Knowledge as An Element of Human Responsibility from the Islamic Perspective

Previous findings have shown knowledge is one of the elements of human responsibility. The relationship between knowledge and responsibility is proven within the explanation frameworks of Islamic thought and Islamic law. The main objective of this article is to understand the fundamentals of knowledge in Islam and to identify the justifications of knowledge which could verify mankind’s responsibilities. This study employs classical, as well as the most recent literature from various disciplines, namely in Islamic thought and Islamic law. The research methodology used is theinductive method to understand the Muslim scholars’ views on the responsibility that comes with knowledge, in addition to the deductive method to generalise these views and to identify Islamic principles in relation to responsibilities of having knowledge. In addition, this research focuses on the comparative methodology by comparing different viewpoints in order to highlight the similarities and differences amongst Muslim scholars. This study has discovered the fundamentals of knowledge Islam, which is based on ‘ilm daruri. With ‘ilm daruri, mankind’s knowledge can be justified in order to identify mankind’s responsibility. This study as also discovered that the basic ability to distinguish between virtue and vice proves the relationship between religious knowledge and reasoning knowledge. This concept of virtue and vice is the foundation of the explanation that justifies knowledge as one of the elements of responsibility in the Islamic religion.