Knowledge, Sources of Knowledge and Its Value in Huseyin Avni of Arapkir

Hüseyin Avni of Arapkir was one of the representatives of philosophical Kalam, an important branch of the Ash’ar？ theological tradition, despite the fact that he belonged to the Matür？d？ tradition. In this study, Avni's understanding of knowledge was tried to be revealed. Avni criticized many definitions of knowledge. He did not try to make his own definition of knowledge. He, however, made a classification of knowledge similar to that of the Tahafut tradition. For him, sources of knowledge are the five senses, reason, and transmission (khabar). He argues that each of these sources offers information about a certain area, and that knowledge in the question was reliable. Avni gave place in his understanding of knowledge to five internal senses accepted by Islamic philosophers and five external senses accepted by theologians, thereby reflecting philosophical kalam attitude. He touched upon khabar pecifically to the right message. With message of Prophet, he meant the Hadith