Kashf al-Maḥjūb (Persian Critical Edition)

...and makes no progress. I have seen a group of the common people who preferred knowledge over action, and a group who preferred action over knowledge. Both are invalid. Action without knowledge is not action; action only becomes action when it is connected to knowledge, so that the servant may direct himself toward God's reward. Like prayer, for example: until the knowledge of the pillars of purity, the recognition of water, the knowledge of the direction of prayer qibla, the quality of intention, and the pillars of prayer are not present, it is not prayer. Thus, when action becomes action through the essence of knowledge, how can the ignorant claim it is separate from action? And those who preferred knowledge over action are likewise in error; for knowledge without action is not knowledge, because learning, remembering, and studying it are all also actions. It is through this that the servant attains reward. If the scholar's knowledge were not based on his action and effort, he would have no reward for it. This speech involves two groups. The first are those who attribute themselves to knowledge to deceive people, yet lack the strength for the practice and have not reached the verification of knowledge; they separate action from it because they know neither knowledge nor action. Thus, an ignorant person says: "Speech is not needed, 'state' hal spiritual state is needed," while another says: "Knowledge is needed, action is not." It is related from Ibrahim Adham—may God have mercy on him—that he said: "I saw a stone cast on the road, and on that stone was written: 'Turn me over and read.' I turned it over and saw that it was written: 'You do not act upon what you know, so how do you seek what you do not know?'" Meaning, do not seek the unknown until you act upon what you know.