KARACHI, Feb 15: Playing down fears that the current generation’s distance from books would ultimately result in disaster, eminent Indian religious scholar Ayatollah Syed Aqueel al-Gharavi said that in fact, the need of the hour was to concentrate on developing the younger generation’s character.

He was speaking on the topic of Haqeeqat-i-Ilm-o-Ishq at a seminar held here at the National Institute of Management (formerly Nipa) on Friday.

“People gave birth to books, not vice versa. The pen and paper do not constitute ilm; rather, they are methods of obtaining ilm. Even the Lord sent down the Holy Prophet (PBUH), in whose heart the book was secured, before revealing the book,” said the Ayatollah. “Don’t get disheartened about the future. Don’t worry about the new generation leaving books; make sure their hearts are pure,” he added.

Maulana Gharavi broached the tough subject deftly, despite feeling under the weather, referring to the Holy Quran, Hadeeth, philosophy, literature and science to make his point.

“Man has knowledge, not books. Distance from books will not affect man’s knowledge. But distance from the City of Knowledge and the Gate of Knowledge will certainly affect man, as the City of Knowledge – the Holy Prophet (PBUH) – was himself a man,” he said.

The scholar, who comes to Pakistan every year to address majalis during Muharram and Safar, said that the human mind does not accept anything without proof, which applies to religion as well. “Ibn Sina has said that if someone accepts something without proof, he is outside the circle of humanity,” he observed.

‘Ilm is beyond definition’

“But what is the definition of ilm?” asked the Ayatollah rhetorically. “Ilm is beyond definition, just as wujood (existence) is beyond definition. But everyone has wujood and feels wujood. The gnosis of existence is inherent; it is not possible to discover it through deductive logic. But the lack of definition does not mean the lack of existence; the denial of wujood and ilm is not possible,” he added.

“Ilm wasf-i-wujood hai,” he said. It exists in every atom of creation; but not every atom is ilm.

Delving deeper — or should one say flying higher — into the lofty heights of metaphysics, the Ayatollah waxed mystical about the indivisibility of ilm.

“The division of ilm is not possible. It is a mujarrad reality. It cannot be divided. Matter can be divided; matter is a hijab covering ilm. Ilm is not material. The division of ilm appears so because of the need of our logic-based minds,” he said.

Talking about the potential of the human mind, he said that “ilm manifests itself through the human mind.” As for the unity of being, he said that “there are no different types of ilm; only different stages. Wujood, also, is one, with different stages. Both a bulb and a chandelier give light. There is no difference in their nature, only in their intensity. Wujood and ilm are inextricable.”

The importance of knowledge

Coming to the importance of knowledge in the light of the Quran and Hadeeth, the Ayatollah said that in the Quran, seeking knowledge is wajib (obligatory) for men and women. “Keeping this in mind, I’m surprised to see why some people are opposed to women’s education.”

Referring to a Hadeeth of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he said that ‘Whoever gives a fatwa without ilm is destined for hell.’

“But what is this ilm the Quran and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) are referring to?” Maulana Gharavi kept asking the audience. “In society today, instead of manazara (debate) and mubahila (imprecation), we straightaway opt for maqatila (conflict). In Islam, it is the other way round. God and His Prophet (PBUH) are ilm and the haqeeqat-i-ilm. Don’t consider this our obduracy.”

As for ijtehad, he said “it exists where there is not God-given knowledge. “What we possess is ilm-ba-izafa-i-jahl. If Newton had pure ilm, why were his theories proven wrong later on? Ilm-i-bashari is not pure ilm; pure ilm flows from God and His Prophet (PBUH). Let there be do doubt about this.”

Coming to the ishq portion of his lecture – which was admittedly brief – he said in reference to the relationship between knowledge and the cosmic emotion that “ilm and ishq have an existential bond. They cannot be separated. They are one existence just as the body and soul. Where there is ilm there is ishq.”

Returning once more to Abu Ali Sina, this time to his Risalatun Fil Ishq, he said that according to the great Muslim thinker of antiquity, “only one force controls the universe. And that is ishq.”

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