The Qur’an and Spirituality(Qur’an awr Ruhaniyyat)

by

Allamah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzaic

Translated from Urdu into English

by

Faquir Muhammad Hunzai& Rashida Noormohamed-Hunzai

Typed byAbd al-Rahman Renerc

Graphics byZahir Lalani

1

GIST

Preface:

In the preface of "The Qur’an and Spirituality", first of all issought from the court of the Lord of honour, the successand high ambition to serve the cause of knowledge, then arediscussed the reason for naming the book, its importanceand usefulness. Thereafter, is briefly described the methodof how to shed light on the subject discussed and theprinciples of speech and writing of the great da is of ourc

faith. In the last part of the Preface are presented somebright arguments in the proof of the spirit of the Qur’an.

The Qur’an and Spirituality:

The book is given the name "The Qur’an and Spirituality"in the sense that in it are discussed the spirit and theluminosity of the Qur’an. The book commences with thistitle. The first thirteen paragraphs are on the introduction ofthe subject matter, commencing with a noble verse relatedto the spirit. In the explanation of the verse, it is said thatthe spirit is not from the physical world, rather it is from theworld of command, and then is described the inner relationof the spirit and spirituality with the Holy Qur’an.Thus it is written that the Qur’an in its inner aspect is spirit,spirituality and luminosity. The word ’spirituality’ isanalysed. Then, mentioning the souls of the different levels,it is unravelled that the Holy Spirit is the supreme soul of

2

man, and shown that spirituality is through this soul, whichis the light of the Perfect Man. Then, it is written that noparticle of the universe and existents is devoid of theexistence of the soul. Then is alluded how one knows thesecrets of the heavens and the earth in the illumination ofthe Divine Light, etc. Thereafter, there are paragraphsbeginning with the numbers.

Paragraphs 1-5:

1 Islam was the religion of the Holy Prophet’sancestors, therefore, from the very childhood he wasfollowing the true religion.

2 During his i tikaf in the cave of Hira, the Prophetc

was doing dhikr-u ibadat according to the religionc

of Ibrahim (i.e. Islam) which was taught to him byHazrat Abu Talib (a.s.).

3 The true religion is the light of God, which neverextinguishes and that light is in the True Guide.

4 The Prophet was commanded to follow the religionof Ibrahim. This shows that during the time of theProphet, the teachings of Hazrat Ibrahim existed.

5 The spirituality of the Prophet had started longbefore the revelation (wahy). Revelation has three

3

stages. The spirituality of the Prophet was thespirituality of the Qur’an. Spirituality is a livingworld of bright ideas, which for some time presentssilent pictures and colourful scenes and theneverything in it starts to speak. In order to bringrevelation, in reality, there are five angels, not one(as usually understood).

Paragraphs 6-10:

6 In some stages of the initial spirituality, the eye ofthe heart is dazzled due to its resplendentmanifestations. Spirituality contains everything inthe heaven and the earth, in this world and the next.

7 Spirituality consists of these things: angelic andsacred voices, images, various kinds of wisdom-filled allusions, all kinds of ta’wili examples,spiritual and luminous writings, great names,perfect words, various kinds of physical, spiritualand intellectual wonders and miracles, etc.

8 The spirituality of the Qur’an is in three levels:revelation through Jibril, hearing the Divine speechfrom behind the veil and the allusions of themanifestation of the light.

9 The Holy Prophet was the luminous lamp of God.This means that he used to illumine the hearts of themu’mins.

4

10 By light is meant the light of the inner and spiritualguidance, not the external and material light.

Paragraphs 11-15:

11 In the Holy Qur’an, some are called al-rasikhun fi’lilm, namely, those who are well-grounded inc

knowledge. When they are well-grounded inknowledge according to the standard of God, theWise, then how extensive and deep must be theirQur’anic knowledge!

12 The rasikhun fi’l ilm are the Perfect Men who havec

attained the spirituality of the Holy Qur’an and it istheir purity, which is mentioned in the Qur’an.

13 The spirituality and luminosity of the Holy Prophet,namely, the light of the Qur’an, continues andendures in the chain of Imamat.

14 The part of the Qur’an which used to reveal to theheart of the Prophet used to be in the state of thespirit and light and the Prophet used to guide thepeople on the straight path through this light, whichis still present and living in the world.

15 The successor of the Prophet possesses all thevirtues of the Prophet, except the prophethood.

5

Paragraphs 16-20:

16 The spirituality of the Qur’an is on the straight path.Therefore, whoever may advance on this path willbe able to observe and experience it. As for the TrueGuide, he inherits it and is the practical guide to it.

17 When the blindness of the eye of the heart iscondemned in the Qur’an, then it should be knownthat it is necessary to see the spiritual world in thislife.

18 Ma rifat is nothing but the recognition which isc

attained after observing the spiritual realities withthe eye of the heart. And where by ma rifat is meantc

the recognition of God, there all other lowerma rifats are included in it.c

19 In the meaning of ma rifat there is a clear allusion toc

observe the theophanies of God and the sametheophanies are the spirit and luminosity of theQur’an also.

20 If the vision (didar) of God is a reality, then there isnothing which cannot be seen and recognised. ForGod’s rank surpasses everything.

Paragraphs 21 - 25:

6

21 If someone is in doubt about the existence of theworld of spirituality, then, at least, he should thinkabout the state of his dream and consider whether itis a world of its own or not. Definitely it is.Similarly, spirituality also is a world of its own, butextremely superior and brighter.

