THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

PREPARED BY:
HAFIZ MUHAMMAD ZAHID YASIN

DEPARTMENT OF ISLAMIC STUDIES (LIFE AND LIVING)

RIPHAH INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

DOUBT
The state of being unsure of something
Uncertainty about the truth, fact, or existence of something

Definition
Doubt is a state of mind when the certainty level of our perception about
something is less than 50%.
For Example I doubt about the truth of this statement.

As Quran says about that

(٢٣)ِ ‫ب ِهمزماَ ِنرززثلرناَ ِرعرلىَ ِرعثبهدرناَ ِفرأثستوُا ِبهسسوُررةة ِهمثن ِهمثثلههه‬

‫روإهثن ِسكثنتسثم ِهفيِ ِررثي ة‬
And if ye are in doubt as to what we have revealed from time to time to
our servant, then produce a Surah like this.-2-23
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

PRESUMPTION
 Acceptance or belief based on reasonable evidence; assumption
 A condition or basis for accepting or presuming
 The act of presuming
 A belief or assumption based on reasonable evidence
 A ground or basis on which to presume
Definition
 Presumption is a state of mind when the certainty level of our perception is above than 50
but it is still below 100%.
 For Example if someone ask you do you him? Your response would be I presume that I
know him.
 The presumption has wide range , on the lower end it is just like a doubt but one higher
end it approaches knowledge.
As Quran says about it
‫ظ نئناَ ِإهزن ِالظززن ِل ِيسثغهنيِ ِهمرن ِاثلرح ق‬
‫ق ِرشثيِئئاَ ِإهزن ِ ز ر‬
(٣٦)ِ ‫ا ِرعهليِمم ِبهرماَ ِيرثفرعسلوُرن‬ ‫رورماَ ِيرتزبهسع ِأرثكثرسرهسثم ِهإل ِ ر‬
 But Most of them follow nothing but Presumption /conjecture truly fancy/zann can be of
no avail against Truth. Verily Allah is well aware of all that they do.
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

KNOWLEDGE
 The information, understanding and skill that acquired
through education or experience,
 The state or fact of knowing,
 Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through
experience or study.
 Science is organized knowledge.
 Knowledge accumulated by systematic study and organized by
general principles.
 Specific information about something,
 The body of truth, information, and principles acquired by
humankind
 “Facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or
education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a
subject”.
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Definition
 Knowledge is state of mind when certainty level of presumption
becomes 100%,
 When you have had a long-term intimacy/understanding with
someone/thing, you have a clear picture of it in your mind. Now if
someone asks you do you him? Your response would be that I know
him.
 Thus Knowledge is defined as when the certainty level of our
perception about the reality and attributes of a thing/person reaches
100%, it means that we have acquired its knowledge.
As Quran says about it
ِ ِ (٣٢)ِ ‫ت ِاثلرعهليِسم ِاثلرحهكيِسم‬
‫ك ِأرثن ر‬
‫ك ِل ِهعثلرم ِلررناَ ِهإل ِرماَ ِرعلزثمتررناَ ِإهنز ر‬
‫رقاَسلوُا ِسسثبرحاَنر ر‬
They (angels) said: "Glory be to you, we have no knowledge except
what You have taught us. Verily, it is you, the All-Knower, the All-
Wise."
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Sources of Knowledge
There are four sources of knowledge;
1. Five senses.
2. Intellect.
3. Intuition.
4. Revelation
Five senses:
‫طوُهن ِأسزمرهاَتهسكثم ِل ِترثعلرسموُرن ِرشثيِئئاَ ِرورجرعرل ِلرسكسم ِالزسثمرع ِروالثب ر‬
ِ (٧٨)ِ ‫صاَرر ِروالثفئهردرة ِلررعلزسكثم ِترثشسكسرورن‬ ‫ا ِأرثخرررجسكثم ِهمثن ِبس س‬
‫رو ز س‬
 And Allah has brought You out from the wombs of Your mothers while You know nothing. and
He gave You hearing, sight, and hearts that You might give thanks (to Allah). An nahl/16-78
Knowledge is gained through senses, which are two kinds;
 Inner senses
 outer senses
Inner senses
 By inner senses we gain knowledge about our inner feelings like Happiness, Sadness, Hunger
and Thirst etc. we perceive these feelings and gain its related knowledge through senses.
Outer senses
 Five outer senses by which we perceive the outer world and gain its knowledge are as follows
 Seeing/ Sight ,Hearing, Smell, Touch, Taste
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Seeing:
The knowledge of the mass,volume,shape etc is gained by seeing or observation.
Hearing:
The knowledge of various sounds and voices and distinction between them is gained by
sense of hearing.
Smell:
The knowledge of nice, bad etc odor(sense of smell) is gained by the sense of smelling.
Touch:
Temperature ,softness, hardness, smoothness,roughness etc of the physical object is
determined and known by the touching capacity .Sometimes in determining the reality
of physical objects touching is even more authentic than seeing.
For example magic doesn’t change the reality of the things rather it makes things
perceived differently by effecting the sight. Thus in this case one may have the true
knowledge about the reality of an object by touching it.
Taste:
Sweetness, sourness and saltiness is known by tasting capacity. It is a source of
knowledge as well.
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

