three things: knowledge, being a knower, and the relation established for one of them. Or it may be relation to both of them, in which case there are four things: knowledge, being a knower, and their relations.

The philosophers said: Knowledge is the mental existent, since what is sheer nonexistence in the external world, such as impossibilities, cannot be conceived. A relation can only be conceived between two distinct things, and there is no distinction unless each of them has some sort of existence. An externally nonexistent thing has no existence, so its reality can only be the thing existing in the mind, and that thing is knowledge; the relation is concomitant to it. The known is likewise so: insofar as it subsists in the rational faculty, it is knowledge, and insofar as it is considered in itself, as it is in itself, it is known. Knowledge and the known are identical in essence but different in consideration. If knowledge of nonexistent things is thus, then all other known things must likewise be so, since there is no difference among the instances of one specific reality. Thus it is in Sharh al-Mawaaqif. Meerzaa

1 This is the extensive commentary on Talkhees al-Miftaah by Jalaal al-Deen al-Qazweenee, who died in 739 AH. The author of al-Mutawwal is Sa'd al-Deen Mas'ood ibn 'Umar al-Taftaazaanee, who died in 792 AH.

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Zaahid: This concerns acquired knowledge. As for immediate knowledge, knowledge and the known are identical in essence and in consideration. Whoever supposes that the difference between them in immediate knowledge is also merely one of consideration, like the difference between the one treated and the healer, has confused the difference that constitutes the realization of their two identities with the difference that comes after their realization. For if there had been a prior difference between them, immediate knowledge would have been an image abstracted from the known and would have been acquired knowledge.

Now know that, according to the people of truth, the locus of originated knowledge—whether it relates to universals or particulars—is not determined by reason. According to them, it is rationally possible for God Most High to create it in whichever substance of the body's substances He wills. But transmitted evidence indicates that it is the heart. God Most High said: “For they have hearts with which they understand,” and He said: “Do they not contemplate the Qur'aan, or are there locks upon their hearts?”

The philosophers, however, said: The locus of originated knowledge is the rational soul or the ten external and internal senses.

The theologians differed over the persistence of knowledge and intellect after death in Paradise.

The Ash'arees judged that their persistence is impossible, like that of all accidents according to them. As for the Mu'tazilees, they unanimously held that necessary and acquired knowledge not connected to an obligation remains.

They differed concerning acquired knowledge connected to an obligation. al-Jubbaa'ee1 said: It does not remain; otherwise, while it remained, the one obligated by it would not be obedient or disobedient, rewarded or punished, even though the obligation existed. This is false, on the basis that reward or punishment necessarily follows upon one who has been obligated by it. Aboo Haashim2 disagreed with him on this and required that knowledge remain without qualification. Our shaykh, the learned absolute mujtahid and chief judge Muhammad ibn 'Alee al-Shawkaanee3, said in his fatwas entitled al-Fath al-Rabbaanee: A question was conveyed to the haafidh al-Dhahabee4 concerning the claim that the knowledge of the people of Paradise is taken away from them in Paradise, so that no awareness of any of it remains for them. My skin bristled when I came across such a statement from a haafidh who spent his life serving the Book and the Sunnah and writing the biographies of the scholars of this field. I had previously encountered something of this sort, but it was a solitary oddity among the philosophers, stated without knowledge or transmission, so I paid it no heed because of his ignorance of the Book and the Sunnah. But, alas, how can the pen of the least of the scholars of the law run with such a thing? I was astonished that this haafidh had entered such desolate, gloomy approaches, in whose ravines and highlands autumn changes colors, and had shouldered this weighty transmission and tremendous burden. The conclusion is that the Islamic groups, despite the diversity of their schools and the differences in their paths, agree that the intellects of the people of Paradise

1 He is Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhaab ibn Sallaam al-Jubbaa'ee, one of the imams of the Mu'tazilees and the leader of the theologians of his age; the Jubbaa'ee sect is named after him. He was so called in relation to Jubba, one of the villages of Basra. He died in 303 AH = 916 CE.

2 He is 'Abd al-Salaam ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhaab al-Jubbaa'ee, one of the leading Mu'tazilees and a theologian. He was followed by a group called the Bahshamiyya. He died in 321 AH = 933 CE.

3 He is Muhammad ibn 'Alee ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allaah al-Shawkaanee, a leading mujtahid among the scholars of Yemen, from San'aa'. He held that taqleed is forbidden and authored 114 works. He lived 1173–1250 AH = 1760–1834 CE.

