The Theory of Knowledge

Perhaps the central preoccupation of philosophy is with questions connected with knowledge, the answers to which are called “the theory of knowledge.” Themost important questions asked in this area may be: What is the definition of knowledge? Is knowledge possible? Is there some knowledge which precedes birth, or is a babyborn like a blank slate? How do we know?
What is Knowledge?
It appears from certain Quranic verses that Islam supports the view that knowledge is a statement or a concept that corresponds with reality. Some Arabs used to believe that an intelligent man had two hearts. One might, if he got angry at his wife, tell her, “You are like my mother.” He wouldthen consider her as such and would not treat her the way one treats one’s wife. Another of them would adopt someone else’s son or daughter and attribute the child to himself, as if he were the biological father, just as people do now in the West. Allah declared all of these claims to be nothingmore than words in contradiction to reality. The Exalted said:
“Allah has not assigned unto any man two hearts within his body, nor has He made your wives whom you declare(to be your mothers) your mothers, nor has Hemade those whom you claim (to be your sons) your sons. These are justwords from your mouths. But Allah says the truth and He shows the way.” 1
Is Knowledge Possible?
If we take this question literally, we find it contradictory, because when a person asks about the possibility of knowledge it presupposes that he knows what knowledge is, and if he knows what knowledge is,then he knows something.However the point of the question is: how can we know if what we believe to be real actually corresponds with reality and is not merely imagination or delusion? The Noble Quran indicates that knowledge is possibleand that it is one of the blessings of Allah which requires gratitude.
Allah the Exalted said:
“Allah brings you forth from the wombs of your mothers knowing nothing, and gives you hearing and sight and hearts that you might give thanks.” 2
Is There a Knowledge Which Precedes Birth?
The above-mentioned verse is definitive in answering this question inthe negative. Knowledge, then, is acquired entirely after birth. But does this mean that the mind is a blank slate upon which the senses write what they want? No! We read ina h adeeth of the Prophet (pbuh), “ Every child is born with a pristine nature(fi t rah); then his parents make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian. ” 3
This h adeeth indicates that although the human being is born knowing nothing, he is not born with an empty mind; rather, in this mind are theseeds of knowledge whichwill grow as he grows andreach completion with his maturity. However this knowledge, which is originally planted in each human being, may be overridden by external factors, even if they don’t have the power to completely extinguish it.
What is this knowledge whose seeds are implanted in the fitrah of ahuman being? The h adeeth treats fi t rah as being something different from Judaism, Christianity or Zoroastrianism, which means the fi t rah is Islam. Obviously the meaning is not that a person after thedevelopment of his mind finds himself knowledgeable about the details of the Islamic religion. Rather, two things are meant; first, each person is born with the seed of taw h eed in hismind, that is, the affirmation that no god deserves worship except the sole Creator.
Second, this person is born with a nature which is not suited to beliefs and conduct other than the realities and laws brought by Islam. For that reason Allah described the religion which he revealedto His Messenger (pbuh) asbeing the pristine nature on which Allah created His servants. Allah the Exalted said:
“So set your face for the religion as one by natureupright – the pristine nature (framed) by Allah on which He has created man. There is no altering(the laws of) Allah’s creation. That is the right religion, but most people do not know.” 4
When a person’s mind and disposition are designed so that nothing but the realities and laws of Islam suit them, he will feel no contentment or spiritual peace unless he has surrendered himself tobe a worshipper of Allah.
“Those who believe and whose hearts feel content with the remembrance of Allah. Verily in the remembrance of Allah dohearts find rest.”

the answers of philosophy

Perhaps the only thing that philosophers have in common is the problems they grapple with, not the solutions they propose. So it is a mistake to ask aboutthe answers of philosophy to a given question, since the number of answers may equal the number of philosophers, or at least the number of schools of philosophy.
Therefore, true Muslim philosophy - if one must ascribe philosophy to Islam - consists of the answers we find in the primary sources of Islam, the Quran and the Sunnah,to those philosophic questions. A true Muslim philosopher is, then, one who relies in his philosophical answers upon those sources. He dives deep into the texts of the Quran and Sunnah, searching for those answers. He ponders their meanings, explains them, defends them and argues with those who dispute them using a style of reasoning and language understandable to the people of his era.
The sources of the Islamic philosophy are not,then, the writings of thosethinkers who have become famous under the label of “Muslim philosophers”, such as Al-Kindi, Al-Faraabi and IbnSina (Avicenna), because they took many of their axioms from Greek philosophy, even if they sometimes - by virtue of their Islamic cultural environment - contradicted it, even in certain fundamentals.
The true representativesof authentic Islamic thought were the scholars and jurists with deep knowledge of the Quran, Sunnah, and the statements of the earliest generations of Muslims, the Salaf . They were the staunchest opponents of the philosophers because of what they perceived in their thinking that contradicted what they knew to be Islamic realities established in the Quran, Sunnah and statements of the Salaf .
Philosophy in their time was synonymous with the thinking derived from the norms of polytheistic Greek thought. We find in the writings of Muslim scholars condemnation of it and advice to the peopleto stay away from it. However, if we employ a more general understanding of the term‘philosophy’ to mean the attempt to answer the fundamental questions associated with existence, the mind, morals and knowledge, I see no harm in calling the Islamic answers to these fundamental issues “Islamic philosophy”, as there is no point in arguing about words as long as their meanings areclear.
The following is a brief exposition of some of those answers, which I have condensed from various writings and lectures I have delivered on different occasions through the years. I prepared it in response to repeated requests to discuss the Islamic view onphilosophy. It is a difficult subject to treat adequatelyin a single one-hour lecture, but as our scholarsused to say, ‘That which cannot be fully achieved should not be fully abandoned.’

