Appearance
The Secret of Prioritizing Purification and Teaching Over One Another
The discussion of the secret of prioritizing and postponing… is presented first in detail and then in summary:
God the Glorious, in the verses “Just as We have sent among you a Messenger from yourselves reciting to you Our verses and purifying you and teaching you the Book and wisdom”(155), and “Certainly did God confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom”(156), and “It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom”(157), which is the answer to the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael when they said: “Our Lord, and send among them a Messenger from themselves who will recite to them Your verses and teach them the Book and wisdom and purify them” [2:129], contrary to the order in this prayer, has mentioned purification (tazkiya) before teaching (taʿlīm).
The order in which the programs of the mission are mentioned in these verses is merely the order of mention, as these matters are not stated with letters like fāʾ of sequence that indicate order. However, the priority in mention sometimes indicates the importance of what is mentioned first.
The secret of prioritizing teaching over purification in the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael is that teaching and instruction are prerequisites for nurturing and purification. Therefore, this prioritization is due to the natural precedence of the prerequisite over that which requires it.
To explain, every purification (tazkiya) is preceded by teaching (just as every teaching is preceded by a specific type of purification), because the spiritual wayfarer cannot undertake the reformation and refinement of their soul and embark on the path of spiritual journey until they recognize their own soul, its faculties, its benefits and harms, and its depravity and righteousness. Just as a farmer first plows the land, uproots the weeds, and removes stones and debris before sowing seeds to grow trees and plants, similarly, one can be a successful farmer and cultivator in self-purification when they free themselves from the desires of the soul, nurture their identity, and reach perfection. This is possible when they recognize the nature of the soul, its external depravity and righteousness, and then proceed to purify themselves: “And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it. And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness. He has succeeded who purifies it”(158).
Based on this, one who is ignorant of knowledge and rulings does not have the ability to purify the soul. Therefore, when it is said that “becoming knowledgeable is easy, but becoming human is difficult,” it does not mean that these two tasks are on the same level. Rather, the secret of the difficulty of the latter is that it follows the former, because the first is simple and the second is complex. What is meant by “becoming human” is knowledge accompanied by righteous action, for one who does not become knowledgeable and cannot distinguish the right path from the wrong one, and does not recognize the soul and its faculties, dangers and thoughts, deceptions and temptations, benefits and harms, and its depravity and righteousness, will never have the ability to purify and the power to undertake spiritual wayfaring. Even if they succeed in some initial stages of purification, they will not achieve success in the intermediate stages, let alone the final stages. For example, one who abandons the pleasures of this world in hope of greater pleasures in paradise is still captive to the desires of the soul and is a trader who may arrogantly consider themselves a mystic and ascetic.
As mentioned at the beginning of the discussion, in all the verses that respond to the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael (a.s.), contrary to the order in their prayer, purification (tazkiya) is mentioned before teaching. Here, we will point out some aspects regarding the secret of prioritizing purification over teaching in the Qur’anic verses:
Purification is the goal and teaching is the means, and the goal always takes precedence over the means. Therefore, the precedence of purification over teaching is from the perspective of the precedence of the final cause over the preparatory cause, because the goal, which is the final cause, always takes precedence over the action, which is part of the supporting and preparatory cause.
Purification (tazkiya) is the emptying of vices and removing impurities from the soul, and cleansing it of false beliefs of ignorance, while teaching is adorning the soul with virtues. According to this aspect, purification precedes teaching because it is its prerequisite, for until the vices of the soul are removed, its virtues cannot be established. Knowledge is divine light, and this light shines in a clear mirror, not in a tarnished one. Therefore, purification and dusting off the soul precedes adorning it and embellishing it with divine light.
The outcome is that for some groups, the tools of knowledge are only sense perception and sensory experience, and their only official slogan is “Whoever lacks a sense lacks knowledge.” For religious researchers, however, in addition to sense and sensory experience, the purity of the soul and avoidance of atheism, hypocrisy, and disobedience play a decisive role in perceiving revealed truths on one hand and empirical sciences on the other. Their slogan, in addition to the previous one, is: “Whoever lacks piety lacks knowledge.” This slogan is derived from the verses “Fear God and God will teach you”(159) and “If you fear God, He will grant you a criterion”(160). From this perspective, purification, piety, and purity of soul precede teaching.
Purification is action, and the time for action is limited to this world and has a limit at which it stops. However, knowledge and witnessing, which are the ultimate goal and fruit of purification, are not limited to this world, but continue and flourish even after death.
Of course, this knowledge that is the product of purification is different from the sciences that result from mere teaching and learning, which are prerequisites for purification.
Based on this explanation, purification and teaching have an integrative connection and together form the links of a golden chain, in such a way that purification is the fruit of the Tuba tree of acquired knowledge that is planted in schools. The wayfaring human, under the shade of this prevalent acquired knowledge, recognizes what is good and bad, lawful and unlawful, correct and false, and beneficial and harmful for themselves, and engages in self-improvement. Then, this very fruit and product (purification) itself has an essence and outcome called knowledge and witnessing, which is endless and the ultimate goal of human creation.
On this basis, the secret of prioritizing purification over presential knowledge (ʿilm ḥuḍūrī) is that detachment and purification are prerequisites for knowledge and witnessing. Such presential knowledge is not obtained by referring to techniques and books, but rather is acquired under the shade of spiritual purity. As God Almighty introduced piety and detachment as the ground for benefiting from special sciences and discerning knowledge between truth and falsehood: “If you fear God, He will grant you a criterion”(161).
