علم نور يا حجاب

Knowledge: "Light" or "Veil".

Man is a curious creature who raises questions and seeks to find answers to his questions. He is always after inquiring from science, scientist, and the known, and also tries to understand the objectives, findings and values set by science. This quality reaches its climax in him when he sees knowledge as a binary phenomenon with two contradictory attributes of "light" and "veil". Hence he is interested to know how a truth, "that itself is light and lightens others", can be a veil - the greatest veil. In the present article, in the first place, the usage of knowledge is discussed in two senses, that is, general and absolute as well as particular and specialized. The second category refers to the very knowledge based on experience and experiment. The author then alludes to the ideas of some of the thinkers and scholars who consider knowledge equal to "existence" and "light". The main thrust of this paper is discussion of Imam Khomeiniʹs gnostical notions. Imam Khomeini considers "knowledge" an attribute of primordial nature, entitling it to the bright aspect of existence; he believes that all the beings in proportion to the limits of their being are manifestations of the "Omniscient" - a name of the absolute reality. Hence he sees the secret of the glorification of God by man and his becoming eternal and celestial in this very knowledge and awareness. Therefore, he believes that real knowledge is acquired through heaven and various statuses of knowledge depend on various levels of heaven (deeds, attributes and essence). Explaining the first verse of the Alaq Chapter of the holy Quran, Imam Khomeini offers new interesting points about the value and status of knowledge. The present paper elaborates on the aforesaid issues.