notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Peace be upon you, respected teacher. I hope you’re well.
Following the discussions in the Mishkat session about the relationship between knowledge and God, you said that knowledge is beyond existence. This definition seems to imply that, since existence began and has a beginning, knowledge, being beyond existence, has no point of origin or beginning. How can we prove the proposition that “knowledge has no beginning”?
Divine knowledge has no beginning in time or space, because having a beginning means arising within time and space, and a being bound by time and space cannot comprehend what is without beginning. We can gain some understanding of limitless knowledge by looking beyond the confines of time and space. God’s knowledge is free of quantity, quality, and limits, and precedes the divine will and intention.
Primordiality is the beginning of temporal and spatial unfolding. A being bound by time and space cannot conceive of a beginningless reality. Put another way, only from a perspective beyond time and space can we apprehend what lies beyond them. “Existence” and “knowledge of existence” stand in a relation like time and knowledge of time. We know that time did not begin within time; its beginning belongs to a level prior to time. (Strictly speaking, calling it a “beginning” is wrong. We use the word only because we have no access to language beyond time and space.) The rank of knowledge in relation to existence is likewise prior.
Just as what precedes time is unintelligible and inconceivable to us, so too what precedes existence lies beyond our understanding. How did the beginning of creation—that is, time—begin? Is it even right to call this a “beginning”? We have no choice but to use such words for realities that are beyond the order of time and space.
**The relation between knowledge and the Divine Essence**
عن العبد الصالح موسى بن جعفر ع قال: علم الله لا يوصف منه بأين و لا يوصف العلم من الله بكيف و لا يفرد العلم من الله و لا يبان الله منه و ليس بين الله و بين علمه حد
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 137
Divine knowledge is beyond both quantity and quality; it is not subject to measure or particular characteristics. This means that the domain of divine knowledge precedes divine will, intention, and determination. Neither measure nor attributes encompass knowledge: quantity and quality indicate limitation, while knowledge is free of bounds. At the same time, knowledge is not other than the Divine Essence—that is, the Essence transcends knowing.
عن أبي عبد الله ع قال: العلم هو من كماله
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 134
عن سليمان بن سفيان قال حدثني أبو علي القصاب قال: كنت عند أبي عبد الله ع فقلت الحمد لله منتهى علمه فقال لا تقل ذلك فإنه ليس لعلمه منتهى.
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 135
عن حمران بن أعين عن أبي جعفر ع في العلم قال هو كيدك منك
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 135
عن أبي عبد الله ع قال: قلت له أ رأيت ما كان و ما هو كائن إلى يوم القيامه أ ليس كان في علم الله قال فقال بلى قبل أن يخلق السماوات و الأرض.
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 137
عن عبد الله بن مسكان قال: سألت أبا عبد الله ع عن الله تبارك و تعالى أ كان يعلم المكان قبل أن يخلق المكان أم علمه عند ما خلقه و بعد ما خلقه فقال تعالى الله بل لم يزل عالما بالمكان قبل تكوينه كعلمه به بعد ما كونه و كذلك علمه بجميع الأشياء كعلمه بالمكان.
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 138
Some hadiths speak of God as knowledge without ignorance and life without death. In fact, they are declaring divine knowledge and life free of ignorance and death. This concerns the divine attributes, which are negated at the station of pure affirmation of divine unity.
عن أبي عبد الله ع قال: إن الله علم لا جهل فيه حياة لا موت فيه نور لا ظلمة فيه.