22 From the light of guidance of the Holy Prophet andthe True Imam, a world of luminosity can come intoexistence in the heart of the people of faith.

23 The spirituality of the Qur’an is Paradise both todayin this world and tomorrow in the next, therefore, itis necessary to recognise it in this world.

24 The science of ta’wil is being given by God and thepractical ta’wil is the spirituality and luminosity ofthe Qur’an.

25 If an ordinary person is unaware of the world ofspirituality then he should guess it on the basis ofhis world of ideas.

Paragraphs 26 - 31:

26 As this external world is illumined by the light ofthe sun, the moon and the stars; the world ofreligion is illumined by the light of the Prophet, the

7

Imam and the hudud-i din (the religious hierarchy),and the fountainhead of light is always one.

27 As the mountain is representative of the sky inproviding water, the Asas is representative of theProphet in providing knowledge and guidance.

28 If observed with the eye of basirat (insight), itcertainly becomes known that the miracles ofHazrat Isa always manifest themselves from thec

True Guide.

29 Basirat is a Qur’anic term, the special meaning ofwhich is the ’eye of the heart’ and ’inner light’. TheHoly Prophet as well as his true successors fulfilledthe duty of the true mission da wat-i haqq (thec

invitation to the truth) using the basirat.

30 If a mu’min follows the Holy Prophet and theImams of guidance in the true sense, certainly, hecan also attain the light of basirat.

31 It should be remembered that the spirituality andluminosity of the Qur’an is contained in the holylight of the Imam of the time.

8

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

PREFACE

O the True Lord! O the Omnipotent! For the sake of theHoly Prophet (s.a.s.) and for the sake of the Imams ofguidance, grant this humble and weak servant such anability and high ambition that I may be able to do someuseful service by imparting true knowledge to the people offaith. O Lord! it is not far from Thy infinite mercy to acceptthis poor beggar’s prayer in Thy exalted court.

Now, it should be clear that, as the title of the book "TheQur’an and Spirituality" shows, this book deals with thesubject of the spirit and spirituality of the Qur’an. Originallyit was a paper which was read in a gathering, which laterbecame a booklet. I am confident that, God willing, thissmall work will, to a great extent, be useful to the learned.

The learned people know how extremely difficult thesubject of the spirituality of the heavenly Book has been,not only in the present time (in which there is the sway ofmaterialism), but always. But abundant and incessantthanks to God that a darwish like me is among the slaves ofthe Ahl-i bayt of the Prophet, in whose holy house theQur’an was revealed. And according to me, it is not only abelief and concept, rather an observation in the light ofma rifat and a luminous reality, that the Imam of the time,c

who is from the Ahl-i bayt, is always the means and the

9

knowledge of the spirit and spirituality of the Qur’an.Otherwise, how far would I be from the knowledge of thespirit of the Qur’an! If I do not unveil this reality, obviouslythis will be a great ingratitude that I forgot my master, mylord and my patron and tried to attribute the spiritualknowledge to myself. God forbid, that we may ever forgetour affectionate and kind Lord.

There were various ways to present the realities of theQur’an and spirituality, but the most appropriate was to usethe spiritual observations, experiences and practical ta’wilsas the means of personal satisfaction and certainty and asthe background of the subject and to use more and more theQur’anic evidences to substantiate them. This principle hasalso been used by the great da is of our faith. That is to sayc

that, they used to use their personal spirituality as thebackground of their themes and presented them in thelanguage of the exoteric sciences. However, the principle ofpoetry differs from this.

Some people may be greatly surprised if it is said that theQur’an has a great soul even though God Himself says this.Or by this soul they may mean the essence of the meaningof the Qur’an, for according to them, there is no such soulof the Qur’an, which moves and speaks, as the Qur’an issilent in front of them. But it should be known that manyrealities are such that they have a soul, but not necessarilyconfined within them.

10

See some proofs of this reality:

a. When a person is in the state of dream, in a sensehis soul separates from him. During this state,except for corporeality, everything else is in thesoul. This shows that the Qur’an also has a separatesoul.

b. According to the Qur’an, God breathed His spiritinto Hazrat Adam (15:29, 38:72). This, however,does not mean that this spirit was with God and thenseparated from Him. It rather means that the eternallight which was appointed by God began to betransferred from one bodily attire to another, andwith respect to the special vicegerency of God, it issaid that God breathed His spirit into Adam. As thespirit of God was in Adam, similarly the Qur’an alsohas a separate soul.

c. When the spirit of God was sent to Hazrat Maryam,it was in the form of a Perfect Man. Thus it is abright proof of this reality that the Qur’an has aseparate soul, which is in the form of a Perfect Man.

d. Hazrat Isa had, in his time, the status of the spirit ofc

God (ruhu’llah), in the sense that he was thevicegerent and the representative of God among thepeople. In the same way, he also had the spirit and

11

spirituality of the heavenly Book of that cycle. Thisis the status of all the Prophets and the Imams, foreach of them was the Isa, the spirit of God of hisc

time, and the spirit of God which was in him wasthe spirit of the Book of God also.

e. God says that He has a speaking Book (23:62,45:29). When this is a fact that God has a speakingBook in addition to the Qur’an, then there must bea relation between them, for both of them belong toGod. And the relation is that the speaking Book islike the soul of the silent Book and the speakingBook is the Imam-i mubin, namely, the speakingand manifest Imam.

f. God says: "But it (the Qur’an) is clear miracles inthe hearts of those who have been givenknowledge" (29:49). This noble verse shows thatthose who have been given knowledge by God, arethe pure Imams, in whose hearts the Qur’an is in theform of the living miracles of the spirit andspirituality. It is for this reason, the Imam of thetime is called the speaking Qur’an (Qur’an-i natiq).Thus it became evident that the spirit of the Qur’anis hidden in the Teacher of the Qur’an (mu allim-ic

Qur’an). This book deals with this subject and inthis connection are furnished sound and brightproofs in it. Wa ma tawfiqi illa bi’llah (And mysuccess is only from Allah) (11:88).

