====== Knowledge ======

  * “Certain [[belief|faith]] fitting the truth.  Mental representation. Understanding something as it is. Attaining the meaning of something.”((Ali ibn Muhammed es-Seyyid eş-Şerif Cürcani, //Tarifat: Arapça-Türkçe Terimler Sözlüğü//, tr. Arif Erkan, İstanbul: Bahar Yayınları, 1997, p. 156.))

  * “**Knowledge** (//'ilm//) means information obtained through the human senses or through the Revelations or inspiration of God. It is also used to denote information that is in agreement with facts or realities, and to denote understanding something with its real, whole meaning and content. In addition, we come across usage of this term in the simple sense of thinking, understanding, [[comprehension|comprehension]], and conclusions drawn as a result of such mental processes. In fact, many times, we mean the meaning of grace with the word ‘**knowledge**.’”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Emerald Hills of the Heart: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism//, vol. 2, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2011, p. 18.))

  * “The Sufi leaders give **knowledge** precedence over the spiritual state of the Sufis, because that state depends on **knowledge**. **Knowledge** is the heritage of the Prophets, and the scholars are the heirs thereto. **Knowledge** is an important step toward belief, a standard to distinguish between guidance and error and between certainty and doubt, and a Divine mystery manifesting the truly human aspects of a person.”((Ibid., p. 22.))

  * “God-inspired **knowledge** is the kind of **knowledge** which one cannot acquire by studying or being taught by others. It is a special gift from God and a kind of illumination, from a sacred source, that one finds in one’s heart. Rather than being the kind of **knowledge** about the Creator acquired by studying creation and which therefore leads from the created to the Creator, it is a kind that pours from the Maker to the [[consciousness|conscious]] works of His Art. It is even regarded as the emergence in the human spirit of the **knowledge** about some mysteries pertaining to God, the Ultimate Truth, as special gifts from Him.”((Ibid., p. 25.))

  * “**Knowledge** means sensing what [[things_and_events|things and events]] tell us, and what the creative commands prevailing over the universe reveal to us. It means to perceive the sublime purposes of the Creator.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Çağ ve Nesil (Çağ ve Nesil-1)//, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, p. 127.))

  * “... our purpose here is to seek perfection through **knowledge** and prayer. Everything is, by its nature, essentially dependent on **knowledge**. And the basis, source, light, and spirit of all true **knowledge** is **knowledge** of God, of which [[belief|belief]] is the very foundation.”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, //The Words//, New Jersey: The Light, 2013, p. 332.))

  * “**Knowledge** is dealt with in two categories: There is a kind of **knowledge** that if it is known once and thought about once or twice it is sufficient.  Another part is like bread or water, people always need to think about it. They cannot say, “I understood; it is enough.” The **knowledge** of faith is in this category.”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursî, //Barla Lâhikası//, İstanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, pp. 247–248.))

  * “The radiance of conscience comes from religious **knowledge**, The light of [[intellect|intellect]] comes from scientific **knowledge**. The truth is revealed in the harmonious integration of these two. Students can fly to success with these two wings. If they do not integrate, the first will cause bigotry whereas the second will generate doubts and illusions.”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursî, //Münâzarât //, İstanbul: Ensar Neşriyat, 2007, p. 86.))

  * “Whatever people see by looking at the universe on behalf of God is **knowledge**. If they see the things on behalf of the worldly causes with [[heedlessness|heedlessness]] whatever they suppose **knowledge** is in fact ignorance.”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursî, //Mesnevî-i Nûriye//, İstanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2007, p. 183.))

  * “Our duty is to awaken a serious curiosity and excitement in people, to instill in them a [[noble_ideal|noble ideal]], to reward success and to prepare the necessary ground for the development of well-educated people with a broad vision. We must raise people, who continue their scientific and intellectual work with the spirit of worship, who believe that these will lead them to the consent of God, the entourage of our noble Prophet and otherworldly blessings, and who are determined to turn the world into a Paradise in order to achieve this goal.