Ruling on praying in a mosque in which there is a grave

Is it correct to pray in mosques in which there are graves?
Praise be to Allaah.
Prayers should not be offered in mosques in which there are graves.
The graves should be dug up and the remains transferred to the public
graveyards, with each set of remains placed in an individual grave as
with all other graves. It is not permissible for graves to be left in
mosques, whether that is the grave of a wali ("saint") or of anyone
else, because the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) forbade that and warned against that, and he cursed the Jews and
Christians for doing that. It was narrated that he (peace and
blessings ofAllaah be upon him) said: "May Allah curse the Jews and
the Christians, for they took the graves of their Prophets as places
ofworship." 'Aa'ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said, "He was
warning against what they had done." Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1330,
Muslim, 529.
And when Umm Salamah and Umm Habeebah told him about a church in which
there were images, he (peace and blessings ofAllaah be upon him) said:
"When a righteous man died among them, they would build a place of
worship over his grave and put those images in it. They are the most
evil of mankind before Allaah." (Saheeh, agreed upon. Al-Bukhaari,
427; Muslim, 528)
And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Those who
came before you took the graves of their Prophets and righteous people
as places of worship. Do not take graves as places of worship – I
forbid you to do that." (Narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, 532,from
Jundab ibn 'Abd-Allaah al-Bajali). So the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade taking graves as places of
worship and he cursed those who do that, stating that they are the
most evil of mankind. So we must beware of that.
It is known that everyone who prays at a grave is taking it as a place
of worship, and whoever builds a mosque over a grave has taken it as a
place of worship. So we must keep graves far away from the mosques and
not put graves inside mosques, in obedience to the command of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and so as to avoid
the curse issued by our Lord against those who build places of worship
over graves, because when a person prays in a mosque in which there is
a grave, theShaytaan may tempt him to call upon the deceased or to
seek his help, or to pray to him or prostrate to him, thus committing
major shirk; and because this is the action of the Jews and Christians
and we are obliged to differ from them and to keep away from their
ways andtheir evil actions. But if the graves are ancient and a mosque
was built over them, then it should be knocked down, because this is
an innovated thing, as was stated by the scholars, and so as to avoid
the means that may lead to shirk. And Allaah is the Source of
strength.

* If he follows the moon sighting from another country, is it acceptable to delay the Eid prayer so that he can pray withthe people in his country?

* Regarding starting fast and breaking fast times inRamadan month, I
don't observe a certain crescent,but I start my fasting of the holy
month based on testimony of two straight Muslims . The problem is that
the people of my country always start fast one day later and breaking
fast one day earlier than all Muslim majority all over the world. I am
much of the opinion that we should allbe unified in fast times, soI
fast and break fast with the majority. We are all Muslims in Islam
countriesfrom Indonesia to Morocco. My question is about the Eid
prayer, I can't travel to pray Eid, if Ipray it with my country
(knowing that this way it will be later), is it acceptable? Or should
I not pray with them (then I miss reward and blessings of it)?
Finally, I find nothing to say but"All power of change is really
Allah's".
Praise be to Allaah.
If the people of your country rely on moon sighting as prescribed in
sharee'ah, then you should start and end the fast with them, and you
should not differ from them and follow the moonsighting of another
country, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) said: "The fast is the day when you fast and al-Fitr is the day
when you break the fast, and al-Adha is the day when you offer the
sacrifice." Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 697, who said: some of the
scholars interpreted this hadeeth as meaning that the beginning and
end of the fast should be observed with the main body of Muslims and
the majority of the people. The hadeeth was classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani inSaheeh al-Tirmidhi.
If you follow the madhhab of those who think that sighting the moon in
one country is binding upon all countries, and this means that Eid for
you comes before their Eid, then you should conceal the fact that you
have broken the fast and offer the Eid prayer with them on the
following day.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy onhim) said:… If you think
that the first opinion should be followed and that if the sighting of
the new moon is proven in any part of the Muslim world in the manner
prescribed in sharee'ah and that it is binding to act upon that, but
your country does not follow that and follows one of the two other
opinions, then you should not openly show that you are differing from
them, because of the fitnah and confusion and arguments that may
result from that.You can fast secretly at the beginning of Ramadan and
break the fast secretly at the beginning of Shawwaal. As for differing
openly, that is not appropriate and it is not something that is
enjoined by Islam.

And Allah knows best.