12

The slave of the court of Mawla, Nasir al-Din Nasir HunzaiSaturday, 12th November, 1977.

13

THE QUR’AN AND SPIRITUALITY

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

God says: "They will ask thee (O! Messenger) concerningthe Spirit. Say: the Spirit (is not from the material worldbut) is from (the world of) command of my Lord, and ofknowledge you have been vouchsafed but little (therefore,you do not understand the reality of the spirit)" (17:85).

Gentlemen! As it has been announced, today my subject ison "The Qur’an and Spirituality" and the purport andpurpose of which is to see and understand what has beensaid in the Wise Qur’an about spirit and spirituality, whatwisdoms of spirituality are mentioned in the verses of theHoly Qur’an, and what is the relation of the Qur’an withspirituality.

It is evident and clear to the people of basirat that the Qur’anin its batin (inner aspect), is spirit and spirituality and lightand luminosity, not only as the collection of the experiencesand miracles of the Prophet Muhammad’s spirituality, butalso as it contains limitless treasures of instructions andteachings pertaining to the spirit and spirituality. Thus theQur’an abounds in spirituality. But it is necessary tounderstand what, in reality, spirituality is and what does itmean?

The word spirituality, (which in Arabic is called

14

"ruhaniyyat") comes from ruhani (spiritual) which in turncomes from ruh (spirit), as jism (body) is jismani (bodily)and from jismani is jismaniyyat (bodiliness). Spirituality(ruhaniyyat) is the attribute of the creature, which becauseof its relation to the spirit (ruh) is called spiritual (ruhani),whether angel or mankind. In other words, spirituality is theattribute, characteristic and action of the spirit. However, aquestion arises here: which spirit are we discussing thespirituality of? Is it the vegetative spirit or animal spirit orrational spirit or is there any other spirit which is higherthan these spirits?

The answer is that the spirit which possesses the perfectlight of spirituality is neither the vegetative spirit nor theanimal nor the spirit of the ordinary human beings, but it isthe Holy Spirit, which contains the treasures of the secretsof spirituality and the gnosis (ma rifat) of every stage. It isc

the fourth spirit, which in addition to the Prophets andImams, is also attainable by the true believers according totheir knowledge and deeds. It is this Holy Spirit, aboutwhich God has said that it is from the world of command( alam-i amr), which is eternal.c

The spirit (ruh) being from the world of command meansthat it is not from the world of creation ( alam-i khalq), i.e.c

the material world; it is an immaterial reality, it is an eternalsubstance (qadim jawhar); it cannot be conceived of likephysical things, it is entirely different from matter; it isbeyond space and time; it is the example of the non-spatialworld, in fact, it itself is the non-spatial world; it is the

15

source of knowledge and wisdom and the means of therecognition of God. For it is the light.

The Holy Spirit, which is the spirit of the Perfect Man, isthe means of the recognition of God, in the sense that therecognition of God, is impossible without the holy guidanceof the Qur’an, the Prophet and the Imam of the time, and theHoly Spirit is the light of these three guiding ranks.

It should be known that according to Islam, there is not asingle particle of the universe and the existents, which isdevoid of spirit. However, as has been mentioned, the spirithas stages. Thus, even in the things which are calledminerals, spirits exist in a dormant form. But theobservation of these realities is possible, only if, in theillumination of the light of guidance of the Imam of thetime, the door of spirituality opens to a mu’min. Thisspirituality, if, on the one hand is as the secrets of theuniverse, on the other, it also presents the living examplesof the spirit of the Qur’an. Not only that, but the veryrecognition of God, the Prophet, the Imam of the time andone’s own self, lies in it (spirituality). As the Qur’an says:"Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth" (24:35).The allusions of this most comprehensive and wisdom-filled holy verse are: the same light of the Divine attributes,is also the light of guidance, in whose illumination areobserved together, the spiritual realities of the interior andexterior, highness and lowness, and distance and nearnessof the universe in one place. In this illumination, the pre-

16

eternal and post-eternal realities and gnoses, also come infront of the eye of basirat and nothing is left out from thecompass of this Divine light.

This observation of the cosmic and individual secrets, in theillumination of the Divine light, is possible only when amu’min’s spiritual eye opens as a result of his obedience toGod, the Prophet, and sahib-i amr (the one who holds theDivine command). On this occasion, he observes allpossible things in the non-spatial state, not far away, but inthe very spirituality of his own spirit. It should beremembered that this very wondrous event itself is thespirituality of the Qur’an also, as well as the recognition ofthe spirit and light. For the material and physical things areseparate and at a distance from each other, but the spiritualthings are together and united. In fact, it is true to say thatspiritual reality is one, but it has thousands of names andinnumerable functions. Since this most comprehensivereality has many aspects and many manifestations,therefore, countless examples of it are mentioned.