(٩٤)ِ ‫ف ِلرثوُل ِأرثن ِتسفرنقسدوهن‬ ‫ت ِاثلهعيِسر ِرقاَرل ِأرسبوُهسثم ِإهقنيِ ِلهجسد ِهريرح ِسيوُسس ر‬ ‫صلر ه‬ ‫رولرزماَ ِفر ر‬
 And when the caravan departed, their father said: "I do indeed feel
the smell of Yusuf (Joseph), if Only You think Me not a dotard (a
person who has weakness of mind because of old age)." 12/94-yusuf
(٧)ِ ‫س ِفرلررمسسوُسه ِبهأ رثيهديههثم ِلررقاَرل ِالزهذيرن ِركفرسروا ِإهثن ِهررذا ِهإل ِهسثحمر ِسمهبيِمن‬ ‫طاَ ة‬ ‫رولرثوُ ِنرززثلرناَ ِرعلرثيِ ر‬
‫ك ِهكرتاَئباَ ِهفيِ ِقهثر ر‬
 And even if we had sent down unto You (O Muhammad ) a message
written on paper so that they could touch it with their hands, the
disbelievers would have said: "This is nothing but obvious magic!"-al
anaam/6-7
ِ َ‫ ِفررمثن ِسزثحهزرح ِرعهن ِالزناَهر ِروأسثدهخرل ِاثلرجنزرة ِفرقرثد ِرفاَرز ِرورما‬d‫ت ِروإهنزرماَ ِتسروُفزثوُرن ِأسسجوُررسكثم ِيرثوُرم ِاثلقهريِاَرمهة‬‫س ِرذائهقرسة ِاثلرمثوُ ه‬ ‫سكلُل ِنرثف ة‬
(١٨٥)ِ ‫ع ِاثلسغسروهر‬ ‫اثلرحريِاَسة ِاللُدثنريِاَ ِهإل ِرمرتاَ س‬
 Everyone shall taste death. and Only on the Day of Resurrection shall
You be paid Your wages In full. and whoever is removed away from
the Fire and admitted to Paradise, He indeed is successful. The life of
this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing).3-
185/al e Imran
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Questions & Discussions

 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Intellect
 The capacity for understanding, thinking, and reasoning, as distinct from feeling or wishing
 The faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract
matters
 The faculty of intellect is a special gift of Allah {SWT} bestowed upon man.

