الباب الرابع: في فوائد منثورة من أبواب العلمBab 04 — Miscellaneous Benefits of Knowledge

Chapter Four: On Miscellaneous Benefits from the Branches of Knowledge

It contains sections and discussions

First Section: On the Islamic Sciences

Know that the sciences current in settled civilization in this age, in which people engage and which they exchange among themselves for purposes of acquisition and instruction, are of two kinds: a natural kind, which human beings discover through their own thought, and a transmitted kind, which they receive from the one who established it.

The first consists of the philosophical sciences of wisdom. These are sciences upon which a human being may gain a footing through the natural operation of thought, and whose subjects, questions, forms of proof, and modes of instruction he may apprehend through his human faculties, until his reflection and inquiry enable him, as a thinking human being, to distinguish therein truth from error.

The second consists of the positive transmitted sciences. All of these rest upon reports from the Lawgiver, and reason has no role in them except in relating their derivative questions to their principles, because newly arising and successive particulars do not fall under a universal transmission merely by virtue of its formulation. They therefore require attachment by means of an analogical method; yet this analogy branches from the report establishing the ruling in the principle, and that report is transmitted. Thus this analogy ultimately returns to transmission because it branches from it.

The foundation of all these transmitted sciences is the religious law, namely, the Qur'aan and the Sunnah legislated for us by God and His Messenger, together with the sciences connected thereto that we prepare for the sake of benefit. This is followed by the sciences of the Arabic tongue, which is the language of the acquired disposition and in which the Qur'aan was revealed.

The branches of these transmitted sciences are numerous, because the legally responsible person must know the rulings of God Most High incumbent upon him and upon those of his kind. These are derived from the Qur'aan and Sunnah by explicit text, consensus, or analogical extension. One must therefore begin by examining the Qur'aan through an elucidation of its wording; this is the science of Qur'aanic exegesis. Then one must establish the chain of its transmission and recitation back to the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—who brought it from God, and consider the differing recitations transmitted by the readers; this is the science of Qur'aanic readings. Then one must establish the Sunnah through its source, discuss the transmitters who convey it, and know their circumstances and probity, so that their reports may be trusted, through knowledge of what must be acted upon in accordance with

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that. This is the science of hadeeth. Then, in deriving these rulings from their principles, there must be a juridical method that provides knowledge of how this derivation is carried out; this is the science of the principles of jurisprudence. Thereafter the fruit is obtained through knowledge of God Most High's rulings concerning the acts of those legally responsible; this is jurisprudence. The obligations are of two kinds: bodily and spiritual. The latter concerns faith, what must be believed, and what must not be believed; these are the articles of faith concerning the Essence and attributes, the matters of resurrection, bliss and punishment, and predestination. Defending these through rational proofs is the science of kalaam. Then, before examining the Qur'aan and hadeeth, the linguistic sciences must precede it, since that examination depends upon them. They are several kinds, including lexicography, grammar, rhetoric, and belles-lettres, as we shall discuss them all.

All these transmitted sciences are particular to the Islamic religious community and its members. Although every religious community, generally speaking, must possess something similar, it shares with Islam only the remote genus, insofar as these are sciences of a revealed law sent down by God Most High upon the bearer of the law, who conveyed it. In the specific sense, however, Islam differs from all religious communities because it abrogated them; all the sciences of the religious communities that preceded it have been abandoned, and investigation into them is forbidden. The Law has prohibited examining revealed books other than the Qur'aan. The Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—said: “Do not affirm the People of the Book, nor deny them; rather say: We believe in what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to you. Our God and your God are one.”

The Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—saw in 'Umar's hand—may God be pleased with him—a sheet from the Torah. He became so angry that anger was visible on his face, and then said: “Have I not brought it to you pristine and pure? By God, if Moses were alive, he would have no choice but to follow me.”

These transmitted religious sciences subsequently enjoyed flourishing markets in this religious community to an unsurpassed degree. The understanding of those who investigated them reached the utmost limit, beyond which there is none; technical terms were refined and the disciplines organized, and they consequently surpassed the utmost limit in excellence and adornment.

Each discipline had men to whom reference was made concerning it, as well as established arrangements through which instruction could be obtained. The East and the West each became known for some of these arrangements. In this age, the markets of knowledge in the Maghrib have stagnated because of the decline of settled civilization there and the interruption of the chain of knowledge and instruction. I do not know what God has done with the East. One presumes of it that knowledge is flourishing there and that instruction continues in the sciences and in all the necessary and supplementary crafts, owing to its abundant settled civilization, urbanity, and the assistance available to the student of knowledge through stipends from endowments, by which their livelihoods have been expanded—God Most Glorious and Exalted is the Doer of whatever He wills, and in His hand lie success and assistance.

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and the Successors. Those devoted to carrying and transmitting this material were called qurra', that is, those who read the Book and were not illiterate, for illiteracy at that time was a general attribute of the Companions, since they were Arabs. Thus the bearers of the Qur'aan at that time were called qurra', as an indication of this fact. They were readers of God's Book and of the Sunnah transmitted from the Messenger of God, because they knew the legal rulings only through it and through the hadeeth, which in most instances is its exegesis and explanation.

The Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—said: “I have left among you two matters; you will never go astray so long as you hold fast to them: the Book of God and my Sunnah.”

