DR. AJI HOESODO
Introduction
Knowledge can be acquired through reflection, unveiling, or scripture. The human subtle reality (al Latifat al-Insan-iyya), also called the “ soul “ (nafs), knows in a variety of modes are reason (‘aql) and heart (qalb). Aql, as shown by its root meaning, is that which limits the free and ties down the unconstricted. Qalb means fluctuation, for the heart undergoes constant change and transmutation in keeping with the newer repeating self disclosures of God.
The Rational Faculty
Reason or the rational faculty is the fundamental power of the human soul. Spiritual being may also posses the faculty known as ‘aql, but then it might be more accurate to say that the spiritual being is itself a ‘aql. In such contexts, the word can be translated better as “intellect “is the luminous pole of creation., sometimes identified with Breath of Allah Merciful.
By its nature reason perceives (idrak),whether through an inherent, intuitive knowledge that needs nothing from outside, or through various instrumens, such as the five senses and reflective consideration (nazar fikri). Reflection (fikr) is the power of though or cogitation, the ability of the soul to put together the data gathered by sense perception or acquired from imagination in order to reach rational conclusions
Reason, reflection and consideration can be treated as distinct realities, each with a positive role to play. But when misused, they share certain common denominator which allow Ibn al Arabi to lump their possessors into a single category. Reason has a second, closely related meaning which plays an important role in Islamic moral and spiritual teachings.
Shahwa is a synonym or near synonym of the term hawa, “ caprice “, which is the tendency in man which turn him away from divine guidance. Just as passion is made negative by the existence of reason, so also caprice becomes a negative force only because of existence of the Law. Inasmuch as reason rules over passion and caprice, it leads man on the path of his felicity, which is the path of the Law. In this respect it plays a positive role. According to Ibn al Arabi, all created things know God through an inborn knowledge, with the exception of man and the jinn. They alone were given reflection in order to gain knowledge of God
Reflection
Reflection, as we have seen, is one of the six instruments by which the rational faculty gains knowledge, the other five being the senses. Reflection is a faculty found only in human being. Like others tools, reflection can be used for good and evil ends. But human being possess no higher tool, since all other tools are controlled through it.
The fundamental function of reflection is to lead man to the understanding that he cannot reach knowledge of God through his own resources. Through reflection, man sees that reason delimits and define everything that it knows, while the Divine Essence is beyond delimitation and definition. Hence the only knowledge about God which reflection can hand over to reason is the knowledge of what God is not.
Through reflection reason can grasp God’s incomparability. But to gain any positive and affirmative knowledge of God, any statement about what God is rather than what He is not, it must have recourse to revelation.
Ibn al Arabi makes clear in many passages, including the continuation of the above, that this knowledge of God’s incomparability can be attained by reflection without revelation. But there is a good deal of knowledge about God and the next world that can only come through a revealed Law, and again, there is no way to actualized the felicity of the next world without following the Law. The Folk of Allah understand what God meant when He commanded human beings to seek knowledge. Hence they abandon reflection and return directly to God
Consideration
Consideration means to look, to gaze, to inspect, to investigate. Consideration (nazar) is a mental activity commanded by Kuran, and in this sense Ibn al Arabi sees it as totally positive. But holds that the learned classes have forgotten the original goal of consideration, just as they have forgotten the proper use of reflection.
Consideration has an important role to play, but it must be limited to that role. Those who depend upon consideration are misled when they deal with things which should be left for example, to faith. The possessor of consideration (sahib al nazar) is not wrong to consider. He is wrong to depend upon consideration in all domains.
The greatest error of the possessor of consideration is to inter or at the revealed Law and to explain away Those parts of it which do not accord with their own understanding of God and the cosmos. The only way to escape the errors to which reason, consideration, and reflection are prone is to adhere firmly to the Scale of the Law, which puts each thing back in its proper place. In this way the seeker opens himself up to the possibility of gaining knowledge and certainty directly from God, as man was meant to do. This is way of unveiling, or the witnessing of God’s self-disclosure in all thing
Following Authority
Following authority (taqlid) is major topic of discussion in such school of Islamic though as principles of jurisprudence (ushul al fiqh). The word is derived from the same root as qilada “necklace“ or ”collar“. One person follow the authority of another by taking his words and deeds as a collar around his own neck. Following authority is often contrasted with ijtihad, individual striving to draw conclusions concerning the rulings of the Law, or Mastery of the Law. It may also be contrasted with tahqiq, “verification“ which for Ibn al Arabi delineates the station of great Gnostics, those who have verified the truth of their knowledge through unveiling and direct vision.
No one can have knowledge unless he knows thing through his own essence. The knowledge of thing and not things possessed by everything other than the One is following of authority. Since it has been established that other than God cannot have knowledge of a thing without following authority.
In any case, there is no escape from following authority. But once you know God through God and all thing through God, then you will not be visited in that by ignorance, obfuscation, doubts, or uncertainties.
The rational thinker from among the people of consideration imagine that they know what consideration, sense perception, and reason have bestowed upon them, but they are following the authority of these things. Every faculty is prone to a certain kind of mistake. Nothing can eliminate this incurable disease, unless all a person’s knowledge is known through God. God knows through His own essence, not through anything added to it. Anyone who follow the authority of no one. Anyone who follows the authority of other than God follows authority of him who is visited by mistakes and who is correct only chance. So follow the authority of your Lord, since there is no escape from following authority! Don’t follow your rational faculty in its interpretation.
When God opens the gate to the possessor of this heart, he actualizes a divine self disclosure which gives to him that which accords with its own properties. He takes them through an unveiling which corresponds with and confirms for him what the revealed scripture and messengers have mentioned. He used to ascribe those things to God through faith and as a mere narrator, without verifying their meanings or adding to them.
Unveiling
In many passages Ibn Al Arabi explains the difference between two basic kinds of knowledge : That which can be acquired by the rational faculty, and the “gnosis” which can only come trough spiritual practice and divine self-disclosure. The way of gaining knowledge is divided between reflection (fikr) and bestowed (wahb), which is the way of our companions.
The first way is the way of unveiling. It is an incontrovertible knowledge which, is actualized through unveiling and which man finds in himself. The second way is the way of reflection and reasoning (istidlal) through rational demonstration (burhan aqli). This way is lower than the first way.
At the beginning of introduction to the Futuhat, Ibn al’Arabi explains that the various kinds of knowledge can be ranked according to excellence : The science are of three levels :
First Level is the science of reason, which is every knowledge which is actualized for you by fact that it is self evident or after considering proof, on condition that purport of that proof is discovered.
Second Level is the science of states (ahwal), which cannot be reached except trough testing.
Third Level is the science of mysteries (asrar). It is the knowledge which beyond the stage of reason. It is knowledge through the blowing (nafth) of the Holy Spirit (ruh al qudus) into the heart (ru’).
In the third level is divided in the two sort: the first sort can be perceived by reason. The second sort is divided is the science of reports (akhbar), and concerning them one can say that they are true or false, unless the truthfulness of the report-giver and his inerrancy in what he says have been established for the one who receives the report.
True knowledge is unveiled by God, without the intermediary of reflection or any faculty. Sound knowledge is not given by reflection, nr by what the rational thinker establish by means of their reflective power. Sound knowledge is only that which God throws into the heart of the knower.
