Frithjof Schuon, a leading representative of “spiritual tradition doctrine” says, “The essence of knowledge is knowledge of essence,” and elsewhere adds, “What lacks in our world is basic knowledge about the nature of things.”

Departing from the late Schuon’s presentation of the matter in this manner, I think we can argue that in spite of all the wealth and instrumental possibilities in our possession, what we really need is knowledge of purpose as the ultimate goal of knowledge. Knowledge (al-‘ilm), which is not completely reserved for this world or, in other words, which is not ordinary or lowly (adna, mundane), is hidden in Unity as inculcated in us by the Eternal Truth in many forms and throughout history. In the Islamic creed, this unity is expressed as tawhid (oneness).
Unity does not reveal itself to us in a naked, simple and concrete manner, but it wants us to search for and find it and reach it through a sort of discovery. The ongoing pursuit of truth is part of truth itself. This discovery may occur not only in the form any intuitive or direct sudden internal illumination (ishraq), but also in a completely physical setting. Once it occurs, it means that truth has manifested itself. Compared to the endless variety as well as variegated and plural constitutional manifestation of existence, everything actually originates from this Unity and can be properly expressed by it. It can then be concluded that tawhid (oneness or unity) is essential and principal while kathrah (multiplicity) is incidental and secondary. Fragmentation of consciousness is a state of loss inside multiplicity, forgetting all about unity or oneness, in which consciousness is disintegrated among each of these multiple elements, tragically losing the sense of unity and integrity.

Still, we do not have the possibility of knowing about unity or oneness in the lack of multiplicity. Every object, order or thing, enumerated as multiplicity, is true and real, but they are not absolute on their own. Relativity, limitations, weakness and finiteness are characteristics of multiplicity. Unity, on the other hand, unites and is conducive to oneness, putting tawhid at the heart of everything. As pursuit of truth is essential, multiplicity is necessary for unity. Modern science and knowledge systems are flawed and defective as they are maimed by the limitations of human intelligence by rejecting the quest for inner/mystic, ethereal/other-worldly or transcendental/divine levels of reality. For this reason, the general character of the current knowledge system in our possession is ordinary, lowly (adna) or purely mundane (secular). It is rootless, lacking any archetypes, and, therefore, completely imaginary or virtual. Its main appeal is its dilatory capabilities and its false promises for imitating the truth.

If the universe can be likened to a book, then we need a certain and special reading for every state and movement of the universe. “Reading” is an effort to perceive and “interpret.” One thing may be read in an endless variety, but what is read is fixed. Based on this fact, Umar Nasafi said, “The truth of things is fixed.” And this is fully related to consciousness. In this context, it can be argued that modern knowledge is a unique reading of the universe and it attempts to present its unique (biased and subjective) perspective about existence as if it is precise, general and objective, and it even does this through imposition. This reading is insistently and systematically trying to make us forget the fact that the ultimate purpose of knowledge is to have knowledge about purpose. For this reason, it abuses and exploits manifestations of the plural and irresponsibly distorts them and reduces plural manifestations of one truth to multiplicity and destroys purpose in the instrumental abundance. Thus, it becomes very hard for us to realize that our modern lives are filled with details and trivial preoccupations galore that do not leave us alone until we die and that our souls are suffocated in the world of multiplicity. Eventually, we start to search for a cure in the causes of our diseases.

Yes, but who will teach us how to read the universe in a correct and true manner: the atheist, the skeptic or the believer? It seems that all of them seek the truth, but the atheist does it in an aggressive manner and the skeptic does it in a restless way while the believer is patient. The fact that Islam’s first order is “read” is indicative of the fact that reading is actually a matter of teaching and learning. Perhaps in order to attain that knowledge of purpose we should start to ready anew the revealed book as well as the created book (the universe) just as the Archangel Gabriel, referred to in the Quran as the Ruh al-Qudus (the Holy Spirit), did.