4 He is Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn 'Uthmaan ibn Qaaymaaz al-Dhahabee, Shams al-Deen, a haafidh, historian, learned scholar, and critical investigator, of Turkmen origin and from Mayyaafaariqeen; he was born and died in Damascus. He had many works, perhaps reaching one hundred: 673–748 AH = 1274–1348 CE.

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They become purer and more aware as the worldly impurities that had afflicted them depart. How, then, could they be deprived of what they possess of the most abundant blessings and most generous allotments, while they are in an abode containing everything the soul desires and the eyes delight in—things no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has imagined? It is as though this speaker had not read the Noble Qur'aan and what it contains of the dialogues between the people of Paradise and the people of Hell, and of their disputation with arguments that issue only from the most perfect of people in intellect and the most abundant of creatures in understanding; nor had he read what they mention of the state they had been in among their families, or rather what they wish to convey to the living about the bliss in which they now find themselves. He said: “I wish my people could know / Of how my Lord has forgiven me and placed me among the honored.” {يَا لَيْتَ قَوْمِي يَعْلَمُونَ، بِمَا غَفَرَ لِي رَبِّي وَجَعَلَنِي مِنَ الْمُكْرَمِينَ} 1 A similar meaning occurs in the Qur'aan, whose wording was removed from the mushaf, as is established in the sound collections of the books of hadeeth, transmitted from those martyrs in the words: “Tell our people that we have met our Lord, and He is pleased with us and has made us pleased.” Likewise, there is what is mentioned of the people of Paradise gathering and conversing about what they had been in the world and what they became in Paradise, as in the verses containing what is in Paradise that God prepared for them, where He says: “And in it is this, and in it is that, and in it is that,” in many verses. It is mentioned that its people recline on couches facing one another, and that immortal youths circulate among them. It is established that they enter Paradise in those states of beauty, youth, perfection of form, and excellence of appearance: beardless, hairless, and thirty-three years of age. They choose in Paradise whatever they desire. How many Qur'aanic verses and sound hadeeths can an enumerator count? None of this bliss, nor even part of it, can be complete unless they possess sound intellects, by intellectual necessity, just as is established by religious necessity. It is known that, once they possess intellects, whatever intellect they have with them is, in both general and particular possibility, capable of acquiring whatever new knowledge comes to it and remembering whatever knowledge it previously acquired. This needs no explanation and requires no proof. If they were deprived of them, they would lose complete humanity and become like beasts. What blessing is there for one who has no intellect, as can be seen in those afflicted by insanity in this world? And what benefit is there in exaggerating the bliss of one who has lost his reason, when it is established in the Book and the Sunnah that they possess attributes far beyond their worldly attributes, by distances whose extent cannot be measured and whose essence cannot be encompassed? Their bliss likewise cannot be complete except through the existence of the outward and inward senses. If they lacked them, they would not enjoy themselves as they should; and if they lacked some of them, they would have no awareness of the enjoyment that God, Glorified is He, described and emphasized. What benefit is there for one who has lost his intellect, and what awareness could he have of possessing a perfected state in his beauty, his garments of silk and brocade, his adornment with gold and jewels, his eating of the finest foods, and his drinking of the choicest beverages? Likewise, there is no complete blessing—let alone an excellent one—for one who is blind or deaf, understands nothing, remembers nothing of what has passed, or reflects on nothing of what he is experiencing.

Once this is established for you, you will know that the people of Paradise possess intellects surpassing those of the world in youth, beauty, strength, understanding, recollection, memory, and freedom from every deficiency. If the matter were not so, they would have no benefit from the attributes lavished upon them; rather, those attributes established for them in Paradise would return as a deficiency. This is known by intellect and revelation, and no one possessing understanding can dispute it. At the very least, the bliss decreed for them in Paradise by the Book and the Sunnah would be deficient.

It is assumed to reach perfection to a degree beyond every degree, yet this is a contradiction that opposes the texts of the Book and the Sunnah—an opposition understood by everyone who possesses intellect and perception. How astonishing—utterly astonishing—is the audacity to speak about the inhabitants of this abode, the abode of everlasting bliss in truth, in a way that would spoil their bliss, disturb their state, muddy their purity, and obliterate what God prepared for them; and the audacity toward God, Glorified is He, and His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, in a way that entails denying the truth of what the Book and the Sunnah established for them.

1 [Edition footnote 1] Soorat Yaaseen, aayah 27.

