Western epistemology’.41 Those differing orientations include the role and limitations of the individual in seeking knowledge, including its purpose and
source. For instance, by labeling Qur’anic epistemology as the ‘certainty of
knowing’ we intend to reveal its inherent civilizational ethos and general
assenting approach to knowing. There is a ‘certainty’, though it is not necessarily
instantaneous, nor is it centred on ‘me’; rather it involves a process, which
includes a trifecta relationship between the Qur’an, the individual and the
cosmos. By focusing on the Qur’an, this study by no means diminishes
the importance of other sources of legitimacy in the Islamic tradition. But the
Qur’an is the first point of reference in the Islamic tradition as a result of
being understood as the infallible ‘Word of God’. It informs the reader with a
specific insight into ‘What can we know?’ and ‘What are the necessary and
sufficient conditions to know?’ and ‘How does one distinguish between true
knowledge and false knowledge?’ It is the guide for what amounts to knowledge
and the yardstick used to assess justified belief. Lastly, the following sections
will offer a Qur’anic epistemic response to the Gettier problem.
Sources of knowledge
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To begin with, Qur’anic epistemology holds that God is the principal cause
and, thereby, source of knowledge. In support of this, the Qur’an depicts a
heavenly scenario where angels converse with God, following the creation of the
first human being, Adam. It states, ‘And remember when your Lord said to the
Angels: “Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations
on Earth.” They said: “Will You place therein those who will make mischief
and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify
You.” He (Allah) said: “I know that which you do not. ”’42 This conversation showcases angels questioning God’s judgment concerning the creation of
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humanity. In response, God replies that He knows what they do not; in effect,
establishing ownership of knowledge. Next, the Qur’an continues: ‘And He
taught Adam all the names (of everything), then He showed the angels and
said, “Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful”’.43 However, the angels were unable to do so and, then, upon realizing their indebtedness to God,
for what they know, proclaimed: ‘Glory is to You; we have no knowledge
except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the All-Knowing, the
Wise’.44 Collectively, these verses assert that knowledge is not possible without God’s sanction and He, Alone, is worthy of the definitive description of being
‘All-Knowing’ and ‘Wise’. Moreover, these verses share three important
insights of Qur’anic epistemology – namely, that God is the primary source of
all knowledge, who imparted it to Adam; that ‘Knowing’ is not possible
without His approval; and the importance of shifting epistemic centrality
towards God. The entire narrative on acquiring knowledge concludes with the
imperative that God knows.
Taken together, this does not negate the existence of others sources of
knowledge, say, of our senses or intellect. It does, though, affirm that even if
our senses are used to obtain knowledge, it is not possible without the source
of our senses – God – and that should be acknowledged. In other words, the
attainment of knowledge cannot be achieved solely through our own human
effort. This perspective is supported by Al-Farabi, who suggests that God
alone requires no essence other than itself for ‘knowing’.45 And, adding to that, the Qur’an describes humans as having five distinct parts – namely ‘ruh’
(soul), ‘aql ’ (mind), ‘qalb’(heart), ‘jism’ (body) and ‘nafs’(self) – from which
‘knowing’ may arise. Each part, though, functions differently in its potential to
give ‘knowing’. Indeed, the Qur’an establishes that God has given humans the
capacity to potentially ‘know’ through their own efforts, relying on sensory or
mental faculties, including the heart, mind and body. This, let’s say, is
described as extrinsic knowing. Of course, we must be active participants in the
acquisition of knowledge, otherwise we cannot be held accountable for our
actions. Yet our efforts are understood to be ineffective unless God wishes it
otherwise, a realization that occurs outside our scope of awareness.
On the other hand, humans, also, have the capacity to ‘know’ in an intrinsic
manner, in which ‘knowing’ is indicative of the human condition, such as in
our soul and self. In this, ‘knowing’ is acquired by using our mental faculties
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to gain proper awareness of our own human condition. Both ‘intrinsic’ and
‘extrinsic’ ‘knowing’ differ in respect to the active participation of the human
will and the use of human faculties to affirm knowledge, but they are both
dependent on God’s approval for acquisition.
