The Decline of Knowledge and the Rise of Ideology

… the real reform of the world begins with the reform of oneself. He who
conquers himself conquers the world, and he in whom a renewal of the
principles of Islam in their full amplitude has taken place has already taken
the most fundamental step toward the “renaissance” of Islam itself, for only he
who has become resurrected in the Truth can resurrect and revive the world
about him, whatever the extent of that “world” might be according to the Will
of Heaven.94

This fully reformed state of being is that of the fiúra, the human norm.
To live in this state is to surrender the house of the heart to its true owner.
When this is done, the crispations of the heart are stilled such that one can
see the truth of all things, for one sees things as they are in themselves, as
discrete manifestations of God’s names and qualities. But what has been
forgotten and must again be remembered—not only by Muslims but by
people the world over—is that to see truth and to know truth one must, as
Vaclav Havel has said, “live in truth.” To live in truth is the way of Islam.
From an Islamic perspective, it is the way of all religions; it is the way of
man.

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Notes
1 As journalist Robert Fisk observes: “I’m beginning to suspect that 11 September is
turning into a curse far greater than the original bloodbath of that day, that America’s
absorption with that terrible event is in danger of distorting our morality. Is the anarchy
of Afghanistan and the continuing slaughter in the Middle East really to be the memorial
for the thousands who died on 11 September?” (“America’s Morality Distorted by 11
September,” The Independent, March 7, 2002).
2 For the a brief introduction to the views of Jamål al-Dìn Afghånì, MuÆammad þAbduh
and Rashìd RiÐå see Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1789-1939
(London: Oxford University Press, 1962), chs. 5-8; and Malcolm Kerr, Islamic Reform:
The Political and Legal Theories of MuÆammad þAbduh and Rashìd RiÐå (Berkeley,
1966).
3 We have in mind here the distinction made by Wolfgang Smith: “There is a sharp yet
oft-overlooked distinction between scientific knowledge and scientistic belief. And the
difference is simple: authentic knowledge of a scientific kind refers necessarily to things
that are observable in some specific sense, and affirms a verifiable truth; scientistic
belief, on the other hand, is distinguished precisely by the absence of these positivistic
attributes.” Wolfgang Smith, Cosmos and Transcendence (Peru, Illinois: Sherwood
Sugden & Co., 1984), p. 9. Smith goes on to demonstrate that most of the theories which
the common educated person takes at face value as scientific propositions are in fact
scientistic beliefs arising from the bias of secular humanism.
4 See his contribution to this volume, “A Traditional Islamic Response to the Rise of
Modernism.”
5 It is not the purpose of this essay to chronicle all the subtleties of various modern
trends, but rather to allude to general errors which most of these trends exhibit. For
a more nuanced examination see W. C. Smith, Islam in Modern History (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1977); J. O. Voll, Continuity and Change in the Modern
Islamic World (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994); J. Esposito, Voices of
Resurgent Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983); and S. H. Nasr, Traditional
Islam in the Modern World (London: Kegan Paul International, 1989).
6 Muslim, Kitåb aÞ-Þayd, 57.
7 This is part of a famous Æadìth, known as the Æadìth of Gabriel:

þUmar ibn al-Khaúúåb said: One day when we were with the Messenger of God, a
man with very white clothing and jet black hair came up to us. No mark of travel
was visible on him, and none of us recognized him. Sitting down before the
Prophet, leaning his knees against his, and placing his hands on his thighs, he
said, “Tell me MuÆammad about submission (islåm).” He replied, “Submission
means that you should bear witness that there is no god but God and that
MuÆammad is the Messenger of God, that you should perform the ritual prayer,
pay the alms tax, fast during RamaÐån, and make the pilgrimage to the House
if you are able to go there.” The man said, “You have spoken the truth.” We
were surprised at his questioning him and then declaring that he had spoken
the truth. He said, “Now tell me about faith (ìmån).” He replied, “Faith means
that you have faith in God, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the last
day, and that you have faith in the measuring out, both its good and its evil.”
Remarking that he had spoken the truth, he then said, “Now tell me about doing

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what is beautiful (iÆsån).” He replied, “Doing beautiful means that you should
worship God as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, He nonetheless
sees you.” Then the man said, “Tell me about the Hour.” The Prophet replied,
“About that he who is questioned knows no more than the questioner.” The
man said, “Then tell me about its marks.” He said, “The slave girl will give birth
to her mistress, and you will see the barefoot, the naked, the destitute, and the
shepherds vying with each other in building.” Then the man went away. After
I had waited for a long time, the Prophet said to me, “Do you know who the
questioner was þUmar?” I replied, “God and His Messenger know best.” He said,
“He was Gabriel. He came to teach you your religion” (Muslim, Kitåb al-ìmån,
1; Bukhårì, Kitåb al-ìmån, 37).
8 Ýadr al-Dìn Shìråzì, al-Øikma al-mutaþålliyya fì l-asfår al-arbaþa al-þaqliyya (Tehran,
1387/1958), vol. 1, p. 20.
9 This is an oft-cited saying of the Prophet MuÆammad which is not, however, found in
any of the canonical collections.
10 Ibn Måja, Muqaddima, 17.
11 Muslim, Kitåb al-Dhikr, 73; Tirmidhì, Kitåb al-Daþawåt, 68.
12 Tirmidhì, Kitåb al-Zuhd, 14; Ibn Måja, Kitåb al-Zuhd, 3; Abø Dåwød, Muqaddima,
32.
13 A Æadìth is a saying, action, or description of the Prophet MuÆammad which has
been transmitted by his companions and by the generations of Muslims which followed.
The word Æadìth is also used to apply to the entire collection of such sayings. Over time
an intricate science developed for determining the authenticity of sayings attributed to
MuÆammad. In the third and fourth centuries, the most authentic Æadìth were assembled
in collections which have been recognized as authoritative since that time. After the
Qur´ån, the Æadìth are the most important source of knowledge for the Islamic sciences.
But as the body of preserved Æadìth is far more substantial in quantity than the text of
the Qur´ån, more of the specific injunctions and teachings of Islam are to be found in
the Æadìth than in the Qur´ån.
14 Lauri Silvers-Alario, “The Teaching Relationship in Early Sufism: A Reassessment of
Fritz Meir’s Definition of the shaykh al-tarbiya and shaykh al-taþlìm” (forthcoming), p.
10. I am indebted to many of Professor Silvers-Alario’s observations in elucidating the
place of Sufism in the early period.
15 MuÆammad Qasim Zaman, Religion and Politics under the Early þAbbåsids (Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1997), pp. 212-213.
16 Bukhårì, Kitåb al-ìmån, 39.
17 AÆmad b. Øanbal, 2: 285, 2: 539; Muslim, Kitåb al-birr, 33; Ibn Måja, Kitåb az-zuhd,
9.
18 Marshall G. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1990), vol. I, p. 393.
19 As will be demonstrated in the following pages, the arguments of scholars such as
Montgomery Watt that the Ahl al-Æadìth were at odds with Sufis are no longer tenable.
See Montgomery Watt, The Formative Period of Islamic Thought (Oxford: Oneworld
Press, 1998), p. 264. For an example of a modern Muslim who also takes this approach
see Fazlur Rahman, Islam, 2nd ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979), pp.
128-132.

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