Knowledge and learning are among the most prominent demands of the Islamic religion. The importance of this issue becomes more apparent when the status of knowledge and teachers is well explained from the perspective of Islam. After examining some verses and narrations, this article has tried to provide an appropriate answer to these two questions: What is the status of knowledge in Islam? And what is the status of teachers? This research has found as a result of its studies that Islam has called for knowledge in numerous verses and narrations and has introduced knowledge as the foundation of religion and piety, the source of power and progress, insight and awareness, the beginning of faith and piety, and education as one of the lofty goals of the prophets. It has also considered its acquisition as a religious duty superior to worship and has considered its concealment as a major sin. It has also been found that the teacher is a significant factor in the freedom of humans and teaching is the duty of the prophets and the teacher is the heir of the prophets (peace be upon them). He has a high rank and status in the sight of Allah the Almighty.
Keywords:Islam, verses, hadiths, knowledge, teacher and learner.
Introduction
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَ نَسْتَعیْنُهُ وَ نَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَ نَعُوْذُ بِاللّهِ مِنْ شُرُوْرِ اَنْفُسِنا وَ مِنْ سَیِّئاتِ اَعْمَالِنا مَنْ یَّهْدِهِ اللّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَ مَنْ یُّضْلِلهُ فَلَا هَادِیَ لَه وَ اَشْهَدُ اَنْ لَا اِلهَ اِلَّااللّهُ وَ اَشْهَدُ اَنَّ مُحَمَّدَاً عَبْدُهُ وَ رَسُوْلُهُ، أمّا بَعد: Translation: All praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His aid, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and from our wicked deeds. He whom Allah guides, none can misguide, and he whom He misguides, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. But then:
Islam is a religion of knowledge and recommends human to acquire knowledge. This positive approach and special recommendations of Islam to acquire knowledge and the Muslims’ fascination with learning and teaching have led to the emergence of great material and spiritual achievements in the golden periods of Islamic history. The recommendation of Islam and great emphasis on learning can be clearly understood from the first verses revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) by the trustworthy angel Gabriel; «إقرأ» meaning “read”.
The glory and greatness of knowledge and science from the perspective of Islam is so special that Allah Almighty adorned human with the ornament of knowledge and science after creation and introduced scientists and scholars as superior and higher than all ranks of human society. It is not without reason that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) introduced the best person as someone who learns the Quran (the source of knowledge and understanding) and teaches it to others. Therefore, it can be said with certainty that Islam is the religion of knowledge and education. It is a religion that considers acquiring knowledge to be the most important need of mankind for a happy life, while none of the other schools of thought have emphasized acquiring knowledge and awareness or knowledge gathering and deep insight in life to the same extent as Islam.
The present article is a concise research aimed at explaining the position and importance of knowledge in Islam. It is hoped that teachers, students and all learners of knowledge and understanding will emerge from their stagnation by reading this article and step into the field of acquiring knowledge with greater motivation.
Concept ology
Perhaps every scientific word has a lexical and idiomatic meaning, which sometimes differs from the other meaning among experts in each of the two senses; Therefore, before starting any discussion or research, the applied concepts and key words should be explained in order to properly clarify which applied meaning is used in the proposed topic; because the accurate knowledge and understanding of any topic is inextricably linked to the correct understanding of its key concepts.
Based on this process, this research also examines the key words and concepts in question before addressing the main axis of the topic.
Knowledge
The word knowledge can have different meanings depending on where it is used. Here, we will examine its literal meaning and then its idiomatic use.
A: In the word
From the perspective of philologists, the word knowledge has various meanings. Some of them are:
Knowledge, knowing and understanding, which is the opposite of ignorance; [1]
Perception of the truth and essence of a reality; [2]
Firm belief in accordance with reality; [3]
Knowledge means consciousness; [4]
One of the leading Arabic linguists considers knowledge to be synonymous with science and consciousness, and adds knowledge is also used in the meaning of mastery; [5]
In another interpretation, some linguists consider science to be synonymous with mysticism (cognition) and say: science, knowledge and consciousness all three have the same meaning; [6]
Knowledge also means knowing, awareness, understanding, recognition and certainty. [7]
The word knowledge and its nominal and verb derivatives have been used about “775” times in the verses of the Holy Quran. As Allah Almighty says: «فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ» Translation: “If you know them to be believers”. [8] Also, in Surah Anfal, verse 60, it says: «لَا تَعْلَمُونَهُمُ اللَّهُ يَعْلَمُهُمْ» Translation: “You do not know them, but Allah knows them.”
Although on the surface, the word “Ilm” (knowledge) has an obvious and clear meaning, according to the aforementioned definitions, it is seen that this word has a wide range of meanings; therefore, some lexicographers have considered the true meaning of “Ilm” (knowledge) to be “perception” and have called other meanings a common or idiomatic truth or a well-known metaphor. [9]
From the data of lexicographers on the lexical semantics of the word “Ilm”, the following conclusion is reached: The result of the human mind’s effort in confronting the outside world, which entails “perception”, “comprehension” and “finding something” and removes ignorance. [10]
B: In the term
The word knowledge in terminology has various meanings. Here we will briefly mention some of them:
Theologians consider knowledge to be an attribute that distinguishes things from each other. [11]
Interpreters have considered the word knowledge to be in its literal sense. [12]
Some mystics consider knowledge to be the manifestation of light and say: knowledge is the manifestation and the essence of light, but sometimes light is for itself and sometimes light is for something else. [13]
Thinkers in the field of logic: They consider knowledge to be the presence of the form of something in the mind or its image in the mind, which they divide into present knowledge and acquired knowledge. [14]
Some contemporary researchers in the field of jurisprudence and the principles of jurisprudence have provided the following definition for the word knowledge, using the data of previous scholars: knowledge is the definite science and understanding of something as it is. [15]
Considering the definitions provided by scholars of various sciences, what can be mentioned and understood here with certainty is that: knowledge in the term is “a state of mind as opposed to ignorance; in the sense that knowledge is a state of existence and ignorance is its absence.” [16]
This research considers the meaning of the word knowledge in its literal meaning, which is to know and awareness, recognition, and science; because awareness and knowledge are certainly something that the teacher transfers and develops in all the aforementioned areas.
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