- News code: 1310981
- Source: en.imam-khomeini.ir
Imam Khomeini the founder of the Islamic Republic emphasized on various perspectives of knowledge and wisdom, and encouraged the believers to decorate themselves with divine virtues. In conclusion, knowledge for the sake of knowledge is not that important. Rather, it is due to its guiding role that it is praiseworthy. Now, we will deal with Imam Khomeini’s views on issues concerning knowledge by examining them from various perspectives.
According to Islamic traditions, the ink of the scholars is even viewed as holier than the blood of the martyrs, Imam Khomeini thinks about knowledge within this framework.
Concerning the caliphate (his appointment as God’s vicegerent on earth) of Adam we read that God taught him the names of things. Then He tested the angels with respect to these names (in which they failed to give answer). Thus, He proved to them that the reason behind Adam’s superiority is these very names.
According to great Imam, knowledge ought to be an instrument for man’s dominance and prosperity, and not that it becomes a goal itself and a hindrance for the realization of other goals. From his perspective, all sciences should lead to a certain destination and deliver man from this narrow pass of the world.
Otherwise, learning them is not only worthless but they themselves also veil the way and are a hindrance to perfection. If ignorance is a dark veil, knowledge can also be a luminous one the removal of which is more difficult, because like a wall seen through its glass cladding which hardly anybody can detect as being a covering and so it misguides [the people] constantly. Hence, he describes this point in this manner:
If the doctrinal sciences and doctrinal truths are studied for their own sake and if all the related concepts, terms, high-sounding expressions, and embellished juxtapositions of terms be learned for the sake of showing off to feeble minds and for the sake of obtaining worldly status, then they cannot be called a service to humanity, rather they must be named obscuring veils and hollow fantasies.
That is because if one’s purpose in learning the sciences should not be to reach God, the Exalted, and to realize the Names and Attributes and to mould one’s self in accordance with the Divine character , each of such acquisitions of his is a dungeon of hell and a black veil that darkens his heart and blinds his insight.
Every kind of knowledge that does not lead to the True Beloved is a [mere] mental burden. Sometimes, even or mysticism and knowledge of monotheism, instead of being a guide and leader, can also be the impediment in the way to perfection and bring about eternal destruction and perdition. So, it causes pride and superiority complex in a gnostic or mystic as a result of which, he remains a captive of terminologies, explanations and descriptions.
The story of that scholar—who has been mentioned in the Islamic sources as Bal‘am al-Ba’ur—instead of benefiting from the divine sciences at his disposal and converting them into a springboard to heaven, made use of them as a rope in going down the bottomless pit of adversity. Consequently, he was cursed by God.
The Imam points to the destiny of those who were corrupted by knowledge—even divine knowledge—in this manner:
With this short life and limited knowledge, I have seen certain people among these so-called mystics and other scholars who, I swear by ‘irfan and knowledge that these terms have not made any mark on their hearts; nay, they have rather left on them an opposite effect.
O amateurish student of concepts who has gone astray of the realities! Deliberate over the matter for a while, and think as to what knowledge you possess of God. What impact has the knowledge of God and His Attributes made on yourself? Astronomy, mechanics, other physical sciences, and mathematics can match your learning as to the precision of their terminology. If someone is not concerned with the regarding divine perspectives of knowledge, then his knowledge also would be a thick curtain consisting of the veils of words, terms, and concepts. They can neither make one ecstatic nor send anyone into a trance.
Imam Khomeini the founder of the Islamic Republic emphasized on various perspectives of knowledge and wisdom, and encouraged the believers to decorate themselves with divine virtues
In conclusion, knowledge for the sake of knowledge is not that important. Rather, it is due to its guiding role that it is praiseworthy. Now, we will deal with Imam Khomeini’s views on issues concerning knowledge by examining them from various perspectives.
According to Islamic traditions, the ink of the scholars is even viewed as holier than the blood of the martyrs, Imam Khomeini thinks about knowledge within this framework.
Concerning the caliphate (his appointment as God’s vicegerent on earth) of Adam we read that God taught him the names of things. Then He tested the angels with respect to these names (in which they failed to give answer). Thus, He proved to them that the reason behind Adam’s superiority is these very names.
According to great Imam, knowledge ought to be an instrument for man’s dominance and prosperity, and not that it becomes a goal itself and a hindrance for the realization of other goals. From his perspective, all sciences should lead to a certain destination and deliver man from this narrow pass of the world.
Otherwise, learning them is not only worthless but they themselves also veil the way and are a hindrance to perfection. If ignorance is a dark veil, knowledge can also be a luminous one the removal of which is more difficult, because like a wall seen through its glass cladding which hardly anybody can detect as being a covering and so it misguides [the people] constantly. Hence, he describes this point in this manner:
If the doctrinal sciences and doctrinal truths are studied for their own sake and if all the related concepts, terms, high-sounding expressions, and embellished juxtapositions of terms be learned for the sake of showing off to feeble minds and for the sake of obtaining worldly status, then they cannot be called a service to humanity, rather they must be named obscuring veils and hollow fantasies.
That is because if one’s purpose in learning the sciences should not be to reach God, the Exalted, and to realize the Names and Attributes and to mould one’s self in accordance with the Divine character , each of such acquisitions of his is a dungeon of hell and a black veil that darkens his heart and blinds his insight.
Every kind of knowledge that does not lead to the True Beloved is a [mere] mental burden. Sometimes, even or mysticism and knowledge of monotheism, instead of being a guide and leader, can also be the impediment in the way to perfection and bring about eternal destruction and perdition. So, it causes pride and superiority complex in a gnostic or mystic as a result of which, he remains a captive of terminologies, explanations and descriptions.
The story of that scholar—who has been mentioned in the Islamic sources as Bal‘am al-Ba’ur—instead of benefiting from the divine sciences at his disposal and converting them into a springboard to heaven, made use of them as a rope in going down the bottomless pit of adversity. Consequently, he was cursed by God.
The Imam points to the destiny of those who were corrupted by knowledge—even divine knowledge—in this manner:
With this short life and limited knowledge, I have seen certain people among these so-called mystics and other scholars who, I swear by ‘irfan and knowledge that these terms have not made any mark on their hearts; nay, they have rather left on them an opposite effect.
O amateurish student of concepts who has gone astray of the realities! Deliberate over the matter for a while, and think as to what knowledge you possess of God. What impact has the knowledge of God and His Attributes made on yourself? Astronomy, mechanics, other physical sciences, and mathematics can match your learning as to the precision of their terminology. If someone is not concerned with the regarding divine perspectives of knowledge, then his knowledge also would be a thick curtain consisting of the veils of words, terms, and concepts. They can neither make one ecstatic nor send anyone into a trance.
