““Knowledge,” which for al-Qônawî is never very far from Sufi gnosis, is “an abstract universal reality,” or “a single universal reality.” In contrast to rational knowledge, no perception-and-apperception (tasawwur/tasdîq) is involved in the visionary knowledge of the mystic, as believed by the great mass, but only perception. The Qur- ân is “the form of the knowl- edge that comprises the variety of possible conditions affecting existing things,” or it is the form of the divine attribute of knowledge.85 Another aspect of Muslim theology was thus invaded by logic in a rather intui- tive, unsystematic manner which, however, further shows the desire to divert the powerful current of thought centering around “knowledge” into special channels.””
