Explaining Kitab Jawahir al-Quran: A reader's understanding of the Book Part-1

Explaining Kitab Jawahir al-Quran

A readers understanding of the Book Part-1

 

 

A valuable Book for all Quran researchers and lovers and a beginning for those who would like to dwell into the pearls of this magnificent holy treasure , Kitab Jawahir al-Quran is a fine piece of allegorical explanation of the content and heart of Quran, why it is to be read and what to find as a logical thinker and as a spiritual soul. More of a soul’s thirst quencher this is a phenomenon in spiritual writing.

Abu Hamid Al Ghazzali (d.505 AH/1111AD) was a prominent islamic philosopher most famous for his milestone work Ihya Uloomuddin which made the sufi doctrine acceptable to the mainstream islamic circle. He was known as the Proof of Islam ( Hujjah al islam) and the ornament of religion (Zain ud din).In his later years after the completion of the major works , Al-Ghazzali explained his understanding of quran with this book “ Kitab Jawahir al-Quran” The Book of Jewels of Quran. The Book is a source of much of our understanding on Al-Ghazzali’s view and knowledge of the quran.

This is the translation of his glorious work by the scholar Muhammad Abdul Quasem who has beautifully reflected the text into english.

The Book is a great explanation on the beauty of Quran and its theory with an elaboration on the division of its contents and core value of its text. It includes the Maqasid (aims) of the Quran and its theory .The first chapter explains the contents in brief.

The Book consists of 3 parts: 1.) Introductory matters

2.)On the aims of the Quran

3.) Matters connected to the aims

In the first part the section is divided into 19 chapters explaining this section in detail. The 19 chapters are listed in the content and a brief is given on it.

1. The quran is like an Ocean which covers many types of jewels.
2. The limiting of the aims of the Quran and its valuables to six divisions of which three are important principles and the other three follow them and complete them.
3. The explanation of the six divisions and its branching into Ten.
4. The process by which all branches of sciences branch of from these ten divisions. The sciences are divided into the science of the outer shell and inner jewels.
5. how sciences of the ancients and modern branch off from the Quran.
6. The concepts of Quran comprising of red Brimstone,greatest antidote and the strongest musk and all other jewels and pearls.
7. The reason of why all the entities of the invisible world is explained with similitude in the visible world.
8. The understanding of the connection between the visible and invisible worlds.
9. Analysis of the allegories.
10. Its benefits.
11. How some verses of quran excel others.
12. The secrets of Surah Fathiha, description of Arrahman and Araheem.
13. The eight doors of heaven with the surah Fathiha being the key.
14. Why the verse of throne is regarded as chief of quranic verses.
15. An investigation into why surah Ikhlas is equal to a third part of Quran.
16. Why surah Yasin is considered to be heart of Quran.
17. Why Prophet (saws) considered Surah Fathiha as best surah of quran and verse of throne as chief of quranic verses
18. Condition of the gnostics (Aarifun)
19. Secret reason for stringing the jewels of quran on one string and its pearls on the other.

The second part deals with the aims and comprises of the essence of the quranic verses which are of two kinds. The first consists of jewels which are verses concerning the essence of Allah and his attributes. These are known as cognitive part ( al qism al ilmi) .The second consists of the pearls which are verses regarding the straight path, the way of life ,the works which need to be done to achieve the straight path. This is the practical part ( al qism al amali).

The First Chapter begins with the verse

“Do they not ponder over the Quran in order to understand its deep meaning , or is it that their minds are locked up from within? “(Quran 47:24)

The author beautifully requests the readers to arise from sleep and describes the people who only read the Quran at the surface or only know the meaning of it as the ones who are at the shore of the ocean and has not dived into the ocean to find the treasures of Quran. He motivates to sail into the ocean and gather all the jewels of the Quran to understand the significance and royalty of the Quran.

The Impressiveness of the book is due to the fact that it is based on the concept of jewels and precious allegories and metaphorical representation of the topics and verses into pearls and jewels imbibing a keen fantasy and worldly image in the minds of the reader which helps in understanding the concepts of the much deep and invisible meanings and interpretations of the Quranic language. The book explains the jewels as red brimstone, shining pearls, green chrysolite and strongest of the musks, and other metaphors.

In the second chapter the aims and the valuables are explained in a clearer fashion. The Surahs of the Quran are divided into six types. Three of them are the important ones and the other three follow them. The three important ones are the definition of God, the definition of the straight path, and the definition of the condition at the time of attaining to him.

