Kashf al-Maḥjūb (Persian Critical Edition)

That is, be a practitioner of what you know so that you may know the blessings of the unknown as well. Anas ibn Malik—may God be pleased with him—says: "The ambition of the scholars is mastery diraya deep understanding, and the ambition of the foolish is narration riwaya mere transmission." Among the attributes of ignorance that are absent from the scholars is the one who seeks worldly rank and glory from knowledge. He is not a scholar, because seeking rank and glory is among the attributes of ignorance. There is no degree in rank like knowledge, for when it—meaning knowledge—is absent, one cannot recognize any of God's subtle mercies. When it is present, one becomes worthy of all stations, witnessings, and ranks.

Chapter

Know that knowledge is of two kinds: one is the knowledge of God Almighty, and the other is the knowledge of the created. The knowledge of the servant in the presence of God's knowledge is vanishing, because His knowledge is His attribute and is established by Him, and His attributes have no end. Our knowledge is our attribute and is established by us, and our attributes are finite, as God Almighty said: "And you have not been given of knowledge except a little" Quran 17:87. In sum, knowledge is among the attributes of praise, and its definition is the encompassing of the known and the clarification of the known. The best definition of it is: "Knowledge is an attribute through which the living being becomes a knower." God, the Mighty and Majestic, said: "And God encompasses the disbelievers" Quran 2:18; and He also said: "And God is All-Knowing of everything" Quran 2:282. His knowledge is one knowledge by which He knows all existents and non-existents. The creation has no participation in it with Him; it is not divisible, and it is not separate from Him. The proof of His knowledge is the order of His action, for a solid action requires the knowledge of the actor. Therefore, His knowledge is connected to secrets and encompasses appearances. The seeker must perform actions under His witnessing, as he knows that He is seeing him and his actions. An anecdote is related that in Basra, there was a leader who had gone into a garden of his own...