There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul."When I read this quote I realised its truth and it made me recall something that was stated in the Quran which said and I am paraphrasing what I understand from it here:
-- Arnold Bennett
The bedoiun said they have faith ( are mukmin), tell them to say, we have surrendered (Islam) for faith(iman) has yet to come to them.
I take this to mean that it takes time for the experience of Islam to become Faith. That doing and practising what the Prophet taught is what produces the changes. It is like the difference in knowing that we are looking at a picture of the Pyramids and actually having been there, experiencing the desert air and the feel of the stones and the atmosphere, the sun and the desert around.
5 comments:
Knowing vs. KNOWING. :)
The way I understand it, Arnold Bennett is talking about experiential knowledge. And I think the hadith you quoted is particularly apt to illustrate this (mind you I am no hadith scholar, just going by gut feeling).
Perhaps this is partly the reason why we have the 5 pillars as such, as actual doing of ibadah can/will produce cognition on the Truth? Especially the 5th pillar, being in the lands that the Prophet saw spent his life in.
How about doing vs. DOING of ibadah? ;)
We may be praying and had just finished fasting the whole of Ramadhan. There are times that I'm happy with my personal performance and experience of the specific ibadah. Unfortunately, NOT most of the time. :(
Yes Kenakalayan,
Experiential knowledge says it all. Doing our prayers etc is simply preparing ouselves as vessels to receive from God the experiential part and there are those who keep doing and doing and waiting and the experince eludes them ..and this also answers Pycno's question...between doing vs DOING..It helps to be guided Spiritual teacher who has the experiential knowledge..unfortunately , most of our religious teachers who may have a string of degrees have only book knowledge...
I guess that's why the newly converts are given much leeway and we are supposed to give them utmost assistance be it in advice, wordly materials (inclusive of zakat) etc to ease them in the process of gaining iman and ilm.
There's a difference between knowing a path and walking a path. Even Morpheus knew it, how can we not know? I worry too about scholars having only book knowledge and not practical experience with application. It's kind of the same type of issue as when I hear about some people's disdain for "academics".
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