Ra'ayin zamani game da ilimi wani abu ne mai ban mamaki. Tunanin cewa ilimi wani abu ne da za a iya samu a takarda, a littafi, a rumbun kwamfuta, a girgijen dijital, wannan ba irin ilimin da al'adar Musulunci ta dogara da shi ba ne.

The modern concept of knowledge is an anomaly. The notion that knowledge is something that can be found on a sheet of paper, in a book, in a hard drive, in the digital cloud, this is not the kind of knowledge that the Islamic tradition is based on.

Ilimi na gaskiya ba za a iya raba shi da mutane masu rai ba. Misali, Allah ya saukar da wahayi ta hannun mala'ika Jibril zuwa ga Manzon Allah ﷺ. Annabi ﷺ ya isar da iliminsa ta hanyar zama tare da sahabbansa, wato ta koyar da sahabbansa, waɗanda suka karɓi koyarwa ba daga maganganunsa kaɗai ba, har ma daga ayyukansa, halayensa, kyawawan ɗabi'unsa, da sauransu. Don haka mutane su ne mashigar ilimi, kuma al'ummar Musulunci ta tabbatar da haka ta hanyar ka'idar isnad, watau silsilar isar da ilimi.

True knowledge cannot be abstracted away from living, breathing people. For example, Allah sent revelation by way of the angel Jibril to the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed on his knowledge through companionship — namely, by teaching his companions, who took instruction not only from his words but also his actions, his behavior, his blessed manners, etc. Human beings are thus the conduits of knowledge and the Islamic tradition has operationalized that through the concept of isnad, i.e., chain of transmission.

Don’t samun ilimi, watau abin da Allah ya saukar, sai mutum ya san dukkan mutanen da ilimin ya ratsa ta hannunsu cikin ƙarnuka, har ya isa gare shi ta hannun malaminsa. Karatu daga littafi ko intanet ba ya maye gurbin wannan. Iyakar abin da mutum yake yi a irin wannan hali shi ne yana saba da rubuce-rubuce, kuma hakan yana da amfaninsa idan an yi shi daidai. Amma don zama malami, da yin magana bisa iko a kan wata matsalar addini da ake sabani a kanta, sau da yawa sai mutum yana da isnadi. Ta haka ne Allah ya kiyaye addini.

To claim to truly know something of `ilm, i.e., what Allah has revealed, one has to know all the persons through which that knowledge has passed over the centuries until it arrived at you by way of your teacher. Reading from a book or the internet is not a substitute for this. At most, one is merely familiarizing oneself with texts, which, don’t get me wrong, has its own benefits if done correctly. But to be an `alim, to speak authoritatively about a religious issue of contention often requires isnad. This is how Allah has preserved the deen.

Kuma wannan shi ne dalilin da ya sa Annabi ﷺ ya ce,

And this is why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

Za mu iya kwatanta wannan da fahimtar ilimi ta zamani, wadda galibi ba ta da wani ɓangaren ɗabi'a, kuma ana iya raba ta da mutane. Je zuwa azuzuwan ilimin kimiyyar lissafi na jami'a ka ga ko malamin zai ambaci wani tarihi, daga ina wadannan dabaru suka fito, wane ne ya koyar da wane, da sauransu. Watakila wannan rabuwa da tarihi ba matsala ba ce ga ilimin kimiyya, amma ba haka ba ne ga addini. Tushen dukkan ilimin addini yana cikin abin da ya gabata, don haka yanke kanmu daga abin da ya gabata yana nufin yanke kanmu daga wannan ilimin. Musulmi dole ne su yi taka-tsantsan kada su rikitar da fahimtar ilimi ta zamani, ta kimiyya, da ilimin addini na gaskiya.

We can contrast this with the modern conception of knowledge, which usually has no moral component and can be abstracted as separate from people. Go to a university physics class and see if the professor mentions any history, where those formulas have come from, who taught them to whom, and so on. Perhaps that disconnect with history is fine for the sciences, but not for one’s religion. The source of all deeni knowledge is in the past, so to cut ourselves off from the past is to cut ourselves off from that knowledge. Muslims have to be careful not to conflate the modern, scientific understanding of knowledge with true religious knowledge.