Questions & Answers in Islamic Theology by Shaykh Ramzy Ajem

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW? & WHO ARE THE DENIERS, THE SKEPTICS & THE RELATIVISTS?

Shaykh Ramzy Ajem answered:

The Possibility of Knowledge

Is the “whatness” of things real? | ‫؟‬ ‫ا ٔ ء‬

What is haqiqa? (pl. haqa’iq) Quiddity or “whatness”
○ It refers to the distinctive nature or peculiarity of a thing.
○ It answers the question: “what is it?”

○ It is that by which a thing is what it is. | ‫ء‬ ‫ا‬ : ‫ا‬

Is knowledge of the “whatness” of things possible?
Examples of knowing Quiddity:
○ Knowledge of : Existence | Hot | Pain | Originated | the year 1867 | Obligatory | Canada | Zaid | Fire | Hajj
Examples of knowing Quiddity + Proposition:
○ Knowledge that : Zaid exists | Fire is hot | Hajj is obligatory | Canada was founded in 1867 | Zaid is in pain

The Opposition
○ The Deniers: The quiddity of things is not real.
○ The Skeptics: We do not know the quiddity of anything.
○ The Relativists: The quiddities of things are whatever people believe them to be.

Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a

ً ، ِ ‫ وا‬، ‫ا ٔ ء‬ : ‫ا‬ ٔ‫ل ا‬

“The people of truth hold that the quidities of things are real
and knowledge of them is realized contrary to the sophists3”
[Imam an-Nasafī 1067–1142 AD, Al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya ]

“In our epistemology we affirm the possibility of knowledge and the reality of things.”
[Sayyid Naquib Attas, Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam]

Conclusion

○ Human knowing is the conception of a thing as it really is.

○ Each “thing” has a quiddity (haqiqa) by which the thing is what it is.
○ Knowing a thing precedes the predicating it to another thing. (i.e. Existence to God)

3
The sophists were a group of teachers and philosophers in ancient Greece during 5th and 4th century BC. In Islamic Theology, the sophists are those who deny that anything
can be known, an impossible position to hold, since it presupposes knowledge of something.

Notes from the Sanusiya Course 2022 by Shaykh Ramzy Ajem