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"------ <center> The Twenty-Fourth Word ⇐ | The Words | ⇒ The Twenty-Sixth Word </center> ------" içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu
("Or, like two-faced dissemblers and cunning atheists whose natures are corrupted and consciences rotted, do they want to deceive the people and turn them away from the guidance which they cannot obtain, to trick them, and so call you either a soothsayer, or possessed, or a sorcerer? Do they want to make others believe what they do not believe themselves? Don’t think of these insidious charlatans as human beings, don’t be saddened at their wiles and de..." içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) Etiketler: Mobil değişiklik Mobil ağ değişikliği |
("------ <center> The Twenty-Fourth Word ⇐ | The Words | ⇒ The Twenty-Sixth Word </center> ------" içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
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| (Aynı kullanıcının aradaki diğer 356 değişikliği gösterilmiyor) | |||
| 464. satır: | 464. satır: | ||
Or, like two-faced dissemblers and cunning atheists whose natures are corrupted and consciences rotted, do they want to deceive the people and turn them away from the guidance which they cannot obtain, to trick them, and so call you either a soothsayer, or possessed, or a sorcerer? Do they want to make others believe what they do not believe themselves? Don’t think of these insidious charlatans as human beings, don’t be saddened at their wiles and denials, and lose heart. Rather, increase your efforts! For they only deceive their own souls and harm themselves. And their successes in evil are temporary; it is a Divine stratagem, drawing them to perdition by degrees. | Or, like two-faced dissemblers and cunning atheists whose natures are corrupted and consciences rotted, do they want to deceive the people and turn them away from the guidance which they cannot obtain, to trick them, and so call you either a soothsayer, or possessed, or a sorcerer? Do they want to make others believe what they do not believe themselves? Don’t think of these insidious charlatans as human beings, don’t be saddened at their wiles and denials, and lose heart. Rather, increase your efforts! For they only deceive their own souls and harm themselves. And their successes in evil are temporary; it is a Divine stratagem, drawing them to perdition by degrees. | ||
< | Or have they a god other than God? Exalted is God far above the things they associate with Him!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 52:43.</ref>) | ||
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Or, like the Magians, who imagined two separate gods called the Creator of Good and the Creator of Evil, or like the idolators and worshippers of causes, who attribute a sort of godhead to different causes and imagine each of them to be a source of support for them, do they rely on other gods and contest you? Do they consider themselves free of any need of you? That means they have become blind and do not see the perfect order and flawless harmony throughout the universe, which is as clear as day. For in accordance with the decree, Were there gods other than God in the heavens and the earth, there surely would have been confusion in both,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 21:22.</ref>) if there are two headmen in a village, or two governors in a town, or two kings in a country, order is turned upside down and harmony spoilt. But from a fly’s wing to the lamps in the heavens, such a fine order has been observed that it leaves not so much space as a fly’s wing for partners to be associated with God. Since the above act in a manner so opposed to reason, wisdom, feeling, and what is obvious, don’t let their lies put you off proclaiming the Message! | |||
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Thus, of the hundreds of jewels of these verses, which constitute a series of truths, we have briefly explained only a single jewel of the Qur’an’s manner of exposition in the category of ‘giving to understand’ and ‘silencing in argument.’ If I had had the power and shown a few more jewels, you too would have said: “These verses are a miracle just on their own.” | |||
But the Qur’an’s manner of exposition in making understood and instruction is so wonderful, subtle, and fluent that the most simple ordinary person easily comprehends a most profound truth from the way it explains it. | |||
Yes, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition simply and clearly teaches most abstruse truths in a way that caresses the view of people in general, and neither hurts their feelings, nor irritates their minds, nor tires them. Just as when speaking with a child, childish words are used, in the same way the Qur’anic styles come down to the level of those it addresses –called in the terminology of the scholars of theology, ‘Divine condescension to the mind of man’– it addresses them in that way; through comparisons in the form of allegories, it makes an illiterate common person understand abstruse Divine truths and dominical mysteries which the minds of the most learned philosophers cannot rise to. | |||
< | For example, by means of a comparison, the verse, | ||
The Most Merciful One on the Throne established(*<ref>*Qur’an, 20:5.</ref>) depicts Divine dominicality as a kingdom, and the degree of that dominicality as that of a King seated on the throne of his sovereignty and exercising His rule. | |||
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Indeed, as the speech of the All-Glorious Creator of the universe, the Qur’an proceeds from the ultimate degree of His dominicality, passes over all the other degrees guiding those who rise to them, and passing through seventy thousand veils, it looks to each and illuminates it. It scatters its radiance and spreads its light to the thousands of levels of those it addresses, the understanding and intelligence of whom are all different. Although it has lived through ages and centuries whose capacities are all different, and has broadcast its meaning to this great extent, it has not lost an iota of its perfect youth and juvenility, and retaining its total freshness and delicacy, it teaches every ordinary person in a most easy, skilful, and comprehensible manner. Whatever aspect of a wonder-displaying book which thus teaches, convinces, and satisfies with the same lesson, the same words, numerous levels of people whose understanding and degrees are all different – whatever aspect of such a book is studied, a flash of miraculousness will surely appear. | |||
'''In Short:''' Just as when some words of the Qur’an like “All praise and thanks be to God” are recited, they fill a cave, which is the ear of a mountain, in the same way that they fill the tiny ears of a fly, so too the Qur’an’s meanings satisfy ears like mountains in the same way that with the same words they teach and satisfy tiny simple minds, like a fly. For the Qur’an calls to belief all the levels of men and jinn. It teaches the sciences of belief to all. In which case, the most lowly of the common people kneels shoulder to shoulder with the most elevated of the elite, and together they listen to the Qur’an’s teachings and benefit from them. | |||
''' | |||
That is to say, the Holy Qur’an is a heavenly repast at which the thousands of different levels of minds, intellects, hearts, and spirits find their nourishment. Their desires are fulfilled and their appetites are satisfied. In fact, numerous of its doors remain closed and are left to those who will come in the future. If you want an example of this category, from beginning to end the Qur’an forms examples of it. | |||
All the Qur’an’s students and those who listen to its teachings, like the interpreters of the law, the veracious ones, the Islamic philosophers, the sages, the scholars of jurisprudence and scholars of theology, the saintly guides of those seeking knowledge of God, the spiritual poles of the lovers of God, the learned and exacting scholars, and the mass of Muslims, unanimously declare: “We understand thoroughly what the Qur’an teaches us.” | |||
In short, flashes of the Qur’an’s miraculousness sparkle in the category of ‘making understood and instruction’ just as they do in the other categories. | |||
< | <span id="İKİNCİ_ŞUÂ"></span> | ||
=== | ===SECOND RAY=== | ||
This Ray is the Qur’an’s extraordinary comprehensiveness. | |||
It consists of five ‘Flashes’. | |||
'''The First Flash''' | |||
''' | |||
is the comprehensiveness in the words. | |||
< | This comprehensiveness is clearly apparent from the verses mentioned both in all the previous Words, and in this Word. As is indicated by the Hadith “Each verse has an outer meaning, an inner meaning, a limit, and an aim, and each has roots, and boughs, and branches,”(*<ref>*Ibn Hibban, Sahih, i, 146; al-Manawi, Fayd al-Qadir, iii, 54.</ref>) the words of the Qur’an have been positioned in such a way that all its phrases, words even, and even letters, and sometimes even an omission, has many aspects. It gives to all those it addresses their share from a different door. | ||
< | Take, for example, the verse, And the mountains [its] pegs,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 78:7.</ref>) a phrase which says, “I made the mountains as stakes and masts for that earth of yours.” | ||
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An ordinary person’s share from this phrase would be this: he sees the mountains which appear like stakes driven into the ground, thinks of the benefits and bounties in them, and offers thanks to his Creator. | |||
A poet’s share from this phrase: he imagines the earth as the ground, on which is pitched in a sweeping arc the dome of the heavens like a mighty green tent adorned with electric lamps, and he sees the mountains skirting the base of the heavens to be the pegs of the tent. He worships the All-Glorious Maker in wondering amazement. | |||
A tent-dwelling literary man’s share of this phrase: he imagines the face of the earth to be a barren desert, and the mountain chains as the multifarious tents of nomads, as if the soil layer had been cast over high posts and the pointed tips of the posts had raised up the cloth of the soil, which he sees as the habitation of numerous different creatures looking one to the other. He prostrates in wonder before the Glorious Creator, Who placed and pitched so easily these august and mighty beings like tents on the face of the earth. | |||
The share of a geographer with a literary bent from this phrase: he thinks of the globe of the earth as a ship sailing the oceans of either the air or the ¾ther, and the mountains as masts and posts driven into the ship to balance and stabilize it. He declares: “Glory be unto You! How sublime is Your glory!” before the All-Powerful One of Perfection, Who makes the might y globe as an orderly ship, places us on it, and makes it voyage through the far reaches of the world. | |||
A sociologist and philosopher of human society’s share of this phrase; his thoughts would go like this: the earth is a house, and the supporting post of the life of that house is animal life, while the supporting post of animal life are water, air, and earth, the conditions of life. And the supporting post of water, air, and earth are the mountains. For the mountains are the reservoirs for water, the combs for the air: they precipitate the noxious gases and purify it; they are the earth’s preserver: they preserve it from being transformed into a swamp, and from the encroachment of the sea. They are also the treasuries for other necessities of human life. In utter reverence he offers praise and thanks to the Maker of Glory and Kindness, Who made these great mountains as posts for the earth – the house of our life – in this way, and appointed them as the keepers of the treasuries of our livelihood. | |||
The share of a scholar of natural science from this phrase would be this: he would think of the earthquakes and tremors which occur as the result of upheavals and fusions in the heart of the earth being calmed with the upthrust of mountains; that the emergence of mountains is the cause of the earth’s stable rotation on its axis and in its orbit and its not deviating in its annual rotation as a result of the convulsions of earthquakes; and that the anger and wrath of the earth is quieted through it breathing through the vents in the mountains. He would come to believe completely, and would exclaim: “All wisdom is God’s!” | |||
< | Another example: The heavens and the earth were joined together before We clove them asunder.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 21:30.</ref>) A scholar untainted by the study of philosophy would explain the words joined together like this: while the skies were shining and cloudless, and the earth dry and without life and incapable of giving birth, the skies were opened up with rain and the earth with vegetation, and all living beings were created through a sort of marriage and impregnation. To do this was the work of One so Powerful and Glorious that the face of the earth is merely a small garden of His, while the clouds veiling the face of the skies, sponges for watering it. The scholar understands this and prostrates before the tremendousness of His power. | ||
A searching philosopher would explain the same words in this way: while at the start of creation the heavens and earth were a formless mass, each consisting of matter like wet dough without benefit, offspring, or creatures, the All-Wise Creator both rolled them out and expanded them into a beautiful, beneficial form, and made them the source of adorned and numerous creatures. The philosopher would stand in wonder before the breadth of His wisdom. | |||
A modern philosopher would explain the words thus: at first, our globe and the other planets which form the solar system were fused together in the form of an undifferentiated dough. Then the All-Powerful and Self-Subsistent One rolled out the dough, and placed each of the planets in its position; leaving the sun where it was and bringing the earth here, He spread earth over the globe of the earth and sprinkled it with rain from the skies, scattered light over it from the sun, and inhabited it placing us on it. The philosopher would pull his head out of the swamp of nature, and declare: “I believe in God, the One, the Unique!” | |||
< | And the sun runs its course to a place appointed.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:38.</ref>) The Lam, translated here as ‘to’, expresses also the meaning of ‘in’. Thus, ordinar y believers see it as meaning ‘to’ and understand that the sun, which is a mobile lamp providing light and heat for them, will certainly conclude its journeying and reach its place of rest, then take on a form which will no longer be beneficial. And pondering over the great bounties the All-Glorious Creator has attached to the sun, they declare: “Glory be to God! All praise and thanks be to God!” | ||
A learned scholar would also show the Lam as meaning ‘to’, but he would think of it not only as a lamp, but also as a shuttle weaving the tapestries of the Sustainer on the loom of spring and summer, as an ink-pot whose ink is light for the letters of the Eternally Besought One written on the pages of night and day. And thinking of the order and regularity of the world, of which the apparent movement of the sun is a sign and to which it points, he would exclaim before His wisdom: “What wonders God has willed!”, and declare before the All-Wise Maker’s art: “How great are His blessings!”, and he would bow in prostration. | |||
A geographer and philosopher would explain the Lam as meaning ‘in’, like this: through the Divine command and with a spring-like motion on its own axis, the sun orders and propels the solar system. Exclaiming in wonder and amazement before the All-Glorious Maker Who thus creates and sets in order this mighty clock: “All mightiness is God’s, and all power!”, he would cast away philosophy and embrace the wisdom of the Qur’an. | |||
A precise scholar would consider this Lam as both causal and adverbial, and would explain it like this: “Since the All-Wise Maker has made apparent causes a veil to His works, through a Divine law of His called gravity, He has tied the planets to the sun like stones in a sling, and causes them to revolve with different but regular motions within the sphere of His wisdom; and He has made the sun’s spinning on its own axis an apparent cause giving rise to the gravity. That is, the meaning of (to) a place appointed, is ‘it is in motion in its own appointed place for the stability of the solar system.’ For it is a Divine rule, a dominical law like motion apparently giving rise to heat, and heat to force, and force to gravity.” | |||
Thus, on understanding this from a single letter of the Qur’an, the philosopher would declare: “All praise and thanks be to God! It is in the Qur’an that true wisdom is to be found. I consider philosophy to be worth virtually nothing!” And the following idea would occur to a thinker of poetic bent from this La\m and the stability mentioned above: “The sun is a luminous tree, and the planets are its mobile fruits. | |||
But contrary to trees the sun shakes itself so the fruits do not fall. If it did not shake itself, they would fall and be scattered.” Then he would think to himself: “The sun is the ecstatic leader of a group reciting God’s Names. It recites in ecstasy in the centre of the circle and causes others to recite.” In another treatise, I described this meaning as follows: | |||
Yes, the sun is a fruit-bearing tree; it shakes itself, so that the planets fall not, its fruits. | |||
If it rested in silence, the attraction would cease; and they would weep through space, its ecstatics. | |||
< | A further example: It is they who shall prosper.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:5.</ref>) This verse is general and unspecific, it does not specify in what way they shall be successful, so that each person may find what he wants in it. Its words are few, so that they may be lengthy. For the aim of some of those it is addressing is to be saved from the Fire. Others think only of Paradise. Some desire eternal happiness. Yet others seek only God’s pleasure. While others know their aim and desire to be the vision of God; and so on. In numerous places, the Qur’an leaves the words open in this way, so that they may be general. It leaves things unsaid, so that it can express many meanings. It makes it brief, so that everyone may find his share. | ||
Thus, it says, who shall prosper. It does not determine how they shall prosper. It is as if with this omission it is saying: “O Muslims! Good news! O you who fear God! You shall find prosperity through being saved from Hell. O righteous one! You shall find prosperity in Paradise. O you who seeks knowledge of God! You will attain God’s pleasure. O lover of God! You will experience the vision of God.” And so on. | |||
Thus, out of thousands we have offered one example of each of the phrases, words, letters, and omissions demonstrating the comprehensiveness of the Qur’an’s words. You may make analogies and compare its verses and stories with these. | |||
Another example, the verse, Know then that there is no god but God, and ask forgiveness for your fault.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 47:19.</ref>) This verse contains so many aspects and degrees that all the levels of saints have found their needs from it in all their spiritual journeyings and in all their degrees, and have found spiritual sustenance and a fresh meaning from it appropriate for their own level. For, since the Name of ‘Allah’ is a comprehensive Name, there are aspects of Divine unity within it to the number of the Most Beautiful Names: | |||
</ | |||
“There is no provider but Him! There is no creator but Him! There is no merciful one but Him!” And so on. | |||
And, for example, among the stories of the Qur’an, the story of Moses (Peace be upon him) contains thousands of benefits, just like the Staff of Moses. There are numerous aims and aspects in the story, like consoling and comforting the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), and threatening the unbelievers, and censuring the dissemblers, and rebuking the Jews. For this reason it is repeated in many Suras. Although it expresses all the aims in every place it is repeated, only one is the main aim and the others are secondary. | |||
If you say: How can we know all the meanings in the examples you have given, which the Qur’an intends and points to? | |||
'''We would reply:''' Since the Qur’an is a pre-eternal address, and sitting above and beyond the centuries, which, layer upon layer, are all different, addresses and instructs all of mankind lined up within them, certainly it will include and intend numerous meanings according to those varying understandings, and will make allusions to what it intends. The numerous meanings contained in the Qur’an’s words similar to those mentioned here have been proved in Isharat al-I’jaz (Signs of Miraculousness) according to the rules of Arabic grammar, and the sciences of rhetoric, semantics, and eloquence and their rules. | |||
''' | |||
According to the consensus of those qualified to interpret the Shari’a and the Qur’anic commentators and scholars of theology and jurisprudence, and according to the testimony of their differences, on condition they are considered correct by the sciences of Arabic and the principles of religion, all the aspects and meanings which are found acceptable by the science of semantics, and appropriate by the science of rhetoric, and desirable by the science of eloquence, may be considered among the meanings of the Qur’an. The Qur’an has placed allusions to each of those meanings according to its degree. They are either literal or significative. If significative, there are allusions to them in either the preceding context or the after context or in other verses. Some of them have been expounded in Qur’anic commentaries of twenty, thirty, forty, sixty, and even eighty volumes, written by exacting scholars, which are clear and decisive proofs of the extraordinar y comprehensiveness of the Qur’an’s words. However, if in this Word we were to point out the allusions indicating all the meanings together with their rules, the discussion would become extremely prolonged. So we cut it short here, and for part of it, refer you to Isharat al-I’jaz. | |||
'''Second Flash:''' | |||
''' | |||
This is the extraordinary comprehensiveness in its meaning. | |||
Yes, together with bestowing from the treasuries of its meaning the sources for all the interpreters of the Shari’a, the illuminations of all those seeking knowledge of God, the ways of all those seeking union with God, the paths of all the perfected from among mankind, and the schools of all the scholars, the Qur’an has at all times been the guide of all of them and directed them in their progress, and it is verified unanimously by all of them that it has illuminated their ways from its treasuries. | |||
'''Third Flash:''' | |||
''' | |||
This is the extraordinary comprehensiveness in its knowledge. | |||
The Qur’an has caused to flow forth from the oceans of its own knowledge, the numerous and various sciences of the Shari’a, the multifarious sciences of reality (haqiqat), and the innumerable different sciences of sufism (tariqat). Similarly, it has caused to flow forth in abundance and good order the true wisdom of the sphere of contingency, the true sciences of the sphere of necessity, and the enigmatic knowledge of the sphere of the hereafter. One would have to write a whole volume to provide examples of this Flash, and so as mere samples, we point to the twent y-five Words so far written.Yes, the veracious truths of all twenty-five Words are only twenty-five droplets from the ocean of the Qur’an’s knowledge. If there are errors in those Words, they spring from my defective understanding. | |||
'''Fourth Flash:''' | |||
''' | |||
This is the extraordinary comprehensiveness of the subjects it puts forward. | |||
Together with bringing together the extensive subjects of man and his duties, the universe and the Creator of the universe, the heavens and the earth, this world and the hereafter, the past and the future, and pre-eternity and post-eternity, the Qur’an explains all the essential and important topics from man’s creation from seminal fluid till when he enters the grave; from the correct conduct of eating and sleeping to the matters of Divine Decree and Determining; from the creation of the world in six days, to the duties of the wind blowing, indicated by the oaths of, | |||
< | By the [winds] that scatter,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 51:1.</ref>) and, By the [winds] sent forth;(*<ref>*Qur’an, 77:1.</ref>) from His intervention in man’s heart and will, indicated by, comes between a man and his heart,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 8:24.</ref>) and, to, But you will not except as God wills,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 76:30.</ref>) | ||
And the heavens rolled up in His right hand,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:67.</ref>) that is, to His holding all the heavens within His grip; from the flowers, and grapes, and dates of the earth described in, And We produce therein gardens of date-palms and vines,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:34.</ref>) to the strange truth expressed by, When the earth is shaken to its utmost convulsion;(*<ref>*Qur’an, 99:1.</ref>) from the state of the skies in, Then He directed [His will] towards the skies and they were smoke,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 41:11.</ref>) to their being rent with smoke and the stars falling and being scattered in infinite space; from the world’s being opened for test and examination, to its closing; from the grave, the first dwelling of the hereafter, and then from the Intermediate Realm, the resurrection, and the Bridge, to eternal happiness; from the events of the past, and the creation of the body of Adam and the dispute of his two sons, to the Flood, and the drowning of the people of Pharaoh, and the major events of most of the prophets; and from the pre-eternal circumstance alluded to by, Am I not your Sustainer?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:172.</ref>) to the post-eternal occurrence expressed by, Some faces that day will beam in brightness * Looking towards their Sustainer;(*<ref>*Qur’an, 75:22-3.</ref>) all these fundamental, important subjects are explained in a way befitting the All- Glorious One Who administers the whole universe as though it was a palace, and opens and closes this world and the hereafter like two rooms, and regulates the earth as if it was a garden and the heavens as though they were a roof adorned with lamps, and beholds the past and the future as though they were two pages present in His sight like a single night and day, and looks on pre-eternity and post-eternity as though they were yesterday and tomorrow, in a form in which the two sides of a chain of events are joined together and touching in present time. | |||