Intrinsic and extrinsic knowing
To be clear, ‘intrinsic’ knowing involves an innate knowing, the realization of
which may occur by use of our mental faculties. This form of ‘knowing’ is
inherent in the fitrah of the human being – it is part of what it means to be
The theory of knowledge and Qur’anic epistemology 45
human. A Qur’anic epistemology accounts for this when it states: ‘your Lord
drew forth from the children of Adam, from their loins, their descendants,
and made them testify concerning themselves [saying]: “Am I not your
Lord?” they said: “Yes! We do testify!” [This was] lest you should say on the
Day of Resurrection: “Of this we were unaware”’. 46 This act of creation reveals the acknowledgement, by each and every human being, that God created
them, and that He alone is worthy of worship – this awareness can occur only as
a result of knowledge. Granted, Qur’anic exegesis offers a multiplicity of
explanations of this verse, ranging from those that treat it as being metaphorical
to those that regard it as literal.47 Its controversy surrounds the insinuation that human beings were aware of God prior to birth. Nevertheless, by
accepting it as literal, the indication is that humans are imbued with an
intrinsic ability to grasp knowledge. Similarly, the Qur’an further attests to
that by declaring: ‘And on the Earth there are signs for those who have faith
with certainty. And also in your own selves. Will you not then see? ’48 Here, too, this verse substantiates the conviction that there is a ‘sign’, an innate
‘knowing’ that verifies that Qur’anic message. This leads to the ability to dis-
tinguish between truth and falsehood, by examining our own self. This
‘intrinsic’ knowing, however, is a consequence of the human condition and
God shares this insight with humanity via the Qur’an.
In its place, ‘extrinsic’ knowing occurs through human efforts by way of
sensory or mental faculties. The Qur’an verifies this when it states: ‘And Allah
has brought you forth from your mother’s womb knowing nothing – but He has
endowed you with hea
ring, and sight and hearts, so that you might have cause to
be grateful’. 49 However, the Qur’an similarly cautions the reader by stating, ‘And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the
sight and the heart – about all those [one] will be questioned’. 50 Jointly, these verses do two things: first, knowing may occur with the use of sight, hearing
and our hearts; second, we need to be cautious about the potential of false
knowledge that may arise from these faculties. Here a Qur’anic epistemology
is acknowledging sensory and mental faculties for knowing, but then
restraining intemperate acceptance of information gained thereof.
In addition, Qur’anic epistemology takes a unique perspective on the heart, as
the seat of learning and knowledge acquisition. The Qur’an describes wayward
people who have ‘hearts with which they do not understand ’.51 Al-Farabi clarifies Downloaded by [University of Connecticut] at 18:26 09 January 2017
this position by stating that the heart is the king of all human faculties
involved in knowing and the five senses are its mere messengers.52 Occidental epistemology has understood the brain as the centre of consciousness. But in
Qur’anic epistemology the heart is viewed as the centre of our being. The
Qur’an mentions people who mocked the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and
were entirely insincere in listening to his message, so God ‘placed over their
hearts a covering that they may not understand it and in their ears (He placed)
an acute deafness’.53 ‘Their inability to understand is a deviation from the spiritual function of a sound heart, just as their ears have been afflicted with a
spiritual deafness. So we understand from this that the heart is centre of the
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intellect, the centre of human consciousness’. 54 Even Arabic grammar contains a category ‘af ’aal al-quloob’ or ‘verbs of the hearts’, which are clearly ‘verbs of
thinking’.55 Yet, even while emphasizing the important of the heart in
‘knowing’, this verse further emphasizes that a corrupted heart may prohibit
the accurate understanding of knowledge. This, then, precludes the heart as
an ultimate source of knowing.
Furthermore, it may be noted, the Qur’an highlights sight as a source of
knowing when it declares, ‘Verily, proofs have come to you from your Lord,
so whosoever sees, will do so for the good of his own self … ’56 Al-Farabi, too, details the ability of knowledge acquisition from our sight. 57 This the Qur’an does not dispute; yet it qualifies the reliability of perceptual knowledge
as being dependent on God. It states:
There has already been a sign for you in the two armies that met. One
was fighting in the cause of God and as for the other, they were dis-
believers. They, the believers, saw them with their own eyes as twice their
number, (although they were thrice their number). And, Allah supports
with His Victory who He Wills. Verily, in this is a lesson for those who
understand.58
Here this verse makes the following features of Qur’anic epistemology clear: it
agrees that sight is a source of knowing, then illustrates that what was perceived
was, actually, false. What that means is as follows: that even though I may
see, hear or understand with my heart, I might do so inaccurately, and with
God remains the truth of what either is in front of me, or that I heard or felt.
In other words, a Qur’anic epistemology makes one a skeptic in themselves
and a believer in a transcendental God.
Hence, upon both recognizing the ability of our sensory and mental faculties
to lead to knowledge, it concedes that they alone are insufficient. This, then, is
why the Qur’an equates belief in the unseen with having faith: ‘Those who
believe in the unseen and keep up prayer and spend out of what We have
given them’.59 Consistently throughout the Qur’an, the reader is encouraged
to believe in what one cannot see. This, most definitely, does not diminish the
importance of sight, though it does lay an important foundation of Qur’anic
epistemology in which perception is not necessarily a sufficient condition for
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knowing.
