Ilm (Arabic)

I'lm (Transliteration of علم) is Arabic for knowledge, as an Islamic term it refers to knowledge of Islam. The Quran is said to encourage the acquisition of knowledge. It explains the study and development of sciences during the Golden Age of Islam.

Ilm in the terminology of Islamic law means the Book and the Sunna, not juridical opinion (ra'î) and analogy (qiyâs) [http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Imam_al_Kawthari.htm]

Quotations of the term in the Koran

*سَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُواْلَوْ شَاء اللّهُ مَا أَشْرَكْنَا وَلاَ آبَاؤُنَا وَلاَ حَرَّمْنَا مِن شَيْءٍكَذَلِكَ كَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِم حَتَّى ذَاقُواْ بَأْسَنَاقُلْ هَلْ عِندَكُم مِّنْ عِلْمٍ فَتُخْرِجُوهُ لَنَا إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّالظَّنَّ وَإِنْ أَنتُمْ إَلاَّ تَخْرُصُونَ

:Those who have set up partners will Say: "If God wished, we would not have set up partners, nor would have our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything." Those before them lied in the same way, until they tasted Our might. Say: "Do you have any knowledge to bring out to us? You only follow conjecture, you only guess." (006:148)

*فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِم بِعِلْمٍ وَمَا كُنَّا غَآئِبِينَ

:We will narrate to them with knowledge; We were not absent. (007:007)

ee also

*Hadith of Persians and knowledge