Knowledge and Islamic Spirituality The Forgotten Path

Islamic Spirituality - The Forgotten Path

 

A lecture delivered by Maulana Imran Nazar Hosein

at the Maulana Abd al-Aleem  Siddiqui Masjid, Singapore

In Sura al-Kahf, Allah ﷻ gives us wonderful instruction on the consequences of not having the capacity  to see with the internal eye. He takes Musa pbuh

the Nabi who was sent to Bani Israel, those who say that they are the chosen people of Allah , the elite, the select whilst the rest of mankind is gentile. 

According to Sahih Bukhari, Musa pbuh has delivered a Khutbah at Sinai. Someone came to him and said, ‘O Musa! What a wonderful Khutbah. You must be the most learned man in the world.’ What Musa pbuh should have replied was, ‘Praise is due to Allah ﷻ!’  What Musa pbuh should have  replied was, ‘Beyond any man is He who is all learned.’ But he didn’t say that. He said what the PhD From the university says, ‘yes, I am the most learned man in the world.’ This is what happens when you secularize knowledge. You take Allah ﷻ out of the process of learning. ‘He has nothing to do with it. I am the expert in my field. I am the top scholar in my field.’ He says, ‘yes, I am the most learned man in the world.’  When you do that and don’t recognize Allah ﷻ as the source of all knowledge, then He cuts off your internal sight. 

So Musa pbuh temporarily is without internal sight. Allah ﷻ then says to him, ‘There is a servant of mine more learned than you are, Musa.’ So Musa pbuh, says, ‘I would like to meet him.’ Then Allah ﷻ gives him instructions to take a fish, put it in a basket  and travel  in the  direction  where  the  two  seas  meet- majmaul bahrain. ‘When the fish jumps out of the basket, there you shall meet him.’ This is a rather humiliating thing for the most learned man in the world to do. Allah ﷻ cuts him down. ‘Learn humility if you really are learned. The sign of knowledge  is humility.’ So he goes and eventually,  he meets him. He is called Khidr pbuh, which means ‘green’. This is a man more learned than Musa pbuh. There is a difference between his knowledge and this knowledge. This knowledge can grow old and stale and be superseded by other knowledge and so become obsolete. Like the computer you had ten years ago, obsolete now.  But this knowledge does not grow obsolete, always green always relevant, always fresh. Like a fresh breeze, this is the knowledge of Khidr pbuh that’s why he is Mr. Green.

Musa pbuh asks, ‘Can I accompany you so that I may learn from you?’ Very difficult! Really difficult for a one eyed man to learn from a two eyed man. The on-eyed man has a PhD, so he believes he knows all. Hazrath Khidr pbuh says, ‘You are not going to be able to show patience with me.’ How correct is that answer; unto this day; but he keeps on insisting, ‘I want to go with you.’ He is allowed to accompany Khidr pbuh, on condition he does not ask questions unless Khidr pbuh explains. He is cut down. So they travel  and come to the sea or the water and there they board a boat. Sahih Bukhari tells us a nice story about what happened on the boat. A little bird came and sat on the sail of the boat and then flew down dipped its beak into the water and flew back up with one drop of water inside the mouth. Khidr pbuh points to the  bird and says,  ‘Musa  pbuh,  the  knowledge  that  you have  plus the knowledge that I have  when compared to Allah ﷻ‘s knowledge is like the one drop of water in the beak of the bird. That is the first lesson to teach a one eyed man. Then three events occur:

1. Khidr pbuh breaks the bottom of the boat. Musa pbuh is annoyed and says, ‘Why do you do such a wicked thing?’

2. When they get off the boat they came across a boy whom Khidr pbuh killed. Hazrath Musa pbuh is now more than just angry because he remembers that he accidentally  killed a man in Egypt and what suffering he suffered because of this. So being very angry he demands an explanation from Hazrath Khidr pbuh as to why he slew an innocent boy.

3. Then they came to a town which was very inhospitable. There was a wall which someone had constructed and it was crumbling. Hazrath Khidr pbuh pays for the wall to be rebuilt. Hazrath Musa pbuh cannot understand. ‘Why would you pay to do this in a town that doesn’t even show elementary hospitality? You can  at  least  demand a refund of the amount you have  spent?’  says Hazrath Musa pbuh.

What  is important about these  three events  is that  on each  occasion  Hazrath Musa pbuh formed his judgment based on external observation and rational analysis. And yet on all three occasions he was wrong. Suratul Kahf is knocking at your hearts.  Warning  you!  That  in the  age  of Dajjal  if you  depend only  on your external observation and rational investigations to formulate your judgment, you will be wrong because Dajjal comes with two things: a river and a fire. His river is a fire and his fire is the cool waters of the river. In other words, appearance and reality will be completely different from each other in the age of Dajjal. It looks good but it’s dangerous. It looks bad but the reality is different it is good. In the age of Dajjal appearance and reality are going to be completely different from each other so if judgment is based on external observation and rational enquiry alone you are going to be wrong and will pay a terrible price for your wrong judgment. 

Hazrath Khidr pbuh explains saying, “What I did with this boat appeared to you to be bad but was actually good. There is a king, a government that is coming seizing people’s property and they are going to be seizing this boat, thus by damaging the boat, I saved the boat so when the king is gone the poor fishermen can repair their boat. It looked bad to you but actually I did them a favour. This little boy! You sometimes plant a seed and you get a rose. Sometimes you plant a seed and you get a scorpion. So when you sleep with your wife make dua, ‘O Allah ﷻ! This seed which I plant I pray it may grow into something good and beautiful.’ So this child was destined to grow into such a Devil that his parent’s faith would have been  threatened.  By  killing  the  child  and  praying  to  Allah  ﷻ to  send  them another child who would be coolness  for their eyes (kurratu aiyun) I did something good for them but you couldn’t see that. As regards the wall: In this town there was a believer (mu’min), who had two little children, he was dying he had some money and he couldn’t find a single person he could trust to keep the money until his children grow. So he had to dig a hole and bury the money. Having buried the money he then built a wall and prayed to Allah ﷻ that He would guide them to the money. When I found the wall crumbling, Allah ﷻ instructed me to rebuild it.’

So knowledge,  instructions and guidance  can  come from above.  What  we are introduced to here is a branch of knowledge that is called epistemology.  What is knowledge? Is it possible for us to acquire knowledge and how is it acquired? The Holy Qur’aan teaches  us: Did you acquire knowledge? That knowledge wherein there is no doubt never becomes obsolete like the computer from ten years ago. [The Holy Qur’aan says in the 102nd Sura, Takaathur (The Piling up):

If you had that knowledge that is borne of certainty

Source:  Islamic Spirituality - TheForgotten Path

 to be continued  . . . .