ʿIlm

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ʿIlm (Arab.). Knowledge, especially of fiqh and kalām. ʿIlm, of all kinds, has particularly high status in Islam, because a strong doctrine of creation (all things coming from God and potentially being revelatory of him, as ayat) is combined with an absence of anything resembling original sin (which might make humans incapable of appreciating God's self-revelation in the created order). The capacity for ʿilm is thus a gift from God.