Recognition (maʿrifa) (w/ William C. Chittick; St. Andrew’s Encyclopaedia of Theology, 2025)

Maʿrifa and the less commonly used ʿirfān are verbal nouns derived from the root ʿ-r-f (for the various meanings of this root, see Lane’s Lexicon, s.v. ʿ-r-f). Like ʿilm, which is often considered its synonym, maʿrifa means ‘to know’. Scholars in all disciplines have offered definitions and explanations for the word ʿilm, frequently explaining that maʿrifa has a comparable meaning, though with distinctive connotations. The best overview of the countless scholarly disquisitions on ʿilm remains Franz Rosenthal’s Knowledge Triumphant (2007; see especially 53–55, 108–129, 165–168). Here we focus on the distinctive meaning given to maʿrifa by Sufis and philosophers who have paid special attention to ʿilm al-nafs, ‘knowledge of the soul’ (usually translated as ‘psychology’), which they saw as preparation for maʿrifat al-nafs, ‘recognizing the soul’.