Knowledge of conduct and knowledge of unveiling

In the preface of Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, al-Ghazali divides the knowledge by which one turns towards the hereafter into two kinds: the knowledge of unveiling (mukashafa), by which he means knowledge sought only for the disclosure of what is known, and the knowledge of conduct (mu'amala), sought for disclosure together with acting on it. ^{1 2} He says the book aims at the knowledge of conduct only. ²

Al-Ghazali calls the knowledge of unveiling "the final aim of seekers and the hope of the truthful", but says there is "no licence to set it down in books", and that the knowledge of conduct is the road to it. ² He argues that the prophets spoke to people only about the knowledge of the path and guidance on it; of unveiling they spoke only "by symbol and allusion, through parables and in summary", knowing the limits of people's understanding, and the scholars, as heirs of the prophets, can only follow their example. ²

The knowledge of conduct then divides, for him, into outward knowledge, of the acts of the limbs, and inward knowledge, of the acts of the hearts. What runs on the limbs is either custom or worship; what comes upon the hearts, which are veiled from the senses and belong "to the world of the unseen kingdom (malakut)", is either praiseworthy or blameworthy. So four parts result, and no inquiry in the knowledge of conduct falls outside them. ^{2 3} These are the quarters of the Ihya': worship, customs, destructive things and saving things. ⁴ Al-Aydarus explains the same division in the introduction of Ta'rif al-Ahya': the outward is conduct between the servant and his Lord and conduct between the servant and people; the inward is what the heart must be cleansed of and what it must be adorned with. ⁵

Al-Ghazali returns to the division in the Book of the Censure of Self-Delusion: whoever masters the sciences and neglects action is deluded, because knowledge is twofold, the knowledge of conduct, such as knowing the lawful and unlawful and the blameworthy and praiseworthy traits of the soul, which "is sought only for action", and the knowledge of unveiling, the knowledge of God and His attributes, usually called "the knowledge of gnosis". ⁶ Were it not for the need to act, he says, the sciences of conduct would have no value, and he gives the parable of the sick man who memorised his remedy and never drank it. ^{7 8}

Al-Ghazali gives a second reason for the fourfold division: students genuinely desired jurisprudence, which is arranged in four quarters, so he gave his book on the knowledge of conduct the shape of a law book "as a gentle way of drawing hearts in". ^{3 9}

• Page numbers are from the Shamela file, not the printed book.
• Al-Ghazali's view that the knowledge of unveiling may not be written down is his position in the Ihya', presented as his.