Just as a master builder speaks of two houses he has constructed and arranged, and makes out the programme and list and index of the matters involved, so the Qur’an is fitting for the One Who makes the universe and arranges it, and writes out and displays the list and index and –if one may say so– the programme of the matters concerned with it. There is no sign of any artificiality or false display. And just as there is no trace of imitation or hint of any fraud, like speaking on behalf of someone else or supposing itself to be in someone else’s place and speaking, so too with all its seriousness, all its purity, all its sincerity, the Qur’an’s pure, shining, brilliant exposition declares: “I am the word and exposition of the Creator of the world,” just as the light of day declares: “I came from the sun.” | |||
Indeed, apart from the Maker Who adorns this world with antique arts and fills its with delicious bounties and scatters bountifully over the face of the world together with these wonders of His art so many valuable gifts, and setting them in orderly lines spreads them out over the face of the earth, apart from this Bestower of Bounties, who else could the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition be fitting for – the Qur’an which fills the world with this clamour of salutation and acclaim, this resounding praise and thanks, and transforms the earth into a place for the recitation of God’s Names, a mosque, and place for gazing on the Divine works of art? Whose speech could it be apart from His? Who can claim ownership of it apart from Him? | |||
Whose word could it be other than His? Whose light could the exposition of the Qur’an be, which solves the talisman of creation and illuminates the world, other than the Pre-Eternal Sun’s? Who has the ability to produce the like of it, and imitate it? In truth, it is impossible for the Artist Who adorns this world with His arts not to speak with man, who appreciates His art. Since He makes and knows, He surely speaks. And since He speaks, it is surely the Qur’an which is appropriate to His speech. How should a Lord of All Dominion Who is not indifferent to the way a flower is ordered remain indifferent to a discourse which brings all His dominion to a clamour of salutation and praise? Would He permit it to be attributed to others and be made as nothing? | |||
'''Fifth Flash:''' | |||
''' | |||
This is the wonderful comprehensiveness of the Qur’an’s style and conciseness. | |||
It consists of five ‘Glows’. | |||
First Glow: The Qur’an’s style has a comprehensiveness so wonderful that a single Sura contains the ocean of the Qur’an, which in turn contains the universe. A single of its verses contains the treasury of the Sura. And most of the verses are each a short Sura, while most of the Suras are short Qur’ans. Thus, this is a great favour and guidance and facilitating arising from its miraculous conciseness. | |||
For although everyone has need of the Qur’an all the time, either due to foolishness or for some other reason, they do not have the time to read all of it, or they do not have the opportunity. So in order that they should not to be deprived of it, each Sura is like a short Qur’an, and each long verse even has the rank of a Sura. Those who penetrate to the inner meaning of things agree that the whole Qur’an is contained in the Sura al- Fatiha, even, and the Fatiha in the Bismillah. The proof of this fact is the consensus of the scholars who have investigated it. | |||
Second Glow: The verses of the Qur’an are comprehensive through their denoting and indicating all the categories of speech and true knowledge and human needs, like command and prohibition, promise and threat, encouragement and deterring, restraint and guidance, stories and comparisons, the Divine ordinances and teachings, the sciences related to the universe, and the laws and conditions of personal life, social life, the life of the heart, spiritual life, and the life of the hereafter. So that the truth of the saying, “Take whatever you want from the Qur’an for whatever you want” has become accepted to such a degree by the people of reality that it has become proverbial among them. | |||
There is such a comprehensiveness in the verses of the Qur’an that they may be the cure for every ill and the sustenance for every need. Yes, they have to be like that, because it is essential that the absolute guide of all the levels of the people of perfection, who continually rise in the degrees of progress, possesses this property. | |||
Third Glow: This is the Qur’an’s miraculous conciseness. It sometimes happens that the Qur’an mentions the two ends of a long chain in such a way that it shows clearly the whole chain. And sometimes it happens that it includes explicitly, implicitly, figuratively, and allusively in one word many proofs of an assertion. | |||
< | For example, in the verse: And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your tongues and in your colours,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:22.</ref>) by mentioning the beginning and end of the chain of the universe’s creation, which forms a chain of signs and indications of Divine unity, the verse shows the second chain. It makes the first chain read it out. Yes, the first degree of the pages of the world which testify to an All-Wise Maker is the origin of the heavens and the earth, their creation. Next is the heavens being adorned with stars and the earth made to rejoice with living beings. Then the change of the seasons through the subjugation of the sun and the moon. Then is the alternation of day and night, and the chain of events within these. And so it goes on as far as the characteristics and distinguishing individual features on faces and in voices, the most widely spread loci of multiplicity. | ||
Thus, since there is an astonishing and wise order in the characteristics of individual faces, which are the furthest from order and most subject to the interference of chance, if it is shown that the pen of a most wise craftsman works there, surely the other pages, whose order is clear, will themselves be understood and display their Inscriber. | |||
And since the works of art and wisdom of a Maker are apparent in the original creation of the vast heavens and earth, Who positions them purposefully as the foundation stones of the palace of the universe; the works of His art and the impress of His wisdom will surely be most clear in His other beings. Thus, by exposing the concealed and concealing the obvious, this verse expresses a most beautiful succinctness. | |||
< | Similarly in the verses from: So give glory to God when you reach eventide .... till And to Him belongs the loftiest similitude in the heavens and the earth; for He is Exalted in Might, Full of Wisdom,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:17-27.</ref>) the chain of proofs which begins six times with the words, And among His signs..., And among His signs, is a sequence of jewels, a sequence of light, a sequence of miraculousness, a sequence of miraculous conciseness. I wish from the heart to display the hidden diamonds in these treasuries, but what can I do?, the discussion here does not support it. So postponing it to another time, I am not opening that door for now. | ||
< | And for example: ...Send me therefore * O Joseph! O Man of truth!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 12:46.</ref>) Between ..send me therefore and O Joseph! are these words: | ||
</ | |||
...Joseph, that I may ask him to interpret the dream. So I sent him, and he went to the prison and said to Joseph... | |||
That is to say, although five sentences have been abbreviated and summarized in one sentence, it does not mar the clarity or hinder the understanding. | |||
< | And, for example: Who produces for you fire from the green tree.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:80.</ref>) | ||
</ | |||
Here the Qur’an is saying in the face of rebellious man’s denials, who is as though challenging the Qur’an by saying, “Who will raise to life rotten bones?”, “Whoever created them in the first place, He will raise them to life. And that Creator knows every single aspect of every single thing. Furthermore, He who provides fire for you from the green tree, is able to give life to dry bones.” Thus, this sentence looks in numerous ways to the claim that man will raised to life, and proves it. | |||
Firstly, with these words the Qur’an starts off the chain of bounties it lays before man, moves its forward, and calls it to mind. Having described it in detail in other verses, it cuts short the description here, and refers it to the intelligence. That is, “You cannot flee from the One Who gives you fruit and fire from trees, sustenance and seeds from plants, cereals and grains from the earth, and makes the earth a fine cradle for you filled with all your sustenance, and the world a palace in which is found all your needs – you cannot be independent of Him, or disappear into non-existence and hide there. You cannot enter the grave without duties to sleep in comfort not to be awoken. | |||
Then it points out an evidence of the claim. With the words, the green tree, it implies: “O you who deny resurrection! Look at the trees! One Who raises to life and makes green in spring numberless bone-like trees which have been dead throughout winter, and in every tree even demonstrates three examples of resurrection through the leaves, blossoms, and fruit – the power of such a One cannot be challenged through denial or by considering resurrection improbable.” | |||
Then it points out another evidence, saying: “How do you deem it unlikely that One Who extracts for you out of dense, heavy, dark matter like a tree, subtle, light, luminous manner like fire should give fire-like life and light-like consciousness to wood-like bones?” | |||
Then it states another evidence explicitly; it says: “One Who creates the famous tree which while green produces fire for nomads in place of matches when two of its branches are rubbed together, and combines two opposites like the green and damp and the dry and hot, and makes them the source of the fire – everything, even the fundamental elements, looks to His command and acts through His power. It cannot be considered unlikely of the One Who demonstrates that none of these is independent and acts of its own accord that He should raise up man from the earth once again, who was made from earth and later returned to the earth. He may not be challenged with rebellion.” | |||
Then, through recalling Moses’s (Peace be upon him) famous tree, it shows that this claim of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) is also that of Moses (PBH). Lightly alluding to the consensus of the prophets, it adds one more subtle point to the phrase. | |||
Fourth Glow: The Qur’an’s conciseness is so comprehensive and wonderful that when studied carefully it becomes apparent that sometimes, through some simple detail or particular event, it compassionately shows to simple, ordinary minds most extensive, lengthy, universal rules and general laws, like showing an ocean in a ewer. We shall point out only two examples of this out of thousands. | |||
'''First Example:''' This is the three verses expounded in detail in the First Station of the Twentieth Word, which describe under the name of ‘the teaching of the Names’ to the person of Adam, the teaching of all the sciences and branches of knowledge with which the sons of Adam have been inspired. Through the angels prostrating before Adam and Satan not prostrating, they state that most beings from fish to angels are subjugated to human kind, just as harmful creatures from snakes to Satan do not obey man and are hostile to him. | |||
''' | |||
And through the people of Moses (Peace be upon him) slaughtering a cow, they state that the concept of cow-worship –which was taken from the worship of cows in Egypt and showed its effect in ‘the event of the calf’– was slaughtered by Moses’ knife. | |||
And through water gushing forth from the rock and springs flowing out and spreading, they also state that the rock layer which is under the soil layer acts as the source of both water springs and the soil. | |||
'''Second Example:''' This is the whole and the parts of the story of Moses (Peace be upon him), which is frequently repeated in the Qur’an, and each of the repetitions of which is shown as the tip of a universal rule, with each repetition stating the rule in question. | |||
''' | |||
< | For example: O Haman! Build me a lofty palace.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 40:36.</ref>) | ||
</ | |||
Pharaoh is commanding his minister: “Build me a high tower so that I can take a look at the heavens and observe them. I wonder if there is a God who governs in the skies like Moses claims, who can be seen from their | |||
disposition?” Thus, through the word ‘palace’ and this minor incident, it states a strange rule dominant in the traditions of the Egyptian Pharaohs, who, because they lived in the desert with no mountains, wanted mountains, and because they did not recognize the Creator, were worshippers of nature and claimed godhead; and worshipping fame, through displaying the works of their dominion perpetuated their name and constructed the famous mountain-like pyramids; and agreed to magic and metempsychosis, and had their corpses mummified and preserved in their mountain- like tombs. | |||
< | And, for example: This day We shall save you in your body.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 10:92.</ref>) | ||
</ | |||
By saying to Pharaoh, who is drowning: “Today I am going to save your body which will drown,” it is expressing a death-tainted, exemplary rule of the Pharaohs’ lives, which was, as a consequence of the idea of metempsychosis and mummifying the bodies of all of them, to take them from the past and send them to be viewed by the generations of the future. And this present century a body was discovered which was the very body of Pharaoh, thrown up on the seashore where he drowned. The verse thus states a miraculous sign of the Unseen, that the body was to be borne on the waves of the centuries and cast up from the sea of time onto the shore of this century. | |||
< | And, for example: They slaughtered your sons and let your women-folk live.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:49; 14:6.</ref>) | ||
</ | |||
With an event in the time of a Pharaoh, the slaughtering of the sons of the Children of Israel and the sparing of their women and daughters, it mentions the numerous massacres which the Jewish nation has suffered every age, and the role their women and girls have played in dissolute human life. | |||
< | And you will indeed find them, of all people, most greedy of life.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:96.</ref>) And you see many of them racing each other in sin and rancour, and their eating of things forbidden. Evil indeed are the things they do.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 5:62.</ref>) But they [ever] strive to do mischief on earth. And God loves not those who do mischief.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 5:64.</ref>) | ||
And We gave [clear] warning to the Children of Israel in the Book, that twice they would do mischief on the earth.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:4.</ref>) And do no evil nor mischief on the earth.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:60.</ref>) | |||
</ | |||
These two statements of the Qur’an directed at the Jews, comprise the two fearsome general rules, that that nation hatches plots in human social life with their trickery, which shake human society. They say that just as it was that nation which made labour contest with capital; and through usury and compounded interest, made the poor clash with the rich, and caused the banks to be founded, and amassed wealth through wiles and fraud; so it was again that nation who, in order to take their revenge on the victors and governments under which they always suffered deprivation and oppression, were involved in every sort of corrupting covert organization and had a finger in every sort of revolution. | |||
< | And, for example: Then seek ye for death(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:94.</ref>) | ||
</ | |||
That is, “If what you say is true, seek death, but you won’t seek it!” Thus, through a minor incident in a small gathering in the presence of the Prophet (PBUH), it points out that the Jewish nation, which is most famous among the nations of mankind for its greed for life and fear of death, will not, according to its tongue of disposition, seek death till Doomsday, and will not give up its greed for life. | |||
< | And, for example: Thus they were stamped with humiliation and indigence.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:61.</ref>) | ||
</ | |||
With this, it describes generally that nation’s future destiny. It is because of these fearsome rules governing the destiny and character of this nation that the Qur’an acts so severely against them. It deals them awesomely punishing slaps. From these examples draw analogies with the other stories and passages about Moses (Peace be upon him) and the Children of Israel. | |||
Now, there are very many flashes of miraculousness like the flash in this Fourth Glow behind the simple words and specific subjects of the Qur’an. A hint is enough for the wise. | |||
Fifth Glow: This is the extraordinary comprehensiveness of the Qur’an in regard to its aims and subjects, meanings and styles, and its subtle qualities and fine virtues. Indeed, if the Suras and verses of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition are studied carefully, and especially the openings of the Suras, and the beginnings and ends of the verses, it will be seen that although it gathers together all the categories of rhetoric, | |||
all the parts of fine speech, all the classes of elevated styles, all the sorts of fine morality, all the summaries of the sciences relating to the universe, all the indexes of Divine knowledge, all the beneficial rules for individual and human social life, and all the luminous laws of the exalted physical sciences, not a trace of confusion is apparent. In truth, to gather together in one place this many different categories of knowledge and not to cause any dispute or difficulty can only be the work of an overwhelming miraculous order. | |||
Then together with the order within this comprehensiveness, as is expounded and proved in the previous twenty-four Words, to rend the veils of the habitual and commonplace, which are the source of compounded ignorance, and to draw out the wonders concealed beneath them and display them; to smash with the diamond sword of proof the idol of nature, which is the source of misguidance; to scatter with thunderous trumpet-blasts the dense layers of the sleep of heedlessness; and to uncover and reveal the obscure talisman of being and the strange riddle of the creation of the world, before which human philosophy and science have remained impotent, is most surely only the wondrous work of a wonder-worker like the Qur’an – the Qur’an, which sees reality, is familiar with the Unseen, bestows guidance, and shows the truth. | |||
If the Qur’an’s verses are considered carefully and fairly, it will be seen that they do not resemble a gradual chain of thought, following one or two aims, like other books. For the Qur’an’s manner is sudden and instantaneous; it is inspired on the moment; its mark is that all its aspects arrive together but independently from distant places, a most serious and important discourse which comes singly and concisely. | |||
Yes, who is there apart from the universe’s Creator that could give a discourse concerned to this degree with the universe and the Creator of the universe? Who could step beyond his mark to an infinite degree and make the All-Glorious Creator speak according to his own whims, then make the universe speak the truth? | |||
Yes, in the Qur’an, the universe’s Maker is seen to be speaking and making others speak most seriously and truthfully and in elevated and true fashion. There is no sign at all to suggest imitation. He speaks and makes speak. If, to suppose the impossible, someone like Musaylima was to step beyond his mark to an infinite degree, and by way of imitation make the All-Glorious Creator, the Sublime and Majestic One, speak according to his own ideas, and the universe as well, there certainly would be thousands of signs of imitation and indications of falsehood. For when the contemptible assume the manner of the lofty, their every action shows up their pretence. So consider carefully these verses, which proclaim this fact with an oath: By the star when it goes down! * Your companion is neither astray nor being misled * Nor does he say [aught] of [his own] desire * It is no less than revelation inspired!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 53:1-4.</ref>) | |||
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< | <span id="ÜÇÜNCÜ_ŞUA"></span> | ||
=== | ===THIRD RAY=== | ||
This is the miraculousness of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition which is its giving news of the Unseen, preserving its youth in every age, and being appropriate to every level of person. | |||
This Ray has three ‘Radiances’. | |||
'''First Radiance:''' | |||
''' | |||
This is its giving news of the Unseen. | |||
It consists of three ‘Glistens’. | |||
'''The First Glisten''' is its telling about the past, one part of the Unseen. | |||
''' | |||
Indeed, the All-Wise Qur’an mentions through the tongue of one whom everyone agreed was both unlettered and trustworthy the important events and significant facts concerning the prophets from the time of Adam till the Era of Bliss in a way which, confirmed by scriptures like the Torah and the Bible, tells of them with the greatest power and seriousness. It concurs with the points on which the former Books were agreed, and decides between them on the points over which they differed, pointing out the truth of the matter. | |||
That is to say, the Qur’an’s view which penetrates the Unseen sees the events of the past in a way over and above all the previous scriptures, and pronounces them right and confirms them in the matters on which they are agreed, and acts as arbiter between them, correcting in matters about which they are at variance. | |||
However, the facts the Qur’an relates about the events of the past are not things that could have been learnt through the exercise of reason that they were communicated by it; they were rather transmitted knowledge, dependent on the heavens, on revelation. And as for transmitted knowledge, it is the domain of those who know how to read and write, and these were revealed to one known by friend and foe alike as knowing neither how to read nor how to write, and as being trustworthy; someone described as unlettered. | |||
Also, the Qur’an tells of those past events as though it had actually seen them. For it takes the spirit and vital point of a lengthy event, and makes them the introduction to its aim. That is to say, the summaries and extracts which the Qur’an contains show that it sees all the past together with all its events. For just as someone who is an expert in some science or craft shows his skill and proficiency through some succinct words or a concise statement, so the summaries and spirits of events mentioned in the Qur’an show that the one who said them comprehends all the events and sees them, and, if one may say so, relates them with extraordinary skill. | |||
'''The Second Glisten''' is its giving news of the future, which is another part of the Unseen. | |||
''' | |||
There are many sorts of this. The first sort is particular, and special to the saints and those seek the truth through illumination. | |||
For example, Muhyiddin al- ’Arabi discovered numerous instances of the Qur’an’s giving news of the Unseen in the Sura, Alif. Lam. Mim. * The Roman Empire has been defeated.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:1-2.</ref>) And Imam-i Rabbani saw many signs of the events of the Unseen and the communicating of them through the ‘disjointed letters’ at the start of some Suras, and so on. For scholars of the Batiniya School, the Qur’an consisted from beginning to end of information about the Unseen. We, however, shall indicate some which are general. | |||
These too have many levels, one of which we shall discuss. Thus, the All- Wise Qur’an says to God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him):(*<ref>*Since these verses which give news of the Unseen have been expounded in numerous Qur’anic commentaries, and also due to the haste imposed on the author by his intention to have this work printed in the old [Ottoman] script,* they have not been explained here and those valuable treasuries have remained closed. [*See, page 375, footnote 1 above. –Tr.]</ref>) | |||
< | So patiently persevere, for God’s promise is true.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:60.</ref>) You shall enter the Sacred Mosque if God wills, with minds secure, heads shaved, hair cut short, and without fear; He it is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, so it should prevail over all religion.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 48:27-28.</ref>) But they, after this defeat of theirs will soon be victorious, within a few years. With God is the decision.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:3-4.</ref>) Soon will you see, and they will see which of you is afflicted with madness(*<ref>*Qur’an, 68:5-6.</ref>) | ||
Or do they say: “A poet! We await for him some | |||
calamity [hatched] by time?” Say: “Wait, then. And I shall wait with you!”(*<ref>*Qur’an, 52:30-1.</ref>) | |||
And God will defend you from men.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 5:67.</ref>) But if you cannot, and of a surety you cannot.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:24.</ref>) But they will never seek it.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:95.</ref>) We shall show them Our signs on the furthest horizons and in their own selves, so that it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 41:53.</ref>) Say: If the whole of mankind and the jinns were to come together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:88.</ref>) | |||