How can I know?
The Arabic word Qur’an means ‘the reading’, and implicit within its connotation
is the necessity for acquiring and disseminating knowledge.60 Its definition includes the concepts of reading, learning and acting, which are the attributes
essential to perfect faith and attaining true knowledge. This provides the goal
of Qur’anic epistemology: to distinguish between truth and falsehood and act
accordingly. Moreover, another name for the Qur’an, as it refers to itself, is
The theory of knowledge and Qur’anic epistemology 47
Al-Furqan, which means ‘the criterion which distinguishes truth and false-
hood’.61 Essentially, the Qur’an is, to all intents and purposes, a theory of knowledge, in and of itself, par excellence. But how does it distinguish between
true and false knowledge? The first Qur’anic verse, given to the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) at the cave in Hira, proves insightful:
Read in the name of your Lord who created. He created insan (human
beings) from a clot. Read, and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught
(to write) with the pen. Taught insan (human beings) what they knew not.
Nay! Insan (human beings) are most surely inordinate. Because he sees
himself free from want. Surely to your Lord is the return.62
Here two points are clear: first, that the method to distinguish between true
and false knowledge begins with reading. Second, that reading is accom-
panied by a commandment to do so in the name of God. This, together,
presents the unique Qur’anic attitude towards the process of learning – faith
and knowledge.
The Qur’anic approach to ‘knowing’ is premised on the ‘certainty’ of
knowledge, acquired in an affirmative sense, which is self-transcending. The
first two verses, in the second chapter of the Qur’an, ‘Al-Baqarah’, provide a
clear indication of that direction: ‘Alif. Lam. Mim. This Book, there is no
doubt in it (certainty), is a guide to those who guard (against evil)’. 63 This Qur’anic verse informs the reader of how an individual should approach the text
itself, as well as the process of acquiring knowledge – namely, with certainty and
without doubt. This sets the tone for a Qur’anic epistemology premising itself
on a self-transcending ‘certainty’. It says to the reader: ‘Go, seek knowledge,
confident and assured that you will find what you are looking for. Use your
sensory and mental faculties, but be aware they may be misleading. Hence, if
you do not find it, be certain that “God knows”’.
The Gettier problem and the Qur’anic formula for knowing
The Gettier problem and countless responses to it (e.g. Ayer, Chisholm)
focuses on a formula for justification of belief. Essential for those formulas is
the centrality of the individual, ‘S’, who seeks to achieve sufficient and
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necessary conditions for knowledge in order to distinguish between truth and
falsehood. Skeptics argue that human fallibility pre
vents those conditions
from arising. However, a Qur’anic epistemological formula does not focus on
the centrality of the individual or ‘S’. Of course, the individual is certainly
involved in the process to knowledge, and, as such, is the agent responsible to
read, learn and act. However, knowledge is attainable only from God, thereby
implying that the human, alone, is insufficient. What is required is for a con-
stant reconnect to the sacred text, the Qur’an, by thorough reading of its
methodology. In other words, Qur’anic epistemology focuses on the centrality
of the Qur’an, which, thereby, outlines its self-transcendence. By taking the
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Qur’anic text as the primary source, the individual is, then, encouraged to
look within himself and interact with his surroundings to initiate the process
of obtaining the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge, knowing
full well that they may not achieve it but that truth, nevertheless, exists.
The Qur’anic model for epistemological justification is as follows: Q (the
Qur’an) tells X (humans) (i) Q is true, (ii) Read Q to find out whether it’s
true, and (iii) Accept it or not. If X accepts Q, the following formula occurs:
X accepts Q as true, (i) X assesses A [any thought, feeling, or experience that
requires belief] in relation to Q, (ii) X is justified in believing A is either ‘true,
‘false’, or ‘God knows’. Two points are significant here: first, that Qur’anic
epistemology is not premised on the individual and how he reacts to stimuli
as the starting point. Second, that while X may falsely believe A is true, and
may even be justified to believe it, he nevertheless is certain that he may not
know, but God does, and Q is true. Therefore, there is an element of certainty
permeating ‘true’, ‘false’, and ‘God knows’ responses in Qur’anic epistemology.
Here the emphasis is on the centrality of the Qur’an, and thereby on God,
who informs the reader of its truth and certainty. In other words, the Qur’an
‘speaks’ to the reader, informing them that it is without doubt.64 The formula is to read the text and understand its methodology for distinguishing between
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