Ilm (Arabic)

‘Ilm (Arabic: علم‎ "knowledge") as an Islamic term refers to knowledge of Islam. The Qur'an is said to encourage the acquisition of knowledge. It explains the study and development of sciences during the Golden Age of Islam.

‘Ilm in the terminology of Islamic law means the Book and the Sunnah, not juridical opinion (ra'ī) and analogy (qiyās).

Quotations of the term in the Quran

يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُواْلَوْ شَاء اللّهُ مَا أَشْرَكْنَا وَلاَ آبَاؤُنَا وَلاَ حَرَّمْنَا مِن شَيْءٍكَذَلِكَ كَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِم حَتَّى ذَاقُواْ بَأْسَنَاقُلْ هَلْ عِندَكُم مِّنْ عِلْمٍ فَتُخْرِجُوهُ لَنَا إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّالظَّنَّ وَإِنْ أَنتُمْ إَلاَّ تَخْرُصُونَ

Those who have set up partners will Say: "If God wished, we would not have set up partners, nor would have our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything." Those before them lied in the same way, until they tasted Our might. Say: "Do you have any knowledge to bring out to us? You only follow conjecture, you only guess."^{[Quran 6:148]}

فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِم بِعِلْمٍ وَمَا كُنَّا غَآئِبِينَ We will narrate to them with knowledge; We were not absent.^[Quran 7:7]

ilm-ul-abdan and ilm-ul-adyan

Prophet Muhammad classified Ilm(Knowledge) into two types. Muhammad said

Al-'ilmu'ilman, 'ilm-ul-abdan wa 'ilm-ul-adyan

ilm-ul-abdan

It is Ulum-i aqliyya which is Scientific Knowledge

ilm-ul-adyan

It is Ulum-i naqliyya which is Religious Knowledge