God will produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him, lowly with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the way of God, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:88.</ref>) And say: Praise be to God, Who will show you His signs, so that you shall know them.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 27:93.</ref>) Say: He is the Most Merciful; we have believed in Him, and in Him have we put our trust. Soon you shall know which [of us] it is that is in manifest error.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 67:29.</ref>) | |||
God has promised to those among you who believe and act righteously that He will of a surety grant them inheritance [of power] in the land, as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion, which He has chosen for them; and that He will change [their state] after their fear, to one of security and peace.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 24:55.</ref>) | |||
The information about the Unseen which many verses like these give turned out to be exactly true. Because it was given by one who was subject to many criticisms and objections and could have lost his cause through the tiniest mistake, and was spoken unhesitatingly, and with absolute seriousness and confidence in a way that confirmed its authenticit y, this news of the Unseen demonstrates with certainty that the one who gave it had received instruction from the Pre-Eternal Master, and then he spoke. | |||
</ | |||
'''The Third Glisten''' is its giving news of the Divine truths, cosmic truths, and the matters of the hereafter. | |||
''' | |||
The Qur’an’s expositions of the Divine truths, and its explanations of the cosmos, which solve the talisman of the universe and riddle of creation, are the most important of its disclosures about the Unseen. For it is not reasonable to expect the human reason to discover those truths about the Unseen and follow them without deviating amid innumerable ways of misguidance. It is well- known that the most brilliant philosophers of mankind have been unable to solve the most insignificant of those matters by use of the reason. | |||
Furthermore, it is only after the Qur’an has elucidated those Divine truths and cosmic truths, which it points out, and after man’s heart has been cleansed and his soul purified, and after his spirit has advanced and his mind been perfected that his mind affirms and accepts those truths, and he says to the Qur’an: “How great are God’s blessings!” This section has been in part explained and proved in the Eleventh Word, and there is no need to repeat it. | |||
But when it comes to facts concerning the hereafter and Intermediate Realm, the human mind certainly cannot rise to them and see them on its own. However, it can prove them to the degree it sees them through the ways shown by the Qur’an. It is explained and proved in the Tenth Word just how right and true are these disclosures of the Qur’an about the Unseen. | |||
'''Second Radiance:''' | |||
''' | |||
This is the Qur’an’s youth. It preserves its freshness and youth every age as though newly revealed. | |||
In fact, the Qur’an has to have perpetual youth since as a pre-eternal address, it addresses at once all the levels of mankind in every age. And that is how it has been seen and is seen. Even, although all the centuries are different with regard to ideas and capacity, it as though looks to each particularly, and teaches it. Man’s works and laws grow old like man, they change and are changed. But the rulings and laws of the Qur’an are so firm and well-founded that they increase in strength as the centuries pass. | |||
< | Indeed, this present age and the People of the Book this age, who have more than any other relied on themselves and stopped up their ears to the words of the Qur’an, are so in need of its guiding address of, O People of the Book! O People of the Book! that it is as if it addresses this age directly, and the phrase O People of the Book! comprises also the meaning of O People of the Modern Science Books!(*<ref>*Ehl-i Mekteb, those educated in modern secular schools, as opposed to Ehl-i Kitab. [Tr.]</ref>) It delivers its shout of, O People of the Book! | ||
</ | |||
< | Come to common terms as between us and you(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:64.</ref>) to the ends of the world with all its strength, all its freshness, all its youth. For example, modern civilization, which is the product of the thought of all mankind and perhaps the jinn as well, has taken up a position opposed to the Qur’an, which individuals and communities have failed to dispute. With its sorcery it impugns the Qur’an’s miraculousness. Now, in order to prove the claim of the verse: Say: if the whole of mankind and the jinns were to gather together,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:88.</ref>) we shall compare the foundations and principles which civilization has laid in the form of dispute, with the principles of the Qur’an. | ||
</ | |||
'''At the First Degree:'''The comparisons and balances which form all the Words from the First to the Twenty-Fifth, and the verses at their heads which form their truths, all prove with the certainty that two plus two equals four the Qur’an’s miraculousness and superiority in the face of civilization. | |||
''' | |||
'''At the Second Degree:''' Like the proofs in the Twelfth Word, it is to summarize a number of principles. | |||
''' | |||
By reason of its philosophy, present-day civilization accepts ‘force’ as the point of support in the life of society. It takes as its aim ‘benefits,’ and considers the principle of its life to be ‘conflict.’ It considers the bond between communities to be ‘racialism and negative nationalism.’ While its aim is to provide ‘amusements’ for gratifying the appetites of the soul and increasing man’s needs. | |||
However, the mark of force is aggression. And since the benefits are insufficient to meet all needs, their mark is that everyone tussles and jostles over them. The mark of conflict is contention, and the mark of racialism, aggression, since it thrives on devouring others. | |||
Thus, it is because of these principles of civilization that despite all its virtues, it has provided a sort of superficial happiness for only twenty per cent of mankind and cast eighty per cent into distress and poverty. | |||
The wisdom of the Qur’an, however, takes as its point of support ‘truth’ in stead of force, and in place of benefit has ‘virtue and God’s pleasure’ as its aims. It considers ‘the principle of mutual assistance’ to be fundamental in life, rather than conflict. In the ties between communities it accepts ‘the bonds of religion, class, and country,’ in place of racialism and nationalism. Its aims are to place a barrier before the illicit assaults of the soul’s base appetites and to urge the spirit to sublime matters, to satisfy man’s elevated emotions and encourage him towards the human perfections. | |||
And as for the truth, its mark is concord, the mark of virtue is mutual support, and the mark of mutual assistance, hastening to help one another. The mark of religion is brotherhood and attraction. And the result of reining in and tethering the evil-commanding soul and leaving the spirit free and urging it towards perfection is happiness in this world and the next. | |||
Thus, despite the virtues present- day civilization has acquired from the guidance of the Qur’an in particular, and from the preceding revealed religions, in point of fact it has thus suffered defeat before the Qur’an. | |||
'''Third Degree:''' Of thousands of matters, we shall point out only three or four by way of example. Since the Qur’an’s principles and laws have come from pre-eternity, they shall go to post-eternity. They are not condemned to grow old and die like civilization’s laws. They are always young and strong. | |||
''' | |||
< | For example, despite all its societies for good works, all its establishments for the teaching of ethics, all its severe discipline and regulations, civilization has been unable to contest the All-Wise Qur’an on two of its matters, and has been defeated by them. These two matters are: Be steadfast in performing the prayers, and give zakat,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:43, etc.</ref>) | ||
and, God has permitted trade and forbidden usury.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:275.</ref>) We shall describe them, this miraculous victory, by means of an introduction. It is like this: | |||
</ | |||
As is proved in Isharat al-I’jaz, just as the source of mankind’s revolutions is one phrase, so another phrase is the origin of all immorality. | |||
'''First Phrase:''' “So long as I’m full, what is it to me if others die of hunger.” | |||
''' | |||
'''Second Phrase:''' “You work so that I can eat.” | |||
''' | |||
Yes, the upper and lower classes in human society, that is, the rich and the poor, live at peace when in equilibrium. The basis of that equilibrium is compassion and kindness in the upper classes, and respect and obedience in the lower classes. Now, the first phrase has incited the upper classes to practise oppression, immorality, and mercilessness. And just as the second has driven the lower classes to hatred, envy, and to contend the upper classes, and has negated man’s tranquillity for several centuries, so too this century, as the result of the struggle between capital and labour, it has been the cause of the momentous events of Europe well-known by all. | |||
Thus, together with all its societies for good works, all its establishments for the teaching of ethics, all its severe discipline and regulations, it could not reconcile these two classes of mankind, nor could it heal the two fearsome wounds in human life. | |||
The Qur’an, however, eradicates the first phrase with its injunction to pay zakat, and heals it. While it uproots the second phrase with its prohibition on usury and interest, and cures that. Indeed, the Qur’anic verse stands at the door of the world and declares usury and interest to be forbidden. It reads out its decree to mankind, saying: “In order to close the door of strife, close the door of usury and interest!” It forbids its students to enter it. | |||
'''Second Principle:''' Civilization does not accept polygamy. It considers the Qur’an’s decree to be contrary to wisdom and opposed to man’s benefits. Indeed, if the purpose of marriage was only to satisfy lust, polygamy would have been contrary to it. But as is testified to by all animals and corroborated by plants that ‘marry’, the purpose and aim of marriage is reproduction. The pleasure of satisfying lust is a small wage given by Divine mercy to encourage performace of the duty. | |||
''' | |||
Since in truth and according to wisdom, marriage is for reproduction and the perpetuation of the species, since women can give birth only once a year, and can be impregnated only half the month, and after the age of fifty fall into despair, and men can impregnate till a hundred years old, and thus one woman is insufficient for one man, civilization has been compelled to accept numerous houses of ill-repute. | |||
Third Principle: Unreasoning civilization criticizes the Qur’anic verse which apportions to women one third [in inheritance]. However, most of the rulings concerning social life are in accordance with the majority, and mostly a women finds someone to protect her. As for the man, she will be a burden on him and will have to combine efforts with someone else who will leave her her means of subsistence. Thus, in this form, if a woman takes half of the father’s legacy, her husband makes up her deficiency. But if the man receives two parts from his father, one part he will give to maintaining the woman he has married, thus becoming equal with his sister. The justice of the Qur’an requires it to be thus. It has decreed it in this way.(*<ref>*This is part of my court defence, which was the supplement for the Appeal Court and which silenced the court. It is appropriate as a footnote for this passage. I told the court of law: Surely if there is any justice on the face of the earth, it will reject and quash an unjust decision which has convicted someone for expounding a most sacred, just Divine rule which governs in the social life of three hundred and fifty million people in the year one thousand three hundred and fifty, and in every century, relying on the confirmation and consensus of three hundred and fifty thousand Qur’anic commentaries, and following the beliefs of our forefathers of one thousand three hundred and fifty years.</ref>) | |||
'''Fourth Principle:''' Just as the Qur’an severely prohibits the worship of idols, so it forbids the worship of images, which is a sort of imitation of idol-worship. Whereas civilization counts the representation of forms as one of its virtues, and has attempted to dispute the Qur’an in this matter. But represented forms, whether pictorial or concrete, are either embodied tyranny, or embodied hypocrisy, or embodied lust; they excite lust and encourage man to oppression, hypocrisy, and licentiousness. | |||
''' | |||
Moreover, the Qur’an compassionately commands women to wear the veil of modesty so that they will be treated with respect and those mines of compassion will not be trodden under the feet of low desires, nor be like worthless goods for the excitement of lust.(*<ref>*The Twenty-Fourth Flash of the Thirty-First Letter about the veiling of women has proved most decisively that Islamic dress is natural for women, and that to cast it aside is contrary to women’s nature./ref>) Civilization, however, has drawn women out of their homes, rent their veils, and corrupted mankind. For family life continues through the mutual love and respect of man and wife. But immodest dress has destroyed sincere respect and affection, and has poisoned family life. | |||
While worship of the human form in particular has shaken morality in appalling fashion, causing the abasement of man’s spirit. This may be understood from the following: to look lustfully and with desire at the corpse of a beautiful woman who is in need of pity and compassion destroys morality; so too, to look lasciviously at the representations of dead women, or of living women, for they are like little corpses, shakes to their very roots the elevated human emotions, and destroys them. | |||
Thus, together with assisting human happiness in this world, all of thousands of matters of the Qur’an like the above three examples also serve eternal happiness. You can compare other matters to these. | |||
Just as present-day civilization stands defeated before the Qur’anic principles concerning human social life and in reality is bankrupt in the face of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, so too it has been proved decisively in the previous twenty-five Words through the comparisons between European philosophy and human science, which are the spirit of civilization, and the wisdom of the Qur’an that philosophy is impotent and the wisdom of the Qur’an miraculous. The impotence and bankruptcy of philosophy and miraculousness and wealth of Qur’anic wisdom have been proved in the Eleventh and Twelfth Words; you may refer to those. | |||
Furthermore, just as present-day civilization is defeated before the miraculousness of the Qur’an’s wisdom in regard to learning and actions, the same is true for literature and rhetoric. The comparison of the literature and rhetoric of civilization and those of the Qur’an is that of the dark grief and hopeless wailing of a motherless orphan and the low and uproarious song of a drunkard, and the yearning, hopeful sorrow of an elevated lover arising from a temporary separation and patriotic songs urging victory or war and high self-sacrifice. | |||
For in regard to the effects of its styles, literature and rhetoric produce either sorrow or joy. And sadness is of two sorts. It is either a dark sorrow arising from the lack of friends, that is, having no friends or owner, which is the sorrow produced by the literature of civilization, which is stained by misguidance, enamoured of nature, tainted by heedlessness, or it is the second sorrow. This arises from the separation of friends, that is, the friends exist, but their absence causes a yearning sorrow. This is the guidance-giving, light-scattering sorrow which the Qur’an produces. | |||
Joy, too, is of two sorts. One stimulates the desires of the soul. This is the mark of civilization’s literature in the fields of theatre, cinema, and the novel. While the other joy silences the soul, and is subtle and mannerly, innocently urging the spirit, heart, mind, and subtle faculties to attain to sublime matters, to their original home and eternal abode, and their companions of the hereafter; it is the joy the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition produces. | |||
< | It fills man with eagerness for Paradise and eternal happiness and the vision of God’s beauty. Thus, the vast meaning and mighty truth expressed by the verse, Say: If the whole of mankind and the jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:88.</ref>) is imagined by those of scant intelligence to be an impossible supposition for the purposes of uttering an exaggerated piece of eloquence. God forbid! It is not an exaggeration, nor is it an impossible supposition; it is an absolutely truthful piece of rhetoric, and possible and actual. | ||
One aspect of its being in this form is this: if all the fine words of man and jinn which do not issue from the Qur’an and do not belong to it were to be gathered together, they could not imitate the Qur’an. And they have not been able to imitate it, for they have been unable to show that they have. | |||
The second aspect is this: civilization, and science and philosophy and European literature, which are the products of the thought and efforts of mankind and the jinn and even satans, remain in the very pits of impotence before the decrees, wisdom, and eloquence of the Qur’an. Just as we showed in the examples. | |||
'''Third Radiance:''' | |||
''' | |||
It is as though the All-Wise Qur’an is every century turned directly towards all the classes of humanity, and addresses each particularly. | |||
Indeed, since the Qur’an summons all mankind with all its classes and instructs them in belief, the highest and most subtle science, and in knowledge of God, the broadest and most luminous branch of learning, and in the laws of Islam, which are the most important and various of the sciences, it is essential that it should instruct every class and group appropriately. What it teaches, however, is the same; it does not differ. In which case, there have to be different levels in the same lesson, and according to its degree, ever y class takes its share from one of the veils of the Qur’an. We have given many examples of this, and they may be referred to. Here we shall only indicate one or two minor points, and the share of understanding of one or two classes. | |||
< | For example: He begets not, nor is He begotten * And there is none like unto Him.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 112:3-4.</ref>) | ||
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The share of understanding of this of the ordinary people, which forms the most numerous class: “Almighty God is above having mother and father, relatives or wife.” | |||
While the share of a middle class: “It is to deny the divinity of Jesus (Peace be upon him), and the angels, and anything which has been born.” For although denying something impossible is apparently purposeless, according to the rules of rhetoric, a necessary statement is intended, which gives it purpose. Thus, the purpose of denying son and begetter, which are particular to corporality, is to deny the divinity of those who have offspring and parents and equals; and it is to show that they are not worthy of being worshipped. It is because of this that Sura al-Ikhlas is beneficial for everyone all the time. | |||
The share of a more advanced class: “Almighty God is above all relations which suggest giving birth and being born. He is exempt from having any partners, helpers, or fellows. His relations with all beings are those of Creator. He creates through His pre-eternal will with the command of “Be!,” and it is. He is far beyond having any relation which is contrary to perfection, or is compelling, necessitating, or involuntary.” | |||
And the share of understanding of a higher class still: “Almighty God is pre-eternal and post-eternal, He is the First and the Last. Neither in His essence, nor in His attributes, nor in His actions, has He in any way any equal, peer, like, or match, or anything similar, resembling, or analogous to Him. Only, in His acts, there may be comparisons expressing similarity: | |||
And God’s is the highest similitude.”(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:60.</ref>) | |||
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You can draw analogies with the above for other classes, which all receive different shares, like those who have attained knowledge of God, the lovers of God, and the truly sincere. | |||
'''A Second Example:''' Muhammad is not the father of any of your men.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 33:40.</ref>) | |||
''' | |||
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The share of understanding from this of the first class: “Zayd, the servant of God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him), whom he also addressed as ‘my son,’ divorced his stately wife because he did not find himself equal to her. On God’s command, the Messenger (PBUH) took her. The verse says: ‘If the Prophet calls you son, it is in respect of his Messengership. In regard to his person, he is not your father, so that the women he takes should be unsuitable for him.’” | |||
The second class’s share is this: “A great ruler looks on his subjects with paternal compassion. If he is a spiritual monarch ruling both outwardly and inwardly, then since his compassion goes a hundred times beyond that of a father, his subjects look on him as a father and on themselves as his real sons. A father’s view cannot be transformed into that of a husband, and a daughter’s view cannot be easily transformed into the view of a wife, so since the Prophet’s taking the believers’ daughters would seem inappropriate, the Qur’an says: ‘The Prophet (PBUH) acts kindly towards you with the eye of Divine compassion, and treats you in a fatherly manner. In the name of his Messengership, you are like his children. But with regard to his human person, he is not your father so that his taking a wife from you should be unfitting.’” | |||
The third group would understand it like this: “You should not claim a connection with the Prophet (PBUH), and relying on his perfections and trusting in his fatherly compassion, commit errors and faults.” Yes, many people are lazy because they lean on their elders and guides. They even sometimes say: “Our prayers have been performed.” (Like some ‘Alawis) | |||
The Fourth Point. Another group would understand a sign from the Unseen from this verse, as follows: The Prophet’s male children would not remain at the degree of ‘men’ [rija\l]; in consequence of some wise purpose, his descendants would not continue as men. Since through the use of the term ‘rijal’ it indicates that he is the father of women, his line would continue through women. And, Praise be to God, Fatima’s blessed descendants, like Hasan and Husayn, the radiant moons of two luminous lines, continued the physical and spiritual line of the Sun of Prophethood. | |||
O God, grant blessings to him and his Family. | |||
[The First Light here reaches a conclusion with Three Rays.] | |||
< | <span id="İKİNCİ_ŞULE"></span> | ||
== | ==SECOND LIGHT== | ||
The Second Light comprises Three Beams. | |||
< | <span id="BİRİNCİ_NUR"></span> | ||
=== | ===FIRST BEAM:=== | ||
According to the testimony of thousands of brilliant scholars of rhetoric and the science of rhetorical style like Zamakhshari, Sakkaki, and ‘Abd al- Qahir Jurjani, there is in the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition as a whole a pleasant fluency, a superior correctness, a firm mutual solidarity, and compact proportionateness, powerful co-operation between the sentences and parts, and an elevated harmony between the verses and their aims. And yet, while there are seven or eight significant factors that might mar or destroy the harmony, co-operation, and mutual support, and the fluency and correctness, they do not mar them, indeed, they give strength to the fluency, correctness, and proportionateness. Only, those causes have exerted an influence to some extent and taken others out of the veil of the order and fluency. But just as a number of bumps and excres cences appear on a tree, not to spoil the harmony of the tree, but to produce fruit which will be the means for the tree reaching its adorned perfection and beauty; in just the same way, these factors stick out their knobbly heads in order to express meanings which will enhance the Qur’an’s fluent word-order. | |||
Thus, although the Perspicuous Qur’an was revealed part by part like stars over twenty years in response to the circumstances and needs, it possesses such a perfect harmony and displays such a proportionateness that it is as though it was revealed all at once. | |||
Furthermore, although the circumstances which prompted the Qur’an’s revelation were all different and various, its parts are so mutually supportive that it is as though it was revealed in response to only one of them. | |||
And although the Qur’an came in response to different and repeated questions, it displays the utmost blending and unity, as though it was the answer to a single question. | |||
And although the Qur’an came to explain the requirements of numerous diverse events, it displays such a perfect order that it is as though it explains a single event. | |||
And although the Qur’an was revealed through Divine condescension in styles appropriate to the understanding of the innumerable people it would address, whose circumstances were different and diverse, it displays such a fine correspondence and beautiful smoothness of style that it is as though the circumstances were one and the level of understanding the same; it flows as smoothly as water. | |||
And although the Qur’an addresses numerous classes distant from one another, it possesses such an ease of exposition, such an eloquence in its word-order, such a clarity in its manner of expression that it is as though it is addressing a single class. Even, each class supposes that it alone is being addressed. | |||
And although the Qur’an was revealed in order to guide and lead to various aims, it possesses such an perfect integrity, such a careful balance, such a fine order that it is as though the aim was one. | |||