The other three divisions are the conditions of those who answer the call of God. It describes the dealing of God with man. It also describes about the people who do not answer to call of god and about the punishment they will face. The second narration describes the condition of who deny the God and their disgrace in denial of God and in being on the side of falcity. The third division defines the path to god, the preparation and the provisions.

The Book is as though a journey through the sea in a ship, cruising through the beauty of Quran and the author takes you into the world of holiness through this journey….

The Legality

An old piece of writing from my attic (android attic)

The Legality

 

The matter of law is always disputed and varies in different parts of the world. It is seen that certain rules and laws vary to a complete opposite when moving from place to place. This makes legal decision a gimmick at places as it is legal now and illegal then or the other way round. The base of a decision by law depends not on the law but the environment and the circumstances prevalent there and more than that it is in how the matter is shown rather than what the matter is.

As someone said there are no good people and bad people but there are people with good and bad in themselves, so is the matter of law. Laws are made to be broken, changed and twisted according to the person and environment bringing in a new law and maybe that’s applicable only for a certain community. So any social custom, rule or law becomes good as well as bad, a sort of relativity. A good example is the way males and females think. A habit seen as bad by the female maybe seen as good by the male and vice versa.

But human conscience suggests that there should be a true law, a real right and wrong and who decides it is a question. It brings us to the god theory or the reality of God, someone who is there before time and will be present after time and hence would make the right and the wrong. The working of the existential present (The world) is such that something that is legal now was illegal before and the other way round. Understanding this working gives the picture of the plan that is running this world, the plan of god. It is not a law that runs this world but a plan and the plan changes lawful and unlawful, bringing illegal to legal and legal to the illegal framework.

Man-made laws are sometimes inspired by god or nature’s inevitable rules which are followed by all except humans. Humans have the tendency to break it and make it. This gives the proof for the instability of certain laws according to the situation. Human beings tend to deviate from any set of norms and hence the laws and rules he creates may also vary from right to wrong or wrong to right.

As far as the rule of god is concerned, it relies on the plan and it runs according to the plan. The laws and rules do not matter within the framework of his plan. Belief in the plan itself is the law.

Destined to Live

“Sahl bin Saad (ra) narrated that prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said “some people ( in Allah's preordained destiny) even though are people of heaven will perform acts as though they are people of hell and some who are people of hell will perform acts of the people of heaven. It is the acts/deeds that are performed at the end or nearest to death which will be the decisive factor ."

Life is as it flows. One wonders what life is and how it moves through the time frame  and in this flow fate is something confusing and interpreted. Fate or destiny and its relation to morals and values is a study of its own and this is one of the theories of Islam. Preordained destiny or Qadr is part of Islamic belief but how it is manifested is a question that makes thinkers and philosophers ponder .

As this hadith states, people are destined for heaven or hell but their actions may be different. The weight age values more. When it is said that one’s destiny is already decided then why are actions important would be a question but why not think of it as part of destiny.In other words the actions performed are as the destiny  has it and the actions are part of the destiny. But since this hadith mentions about the concept of changing destiny the actions can help in changing ones destiny. So how or what destiny is and how is it related to man is intriguing.

To explain the above notion this hadith narrated by Ali (ra) can be read. 

Ali (ra) narrated that prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said that there is no one among you whose position in hell or heaven has not been decided or written already. The Sahabas (comrades) asked “oh messenger of Allah if so then why not live as per the destiny and withhold from doing any Amal(good deeds) . “ The Prophet replied “You perform the deeds and whatever is written in one’s destiny it will be made easier to them. The victorious will be allowed to perform good deeds and the losers will be allowed to perform bad deeds.” Then the prophet recited Surah 92 Verses 5 to 10:

As for him who gave out his wealth for Allah’s sake and abstained from disobeying and affirmed the truth of goodness we shall facilitate for him the way to bliss. As for him who was a miser and behaved with aversion and denied the truth of goodness we shall facilitate for him the way of hardship

As the hadith mentioned above portrays, life is something which is in between what is decided and what is to be decided. It is action and plan on the same coordinate. A relative plasma where the happening and the should be happening coincides giving one view called “lifespan”. It is really difficult to think of the present and the future together but this is indeed known as destiny, an amalgam of the present and the future.

One famous hadith known to most, talks about tying the camel to the pole and then praying for it to not go loose which depicts the present in future. What may happen might have been decided but we take precautions since we cannot think in two dimensions. Reality is running in two dimensions. The reason why one cannot decide on his future is because of destiny (qadr) but the zeal to work towards a dream or goal comes from action. When these go hand in hand it creates hi-s-tory.

