Wisdom from the Koranic Commentator's and Philosopher's Point of View

Wisdom (Hikmah) means firm theoretical knowledge which leads to appropriate action removing ignorance. Muslim philosophers have defined wisdom as knowledge of the essence of God, skilled craftsmanship, academic skills, knowledge of distant causes, acquiring knowledge of the superior recognizable being through the best of sciences, seeking spiritual perfection and knowledge of the essence of beings. The word “wisdom” has been mentioned twenty times in the holy Koran. By reference to the prophet’s and Imam’s sayings and commentators’ views, we can infer several meanings for the word wisdom including knowledge of the holy Koran, its guidelines and laws, knowledge of the prophet and Imams, inherent wisdom (Ilm al Ladduni), knowledge of the essence of God and knowledge of the Islamic ethics and beliefs. Studies show that Muslim philosophers have developed Islamic philosophy under the influence of Koranic teachings. For this reason, despite differences in interpretation, the meanings mentioned refer to a single truth, that is, knowledge of the essence of God and His creation in such a manner that it would lead to human perfection and happiness. Although wisdom is different from philosophy, Islamic philosophy is so close to wisdom that many Islamic philosophers have considered them as synonymous and others like Suhrawardi and MirDamad have established their schools of thought on this basis. The present article is an attempt to demonstrate the consistency between the philosophical meaning of wisdom and its Koranic meaning through conceptual analysis.