Thus, while these are all causes of confusion, they have been employed in the Qur’an’s miraculous manner of exposition, in its fluency and proportionateness. For sure, everyone whose heart is without disease, whose mind is sound, whose conscience is not sick, whose taste is unimpaired sees in the Qur’an’s manner of exposition a beautiful smoothness of style a graceful harmony, a pleasing proportionateness, a unique eloquence. All the clear-sighted see that the Qur’an possesses an eye that sees the whole universe together with its outer and inner aspects clearly before it as though it was a page; that it turns the page as it wishes, and tells the page’s meanings as it wishes. | |||
Several volumes would be necessary if we were to explain the meaning of this First Beam together with examples, so sufficing with the explanations and proofs of this fact in my Arabic treatises and in Isharat al-I’jaz, and in the twenty-five Words up to here, I have only pointed out here these features of the Qur’an in it as whole. | |||
< | <span id="İKİNCİ_NURU"></span> | ||
=== | ===SECOND BEAM=== | ||
This concerns the miraculous qualities in the Qur’an’s unique style in the summaries and Most Beautiful Divine Names, which it shows at the ends of its verses. | |||
REMINDER:There are many verses in this Second Beam. These are not only examples for the Second Beam, but for all the preceding examples and Rays. It would be extremely lengthy to explain them all giving them their due, so for now I am compelled to be brief and succinct. I have therefore indicated very concisely all the verses which form examples of this might y mystery of miraculousness, and have postponed detailed explanation of them to another time. | |||
Thus, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition mostly mentions summaries at the conclusion of its verses which either contain the Divine Names or their meanings; or refer the verse to the reason in order to urge it ponder over it; or they comprise a universal rule from among the aims of the Qur’an in order to corroborate and strengthen the verse. | |||
Thus, in the summaries are certain indications from the Qur’an’s exalted wisdom and certain droplets from the water of life of Divine guidance, and certain sparks from the lightning of the Qur’an’s miraculousness. Now I shall mention briefly only ten of those numerous indications, and point out a concise meaning of only one of numerous truths, which are all one example out of many. Most of these ten indications are found together in compact form in most verses and form a true embroidery of miraculousness. Furthermore, most of the verses we give as examples are examples of most of the indications. We shall point out only one indication for each verse, and shall just point lightly to the meanings of those verses given as examples in the preceding Words. | |||
'''First Quality of Eloquence:''' | |||
''' | |||
With its miraculous exposition, the All-Wise Qur’an lays out, spreads out before the eyes, the acts and works of the All-Glorious Maker. Then it extracts the Divine Names from those works and acts, or it proves the basic aims of the Qur’an like the resurrection of the dead and Divine unity. | |||
< | An example of the first meaning is this: He it is Who has created for you all things that are on the earth, then He turned His will to the heavens and ordered them as the seven heavens, for He has knowledge of all things.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:29.</ref>) | ||
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< | And an example of the second part: Have We not made the earth as a resting place * And the mountains as pegs? | ||
* And [have We not] created you in pairs? * .... until, Verily the Day of Sorting Out is a thing appointed.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 78:6-17.</ref>) | |||
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In the first verse it describes the Divine works, and sets out the mightiest of them, which testify through their order and aims to knowledge and power, like the premises of a conclusion, or a momentous aim. Then it extracts the Name of All-Knowing. In the second verse, as is explained briefly in the Third Point of the First Ray in the First Light, it mentions Almighty God’s mighty acts and works, then concludes the resurrection of the dead, which is the Day of Sorting Out. | |||
'''Second Point of Eloquence:''' | |||
''' | |||
The Qur’an unrolls the woven fabrics of Divine art and displays them to the human gaze. Then, in the summaries it passes over the weaving within the Divine Names, or else refers them to the reason. | |||
< | The first example of these: Say: who is it that sustains you from the sky and from the earth? Or who is it that has power over hearing and sight? And who is it that brings out the living from the dead and the dead from the living? And who is it that rules and regulate all affairs? They will say, “God.” Say: Will you not then show piety [to Him]? * This is God, your Sustainer, The Truth.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 10:31-2.</ref>) | ||
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Thus, at the start it asks: “Who is it that readies the skies and the earth as though they were two storehouses for your sustenance, and causes one to produce rain and the other, seeds? Is there anyone other than God Who could make them two subservient storekeepers? In which case, thanks should be offered to Him alone.” | |||
In the second phrase, it asks: “Who is the owner of your eyes and ears, the most precious of your members? From which workbench or shop did you obtain them? It is only your Sustainer that could give you them. It is He Who creates and raises you, and gave you them. In which case, there is no Sustainer but He, and the only one fit to be worshipped is He.” | |||
In the third phrase, it says: “Who is it that resurrects the dead earth and raises to life hundreds of thousands of sorts of dead beings? Who could bring this about apart from the True God and Creator of all the universe? It is surely He Who brings it about, He raises them to life. Since He is Truth, He will not violate rights; He will send you to a Supreme Tribunal. He will raise you to life just as He raises to life the earth.” | |||
In the fourth phrase, it asks: “Who other than God can administer and regulate this vast universe with perfect order as though it were a palace or a city? Since it can be none other than God, the power which administers with extreme ease the vast universe and all its heavenly bodies is so faultless and infinite it can have no need of partner or associate, assistance or help. The One Who directs the vast universe will not leave small creatures to other hands. That means you will be obliged to say: ‘God.’” | |||
Thus, the first and fourth phrases say “God,” the second, “Sustainer,” and the third, “Truth.” So understand how miraculously apt are the words: This is God, your Sustainer, The Truth. It mentions Almight y God’s vast disposals, the meaningful weavings of His power. Then through mentioning the Names of “God,” “Sustainer,” and “Truth,” it shows the source of those vast disposals of Divine power. | |||
'''An example of the second:''' | |||
''' | |||
< | Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the oceans for the profit of mankind; in the rain which God sends down from the skies, and the life He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the disposal of the winds and the clouds subjugated between the sky and the earth, indeed are signs for people who think.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:164.</ref>) | ||
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First this enumerates the manifestations of Divine sovereignty in the creation of the heavens and the earth, which demonstrates Almighty God’s perfect power and the vastness of His dominicality, and testifies to His unity; and the manifestation of dominicality in the alternation of night and day, and the manifestation of Divine mercy in the subjugation of the ships in the sea, the most important means of transport in human social life; and the manifestation of the immensity of Divine power, which sends the water of life to the dead earth from the skies and raises to life hundreds of thousands of species and makes it like a exhibition of wonders; and the manifestation of mercy and power in the creation of infinite numbers of different animals on the earth from simple soil; and the manifestation of wisdom and mercy in the employment of the winds in important duties like assisting in the pollination and respiration of plants and animals and in the impelling and regulating of them so as to make them suitable to perform those duties; and the manifestation of dominicality in the subjugation and gathering together of the clouds, the means of mercy, suspended between the skies and the earth in great strange masses, and dispersing them, as though dispersing an army for rest and then summoning them back to their duties. Then, in order to urge the mind to ponder over their details and essential truths, it says: Indeed are signs for people who think. In order to rouse people’s minds with it, it refers it to their faculties of reason. | |||
'''Third Quality of Eloquence:''' | |||
''' | |||
Sometimes the Qur’an explains Almighty God’s acts in detail, then sums them up with a summary. It convinces with the details and commits it to the memory and fixes it there by summarizing it. For example: | |||
Thus will your Sustainer choose you and teach you the interpretation of events and perfect His favour to you and to the posterity of Jacob – even as He perfected it to your fathers Abraham and Isaac aforetime; indeed, your Sustainer is All-Knowing, All-Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 12:6.</ref>) | |||
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With this verse, it points out the bounties bestowed on the Prophet Joseph and his forefathers. It says: “Out of all mankind Divine favour has ennobled you with the rank of prophethood; tied all the lines of prophethood to your line and made it the chief of all lineages among mankind; it has made your family a cell of instruction and guidance in the Divine sciences and dominical wisdom, and united in you through that knowledge and wisdom, prosperous worldly dominion and the eternal happiness of the hereafter; and it has made you both a mighty ruler of Egypt, and a high prophet, and a wise guide, and has distinguished you and your forefathers with knowledge and wisdom.” It enumerates these Divine bounties, then it says: Indeed, your Sustainer is All-Knowing, All-Wise. “His dominicality and wisdom require that He made manifest in you and your fathers and forefathers the Divine Names of All-Knowing and All- Wise.” Thus, it sums up those detailed bounties with this summary. | |||
< | And, for example: O God! Lord of All Dominion, You give power to whom You will.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:26.</ref>) | ||
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This verse shows Almighty God’s disposals in mankind’s social life in such a way that it ties glory and abasement, poverty and riches directly to Almighty God’s will and wish. It means, “Even the disposals most dispersed through the levels of multiplicity are through Divine will and determining. Chance and coincidence cannot interfere.” After making this statement, it mentions the most important matter in man’s life, his sustenance. This verse proves with one or two introductory phrases that man’s sustenance is sent directly from the True Provider’s treasury of mercy. It is like this: “Your sustenance is tied to the earth’s life, and the earth’s being raised to life looks to the spring, and the spring is in the hands of the One Who subjugates the sun and the moon, and alternates the night and the day. In which case, only the One Who fills the face of the earth with all the fruits can give an apple to someone as true sustenance. Only He can be his true Provider.” Then it says: And You give sustenance to whom You please without measure.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:27.</ref>) It summarizes and proves those detailed acts in this sentence. That is, “The One Who gives you unlimited sustenance is He Who performs these acts.” | |||
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'''Fourth Point of Eloquence:''' | |||
''' | |||
It sometimes happens that the Qur’an mentions the Divine creatures with a particular arrangement of the sentence, then through showing that the creatures are within an order and balance and that they are its fruits, affords a sort of transparency and brilliance. This transparency and brilliance then show the Divine Names, the manifestation of which is through that mirror-like arrangement. It is as though the above-mentioned creatures are words, and the Names are their meanings, or the seeds of the fruits, or their essences. | |||
For example: | |||
< | Man We did create from quintessence of clay * Then We placed him as [a drop of] sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; * Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a [foetus] lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be God, the Best of | ||
Creators!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 23:12-14.</ref>) | |||
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Thus, the Qur’an mentions in order those wonderful, strange, amazing, well-ordered and balanced stages of man’s creation in such a mirror-like fashion that So blessed be God, the Best of Creators! appears of itself from within them, and makes itself exclaimed. A scribe who was writing out this verse uttered the words before coming to them, and wondered to himself: “Has revelation come to me as well?” Whereas it was the perfection of the order and transparency of the preceding words and their coherence which had showed up the final words before coming to them. | |||
< | And for example: Your Sustainer is God, Who created the heavens and the earth is six days, and is firmly established on the Throne [of authority]; He draws the night as a veil over the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession; He created the sun, the moon, and the stars, [all] subject to His command. Is it not His to create and to command? Blessed by God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:54.</ref>) | ||
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In this verse, the Qur’an points out the sublimity of Divine power and the sovereignty of dominicality. It shows an All-Powerful One of Glory established on the throne of His dominicality, Who, with the sun, moon and stars like soldiers under orders awaiting his command, rotates the night and day one after the other like two lines or two ribbons, one white and one black, and writes the signs of His dominicality on the pages of the universe. This he does in such a way that when a spirit hears the verse, it feels the desire to exclaim: “Blessed be God! What wonders God has willed! So Blessed be God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds!” That is to say, Blessed be God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds is like the summary, the seed, the fruit, and water of life, of what has preceded it. | |||
'''Fifth Quality of Eloquence:''' | |||
''' | |||
The Qur’an sometimes mentions material, particular matters which are subject to change and are the means of various circumstances, then in order to transform them into the form of constant truths, summarizes them with constant, luminous, universal Divine Names, and ties them up. Or it concludes with a summary which encourages thought and the taking of lessons. | |||
An example of the first meaning: And He taught Adam the Names, all of them, then placed them before the angels, and said: “Tell me the Names of these if you are right.” * They said: “Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing , All-Wise!”(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:31-2.</ref>) | |||
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First of all this verse mentions a particular matter, which is, “In the question of Adam’s vicegerency, it was his knowledge that gave him superiority over the angels.” Then within this event it mentions that of the angels’ defeat before Adam in respect of knowledge. Then it summarizes these two events with two universal Names: Indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. That is: since You are All-Knowing and Wise, You instructed Adam and he prevailed over us. And since You are All-Wise, You treated us according to our abilities and gave him preference in accordance with his abilities. | |||
< | An example of the second meaning: And verily in cattle you will find an instructive sign. From what is within their bodies, between excretions and blood, We produce for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable for those who drink it...until, Wherein is healing for men; indeed in this is a sign for a people who thinks.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:66-9.</ref>) | ||
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These verses point out that Almighty God makes creatures of His like sheep, goats, cattle, and camels into springs of pure, delicious milk for man, and artefacts like grapes and dates into cauldrons and trays laden with deliciously sweet bounties for him, and tiny miracles of His power like the honey-bee into makers of a sweet, health- giving sherbet, and then conclude with the words, Indeed in these are signs for a people who thinks, thus urging man to think and take lessons and compare these with other things. | |||
'''Sixth Quality of Eloquence:''' | |||
''' | |||
It sometimes happens that a verse spreads out dominical decrees over a great multiplicity of things, then it unifies them with a tie of unity resembling an aspect of unity, or it situates them within a universal rule. | |||
< | For example: His Throne does extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in preserving them, for He is the Most High, the Supreme.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:255.</ref>) | ||
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Thus, together with proving with ten phrases in Ayat al-Kursi ten levels of Divine unity in varying hues, with the phrase, Who is there that can intercede in His presence except as He permits?,it rejects utterly and vehemently the associating of partners with God and interference of others, and casts them away. Also, since this verse manifests the Greatest Name, its meanings related to the Divine truths are at a maximum degree, so that it demonstrates the dominical acts of disposal at a maximum level. Furthermore, after mentioning the Divine regulation of all the heavens and the earth and a preservation encompassing all things at the maximum degree, a tie of unity and aspect of unity summarize the sources of those maximum manifestations with the phrase, For He is the Most High, the Supreme. | |||
< | And, for example: It is God Who has created the heavens and the earth and sends down rain from the skies, and with it brings out fruits therewith to feed you; made subject to you the ships, that they may sail through the sea by His command; and the rivers [too] He has made subject to you; * and He has made subject to you the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their courses; and the night and the day has He [also] made subject to you; * And He gives you of all that you ask for. But if you count the favours of God, never will you will able to number them.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 14:32-4.</ref>) | ||
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These verses describe how Almighty God created the huge universe as a palace for man, and sending the water of life from the skies to the earth, made the skies and the earth two servants producing food for him. Similarly, He made ships subject to men so that they might benefit from the fruits of the earth found in every part of it, and also exchange the fruits of their labours and secure their livelihoods in ever y respect. That is, He made the winds as whips, ships as horses, and the seas as a desert beneath their hooves. And besides connecting man with every region of the earth by means of ships, He subjugated the rivers, great and small, to him by making them means of transport. And causing the sun and moon to travel, the True Bestower of Bounties alternates the seasons and makes them two obedient servants whereby He offers man His multicoloured bounties which change with the seasons; He created them also as two steersmen turning that mighty wheel. And He made the night and day subject to man; that is, He made the night as a veil for his sleep and repose, and the day a place of trade for winning his livelihood. | |||
After enumerating these Divine bounties, with the summary: And He gives you of all that you ask for. But if you count the favours of God, never will you will be able to number them, it points out the vast extent of the bounties bestowed on man, and their abounding profusion and abundance. That is, whatever man asks for through the tongue of his capacity and innate needs, they have all been given him. An end can never be reached in counting the Divine bounties bestowed on man nor can they be exhausted. Certainly, since the heavens and the earth are a table of bounties for man, and things like the sun and the moon and night and day some of the bounties on the table, the bounties directed towards man are most surely beyond count and calculation. | |||
'''Seventh Mystery of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that in order to disallow | |||
apparent causes the ability to create and to demonstrate how far they are from this, a verse points out the aims and fruits of the effects so that it may be understood that causes are only an apparent veil. For to will that most wise and purposeful aims are followed, and important results are obtained, is of necessity the work of one who is most Knowing and Wise. Whereas causes are lifeless and without intelligence. | |||
So by mentioning the aims and results, such verses show that although causes are superficially and as beings joined to and adjacent to their effects, in reality there is a great distance between them. The distance from the cause to the creation of the effect is so great that the hand of the greatest causes cannot reach the creation of the most insignificant effects. | |||
Thus, it is within this long distance between cause and effect that the Divine Names each rise like stars. The place of their rising is this distance. To the superficial glance mountains on the horizon appear to be joined to and contiguous with the skirts of the sky, although from the mountains to the sky is a vast distance in which the stars rise and other things are situated; so too the distance between causes and effects is such that it may be seen only with the light of the Qur’an through the telescope of belief. | |||
< | For example: Then let man consider his sustenance. * For that We pour forth water in abundance. * And We split the earth into fragments. * And We produce therein corn, * And grapes and nutritious plants, * And olives and dates, * And enclosed gardens, dense with lofty trees, * And fruits and fodder, * For use and convenience to you and your cattle.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 80:24-32.</ref>) | ||
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By mentioning miracles of Divine power in a purposeful sequence, this verse ties causes to effects and with the words, For use and convenience to you points to an aim at its conclusion. This aim proves that within the sequence of all the causes and effects is a hidden disposer who sees and follows the aim, to whom the causes are a veil. | |||
Indeed, with the phrase, For use and convenience to you and your cattle, it disallows all the causes the ability to create. It is in effect saying: “Rain comes from the sky in order to produce food for you and your animals. Since water does not possess the ability to pity you and produce food, it means that the rain does not come, it is sent. | |||
And the earth produces plants and your food comes from there. But lacking feelings and intelligence, it is far beyond the ability of the earth to think of your sustenance and feel compassion for you, so it does not produce it itself. | |||
Furthermore, since it is remote from plants and trees to consider your food and compassionately produce fruits and grains for you, the verse demonstrates that they are strings and ropes which One All-Wise and Compassionate extends from behind the veil, to which He attaches His bounties and holds out to animate creatures.” | |||
Thus, from this explanation numerous Divine Names rise, like All-Compassionate, Provider, Bestower, and All-Generous. | |||
And another example: | |||
< | Do you not see that God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? – then will you see rain issue forth from their midst. And He sends down from the sky mountain [masses of clouds] wherein is hail; He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases. The vivid flash of His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight. * It is God Who alternates the night and the day; indeed in these things is an instructive example for those who have vision. * And God has created every animal from water; of them are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. God creates what He wills; for verily God has power over all things.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 24:43-5.</ref>) | ||
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This verse explains the wondrous disposals in the formation of clouds and causing of rainfall, which is one of the most important miracles of dominicality and strangest veil of the treasury of mercy. Like soldiers who have dispersed to rest gather together at the call of a bugle, clouds gather and form at the Divine command when their parts have been dispersed and hidden in the atmosphere. Then, like an army is formed of small groups, the pieces of cloud come together and form masses –which are vast and towering, moist and white, and contain snow and hail like the moving mountains at the resurrection– from which the water of life is sent to living beings. But in its being sent a will and purpose are apparent; it comes in accordance with need. This means it is sent. While the skies are clear and empty, the mountainous pieces of cloud do not gather together of their own accord into a great gathering of wonders, they are sent by One Who knows the living creatures. | |||
In this distance, then, Divine Names rise, like All- Powerful, All-Knowing, Disposer, Designer, Nurturer, Succourer, and Giver of Life. | |||
