Qanut
Definition
Qanut is the total loss of hope in God's mercy — a sin so grave in al-Ghazali's framework that it approaches disbelief, because it implicitly denies one of the most fundamental divine attributes: absolute, boundless mercy. The Quran explicitly says: 'Do not despair of the mercy of God — indeed, God forgives all sins.' Al-Ghazali treats qanut as a spiritual illness produced by excessive and misdirected khawf: when fear of divine punishment so overwhelms the heart that it crowds out any sense of divine love and mercy, the soul collapses into paralysis. The cure is not the elimination of fear but its rebalancing with raja', especially through deepening one's knowledge of God's mercy-attributes.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
Hear the term in context.
Every book above uses Qanut the way the classical scholars meant it. Listen with the full Study Kit in the app.