Zamonaviy bilim tushunchasi anomaliya hisoblanadi. Bilim qog'ozda, kitobda, qattiq diskda yoki raqamli bulutda topilishi mumkin, degan fikr esa Islom an'anasi tayanadigan bilim turi emas.

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.

Haqiqiy ilm tirik, nafas oluvchi insonlardan ajratib bo'lmaydi. Masalan, Alloh vahiyni farishta Jibril orqali Rasulullohga ﷺ yubordi. Payg'ambar ﷺ o'z ilmini suhbat orqali yetkazdi, ya'ni sahobalariga ta'lim berib, ular nafaqat uning so'zlaridan, balki amallaridan, xulq-atvoridan, mubarak odoblaridan ham saboq olishdi. Shunday qilib, inson ilm yetkazuvchi vosita bo'lib xizmat qiladi, Islom an'anasi esa buni isnad, ya'ni rivoyat zanjiri tushunchasi orqali amalga oshirib kelgan.

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.

Ilm, ya'ni Allohning nozil qilgan narsasini haqiqatan bilaman deb da'vo qilish uchun, bu ilm asrlar davomida o'tgan barcha kishilarni, ustozingiz orqali sizga yetib kelguncha ularning har birini bilish lozim. Kitobdan yoki internetdan o'qish bu o'rnini bosa olmaydi. Eng ko'pi bilan, bu matnlar bilan tanishish bo'ladi, bu esa, noto'g'ri tushunmang, to'g'ri qilinsa, o'z foydasiga ega. Ammo alim bo'lish, ya'ni diniy masalada munozarali mavzu haqida ishonchli gapirish ko'pincha isnodni talab qiladi. Alloh dinni shu tarzda saqlagan.

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.

Shu sababli Payg'ambar ﷺ shunday deganlar:

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

Biz bu fikrni zamonaviy bilim tushunchasi bilan solishtirishimiz mumkin, u odatda axloqiy tarkibga ega emas va odamlardan ajratilgan holda mavhumlashtirilishi mumkin. Biror universitetdagi fizika darsiga kirib, professor biror tarixni eslatarmikin, bu formulalar qayerdan kelgan, kim kimga o'rgatgan va boshqalarni ko'ring. Ehtimol, bu tarixdan uzilish fanlar uchun maqbuldir, ammo din uchun maqbul emas. Diniy bilimlarning barcha manbai o'tmishdadir, shuning uchun o'tmishdan uzilish bu bilimdan uzilish demakdir. Musulmonlar zamonaviy, ilmiy bilim tushunchasini haqiqiy diniy bilim bilan aralashtirib yubormaslikka ehtiyot bo'lishlari kerak.

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.