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AlGhazalisIhya-Book_of_knowledge, page : 78
blameworthy, as, for example, the study of the trivial science before the important
one, and the obscure before the significant, like delving into the Divine mysteries,
which have been pursued by both the philosophers and the theologians; but
neither they nor anyone else could (grasp) it in whole or in part except the
prophets and the awlia (those close to Allah). For this reason people should be
deterred from delving into these mysteries, and instead, be diverted to pursue
those subjects, which the law allows, wherein lies sufficiency for the guided.
Determining What Names of Sciences Have Been Changed
We should also be aware that the source of the confusion of the blameworthy
sciences with the sacred is the tampering with, and the changes in, the names of
the praiseworthy sciences and the alterations introduced therein, in bad faith, so
as to connote other than those, which the righteous fathers and the first century
Muslims intended. Consequently, five terms, namely, jurisprudence (fiqh), the
science of religion (al ilm), theology (tawhid), admonition (tadhkir), and
philosophy (hikmah), all names of praiseworthy sciences, whose possessors
have held the chief positions in the religious organization, but, which now have
been altered so that they connote something blameworthy; yet people have
one, and the obscure before the significant, like delving into the Divine mysteries,
which have been pursued by both the philosophers and the theologians; but
neither they nor anyone else could (grasp) it in whole or in part except the
prophets and the awlia (those close to Allah). For this reason people should be
deterred from delving into these mysteries, and instead, be diverted to pursue
those subjects, which the law allows, wherein lies sufficiency for the guided.
Determining What Names of Sciences Have Been Changed
We should also be aware that the source of the confusion of the blameworthy
sciences with the sacred is the tampering with, and the changes in, the names of
the praiseworthy sciences and the alterations introduced therein, in bad faith, so
as to connote other than those, which the righteous fathers and the first century
Muslims intended. Consequently, five terms, namely, jurisprudence (fiqh), the
science of religion (al ilm), theology (tawhid), admonition (tadhkir), and
philosophy (hikmah), all names of praiseworthy sciences, whose possessors
have held the chief positions in the religious organization, but, which now have
been altered so that they connote something blameworthy; yet people have