Ocean of Knowledge

A Little Knowledge is A Dangerous Thing!



The human beings are the most evolved and highly developed organism in this universe as per our present knowledge. There are over 20 Million living organisms in this universe and human beings are the organisms who can speak and the most important ... can think! This thinking ability is the difference which makes human beings unique and able to create knowledge ... the difference of utmost importance between animals and human beings!

Knowledge is the source of Hazrat Adam (Peace Be Upon HIm ) the first human being was given preference over angels and Satan as he was bestowed by Allah ability to name the things , the bases of knowledge . But knowledge has many dimensions and its essence is knowing things in depth and with understanding. If the things are understood only superficially then our understanding is at fault and incomplete. Take an example if a person is having difficult in breathing if a person of less medical knowledge says he may guess and say it is asthma, it is allergy and may be it is only tiredness. And we can well imagine the consequences if the improper diagnosis is made and wrong medicine is given to the patient, it can result in death of the person or some dangerous side effect on the health of a person.

Take an example of rockets and their flight operation, if at their launching time their trajectory is disturbed by one degree only, then it will be not on destined star about thousands of miles away from its target. This will result from less knowledge and destroy lot of efforts and money. Knowledge means to know things in their true shapes and true realities , and there is a saying of Holy Prophet Peace Be upon HIm that Oh Allah grant me true knowledge of things and show their essence not as they are seen in appearance! This shows that knowledge is in its totality and not in its parts and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing which amkes things blurred.


I will tell you a story mentioned by Rumi; he says that there were three persons who went to see an elephant being shown to people by a King. the elephant was placed in a ark and big room chained with iron bars. One person went he felt his trunk , he thought it was like a python, other went he touched his feet and he thought it was like a tall and strong tree , the third went and he brushed his ear and thought it was like a big fan! After three came out and discussed about elephant 's shape all disagreed and began to fight and due to their limited and little knowledge stuck to their point of view. Rumi says if they had taken a lamp and seen in its clear light that elephant was made up of all the parts and then true and whole knowledge of elephant's shape would have given them clarity as to elephant's shape! But they fought due to their little knowledge, our today's many issues arise from this little knowledge about science, religion, and our society and ourselves . This chaos is motivated by masters of little knowledge and of narrow ideas. To live in peace we need to move from little knowledge to whole knowledge and truth ,nothing else but whole truth. As knowledge liberates us from ignorance, hatred, violence and poverty. Let us promise that we will strive in our lives to move from little knowledge to whole truth and save ourselves and others from its dangers!

Knowledge makes us human beings, but it has no limit, it is always learning and discovering new frontiers and horizons , and let us strive for a future not based upon dangers of little knowledge but upon confidence and stability of whole truth and deep knowledge.