 This is similar to the wave and particular nature of matter. At a time only one is prominent or existing to vision. Destiny and action are the same and it compliments each other or is transparent and dissolves in one another. Maybe it is one and the same but different manifestations.

“The cross-over of two frames result in dimensional collision and life is one such phenomenon.”





ref: 
Saheeh Bukhari wa muslim(muthafaqqun alaih):samyuktha paribasha by Ibrahim Puthoor faisy 
  -kitab ul jihad,kitab ul maqasi
  -kitab ul iman,kitab ul qadr

The Holy Quran (Surah 92 Verse5-10)

Kissing The Sun

The highest points in the Gulf, the place where the sun meets the earth. This is what Jabel Shams is all about. Jabel Shams translated as the sun mountain due to the fact that Oman sees its dusk and dawn on this peak first is the highest peak in the Middle East standing at 3009 m at its summit. It stood with pride among the Hajar range and looked splendorous.

We started off at dawn from Muscat reaching Nizwa through the beautiful way covering small and large Rocky Mountains and we could see the Hajar range basking in glory. We reached Nizwa and had breakfast and set off for the mountains. The town of Nizwa was a historic one. Elected as the Islamic cultural capital of Oman, it lives the Omani tradition. The Nizwa fort and Souq showed the old architecture and the walled city in it. We moved forward to reach near Bahla to proceed towards the Hamra-Jabel Shams road. Soon we reached Hamra and moved towards Jabel Shams. The track was winding and we could see the mountain range closing towards us. We were surrounded by mountains, blue grey and brown with spots of green Date Palms and farm fields. Soon we reached Nakhur were the ancient ruins of Persians still survived. The road started the ascend. It was picturesque and with the usual Omani shades of brown. This land is amazing and mystical. An aura of mystique surrounds you while you travel to the interiors of Oman and we felt it here as well.

The climb was winding and we could see the below villages getting smaller and smaller. The Date Palms and green fields got tinier as the weather got colder. The air was much crispier. Soon the terrain got grayer and steeper until we saw a mesmerizing view of the below land. It was Hamra I suppose but I could see the white buildings at the horizon and a curtain of haze on it. Soon the tar track ended and the muddy brown tracks appeared. We travelled long along the dusty rugged terrain until we reached the view point. It was breath taking. The massive high peaks formed narrow deep chasms into the ground down below. The place was at around 2400m and it looked boisterous.

The mountain formed gorges and crevasses into the land below. It was as though the piece was cut out of the mountains. We moved ahead towards the village of khitaym to take our trekking pass. The grand canyon of Oman as it is called lay in front of us. This large natural wonder is simply breathtaking. It is said to be the second largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in the US and is named the Grand Canyon of Oman. It lays at a height of 3009m at the summit( varies from 2980m to 3009m) and the canyon dives in to the deep. The gorge beneath is known as Wadi Ghul. The entire canyon can be circumvented through the trekking pass of W6 which is a balcony walk around the canyon.

The weather was cool at 16c and it helped during the trek. It was a really splendid journey. As we got down to the pass, we could see the majestic cliff in its brown rising up from the gorge beneath. A few date palms and shrubs were seen below. Jabel Shams is famous for its juniper trees. The hills and the mountains that we passed by were spotted with twirling barks of the juniper trees. At one of the valleys nearing the summit, there were numerous of them.  It looked as though an old frail man was looking at us with his hands resting on his chin. I thought of it as a time teller, who stayed there from time immemorial saying stories of the past. Some of the juniper trees were really old. The main flora of this place is its beautiful juniper trees with their dusty green canopy and the wild olives that grew here and there. Apart from these there were the usual thorny shrubs of the semi-arid terrain. The trail that we took was also the same with junipers and the thorny shrubs. As we walked down , we could see the mountain goats at sides chewing shrubs and leaves standing at the edge. I wondered how they could do this with their hoofs. It was fascinating. The goats were beautiful with their silky hairs and wide eyes yet looked sturdy with pride. They were better climbers than us and I wondered at them. Some clung onto the rocks and were walking upwards. Soon we reached the middle of our climb down. The village of sab stood there at the edge.

This view was breathtaking. The ancient village of Sab Bani Khamis and its ruins were found at the edge of this cliff. The mud bricked houses and a store stood there vertical onto the cliff and was a piece of early engineering marvel. The houses are said to have outlets towards to the lower areas and stay there clinging onto the edge. They brown and seen as though inserted into the cliff walls. They are said to be the village of the khamsamsah tribe who have shifted to Hamra and other villages below. Soon we reached the terrace cultivation lands created at the edge of this cliff. It was dry and abandoned but looked splendor. At the end of this pass was the tower overlooking the Grand Canyon. We climbed up and were greeted with a beautiful view. The entire land ahead was visible. We could see the Hamra with haze on it.