'''Eighth Quality of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that in order to impel the heart to accept Almighty God’s wondrous works in the hereafter and make the mind affirm them, the Qur’an mentions His amazing works in this world by way of preparation, or it mentions the wondrous Divine works of the future and hereafter in such a way that we acquire firm conviction about them through similar things which we observe here. | |||
< | For example: Does man not see that We created him from sperm, and behold, he stands forth an open adversary?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:77.</ref>)... to the end of the Sura. | ||
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In this discussion of the resurrection of the dead, the Qur’an proves the resurrection in seven or eight different ways. Firstly it draws attention to the first creation, saying: “You see your creation from sperm to a blood-clot, from a blood-clot to a foetus lump, and from that to the human creation, so how is it that you deny the second creation, which is like it or even easier?” | |||
< | And with the words: Who produces for you fire out of the green tree,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:80.</ref>) Almight y God indicates the mighty favours He bestows on man, saying: “The One Who bestows such bounties on you will not leave you at liberty to enter the grave and sleep never to rise again.” | ||
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And by allusion it says: “You see the dead trees come to life and grow green, but you draw no conclusions from their bones springing to life when like dry fire-wood, and so deem man’s rising again unlikely. | |||
Also, could the One Who creates the heavens and the earth remain impotent before the life and death of man, the fruit of the heavens and the earth? Would the One Who administers the might y tree attach no importance to its fruit and allow others to claim it? Do you suppose that He would abandon the result of all the tree, thus making purposeless and vain the tree of creation, which together with all its parts is kneaded with wisdom?” | |||
It says: “The One Who will raise you to life at the resurrection is such that the whole universe is like a soldier under His orders.” It is utterly submissive before His command of “Be!,” and it is. It is as easy for Him to create the spring as to create a flower. He is One for Whose power it is as easy to create all animals as to create a fly. Such a One may not be challenged with the words: | |||
< | Who can give life to [dry] bones?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:78.</ref>) and His power belittled. Then, with the phrase: So glory be unto Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:83.</ref>) it says: “He is an All-Powerful One of Glory in Whose hands are the reins of all things, with Him are the keys to all things; He alternates winter and summer as easily as turning the pages of a book, and opens and closes this world and the hereafter as though they were two houses.” | ||
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< | Since it is thus, the conclusion of all these evidences is: And to Him will you all be brought back.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:83.</ref>) That is, “He will raise you to life from the grave and bring you to the resurrection;there you will be called to account in the presence of the Almighty.” | ||
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Thus, all these verses have prepared the mind to accept the resurrection, and so have they prepared the heart, for they have pointed out similar deeds in this world. | |||
It sometimes happens also that the Qur’an mentions Almighty God’s deeds of the hereafter in such a way that man may understand similar things in this world. Then no possibility remains to deny them or deem them unlikely. | |||
< | An example are the Suras which begin: When the Sun is folded up;(*<ref>*Sura 81, al-Takwir.</ref>) When the sky is cleft asunder;(*<ref>*Sura 82, al-Infitar.</ref>) When the sky is rent asunder.(*<ref>*Sura 84, al-Inshiqaq.</ref>) In these Suras it mentions the mighty revolutions and dominical acts of disposal in the resurrection and Great Gathering in such a way that, since man sees things similar to them in this world, for example, in the autumn and spring, he accepts those revolutions easily, which cause dread to the heart and cannot be comprehended by the mind. To provide even a summary of the meaning of these three Suras would be very lengthy, so for now we shall point out a single phrase by way of example. | ||
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< | For example, the phrase: When the pages are laid open(*<ref>*Qur’an, 81:10.</ref>) expresses the following: at the resurrection all the deeds of everyone will be published written on pages. Being very strange on its own, the mind cannot grasp this matter. But as the Sura indicates, the same way as in the resurrection of the spring are things similar to other points, the things similar to this laying open of the pages are quite clear. | ||
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For all fruit-bearing trees or flowering plants perform deeds, acts, and duties, and in whatever way they display the Divine Names and glorify God, they perform worship. All these deeds are written in their seeds together with their life histories, and emerge in another spring in another place. Just as they mention most eloquently the deeds of their mothers and stock through the tongues of the shapes and forms they display, so they publish the pages of their deeds through their branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Thus, the One Who carries out this Wise, Preserving, Planned, Nurturing, Benevolent work, is He Who says: When the pages are laid open. | |||
You can make analogies with other points from this and deduce them if you can. To help you, I shall say the following: the phrase: When the sun is folded up | |||
is a brilliant metaphor meaning ‘rolling up’ and ‘gathering up’; so too it alludes to things similar to it. | |||
The First: Almighty God drew back the veils of non-existence, the ether, and the skies, and taking from the treasury of His mercy a lamp like a sparkling brilliant to illuminate the world, displayed it to the world. When the world is closed, He shall rewrap that brilliant in its veils and remove it. | |||
The Second: The sun is an official charged with spreading out the wares of its light and wrapping the head of the earth alternately in light and darkness. Every evening it gathers up its wares and conceals them, and sometimes it does scant business due to the veil of a cloud, and sometimes the moon draws a veil over its face and somewhat hinders its transactions, then it adjusts the account books of its wares and transactions. Similarly, a time will come when this official will resign from its post. Even if there is no cause for its dismissal, due to the enlargement of the two black spots on its face, as has begun, with Divine permission the sun will take back the light that it spreads at a dominical command and wrap it around its own head. It will be told: “No work remains for you on earth. Go to Hell and burn those who worshipped you and insulted an obedient official like yourself by inferring you were disloyal!” It will read out the decree of When the Sun is folded up through its black- spotted face. | |||
'''Ninth Point of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that the All-Wise Qur’an mentions certain particular aims, then in order to impel the mind by means of them, confirms, establishes, verifies, and proves the aims through the Divine Names, which are like universal rules. | |||
For example: God has indeed heard the statement of the woman who pleads with you concerning her husband and carries her complaint to God; and God [always] hears the arguments between both sides among you; for God is All- Hearing, All-Seeing.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 58:1.</ref>) | |||
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Here the Qur’an is saying: “Almighty God is absolutely All-Hearing; He hears everything, even, through the Divine Name of Truth, a wife arguing with you and complaining about her husband, a truly insignificant matter. And since women manifest the subtlest manifestations of mercy and are mines of self-sacrificing compassion, He hears through the Name of Most Compassionate the rightful claim of a woman and her complaint to Him, and through the Name of Truth takes it seriously, affording it the greatest importance.” | |||
Thus, in order to make this particular aim universal, One outside the sphere of contingency of the universe Who hears and sees a minor incident among creatures, must of necessity hear and see all things, and One Who is Sustainer of the universe of necessity sees the suffering of insignificant creatures within the universe who are wronged, and hears their cries. One who does not see their suffering and does not hear their cries for help cannot be the Sustainer. In which case, it establishes two mighty truths with the phrase, For God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. | |||
And, for example: Glory be to [God] who did take His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of Our signs, for He is indeed All-Hearing, All- Seeing.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:1.</ref>) | |||
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Here, after mentioning the Noble Messenger’s (Peace and blessings be upon him) journey from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem, which was the start of his Ascension, the Qur’an says: for He is indeed All-Hearing, All-Seeing. The pronoun He refers to either Almighty God or to the Prophet. | |||
If it refers to the Prophet, it is like this: “There was within this particular journey a general journey and universal ascension, during which, as far as the Farthest Lote-tree and distance of two bow-strings, he heard and saw the dominical signs and wonders of Divine art which were apparent to his eyes and ears in the universal degrees of the Divine Names.” It shows that that particular and insignificant journey was like a key to a journey which was universal and an assembly of wonders. | |||
If the pronoun refers to Almighty God, it is like this: “He invited one of His servants to journey to His presence; and in order to entrust him with a duty, sent him from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, where He caused him to meet with the prophets who were gathered there. Then after showing that he was the absolute heir to the principles of all their religions, conveyed him through His realms in their inner and outer aspects as far as ‘the distance of two bow-lengths.’” He was certainly a servant and he journeyed on an ascension that was particular, but he held a trust that was related to the whole universe, and a light which would change the universe’s colour. Since he had with him a key to open the doors of eternal happiness, Almight y God described this Being with the attributes of hearing and seeing all things. For in this way he could demonstrate the world-embracing purposes and instances of wisdom of the trust, the light, and the key. | |||
< | And, for example: Praise be to God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who made the angels messengers with wings, two, three, or four [pairs]: He adds to creation as He pleases, for God is Powerful over all things.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:1.</ref>) | ||
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In this Sura, the Qur’an says: “By adorning the heavens and the earth in this way and displaying the works of His perfection, their All-Glorious Creator causes innumerable spectators to extol and praise Him. He decks them out with uncountable bounties so that the heavens and the earth praise and extol unendingly the Most Merciful Creator through the tongues of all the bounties and those who receive them.” After this it points out that since the Creator has given men and the animals and birds members and wings with which to travel through the towns and lands of the earth, and since that All-Glorious One has also given wings to the angels, the inhabitants of the realm of the heavens, in order to fly through the celestial palaces of the stars and lofty lands of the constellations, He is certainly powerful over all things. The One Who gives wings to a fly, to fly from fruit to fruit, and wings to a sparrow to fly from tree to tree, is the One Who gives wings to the angels to fly from Venus to Jupiter. Furthermore, the angels are not restricted to particularity like the dwellers of the earth; they are not confined by a specific place. With the words: two, three, or four [pairs], it suggests that at one time they may be present on four or more stars; it gives details. | |||
Thus, through describing “the arraying of the angels with wings,” which is a particular event, it points to a universal, general workshop of Divine power and its immensity, and verifies and establishes it with the summary: For God is Powerful over all things. | |||
'''Tenth Point of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that a verse mentions man’s rebellious acts, then restrains him with severe threats. Then, so that the severity of the threats should not cast him into despair and hopelessness, it concludes with some Divine Names which point to His mercy and console him. | |||
< | For example: Say: if there had been [other] gods with Him – as they say – behold they would certainly have sought out a way to the Lord of the Throne! * Glory be to Him! He is high above all that they say! – Exalted and Great [beyond measure] * The sevens heavens and the earth, and all beings therein declare His glory; there is not a thing but celebrates His praise; and yet you understand not how they declare His glory! Indeed, He is Oft-Forbearing, Most Forgiving!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:42-4.</ref>) | ||
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This verse says: “Say: if, like you say, God had had partners in his sovereignty, there would surely have been some signs of disorder, caused by the hand that stretched up to the throne of His dominicality and interfered. However, through the tongues of the manifestations and inscriptions of the Divine Names which they manifest, all creatures, universal or particular, great or small, from the seven levels of the heavens to microscopic organisms, glorify the All-Glorious One signified by those Names, declaring Him to be free of partners or like. | |||
Yes, just as the heavens declare Him to be All-Holy through the light-scattering words of the suns and stars, and through the wisdom they display and their order, and testify to His unity, so the atmosphere glorifies and sanctifies Him through the voice of the clouds and words of the thunder, lightning, and rain, and testifies to His unity. The earth too glorifies and declares to be One the All-Glorious Creator through its living words known as animals, plants, and other beings; and so does it glorify Him and testify to His unity through the words of its trees and their leaves, blossoms, and fruits. Similarly, despite their tiny size and insignificance, the smallest creatures and most particular beings glorify the All-Glorious One signified by the numerous universal Names they display, and testify to His unity through the inscriptions they bear. | |||
Thus, since man is the summary and result of the universe, and vicegerent of the earth, and its delicate fruit, this verse points out how ugly and deserving of punishment is his unbelief and associating partners with God. For it is counter and contrary to the whole universe, which altogether glorifies unanimously, with one tongue, its All-Glorious Creator and testifies in its own way to His unity, and performs the duty of worship with which it is charged, carrying it out in perfect submission. But in order not to cast man into despair, and to show the wisdom in the All-Glorious Subduer’s permitting such an infinitely ugly rebellion and not destroying the universe around mankind, it says: Indeed, He is Oft-Forbearing, Most Forgiving! It shows with this summary the wisdom in His postponing it, and leaves a door open for hope. | |||
Thus, you may understand from these ten indications of miraculousness that in the summaries at the conclusions of verses are numerous sprinklings of guidance and flashes of miraculousness. The greatest geniuses among the scholars of rhetoric have bitten their fingers in absolute wonder and admiration at these unique styles, and declared: “THIS IS NOT THE WORD OF MAN,” and have believed with absolute certaint y that It is no less than revelation inspired.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 53:4.</ref>) | |||
This means that together with the above-mentioned indications, numerous further facets not included in our discussion are contained in other verses in the arrangement of which such an impress of miraculousness is apparent that even the blind may see it... | |||
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< | <span id="İKİNCİ_ŞULENİN_ÜÇÜNCÜ_NURU"></span> | ||
=== | ===THE THIRD BEAM of The Second Light=== | ||
The Qur’an cannot be compared with other words and speech. This is because speech is of different categories, and in regard to superiority, power, beauty and fineness, has four sources: one is the speaker, another is the person addressed, another is the purpose, and another is the form. Its source is not only the form as literar y people have wrongly shown. So in speech one should consider, “Who said it? To whom did they say it? Why did they say it? In what form did they say it?” One should not consider the words only and stop there. Since speech draws its strength and beauty from these four sources, if the Qur’an’s sources are studied carefully, the degree of its eloquence, superiority, and beauty will be understood. | |||
Indeed, since speech looks to the speaker, if it is command or prohibition, it comprises also the speaker’s will and power in accordance with his position. Then it eliminates resistance; it has an effect like physical electricity and increases in proportion to the speech’s superiority and power. | |||
< | Take, for example, the verse: O earth! swallow up your water. And O sky! withhold [your rain].(*<ref>*Qur’an, 11:44.</ref>) That is, “O earth! Your duty is completed, swallow your water. O skies! No need now remains, cease giving rain.” | ||
< | And for example:And He said to it and to the earth: Come together willingly or unwillingly. They said: We do come [together] in willing obedience.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 41:11.</ref>) That is, “O earth! O skies! Come whether you want to or not, you are anyway submissive to my wisdom and power. Emerge from non-being and come to the exhibition-place of my art in existence.” And they replied: “We come in perfect obedience. Through Your power, we perform every duty that You have shown us.” | ||
Consider the power and elevatedness of these true, effective commands, which comprise power and will, then look at human words like the following nonsensical conversation with inanimate beings: Be stationary, O earth! Be cleft, O skies! O resurrection, break forth! Can the two commands be compared? Yes, is there are any comparison between wishes arising from desires and officious commands issuing from those wishes, and the command of a commander of real authority? Can there be any comparison between such words and the effective command, “Forward march!” of a supreme commander of a vast army? For if a command such as that is heard from a common soldier, while the two commands are the same in form, in meaning they differ as greatly as a common soldier and the commander of an army. | |||
< | And for example the verses: Indeed, His command when He wills a thing is “Be!,” and it is,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:82.</ref>) and, And on Our saying to the angels: Prostrate before Adam.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:34.</ref>) | ||
Look at the power and elevatedness of these two verses, then look at man’s speech in the form of commands. Is the latter not like a fire-fly in relation to the sun? In order to describe his act to both eye and ear, a true owner describes his act while performing it, and a true artist explains his art as he works it, and a true bestower explains his bounties as he bestows them, that is, in order to combine both word and act, each says: “Look! I have done this and I am doing this in this way. I did that for this reason, and this will be thus, and I am doing this so it will be like that.” | |||
And for example: Do they not look at the sky above them? How We have made it and adorned it, and there are no flaws in it? * And the earth, We have spread it out, and set thereon mountains standing firm, and produced therein every kind of beautiful growth [in pairs], * As an insight and reminder for all [God’s] servants who turn unto Him. * And We send down from the sky rain charged with blessing, and We produce there with gardens and grain for harvests; * And tall [and stately] palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one over another; * As sustenance for [God’s] servants; And We give [new] life therewith to land that is dead: thus will the coming-forth [from the grave].(*<ref>*Qur’an, 50:6-11.</ref>) | |||
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Can there be any comparison between these descriptions, these acts, which shine like the starry fruits of Paradise in the constellation of this Sura in the skies of the Qur’an, and this mentioning many levels of proofs within them by means of the order of rhetoric, and this proving the resurrection of the dead, its conclusion, with the phrase thus will be the coming-forth, thus silencing those at the start of the Sura who deny resurrection – can there be any comparison between this and the discussions of men about meddlesome acts which have little connection with them? It is not even the comparison of pictures of flowers by way of copying, and real living flowers. To fully explain the meaning from Do they not look to Thus will be the coming-forth would be very lengthy, so we shall just pass over it with a brief indication, like this: | |||
Since, at the start of the Sura, the unbelievers deny resurrection, the Qur’an gives a long introductory passage in order to compel them to accept it. It says: | |||
“Do you not look at the skies above you, which we have constructed in such magnificent, orderly fashion? | |||
Do you not see how We have adorned it with stars and the sun and the moon, and how We have allowed no fault or defect? | |||
Do you not see how We have spread out the earth for you and with what wisdom We have furnished it? We have fixed mountains on it and protected it from the encroachment of the sea. | |||
Do you not see how We have created every variety of plant and growing thing on the earth, beautiful and of every colour, and how We have made beautiful every part of it with them. | |||
And do you not see how we send down bounteous rain from the skies, and with it create gardens and orchards, and grains, and tall, fruit-bearing trees like the delicious date, and how I cause them to grow and send My servants sustenance with them? | |||
And do you not see that I raise to life the dead country with the rain? I create thousands of worldly resurrections. Just as I raise up with My power these plants out of this dead country, that is how your coming-forth will be at the resurrection. | |||
At the resurrection, the earth will die and you will come forth alive.” Can there be any comparison between the eloquent explanations these verses set forth in proving resurrection, only one thousandth of which we have been able to allude to, and the words man puts forward to support a claim? | |||
From the beginning of this treatise up to here, in endeavouring to make an obstinate enemy accept the Qur’an’s miraculousness by way of impartial reasoning, known as ascertaining the truth, we have left secret many of the Qur’an’s rights. We have brought that Sun in among candles and drawn comparisons. We have carried out the duty of ascertaining the truth, and have proved its miraculousness in brilliant fashion. Now, in one or two words, not in the name of ‘ascertaining the truth,’ but in that of ‘reality,’ we shall point to the Qur’an’s true station, which is beyond comparison. | |||
Indeed, the comparison of other speech to the Qur’an is that of minuscule reflections of stars in pieces of glass. How can the Qur’an’s words, each of which depict and show a constant truth, be compared with the meanings man depicts through his words in the minute mirrors of his thoughts and feelings? | |||
How can the angelic, living words of the Qur’an, which inspire the lights of guidance and are the speech of the All-Glorious Creator of the sun and the moon, be compared with man’s biting words with their bewitching substance and sham subtleties for arousing base desires? Yes, the comparison of poisonous vermin and insects, and blessed angels and luminous spirit beings, is that of man’s words and those of the Qur’an. The Twenty- Fifth Word together with the previous twenty-four Words have proved these truths. This claim of ours is not unsubstantiated; its proof is the above-mentioned conclusion. | |||
Indeed, how can the words of the Qur’an, which are all the shells of jewels of guidance, and sources of the truths of belief and springs of the fundamentals of Islam, and have come directly from the Throne of All-Merciful One, and above and beyond the universe look to man and descend to him, and comprise Divine knowledge, power, and will, and are the pre-eternal address – how can its words be compared with man’s vain, fanciful, futile, desire-nurturing words? | |||
Yes, how can the Qur’an, which is like a tree of Tuba, and spreads in the form of leaves the world of Islam with all its qualities, marks, and perfections, all its ordinances and principles, and displays as fresh and beautiful through its water of life its purified scholars and saints, each like a flower, and produces all perfections and cosmic and Divine truths as fruits, and again like a fruit-bearing tree produces numerous seeds within its fruits each like a principle and programme for actions and displays truths in continuous succession – how can this be compared with man’s speech, which we know about? | |||
Where is the ground and where are the Pleiades? | |||