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and spoiling it, causing its effect to disappear, and effacing its blessing. You know that a book of this kind entails manifest unbelief. How far removed is this grievous objection from the bliss of an abode where the place of one of their whips equals the whole world and everything in it; from an abode where the half of one of their wives' garments equals the world and all it contains; and from an abode where, if one of the maidens prepared for them were to look upon the people of this world, she would enchant them all, as is established in the sound hadeeths. Yet, despite this, it is established in the Qur'aan that they recline on couches facing one another, and that immortal youths circulate among them. It is established in the Sunnah that they gather and visit one another. Would that I knew: what benefit could such gathering and visiting have for one who possesses no intellect, understanding, thought, or memory?

The conclusion is that making up such a statement is to fabricate against God, Glorified is He, what He did not say, and against His Messenger and His law what does not belong to it. The Noble Qur'aan has established a judgment concerning those who fabricate such claims, known to everyone who knows the Qur'aan. Once it is established that something of this sort is false in the Hereafter, look at this abode—the abode of this world—which is nothing in comparison with the Hereafter. If someone were told, “You will have everything you want of beauty and perfection of appearance, abundant bliss, and complete authority, but you will be afflicted with insanity or lose all your senses,” he would say, “No—and no honor in it! Leave me to live as a poor beggar; that is better for me than what you have offered me and dearer to me than what you have brought me”:

Take back your gift; may God not sanctify your gift ...

I shall turn away from it, neither for nor against me

We have presented these matters only so that you may know that, when the human spirit is simple, all of it is simple, since the spirit is the humanity by which its possessor is distinguished from beasts. Everything we have mentioned of intellect and the inward and outward senses belongs to it, not to flesh, blood, or bone. When the spirit is simple, nothing remains but the form of flesh and blood. This is what they mean when explaining the essence of the human being as “a speaking animal,” that is, one who apprehends intelligible things; this does not belong to the bodily form that houses it. Just as what we have mentioned and established is the consensus of the Islamic groups, despite their differing kinds, it is also the consensus of the people of all revealed religions, as is related from the revealed Books sent down to their messengers and is also conveyed by the books they composed, by their rabbis and monks. There is no disagreement among them concerning the resurrection and the bliss prepared for the people of Paradise, as the Mighty Book relates. We have cited much evidence for this in al-Maqaalah al-Faakhirah fee Ithbaat al-Daar al-Aakhirah and Irshaad al-Thiqaat ilaa Ittifaaq al-Sharaa'i' 'alaa Ithbaat al-Tawheed wa-l-Ma'aad wa-l-Nubuwwaat, including many passages from the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, and the other books of the prophecies of the Children of Israel. None departed from them except the heretical Jewish apostate Moosaa ibn Maymoon al-Andalusee.1 The ancient Jews disavowed him and expelled him from their religion. The Christians likewise, although he was not of their community, openly declared his abandonment and heresy. The Christian said in his history: “I saw many Jews from the lands of the Franks in Antioch and Tripoli cursing him and calling him an unbeliever.” End quote. I say: This accursed man also extensively altered the Torah, in a way that demonstrates his atheism and heresy. I refuted what he altered and clarified it with the fullest clarification. As for the Jews of our age, they have taken to venerating him, owing to their ignorance of the true state of affairs. I mentioned some of his alterations to a group of their rabbis, and they cursed him and disavowed him. Just as what we have mentioned is agreed upon among the people of the religious communities who follow their prophets,

1 [Edition footnote 1] He is Moosaa ibn Maymoon ibn Yoosuf ibn Ishaaq al-Qurtubee, a Jewish physician and philosopher. He was born and educated in Córdoba, professed Islam outwardly, and entered Egypt, whereupon he returned to Judaism and lived in Cairo for thirty-seven years. From 567 AH, he was the spiritual leader of the Jews. He died there and was buried in Tiberias, Palestine. 529–601 AH = 1135–1204 CE.

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It is also agreed upon by those engaged in reason and speculation, such as the Chaldeans and the Saabians, the followers of Saab ibn Idrees, as we have seen in the account of the doctrines they adopted concerning the resurrection. Among them are the Greeks, for all of them, from Asclepius to the time of Galen, explicitly state in their books that souls will be resurrected in the abode of resurrection. The same is true of those engaged in divine wisdom among the Muslims, such as al-Kindee, those who came after him such as al-Faaraabee, and those among them who came after him such as Ibn Seenaa: their books state this explicitly, without any doubt or uncertainty. This much is sufficient for anyone possessed of guidance. End quote from al-Shawkaanee, may God have mercy on him.

We have cited it here at length only because it contains lofty benefits, and one thing brings another to mind.