We climbed down and proceeded further. The rocks were large and boulder-like. We climbed them with little bit of difficulty since we weren’t prepared much for this trip. We had our water bottles and they were almost empty. As we climbed we could see the edge of the pool. This was one breathtaking view. Soon after the climb, tucked inside the edge of the cliff lie a shallow but large pool. The water dropped down from the rocks above and the pool looked emerald. It was cool, a soothing coolness. This was balcony view. We climbed down and sat beside the pool. It was a nature pool tucked into the edge of the bowl.

After lying down in the pool enjoying the coolness of the water we returned back. We saw slithery salamanders on the way. Grey dull ones slithered along the rocks. The return was tougher since we had no water with us. The temperature dipped to 8c and was really cool. The walk across the edge of the canyon was a tip-toe when seen from far. When we looked back at the route we took, we didn’t seen one. It looked plain edge all the way down the 2400 meters.

Soon we reached the starting point. The mountain stood behind us grand and pride. The shadows went deep down forming brown and grey together. It was majestic and the sun was dipping down behind the mountains. It was as though the sun rested on a throne or a royal chalice. It was indeed the mountain of the sun with the orange and crimson behind the cliff of brown and blue….

We kissed him, we kissed the sun.

The City Awakes

The breeze, felt i

The sound of a sigh

The women of the house

In await of their spouse

The fragrance of the sea

The air of the coast

Dawn as it arrives with the crimson shade

Far at the horizon I see the mast

The womenfolk rejoice

As the await ends

The crimsons have given way

And I see the minarets, poise 

The city awakes with the sound of the bell

It is indeed the call from “The Arakkal”.

The fishermen are back with their catch

And the sisters smile in the thatch

The market bustles with cacophony,

Vendors, pushers and gulls in the sky.

The womenfolk smile ,

 the men are busy

The harbor is docked, with ships, dhows and little boats

 They have returned with crispy life-notes

The city awakes to the cry of the hawkers

The yellow sun has met the azure

Muezzins have returned

And the temple priests are at rest.

The shrines of the saints ,colored bright

Among the crowded streets ,  a spiritual delight

The warehouses are full at the bay of the Mappilas

And the gullies alive like the waves and the canals

The bells and the wheels fill the narrow streets

Bargaining and paying, men on their feet

The city awakes to the grandeur of the majestic fort

As it looks at the sea, boisterous and pride

The sea has kissed the sand

White froth with the brown land

The palms sway and the waves resonate

The city has awakened with a charm,

The city that narrates stories and psalms.

A poem on the city which was once the capital city of Malabar, a historic Portland  and a stronghold of the sea warriors of the south.

A Tradition and Culture of more than  500 years,  Kannur City (Cannanore)

  

Desert Rain: rain diaries

The drops spread the sand particles to the sides.The light colored sand is now dark.the water drop has soaked the sand crystals. The drops fall again and small heaps of dry sand are wet and hard. rain in the desert is powerful. it is little but powerful as though the sand absorbs strength from the droplets.The clouds are heavy and dark. it hovers over you in the sky giving a pleasant feel and the sun breaks in to give the warmth. The droplets come down from these heavy clouds. The clouds seem to have immense amount of water but the droplets are few. the droplets sway in the wind falling here and there. The wind is strong but pleasant. it is cool and tickles you inside. with the light ticklish winds and few drops of rain falling on you, it is an ecstatic pleasure feel.

The place is calm with the roads empty and the sky is dark and heavy. The buildings lay silent and awaiting the rain. it is still droplets falling randomly, flying around. It wasn't rain nor was it drizzle.
The sky was calm again and the place back to dryness. The clouds started moving away and the sand was light colored. The rain had gone with the wind.

It was evening and the sun was drowning in the orange pool.But the dark clouds were back again and the sky looked red with dark shades of grey.soon the droplets started falling and the sand was dark. but this time it was dollops. heavy shapeless dollops fell splashing and then a few more. The drops wet the sand and the rainy weather oozed from it. It was raining haphazardly. The drops soaked the sands  at the start but it formed small puddles and pools. The mountains at the far-south brought in more of water and the barren land was filled with brownish flowing water. The rain increased and the sky was purple, the dark heavy clouds settled with pride and power. The water swell on the barren arid land and the soil lost its strength to soak in. with the gushing water from the mountains the land was filled with a flash flood. The 'Wadi' as called in the local tongue swell and overflowed the roads and the street. The desert rain sometimes takes such twists from nature. life was at standstill.

