Khashya and ‘Ilm
The 35:28 equation: ‘Innama yakhsha Allaha min ‘ibadihi al-‘ulama’ — the construction innama (only/none but) restricts khashya of Allah to the ‘ulama. Classical mufassirun (Tabari, Ibn Kathir) explained: the ‘ulama here are not merely the learned in fiqh or hadith, but those whose knowledge has brought them to genuine recognition of divine attributes — divine power, divine beauty, divine love — which overwhelms the soul. Mere intellectual knowledge does not produce khashya; only the knowledge that has become lived recognition (marifat) produces the trembling.
The khashya-marifat loop: The deeper one’s marifat (direct knowledge of Allah), the more intense the khashya; and the more intense the khashya, the more it drives the soul toward deeper marifat. This self-reinforcing loop is the engine of the Sufi path: each descent into self-accounting (muhasaba) and each ascent in dhikr deepens both knowledge and awe simultaneously.
See also: Al Marifat, Muhasaba, Al Khawf, Al Taqwa, Tasawwuf, Al Suluk, Ilm Divine Knowledge
Khashya of the Imam
Knowing the Imam produces awe: In Ismaili epistemology, the Da’i’s ‘ilm is specifically the ‘ilm of the Imam’s haqiqa — the knowledge of who the Imam truly is as mazhar (locus of divine manifestation). The mumin who genuinely knows the Imam — not merely as a social leader but as the embodiment of divine walayah — naturally develops khashya: the trembling recognition that one stands before the divine baraka through the Imam’s person. The Da’i’s majalis cultivate precisely this khashya-producing knowledge.
See also: Imamah, Understanding Walayah, Al Marifat, Al Tajaliyyat, Barakah, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution, Majalis Al Hikmah, Muhasaba
See also: Al Marifat, Muhasaba, Al Khawf, Al Taqwa, Tasawwuf, Al Suluk, Ilm Divine Knowledge, Imamah, Understanding Walayah, Al Tajaliyyat, Barakah, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution, Majalis Al Hikmah