The preceding explanation assures the wise people that theQur’an, in reality, was revealed to the Prophet in the form ofa living spirituality. This spirituality is still preserved intactin its own position, for the spirit and spirituality of theQur’an are an everlasting miracle. According to the verse(42:52) when it is true that the Qur’an is a spirit and a light,then this means that each Qur’anic verse is full of themeanings and purports of the spirit and spirituality.

17

For those who have not attained any experience ofspirituality, it is definitely not easy to understand thespirituality of the Qur’an. But if they want to see it in thelight of ( ilmu’l-yaqin) the knowledge of certainty, they canc

do so by imagining the state and reality of the greatexperience of the revelation of the Qur’an, which happenedto the Holy Prophet. The revelation to the Prophet beganfirst to appear in the form of a luminous world in his pureheart as a result of dhikr-u ibadat (the remembrance andc

service of God). This world of Qur’anic spirituality in thebeginning consisted of silent pictures and silent scenes. Thiswas the world of the heart of the Prophet which wasextremely luminous, prosperous and splendid in comparisonto the external world. This was the silent grace of the HolySpirit. After sometime, the open revelation (wahy-i jali)started to come to the Holy Prophet. That is to say that theHoly Spirit, which is the spirit of the Holy Qur’an andTrustworthy Jibril, began to reveal openly. This great spiritwas not alone, rather, there were three other great angelswith it. In addition there were countless small angels andinnumerable spirits with them. As soon as these angels andspirits began to reveal to the Prophet, the silent world of theProphet’s mind and heart began to speak about knowledgeand wisdom. Its luminousness and splendour increased, andthe Holy Prophet continued to pass through the higherstages of revelation and spirituality.

Since this great matter was approved by God to reveal amost comprehensive book to the Holy Prophet, which

18

contains not only the original realities of previouslyrevealed books, but also details of the states and secrets ofboth worlds, therefore, the state which used to occur to theProphet of the revelation of the Qur’an was full ofinnumerable wonders and marvels. It is impossible topresent a complete picture of this state, except to mentiona few separate examples:

1 Long before the revelation, the Prophet was giventhe guidance of the religion of his progenitor,Hazrat Ibrahim, the Friend of God. Probably, thiswas the time of his childhood.

2 It is a fact that the dhikr-u ibadat, which thec

Prophet used to do during the i tikaf was not basedc

on imagination or imitation or that it just occurredin his heart; nor can it be a personal revelation(wahy-i dhati), rather, such a systematic ibadat wasc

in accordance with the teachings of the religion ofIbrahim (a.s.), which was taught by Hazrat AbuTalib (a.s.).

3 If it is supposed that the chain of the religion ofIslam was broken between Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s.) andHazrat Muhammad (s.a.s.), then this suppositionwill be against those teachings of the Qur’an, inwhich it is said that the Divine light cannot beextinguished. It is obvious that the Divine light isthe True Guide, along with whom there is the spirit

19

of the heavenly Book, as well as Islam. Thus ifsomeone believes Islam or the heavenly Book to bethe light of God, even then the necessity of theexistence and presence of the True Guide cannot bedispensed with. And it is true that, in reality, theQur’an, Islam and the True Guide are the threedifferent names of the same one Divine light.

4 In the Holy Qur’an the Prophet is commanded tofollow the religion of Ibrahim (a.s.). In addition,there are many verses which show that the din-ihanif (the upright religion), i.e. the millat of Ibrahim(a.s.) existed during the time of the Prophet, for thechain of Imamat continued and survived in theprogeny of Hazrat Isma il(a.s.), the noble andc

beloved son of Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s.).

5 Thus according to the will of God, as a result of theremembrance of ism-i a zam in the heart, the doorc

of spirituality opened to the Holy Prophet andrevelation began to come down to his heart. Thespirituality of the Prophet had numerous forms andmany stages. With respect to revelation, asmentioned in the Wise Qur’an (42:51), spirituality isdivided into three major parts:

First, is the general revelation (wahy-i am) whichc

comes through Jibril and other angels; then is thespeech of God, which is heard from behind the veil;and finally there is the special allusion (wahy-i

20

khas) which happens through the supreme vision(didar) of God.

After this, it is not necessary for the same order tobe continued. The unveiled supreme vision of God,the Exalted, is granted only twice, in which ishidden the treasure of pre-eternal and post-eternalwisdoms of the Divine Word (kalimah-i bari) andthe Pearl of Intellect (gawhar-i aql).c

6 As mentioned earlier, in the beginning of thespirituality of the Prophet, in the sense of thespirituality of the Qur’an, used to appear anextremely luminous and bright world, the waves ofwhose light sometimes used to be unbearable. In thebeautiful and attractive but silent pictures andscenes of this world of spiritual epiphanies, thereused to always appear an ever-new beautiful change(inqilab). In short, the wondrous and marvellousthings of this luminous world were beyond thescope of description. But you may wonder that allthis, in reality, was nothing but a colourful andbeautiful reflection of this material world, whichused to appear so bright and attractive in theluminous mirror of the Prophet. In other words, thiswas an example of this external and material worldin his spirituality.

Thereafter, when the time came Jibril, Mika’il,

21

Israfil, and Izra’il, the four Archangels, came andc

they practically demonstrated their respective workand as a result, came all other angels and souls, andthe personal world of the Prophet was changedentirely. That is to say that, the spirituality of theProphet before this was this world (dunya), and nowit became the next (akhirat), for it (spirituality)contains both this world and the next.