Although for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, the All-Wise Qur’an has set forth and displayed all its truths in the market of the universe, and everyone, all nations, all countries have taken some of its jewels and its truths, and they do take them, neither the familiarity, nor the abundance, nor the passage of time, nor the great changes have damaged its valuable truths and fine styles, or caused it to age, or desiccated it, or made it lose its value, or extinguished its beauty. This on its own is an aspect of miraculousness. | |||
If someone were to come forward now and put some of the truths the Qur’an brought into a childish order according to his own fancies, and if he were to compare these with some of the Qur’an’s verses in order to contest them, and say “I have uttered words close to the Qur’an’s,” it would be utterly foolish, like in the following example: there is a common man, a builder of ordinary houses, incapable of understanding the elevated inscriptions of a master who has built a splendid palace the stones of which are various jewels, and has decorated it with harmonious adornments which look to the elevated inscriptions of all the palace and their relation to the stones. If the common man, who had no share in any of the jewels and adornment of the palace, were to enter the palace, destroy the elevated inscriptions in the valuable stones and give it a form, an order, similar to that of an ordinary house in accordance with his childish desires and tack on a few beads pleasing to his juvenile view, and then say, “Look! I have greater skill and wealth and more precious adornments than the builder of the palace,” in comparison, it would be the art of a crazy, raving forger. | |||
< | <span id="ÜÇÜNCÜ_ŞULE"></span> | ||
== | ==THIRD LIGHT== | ||
The Third Light consists of three Gleams. | |||
< | <span id="BİRİNCİ_ZİYA"></span> | ||
=== | ===FIRST GLEAM:=== | ||
An important aspect of the Qur’an of Miraculous Expositions’s miraculousness was explained in the Thirteenth Word.It has been included here so that it might take its place among the other aspects of miraculousness, its brothers. It is as follows: if you want to see and appreciate how, like shining stars, all the Qur’an’s verses scatter the darkness of unbelief by spreading the light of miraculousness and guidance, imagine yourself in the age of ignorance and desert of savagery where everything was enveloped in lifeless veils of nature, under the darkness of ignorance and heedlessness. Then suddenly from the elevated tongue of the Qur’an, you hear verses like: Whatever is in the heavens extols and glorifies God, for He is the Mighty, the Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:1; 59:1; 61:1.</ref>) | |||
Whatever is in the heavens and earth extols and glorifies God, the Sovereign, the Most Holy One, the Mighty, the Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 62:1.</ref>) | |||
</ | See how those dead or sleeping creatures of the world spring to life at the sound of extols and glorifies in the minds of those listening, how they awake, spring up, and mention God’s Names! | ||
< | And at the sound of, The seven heavens and the earth and all within them extol and glorify Him,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:44.</ref>) the stars in those black skies, each a lifeless piece of fire, and the wretched creatures on the face of the earth present the following view to those listening: the sky appears as a mouth and the stars as wisdom-displaying words and truth-uttering lights. The earth appears as a head, the land and sea as tongues, and all animals and plants as words of glorification. Otherwise you will not appreciate the subtleties of the pleasure at looking from this time to that. | ||
For if you look at each verse as having scattered its light since that time, and having become like universally accepted knowledge with the passage of time, and as shining with the other lights of Islam, and taking its colour from the sun of the Qur’an, or if you look at it through a superficial and simple veil of familiarity, you will not truly see what sort of darkness each verse scatters or how sweet is the recital of its miraculousness, and you will not appreciate this sort of its miraculousness among its many sorts. | |||
If you want to see one of the highest degrees of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition’s miraculousness, listen to the following comparison: | |||
Let us imagine an extremely strange and vast and | |||
spreading tree which is concealed beneath a veil of the unseen and hidden in a level of concealment. It is clear that there has to be a relationship, harmony, and balance between a tree and all its members like its branches, fruits, leaves, and blossom, the same as between man’s members. Each of its parts takes on a form and is given a shape in accordance with the nature of the tree. So if someone appears and traces a picture on top of the veil corresponding to the members of the tree, which has never been seen, then delimits each member, and from the branches to the fruit, and the fruit to the leaves draws a form proportionately, and fills the space between its source and extremities, which are an infinite distance from one another, with drawings showing exactly the shape and form of its members, certainly no doubt will remain that the artist sees the concealed tree with an eye that penetrates and encompasses the unseen, then he depicts it. | |||
In just the same way, the discriminating statements of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition concerning the realit y of contingent beings (that is, concerning the reality of the tree of creation which stretches from the beginning of the world to the farthest limits of the hereafter, and spreads from the earth to the Divine Throne and from minute particles to the sun) have preserved the proportion between the members to such a degree and have given each member and fruit a form so suitable that at the depictions of the Qur’an, all exacting scholars have declared at the conclusion of their investigations: “What wonders God has willed! How great are God’s blessings!” They have said: “It is only you who solves and unravels the talisman of the universe and riddle of creation, Oh All-Wise Qur’an!” | |||
< | And God’s is the highest similitude(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:60.</ref>)– and there is no error in the comparison – let us represent the Divine Names and attributes, and dominical acts and deeds as a Tuba-tree of light, the sphere of whose grandeur stretches from pre-eternit y to post- eternity, and the limits of whose vastness spread through infinite, endless space and encompass it, and the limits of whose deeds stretch from, It is God Who splits the seed-grain and date-stone,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 6:95.</ref>) and, Comes between man and his heart,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 8:24.</ref>) to, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:54.</ref>) and, And the heavens rolled up in His right hand.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:67.</ref>) The All-Wise Qur’an has described that luminous reality, the truths of those Names and attributes, and acts and deeds, together with all their branches and twigs and aims and fruits, in a way so harmonious, so fitting for one another, so appropriate for one another, without marring one another or spoiling the decree of one another, or their being remote from one another, that all the people of illumination and those who have penetrated to the realities, and all the wise and the sage who have journeyed in the realm of the inner dimension of things, have declared: “Glory be to God!” in the face of that Discriminating Exposition, and have affirmed it, saying: “How right, how conformable with reality, how fine, how worthy!” | ||
</ | |||
Take, for example, the six pillars of belief, which are like a single branch of those two mighty trees which look to the entire sphere of contingency and sphere of necessity: it depicts all the branches and boughs of those pillars –as far as the furthest fruits and flowers– observing such a harmony and proportion between them, and describes them in a manner so balanced, and illustrates them a way so symmetrical that the human mind is powerless to perceive it and stands astonished at its beauty. And the proof that a beauty of proportion and perfect relation and complete balance have been preserved between the five pillars of Islam, which are like one twig of the branch of belief, down to the finest details, smallest point of conduct, furthest aims, most profound wisdom, and most insignificant fruits, is the perfect order and balance and beauty of proportion and soundness of the Greater Shari’a of Islam, which has emerged from the decisive statements, senses, indications, and allusions of the comprehensive Qur’an; they form an irrefutable and decisive proof and just witness that cannot be doubted. | |||
This means that the expositions of the Qur’an cannot be attributed to man’s partial knowledge, and particularly to the knowledge of someone unlettered. They rest rather on a comprehensive knowledge and are the word of One Who is able to see all things together and observe in one moment all truths between pre-eternity and post-eternity. In this we believe. | |||
< | <span id="İKİNCİ_ZİYA"></span> | ||
=== | ===SECOND GLEAM:=== | ||
Since just how far the human philosophy which challenges Qur’anic wisdom has fallen in the face of that wisdom has been explained and illustrated with comparisons in the Twelfth Word and proved in the other Words, we refer readers to those treatises and for now offer a further comparison from another point of view. It is as follows: | |||
Human science and philosophy look at the world as fixed and constant. And they discuss the nature of beings and their characteristics in detail; if they do speak of their duties before their Maker, they speak of them briefly. Quite simply, they speak only of the decoration and letters of the book of the universe, and attach no importance to its meaning. | |||
Whereas the Qur’an looks at the world as transient, passing, deceptive, travelling, unstable, and undergoing revolution. It speaks briefly of the nature of beings and their superficial and material characteristics, but mentions in detail the worshipful duties with which they are charged by the Maker, and how and in what respects they point to His Names, and their obedience before the Divine creational commands. | |||
We shall therefore look at the differences between human philosophy and Qur’anic wisdom in regard to this matter of looking at things either briefly or in detail, and shall see which is pure truth and reality. | |||
A watch in our hand appears to be constant, but its inside is in perpetual upheaval through the motion of the workings and the constant anguish of the cogwheels and parts. In just the same way, together with its apparent stability, this world, which is a huge clock of Divine power, is perpetually revolving within upheaval and change, transience and evanescence. | |||
Indeed, since time has entered the world, night and day are like a two-headed hand counting the seconds of that huge clock. | |||
The years are like a hand counting its minutes, while the centuries count its hours. | |||
Thus, time casts the world onto the waves of death and decline. It assigns all the past and the future to non-existence, leaving in existence only the present. | |||
Together with this form which time gives the world, with regard to space also it is like an unstable clock undergoing revolution. For since the space of the atmosphere changes swiftly and quickly passes from one state to another through being filled and emptied with clouds sometimes several times a day, it causes change like a hand counting the seconds. | |||
And the space of the earth, which is like the floor of the house of the world, since with life and death and the animals and plants its face changes very rapidly, like a minute-hand it shows that this aspect of the world also is transient. | |||
And just as the earth is like this in regard to its face, so through the revolutions and upheavals within it, and the mountains emerging as a result and disappearing, this aspect of the world is slowly passing also, like an hour-hand. | |||
And through change like the movements of the celestial bodies, the appearance of comets, the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses, and falling stars, the space of the heavens too, which is like the ceiling of the house of the world, shows that the heavens also are not stable and constant, but are progressing towards old age and destruction. Their change is slow and tardy like the hand counting the days in a weekly clock, but in every respect it demonstrates that it is transient and passing and heading for destruction. | |||
Thus, the world, in regard to the world, has been constructed on these seven pillars. These pillars perpetually shake it. But when the world which is thus in motion and being shaken looks to its Maker, the motion and change is the working of the pen of power writing the missives of the Eternally Besought One. And those changing states are the mirrors of the Divine Names, which, being constantly renewed, display with ever-differing depictions the manifestation of the Names’ qualities. | |||
And so, in respect of the world, the world is both transient and hastens towards death, and is undergoing revolution. Although in reality it is departing like flowing water, to the heedless eye it appears to be frozen; due to the idea of nature, it has become dense and turbid, and become a veil concealing the hereafter. | |||
Thus, through philosophical investigation and natural science, and the seductive amusements of dissolute civilization and its intoxicated passions, sick philosophy has both increased the world’s frozen state and inaction, and made denser heedlessness, and increased its opaqueness and turbidity, and caused the Maker and the hereafter to be forgotten. | |||
< | Whereas, with its verses, By the Mount [of Revelation]. By a Book inscribed.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 52:1-2.</ref>) When the Event Inevitable comes to pass.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 56:1.</ref>)The [Day of] Noise and Clamour, What is [the Day of] Noise and Clamour?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 101:1.</ref>)the Qur’an cards the world in regard to the world like cotton, and casts it away. | ||
</ | |||
< | Through its expositions like, Do they see nothing in the government of the heavens and the earth?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:185.</ref>) Do they not look at the sky above them? - How We have made it.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 50:6.</ref>) Do the unbelievers not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, before We clove them asunder?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 21:30.</ref>) | ||
it gives the world a transparency and removes its turbidity. | |||
</ | |||
< | Through its light- scattering illuminations like, God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 24:35.</ref>) What is the life of this world but play and amusement?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 6:32.</ref>) it melts the frozen, inactive world. Through its death-tainted expressions like, When the sun is folded up.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 81:1.</ref>) When the sky is cleft asunder.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 82:1.</ref>) When the sky is rent asunder.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 84:1.</ref>) And the trumpet will be sounded, and all that are in the heavens and all that are on earth will fall down senseless, except such that it pleases God [to exempt],(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:68.</ref>) it smashes the delusion that the world is eternal. | ||
</ | |||
< | Through its thunderous blasts, like, He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from the skies and what mounts up to them. And He is with you wheresoever you may be. And God sees all that you do.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:4.</ref>) | ||
And say: Praise be to God, Who will show you His signs, so that you shall know them. And your Sustainer is not unmindful of all that you do,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 27:93.</ref>) it scatters the heedlessness born of the notion of ‘nature’. | |||
</ | |||
Thus, from beginning to end the Qur’an’s verses which are turned towards the universe proceed according to this principle. | |||
They reveal and display the reality of the world as it is. Through showing just how ugly the ugly world is, it turns man’s face from it, and points out the beautiful world’s beautiful face, which looks to the Maker. It fastens man’s eye on that. It instructs in true wisdom and knowledge, teaching the meanings of the book of the universe, and looking infrequently at the letters and decorations. It does not cause the meaning to be forgotten like drunken philosophy, nor make man enamoured of the ugly and waste his time on meaningless things due to the decoration of the letters. | |||
< | <span id="ÜÇÜNCÜ_ZİYA"></span> | ||
=== | ===THIRD GLEAM:=== | ||
In the Second Gleam we pointed to the fall of human philosophy before Qur’anic wisdom and to the miraculousness of Qur’anic wisdom. Now, in this Gleam, we shall show the degree of the wisdom and science – before Qur’anic wisdom – of the purified scholars, the saints, and the enlightened among philosophers, the Ishraqiyyun, who are all students of the Qur’an, and shall make a brief indication to the Qur’an’s miraculousness in this respect. | |||
A most true indication of the All-Wise Qur’an’s sublimity, and a most clear proof of its truth and justice, and a most powerful sign of its miraculousness is this: | |||
preserving all the degrees of all the areas of Divine unity together with all their necessities, and expounding them, it has preserved their balance and not spoilt it; and it has preserved the balance of all the exalted Divine truths; and it has brought together all the ordinances dictated by the Divine Names and preserved their mutual proportion; | |||
and it has brought together the dominical and Divine acts with perfect balance. Thus, this preserving and balance and bringing together is a characteristic which is certainly not present in man’s works nor in the products of the thought of the eminent among mankind. It is to be found nowhere in the works of the saints who have penetrated to the inner face of beings, which looks to their Creator, nor in the books of the Ishraqiyyun, who have passed to the inward, hidden meaning of things, nor in the knowledge of the spiritual who have penetrated the World of the Unseen. As though they have practised a division of labour, it is as if each group adheres to only one or two branches of the mighty tree of reality; each busies itself with only its fruit or its leaves. They either know nothing of the others, or else do not concern themselves with them. | |||
Absolute reality cannot be comprehended by restricted views. A universal view like the Qur’an is necessary in order to comprehend it. For sure they are instructed by the Qur’an, but with a particular mind they can only see completely one or two sides of universal reality, are preoccupied with them, and imprisoned in them. They spoil the balance of reality through either excess or negligence and mar its proportion and harmony. | |||
This truth was explained with an unusual comparison in the Second Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, and now we shall point to the matter with another comparison. For example, let us suppose there is some treasure under the sea, full of innumerable jewels of various kinds. Divers are plunging the depths to search for the jewels of the treasure. Since their eyes are closed, they understand what is there through the dexterous use of their hands. A longish diamond comes into the hand of one of them. The diver assumes that the whole treasure consists of a long, pillar-like diamond. When he hears of other jewels from his companions, he imagines that they are subsidiary to the diamond he has found, and are facets and embellishments of it. Into the hand of another passes a round ruby, while another finds a square piece of amber, and so on, each of them believes that the jewel he sees with his hand is the essential, major part of the treasure, and supposes that the things about which he hears are additional parts and details of it. So then the balance of the truths is spoilt, and the mutual proportion too is marred. The colour of many truths changes, and in order to see the true colour of reality they are obliged to resort to forced interpretation and elaborate explanations. Sometimes even they go as far as denial and rejection. Anyone who studies the books of the Ishraqiyyun philosophers and the works of sufis who rely on illuminations and visions without weighing them on the scales of the Sunna will doubtless confirm this statement of ours. That is to say, although their works concern truths similar to those of the Qur’an and are taken from the Qur’an’s teachings, because they are not the Qur’an, they are defective in that way. | |||
< | The Qur’an’s verses also, which are oceans of truths, are divers for that treasure under the sea. But their eyes are open and encompass the treasure. They see what there is in the treasure and what there is not. They describe and expound it with such harmony, order, and proportion that they show the true beauty and fineness. For example, just as they see the vastness of dominicality expressed by the verses, And the whole of the earth will be but His handful, and the heavens will be rolled up in His hand.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:67.</ref>) The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books [completed],(*<ref>*Qur’an, 21:104.</ref>) so too they see the all-encompassing mercy expressed by these: God, there is nothing hidden from Him on the earth or in the heavens * He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:5-6.</ref>) There is not a moving creature, but He has grasp of its forelock.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 11:56.</ref>) How many are the creatures that carry not their own sustenance? It is God who feeds [both] them and you.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 29:60.</ref>) | ||
And just as they see and point out the vast extent of the creativity expressed by, Who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 6:1.</ref>) so too they see and show the comprehensive disposal and encompassing dominicalit y expressed by, But God has created you and what you do.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 37:96.</ref>) They see and point out the mighty truth expressed by,He gives life to the earth after its death,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:50.</ref>) and the magnanimous truth expressed by, And your Sustainer inspired the bee,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:68.</ref>) and the sovereign and commanding vast truth expressed by, | |||
The sun and the moon and the stars subjugated to His command.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:54.</ref>) They see and show the compassionate, regulating truth expressed by, Do they not observe the birds above them, spreading their wings and folding them in? None can uphold them except the Most Merciful; indeed He sees all things,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 67:19.</ref>) and the vast truth expressed by, His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in preserving them,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:255.</ref>) and the guarding truth expressed by, And He is with you wherever you may be,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:4.</ref>) and the all-encompassing truth expressed by, He is the First and the Last and the Outward and the Inward, and He is Knowing of All Things,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:3.</ref>) and the proximity expressed by, It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him; for We are nearer to him than his jugular vein,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 50:16.</ref>) and the elevated truth indicated by, | |||
The angels ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 70:4.</ref>) and the all-embracing truth expressed by, God commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:90.</ref>) The Qur’an’s verses see and show in detail each of the six pillars of belief in respect of this world and the hereafter, action and knowledge. They see and show intentionally and seriously each of the five pillars of Islam, and all the principles which ensure happiness in this world and the next. They preserve their balance, perpetuate their proportion, and a form of the Qur’an’s miraculousness comes into being from the source of the beauty which is born of the mutual proportion of the entirety of those truths. | |||
</ | |||
It is due to this great mystery that although the scholars of theology (kala\m) are students of the Qur’an and one section of them has written thousands of works of ten volumes each on the pillars of belief, because like the Mu’tazilites they preferred the reason to revelation, they have not been able to express with clarity so many as ten of the Qur’an’s verses, or prove them decisively, or convince persuasively concerning them. It is quite simply as though they have dug tunnels under distant mountains, taken pipes with the chains of causes to the ends of the world, there cut the chains, and then demonstrated knowledge of God and the existence of the Necessarily Existent One, which are like the water of life. | |||
The Qur’an’s verses, however, can all extract water from every place like the Staff of Moses, open up a window from everything, and make known the All-Glorious Maker. We have actually proved and demonstrated this fact in the Arabic treatise Katre, and in the other Words, which flow forth from the ocean of the Qur’an. | |||
It is also due to this mystery that since all the leaders of the heretical groups who have passed to the inward nature of things (batin), who, not following the Sunna of the Prophet (PBUH) but relying on their visions, have returned having gone half way, and becoming leaders of a community have founded sects, have been unable to preserve the proportion and balance of the Qur’anic truths, they have fallen into innovation and misguidance and driven a community of people down the wrong road. Thus, the complete impotence of all these demonstrates the miraculousness of the Qur’an’s verses. | |||
< | <span id="HÂTİME"></span> | ||
=== | ===Conclusion=== | ||
