‘Ilm 3 – The Classification of Knowledge: Primary & Religious Sciences.

This week’s article is the third in a 10-part-sequence of articles on ‘ilm. The article outlines two of the three categories of knowledge according to the Ikhwan us Safa (the third category will be discussed in the next article): 1) primary sciences e.g. language, mathematics, literature, music, history, geography, vocational skills etc.; 2) religious sciences e.g. zahir, tawil, history of Dawat, fiqh (jurisprudence) etc. The classification discussed in this article demonstrates the vision and broadness of thought of the Ikhwan us Safa.

The article explains the Ikhwan’s encouragement of the pursuit of all types of knowledge (religious or secular – e.g. maths, music, geography etc.) as it enables a better understanding of the word we live in and develops the intellect to its utmost potential. The mature intellect is able to perceive the physical and material world in depth, explore the wondrous creations of God, contemplate their....