When transmission had declined—from the reign of al-Rasheed onward—it became necessary to compose Qur'aanic commentaries and record the hadeeth for fear that it might be lost. Then knowledge of the chains of transmission and the accreditation of transmitters became necessary, to distinguish sound chains from those below them. Thereafter, the derivation of rulings for new cases from the Book and the Sunna increased, while the language deteriorated; grammatical principles therefore had to be formulated. The religious sciences all became disciplines requiring mastery in deduction, extraction, theorization, and analogy, and they required other sciences as their instruments: knowledge of the rules of Arabic, the rules of deduction and analogy, and defense of the articles of faith by proofs, on account of the abundance of innovations and unbelief. All these sciences thus became disciplines requiring instruction, and entered among the crafts. We had already established that crafts belong to sedentary culture, and that the Arabs are the people farthest from them. The sciences therefore became urban, and the Arabs withdrew from them and from their market. The urban populations of that time were Persians, or those of their status among the clients, and the city-dwellers who then followed the Persians in civilization and its conditions, including crafts and occupations, because they were more capable of this on account of the firmly rooted civilization they had possessed since the Persian dynasty. Thus the masters of grammar were Seebawayh, then al-Faarisee, and after him al-Zajjaaj; all were Persian in lineage. They had merely been raised in the Arabic language, acquired it through upbringing and association with the Arabs, and turned it into rules and a discipline for those who came after them. Likewise, most of the transmitters of hadeeth who preserved it from the Muslims were Persians or non-Arabs imperfect in language and upbringing. The scholars of the principles of jurisprudence were all Persians, as is known; so too were the transmitters of kalaam, and most Qur'aan commentators. None but non-Arabs undertook the preservation and recording of knowledge, confirming the saying of the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—“Were knowledge to hang from the edges of heaven, a people from Persia would attain it.”

As for the Arabs who encountered this civilization and its market, emerging from their nomadic life into it, leadership in the 'Abbaasid state occupied them, as did the responsibility for governance, keeping them from attending to knowledge and reflecting upon it. They were the people of the state, its protectors, and those entrusted with its policy, in addition to the disdain that attached to their adopting knowledge once it had become one of the crafts. The men of rank have always disdained crafts, occupations, and what leads to them, and they handed them over to the Persians and the assimilated peoples who undertook them. They continued to acknowledge their right to do so, since these were their religion and sciences, and did not entirely despise their bearers. Once authority passed altogether from the Arabs to the Persians, however, the religious sciences became alien in affiliation to the people of power, because of their distance from that affiliation; their bearers were treated as inferior, since they were regarded as remote from them and occupied with what brought no benefit to them in governance and politics. This is the reason we have established for the fact that the bearers of the revealed law, or most of them, are non-Arabs.

As for the rational sciences, they likewise appeared in the religious community only after the bearers and authors of knowledge had become distinct and all knowledge had settled into a craft. They became the specialty of the Persians, while the Arabs abandoned them and turned away from adopting them. Only Arabized Persians carried them, as with the crafts, as we first explained. This continued in the cities so long as civilization remained among the Persians and in their lands—'Iraaq, Khuraasaan, and Transoxiana. When those cities were ruined and the civilization that is God's secret in the acquisition of

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knowledge and crafts disappeared from them, knowledge as a whole disappeared from the Persians, for nomadism had overtaken them, and knowledge became confined to cities rich in civilization. Today no city surpasses Misr in civilization: it is the mother of the world, the portico of Islam, and the fountainhead of knowledge and crafts. Some civilization remained beyond the river because of the state civilization found there, and thus its people possess a share of knowledge and crafts that cannot be denied. The writings of some of their scholars that have reached us from those lands have shown us this; among them is Sa'd al-Deen al-Taftaazaanee[1]. As for the other Persians, after Imaam Ibn al-Khateeb[2] and Naseer al-Deen al-Toosee,[3] we have seen no statement from them whose ultimate correctness could be relied upon. Consider this and reflect upon it; you will see something wondrous in the conditions of creation. God creates what He wills; there is no god but Him alone, without partner. To Him belongs dominion and praise, and He has power over all things. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs. Praise be to God.[4]

1 See it above, p. 43.

2 He is Imaam Fakhr al-Deen al-Raazee; his biography appeared earlier, p. 31.

3 He is Naseer al-Deen Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Toosee, a philosopher and an authority in the rational sciences, renowned for astronomy and mathematics. He was held in high esteem by Hülegü and authored many books, 597–672 AH = 1201–1274 CE.

4 End of Ibn Khaldoon's words.

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and more firmly rooted. The more teachers there are, the greater the acquisition and entrenchment of dispositions.

Technical terms in the teaching of the sciences are also confused for the learner, to the point that many suppose them to be part of the science itself. Only direct engagement can dispel this confusion, because teachers differ in their methods. Meeting scholars and having multiple teachers enables him to distinguish technical terms by observing their differing methods; he separates the science from them and recognizes them as modes of instruction and means of transmission. His powers then rise toward firmness and mastery of the dispositions, his knowledge is corrected and distinguished from what is other than it, and his disposition is strengthened through direct contact and inculcation, increased by the multiplicity and variety of teachers. This is for one whom God has made the paths of knowledge and guidance easy. Travel is therefore indispensable in the pursuit of knowledge, for acquiring benefits and perfection through meeting masters and direct contact with men. God guides whom He wills to a straight path,[1] and directs him to an upright way and a sound religion.

1 End of Ibn Khaldoon's words.

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The Fifth Section: On the Scholars' Being, Among Human Beings, Far Removed from Politics and Its Doctrines[1]

