A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 2-3)

The Knowledge of the Unseen & the Knowledge of the Book

This article aims at clarifying two concepts namely "Ilm al-Ghayb" (the Knowledge of the Unseen) and "Ilm al-Kitab" (the knowledge of the Book) which both seem to be confusing in many people's mind. The article provides references to Quran and both Shi'ite and Sunnite collections of traditions.

The Knowledge of the Unseen

The original meaning of "Ghayb" in Arabic is "that which has been concealed", and it is with this meaning which has appeared in the Holy Quran (4:34, 12:52, etc.) It signifies a meaning opposite to "Hadhir" which means "present to the senses", and thus denotes with things to the external world (i.e., Ma'lumat; known things). This opposition of Ghayb/Hadhir (unseen/present) should not be confused with the opposition of Ilm/Jahl (knowledge/ignorance) in which the latter pair is concerned with the internal act of knowing.

So it may happen that something is "Ghayb" in the dimension of time which does not exist now but it will be or it was; or in the dimension of place that is the knowledge of something which is located elsewhere but not here.

Thus we can divide own our knowledge into two parts:

A) The knowledge of something which is present to us right here and right now (Ilm bil Hadhir),

B) The knowledge of something which we know but is not here now (Ilm bil Ghayb/Gha'ib; the knowledge of what is concealed from the senses).

It should be noted however that the above division is according to general/original linguistic meaning of the term. The knowledge of Ghayb itself can be divided in two kinds:

1. The knowledge that comes to us through our senses, but indirectly. Examples are our knowledge of history which comes either through narration from one person to another, by speech or in writing or through examining the relics and remainings of the past, and then deducing certain historical facts from them.

2. The type of the knowledge of Ghayb which does not come through our senses.

It should be observed that the first type can be by means of ordinary senses (the five normal senses) or may be by a special sense which has been given to a person like telepathic sense (if there is such a thing). It is, however, only to the second type (the non-sensory one), that the technical/special meaning of "The Knowledge of Ghayb/Gha'ib" is denoted. The historical events mentioned in Quran has been named by Quran as "the tidings/news of Ghayb" (11:49, 12:102, 25:4-6) which are all the second kind which did not come via senses.

The Holy Quran is quite specific about the fact that Allah alone has the knowledge of Ghayb (what is concealed) in the heavens and the earth. Quran tells us that there are keys to the Ghayb which are with Allah:

"With Him are the Keys of the Ghayb; non knows them but He." (Quran 6:59)

and that no one knows anything of Allah's knowledge except if He will. Quran tells about the knowledge and the intercession of the Prophet Muhammad and his twelve successors that:

"Who can intercede with Him except the cases He permits? He knows what is in front of them (the Prophet and the Imams) and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He will." (Quran 2:255)

This shows that the core/keys of the Knowledge of Ghayb is with Allah, but He may release "a news of Ghayb" to the one He wills.

According to the Quran, things which are special property of Allah, such as creation, giving life, curing without medicine, the knowledge of what has happened and what will happen, may either be momentarily given by Him at the moment they are required, or else the power and ability to do them may be given so that they can be used when necessary, by the permission of Allah. An example of the latter comes in the story of Prophet Jesus (AS) who, according to Quran, said:

"I have come to you with a sign from your Lord; I will CREATE for you out of clay a figure of a bird, then I will breath into it, and it will be a bird by leave of Allah; I will also HEAL the blind and the leper, and BRING TO LIFE the dead, by leave of Allah. I will also INFORM you of what things you eat and what you treasure up in your houses. Surely, in that is a sign for you, if you are believers." (Quran 3:49; see also 5:110)

To give a simple example, consider a person who looks at a monitor which displays some part of a database located in the hard drive of a computer. The user can retrieve any part of this database and see it on the monitor. But the whole database is always in the computer and not in the user's head. Furthermore, the user is unaware of any real-time modifications that may happen to this data base and the formulas behind the modifications.

