Islam's outlook on knowledge is dominated by the principle of divine unity (tawhid), which Muslim thinkers have believed and understood as a most pervasive feature of Islamic epistemology. An understanding of tawhidand the knowledge of God from that perspective necessarily extends to the knowledge of all of God's creation. Belief in the Oneness of God (tawhid), in this way gives rise to the idea of the basic unity of all knowledge. The revelation of the Qur'an began with a single command: 'Read in the name of thy Lord' (96:1), which is understood to mean that acquisition of all knowledge should be founded on a basic acknowledgment and recognition of the existence of God. According to the Islamic epistemology, God is the source and fount of all knowledge; man's knowledge, whether corporeal or spiritual, is possible because God has given him the necessary faculties of knowledge. Muslim philosophers and scientists have held as a result that in the act of thinking and knowing, human intellect is illuminated by the Divine Intellect. Knowledge thus acquires a spiritual dimension in Islam and becomes a means to salvation of the soul and attainment of felicity in this life and the hereafter. The Qur'an speaks effusively of the dignity of man and of man's superiority over the rest of God's creation.

For God has bestowed on man the faculty of reason. But reason develops and flourishes through knowledge, which becomes, in turn a central theme of the teachings of the Qur'an. The fact that the revelation of Qur'an began with a sura on knowledge, addressed to the Prophet Muhammad to 'read in the name of thy Lord the Most Bountiful, He who taught (the use of) the pen and taught man that which he knew not.' (96:3-5) The sacred character of knowledge is here indicated by the fact that God refers to Himself as the first teacher. Many verses in the Qur'an that were to follow affirmed the sacred dimension of knowledge, one of God's illustrious names being the 'All-Knowing' (al-'alim). The Qur'an has advanced the cause of learning such that it is 'considered by all Muslims to be the quintessential sum of all knowledge, both human and divine.' There is another sura in the Qur'an, bearing the title 'al-Qalam' (the pen) which begins with the phrase 'Nun, by the pen, and by the (record) of what (men) write with it.' (68:1) In yet another sura attention is focused on the 'written book' as the chapter opens with these words: 'By the Mount (of Revelation), and the book written on unfolded scroll.

' (52:1-2) The pen and what can flow from it, the paper and the book, the three elemental tools of knowledge have thus been taken as objects of solemn oath. Commentators have also noted that the letter 'Nun' here might mean an ink-holder. In another chapter of the Qur'an, entitled 'al-Rahman' (the Most Merciful), the text identifies God's act of the creation of man, bestowing on him the ability to learn, and then teaching him the Qur'an as the most salient of God's favours on mankind. Furthermore the Qur'an describes the mission of the Prophet Muhammad as being to 'Rehearse to the people of God's signs (in order) to purify them, and to teach them the Book and the wisdom.' (62:2) Knowledge is evidently viewed as an instrument of faith (iman) and a torchlight in the quest for spiritual refinement. Whenever the Qur'an refers to darkness and light (al-zulumat wa'l-nur) they signify ignorance and knowledge respectively. In several places the text declares its own purpose as being to show the way from darkness into the light (2:257; 5:16; 14:1). And then the 'ulama' are singled out as the most Godfearing of all of God's servants: 'Only those of His servants who possess knowledge fear God most.

' (35:28).