Then know that God's knowledge, glorified is He, of His Essence is identical with His Essence; thus the knower and the known are one, namely, the particular existence. So it is stated in Sharh al-Tawaali'. That is: they are one in essence, but in consideration there must be a distinction. He then said: The knowledge of other than God Most High, of its own essence and of what is not outside its essence, is the obtaining of the known itself. Thus, in knowledge of its own essence, the knower and the known are one, and knowledge is the existence of the knower and the known, while existence is additional. Knowledge is therefore other than the knower and the known; and knowledge of what is not outside the knower, namely, its states, is other than the knower and the known, while the known too is other than the knower. Hence one thing is realized in the first case, two in the second, and three in the third. Knowledge of a thing that is outside the knower consists in the obtaining of an image corresponding to the known. Four things are therefore realized: a knower, a known, knowledge, and an image. Knowledge is the obtaining of the image of the known in the knower. Thus, in knowledge of things outside the knower, there are the image, the obtaining of that image, the relation of the image to the known thing, and the relation of the obtaining to the image. In knowledge of things that are not outside the knower, there is the obtaining of that very thing obtained and the relation of the obtaining to that very thing. There is no doubt that the relation in all these cases is an accident. As for the very reality of the thing in knowledge of things that are not outside the knower, it is a substance if the known is the essence of the knower, since that reality is necessarily existent not in a substratum, given that the essence of the substratum is likewise the knower. If the known is a state of the knower, it is an accident. As for the image in knowledge of things outside the knower, if it is an image of an accident, that is, if the known is an accident, then it is undoubtedly an accident; and if it is an image of a substance, that is, if the known is a substance, it is also an accident. End quote.

This is based on the doctrine of the phantasm. According to the doctrine that the quiddities of things are obtained in the mind, however, it is a substance.

The Soofees said: God's knowledge, glorified is He, is an essential, eternal attribute. His knowledge of Himself and His knowledge of His creation are one knowledge, neither divided nor multiple; but He knows Himself as He is, and He knows His creation as they are. It is not permissible to say that His objects of knowledge gave Him knowledge from themselves—as Shaykh Muhyee al-Deen Ibn 'Arabee said—for that would entail that He acquired something from another. Rather, we found that after this He knows them by an original knowledge from Him, not acquired from what they are, according to what their essences required; except that they required in themselves what He knew them to possess, and He then judged of them a second time according to what they required, which is what He had known them to possess. When the aforementioned imam saw that the Real judged the objects of knowledge according to what they themselves required, he supposed that the Real's knowledge was acquired from the requirement of the objects of knowledge and said: “The objects of knowledge gave the Real knowledge from themselves.” He overlooked that they only required what He had known them to possess through the universal, original, essential knowledge before their creation and bringing into existence. They were not individuated in divine knowledge except according to what He knew them to be, not according to what their essences required; then their essences subsequently required things from themselves that were exactly what He had first known them to possess. He therefore judged of them a second time according to what they required.

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He judged only according to what He had known them to possess. Reflect on this.

Thus the Real is called 'Aleem (All-Knowing) by reference to knowledge of Him without qualification, and 'Aalim (Knower) by reference to the things' being known to Him, and 'Allaam (Omniscient) by reference to both knowledge and the things' being known to Him. al-'Aleem is the name of an essential attribute, since it does not consider anything apart from Him: knowledge is what the self deserves in its perfection, for its own sake. As for al-'Aalim, it is the name of an active attribute, namely His knowledge of things, whether His knowledge is of Himself or of another, for it is active: one says, “knower of Himself,” meaning that He knew Himself, and “knower of another,” meaning that He knew another. It must therefore be an active attribute. As for al-'Allaam, with regard to the relation of knowledge, it is the name of an essential attribute like al-'Aleem; with regard to the relation of things being known to Him, it is the name of an active attribute. For this reason, the description al-'Aalim is more commonly applied to created beings than al-'Aleem and al-'Allaam: one says, “So-and-so is learned,” but one does not say “all-knowing” or “omniscient” absolutely, unless one says, “knowledgeable about such-and-such.” One does not say “omniscient about such-and-such”; rather, if a person is described by it, qualification is necessary: “So-and-so is omniscient in such-and-such a field.” This is by way of breadth and metaphor. Their saying, “So-and-so is an 'Allaamah” is not of this kind, because it is not among the names of God Most High. It is therefore not permissible to say that God is an 'Allaamah. Understand. Thus in al-Insaan al-Kaamil, as cited in Kashshaaf Istilaahaat al-Funoon.

