like one about whom Allah Almighty has said: ﴿أَفَمَنْ زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ فَرَآهُ حَسَنًا﴾[1]; “Is one whose evil deed has been made pleasing to him, so he sees it as good?” The reason for this failure and great mistake is the existence of factors within the human self that prevent the realization of knowledge for him despite contemplation; like veils that are placed before his eyes and prevent him from seeing things; as Allah Almighty has said about disbelievers: ﴿الَّذِينَ كَانَتْ أَعْيُنُهُمْ فِي غِطَاءٍ عَنْ ذِكْرِي وَكَانُوا لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَمْعًا﴾[2]; “Those whose eyes were veiled against My remembrance and who were unable to hear,” and He also has said: ﴿وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنَاهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ﴾[3]; “And We have placed a barrier in front of them and a barrier behind them; thus, We have covered them, so they cannot see.” These ominous and dangerous factors are referred to as “impediments to knowing.” Therefore, although the intellect requires knowing, it achieves knowledge only when there is no impediment in its way, and whenever there is an impediment in its way, it is incapable of knowing. For this reason, recognizing the impediments to knowing and removing them are considered prerequisites for knowing and, accordingly, essential.

The most important impediments to knowing are as follows[4]:

1. Ignorance

Ignorance, meaning the lack of knowledge, is the most significant impediment, but rather the origin of all impediments to knowing; because its relationship to knowing is like that of something to its opposite, and there is no impediment unless it has arisen from it; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿كَذَلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾[5]; “This is how Allah seals the intellect of those who do not have knowledge.”

[The Necessity of Knowing Concepts and Their Instances]

It is clear that the intellect, in order to know an unknown, needs pieces of information so that by combining them, it achieves knowledge of that unknown.