Reasoning
 Think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic,
 the act or process of drawing conclusions from facts, evidence, the arguments, proofs,
etc.
 Reasoning or reason is the reflection of intellect upon-human psyche. Knowledge of
Ma’qoolat is gained by reasoning. Allah (SWT) has mentioned the faculty of reasoning as
a source of knowledge and has commanded and invoked to use it.(An-Nisaa-82).
‫ڪهثيِرئرا‬ ‫ر‬
‫ ِأرفررل ِيرترردبزسرورن ِٱخلقسخررءا ‌رن ِ ِرولرخوُ ِركاَرن ِهمخن ِهعنهد ِرغخيِهر ِٱ ز ه‬
‫ل ِلرروُرجسدوثا ِهفيِهه ِٱخختهلرــئفاَ ِ ر‬
 Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah,
they would have found within it much contradiction. (82)
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Revelation
The act of revealing or disclosing the speech act of making something
Evident an enlightening or astonishing disclosure communication of
knowledge to man by a divine or supernatural agency.
The most authentic source of knowledge is Revelation
There are two kinds of revelation.
 Manifested Revelation (Wahi Jali)
 Inspiration to Prophets (Wahi Khafi)
Manifested Revelation {Wahi Jali}:
It is the most authentic source of knowledge, as it is the very words of Allah
SWT. The creator and source of intellect, revealed to His messengers through
angel Gabriel, Protected from any interruptions. The Quran is the best example of
manifested revelation {Wahi Jali}. It is also called Recited Revelation {Wahi
matloo}.
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Intuition:
The ability to understand something immediately, without the
need for conscious reasoning.
A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression
Or instinctive knowledge or belief is called intuition.

Other Sources of Knowledge

Perspicacity:
the capacity to assess situations or circumstances sensibly and to
draw sound conclusions. it is the ability of sound judgment.
Axioms:
Axioms are fundamental realities, production of reason, senses
and revelation. A self-evident or universally recognized truth.
For example it’s a fundamental reality that 2+2=4.
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

Instincts
 A natural tendency to behave or react in a particular way, without
thinking and without having been taught
 An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species
 A powerful motivation or impulse
 An innate capability or aptitude
 An innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response
to certain stimuli: "predatory instincts".
 A natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking: "rely on your
instincts".
 It is the Innate Knowledge It is a kind of revelation as it is present in
us naturally
‫ك ِإهرلىَ ِٱلنزخحهل ِأرهن ِٱتزهخهذىِ ِهمرن ِٱخلهجرباَهل ِبسسيِوُرئتاَ ِروهمرن ِٱلزشرجهر ِروهمزماَ ِيرخعهرسشوُرن‬
‫روأرخورحـىَ ِررلُب ر‬
Your Lord revealed to the honeybee: “Make homes in the mountains, in
the trees and in the structures they raise. (16/68-Al Nahl)
 THE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS SOURCES

ISLAM:
o means submission and obedience
o Submission is acceptance of Allah's commands,

ISLAM
 Islam is complete way of life
 Tells us purpose of creation
 The best way to conduct our private, Social, Political,
Economic and Moral affairs
 Natural deen/Din
 Law of Allah
 Universe and everything in the universe following this Law
 Brings the peace & harmony in the society for human beings
RECOMMENDED TEXT BOOKS FOR LIFE AND LIVING

 Islami Nazaria Hayyat. Karachi by Prof. Khurshid Ahmed

 Islam, its meaning and message by Prof. Khurshid Ahmed

 Introduction to Islam by Muhammad Hamidullah

 Islam Eik Nazar Mein by Saddar-ud-din Islahi

 Islam at a Glance by Saddar-ud-din Islahi

 Islam in Focus by Hammudah Abdul-Ati

 Towords understanding Islam by Syed Abu’l Ala Maududi

 Jihad Fil Islam. Lahore by Syed Abu’l Ala Maududi

 Islam: the Misunderstood Religion by Muhammad Qutub

 Concept of God in Major Religions by Dr. Zakir, Naik

 Tawheed (Monotheism) by Bilal Philips

 Seerat-un-Nabi by Syed Suleiman Nadvi

 Questions & Discussions

JAZAKUM ALLAH
KHAYRAN
‫جزاكم الله خيرا‬

MAY ALLAH INCREASE OUR

KNOWLEDGE (Aameen)

E-mail: zahid.riphah@gmail.com