For knowledge is of two kinds: knowledge that already exists among the creation and knowledge that is withheld from them. To deny the former is disbelief, and to claim the latter is likewise disbelief.

Such is the attitude of those firmly grounded in knowledge, whereas the ignorant plunge into errors and innovations of their own making.

Knowledge, then, is of two kinds. One kind Allah has reserved exclusively for Himself—no one knows it but He—and that is the knowledge of the unseen. The other kind is present among people; Allah has taught it to them because it serves their interests. It is conveyed in what He revealed in the Book and in what He sent with the Messenger: “He teaches them the Book and wisdom” (Q 2:129). “The Book” is the Quran, and “wisdom” is the Sunnah—some say it is understanding of Allah’s religion. Thus Allah has taught us, and the Messenger has taught us: “He teaches you what you did not know” (Q 2:151).

Rejecting the sacred knowledge—with its commands, prohibitions, and reports about past and future—is an act of disbelief. Claiming knowledge of the unseen is also disbelief, for Allah says, “Say: None in the heavens or on earth knows the unseen except Allah” (Q 27:65). Even the most perfect of creation, the Prophet, declared: “Had I possessed knowledge of the unseen, I would have amassed much good” (Q 7:188). The Prophet, therefore, knows nothing of the unseen except what Allah teaches him: “They encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills” (Q 2:255).