7 At this time in the blessed personality of the HolyProphet, the spirit and the spirituality of the WiseQur’an was in the form of allusions, similitudes,spiritual and luminous writings and the perfectwords, in addition to the angelic and sacred voices.In other words, at this stage the Holy Qur’an wassuch a complete spiritual universe where everythingwas enriched with the wealth of the intellect andsoul and illumined with the light of knowledge andwisdom. That is to say that, all the realities of theuniverse and the existents were automaticallyspeaking and the signs of the external world (afaq)and the internal world (anfus) were revealingthemselves to him.

It is necessary to mention at this point that the spiritand spirituality of the Qur’an mentioned here,remained intact in the blessed heart of the Prophet,even after all the verses of the Qur’an had beendictated to the scribes of the revelation. For God has

22

designated His Prophet with the title of dhikr(remembrance) (65:10,11). Also, it is said that theProphet does not forget (87:6). It should also beremembered that dhikr is the name of the Qur’analso (15:9). Dhikr also means remembrance of God,whether by ism-i azam or by any other means. Thusc

the Prophet was dhikr in all these senses. That is tosay that, he was the speaking Qur’an, for the livingspirit and speaking spirituality of the Qur’an wasrevealed to him and remained and lasted foreverwithin him; he was a living and lasting dhikr ofGod, which constantly speaks by itself in amiraculous state and he was such an extraordinaryand unique remembrance that he did not forgetanything, either that of the Qur’an, or of anythingelse.

8 As has been mentioned earlier, in the first of thethree stages of the spirituality of the Qur’an, i.e. thespirituality of the Prophet, revelation used to cometo the Prophet through the Holy Spirit; in thesecond, which was related to the Prophet’s ascent(mi raj) of spirituality, God was speaking to thec

Prophet from behind a veil, and in the third, whichis the final stage of spirituality, the special allusionwithout any veil was made to him. Thus the WiseQur’an is an outcome and collection of the teachingsof these three stages of revelation. That is, theQur’an contains the verses revealed through Jibril,

23

the commandments given to him from behind a veiland the wisdoms given to him through a specialallusion without any veil.

9 It is said in the Qur’an that the Prophet is light(61:8), also it is said that he is a luminous lamp(33:46). These verses reveal that the Prophet’s lightwas certainly not a material and worldly light, butthe light of intellect, spirit, religion and faith; it wasthe light of knowledge and wisdom and rectitudeand guidance and it was the light of the Qur’an.Since the Prophet was the light and the luminouslamp, that is to say that he was a light directly orindirectly related to the world of spirituality, whichcan enlighten the hearts of the believers, and theworld of humanity at anytime by virtue of its beingrelated to intellect, spirit and the inner aspect,therefore, it had to rise in the hearts’ heart only. Ithad to illuminate the intellect and the spirit andremove the darknesses of ignorance. The HolyProphet, according to the command of God,gradually transferred this perfect light of the Qur’anfrom himself to his legatee (wasi) and successor,which is alluded to in the Qur’an in the verse(57:28).

10 If anyone thinks that light only means to spread thelight of religious guidance exoterically and hence ithas nothing to do with spirit and heart (batin), then

24

such an idea contradicts the Holy Qur’an. For,wherever in the Qur’an, the words nur (light), munir(luminous), misbah (lamp) and siraj (lamp) arementioned, they do not mean material light or theexoteric guidance, as God says: "Allah is the lightof the heavens and the earth" (24:35).

It is evident from this verse that the Divine attributewhich is here called light is neither material lightnor is it only the exoteric guidance, rather it is theinner and spiritual guidance of the law and order ofthe universe and of the existents.

Further, the wisdom-filled verse in which theProphet is mentioned as the "luminous lamp" isdone so after mentioning all the exoteric functionsof his messengership and prophethood, as God says:"O Prophet! Truly We have sent thee as a witness,a bearer of glad tidings and a warner, and as a da ic

(an inviter) to Allah by His permission and as aluminous lamp" (33:45,46). The order of the wordsof this verse shows that the Prophet’s exoteric workwas completed through performing the duties ofmessengership, witnessing, giving glad tidings,warning and inviting people (unto God). But thepurpose of his being the luminous lamp was still leftto be fulfilled. This means that he had to illuminatethe hearts of the mu’mins through his light whichcontained the spirituality of the Qur’an. Also, the

25

light of the Prophet had to be transferred from hisholy heart to the blessed personality of the trueImam, as one lamp is lit from another; as it isevident from the wisdom of the verse "light uponlight" (24:35), that the Divine light is continuallybeing transferred from one holy personality toanother.

11 In the Wise Qur’an (3:7) the rasikhun fi’l- ilm arec

mentioned, which means those who are firmlygrounded in knowledge.

If in the light of this verse, we have to ask thequestion: Was the Prophet, accordng to thisQur’anic term, firmly grounded in knowledge ornot? The answer will certainly be in theaffirmative. Then it is obvious from the verse that itis not the Prophet alone, who is rasikh or firmlygrounded in knowledge. Rather, there are othersalso who are included in rasikhun (pl. of rasikh) andthey are his holy Ahl-i bayt. This verse also showsthat this firmness in knowledge is never in theworldly knowledge, rather in the knowledge of thespirituality of the Qur’an, the fountainhead of which,was the Prophet himself. Thus it is clear thatwhether the people of the world understood or not,in any case, the light of the Prophet used to do itsown work. That is to say that, the complete light ofthe spirituality of the Qur’an had reached to the

26

heart of the noble Ahl-i bayt through the HolyProphet.

