The Epistemological Value of Marifah in Malayê Jîzîrî's Understanding of Knowledge

Abstract

Since each discipline has its own concepts, there are also common concepts that different disciplines use in another one. The most essential difficulty of common concepts is that they should be in the form of meaning appropriate to the systematic paradigm of the discipline in which they are employed. Knowing the belonging of a common concept to the system of a certain discipline determines, on the one hand, the boundaries of its meaning and, on the other hand, the position of the meaning it expresses within the relevant discipline. One of the interdisciplinary common concepts of the Islamic cultural area that possesses this quality is marifah. While marifah is a significant epistemological source for the discipline of S & ucirc;fism, it is also an important theory of knowledge for the science of kalam. Marifah has a mental function that determines the characteristic context of both S & ucirc;fism and theology. Although with a different nuance, divine knowledge is an important element that nourishes the ground that enables epistemological knowledge to emerge in both disciplines, and it has an epistemic function that refers to the essence of the meaning of both disciplines. Even though Sufism and theology have different approaches to the concept of marifah, the common denominator is that it is a source of knowledge. Although the meaning that S & ucirc;fism attributes to marifah is of the type of meaning reflections rather than definitions, as a S & ucirc;fi term, marifah is defined as the value gained because of deserved, the virtue that enables the attainment of marifah, and a characteristic found in the owner of marifah. The definition of marifah in S & ucirc;fism does not include all the layers of meaning that fall within its scope as per the logical definition, nor does it exclude those that fall outside its scope. It is not a definition that is too broad for its own good. In this respect, S & ucirc;fism's definition of marifah is in the form of a metaphor rather than a definition. In theology, marifah is defined as knowledge based on spiritual serenity in the sense that faith is based on knowledge. Among the schools that include marifah in the definition of faith is the school of al-Murjie. In al-Murji theology, marifah is the state of knowing with the trace of the heart, which includes the heart's affirmation, rather than mere knowledge. Marifah's relation to knowledge is epistemological and ontological in that it is an act of the heart. It is this duality that makes marifah a common concept of S & ucirc;fism and theology. Marifah, whether it is a term in its theological aspect or an expression of name transmission in its S & ucirc;fi usage, is treated as an epistemological value in both disciplines in terms of being or not being a source of knowledge. Since the science of kal & amacr;m has the principle of protecting religious knowledge and transmitting religious knowledge correctly, it has not considered marifah as an epistemological source of knowledge, which they do not see as having an objective value, since the verifiability of knowledge based on marifah is not possible. For knowledge in theology must first and foremost be demonstrably true. In S & ucirc;fism, on the other hand, knowledge is merely a metaphysical form and insufficient to discover the truth, whereas marifah is the truth itself. Hence the fact that theological knowledge is based on the word and Sufi knowledge is based on the state. One of the thinkers who argued that true knowledge should be based on the state is one of the wise S & ucirc;fis of the Orient, Mullah Ahmad al-Jazari, namely Malay & ecirc; Jiz & icirc;r & icirc;. Marifah is one of the key concepts mediating Malay & ecirc; Jiziri's S & ucirc;fi thought. Since Jiziri prioritizes the subtle over the manifest and meaning over matter, he considers marifah as a communication instrument of the subtle meaning. In his conception, marifah, which is based on laduni, b & acirc;tini, mukashafah (observation), and scientific state and station, is more reliable than kasbi, z & acirc;hiri, and qal knowledge. In his epistemological understanding, knowledge is the antecedent of marifah, and marifah without knowledge is a nullity, and knowledge without marifah is way. In al-Jaziri's epistemology, knowledge based on theoretical sciences is illusory, while marifah is of divine origin, free from all kinds of scientific doubt. In his conception, reason and other human sources of knowledge are not ends but means to marifah. Jiziri sees knowledge as a kind of human love and marifah as divine and divine knowledge and sees the human to the divine. In other words, for al-Jaziri, marifah is the most authentic source of knowledge with a reliability that other sources of knowledge lack.