Hikmah — Rawzat

The Quranic Foundation

The Quran pairs hikmah with the Quran itself and with divine revelation:

يُؤتِي الحِكمَةَ مَن يَشَاءُ وَمَن يُؤتَ الحِكمَةَ فَقَد أُوتِيَ خَيرًا كَثِيرًا “He gives hikmah to whom He wills, and whoever is given hikmah has been given immense good.” (Quran 2:269)

This verse — placed immediately after verses on charity and spending in Allah’s way — locates hikmah as a gift surpassing material wealth. The indefinite man yasha’ (“whom He wills”) signals that hikmah is not the result of ordinary effort but a divine bestowal on those prepared to receive it.

The Quran also describes the Prophet’s mission as twofold: “He teaches them the Book (al-Kitab) and the Wisdom (al-Hikmah)” (2:129, 62:2). This pairing — Kitab and Hikmah — is the Ismaili key: the Kitab is the zahir (revealed text), and the Hikmah is the batin (the inner meaning that the Prophet transmits alongside the text).

Hikmah as a Technical Term in Ismaili Philosophy

In the Fatimid Ismaili tradition, hikmah is a technical term with several interrelated meanings:

1. The Wisdom Behind Creation

Allah’s hikmah is the intelligence embedded in the act of creation itself. The Quran says Allah created everything bi-l-haqq — “with truth/purpose” — and the Dawat reads this as hikmah: every created thing exists for a reason that transcends its apparent form. Understanding why things were created — not merely how — is the domain of hikmah.

2. The Inner Meaning of Revelation

The Hikmah in “Kitab and Hikmah” is the esoteric, inner meaning (batin) of the revealed text. The Quran’s zahir is accessible to all readers; its hikmah is transmitted through the chain of Prophethood and Imamate. Without this transmitted hikmah, the Quran can be recited but not fully understood. See also: Tawil Esoteric Interpretation

3. The Dawat’s Intellectual Tradition

The Fatimid Dawat’s scholarly output — from al-Qadi al-Nu’man’s Da’im al-Islam to the philosophical treatises of the Yemeni Duat — is itself called hikmah: the accumulated human intelligence that has received, organised, and transmitted the divine wisdom across generations. See also: Dalaim Al Islam

Hikmah and ‘Aql (Reason)

A central debate in Islamic intellectual history: the relationship between divine revelation (wahy) and human reason (‘aql). The Ismaili tradition takes a distinctive position:

‘Aql is the first divine emanation. In the cosmological framework of Ismaili philosophy, the ‘Aql al-Awwal (Universal Intellect) is the first thing created by Allah — not light, not matter, but pure intelligence. Reason is therefore not opposed to revelation but is its cosmic counterpart:

Revelation (wahy) comes down from Allah to creation
‘Aql ascends upward from the rational soul toward the divine
Hikmah is the meeting point: the recognition of the divine in the rational, the rational in the divine

This means that philosophy and theology are not in conflict in the Bohra tradition. The Dawat’s scholars have always engaged with Greek philosophy (Neoplatonism, Aristotle) precisely because they understood philosophy as a form of hikmah — a reaching of the human intellect toward the divine wisdom it dimly senses but cannot fully access without prophetic guidance.

The Hakim (The Wise) and the Muhaqqiq (The Investigator)

The Hakim (holder of hikmah) is someone who has received divine wisdom through legitimate channels — not a self-taught philosopher but someone who has studied under authorised teachers in the Dawat’s chain. The Dawat distinguishes between:

Al-‘ilm al-zahir (outward knowledge): the jurisprudence, ritual law, and Quranic recitation that all Bohras learn in the maktab — necessary but not sufficient
Al-‘ilm al-batin (inner knowledge): the ta’wil, the philosophical understanding, the recognition of the divine dimensions within outward forms — this is hikmah in its full sense

The mumin who receives both — the zahir through salah, fasting, and maktab education, and the batin through the waaz and the Dawat’s chain of teaching — is described in the Dawat’s literature as the hakim al-mumin: the wise believer. See also: Ilm Divine Knowledge

Hikmah in the Bohra Waaz

The Bohra waaz (religious discourse) is the primary vehicle for transmitting hikmah to the community. A waaz is not merely a lecture — it is structured to move the listener from the zahir to the batin:

Tilawat al-Quran — recitation of the Quranic verse (the zahir)
Tafsir — the apparent meaning of the verse (the first veil lifted)
Ta’wil — the esoteric meaning (the hikmah unveiled)
Tatbiq — the application to the mumin’s spiritual life (hikmah embodied)

This structure enacts the Quranic description of the Prophet’s mission: “He recites to them His verses, purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom” (62:2). The waaz is this prophetic mission continuing through the Dai’s mouth. See also: Bohra Waaz

Hikmah and the Imam

The deepest source of hikmah in the world, according to the Dawat, is the Imam al-Zaman — the Imam of the age. The Imam’s ‘ilm is not the product of human study but the divine wisdom transmitted from Prophet to Imam through the chain of nass (divine appointment). This ‘ilm is called al-‘ilm al-ladunni — knowledge from Allah’s own presence — and it is the ultimate source from which the Dawat’s hikmah flows.

During the satr (the period of the Imam’s occultation, which began with Imam al-Tayyib in 524 AH), the Duat Mutlaqeen are the vessels through whom this hikmah reaches the community. Their waaz, their scholarly writing, their rulings — all are expressions of the Imam’s ‘ilm filtered through the Dai’s receptive intelligence. See also: Satr Period Hidden Imams, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution

Hikmah as Perceiving the Divine in the Everyday

The practical expression of hikmah for the mumin is the capacity to perceive the divine dimension within everyday life — not reserved for scholarly discourse but available to anyone who has received the Dawat’s ta’lim:

Seeing the thaal (communal tray) as an emblem of the equality of souls before Allah
Hearing the Quranic recitation in salah as the voice of revelation, not merely Arabic syllables
Understanding illness, loss, or difficulty as the divine hikmah’s invitation to deepen tawakkul (reliance on Allah)
Recognising the mu’min’s greeting (al-salamu alaykum) as a covenant between souls, not merely a formality

This everyday hikmah is what the Dawat calls basira — inner sight — and it is the fruit of years of waaz attendance, du’a practice, and living within the Dawat’s community.

Ta’wil of Hikmah

The zahir of hikmah is the outward meanings of wisdom traditions — Islamic jurisprudence, ethical teaching, the philosophical texts studied in the Dawat’s schools.

The batin of hikmah is the living reality of divine wisdom itself — not a text but a hal (spiritual state) in which the soul perceives Allah’s wisdom in everything it encounters. This state is the goal of the Dawat’s entire educational project: not mere knowledge about Allah but knowledge of Allah — direct, interior, transforming.

The Quran’s promise, “Whoever is given hikmah has been given immense good” (2:269), is the Dawat’s promise to the mumin: the entire structure of the Dawat — the Imam’s ‘ilm, the Duat’s waaz, the maktab’s ta’lim, the community’s walayah — exists to deliver this immense good to every believing soul that opens to receive it.

Hikmah — Divine Wisdom in Bohra Theology