The reason for this is that they are accustomed to intellectual reflection, diving into meanings, extracting them from sensible things, and abstracting them in the mind into universal, general notions, so as to judge them universally, without regard to any particular matter, person, generation, nation, or class of people; thereafter they apply the universal to external things. They also measure things against their counterparts and similitudes, according to the juridical analogy to which they are accustomed. Thus their judgments and observations remain entirely in the mind and do not arrive at correspondence until after the inquiry and reflection have been completed; indeed, they do not in general arrive at correspondence, but rather what exists externally branches off from what exists in the mind. Such are the legal judgments: they are branches of what is preserved in the proofs of the Book and the Sunna, and one therefore seeks to make what exists externally correspond to them. This is the opposite of reflection in the rational sciences, which, in order to be sound, seek correspondence with what exists externally. They are accustomed, in all their observations, to mental matters and intellectual reflections, and know nothing else. Politics requires its practitioner to observe what exists externally and the circumstances that attach to it and follow from it, for these are subtle; perhaps they contain something that prevents their being subsumed under a likeness or example and conflicts with the universal notion that one tries to apply to them. No circumstance of social organization can be measured against another, for even if they resemble one another in one respect, they may differ in others. Thus, when scholars—because of their habit of universalizing judgments and measuring things against one another—consider political matters, they cast them into the mold of their reflections and modes of inference and consequently fall into error frequently, and cannot be trusted. The intelligent and astute among the people of social organization are subject to the same danger, because their penetrating minds lead them toward something like the practice of the jurists—delving into meanings, making analogies, and imitating—and they consequently fall into error. The sound-natured commoner of moderate intelligence, whose thought is too limited for this and who is unaccustomed to it, restricts each matter to its own judgment and each class of circumstances and persons to what is specific to it. He does not extend a judgment by analogy or universalization, and in most of his reflection he does not depart from sensible matters or transcend them in his mind—like a swimmer who does not leave the shore when the waves are high. As the poet said:

1 The chapter in the Muqaddima, pp. 1365–1367.

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Do not venture far when you swim … for safety lies upon the shore

Thus he is safe from error in considering his political affairs, sound in his dealings with his fellow human beings; his livelihood is improved, and its afflictions and harms are warded off through the soundness of his judgment. Above every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing.

From this it becomes clear that the art of logic is not safe from error, because of the abundance of abstraction in it and its distance from sensible things: it considers second intelligibles, and perhaps the materials contain something that resists those judgments and conflicts with them when certain correspondence is observed. Reflection upon the first intelligibles—whose abstraction is close—is not like this, because it is imaginary, and the forms of sensible things preserve it and indicate the credibility of its correspondence. God—glorious and exalted is He—knows best, and from Him comes success.1

1 End of Ibn Khaldoon's words.

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The Sixth View: On the Impediments and Obstacles to the Sciences

It contains openings:

Opening: Know that every good has an impediment, and that knowledge has impediments, among them: reliance upon the future; reliance upon one's intelligence; moving from one science to another before obtaining from it a substantial amount; or moving from one book to another before completing it.

Among them are seeking wealth or rank, and inclining toward animal pleasures.

Among them are straitened circumstances and lack of assistance for study.

Among them are worldly occupations and taking up offices, as well as the abundance of writings in the sciences and the abundance of abridgments, for these are harmful and obstructive.

Opening: As for reliance upon the future, it is unbecoming to the intelligent person, for every day that comes brings its own preoccupations; one should not postpone the work of today until tomorrow.

Opening: As for reliance upon one's intelligence, it is folly, and many intelligent people have been deprived of knowledge for this reason.

Opening: As for moving from one science to another before the first has become firmly established, this is a cause of being deprived of them all, and is therefore impermissible; the same applies to moving from one book to another.

Opening: As for seeking wealth or rank, or inclining toward animal pleasures, knowledge is too noble to be attained alongside something else or as a subordinate pursuit. For this reason, you see many people fail to attain a sound, considerable measure of knowledge because they are occupied with seeking office and a teaching position, though they pursue it constantly, night and day, in secret and openly, and never relent. Their talk and thought are devoted to acquiring wealth and rank, even though these are for them among transient pleasures, and they do not incline toward enduring felicity. Their offices are, in reality, foreign offices, because they distract from study and acquisition according to the recognized method of its pursuit.

Opening: As for straitened circumstances and lack of assistance for study, they are among the greatest and most severe impediments, because the person afflicted by them is perpetually troubled and preoccupied in heart.

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Opening: As for worldly prosperity and taking up employment, there is no doubt that they prevent their possessor from teaching and learning.

Opening: As for the abundance of works in the sciences and the diversity of technical terminologies in instruction, they obstruct acquisition, because a student's lifetime cannot encompass what has been written in a single discipline if he devotes himself exclusively to it. For example, what they have composed in jurisprudence, including texts and commentaries, would not be manageable for a student who committed himself to it, even though he would also need to distinguish the methods of the earlier and later scholars. All of these works are repetitive, and the meaning is one; the learner is a seeker, and life is spent on one of them. Had they confined themselves to the doctrinal questions alone, the matter would have been less burdensome, but this is an incurable disease. The same applies to Arabic grammar, in works such as the Book of Seebawayh, what was written upon it, and the methods of the Basrans, Kufans, and Andalusians, as well as the methods of later scholars such as Ibn al-Haajib and Ibn Maalik1. With everything written on this subject, how can the learner be expected to master it? His life is consumed before he does so. If this is the case with an instrument and means, how can it be the case with the intended object, which is the fruit?—But God guides whom He wills, and He knows best those who are guided.

Opening: As for the abundance of abridgments composed in the sciences, they impair instruction. Many later scholars have taken to abridging the methods and approaches of the sciences, delighting in them, and recording from them a concise program for each science that contains a summary of its questions and proofs, using few words to contain many meanings from that discipline. This has impaired eloquence and made comprehension difficult.