  * Unless believers engage in scientific studies, science will not be able to get rid of the iron grip of naturalism, positivism, and materialism. Muslims will also have to accept the paradigm of science imposed on them in the name of being scientific. Beyond accepting, they will also teach this to the students for whom they are responsible for their education and training in their educational institutions. Laboratories and research centers will work according to this paradigm. Therefore, they will not be able to get rid of imitation, they will not be themselves.

  * The role of material and spiritual support is very important in order to study the creative commands correctly, to reveal correct thoughts and findings, to take the **knowledge** inherited from previous generations further, to open new horizons for science and research, and to prepare an environment for deeper thinking for those who follow. You cannot get anywhere with thoughts that are bound to ideologies, secularism, or egoism. The important thing is, on the one hand, to be able to give people a lofty ideal, and on the other hand, to provide them with all kinds of support. If you prepare appropriate environments in this regard and fulfill your responsibilities, qualified and well-equipped people will appear. Otherwise, we will not be able to raise truth-loving scholars and we will make no progress.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, [[https://www.herkul.org/kirik-testi/hakikat-asigi-ilim-adamlari-yetistirme/|“Hakikat Aşığı İlim Adamları Yetiştirme”]], Kırık Testi, 7 February 2021.))

  * “As for the conditions of our era when **knowledge** and power of discourse came to the fore, continuing to exist as ourselves will be possible by means of the power of **knowledge**, pen, and discourse. With the approach of Bediüzzaman, victory over the civilized can be through persuasion in our time. Therefore, the devoted souls who are the cultural envoys in our time, should take their values to different parts of the world not with weapons and brutal force but with **knowledge**, [[wisdom|wisdom]], [[love|love]], [[tolerance|tolerance]], and goodness; because the way of peace and love opens the way that leads to hearts, whereas brutal force causes grudge and hatred to rise from the dead.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, [[https://www.herkul.org/kirik-testi/kirik-testi-aksiyon-insanlari-ve-ilim-ehli/|“Aksiyon İnsanları ve İlim Ehli”]], Kırık Testi, 27 December 2015.))

===== See Also =====

  * [[comprehension|Comprehension]]
  * [[consciousness|Consciousness]]