Two flashes of the Qur’an’s miraculousness mentioned in the Fourteenth Drop of the Nineteenth Word are its repetitions, which are imagined to be a fault, and its brevit y concerning the physical sciences, both of which are sources for flashes of miraculousness. Also, a flash of the Qur’an’s miraculousness which shines on the miracles of the prophets in the Qur’an is demonstrated clearly in the Second Station of the Twentieth Word. Similarly to these, numerous flashes of miraculousness have been mentioned in the other Words and in my Arabic treatises. | |||
Therefore, deeming those to be sufficient, here we shall only say this, that a further miracle of the Qur’an is that just as all the miracles of the prophets display an impress of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, so with all its miracles, the Qur’an is itself a miracle of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). And all the miracles of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are a miracle of the Qur’an which demonstrate its relation with Almighty God. And with the appearance of that relation all of its words become miracles. For then a single of its words may contain the meaning of a tree of truths, like a seed; and may be connected with all the members of a might y truth, like the centre of the heart; and since its relies on an all-encompassing knowledge and infinite will, it may look to innumerable things together with their letters, totalities, situations, and positions. It is because of this that the scholars of the science of letters claim that they have found a pageful of secrets in a single of the Qur’an’s letters, and they prove what they claim to adepts of that science. | |||
Now, gather together in your mind’s eye all the Lights, Rays, Flashes, Beams, and Gleams from the start of this treatise up to here and consider them all together! As a decisive conclusion, they recite and proclaim in resounding tones the claim made at the beginning, that is, Say: If all mankind and the Jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:88.</ref>) | |||
</ | |||
< | Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:32.</ref>) O our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or do wrong.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:286.</ref>) O my Sustainer! Expand for me my breast, * And make easy for me my task, * And remove the impediment from my speech, * So that they may understand what I say.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 20:25-28.</ref>) O God! Grant blessings to our master Muhammad that will be pleasing to You and will be fulfilment to his truth, and to his Family, his Companions, and his brothers, and grant them peace.O our Sustainer! Let not our hearts deviate after you have guided us, and grant us mercy from Your Presence, for You are the Granter of bounties without measure.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:8.</ref>) | ||
And the close of their prayer will be, All praise be to | |||
God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 10:10.</ref>) Amen. Amen. Amen. | |||
</ | |||
< | <span id="BİRİNCİ_ZEYL"></span> | ||
== | ==First Addendum== | ||
[Of the Addenda added to the Twenty-Fifth Word, this First Addendum consists of the Seventeenth Degree of the First Station of the Seventh Ray, The Supreme Sign, on account of its station.] | |||
Knowing the aim of life in this world, and the life of life, to be belief, the tireless and insatiable traveller through the world who was questioning the universe concerning his Sustainer then said to himself: “Let us refer to the book called the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which is known as the word and speech of the One we are seeking, and is the most famous, brilliant, dominant book in the world, challenging everyone in every century who does not submit to it. But first we must prove that it is the book of our Creator.” And he started to search. | |||
Since the traveller lived at this time, he looked first at the Risale-i Nur, which consists of flashes of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, and saw that its one hundred and thirty parts are fine points and lights of the verses of that Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, and authentic explanations of them. Although through striving and endeavour the Risale-i Nur has spread the Qur’anic truths everywhere in an age as obstinate and atheistic as this, the fact that no one has opposed it successfully proves that the Qur’an, which is its master, source, authority, and sun, is heavenly and revealed, and not man’s word. | |||
Only one proof of the Qur’an out of the hundreds of the Risale-i Nur, the Twenty-Fifth Word together with the last part of the Nineteenth Letter, has proved so decisively that the Qur’an is miraculous in forty aspects that everyone who has seen them, rather than criticizing or objecting to them, has been full of wonder at their proofs, appreciating and praising them. So referring it to the Risale- i Nur to prove the Qur’an’s miraculous aspects and its being the Word of God, the traveller only noted with brief indications several points demonstrating its greatness. | |||
'''First Point:''' Just as with all its miracles and all its truths, which are an indication of its veracity, the Qur’an is a miracle of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), so too with all his miracles and the evidences of his prophethood and perfections of his knowledge, Muhammad (PBUH) is a miracle of the Qur’an, and a decisive proof that it is the Word of God. | |||
''' | |||
'''Second Point:''' The Qur’an caused a transformation in social life in this world in so luminous, happy, and truthful a fashion, and brought about such a revolution in both men’s souls, and hearts, and spirits, and minds, and in their personal lives, social lives, and political lives, and continued and directed that revolution, that every minute for fourteen centuries its six thousand six hundred and sixty-six verses have been recited with deep reverence by the tongues of at least one hundred million men, and it has trained men, purified their souls and cleansed their hearts, and has caused spirits to unfold and progress, given direction and light to minds, and vitality and happiness to life. For sure, such a book has no like; it is a wonder, a marvel, a miracle. | |||
''' | |||
'''Third Point:''' The eloquence the Qur’an has demonstrated from that age till now is illustrated by the following: it caused Labid’s daughter to remove from the walls of the Ka’ba the famous verses written in gold of the most celebrated poets called the Seven Hanging Poems, and to declare while doing so: “Beside the verses of the Qur’an these no longer have any value!” | |||
''' | |||
< | Also, when a bedouin poet heard the verse, Therefore expound openly what you are commanded (*<ref>*Qur’an, 15:94.</ref>) being recited, he bowed down in prostration. When asked if he had become a Muslim, he replied: “No, I was prostrating before the eloquence of this verse.” | ||
Also, thousands of brilliant scholars and learned literary figures like the geniuses of the science of rhetoric, ‘Abd al-Qahir Jurjani, Sakkaki, and Zamakhshari, all reached the conclusion that, “The Qur’an’s eloquence is beyond man’s power, he could not achieve it.” | |||
Also, although from that time it has continuously issued a challenge provoking conceited and egotistical orators and poets, proclaiming in a way which will sting their pride: “Produce the like of one single Sura or be resigned to ignominy and ruin in this world and the next!”, the obdurate orators of that time gave up disputing it verbally, the short way of producing the like of one Sura, and chose the way of the war, which was lengthy and threw their lives and property into peril, thus proving that it was not possible to take the short way. | |||
Also, millions of Arabic books are in circulation, written since that time by the Qur’an’s friends through the desire to resemble and imitate it, and by its enemies, driven to combat and criticize it, and such works are being written and have improved through the meeting of minds and ideas, but if even the most common man should listen to them, he would declare that none of them have reached it, saying: “The Qur’an does not resemble these and is not of their level. It is either lower than all of them or higher. No one in the world, no unbeliever, nor an idiot even, can say that it is lower, which means that the degree of its eloquence is above all of them.” | |||
< | One time, a man recited the verse, All that is in the heavens and the earth extols and glorifies God,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:1, etc.</ref>) and said: “I can’t see the eloquence in this, although it is considered wonderful.” So it was said to him, “You return to that time like the traveller, and then listen to it.” So imagining himself to be there before the Qur’an was revealed, he saw the beings of the world to be lifeless, without consciousness and duties, wretched and obscure in an unstable, transitory world in the middle of limitless, empty space. Suddenly, listening to this verse from the tongue of the Qur’an, he saw that it drew back a veil from the universe and face of the world, illuminating it. | ||
He saw that this pre-eternal address and eternal decree instructs the conscious beings lined up in the centuries, revealing the universe to be like a huge mosque, and foremost the heavens and the earth, and all beings, to be employed in the glorification and remembrance of God, enthusiastically performing their duties with joy and eagerness. He appreciated the degree of eloquence of this verse, and comparing the others to it, understood one of the thousands of instances of wisdom in the recitation of the Qur’an’s eloquence overspreading half the earth and a fifth of mankind, and, being held in utter veneration, perpetuating its sublime sovereignty for fourteen centuries without break. | |||
'''Fourth Point:''' The Qur’an displays an agreeableness so true that for those who recite it, its many repetitions, which are the cause of even the sweetest things being wearied of, do not cause weariness, rather for those whose hearts are not corrupted and taste spoilt, the repetitions increase its agreeableness. Since early times this has been accepted by everyone and become proverbial. | |||
''' | |||
Furthermore, it demonstrates such a freshness, youth, and originality that although it has lived for fourteen centuries and has been freely available to everyone, it has preserved its freshness as though newly revealed. Each century has seen it to be young as though it was addressing that century in particular. And although in order to benefit from it all the time, all the branches of scholars have always had copies of it present with them in large numbers and have followed and emulated its style and manner of expression, it has preserved the originality in its style and manner of exposition exactly. | |||
'''Fifth Point:''' One wing of the Qur’an is in the past, and one is in the future, and just as its root and one wing are the agreed truths of the former prophets, and it confirms and corroborates them, and they too confirm it with the tongue of unanimity, so too all the true sufi paths and ways of sainthood whose fruits, the saints and purified scholars, who receive life from the Qur’an, show through their vital spiritual progress that their blessed tree is living, effulgent, and the means to truth. They grow and live under the protection of its second wing, and testify that the Qur’an is pure truth and the assembly of truths and in its comprehensiveness, is a matchless wonder. | |||
''' | |||
'''Sixth Point:''' The Qur’an’s truthfulness and veracity show that its six aspects are luminous. Indeed, the pillars of argument and proof beneath it; the flashes of the stamp of miraculousness above it; the gifts of happiness in this world and the next before it, its goal; the truths of heavenly revelation, its point of support behind it; the assent and evidence of innumerable upright minds to its right; and the true tranquillity, sincere attraction, and submission of sound hearts and clean consciences on its left all prove that the Qur’an is a wondrous, firm, unassailable citadel of both the heavens and the earth. Similarly, the universe’s Disposer, Who has made it His practice to foremost always exhibit beauty in the universe, protect good and right, and eliminate imposters and liars, has set His seal on its being sheer truth and right on six levels, and not being man’s word, and its containing no error; and by giving it the most acceptable, highest, and most dominant place of respect and degree of success in the world, has confirmed and endorsed the Qur’an. | |||
''' | So too, the one who is the source of Islam and interpreter of the Qur’an – his believing in it and holding it in greater respect than everyone else, and being in a sleep-like state when it was revealed, and other words and speeches not resembling or coming near it, and that Interpreter’s describing without hesitation and with complete confidence through the Qur’an true cosmic events of generally the past and the future from behind the veil of the Unseen, and no trickery or fault being observed in him while being under the gazes of the sharpest eyes, and his believing and affirming every pronouncement of the Qur’an with all his strength and nothing shaking him, is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is revealed and true and the blessed Word of his own Compassionate Creator. | ||
Also, a fifth of mankind, indeed the greater part of it, being drawn to the Qur’an and bound to it in religion and giving ear to it eagerly desirous of the truth, and according to the testimony of many indications and events and illuminations, the jinn, angels, and spirit beings also gathering around it in truth-worshipping fashion like moths whenever it is recited is a stamp confirming the Qur’an’s acceptance by all beings and that it occupies an elevated position. | |||
Also, all the classes of mankind from the most stupid and lowly to the cleverest and most learned taking their full share of the Qur’an’s instruction and their understanding its profoundest truths, and all branches of scholars like the great interpreters of the Greater Shari’a in particular, and hundreds of Islamic sciences and branches of knowledge, and the brilliant and exacting scholars of theology and the principles of religion extracting from the Qur’an all the needs and answers for their own sciences, – this is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a source of truth and mine of reality. | |||
Also, although the Arab literary figures, who were the most advanced in regard to literature, – those of them who were not Muslims – had the greatest need to dispute the Qur’an, their avoiding producing the like of only a single Sura and its eloquence, eloquence being only one aspect of the seven major aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, as well as the famous orators and brilliant scholars up to the present who have wanted to gain fame through disputing it being unable to oppose a single aspect of its miraculousness and their remaining silent in impotence, – this is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a miracle and beyond the powers of man. | |||
Yes, the value, superiority, and eloquence of a speech or word is apparent through knowing, “from whom it has come and to whom, and for what purpose;” the Qur’an then can have no like, and none can reach it. For the Qur’an is the speech and address of the Sustainer of all the worlds and Creator of the whole universe and a dialogue in no way hinting of imitation and artificiality. It is addressed to the one sent in the name of all men, indeed of all beings, the most famous and renowned of mankind, the strength and breadth of whose belief gave rise to mighty Islam and raised its owner to the level of ‘the distance of two bow-strings’ and returned him as the addressee of the Eternally Besought One. It describes and explains the matters concerning happiness in this world and the next, the results of the creation of the universe, and the dominical purposes within it. It expounds also the belief of the one it addresses, which was the highest and most extensive, and bore all the truths of Islam. It turns and shows every side of the huge universe like a map, a clock, or a house, and teaches and describes it in the manner of the Craftsman Who made them – to produce the like of this Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition is not possible; the degree of its miraculousness cannot be attained to. | |||
Also, thousands of precise and learned scholars of high intelligence have all written commentaries expounding the Qur’an, some of which are of thirty, forty, or even seventy volumes, showing and proving through evidence and argument the innumerable qualities, fine points, characteristics, mysteries, elevated meanings, and numerous indications concerning every sort of hidden and unseen matter in the Qur’an. And the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-i Nur in particular, each of which proves with decisive arguments one quality, one fine point of the Qur’an, – all its parts, such as the Miraculousness of the Qur’an, and the Second Station of the Twentieth Word, which deduces many things from the Qur’an concerning the wonders of civilization like the railway and the aeroplane, and the First Ray, called Signs of the Qur’an, which divulges allusions of verses to the Risale-i Nur and electricity, and the eight short treatises called The Eight Signs, which show how well-ordered, full of meaning, and mysterious are the words of the Qur’an, and the small treatise proving in five aspects the miraculousness of the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath in regard to their giving news of the Unseen – each part of the Risale-i Nur shows one truth, one light of the Qur’an. All this forms a stamp confirming that the Qur’an has no like, is a miracle and a marvel, and that it is the tongue of the World of the Unseen in the Manifest World and the Word of One All-Knowing of the Unseen. | |||
Thus, due to these qualities and characteristics of the Qur’an indicated above in six points, six aspects, and six levels, its sublime, luminous sovereignty and sacred, might y rule have continued in perfect splendour illuminating the centuries and the face of the earth for one thousand three hundred years. Also, on account of these qualities of the Qur’an, each of its letters has gained the sacred distinction of yielding at least ten rewards, ten merits, and ten eternal fruits, and the letters of certain verses and Suras yielding a hundred or a thousand fruits, or even more, and at blessed times the light, reward, and value of each letter rising from ten to hundreds. The traveller through the world understood this and said to his heart: | |||
“The Qur’an, which is thus miraculous in every respect, through the consensus of its Suras, the agreement of its verses, the accord of its lights and mysteries, and the concurrence of its fruits and works, so testifies with its evidences in the form of proofs to the existence, unity, attributes, and Names of a Single Necessarily Existent One that it is from its testimony that the endless testimony of all the believers has issued forth.” | |||
Thus, in brief indication to the instruction in belief and Divine unity that the traveller received from the Qur’an, it was said in the Seventeenth Degree of the First Station: | |||
There is no god but God, the One and Unique Necessary Existent, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, the book accepted and desired by all species of angel, men and jinn, whose verses are read each minute of the year, with the utmost reverence, by hundreds of millions of men, whose sacred sovereignty over the regions of the earth and the universe and the face of time is permanent, whose spiritual and luminous authority has run over half the earth and a fifth of humanity, for more than fourteen centuries, with the utmost splendour. Testimony and proof is also given by the unanimity of its sacred and heavenly Suras, the agreement of its luminous, divine verses, the congruence of its mysteries and lights, the correspondence of its fruits and effects, by witnessing and clear vision. | |||
THE TENTH TOPIC OF THE FRUITS OF BELIEF, THE ELEVENTH RAY | |||
< | <span id="EMİRDAĞI_ÇİÇEĞİ"></span> | ||
== | ==A Flower of Emirdağ== | ||
[An extremel y powerful reply to objections raised against repetition in the Qur’an.] | |||
My Dear and Loyal Brothers! | |||
Due to my wretched situation, this Matter is confused and graceless. But I knew definitely that beneath the confused wording was a most valuable sort of miraculousness, though unfortunately I was incapable of expressing it. But however dull the wording, since it concerns the Qur’an, it is both worship in the form of reflection, and the shell of a sacred, elevated, shining jewel. The diamond in the hand should be looked at, not its torn clothes. | |||
Also, I wrote it in one or two days during Ramadan while extremely ill, wretched, and without food, of necessity very concisely and briefly, and including many truths and numerous proofs in a single sentence. Its deficiencies, then, should be overlooked!(*<ref>* As the Tenth Topic of the fruit of Denizli Prison, it is a small shining flower of Emirdağ and of this month of Ramadan. By explaining one instance of wisdom in the repetitions of the Qur’an, it dispels the poisonous, putrid illusions of the people of misguidance.</ref>) | |||
My True and Loyal Brothers! | |||
While reading the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition in Ramadan, whichever of the thirt y-three verses I came to that in the First Ray describe the allusions to the Risale-i Nur, I saw that the page and story of the verse also look to the Risale-i Nur and its Students to a degree – in so far as they have a share of the story. Particularly the Light Verses in Sura al-Nur, just as they point to the Risale-i Nur with ten fingers, so the Darkness Verses following it point directly at those opposing it; these afford a further share. Quite simply, I understood that this ‘station’ rises from particularity to universality and that one part of that universality is the Risale-i Nur and its Students. | |||
Indeed, in regard to the breadth, exaltedness, and comprehensiveness that the Qur’an’s address receives from firstly the extensive station of the universal dominicality of the Pre-Eternal Speaker, and from the extensive station of the one addressed in the name of mankind, indeed of all beings, and the most extensive station of all mankind’s guidance in all the centuries, and from the station of the most elevated comprehensive expositions of the Divine laws concerning the regulation of this world and the hereafter, the heavens and the earth, pre-eternity and post-eternity, and the dominicality of the Creator of the universe, and of all beings, this Address displays such an elevated miraculousness and comprehensiveness that both its apparent and simple level, which flatters the simple minds of ordinary people, the most numerous group the Qur’an addresses, and its highest level, partake of it. | |||
It is as though, addressing every age and every class of people, not as one share of the story or one lesson from an historical story, but as parts of a universal principle, it is newly revealed. Particularly its often repeated threats of the wrongdoers, the wrongdoers, and its severe expositions of calamities visited on the heavens and the earth, in punishment for their wrongdoing – through these and the retribution visited on the ‘Ad and Thamud peoples and on Pharaoh – it draws attention to the unequalled wrongs of this century, and through the salvation of prophets like Abraham (PUH) and Moses (PUH) gives consolation to the oppressed believers. | |||
Indeed, all past time and the departed ages and centuries, which in the view of heedlessness and misguidance form a fearsome place of non-existence and a grievous, ruined graveyard, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition shows to every century and class of people in the form of living instructive pages, strange worlds, living and endowed with spirits, and existent realms of the Sustainer which are connected with us; with an elevated miraculousness, it sometimes conveys us to those times, and sometimes brings those times to us. Infusing with life the universe, which in the view of misguidance is lifeless, wretched, dead, and a limitless wasteland revolving amid separation and decline, with the same miraculousness this same Qur’an of Might y Stature raises to life those dead beings, makes them converse with one another as officials charged with duties and hasten to the assistance of one another; it instructs mankind, the jinn, and the angels in true, luminous, and pleasurable wisdom. | |||
For sure, then, it gains sacred distinctions, like there being ten merits in each of its letters, and sometimes a hundred, a thousand, or thousands of merits; and if all men and jinn were to gather together, their being unable to produce the like of it; and its speaking completely appropriately with all mankind and all beings; and its all the time being inscribed with eagerness in the hearts of millions of hafizes; and its not causing weariness through its frequent and numerous repetitions; and despite its many obscure passages and sentences, its being settled perfectly in the delicate and simple heads of children; and its being agreeable like Zamzam water in the ears of the sick, the dying, and those distressed by a few words; and its gaining for its students happiness in this world and the next. | |||
Its smoothness of style, which, observing exactly its interpreter’s being unlettered, allows for no bombast, artificiality, or affectedness, and its descending directly from the heavens, demonstrate a fine miraculousness. So too it shows a fine miraculousness in the grace and guidance of flattering the simple minds of ordinar y people, the most numerous of the classes of men, through the condescension in its expression, and mostly opening the clearest and most evident pages like the heavens and earth, and teaching the wondrous miracles of power and meaningful lines of wisdom beneath those commonplace things. | |||
By making known that it is also a book of prayer and summons, of invocation and Divine unity, which require repetition, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness through making understood in a single sentence and a single story through its agreeable repetitions numerous different meanings to numerous different classes of people. Similarly, by making known that the most minor and unimportant things in ordinary, commonplace events are within its compassionate view and the sphere of its will and regulation, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness in attaching importance to even the minor events of the Companions of the Prophet in the establishment of Islam and codification of the Shari’a, and both in those minor events being universal principles, and, in the establishment of Islam and the Shari’a, which are general, their producing most important fruits, as though they had been seeds. | |||