They sometimes undertook the lengthy foundational books in the disciplines for purposes of explanation and clarification and abridged them to facilitate memorization, as Ibn al-Haajib did in jurisprudence and the principles of jurisprudence, Ibn Maalik in Arabic, al-Khoonajee3 in logic, and others like them. This is corruption in instruction and a failure in acquisition, because it confuses the beginner by presenting to him the goals of the science before he is prepared to receive them; this is poor instruction. It also imposes a considerable burden upon the learner, who must trace the abridgment's difficult-to-understand expressions, as meanings crowd into them and it becomes difficult to extract the questions from among them. The expressions of abridgments are therefore, for this reason, difficult and abstruse, and a substantial portion of time is spent understanding them. Furthermore, the habitus acquired through instruction in those abridgments—if it is completed properly and no mishap follows it—is inferior to the habits acquired from simple, extended treatments, because the latter contain much repetition and cross-reference, both of which are beneficial for acquiring a complete habitus. If one limits oneself to repetition, the habitus is deficient because repetition is scant, as is the case with these abridged treatments. They sought to make the learners memorize, and so mounted them upon a difficult path that cuts them off from acquiring useful habits and consolidating them.4

Among this class are Sa'd al-Deen al-Taftaazaanee's Tahdheeb on logic, Muhibb Allaah al-Bahaaree's Sullam and Muslim, al-Akbaree's Fusool in morphology, and the al-Fawaa'id al-Samadiyya in syntax. Whoever God guides cannot be led astray, and whoever He leads astray has no guide. God—glorious and exalted is He—knows best.

1 Ibn al-Haajib is Jamaal al-Deen 'Uthmaan ibn 'Umar ibn Abee Bakr ibn Yoonus, a Maalikee jurist and one of the major scholars of Arabic; he has many works in the field, including al-Kaafiya on grammar and al-Shaafiya on morphology, 570–646 AH = 1174–1249 CE.

Ibn Maalik is Jamaal al-Deen Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allaah ibn Maalik al-Taa'ee al-Jayyaanee, one of the leading authorities in the sciences of Arabic, Andalusian by birth and Damascene by death. He has many books on the sciences of Arabic and became renowned for his Alfiyya and Kaafiya: 600–672 AH = 1203–1274 CE.

2 This is where Ibn Khaldoon's discussion begins, page 1352.

3 He is Muhammad ibn Namaawar ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Khoonjee, Afdhal al-Deen, a scholar of philosophy and logic who wrote works on both; he died in Cairo: 590–646 AH = 1194–1248 CE.

4 End of Ibn Khaldoon's discussion.

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The Seventh Scene: On the Fact That Memorization Is Not Scholarly Habitus

Know that whoever devotes greater attention to memorization than to acquiring habitus does not attain much of the habitus of exercising the science. Thus, you see that one who has acquired memorization has mastered nothing of the discipline, and you find his habitus deficient in his science when he engages in discussion or disputation—as is the case with most of the jurists of the Maghrib and their students, and with the students of science among the people of Bukhaaraa, Baghdad, Kaabul, Qandahaar, and the cities and provinces adjoining them. Whoever supposes that memorization is what is meant by scholarly habitus is mistaken. Rather, what is meant is the habitus of extracting and deducing, of moving swiftly from indications to their indicated meanings, from the necessary to what it necessitates, and conversely. If the habitus of recollection is added to this, then that is the desired attainment. This is not achieved by memorization alone; rather, memorization is one of the causes of recollection, which in turn depends on the quality or weakness of the faculty of retention. This is among the conditions of natural constitutions, although it is something amenable to treatment.

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until you give it all of yourself; and when you give it all of yourself, you are still in danger of reaching only part of it.

Opening: Among them is abandoning laziness and preferring wakefulness during the nights. One of the causes of laziness in this matter is remembering death and fearing it; yet remembrance of death should be among the causes of acquisition, since no action by which one prepares for death is better than knowledge and acting upon it. Fear of death should not dominate the student to the point of distracting him from preparation. His—peace and blessings be upon him—statement, “Frequently remember the destroyer of pleasures,” indicates that remembering it should lead one to withdraw from fleeting pleasures, not from enduring ones.

Opening: Among the conditions is resolve and perseverance in learning until the end of life, as it has been said: “Seeking knowledge is from the cradle to the grave.” The Exalted said to His beloved—peace and blessings be upon him—[And say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge.] And He said: [Above every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing.] The way to devote one's time to acquisition is this: whenever he tires of one science, he should occupy himself with another, as Ibn 'Abbaas—may God be pleased with him—used to say, when he grew tired of speaking with students: “Bring me the diwans of the poets.”

Opening: Among them is choosing a teacher who is an honest adviser, of pure lineage, advanced in age, and not so entangled in worldly affairs that they distract him from his religion. One should travel in pursuit of a master to the farthest lands if there is none in the town where one resides. It is said: The first thing mentioned about a person is his teacher; if he is eminent, the student's worth is elevated. When he finds such a teacher, he should entrust him with the reins of his affairs and submit to his counsel as a patient submits to a physician. He should not rely on his own mind and act independently, nor be arrogant toward him or toward knowledge, nor disdain him, for it has been related in a “Whoever does not bear the humiliation of learning for an hour remains in the humiliation of ignorance forever.” Among the proper courtesies is honoring and venerating the teacher. Whoever causes his teacher distress is deprived of the blessing of knowledge and benefits from it only a little. He should give his teacher's right precedence over the rights of his parents and all Muslims. Part of venerating him is venerating his children and dependents; part of magnifying knowledge is magnifying books and fellow students.

Opening: Among the conditions is that, regarding what he has read, he should master its questions comprehensively—from its foundations to its conclusion—with understanding and verification through proofs; that he should seek out good books; and that he should not believe of any science that he has acquired from it an amount beyond which no increase is possible. Such a belief is rashness that brings deprivation.