12 God says: "No one can touch it (the Qur’an) exceptthe pure ones". (56:79). This never means that animpure person cannot touch the Qur’an externally.It rather means that except for those whose heartsare pure, no one has access to the spirituality,luminosity and ta’wili wisdom of the Qur’an. Thisshows that the hearts of the exalted Ahl-i bayt wereillumined by the light of the Qur’an. For the Qur’anitself testifies that God, according to the verse ofpurification (33:33), has duly purified them and allpure Imams are from the Ahl-i bayt.

13 It is evident from the Holy Qur’an that the lightwhich God has sent for the guidance of mankindcannot be extinguished by the disbelievers (9:32,61:8). This implies that the light of guidance whichexisted in the Prophet, as the spirituality of theQur’an, still exists and continues in the chain ofImamat with exactly the same lustre and radiance ofspirituality.

14 God says that the Qur’an was revealed to theProphet’s heart from the world of command, in theform of a living spirit and a perfect light, and alsosays that the Prophet guides on the straight path(42:52). Now it is not correct to believe that God

27

has taken the spirit and the light of the Qur’an backto Himself. Thus it is true to say that, after theProphet, that Qur’anic spirit and light exist andcontinue in the chain of the holy Imams, so thatthere may not be any defect in the system of Divineguidance.

15 It is mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an (72:26,27),that God reveals His secrets, namely the invisibleworld ( alam-i ghayb) unto none, except a chosenc

prophet. This shows that the spirituality of theQur’an, which was revealed to the Prophet, was therevelation of God’s secrets to him, and the same wasthe observation of the world of his personalspirituality. This shows that his successor also hasthe same status. For the transference of the light ofthe Qur’an to the Prophet’s true successor means thatGod’s secrets are revealed unto him also.

16 It is universally accepted that in order to reach God’sproximity and presence, there is only one path fixedand that is the straight path. The Prophet had guidedthe people on this path. The various stages of thespirituality and luminosity of the Qur’an are also onthis path. Thus as a result of the Prophet’s guidance,those Perfect Men and true believers who haveachieved the special proximity of God, have alsonecessarily observed the spirituality and luminosityof the Qur’an, for the spirit and the light of the

28

Qur’an are not apart from the straight path.

17 According to the teachings of the Qur’an, somepeople are blind of the eye of the heart (22:46).Reflect a little. Does not this mean that there aresome people who can see with the eye of theirheart? If so, then does this mean that they see theexternal and material world? Not at all. Rather thismeans that with the eye of their heart, they see theinternal world, which is the world of spirituality andthe same is the spirituality of the Qur’an.

18 It is inevitable to have the recognition of theProphet prior to the recognition of God, and therecognition of the Imam prior to the recognition ofthe Prophet, and prior to the recognition of theImam, one’s own recognition. For the stages ofrecognition and the order of their affirmation aresuch. Nonetheless, it is also necessary to know thatall these recognitions are united together, they arenot separate from each other. Now as forrecognition or ma rifat, it is not possible withoutc

observation and seeing. This implies that the onewho is called arif (one who has attained ma rifat) ifc c

he really is an arif, then his eye of heart has openedc

and he can thoroughly observe the world of thespirituality of the Qur’an as his own spirit andspirituality and in the light of its realities andgnoses, can achieve the ma rifat of four stages. Forc

29

without the ma rifat of the Qur’an, there is noc

ma rifat at all.c

19 It is evident from the above realities that no ma rifatc

can be attained without the observation of themanifestations of God’s attributes, in which lie thespirit and the light of the Qur’an. In fact, the samemanifestations of God themselves are thespirituality and luminosity of the Qur’an, for theyare not separate from the Divine manifestations.

20 Many people admit that ma rifat means the vision ofc

God (didar-i ilahi). But some of them forget that insearch of His holy didar (vision), His greatest signsare also observed, such as the Pen, the Tablet or theThrone, and the Dais (kursi), the necessary andessential realities of the pre-eternity (azal) and post-eternity (abad), space and spacelessness, time andtimelessness, the annihilation and survival of theuniverse, Paradise and Hell, congregation (hashr)and dispersion (nashr), i.e. the resurrection, spiritsand angels, etc. Thus in the recognition of the spiritof the Qur’an are included the recognitions of allthese signs of God, as it is said in the Qur’an: "Wehave enumerated everything in a book". (78:29).This same book is the record of deeds of man, thelight of the Perfect Man and the spirituality of theQur’an, in which there is everything.

30

21 When a person is asleep, he sees dreams. Thedreams are of different types: some are chaotic andunrelated; some like a beautiful and systematicstory; some are dark and painful and some brightand pleasant. Suppose that an arif sees a veryc

pleasant and magnificent dream in perfectillumination. It was so effective and attractive thatits picture and image cannot be erased from theheart and mind. Then the arif wrote it down in ac

book in the most suitable and appropriate words.Now what do you think about the dream? Are theeffects and images of the dream erased from theheart and mind of the arif by putting them in ac

book, or are they still there in his heart and mind? Ifthe answer is in the affirmative, then we can say thatthe Qur’an in its spiritual form was still in the heartand mind of the Prophet even after being writtendown in the physical writing. But one must believethat the living spirituality of the Wise Qur’an is farmore exalted and far more magnificent than thetrifling example of the dream.