With regard to repetition being necessary due to the repetition of need, the repetition of certain verses which, as answers to numerous repeated questions over a period of twenty years, instruct numerous different levels of people is not a fault, indeed, to repeat certain sentences so powerful they produce thousands of results and a number of verses resulting from countless evidences, which describe an infinite, awesome, all-embracing revolution that, by destroying utterly the vast universe and changing its shape at Doomsday, will remove the world and found the might y hereafter in its place, and will prove that all particulars and universals from atoms to the stars are in the hand and under the disposal of a single Being, and will show the Divine wrath and dominical anger –on account of the result of the universe’s creation– at mankind's wrongdoing, which brings to anger the earth and the heavens and the elements, to repeat such verses is not a fault, but most powerful miraculousness, and most elevated eloquence; an eloquence and lucid style corresponding exactly to the requirements of the subject. | |||
For example, as is explained in the Fourteenth Flash of the Risale-i Nur, the sentence, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, which forms a single verse and is repeated one hundred and fourteen times in the Qur’an, is a truth which binds the Divine Throne and the earth, and illuminates the cosmos, and for which everyone is in need all the time; if it was repeated millions of times, there would still be need for it. There is need and longing for it, not only ever y day like bread, but every moment like air and light. | |||
< | And, for example, the verse, And verily your Sustainer is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate, which is repeated eight times in Sura Ta. Sin. Mim.(*<ref>*Sura 26, al-Shu’ara.</ref>) Repeating on account of the result of the universe’s creation and in the name of universal dominicality, the salvation of the prophets whose stories are told in the Sura, and the punishments of their peoples, in order to teach that dominical dignity requires the torments of those wrongdoing peoples while Divine compassion requires the prophets’ salvation, is a concise, miraculous, and elevated miraculousness, for which, if repeated thousands of times, there would still be need and longing. | ||
< | And, for example, the verse, Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 55:13, etc.</ref>) which is repeated in Sura al-Rahman, and the verse, Woe that Day to the rejecters of truth!, in Sura al-Mursalat(*<ref>*Sura 77.</ref>) shout out threateningly to mankind and the jinn across the centuries and the heavens and the earth, the unbelief, ingratitude, and wrongdoing of those who bring the universe and the heavens and earth to anger, spoil the results of the world’s creation, and deny and respond slightingly to the majesty of Divine rule, and aggress against the rights of all creatures. If a general lesson thus concerned with thousands of truths and of the strength of thousands of matters is repeated thousands of times, there would still be need for it and its awe-inspiring conciseness and beautiful, miraculous eloquence. | ||
</ | |||
And, for example, the repetition of the phrase, Glory be unto You! There is no god but You: Mercy! Mercy! Save us, deliver us, preserve us, from Hell-fire! in the supplication of the Prophet (PBUH) called Jawshan al-Kabir, which is a true and authentic supplication of the Qur’an and a sort of summary proceeding from it. Since it contains the greatest truth and the most important of the three supreme duties of creatures in the face of dominicalit y, the glorifi cation and praise of God and declaring Him to be All-Holy, and the most awesome question facing mankind, man being saved from eternal misery, and worship, the most necessary result of human impotence, if it is repeated thousands of times, it is still few. | |||
Thus, repetition in the Qur’an looks to principles like these. Sometimes on one page, even, with regard to the requirements of the position and the need for explanation and the demands of eloquence, it expresses the truth of Divine unity perhaps twenty times explicitly and by implication. It does not cause boredom, but gives a power to it and inspires an eagerness. It has been explained in the Risale-i Nur with proofs how appropriate, fitting, and acceptable from the point of view of rhetoric are the repetitions in the Qur’an. | |||
The wisdom and meaning of the Meccan and Medinan Suras in the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition being different in regard to eloquence, miraculousness, and detail and brevity is as follows: | |||
In Mecca, the first line of those it was addressing and those opposed to it were the Qurayshi idolators and untaught tribesmen, so a powerful and elevated style in regard to rhetoric was necessary, and a miraculous, convincing, persuasive conciseness, and in order to establish it, repetition was required. Thus, in most of the Meccan Suras, repeating and expressing the pillars of belief and degrees in the affirmation of Divine unity with a most powerful, elevated, and miraculous conciseness, it proved so powerfully the first creation and the Resurrection, God and the hereafter, not only in a single page, verse, sentence or word, but sometimes in a letter, through grammatical devices like inverting the words or sentences, making a word indefinite, and omissions and inclusions, that the geniuses and leaders of the science of rhetoric met it with wonder. | |||
The Risale-i Nur, and the Twenty-Fifth Word and its Addenda in particular, which prove in summary forty aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, and the Qur’anic commentary, Isharat al-I’az, from the Arabic Risale-i Nur, which in wondrous fashion proves the aspect of the Qur’an’s miraculousness in its word-order, have demonstrated in fact that in the Meccan Suras and verses are the highest styles of eloquence and the most elevated, concise miraculousness. | |||
Risale-i Nur | |||
As for the Medinan Suras and verses, since the first line of those they were addressing, who opposed them, were the People of the Book, such as the Jews and Christians who affirmed God’s existence, what was required by eloquence and guidance and for the discussion to correspond to the situation, was not explanation of the high principles of religion and pillars of belief in a simple, clear, and detailed style, but the explanation of particular matters of the Shari’a and its injunctions, which were the cause of dispute, and the origins and causes of secondary matters and general laws. Thus, in the Medinan Suras and verses, through explanations in a detailed, clear, simple style, in the matchless manner of exposition peculiar to the Qur’an, it mostly mentions within those particular secondary matters, a powerful and elevated summary; a conclusion and proof, a sentence relating to Divine unity, belief, or the hereafter which makes the particular matter of the Shari’a universal and ensures that it conforms to belief in God. It illuminates the passage, and elevates it. | |||
The Risale-i Nur has proved the qualities and fine points and elevated eloquence in the summaries and conclusions, which express Divine unity and the hereafter, and come mostly at the end of verses, like: | |||
Risale-i Nur, | Indeed, God is Powerful over all things. * Verily God has knowledge of all things. * And He is the Mighty, the Wise. * And He is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate. In explaining in the Second Beam of the Second Light of the Twenty-Fifth Word, ten out of the many fine points of those summaries and conclusions, it has proved to the obstinate that they contain a supreme miracle. | ||
Yes, in expounding those secondary matters of the Shari’a and laws of social life, the Qur’an at once raises the views of those it addresses to elevated and universal points, and transforming a simple style into an elevated one and instruction in the Shari’a to instruction in Divine unity, it shows it is both a book of law and commands and wisdom, and a book of the tenets of faith and belief, and of invocation and reflection and summons. And through teaching many of the aims of Qur’anic guidance in every passage, it displays a brilliant and miraculous eloquence different to that of the Meccan Suras. | |||
Sometimes in two words, for example, in Sustainer of All the Worlds and Your Sustainer, through the phrase, Your Sustainer, it expresses Divine oneness, and through, Sustainer of All the Worlds, Divine unity. It expresses the Divine oneness within Divine unity. In a single sentence even it sees and situates a particle in the pupil of an eye, and with the same verse, the same hammer, it situates the sun in the sky, making it an eye to the sky. | |||
< | For example, after the verse, Who created the heavens and the earth, following the verse, He merges the night into the day, and He merges the day into the night,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:13.</ref>) it says: And He has full knowledge of all that is in [men’s] hearts.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:38.</ref>) It says: “Within the vast majesty of the creation of the earth and the skies, He knows and regulates also the thoughts of the heart.” And through an exposition of this sort, transforms that simple and unlettered level and particular discussion which takes into account the minds of ordinary people, into an elevated, attractive, and general conversation for the purpose of guidance. | ||
'''A Question:''' “Sometimes an important truth is not apparent to a superficial view, and in some positions the connection is not known when an elevated summary concerning Divine unity or a universal principle is drawn from a minor and ordinary matter, and it is imagined to be a fault. For example, to mention the extremely elevated principle: And over all endued with knowledge, One Knowing(*<ref>*Qur’an, 12:76.</ref>) | |||
''' | when Joseph (Peace be upon him) seized his brother through subterfuge, does not appear to be in keeping with eloquence. What is its meaning and purpose?” | ||
</ | |||
'''The Answer:''' In most of the long and middle-length Suras, which are each small Qur’ans, and in many pages and passages, not only two or three aims are followed, for by its nature the Qur’an comprises many books and teachings, such as being a book of invocation, belief, and reflection, and a book of law, wisdom, and guidance. Thus, since it describes the majestic manifestations of Divine dominicality and its encompassing all things, as a sort of recitation of the mighty book of the universe, it follows many aims in every discussion and sometimes on a single page; while instructing in knowledge of God, the degrees in Divine unity, and the truths of belief, with an apparently weak connection it opens another subject of instruction in the following passage, joining powerful connections to the weak one. It corresponds perfectly to the discussion and raises the level of eloquence. | |||
''' | |||
'''A Second Question:'''“What is the purpose of the Qur’an proving and drawing attention to the hereafter, Divine unity, and man’s reward and punishment thousands of times, explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and teaching them in every Sura, on every page, and in every discussion?” | |||
''' | |||
'''The Answer:''' To instruct in the most important, most significant, and most | |||
''' | awesome matters in the sphere of contingency and in the revolutions in the universe’s history concerning man’s duty, the means to his eternal misery or happiness – man who undertook the vicegerency of the earth – and to remove his countless doubts and to smash his violent denials and obduracy, indeed, to make man confirm those awesome revolutions and submit to those most necessary essential matters which are as great as the revolutions, if the Qur’an draws his attention to them thousands, or even millions of times, it is not excessive, for those discussions in the Qur’an are read millions of times, and they do not cause boredom, nor does the need cease. | ||
< | For example, since the verse,For those who believe and do righteous deeds are gardens beneath which rivers flow,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 85:11.</ref>) They will dwell there for ever.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 5:85, etc.</ref>) shows the truth of the good news of eternal happiness, which “saves from the eternal execution of the reality of death, which every moment shows itself to wretched man, both himself, and his world, and all those he loves, and gains for them an everlasting sovereignty,” if it is repeated thousands of millions of times and given the importance of the universe, it still is not excessive and does not lose its value. | ||
</ | |||
Thus, in teaching the innumerable, invaluable matters of this sort, and endeavouring to persuade, convince, and prove the occurrence of the awesome revolutions which will destroy the present form of the universe and transform it as though it was a house, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition certainly draws attention to these matters thousands of times times explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and this is not excessive, but renews the bounty which is like an essential need, the same as the essential needs of bread, medicine, air, and light are renewed. | |||
And, for example, as is proved decisively in the Risale-i Nur, the wisdom in the Qur’an repeating severely, angrily, and forcefully, threatening verses like, For wrong-doers there is a grievous penalty.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 14:22.</ref>) But for those who reject [God] – for them will be the Fire of Hell.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:36.</ref>) is that man’s unbelief is such a transgression against the rights of the universe and most creatures that it makes the heavens and earth angry and brings the elements to anger so that they deal blows on those wrong-doers with tempest and storm. According to the clear statement of the verses, | |||
And when they are cast therein, they will hear the [terrible] drawing-in of its breath as it blazes forth * Almost bursting with fury,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 67:7-8.</ref>) Hell so rages at those iniquitous deniers that it almost disintegrates with fury. | |||
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Thus, through the wisdom of showing, not from the point of view of man’s smallness and insignificance before such a general crime and boundless aggression, but the importance of the rights of the Monarch of Universe’s subjects before the greatness of the wrongful crime and the awesomeness of the unjust aggression, and the boundless ugliness in the unbelief and iniquity of those deniers – in accordance with the wisdom of showing this, if repeating in His decree most wrathfully and severely the crime and its punishment, thousands, millions, or even thousands of millions of times, it still would not be excessive and a fault, because for a thousand years thousands of millions of people have read such verses every day, not with boredom, but with complete eagerness and need. | |||
Indeed, every day, all the time, for everyone, one world disappears and the door of a new world is opened to them. Through repeating There is no god but God a thousand times out of need and with longing in order to illuminate each of those transitory worlds, it makes There is no god but God a lamp for each of those changing veils. In the same way, in accordance with the wisdom of appreciating through reading the Qur’an the penalties of those crimes and the severe threats of the Pre-Eternal Monarch, which smash their obduracy, and of working to be saved from the rebellion of the soul, so as not to obscure in darkness those multiple, fleeting veils and renewed travelling universes, and not to make ugly their images which are reflected in the mirrors of their lives, and not to turn against them those guest views which may testify in favour of them, the Qur’an repeats them in most meaningful fashion. Even Satan would shudder at imagining to be out of place these so powerful, severe, and repeated threats of the Qur’an. It shows that the torments of Hell are pure justice for the deniers who do not heed them. | |||
And, for example, in repeating many times the stories of Moses (Peace be upon him), which contain many instances of wisdom and benefits, like that of the Staff of Moses, and of the other prophets (Peace be upon them), it demonstrates that the prophethoods of all the other prophets are a proof of the veracity of the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), and that one who does not deny all of them cannot in truth deny his messengership. For this purpose, and since everyone does not always have the time or capability to read the whole Qur’an, it repeats those stories in the same way as the important pillars of belief, in order to make all the long and middle-length Suras each like a small Qur’an. To repeat them then is not excessive, it is required by eloquence, and teaches that the question of Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest question of mankind and the most important matter of the universe. | |||
It has been demonstrated decisively in the Risale-i Nur with many proofs and indications that through giving the highest position to the person of Muhammad in the Qur’an and including him in four pillars of belief and holding Muhammad is the Messenger of God equal to the pillar of There is no god but God, that the Messengership of Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest truth in the universe, and that the Person of Muhammad is the most noble of creatures, and his universal collective personality and sacred rank, known as the Muhammadan Truth, is the most radiant Sun of the two worlds. His worthiness for this extraordinary position has also been proved. One of these proofs is this: | |||
According to the principle of ‘the cause is like the doer,’ with the equivalent of all the good works performed by all his community at all times entering his book of good works; and the light which he brought illuminating all the truths of the cosmos; and his gratifying not only the jinn, mankind, and animate beings, but also the universe and the heavens and earth; and the supplications of plants, offered through the tongue of disposition, and the supplications of animals offered through the tongue of their innate need, and the righteous of his (PBUH) community every day bequeating to him their benedictions and supplications for mercy and spiritual gains, whose millions –and together with spirit beings, even, millions of millions– of unrejectable supplications are accepted, as we actually witness with our eyes; and since each of the three hundred thousand letters of the Qur’an yield from a hundred to a thousand merits, with infinite numbers of lights entering the book of his deeds, only with regard to the recitation of the Qur’an by all his community, the One All-Knowing of the Unseen saw and knew that the Muhammadan (PBUH) Reality, which is his collective personalit y, would in the future be like a Tuba-tree of Paradise. It was in accordance with that position that He gave him such supreme importance in the Qur’an, and in His Decree showed the following of him and receiving of his intercession through adhering to his Illustrious Sunna to be one of the most important matters concerning man. And from time to time He took into consideration his human personality and human state in his early life, which was a seed of the majestic Tuba-tree. | |||
Thus, since the truths repeated in the Qur’an are of this value, all sound natures will testify that in its repetitions is a powerful and extensive miracle. Unless, that is to say, a person is afflicted with some sickness of the heart and malady of the conscience due to the plague of materialism, and is included under the rule, | |||
Man denied the light of the sun due to disease of the eye, His mouth denied the taste of water due to sickness. | |||
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=== | ===TWO ADDITIONS, WHICH FORM A CONCLUSION TO THE TENTH TOPIC=== | ||
'''THE FIRST:''' | |||
''' | |||
Twelve years ago I heard that a most fearsome and obdurate atheist had instigated a conspiracy against the Qur’an, which was to have it translated. He said: “The Qur’an should be translated so that everyone can know just what it is.” That is, he hatched a dire plan with the idea of everyone seeing its unnecessar y repetitions and its translation being read in its place. | |||
However, the irrefutable proofs of the Risale-i Nur proved decisively that “A true translation of the Qur’an is not possible, and other languages cannot preserve the Qur’an’s qualities and fine points in place of the grammatical language of Arabic. Man’s trite and partial translations cannot be substituted for the miraculous and comprehensive words of the Qur’an, every letter of which yields from ten to a thousand merits; they may not be read in its place in mosques.” Through spreading everywhere, the Risale-i Nur made the fearsome plan come to nothing. I surmise that it was due to the idiotic and lunatic attempts of dissemblers to extinguish the Sun of the Qur’an on account of Satan by puffing at it like silly children having taken lessons from that atheist, that I was inspired to write this Tenth Matter while under great constraint and in a most distressing situation. But I do not know the reality of the situation since I have been unable to meet with others. | |||
'''SECOND ADDITION:''' | |||
''' | |||
After our release from Denizli Prison, I was staying on the top floor of the famous Şehir Hotel. The subtle and graceful dancing of the leaves, branches, and trunks of the many poplar trees in the fine gardens opposite me at the touching of the breeze, each with a rapturous and ecstatic motion like a circle of dervishes, pained my heart, sorrowful and melancholy at being parted from my brothers and remaining alone. Suddenly the seasons of autumn and winter came to mind and a heedlessness overcame me. I so pitied those graceful poplars and living creatures swaying with perfect joyousness that my eyes filled with tears. With this reminder of the separations and non-being beneath the ornamented veil of the universe, the grief at a world-full of deaths and separations pressed down on me. | |||
Denizli | |||
Then suddenly, the Light the Muhammadan (PBUH) Truth had brought came to my assistance and transformed my grief and sorrow into joy. Indeed, I am eternally grateful to the Muhammadan Being (PBUH) for the assistance and consolation which alleviated my situation at that time, only a single instance of the boundless effulgence of that Light for me, like for all believers and everyone. It was like this: | |||
By showing those blessed and delicate creatures to be without function orpurpose, and their motion to be not out of joy, but as though trembling on the brink of non-existence and separation and tumbling into nothingness, that heedless view so touched the feelings in me of desire for permanence, love of good things, and compassion for fellow-creatures and life that it transformed the world into a sort of hell and my mind into an instrument of torture. Then, just at that point, the Light Muhammad (Peace and blessings by upon him) had brought as a gift for mankind raised the veil; it showed in place of extinction, non-being, nothingness, purposeless, futility, and separations, meanings and instances of wisdom to the number of the leaves of the poplars, and as is proved in the Risale-i Nur, results and duties which may be divided into three sorts: | |||
'''The First Sort'''looks to the All-Glorious Maker’s Names. For example, if a master craftsman makes a wondrous machine, everyone applauds him, saying: “What wonders God has willed! Blessed be God!” Similarly, the machine congratulates the craftsman through the tongue of its disposition, through displaying perfectly the results intended from it. All living beings and all things are machines such as that; they applaud their Craftsman through their glorifications. | |||
''' | |||
'''The Second Sort''' of the Instances of Wisdom looks to the views of living creatures and conscious beings. Beings each become an agreeable object of study, a book of knowledge. They leave their meanings in the sphere of existence in the minds of conscious beings and their forms in their memories, and on the tablets in the World of Similitudes, and in the notebooks of the World of the Unseen, then they depart from the Manifest World and withdraw to the World of the Unseen. That is, they leave behind an apparent existence, but gain many existences pertaining to meaning, the Unseen, and knowledge. | |||
''' | |||
Yes, since God exists and His knowledge encompasses everything, in the view of reality, in the world of believers there is surely no non- being, extinction, nothingness, annihilation, and transitoriness, while the world of unbelievers is full of non-existence, separation, nothingness, and transience. This is taught by the saying, which is on everyone’s lips, “For those for whom God exists, everything exists; and for those for whom He does not exist, nothing exists; for them there is nothing.” | |||
'''IN SHORT:''' Just as belief saves man from eternal annihilation at the time of death, so it saves everyone’s private world from the darknesses of annihilation and nothingness. Whereas unbelief, and especially if it is absolute unbelief, both sends man and his private world to non-existence with death, and casts him into infernal darknesses. It transforms the pleasures of life into bitter poisons. Let the ears ring of those who prefer the life of this world to that of the hereafter! Let them come and find a solution for this, or else let them embrace belief and be saved from these dreadful losses! | |||
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:32.</ref>) | |||
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From your brother who is in much need of your prayers and misses you greatly, | |||
'''Said Nursî''' | '''Said Nursî''' | ||
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<center> [[Yirmi Dördüncü Söz]] ⇐ | [[Sözler]] | ⇒ [[Yirmi Altıncı Söz]] </center> | <center> [[Yirmi Dördüncü Söz/en|The Twenty-Fourth Word]] ⇐ | [[Sözler/en|The Words]] | ⇒ [[Yirmi Altıncı Söz/en|The Twenty-Sixth Word]] </center> | ||
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