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Caskets of Pearls Vol. 1 - Casket of Pearls 39

Casket of Pearls 39

Tags: Ganj-i Nihani, Sun, Moon, Naqib, Ba`athna, Resurrection, Jamil, Hudud-i Din, Tazarru`

Q371 What is the meaning of the following verse?

A371

• Translation:

• The hidden treasure is potentially in the personal world of every individual, but how many people are there who can actually attain it!
• However, despondency is prohibited in the true religion.

Q372 Could you quote some Qur'anic references in which the hudud-i din are mentioned?
A372 God willing! It should be known that the entire external world is an example and symbol of evidence of the world of religion. Thus, wherever the wise Qur'an mentions that God created the universe in six days and then He turned to the throne (i.e. Saturday), it means that He completed the world of religion in the cycles of the six natiqs and the seventh cycle is that of Hazrat qa'im (May peace be through him), in which the secrets of musawat-i Rahmani (Rahman's equivalence) will gradually appear.

Q373 Which of the hudud do the sun and the moon mentioned in the Qur'an symbolise?
A373

• In the natiq's time, the sun symbolises the natiq and the moon, the asas.
• In the asas' time, the sun symbolises the asas and the moon, the Imam.
• During the time of Imamat, the sun symbolises the Imam and the moon, the bab.

Q374 In verse (5:12) God says: "We raised (ba`athna) among them (i.e. the children of Israel) twelve naqibs (chieftains)". Who were they? What is the wisdom of using the word "ba`athna"?
A374

• They were the hujjats of Hazrat Moses (May peace be through him) and among them the supreme hujjat was Hazrat Imam Aaron (May peace be through him).
• "Ba`athna" means We (God) brought them to life after the death of the carnal soul to enrich them with the treasures of knowledge and the recognition of resurrection and the other (spiritual) world.

Q375 What is the ta'wil of verse (5:20): "And [remember] when Moses said to his people: O my people! Remember the bounties of God upon you, when he appointed Prophets from among you, and made you kings, and gave you that which He has not given anyone in the world."
A375

• It is an extremely great and wonderful bounty of God that, although the Prophets had come physically, the miracles of the personal world cannot be complete without their arrival spiritually.
• The exalted Imam and his hujjats are both spiritual kings and the moulds of resurrection. Al-hamdu li'llah, by the infinite grace of God, mu'mins too, can be kings of paradise by being gradually cast in the mould of resurrection.

Q376 Is the resurrection individual or collective, internal or external?
A376

• Every resurrection has two aspects: conscious or unconscious. Therefore from one aspect it is individual and from another, it is collective. It is because of this dual nature of resurrection that the Qur'an describes it in two ways.
• Although resurrection takes place internally and spiritually nonetheless under its influence great changes take place in the external world as well.

Q377 We all believe in the collective resurrection, therefore, please furnish us with a proof, which shows that it is mainly individual.
A377

• The law of nature (law of religion) is mentioned in verse (30:30) and it is also alluded that just as people are born in separate times, they also die individually in separate times. This shows that the individual aspect of resurrection is like death, which is individual.
• It is said in a hadith: "He who dies, his resurrection takes place".⁹⁰ And with the individual resurrection the collective resurrection of the people of the entire universe also takes place, but unconsciously.

Q378 Kindly explain the hadith: "Indeed, Allah is beautiful (jamil) and loves beauty".⁹¹
A378

• Allah is extremely beautiful in His manifestations and theophanies. If you wish to be among God's lovers, you should create within yourselves ethical, spiritual and intellectual beauty and elegance.
• To create beauty and elegance within oneself means to obey God duly with ardent love.
• Verses (32:6-9) show that whatever God has created is excellent. He has favoured humankind in its stages of creation and breathed His spirit into it. Although this is a description of a Perfect Man, we should reflect on why God breathes His spirit/light into the Perfect Man and favours you.
• Note carefully and remember that this Perfect Man is not a stranger to you. He is, in fact, the soul of your own souls and the light for your internal senses.
• There is in this hadith an invitation to Divine vision and guidance for its preparation.

Q379 In the above statement you have quoted three verses together. Would you kindly tell us the gist of the wisdom of the third verse (32:9): "Then perfected him and breathed into him of His spirit, and gave you (inner) ears, eyes and hearts".
A379 Verse (32:9) contains the extremely wonderful wisdom, which is that Adam (May peace be through him), the Adam (May peace be through him) of the time and other hudud are mentioned here. Further, it is an allusion that the hudud-i din work for mu'mins as their inner senses.

Q380 You have indeed written about tazarru` (humility) with reference to the holy Qur'an. Why is this Qur'anic medicine that is so tremendously effective and useful to cure spiritual diseases not praised again and again? Please give us the references to tazarru` in the wise Qur'an. How can the human heart and mind be reformed through it?
A380

• The subject of tazarru` is mentioned in the following seven verses (6:42, 6:43, 6:63; 7:55, 7:94, 7:205; 23:76).
• Study these verses with perfect certainty.
• The form of perfect tazarru` is giryah-u zari (weeping and crying), the spiritual benefits of which are countless. Not only every affliction and every difficulty but even Divine punishment is removed by it.
• Callousness is the root of all spiritual diseases, the only cure for which is tazarru`.
• The Prophets, walis, lovers, dhakirs and worshippers know the great secret of tazarru`.

⁹⁰ Muhammad Ghazali, Ihya'u `ulumi'd-din (Beirut, n.d.), IV, 64.
<sup>91</sup> Hakim Naysaburi, al-Mustadrak, ed. M.A. `Ata (Beirut, 1990), I, 78-79, Hadith 70.