Opening: Among them is that he should not leave any branch of knowledge without examining it as one acquainted with its end, purpose, and method. After surveying all or most of them in general, if his disposition inclines toward one branch, he should pursue it and not burden himself with another. Not everyone is fit for learning, nor is everyone fit to learn one science fit for all the sciences; rather, each person is facilitated for that for which he was created. If his inclination toward the branches is equal, while circumstances agree and the days are favorable, he should seek mastery of them, for all the sciences cooperate and are interconnected. Yet he must not desire the next before mastering the first, lest he become vacillating and be deprived of them all. Nor should he be among those who incline toward some and oppose the rest, for that is profound ignorance. Beware of disparaging any science in imitation of what you have heard from the ignorant. Rather, he must take a share from each and give thanks to whoever guides him to understand it. He should not be among those who condemn knowledge and make it an enemy because of their ignorance, as in their condemnation of logic, which is the foundation of every science and the discipline of every mind; or their blanket condemnation of the philosophical sciences without knowing which parts of them are blameworthy and which praiseworthy; or their condemnation of astrology, although some of it is a communal obligation and some permissible; or their condemnation of the Sufi doctrines because of their ambiguity to them. Even if a science were blameworthy in itself—as they claim—acquiring it would not be without benefit, the least of which is refuting those who uphold it.

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Pause: Know that examining and studying the philosophical sciences is permissible subject to two conditions:

The first is that one not be empty-minded with respect to Islamic beliefs, but rather be strong in understanding and firmly rooted in the noble Sharee'a.

The second is that one not go beyond their propositions that contradict the Sharee'a. If one does go beyond them, it should be only to refute them.

This applies to one whose intellect, age, and time assist him, and whom the age spares from what would lead him to deprivation; otherwise, he must restrict himself to what is most important, namely, the amount he needs for that by which he draws near to God Most High, and what is indispensable concerning the beginning, the return, dealings, acts of worship, morals, and customs.

Fath: Among the conditions considered in acquiring knowledge is studying with one's peers and debating with them, as it has been said: “Knowledge is a planting, and its water is study.” This should be done seeking reward and making the truth manifest. It has also been said: “An hour of exchanging views is better than a month of repetition,” but only with one who is fair-minded and sound in disposition. The student should reflect on the subtleties of the sciences and make this a habit, for they are apprehended by it, especially before speaking, since speech is like an arrow; it must therefore be straightened through reflection first.

Fath: Among them are earnestness and aspiration, for by these a person flies to the lofty peaks of perfection; and he must not postpone the work of one day until the next, since each day has its own occupations. He must have an inkpot with him at all times, so that he may write down what he hears of useful points and derives of additional benefits, for knowledge is prey and writing is its fetter. He should preserve what he has written of knowledge, since knowledge is what is fixed in the minds, not what is deposited in notebooks; rather, the purpose of the latter is to consult them upon forgetting and rely on them.

Fath: Among the conditions is observing the ranks of the sciences according to their proximity or remoteness from the objective, for each has a rank, arranged necessarily according to the care taken in acquiring it, since some are pathways to others. Every science has a limit that it must not exceed, and one must know it and not go beyond it—for example, one should not aim to establish demonstrations in grammar, nor seek [them]; nor should one fall short of its limit, as by being content with dialectic in cosmography. One should also know that the basis of the matter in the meanings is taste, and establishing a demonstration for it lies beyond one's capacity; whoever seeks a demonstration for it wearies himself. As al-Sakkaakee said: “Before you grant these arts their due, let us draw your attention to a principle, so that you may keep it in mind: it is not obligatory in a discipline—even if its principles and branches ultimately refer to reason alone—that one who enters it should be like one raised in it in acquiring its taste. How much more so when the discipline rests upon established conventions and familiar considerations? Thus, there is no blame upon one who enters the discipline of the science of meanings for imitating its master in some of his judgments, if he lacks taste there, until the causes of that taste gradually become complete in him.” End.

Fath: Among them is not expanding one's investigations in the instrumental sciences. The sciences in circulation are of two kinds: sciences intended in themselves, such as the revealed and philosophical sciences, and sciences that are instruments and means for these sciences, such as Arabic and logic. As for the objectives, there is no harm in broadening discussion of them, branching out the questions, and uncovering the proofs, for this increases the student's mastery of them. As for the instrumental sciences, one should consider them only insofar as they are instruments for something else, and should not expand discussion of them, because that takes them beyond their purpose and makes engagement with them futile, in addition to the difficulty of attaining mastery of them through their length and abundance of branches. It may also hinder the acquisition of the sciences intended in themselves, because of the length of their means, so that engagement

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with these instrumental sciences becomes a waste of life and an occupation with what brings no benefit. This is what the later scholars did in grammar, logic, and the principles of jurisprudence: they broadened the scope of discussion in them through transmission and argumentation, and multiplied their branches and questions, thereby removing them from being instruments and making them objectives in themselves. For that reason, they became futile and harmful to learners, since the learners' concern for the objective is greater than their concern for these instruments. If a lifetime is spent on them, when will one attain the objectives? He must therefore not delve deeply into them or multiply their questions.

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The Ninth Section: On the Conditions for Imparting and Disseminating Knowledge

It contains several benefits:

Benefit 1: Know that imparting knowledge is among the finest acts of worship. He must therefore have the intention that it be for the sake of seeking God Most High's pleasure and guiding His servants. He should not seek by it increase or honor, nor request payment for imparting it, following the example of the Lawgiver—peace and blessings be upon him. He should then observe several matters, including that he be compassionate and sincere toward his companion; that he point him toward the ultimate aims of the sciences; that he deter him from reprehensible morals; that he prevent him from aspiring to a rank beyond what he deserves; that he undertake study beyond his capacity; and that he not deter him if he learns for leadership and ostentation, for he may perhaps eventually awaken to the realities of matters. Rather, he should encourage him toward a kind of knowledge through which leadership may be gained by arousing desire for it, until he gradually leads him to the truth.

Know that God—Glory be to Him and Most High—made leadership and a good reputation a preservation for the Law, and made knowledge like bait cast around a net and like the desire that summons to procreation. For this reason it was said: “Were it not for leadership, knowledge would perish.” He should deter him from what must be deterred from by insinuation, not explicit declaration.

