Book of Healing - Healing Through Knowledge - How is Healing through Knowledge Possible?
How is Healing through Knowledge Possible?
Tags: Healing Through Knowledge, Knowledge
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Question: Knowledge is neither a medicine nor a nourishment, it means only to know. Yet it is amazing that you say that it can be used as a healing and a cure. Please tell us how healing by knowledge is possible?
Answer: A cogent, detailed and complete answer to this question is in the following proofs. Please study them carefully:
Proof 1: Knowledge is both medicine for spiritual diseases and nourishment for the intellect and soul. There is no curative method in this world which is not indebted to knowledge and wisdom, and which can continue without knowledge, the book and the teacher. Thus it is obvious that among the means and resources which are required by any kind of curative method, the most important is knowledge.
Proof 2: One special name of knowledge is light, and observing in its illumination one becomes aware of the bounties of the realities and gnoses of religion and the world. And above all it becomes clear which words and deeds attain God's pleasure, so that it may be easy to follow Divine pleasure all the time. For those who follow Divine pleasure, He guides them on the ways of peace (5:15-16), and the word "peace (salam)" contains the meaning of spiritual and intellectual health.
Proof 3: It is known that the greatest secret of recovery from spiritual diseases and attainment of spiritual health lies in giryah-u zari (weeping and crying). This virtue in its perfect form is the prerogative of those who are granted the treasures of the given knowledge (`ilm-i ladunni, 17:107).
Proof 4: The fear of God is a panacea, the use of which certainly destroys all the germs of ethical and spiritual diseases. But those who truly fear God are those only who possess real knowledge. (35:28).
Proof 5: Paradise is the abode of health, peace and delights (6:127), but Hell is the place of disease, perdition and death (25:13-14). Thus it is necessary for everyone to have the knowledge of certainty in this world, so that he will be able to see and recognise not only Paradise (47:6), but also Hell and protect himself from falling into it (102:5-6).
Proof 6: The devil's from among humankind and jinn do not only throw stones, but also spread all kinds of diseases. Thus, in order to protect mu'mins from this battle and these diseases, God has taught His Prophets and Friends (awliya') the art of making the attire of spirituality and knowledge (16:81; 21:80).
Proof 7: Knowledge embraces and comprises everything. That is, God has kept everything in the grip and control of knowledge. Thus there is no doubt that it also dominates and controls diseases (6:80; 7:89).
Proof 8: There were jinns and human beings as well as birds (27:17) in the army of Hazrat Sulaiman, but the most powerful was proven to be the one who had the knowledge of the Heavenly Book, the book of the universe and the personal book. He brought the throne of the Queen of Sheba to the presence of Hazrat Sulayman in less time than the twinkling of an eye (47:40?). The overwhelming power and effect of knowledge can be well estimated from this miraculous work.
Proof 9: There is nothing whose treasures are not with God, may He be blessed and exalted, and He reveals not a thing, except according to the knowledge and deeds of individuals and nations (15:21). That is, the greater the knowledge and deeds of a person, the greater the Divine bounties granted to him. Thus the great bounties of spiritual health are granted as a result of true knowledge.
Proof 10: Knowledge comes from the fountainhead of the intellect, regarding which, it is said in a noble Hadith: "When God created the intellect, He granted it speech and then said to it: Come forward! It came forward. Then He said: Go back! It went back. Then He said: By My honour and majesty! I have not created a thing more beloved than you and I will perfect you in him whom I like." (Kafi, I, 10-11)
Proof 11: "God, may He be exalted, takes him who walks on a path in search of knowledge on one of the paths of Paradise, and the angels spread their wings for the pleasure of the seeker of knowledge. And all the creatures of the heavens and the earth, including the fish under the water, seek forgiveness for the people of knowledge" (Tirmidhi, II, 244).
Proof 12: "The supremacy of the learned (`alim) over the devotee (`abid) is like that of the full moon over the stars, and the learned are the heirs to the Prophets" (Tirmidhi, II, 244).
Proof 13: The holy Qur'an is indeed medicine and healing. But it should be remembered that its special and higher healing is related to the soul and the intellect, although physical cure can also be attained from it.
Proof 14: The holy Prophet was the spiritual physician in the time of Prophethood. He used to cure the patients of ignorance through the Divine prescriptions of knowledge and wisdom (2:129,2:151; 62:2).
Proof 15: According to the purport of verse (10:100) stupidity and ignorance are impurity and disease, which can be cured only by the intellect and knowledge.
Proof 16: In verse (22:46) it is said: "Have they not travelled in the earth (of the personal world) so that they should have hearts with which to understand, or ears with which to hear? For surely it is not the eyes that are blind, but blind are the hearts which are in the breasts." In this sacred teaching there is the mention of the disease of the blindness of the heart, which can be cured by spiritual exercise, inner observation, intellect and wisdom.
Proof 17: Hell is the punishment of adopting ignorance. Which of their sins do the inmates of Hell confess? "And they shall say: Had we but listened or used our intellect, we should not have been among the inmates of the burning fire" (67:10). From this it reveals that intellect, understanding, knowledge and wisdom have extremely great importance and esteem in Islam. For, all good works depend on them and it is through these that every kind of spiritual disease can be cured.
Proof 18: A great virtue of knowledge is also that, for those who have been granted it, the mirror of their heart becomes so cleansed that the holy Qur'an reflects in it intellectually and spiritually. But how? In the form of luminous signs and miracles. (29:49).
Proof 19: Another bright proof of the grandeur and exaltedness of knowledge is those great angels who bear the Throne. They see knowledge only in the exterior and interior of everything of the universe and the existents, because of which they say: "O our Lord! You embrace everything in mercy and knowledge" (40:7).
Proof 20: The greatest praise of the people of intellect is that they know the modes of the Qur'an and follow the best of them, as it is said: "Therefore give good news to My servants, who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom God has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding." (39:17-18).
Proof 21: As the light of the sun appears in two levels: first in the ocean of light, and secondly in the scattered rays, similarly the light of knowledge also has two places: The first is the fountainhead of light, which is the origin and the Pearl of Intellect, and in which the azali and abadi realities and gnoses are gathered together. The second place is where it works as scattered light. For, in the world of multiplicity there is scatteredness instead of unity. Nonetheless, the perfect guidance of God and the Messenger is that which can guide the people of faith on the straight path and make them reach the fountainhead of the light of knowledge. "Healing through Knowledge" is being discussed with this zeal and enthusiasm, accepting the supremacy of knowledge over everything with perfect certainty.
N. N. Hunzai, Sunday 2 Dhu'l-Hijjah 1408 A.H.
17 July 1988.
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