Allah let the Prophet and Imams know whatever they needed to know. However, they don't have the whole knowledge within themselves. But Allah would give them whatever they needed any time. It is important to understand that what the prophets or the Imams wish to know is exactly what Allah wished to release to them. They do not wish to know anything that Allah do not want to release to them (among which is the keys to the knowledge of unseen).

Based on Quran and the transmitted traditions by Ahlul-Bayt, Allah has two types of knowledge:

1- The knowledge that is withheld (i.e., Ghayb). As I mentioned Nobody has control over this type of knowledge except Allah. Allah may inform "a news from Ghayb" to some of His servants, but this is different than "possessing Ghayb". In fact, there is a whole chapter in Usul al-Kafi which discusses this type of knowledge where it is clearly mentioned that neither the Imams nor the prophets possess the knowledge Ghayb. "The Will (Mashiyyah) of Allah operates on this knowledge. If He wishes He decrees it. And If He wishes He modifies it and does not carry it out." (See Usul al-Kafi, Kitab al-Hujjah, Tradition #664)

2- The knowledge that is granted. "This is the knowledge that Allah fore- ordained (Qadar, Taqdeer), He decrees it, and carries it out (with no modification). And this is the knowledge that has been passed down to the Prophet Muhammad, and then to the Imams." (See Usul al-Kafi, Kitab al-Hujjah, Tradition #664)

If the Prophet or Imams possessed any knowledge about the future, it is this second type of knowledge (the knowledge of what has been foreordained), and NOT the first type of knowledge (the Knowledge of the Unseen).

For the First type of knowledge, Quran states:

"Allah removes what He wills, and confirms what He wills, and with Him is the Essence of the Book." (Quran 13:39).

The Essence of the Book is the withheld knowledge (Ghayb) which is only possessed by Allah, and nobody possesses this database but Him. Also see the following verses:

He said: "The knowledge of that is with my Lord in a Record. My Lord neither errs nor forgets." (Quran 20:52)

Now, let us look at the following verse:

"He possesses the Ghayb and He does not discloses His Ghayb to anyone except to such a Messenger as He is well-pleased with." (Quran 72:26- 27).

>From the above verse, it is evident that although Allah alone possesses the withheld knowledge (Ghayb), but He may disclose a news from it to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF). On the other hand, Prophet Muhammad transferred whatever he was reached from the news of "Ghayb" to those who qualified, as the following verse testifies:

"And he (Muhammad) is not niggardly the Knowledge of the Unseen." (Quran 81:24).

Therefore, if the news of Ghayb reached to the Prophet Muhammad (and consequently the Imams of Ahlul-Bayt), it is only because it was given to him by Allah. It is for this reason that according to Quran the messengers are all instructed to tell people that they do not possess the Knowledge of Ghayb of their own, for it is reached to them by Allah only as He wishes.

In Usul a-Kafi, it is narrated that:

Ammar al-Sabati said: I asked Abu Abdillah (Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq) concerning if Imam knows al-Ghayb (Unseen). He replied: "No, but when he wishes to know something, Allah causes him to know that." (Usul al- Kafi, Kitab al- Hujjah, Tradition #666)

Shaikh al-Mufeed (d. 413/1022) who was one the outstanding Shia scholars said:

" ... Saying that they (Prophet and Imams) possess the knowledge of Ghayb should be refuted as being something clearly incorrect, because the attribute of this can only be for someone who possesses the knowledge of (all) things within himself, not the knowledge obtained from another. And this can only be for Allah, to whom belong Might and Majesty. All Imamis agree on this except those who deviated from them and are called Mufawwidah and extremists (al-Ghulat)." (Awa'il al- Maqalaat, p38).

in fact, neither the prophets nor Imams ever claimed that they have all the knowledge within themselves. Obviously they did not know those of information which was "hidden" to them. However, this does not mean that whatever they knew is "visible" to us as well. The information which is considered to be "hidden" to us may be "visible" to them. Thus the visibility of knowledge is relative to the person.