Self-knowledge and its relationship to knowing god in Islamic thought

Maʿrifat al-nafs, that is, self-knowledge, is a principle that has attracted the attention of thinkers throughout history and has held a central position in philosophical, gnostic (ʿirfānī), and religious teachings. The people of wisdom and gnosis, based on the principle "Whoever knows himself/ his soul has known his Lord" derived from verses and hadiths, have presented maʿrifat al-nafs as the key to maʿrifat Allāh. According to this view, knowing one's own reality is the closest, most correct, and even the only path to reaching one's Lord. The process of self-knowledge is a journey that includes different levels extending from the realm of command to the realm of creation -such as the spirit, the soul, the heart, and the intellect- and outward and inward methods such as experiential, rational, unveiling (kashfī), and revelatory (waḥyī) approaches. The essence of this journey is the purification of the soul, the cleansing of the heart from bad morals, its illumination with divine knowledges, and its purification from all other-than-God. This purification continually turns the person toward God and ultimately leads to the state of fanāʾ. One who reaches this level realizes that God is the absolute Light and the absolute Manifest; that every act of cognition is possible only through Him; and that even self-knowledge is possible only through Him. He understands that there is no veil between himself and his Lord, and that the veil is only his own soul. Thus, he comprehends that all beings are in absolute poverty and that only God is the absolute Rich and Possessor of power. Finally, the whole cosmos appears to him as the locus of manifestation of divine signs. This is exactly the reality of maʿrifat al-nafs. For this purpose, the present study examines, from a philosophical, gnostic, and religious perspective -namely, through the lenses of intellect, witnessing (shuhūd), and revelation- what is meant by maʿrifat al-nafs and what kind of relationship it has with maʿrifat Allāh. The study is based on the premise that self-knowledge is an independent field with ontological, epistemological, and metaphysical dimensions. Accordingly, it aims to fill a significant gap in the literature through a thematic and systematic investigation of maʿrifat al-nafs. Keywords: Ma'rifat al-nafs, Ma'rifat Allāh, self-knowledge, soul, spirit, heart, intellect.