Considering this explanation, one can view the phrase “And He teaches you what you did not know” at the end of the noble verse “Just as We have sent among you a messenger from yourselves reciting to you Our verses and purifying you and teaching you the Book and wisdom…”(162) as referring to the point mentioned in the last aspect.
The knowledge referred to in the aforementioned phrase is not material sciences, as even atheists possess such knowledge. Currently, they use this knowledge to send manned or unmanned spacecraft into space and are attempting to explore the cosmos, while God has said: “The gates of heaven will not be opened for them”(163). Of course, the teacher of material and particular sciences is also God Almighty; however, God teaches these sciences to humans through ordinary means. Even the speech of a child who knows nothing at birth: “And God has brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers knowing nothing”(164) is the result of God’s teaching: “He taught him clear expression”(165), just as He taught everyone to perceive the goodness of justice and the ugliness of oppression and the like. Certainly, a pious person finds these same experiential sciences more clearly; however, the knowledge that He said even to the noble Prophet: “And He taught you that which you did not know, and great is the grace of God upon you”(166), He does not teach to everyone.
This knowledge, based on which Ḥāritha ibn Mālik says: “It is as if I am looking at the Throne of my Lord set up for reckoning… and at the people of Paradise enjoying its bliss… and at the people of Hell being tormented and writhing in it, and it is as if I can now hear the roaring of the Fire echoing in my ears”(167), is the product of purification, not merely studying and the like. Monotheism and benefiting from it, which is considered the foundation of wisdom, is an example of the knowledge that God has taught to specific nations.
God Almighty taught humans what they did not know: “He taught man what he did not know”(168). This statement is not the same as “He teaches you what you did not know”(169), which refers to the teaching of knowledge that humans cannot learn on their own. The negative form of “kāna” (lam takūnū) indicates continuity in the past, present, and future. “Lam takūnū taʿlamūn” means that not only did humans not know these sciences in the past and could not learn them, but even with significant scientific advancements in the future, they still cannot acquire this knowledge. This statement is not limited to a specific individual, group of people, or inhabitants of a particular land.
The phrase “lam takūnū taʿlamūn” also indicates that human intellect, no matter how perfect it becomes, is incapable of comprehending all the factors affecting human happiness. Intellect is a lamp, not a path. The straight path is the message of revelation and the entirety of religion. No one reaches their destination with a lamp alone; the lamp is useful for recognizing and seeing the path and distinguishing it from pitfalls. Humans are endowed with intellect and innate nature, and are aware of their own immorality and piety. However, some of these are lamps for the human path, while others are their initial resources. Therefore, without benefiting from revelation, a complete and perfect discernment of the path of religion is not possible for them. Demonstrative reason can never replace reliable transmission. If intellect were sufficient, God would have had an argument against people even before sending messengers, and He would not have said for the completion of the argument: We sent messengers so that people would have no argument against God: “…so that mankind would have no argument against God after the messengers”(170). Intellect is half of the argument, not all of it, so it is not sufficient for completing the argument.
Another example of the general principle “And He teaches you what you did not know”(171) are the difficulties that human demonstrative reason is incapable of perceiving their goodness and virtue; however, reliable transmitted evidence introduces them as praiseworthy and beneficial. As God Almighty said about fighting against the disbelievers: “Fighting has been prescribed for you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And God knows, while you know not”(172).
Up to this point, the outline and prose of the topic have been presented, and now the compact and organized outline will be presented in the following points:
The soul has two important aspects, theoretical and practical, one resulting in thought and the other in motivation. “Correct knowledge” and “righteous action” are the means of perfecting these two aspects.
The art of correct thinking is the responsibility of theoretical wisdom, and the art of righteous motivation is the responsibility of practical wisdom.
Any righteous action performed for the purification of the soul is preceded by correct knowledge, such that if the knowledge is not correct, purification will never occur. Similarly, every practical wisdom is preceded by theoretical wisdom and derives its primary principles and fundamental foundations from it.
Both correct knowledge and righteous action, which are responsible for the purification of the soul, have levels. A level of correct knowledge provides the foundation for a degree of righteous action and soul purification, and a stage of righteous action and soul purification is a prelude to attaining another, higher level of correct knowledge.
Sense perception and experience are suitable tools for acquiring sensory and empirical knowledge. However, piety and righteous action, in addition to influencing empirical sciences, play a decisive role in the emergence of abstract sciences.
The influence of piety on the emergence of correct knowledge is not limited to intuitive knowledge (ʿilm ḥuḍūrī), but it is also not ineffective in the realization of acquired knowledge (ʿilm ḥuṣūlī).
The knowledge that serves as a prelude to purification includes both acquired knowledge (ḥuṣūlī) and intuitive knowledge (ḥuḍūrī). This means that the determined spiritual wayfarer must certainly know and be aware of the beginning, end, path, guide, companion, provisions, and means of transport… whether through acquired knowledge or intuitive understanding.
Drawing from sense perception and experience, seeking assistance from abstract reasoning, support from righteous action, aid from justice and piety, and help from a teacher and guide in relation to special divine instruction, all play a role in completing the receptive capacity. None of these are considered as the proximate agent. Only the Origin responsible for bestowing that special knowledge is God Almighty, which is inferred from the verse “And He teaches you what you did not know”(173).