===== Further Reading =====

  * Anna Nilsson Hammar, David Larsson Heidenblad, Kari Nordberg, Johan Östling, Erling Sandmo, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36377653-circulation-of-knowledge|Circulation of Knowledge: Explorations into the History of Knowledge]]//
  * Barry Stroud, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/301557.Understanding_Human_Knowledge|Understanding Human Knowledge: Philosophical Essays]]//
  * David Carr, Education, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1252364.Education_Knowledge_and_Truth|Knowledge and Truth: Beyond the Postmodern Impasse]]//
  *  Duncan Pritchard, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2659520-what-is-this-thing-called-knowledge|What Is This Thing Called Knowledge?]]//
  * Franz Rosenthal, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/672106.Knowledge_Triumphant|Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam]]//
  * George Gilder, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15824264-knowledge-and-power|Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How it is Revolutionizing our World]]//
  * Haridimos Tsoukas, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11207316-complex-knowledge|Complex Knowledge: Studies in Organizational Epistemology]]//
  * Heike Jöns, Peter Meusburger, Michael Heffernan, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39673065-mobilities-of-knowledge|Mobilities of Knowledge]]//
  * Helen E. Longino, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/703237.Science_as_Social_Knowledge|Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry]]//
  * Ismail Albayrak, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11157915-mastering-knowledge-in-modern-times|Mastering Knowledge in Modern Times: Fethullah Gulen as an Islamic Scholar]]//
  * Jaakko Hintikka, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/281965.Knowledge_and_Belief_An_Introduction_to_the_Logic_of_the_Two_Notions|Knowledge and Belief: An Introduction to the Logic of the Two Notions]]//
  * Jaakko Hintikka, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3315399-knowledge-and-the-known|Knowledge and the Known: Historical Perspectives in Epistemology]]//
  * John Krige, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41591156-how-knowledge-moves|How Knowledge Moves: Writing the Transnational History of Science and Technology]]//
  * John Renard, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1138088.Knowledge_of_God_in_Classical_Sufism|Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism: Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology]]//
  * John V. Canfield, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3414993-philosophy-of-meaning-knowledge-and-value-in-the-twentieth-century|Philosophy of Meaning, Knowledge and Value in the Twentieth Century]]//
  * K. Brad Wray, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5074249-knowledge-and-inquiry|Knowledge and Inquiry: Readings in Epistemology]]//
  * Keith Hossack, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6106516-the-metaphysics-of-knowledge|The Metaphysics of Knowledge]]//
  * Leandro Rodriguez Medina, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17803588-centers-and-peripheries-in-knowledge-production|Centers and Peripheries in Knowledge Production]]//
  * M. Fethullah Gülen, [[https://fountainmagazine.com/2021/issue-141-may-jun-2021/love-for-knowledge|“Love for Knowledge”]], //The Fountain//, issue 141, May-June 2021.
  * Marcelo Gleiser, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18249288-the-island-of-knowledge|The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning]]//
  * Marco J. Nathan, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57175353-black-boxes|Black Boxes: How Science Turns Ignorance Into Knowledge]]//
  * Matthias Steup, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136265.Knowledge_Truth_and_Duty|Knowledge, Truth, and Duty: Essays on Epistemic Justification, Responsibility, and Virtue]]//
  * Myint Khine, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9515931-knowing-knowledge-and-beliefs|Knowing, Knowledge and Beliefs: Epistemological Studies Across Diverse Cultures]]//
  * Nicholas Rescher, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4720092-forbidden-knowledge|Forbidden Knowledge: And Other Essays on the Philosophy of Cognition]]//
  * Osman Bakar, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183004.Classification_of_Knowledge_in_Islam|Classification of Knowledge in Islam: A Study in Islamic Philosophies of Science]]//
  * Paul L. Heck, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/642268.The_Construction_of_Knowledge_in_Islamic_Civilization|The Construction of Knowledge in Islamic Civilization]]//
  * Paula Findlen, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42972790-empires-of-knowledge|Empires of Knowledge: Scientific Networks in the Early Modern World]]//
  * Peter Burke, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/592027.A_Social_History_of_Knowledge_Volume_1|A Social History of Knowledge]]//
  * Peter Burke, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26524755-what-is-the-history-of-knowledge|What is the History of Knowledge]]//
  * Roberto Mangabeira Unger, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42109813-the-knowledge-economy|The Knowledge Economy]]//
  * Ronald J. Brachman, Hector J. Levesque, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1705962.Knowledge_Representation_and_Reasoning|Knowledge Representation and Reasoning]]//
  * Sabrina McCormick, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5564434-mobilizing-science|Mobilizing Science: Movements, Participation, and the Remaking of Knowledge]]//
  * Seyyed Hossein Nasr, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/142846.Knowledge_and_the_Sacred|Knowledge and the Sacred]]//
  * Sherrilyn Roush, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1973941.Tracking_Truth|Tracking Truth: Knowledge, Evidence, and Science]]//
  * Stephen Hetherington, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3395612-good-knowledge-bad-knowledge|Good Knowledge, Bad Knowledge: On Two Dogmas of Epistemology]]//
  * Violet Moller, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41563262-the-map-of-knowledge|The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found: A History in Seven Cities]]//
  * Zenno Noeralamsyah, [[http://jurnal.uinbanten.ac.id/index.php/aqlania/article/download/2302/1742/|“Gülen on Nature of Knowledge: Bridging Science and Spirituality”]], //Aqlania: Jurnal Filsafat dan Teologi Islam//, vol. 10, no. 2 (Juli-Desember) 2019, pp. 147–156.
===== Other Languages =====

  * [[https://nl.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=kennis|Nederlands]]
  * [[https://tr.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=ilim|Türkçe]]

===== Footnotes =====