Benefit: Among them is that he begin with what is most important for the learner at that time, whether in his livelihood or his return, assign him the sciences suited to his disposition, and observe the best order according to what his rank and degree of preparedness require. Whoever has reached maturity in knowledge should be shown the realities of the sciences; otherwise, preserving knowledge and withholding it from one who is not qualified for it is more appropriate, for imparting knowledge to those unfit for it is blameworthy. In the hadith: “Do not cast pearls into the mouths of dogs.” Likewise, he should avoid making common people hear the words of the Sufis that they are incapable of reconciling with the Law, for this leads to the loosening of the bond of the Law from them and opens for them the door of unbelief and heresy. He should therefore guide them to knowledge of the outward acts of worship; if a doubt presents itself to them, it should be treated with persuasive speech, and the door of the inner realities should not be opened to them, for that would corrupt the order. If he finds someone intelligent and steadfast upon the foundations of the Law, he may open for him the door of gnosis after successive examinations, lest he be shaken from the Law's straight path.

Benefit: Know that the student must not reject what he does not understand of their obscure statements and extraordinary states, since each person is facilitated for that for which he was created. The Shaykh2 Ibn Seenaa said in the Ishaaraat: “Whatever strange things strike your ear, leave them in the realm of possibility

1 The author used the letter “f” in place of the word “benefit,” as an abbreviation for it; we have written it out in full wherever it occurs.

2 Ibn Seenaa, al-Husayn ibn 'Abd Allaah ibn Seenaa, Aboo 'Alee, the preeminent philosopher and author of works on medicine, logic, the natural sciences, and metaphysics. He was born in one of the villages of Bukhaaraa and died in Hamadhaan. The Ishaaraat is one of his many books: 370–428 AH = 980–1037 CE.

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unless a demonstrative proof turns you away from them.” End. The purpose of recording those statements is to remind those who know the secrets and to alert those who do not know them that we possess a science whose comprehension is too exalted for minds, so that they may desire to acquire it. As in the hadith: “There is a kind of knowledge like something concealed; none knows it except those who know God Most High. When they speak of it, none rejects it except the people of arrogance.” It is related from Aboo Hurayra—may God be pleased with him—that he said: “I retained two supplications from the Messenger of God—God's blessings and peace be upon him. As for one of them, I disseminated it; as for the other, had I disseminated it, this throat would have been cut.” Their aim is the impossibility of expressing it and the fear that listeners might compare the divine states with the states of contingent beings, and thus go astray through ill opinion of the one who utters them and respond to him with rejection. End.

I say: What is meant by the other supplication is news of the rule of the Banoo Umayya—as the hadith scholars have explicitly stated. Whoever says otherwise has not brought what satisfies the thirst. If you wish to examine the matter in full, refer to al-Qastallaanee1, and do not be deceived by the statements of those who have no share in the knowledge of the purified Sunna, whether in coming or going.

Benefit: Among them is that he should not contradict his words by his deeds. For if his statement were belied by his conduct, people would be repelled from him and from seeking guidance through him. Most imitators look to the condition of the speaker; as for the verifying scholar who does not look to the speaker, he is rare. Let him therefore devote more care to purifying his actions than to perfecting his knowledge, for the learned man must possess: piety, so that his knowledge may be more beneficial and his advantages more abundant; he should restrain his anger while teaching; he should not mix teaching with jest, lest his heart become hardened; he should neither laugh during it nor play; and he should not mind if his statement is not accepted. There is no harm in testing the learner's understanding. He should not argue about knowledge or dispute the truth, for that opens the door to error. He should not introduce one science into another, whether in teaching or in debate, for that is confusing, and Galen was often mistaken for this reason. He should urge the young to study—especially memorization—and should present to them what their understanding can bear. If the students are beginners, he should not cast difficult problems before them; and if they are advanced, he should not speak about matters that are self-evident. He should not answer one who asks obstinately, nor respond to the sophistries put to him. He should consider the student's condition: if he has an aptitude for understanding such that he can solve difficult problems and uncover obscure ones, he should take exceptional care in teaching him; otherwise, he should teach him only as much as he knows of the obligatory duties and sunna practices, then command him to occupy himself with earning a livelihood and supererogatory acts of obedience. Yet he should persevere in testing his intellect for approximately three years. If asked about something of which he is uncertain, he should say, “I do not know,” for “I do not know” is half of knowledge.

1 He was Shihaab al-Deen Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abee Bakr ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Qastallaanee al-Misree, a scholar of hadeeth who produced many works, the best known being *Irshaad al-saaree li-sharh Saheeh al-Bukhaaree*, in ten volumes: 851–923 AH = 1448–1517 CE.

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and little seclusion, and that he should neither contend with anyone nor quarrel with him.”

He should occupy himself with his own interests, not with overpowering his enemy. It has been said: “Whoever wishes to humiliate his enemy should acquire knowledge.” He should not indulge in luxury in food or clothing, nor adorn himself in furnishings and dwellings; rather, he should prefer moderation in all matters and emulate the righteous forebears. The more his inclination turns toward scarcity, the closer he comes to God—glorified and exalted is He—for adorning oneself with permissible things, although it is not forbidden, engenders attachment to them through excessive engagement, until abandoning them becomes difficult. Prudence therefore lies in avoiding this, for whoever immerses himself in worldly life can never be safe from it, even though it is the cultivation-ground of the hereafter. In it are beneficial good and penetrating poison. Distinguishing the first from the second involves several considerations, among them: knowing the rank of wealth—excellent wealth is that which belongs to a righteous person when he makes it a servant rather than being its servant. It is sought to strengthen the body with food and clothing, and to provide the strength needed to acquire the sciences and forms of knowledge that are the highest objective. Another is attending to the source of income: whoever can earn lawful, wholesome income should leave doubtful income; if he cannot, he may take from it only what he needs. If he can obtain lawful income only through hardship and by consuming all his time, then the ordinary worker should choose the hardship, even if he is among the people of learning. If what he would lose in knowledge and spiritual state exceeds the reward gained by seeking lawful income, he may choose lawful but unwholesome income, like one who chokes on a morsel and makes it pass with wine; yet he should conceal this from the ignorant whenever possible, lest he set the chain of error in motion. Another is the amount taken: it should be only what is needed for dwelling, food, clothing, and marriage. If he goes beyond the lowest level, he must not go beyond the middle level. Another is expenditure and spending: what is praiseworthy includes charity and spending on dependents. There has been disagreement over whether taking and spending in the proper manner is preferable, or abandoning them altogether despite agreement that total immersion in worldly life is blameworthy. Those who turn toward the hereafter and spend worldly wealth in its proper place are superior to one who abandons it entirely; among them are most of the prophets—peace be upon them. Another consideration is that his intention in taking and spending should be sound: in taking, he should intend to use it to assist him in worship, and he should eat so as to gain strength for worship.