I say, may God pardon me: God's knowledge Most High is essential, like all of His attributes. We say this in refutation of the philosophers, who deny the attributes and affirm their ultimate effects, and in refutation of the Mu'tazilees, who say that He knows through His Essence, not through an additional attribute. Ibn Seenaa said in al-Ishaaraat, following the philosophers: God knows universals, that is, not particulars. This is manifest unbelief, admitting of no interpretation. This is one of the matters for which the Muslims declared the philosophers unbelievers; they have many such enormous and difficult errors. So let what is attributed to them of forms of knowledge and subtleties of thought not intimidate you: none of them is anything but an opponent, or is on the brink of a crumbling precipice.

Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah1 and other Muslim scholars also mentioned rational proofs for affirming the attribute of knowledge for God Most High. We will not lengthen the discussion by mentioning them here. The transmitted proofs from the Book and the Sunnah establishing God's attribute of knowledge are exceedingly numerous, such as His saying Most High: “Knower of the unseen and the witnessed” [al-An'aam: 73]; and His saying: “He sent it down with His knowledge” [al-Nisaa': 166]; His saying: “To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour” [Fussilat: 47]; His saying: “They encompass nothing of His knowledge” [al-Baqarah: 255]; and His saying: “He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal” [Ghaafir: 19], along with other verses too numerous to enumerate without difficulty. In the hadeeth of Aboo Hurayrah, may God be pleased with him, it is reported that he said, may God bless him and grant him peace: “God's knowledge has preceded concerning His creation, so they are proceeding toward it.” And in the hadeeth of Ibn 'Umar: “The keys of the unseen are five; no one knows them except God.”

The attribute of knowledge belonging to Him, glorified is He, is the leader of all the attributes. He encompasses all things in knowledge, and His knowledge is related to every thing among the possible, necessary, and impossible. It is therefore religiously obligatory to know that God's knowledge is unlimited with respect to what it encompasses. As for the meaning that it does not cease, that is clear. As for the meaning that it never reaches a point at which it ceases to relate to a known thing, it encompasses what is unlimited, such as numbers and shapes. The bliss of Paradise likewise encompasses all conceivable things, whether necessary, such as His Essence and His sublime attributes; impossible, such as a partner of the Creator, Most High; or possible, such as the entire cosmos, including its particulars and universals, all as they are. And it is one, neither divided nor multiplied, even though its objects of knowledge are multiple and numerous.

[Edition footnote 1] He is Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Haleem ibn 'Abd al-Salaam, al-Numayree al-Harraanee al-Dimashqee al-Hanbalee, the imam, Shaykh al-Islaam, 661–728 AH = 1263–1328 CE.

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As for the necessity, according to revelation, of the universal scope of its relation, this is like His saying, Most High: {And Allah is Knowing of all things}; and His saying: {He knows the stealthy glance of the eyes and what the breasts conceal}; and His saying: {He knows what they conceal and what they reveal}; and other such Qur'anic verses. As for the rational necessity of this, it is because what necessitates knowing is the essence—whether through the attribute that is knowledge, as is the doctrine of those who affirm the attributes and of the early Muslims, and this is the truth, or without it, as is the view of those who negate them. What necessitates being known is its possibility, while the relation of the essence to all things is equal. If His knowing were restricted to some things and not others, that would be by virtue of a specifying factor, which is impossible, since it is impossible that the Necessary Being should need specification in His attributes and all His perfections, as this would be incompatible with necessary existence and absolute independence. No one whose view may be relied upon held that there are multiple eternal knowledges except Aboo Sahl al-Sa'lookee among the Ash'arees, and he is refuted by consensus. The truth is that His knowledge precedes and encompasses things as they are, with no erasure, change, increase, or decrease in it. He, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows what was, what will be, what will not be, and what it would be like if it were. As for what the pen has recorded on the Preserved Tablet, do erasure and confirmation occur therein? On this, the scholars have held two opinions. As for the records in the hands of the angels, erasure and confirmation do occur in them. As for the lengthy discussions of the philosophers, their exhaustive treatment of the knowledge of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, the rational proofs they have brought to establish their corrupt doctrines and worthless opinions, their assertion that the attributes are additional to His Essence or identical with His holy Essence, and the attributes they have negated—all of this is something into which the early Muslims never delved, and concerning which not a single letter has come from the Lawgiver, peace and blessings be upon him. To delve into it and similar matters is distance from religion and nearness to devils. How many have perished and caused others to perish, gone astray and led people astray from the straight path! None is protected except one whom Allah protects and has mercy upon. Discussion of the question of knowledge is lengthy, and this is not the place to elaborate on it. What has been mentioned here is sufficient and healing.

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