22 The man of today, through the material knowledgeand wisdom (i.e. science), which God by Hisinfinite grace has granted to him, has created awonderful world of television and other inventionsin which past events come in front like the presentones. When this is the result of the achievements ofmaterial knowledge and wisdom, then how much

31

greater the achievement of the given knowledge( ilm-i ladunni) and profound wisdom which Godc

had granted to His beloved Prophet! Then thequestion arises: Was it not possible for the Prophetto create a luminous world through this Divineknowledge and wisdom in the mu’mins’ heart, inwhich there is only spirituality? If you say: why not?Then such a spirituality will be the spirituality of theQur’an.

23 In the verse (47:6), is mentioned the recognition of

Paradise. This means that the Paradise ought to berecognised in this world, so that, on the Day ofResurrection, the mu’min may enter this recognisedParadise. But, as mentioned earlier, recognitionwithout observation is not possible, thereforeobservation of Paradise is necessary. But it shouldbe remembered that Paradise is not separate fromthe spirituality of the Qur’an, for the spirituality ofthe Qur’an contains all spiritual favours; andParadise also has the same favours. Hence thespirituality itself is Paradise.

24 Ta’wil literally means ’to take something back to itsorigin’, ’to take a symbol (mithal) back to itssymbolised reality (mamthul)’, ’to reveal themeaning and purport of allegories and metaphors’.For instane, the ta’wil of ’cow’ in the surah of Yusuf(12), is the gluttonous human soul. For such a soul

32

of man which had to spend seven years in peace andrest is symbolised by seven fat cows, and the samesoul which had to spend the following seven yearsin the difficulty of famine, is symbolised by sevenlean cows. This story is related to a dream of theking of Egypt, the ta’wil of which no wise man ofhis time could do except Hazrat Yusuf (a.s.), whowas the Perfect Man and Entrusted Imam (Imam-iMustawda ) of his time and was granted the sciencec

of ta’wil by God. The same is the case of the ta’wilof the Qur’an. No one knows the practical ta’wil( amali ta’wil) of the Qur’an except those who arec

the rasikhun fi al- ilm (3:7). Among the rasikhun fic

al- ilm, the first is the Prophet, then his succesor,c

Mawlana Ali, and the Imams from his progeny.c

By practical ta’wil ( amali ta’wil) is meant thec

spirituality of the Qur’an which is repeatedlymentioned in this booklet, and by the bookish ta’wil(kitabi ta’wil) is meant the ta’wil which has beenrevealed from the holy Imams and their hudud andhas been written down.

25 It is a fact that an ordinary person is heedless andunaware of the lustrous world of spirituality, butdespite this he definitely has a spacious world ofideas in his heart and mind, which contains not onlythe observations, events, and states of his past life,but also a concept of the entire present universe,

33

including everything, such as heaven, sun, moon,stars, atmosphere, cloud, day, night, earth,mountain, jungle, desert, river, garden, field, house,city, different types of people, animals, experiencesof journeys and a record of countless words andworks. Thus, whatever he conceives of, a dimpicture and a feeble image of it comes in front ofhim. Some things which he loves rise to the surfaceof his mind again and again; whereas some others towhich he had paid little attention, are forgotten;albeit it is possible to regain them by thinking andreflection.

Now think that if an ordinary or imperfect man’ssoul contains the things of the entire universewhich, due to the lack of light are visualised withgreat difficulty, is it not possible for a pure soul ofa Perfect Man to have ample light and everything init may appear clearly? Thus it should be known thatthis is a clear allusion to and an appropriateexample of the spirituality of the Qur’an.

26 In the verse (41:53) of the Qur’an, it is said that thesigns of God are in the horizons (afaq, the physicalworld) as well as in the souls (anfus, the spiritualworld). The purport of this extremely importantverse is that, in order to attain the recognition ofGod and that of religion, the evidences and therealities of the physical and spiritual worlds should

34

be used. For instance, we should know from thebook of the universe whether the Prophet caninternally cast the light of the spirituality of theQur’an on his successor, or not? If he can, then inwhat way? In order to know this reality when wethink of the sun, the fountainhead of material light,we come to know that the sun always casts light onthe moon along with other things. But during thenight when the sun is not present, then, it is only themoon, which can represent the sun. That is to saythat instead of the sun, it is the moon which givesthe light and the stars do not have enough light torepresent the sun. This means that, as always, therewere the hudud-i din during the time of the Prophetalso, whom the moon and the stars of all levelssymbolise. This example shows that the Prophetwas the sun of religion, Asas the moon, and the restof the hudud were the stars of religion. This moonand these stars of religion are lit since the sun ofreligion had been lit.

If it is asked: what is the reason that at night themoon can acquire the light from the sun andtransmit it to the inhabitants of the earth, but thefirmament cannot do the same? The answer is thatthe firmament is an ethereal body and thereforethere cannot be any angle of reflection of light on it.Contrary to this, the moon is a dense body,therefore, it, due to its round body making the

35

different angles, can reflect the light of the sun tothe inhabitants of the earth. This is an example ofthe fact that the angels due to their being devoid ofcorporeality and humanity, cannot fulfil therepresentation and vicegerency of the Prophet, buta Perfect Man, who has corporeality and humanity,can accomplish a great task. And such a blessedpersonality which accomplishes this task is theImam of the time.

Question: Why does not the moon appear during theday time and what is its ta’wil?

