Laduni Knowledge and Human Intelligence
In this era, human intelligence has reached places that once only existed in dreams and fantasies: we can unravel DNA strands, create thinking machines, send messages across oceans in the blink of an eye, and even touch the soil of the moon. Yet amidst this soaring intellect, something has quietly plummeted, often unnoticed by us as beings endowed with reason by God: morality and spirituality. Today, we witness those most skilled at drafting laws also being the most adept at finding loopholes to break them. Those who understand health best are often the greediest in hoarding medicine while others suffer. Those who speak most eloquently of justice are frequently the cruellest in oppressing the weak.
Thus arises a troubling question: why does an increasingly bright intellect drive humans further from spirituality and morality? The answer is simple but often forgotten due to our constrained consciousness. As Imam Al-Ghazali explains in his work ‘Ar-Risalah Al-Laduniyah’, humanity has been content to develop only one side of itself: the intellect. We have neglected a much deeper aspect—the intelligence of the heart. We forget it because intellectual brilliance has become a glittering stage, far more attractive than the invisible intelligence of the heart. Yet it is within the heart that the filter resides, capable of distinguishing good from evil for our steps forward. It is the place to feel God’s presence in both noise and silence, and the guardian that prevents our intellect from straying into error. Both forms of intelligence must be continuously cultivated and ensured to walk hand in hand within ourselves, our children, and our families.
However, intelligence of the heart and mind alone are insufficient to reach truth. Spiritual intelligence—the intelligence that connects humans to God—is also necessary. This is a form of intelligence never discussed in contemporary academic forums. In the Islamic wisdom tradition, the merging of these three elements of intelligence is called ‘Ilmu Laduni’. Linguistically, ‘Ilmu Laduni’ means ‘knowledge from the side of Allah’. It is not knowledge that opposes common sense. It is knowledge of the essence of truth that flows directly from the Creator into the heart of His purified servant. The origin of this term is clearly recorded in the Qur’an, specifically in the story of the meeting between Prophet Moses and Prophet Khidir: ‘Then they found one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed mercy from Us and whom We had taught knowledge from Us.’ (QS. Al-Kahfi: 65).
Consider that story carefully. Moses was a messenger given the Torah, possessing the sharpest intellect of his time. Yet he had to willingly travel far, become a student, and restrain himself from asking many questions, just to learn one thing: knowledge that cannot be obtained from a book, cannot be deduced by logic—the wisdom behind what is visible to the eye. Moses knew rationally that damaging a boat was harmful, that killing a child was cruel, and that building a wall for people who refused them hospitality was unfair. But Khidir knew what the intellect could not: behind those actions lay a far greater good, a plan of Allah that surpasses the limits of human reason.
Herein lies the fundamental difference. Intellectual knowledge moves from the outside in: it observes, calculates, and then draws conclusions. It knows how to make a bomb, how to embezzle state funds, how to manipulate the hearts of the masses. But it can never answer the most important question: ‘May I do this? Is this good for my soul and for my fellow human beings?’ That question can only be answered by ‘Ilmu Laduni’, which moves from the inside out: a light that illuminates a clean heart, giving it a certain sense of which path is straight and which is astray.
Allah Himself explains the prerequisite for obtaining it, not through cleverness or academic titles, but through piety: ‘And fear Allah, and Allah will teach you.’ (QS. Al-Baqarah: 282). In another verse, He speaks of the path that must be taken: ‘And those who strive for Us, We will surely guide them to Our ways.’ (QS. Al-Ankabut: 69). The striving referred to here is not merely armed struggle, but the greatest struggle: fighting the lusts that nest in the chest.
For indeed, the heart is like a mirror. If it is covered by the dust of sin, arrogance, and greed, then no matter how bright the light of truth that comes, it will never reflect. All that will appear are the shadows of one’s own desires. This is what Allah reminds us of in Surah Asy-Syams: ‘And He inspired it [the soul] with its wickedness and its righteousness. He has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who instills it [with corruption].’ A person with a dirty heart, no matter how brilliant their intellect, will always see the world through the lens of their own profit. They know theoretically that corruption is wrong, but their intellect will work hard to find a thousand and one reasons to justify it: ‘Everyone else is doing it,’ ‘It’s only a little,’ ‘I’ll donate some of it later and then repent.’ The intellect, which should be the king, transforms into a cowardly servant.