Impediments to Strengthening the Islamic Disposition
– Part 2: Ignorance
- One of the impediments to a person building h/her nafsiyya and strengthening it is ignorance (jahl).
- Allah mentions in the Qur’an the consequences of failing to attain knowledge and comprehending the reality with the mind: {And they will say: ‘If only we had been listening or reasoning with our minds we would not be amongst the companions of the blaze’…}.[1]
What are the dangers of remaining in ignorance? They include:
- Ignorance means one is not aware of the commands and prohibitions of Allah and so one would be living dangerously as a result.
- Ignorance would mean one does not know how to strengthen his nafsiyya and be aware of what prevents it from augmenting.
- Ignorance breeds doubt, misconceptions and uncertainty and these are intellectually unhealthy for the believer.
- Ignorance is actually a debilitating factor in that is causes a person to be inactive, lazy and lethargic.
- Ignorance can lead one into unwarranted religious practice and innovation (bid`a).
What are some of the ways in which to battle ignorance? They include:
- Studying diligently (e.g. fiqh, Islamic theological works, apologetic works, etc.) to gain sound and beneficial knowledge which is a means of lifting the veil of intellectual ignorance and misconception.
- Muhasaba (self-accounting) which is a form of an internal corrective of one’s states.
- Studying the life of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and learning lessons from his noble life.
Dangers:
- One of the dangers that we can see today as a result of ignorance is that people become misled into going against the Shari`ah and hence end up steering from the Straight Path by being susceptible to Shaytan. Imam Ibn al-Jawzi comments on this danger as follows:
اعلم أن أول تلبيس إبليس على الناس صدهم عن العلم لأن العلم نور فاذا أطفا مصابيحهم خبطهم في الظلم كيف شاء…
- “Know that the first means by which Iblis deceives people is by blocking their access to knowledge. This is because knowledge is a light and so if he is able to extinguish their lamps, he can knock them into darkness in any way he wants…”[2]
Effects of this include:
- Misunderstanding Islamic Law such that one abandons them thinking they are incongruent with prevailing laws and ideals.
- Lack of confidence in Islamic rulings as solutions for life – especially those rulings the western opponents of Islam often attack and vilify and hence one begins to explain them away, consider them outdated or to change them.
- Lack of confidence in the Islamic thoughts as intellectually superior than thoughts of other philosophies.
With Allah is all success.
s.z.c.
دار نيـقـوسـيــا 