Answer: With respect to the physical world, thereare two parts of the time, one is the day and theother the night. Similarly, with regard to religionalso, time is of two kinds: one is that in which thesun of the religion is present and himself gives thelight; the other is that in which the sun of religion isnot present, or even if he is present, he does nothimself shed light on certain problems. As for thereason for the invisibility of the moon during thedaytime in the physical world, it is that the moon isbeyond the range of our sight, which is immersed inthe light of the sun during the day. The ta’wil of thisis that during the time of Prophethood, it was theday of religion, therefore, the Hujjat of the Prophetwas not visible to the common people. Nonetheless,there were many such problems on which the

36

Prophet himself was not shedding light directly. Inthis respect, it is also true to say that this timeresembled the night, in which it was the Asas whowas functioning like the moon.

27 One of the Divine signs in the physical world iswater, the source of which is the heaven, and therepresentative of the heaven is the mountain. Inta’wil, the heaven is the symbol of the Natiq and themountain that of the Asas. The water falls from theheaven sometimes in abundance, sometimes less,and sometimes does not fall at all. But it is therepresentation of the heaven and the mountainwhich stores the rainwater in the form of thereservoirs of ice and large springs and lets the waterflow systematically so that it may always beprovided for every need. This is precisely anexample of the spirituality of the Qur’an, how it hastransferred from the Natiq to the Asas, so that themeans of the gradual guidance may be available atall times, and people may not perish all of a sudden,drowning in the flood of the heavenly knowledge,as the people of Hazrat Nuh had drowned in theflood of spiritual knowledge and perished. Thus itbecame clear that the Prophet has transferred thespirit of the Qur’an to the personality of hissuccessor.

28 The gist of what is said in the verse (3:49) is that

37

Hazrat Isa in his time used to make a figure of ac

bird out of clay and used to breathe ism-i a zam intoc

it and it used to become a bird by Allah’s command.He also used to heal those born blind, lepers andused to raise the dead by Allah’s command.

In the above-mentioned miracles, the ta’wil of theclay is the status of a mu’min, and that of bird is anangel and a spiritual entity (ruhani). The ta’wil ofmaking clay, mixing water with dust, is to mixilmu’l-yaqin (knowledge of certainty) with thec

belief and faith of a mu’min, and that of making afigure of a bird out of clay is creating the capacityand zeal for angelicity and spirituality in thatmu’min. The ta’wil of breathing into the figure ofthe bird is to grant the dhikr of ism-i a zam andc

special ibadat to a prepared mu’min, and that ofc

becoming a bird is the spiritual birth of a mu’min,namely, the beginning of the angelic and spirituallife and the flight in the world of spirituality.

The ta’wil of healing the one born blind is to grantthe open inner eye to a new Muslim, giving him theabove mentioned kind of spiritual training. Theta’wil of healing a leper is to improve (the conditionof) a mu’min who is trapped in the extremelyintense light and white luminousness in thebeginning of spirituality, and the ta’wil of raising thedead is to revive spiritually and restore to their

38

previous position those who used to live in the lifeof the spirit of faith (ruhu’l-iman) and then had diedwith respect to ruhu’l-iman. This is the ta’wil andwisdom of the above-mentioned miracles of HazratIsa (a.s.).c

Now the question arises whether the Chief of theProphets, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (s.a.s.) alsoperformed such miracles, or not? You will certainlyreply, why not? For, he possessed all the perfectqualities of all the prophets and was the closestfriend of God. These ta’wili miracles are such thatthey are related not only to the Prophet, but also tothe holy Imams.

29 It is necessary to know what is the basirat. It is thesight of the heart, namely, to observe the spiritualrealities with the inner eye. As God says about theProphet: "Say thou: ’This is my way: I do invite untoGod. I and he who follows me are on basirat’"(12:108).

This shows that along with the Prophet, hisfollower, Mawlana Ali, also was on basirat, i.e.c

both of them had observed the realities and gnosesof the spiritual world of the Qur’an with the innereye, and therefore, whatever they had said about thetrue da wat (da wat-i haqq) was based on basirat.c c

30 God says in the Wise Qur’an: "Oh, but man is

39

observer of his self (spirit)" (75:14). This impliesthat man, in reality is capable of observing hisspiritual states with his inner eye (chasm-i dil). If hehas lost this capacity, it is his own fault. Observingin the light of this verse, it becomes evident that,after the Prophet and the Imam, it is also possiblefor the lower ranks to see the spirituality of everykind.

31 In the verse (78:29), it is said: "And We haveencompassed everything in a Book." In order tounderstand the reality of this Book, in which thereis everything, first of all we have to think about itsnature, whether it is spiritual or material. If it is saidto be material, then it has to be equal to the entireuniverse. For, everything means the entire universeand the existents (which apparently is impossible).On the other hand, if it is said that this Book inwhich is contained the entire universe, is of aspiritual nature, then it sounds correct. And in fact,this is the meaning of this verse. And all the thingsof the universe, which are contained in it, are inspiritual form, and it is the spirituality of the Qur’anwhich is also called the light of the Prophet and theImam. By observing in the light of the realities andthe gnoses which are mentioned from the beginningto the end of this booklet, it becomes evident thatthe holy light of the Prophet of God and the Imamsof guidance is always there as the spirit and

40

spirituality of the Wise Qur’an. It is this light whichhas remained the fountainhead of the Divineguidance for the people and in its spiritualmanifestations are hidden the treasures of thema rifat, the recognition of God. Therefore, ac

mu’min should always struggle to be able to attainthe spiritual observation and recognition of this holylight.

Praise be to God, the Sustainer of the worlds.