It was cold,wet and windy. with the water at the sides, the barren desert was changed into a cold riverbed. The clouds started parting ways and the sky was clear again. stars lit the sky and the moon came out from its blanket. A rain that lasted half of an hour changed the landscape. it was hard, brown and cold. The water from the flash flood would remain for a few days and then the sun would absorb it turning it back to a blue skied brown arid land of the middle east.

In between The Mountains

A Trip to Bilad sayt in The Sultanate Of Oman

The road lay in front of us like a slithering slate-coloured snake. It was a one way road that went straight into the mountains and got lost. We were finding it with every move. The small brown hills at the sides made the road look thinner. The speedometer clocked 100 as we drove past the brown hills. The picture was brown, dark brown hills with greyish barren terrain in between. Very few houses were seen at the sides.

The trip from “Hayy a Thurath” towards” bilad sayt” was long .The distance was less but the one-way road that went winding with elevations across the hills at places meant that we couldn’t keep a constant speed. This road led to the village of Al Hamra. Al Hamra is a picturesque green village that has a history of more than 400 years.

The sky was dark. It was blue with creamy clouds here and there. We saw The Al Hajar ranges in front of us. This great range of mountain lay in front of us in glory. The road is seen narrow and thin and gets lost in this grey boulder of mountains. It had long black cracks on it which were actually deep cliffs and narrow gorges. White spots were seen on top of some of them. Some beautiful villages were studded on them and the houses looked like sugar spread.

The mountain was grey and inclined deeply towards the peak. The range laid there as a boulder.it was a natural border for the place as it cut of the central Oman from the north. As we approached a roundabout we saw a board showing ‘Bilad Sayt’ at 45km towards the right. We now entered the hills. We were surrounded by shades of brown.

The mountains were above us. Now there were layers of hills and mountains playing shades of colour. From brown to grey to blue, the colour differed at different ranges and was a stunning view.it overshadowed each other and came back in waves. Slowly we reached the foot of the range. The road was a winding one. We started uphill. It was a hot day and the temperature was at 38c. The uphill climb was as though we were cutting through a large cake.  We could see the surrounding hills get smaller and smaller. The view was simply breath-taking. The brown hills lay below the large grey mountains and the road that we climbed looked like a slithering black snake at the bottom with crumbs of cars moving. Towards the west lay the large village of Al Hamra. The white houses and the numerous date palms now formed a dense tone. The village laid there like a sheet of velvet spread. Across it, the sun shone. The sky was blue but as though waiting for the sun to splash its setting colours.

The uphill journey continued. It was time for sunset.  With a peaceful flow it started splashing crimson and pink all over the blue sky. Now the sky was crimson with shades of pink and a little bit of blue. The mountain lay below holding on to the sky with a grey and a tinge of violet. It looked bold and felt pride booming from it. The mountain sometimes looked like a curtain, a curtain of dark shade that separated the landscape and at times like a solid bolder standing high.

The village grew even smaller and the houses looked tinier. The mountain turned grey-blue and the sky above had spectacular shades of violet and pink mixed with each other. The sun had set and the last rays had beamed yellow before ending a day. It was peace in physical form.

As we drove again the weather became pleasant. The windows were open and there was a cool breeze blowing serenity. I heard a shout. It echoed throughout and I halted and looked around. The shout repeated several times and it sounded like a bleat. A young boy was seen climbing down the cliff in great pace and skill and he was barefooted. He jumped down the rocks with ease. He wore a dark coloured Dishdasha and in front of him was a flock of sheep. It looked beautiful across the grey rocks. The entire flock was climbing down. Some were walking down briskly while others were clambering down the rocks. The shepherd shouted and the flock moved as instructed. There were brown, black, white and cream coloured ones that were climbing down the grey and brown rocks.
The violet sky at the background made it mystical and tranquil. For a moment I became a Sufi, a Sufi like the shepherd who had no worldly desires in between him and the creator. The Rumi in me was awakened and I was lost in eternal reality. The shepherd was the real Sufi since he was closer to god with this near-heaven abode of life.

Soon we reached a viewpoint. The cliff reached deep at the bottom and like beauty in a bowl the village lay studded in the valley. The mountain shades, cliffs and the weather made it more memorable. It was cold but the gentle breeze that was blowing brought tranquillity across our faces. It was dark now and Al Hamra lit up with the street lights looked magnificent. An ornamental jewellery work lay below us and it was the village at night. We started our descent. With every turn the temperature rose until we were back at the bottom of the range.

We looked back and saw the huge mountains, dark and proud. No one thought there was life on top but life existed only there.