Did the Prophet Teach the Knowledge of Haqiqah?
As we have explained before, Islamic religious knowledge is divided into just two main groups: the knowledge of sharia and the knowledge of haqiqah, or outer (zahir) and inner (batin) knowledge. Fiqh is an example of outer knowledge (sharia), while inner knowledge contains three parts: tariqat, haqiqah, and ma'rifat.
But we rarely hear in history that the Prophet taught religious knowledge in the form that is common today, namely teachings that call themselves this tariqah or that tariqah, or this ma'rifat or that ma'rifat.
So, did the Prophet teach only sharia?
Haqiqah and sharia are a pair and are continuous with one another, so when teaching them, the Prophet Muhammad did not separate them. That is why we rarely hear of the Prophet teaching haqiqah as a distinct subject. This is what makes people today doubt whether the Prophet Muhammad really taught haqiqah. The answer is: YES, he did, but he taught it as one continuous whole, from sharia through to haqiqah, without separating them. This is different from the haqiqah study groups of today, which generally teach haqiqah separately from sharia. This is clear from the names they give their groups, such as this tariqah and that tariqah, and the results show plainly that they separate the two: people who have studied haqiqah generally try to downplay the sharia part, and some who study haqiqah and claim to have "reached the end of ma'rifat" even stop praying altogether (na'udzubillah min dzalik).
Sahih Bukhari hadith number 120 is evidence that the Prophet Muhammad taught both sharia and haqiqah to the earlier community. In that hadith, Abu Hurairah states that he learned two kinds of knowledge from the Prophet Muhammad. These two are the knowledge of sharia and the knowledge of haqiqah.
So the Prophet Muhammad was in fact the first person in Islam to teach valid and true haqiqah. But he did not teach it in the form of this tariqah or that tariqah. He taught it in the form of lessons in tawhid.
The Prophet Muhammad received the first revelation in the Cave of Hira, in a period known as the age of ignorance (jahiliyah), when people worshipped idols because they did not know the true God, Allah. Therefore, the first thing the Prophet had to instill was the matter of tawhid.
In the early days, when the Prophet Muhammad told the people of that time about Allah, there were surely many questions from people who were amazed and wanted to know who Allah was. And surely the Prophet Muhammad gave sufficient clarification and explanation. All the answers and explanations he used in responding to people's questions about Allah can be found in the more than 6,000 verses of the Quran. This process of questions and answers between the Prophet and people who wanted to know about Allah is one form of the Prophet teaching the haqiqah part. As an example, take Surah Al-Ikhlas: "Say (Muhammad): Allah is One." This verse clearly shows that the Prophet Muhammad was informing and introducing the people to the fact that Allah is not many but One. There are many Quranic verses explaining who Allah is, so that people would know Allah and could worship precisely the One named Allah. It is impossible for people to worship Allah if they are given only the name Allah. Remember that although Allah is unseen, Allah exists; He is not nonexistent. Anything that exists can be known, as long as it is understood with the appropriate knowledge, namely the knowledge of haqiqah. That is why those who study only sharia, without any knowledge of haqiqah, will say that it is impossible for us to know Allah. This is understandable, because they look at it only through the lens of sharia.
Many people forget that at the very beginning, the Prophet Muhammad told the Arab leaders about God, Allah, not children. Naturally those Arabs would not simply obey and follow like children. They would surely ask many questions about Allah until they were convinced, and this process of questions and answers is what it means for the Prophet to be introducing Allah to the people. It is different for us, who are Muslims by birth. From childhood, our parents told us only the name of our God, Allah, but at that age our minds were not yet able to ask about Allah in more detail. So when we were told only the name Allah, we just went along, and we also just followed along in prayer. And we kept on praying until old age with nothing more than knowing the name Allah. This is a fatal mistake for us Muslims by birth: knowing only the name Allah, we have kept on praying into old age, while our knowledge of the One we worship is still only a name. Our knowledge of Allah goes no further than knowing that Allah created the heavens and the earth and that Allah gives us sustenance. Remember, knowledge at that level is not enough for us to face Allah in prayer or in the throes of death (sakaratul maut). How unfortunate we would be if we did not study haqiqah, which is the knowledge of tawhid. We would never truly know Allah, and in the end, at the moment of death, we would certainly be unable to return to Allah, because how can we return to One we do not know? And if we cannot return to Allah, that is what is called dying astray. It is called dying astray because in the throes of death we no longer recognize the One to whom we are returning, Allah, and so we are said to be lost...
If readers of this article would like a broader and deeper explanation of this matter, we can hold a direct religious discussion (mudzakarah). Please see the CONTACT section of this website. God willing, this is purely religious outreach (da'wah), with no commercial element and no payment of any kind. We are in several cities, including Jakarta, Surabaya, Pekanbaru, Padang, Batam, Lampung, Samarinda, Makassar, and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
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Note:
We do not teach tawhid through the internet. All the religious articles on this website exist only to demonstrate and remind people how important knowledge of tawhid is. Learning tawhid is like attending any ordinary religious study session, such as one at a prayer room (musholla) or a majelis taklim.
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