Part Two
In
Part Two, we look into detail regarding the divisions of the surahs and
verses of Quran as described by the author and its beautiful
explanation.The
author explains the Six aims of the Quran. He compares and
metaphorizes the aims to brim stones and jewels. The Highest of the
aim is like the red brim stone which is dazzling and precious. This
is the “Knowing of Allah Swt himself”. It is known as Al Maarifa
( The Knowledge). It is the Epitome of knowledge and the highest
stage a person can achieve. The Al Maarifa comprises of sub sections
which are the Knowledge of the essence of the true One, His
attributes, and his words.
These
topics of the knowledge are like corundum and as the corundum have
grades, knowledge is of different grades and stages. Among these the
most precious is the knowledge of his essence and the most difficult
to understand and comprehend. Then comes his attributes which is
explained in the Quran. It is like the Bluish-Grey corundum and last
is God’s work (The Yellow ones). The knowledge of his essence is the most
puzzling and difficult to acquire and one needs to attain a level of
maturity in the ilm of quran to understand it as Allah himself says
“Laisa kamisli shaiyan”.
As
for the attributes, the scope is wide and a lot of details are
present. The divine works are compared to the sea whose shores are
wide and long. He says that among the works of Allah there are some
which are prevalent and which are hidden from senses and the noblest
of his works are that which are invisible ( Alam al-malakut). He
mentions about the (Al karubiyun) or the Arch angels who are
among the noblest and purest of the creatures of Allah ,who know
nothing but to serve Allah. This brings to the topic of the arrogance
and haughtiness of the human beings when they think that they are the
fullest of the creations of Allah to whom there is no comparison. But
to show the insignificance of the human population, Imam Ghazzali
mentions about the white earth were there are creatures thirty times
more than earth’s and they know nothing about this disobedient
creature called humans and nor do they know about iblis. They follow the orders of Allah and that is their aim. This Hadith
is narrated by Ibn Abbas (r.a).
The
emphasis is on the fact that humans are limited by senses and
imagination and this is just the rind of the pith and the pith
contains much much more .The second division concerns the definition
of the path to God.Allah says in the Quran “ Devout yourself to him
very devoutly”(Quran 73:8) and this is achieved by advancing
towards him and betraying the things that are against and not from
his principles. To achieve it one needs to be in constant
remembrance of Allah and be in prayer. This is defined as a journey(
As Safar) to God and the remarkable feature of this particular
journey is that there is no moving of ones self towards Allah nor
Allah comes to him as both are in reality together. This principle of
Sufism is a key fundamental point of spirituality where it shows
Allah’s omnipotence and the secret lies in finding this so that
both are together in spirit and the journey is successful. This is
mentioned in Quran 50:15 where Allah says “We are nearer to him
than his jugular vein”.
Imam
Ghazzali beautifully exemplifies this notion by the use of Mirror.
The seeker and the sought are like a picture in the mirror. It is
because of rust or dirt that one does not see the picture but if you
polish and clean, the image is revealed. This is not by any movement
to the sought after but by polishing. By removing the veil, Allah’s
essence is revealed and is not concealed as light cannot be concealed
and God is the light of the heavens and the earth. This is also an
explanation of the verse “Allahu nooru samawathi wal ardh”. The
only reason one does not see light is because of a veil that does not
allow the light to hit our eyes or by some kind of defect in the
vision and this is the same way one sees Allah. Imam Ghazzali also
explains this concept in view of the questions of the
traditionalists, literalists and the like ( and also some erred concepts
in Islamic Mysticism) by saying that once the light is revealed
people imagine Allah is in the soul as the picture is in the mirror and
the human nature (nasut) has put on divine nature (lasut) but Allah
confirms with his words ( Quran 14:27) and it is seen that the
picture in the mirror in actuality is not present inside the mirror
but only reflected in it and the reflection is not the thing. Allah
is revealed to different people at the same time and hence it is the
essence which is experienced by humans. It depends upon your closeness to Allah and the amount of Ibadah and iman a person has.
The
third division defines man’s condition at the time of his meet with
God. It includes the humiliation and punishment that one will face
for their evils and also the good things awaiting the believers. He
explains it by saying that the most painful of the punishment is the
veil or hijab that will separate the person from Allah.Allah distance
himself from such people and this is the toughest of the punishments
that the disbelievers will face. This division
explains about the properties of the people of hell and heaven , the
attributes, the events etc and these are regarded as the green
christolytes.
The
fourth division concerns about the condition of the people who are
with Allah and those who denied him, like the prophets of Allah and the
evil people like Firoun,Qarun etc. This divisions illustrate the
descriptions of the
people who deny Allah and also of the secrets of the people of Allah
like the prophets. This division is compared to the Grey ambergris and
aloe wood found in the seas.
The
fifth division consists of the arguments of the infidels against the
truth and explanation of their errors by obvious proofs.
Their falsehood is of three kinds. One is that they speak of God in
terms of Human qualities such as associating daughters with him or
partners. Secondly they deny the Prophet saws and accuse him of being
a liar and soothsayer.And the third is the denial of the day of resurrection and the last day.
The
sixth division is the fulfillment of the commitments, and the way the
path has to be trodden. It consists of the way in which a person can
follow Islam, the laws binding a person to Islam, the legal nuances,
the rules and regulations etc which will keep a Muslim in the right
path. The topics of usury, charities, marriage, the laws of dowry ,
nikah, divorce, financial laws and all that governs the Islamic way
of life is mentioned in the verses of this sixth division. These are
numerous and are straight forward and easy to understand and
implement so that the ultimate aim of reaching to Allah swt is
achieved.