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and the souls of the people of the emerging generation become eager to acquire it, so they hasten to its possessors.

Benefit: Every mental act of teaching and learning occurs through some prior knowledge possessed by a knower, unlike one who is not a knower. It may also be acquired naturally from the events of time through the repeated activity of minds; this is called experiential knowledge. Or it may arise through investigation and the exercise of thought; this is called syllogistic knowledge. Knowledge is confined to conception and assent. Conception is sought through explanatory statements, while assent arises from premises in the forms of syllogisms leading to conclusions. It may thereby yield certainty, or it may yield persuasion without certainty. The early teachers placed first in instruction what was easiest to grasp, so that it might serve as a ladder to what followed. The practice of the ancients in teaching was oral rather than written, lest knowledge reach those unworthy of it, and because many people were engaged in it. When aspirations weakened, they began to commit the sciences to writing and to classify some of them; they employed symbols and abbreviated the indications of implication. Whoever understood their aims attained their purposes.

Benefit: Know that all objects of knowledge are known by indicating them through one of three things: gesture, writing, or speech. Gesture depends upon visual presence; speech depends upon the interlocutor's presence and hearing. Writing, however, depends upon nothing; it is therefore the most broadly useful and the noblest, and it is the distinctive property of the human species. The learner must perfect it, even if only in one form. There is no doubt that through writing and reading the distinctive property of the human species emerged from potentiality into actuality, that humanity became distinct from all other animals, that wealth was recorded, knowledge and perfection preserved, and reports transmitted from one age to another. The dispositions of those capable of learning were thus formed to accept writing and reading, but striving to acquire the acquired disposition depends upon: receiving instruction, learning, practice, and training.

Benefit: Know that knowledge and thought exist potentially in the human being, and that they furnish their possessor with an intellect. The rational soul passes from potentiality to actuality only through the renewal of knowledge and perceptions, beginning with sensible things and then proceeding to what is acquired by the theoretical faculty, until it becomes actual perception and pure intellect. It then becomes a spiritual substance and its existence reaches completion. It is thus established that every kind of knowledge and thought gives it a further intellect. Likewise, the industrial dispositions furnish an intellect, and writing, among the crafts, does so most abundantly, for it contains sciences and acts of thought. In it one moves from the forms of written letters to spoken words, and from them to meanings; thus one moves from one indication to another, and the soul becomes accustomed to this continually. It thereby acquires the disposition to move from indications to what is indicated, which is the meaning of actual thought, by which unknown sciences are acquired. Through this, an increase in intellect and a surplus of discernment are obtained. This is the fruit of learning in this world.

Benefit: The purpose of knowledge, teaching, and learning is knowledge of God—glorified is He—which is the highest of ends and the summit of the kinds of felicity. It is expressed as the knowledge of certainty, which belongs especially to the Sufis, possessors of extraordinary gifts. It is the perfection sought through knowledge established by proofs. Beware, learner, lest your occupation with knowledge be to make it a craft that dominates your heart, until you meet your death repeating it at the moment of death, as is related of Aboo Taahir al-Ziyaadee, who repeated the question of liability for adverse possession while dying. Rather, you should take it as a path to salvation.

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Mention of the Burning and Destruction of Books: For this reason it is related of some shaykhs that they burned their books. Among them was the gnostic of God—glorified and exalted is He—Ahmad ibn Abee al-Hawaaree. As Aboo Nu'aym1 mentions in *Hilyat al-awliyaa'*, when he had finished learning, he sat with the people. One day, a thought from the Truth occurred to his heart, so he carried his books to the bank of the Euphrates. He sat weeping for a while, then said: “You were an excellent guide for me to my Lord, but when I attained the one indicated, I learned that occupying oneself with the indication was impossible.” He washed away his books. Ibn al-Mulaqqin2 mentions in his biography in *Tabaqaat al-awliyaa'* the following: It has been related that something similar occurred with Sufyaan al-Thawree, who instructed that his books be buried. He had regretted things he had written from weak transmitters.3 Ibn 'Asaakir says in the section on kunyas of his *History*:4 Aboo 'Amr ibn al-'Alaa' was the most learned of people concerning the Qur'aan and Arabic. His notebooks filled a house up to the ceiling; then he became an ascetic and burned them.

Benefit: al-Biqaa'ee5 mentions in his marginalia on al-Zayn al-'Iraaqee's commentary on the Alfiyya that he said: “I asked our shaykh”—meaning Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalaanee—“about what Daawood al-Taa'ee and others did in destroying their books: What was the reason?” He replied: “They did not believe that anyone was permitted to transmit them, whether by authorization or by finding them in writing. Rather, they held that if someone transmitted them from a written find, he would be deemed weak. They therefore regarded the harm of destroying them as less than the harm of weakening a transmitter because of them.” End.

I say: His answer, considered from the perspective of the science of hadeeth, does not answer the question of the destruction of Ibn Abee al-Hawaaree's books and those of his like. The first case was due to weakness in the chain of transmission; the second was due to asceticism and devotion to God—glorified is He. Perhaps the answer concerning their destruction is that, if he removed them from his ownership by gift, sale, or the like, the source of his heart's attachment would not be cut off entirely. He could not be safe from the thought of returning to them or from study and reading stirring in his breast at some time, and that would be a distraction through something other than God—glorified and exalted is He.

Benefit: On the Path of Thought and Purification:

Know that eternal felicity is complete only through knowledge and action, and that neither is reckoned without the other. Each of them is the fruit of the other. For example, when a man becomes accomplished in knowledge, he has no escape from acting according to its requirements; if he falls short in this, his knowledge is incomplete. When a man undertakes action, strives in it, and disciplines himself according to the conditions they have explained, theoretical sciences in their entirety settle upon his heart. These are two paths. The first is the path of inference, and the second is the path of witnessing. Each path may culminate in the other, so that its traveler becomes a gatherer of the two seas. Those who travel the path of truth are of two kinds:

The first begins by way of knowledge and proceeds to gnosis. It resembles the path of the Intimate Friend—peace be upon him—who began with inference.

The second begins with the unseen, and then the world of witnessing is unveiled to him. It is the path of the Beloved—God's blessings and peace be upon him—who began with the expansion of the breast, and to whom the effulgences of his countenance—God's blessings and peace be upon him—were unveiled.

1 He was Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allaah ibn Ahmad al-Isbahaanee, a hadeeth master and historian, one of the trustworthy authorities, and the author of many books, the best known being *Hilyat al-awliyaa' wa-tabaqaat al-asfiyaa'*, printed in ten volumes: 366–430 AH = 948–1039 CE.

2 He was Siraaj al-Deen 'Umar ibn 'Alee ibn Ahmad al-Ansaaree al-Shaafi'ee, known as Ibn al-Mulaqqin, one of the leading scholars of hadeeth, jurisprudence, and the history of transmitters. He was Cairene and composed nearly three hundred works: 723–804 AH = 1323–1401 CE.

3 See *Tabaqaat al-awliyaa'*, edited by Noor al-Deen Shareeba, p. 32.

4 He was Thiqat al-Deen 'Alee ibn al-Hasan ibn Hibat Allaah 'Asaakir al-Dimashqee, a historian, learned traveler, and the hadeeth master of the Syrian lands. He was born and died in Damascus and produced many works, the best known being *History of the City of Damascus*, in approximately eighty volumes: 499–571 AH = 1105–1176 CE.

5 He was Burhaan al-Deen Ibraaheem ibn 'Umar ibn Hasan ibn 'Alee ibn Abee Bakr al-Biqaa'ee, from the Biqaa' in Syria. He settled in Damascus and died there; he was a historian and man of letters with many works in this field: 809–885 AH = 1406–1480 CE.

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Debate between the People of the Two Paths

Know that the travelers differed over which of the two paths was superior.

The proponents of thought said: The path of thought is superior, because the path of purification is difficult and those who reach its goal are few; moreover, the constitution may be corrupted and the intellect become confused during spiritual struggle.

The people of purification said: The sciences obtained through thought are generally not free of the admixture of conjecture and the influence of imagination. For this reason they often measure the unseen by the witnessed and go astray; nor do they escape following desire in debate, unlike Sufism, which purifies the spirit and cleanses the heart of conjecture and imagination, leaving only the awaiting of the effusion of divine sciences. As for the difficulty and remoteness of the path, that does not impair the soundness of knowledge; besides, it is easy for one whom God—glorified and exalted is He—makes it easy. As for derangement of the constitution, if it occurs, it can be treated. They illustrated the matter with two groups who disputed over boasting and taking pride in the craft of engraving and painting, until their boasting led them to a test. A wall was assigned to each of them, with a curtain between them. One exerted himself in his craft, while the other occupied himself with polishing. When the curtain was raised, the wall shone with all the designs of the opposite wall. They said: These are like theoretical and unveiling sciences. The first is acquired through the senses, with toil and hardship; the second is acquired from the Preserved Tablet and the Higher Assembly.

It was objected to them: We do not concede that knowledge is obtained absolutely, for every science has many problems, and its acquisition consists in the firmly rooted disposition that belongs to it. Does this not become complete only through learning and training?—as stated above.

Perhaps the person granted unveiling does not claim that theoretical sciences are acquired by unveiling; he claims only that their ultimate aim and purpose are attained.

Adjudication between the Two Groups

It may be said that it has already been established that, despite their multitude, the sciences are confined to what relates to objects, which are the real sciences—called philosophical when the investigator proceeds according to the requirements of his intellect, and religious when he investigates according to the law of Islam—and to what relates to minds and expression, namely, the meaningful instrumental sciences such as logic; and to what relates to expression and writing, namely, the verbal or graphic instrumental sciences, called the Arabic sciences. Of the four divisions, everything apart from the first can be acquired only through reasoning and thought. The first, however, may also be acquired through purification.

People are also of different kinds. Among them are mature shaykhs who have reached the age of sixty: the path appropriate to them is the path of purification and waiting for the forms of knowledge God—glorified and exalted is He—grants, since time does not permit them to give precedence to the path of thought.

Among them are foolish young men: their ruling is the ruling of the shaykhs. Among them are intelligent young men prepared to understand realities. They are not without one of two circumstances: either no expert in the theoretical sciences guides them, in which case what applies to them is what applies to the shaykhs; or circumstances favor the presence of a skilled scholar—although he is rarer than red sulphur—in which case they must give precedence to the path of thought, then turn with all their being to knocking at the door of the kingdom, so that they may triumph in a lasting blessing that will never perish.

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