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Chirag-i Rawshan - Chiragh-i Rawshan - `Amali Ta'wil; Luminous Lamp - A Practical Ta'wil

Chiragh-i Rawshan - `Amali Ta'wil;
Luminous Lamp - A Practical Ta'wil

Tags: Ta'wil, Chiragh-i Rawshan, Luminous Lamp, Misbah, Light, Siraj-i Munir

The above title explicitly means that the tradition of Chiragh-i Rawshan is a practical ta'wil (of the Lamp (24:35)).

Ta'wil literally means to take something back to its awwal (origin), and technically it is the name of the esoteric wisdom which is found starting from the beginning of the spiritual stages to the end of the intellectual ranks, until the `arifs are certain that the fountainhead of ta'wilic wisdom is the sun of the light of azal (pre-eternity), namely the Pearl of Intellect. The magnificent and unique wisdom which is at this place is praised in the Glorious Qur'an as follows: “He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and he who is given wisdom, is given abundant good” (2:269). Wisdom as the sovereign of all bounties is above them and the rest, as its subjects, are under it. If you want to know who the pure personalities are to whom esoteric wisdom or ta'wil is given directly, you can see in the Holy Qur'an that they are the Prophets and the Imams.

The light of Prophethood is the living house of wisdom and the light of Imamat is its living door. The clear indication of this is that the wisdom of the Qur'an and Hadith is always attainable through the Imam of the time and this has practically continued (throughout history). For, the purpose of wisdom is action as wisdom means to act with knowledge. Thus the Qur'an alludes that Hazrat Luqman was given wisdom so that he could thank God with it. That is, each of his good words and deeds should be based on wisdom so that this unique bounty may be truly appreciated and gratitude shown for it.

An Arabic word generally does not have a ta'wil when it is in a dictionary, but if the same word is in the Wise Qur'an, it has ta'wil. For example, the word “habl”, which means “rope” in Arabic, has no ta'wilic wisdom in ordinary usage. But the same word when it is used in the Qur'an, associated with God as “hablu'llah (Allah's Rope)”, and attains an allegorical position, then room is created in it for great ta'wilic wisdoms. Otherwise, it is a thing without life and reason which people use according to their will, to the extent that it can be used as a means of committing suicide for it does not forbid any kind of use. Contrary to this, the Rope of Allah is attributed with Perfect Intellect and the Holy Spirit and is free from and above all defects and covers the whole length of time, ever-reaching and all-encompassing. One end of it is in the Hand of God and the other end is in front of people, so that whoever wishes, may hold on to it firmly. This is an irrefutable example of ta'wilic wisdom that, wherever allegories are mentioned in the Wise Qur'an, they have ta'wils.

Now we can return to our main subject and the first question before us is: What is the proof that Chiragh-i Rawshan is a practical ta'wil? To which verse is this ta'wil related? Is there any indication in the Qur'an about such a practice?

In reply I say that nothing that is related to the Qur'an and Islam is without ta'wil. Since our madhhab is a ta'wili madhhab and Pir Nasir-i Khusraw believed in ta'wil, therefore he according to the will of the Imam, introduced Chiragh-i Rawshan into his circle of da`wat, which had already been started on a limited and special scale but was about to discontinue. It is said that, first it was established briefly by the Holy Prophet himself on the death of one of his sons, as mentioned in the Chiragh-namah:

Chirāgh awwal ba-dast-i Mustafā būd
Dalīlash bā `Aliyy-i Murtazā būd

Chiragh was first in the hand of Mustafa
And its dalil (a wooden spatula) was with Murtaza `Ali (`a.s.).

According to me this tradition is true, and an evidence of this is that when Hazrat Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (`a.s.) passed away, Hazrat Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq (`a.s.) ordered the Chiragh (lamp) to be lit in the house where Imam Muhammad al-Baqir used to live (ash-Shāfī, Vol. III, p. 25).

Chiragh-i Rawshan is called a practical ta'wil in the sense that it is a wisdom-filled practice in which the purpose is to reflect upon the unique and key wisdoms of the verse of Misbah (Lamp, 24:35), which is: “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth (of the personal world); His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, and the lamp is in a glass, the glass as though it were a glittering star; it is lit from a blessed tree, an Olive neither of the east nor of the west, the oil of which would well-nigh give light though no fire touched it, light upon light; Allah guides to His light whom He pleases; and Allah strikes parables for men; and Allah all things does know.”

There are bright points of guidance for us in the wisdom-filled way in which Hazrat Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah (`a.s.) has drawn particular attention to this blessed verse and the way in which he has indicated its ta'wilic spirit (See "The Memoirs of Aga Khan", Cassell & Co. Ltd., London, 1954, pp. 171-172).

The verse following the Lamp verse, with its implication in brackets is as follows: “(The lamp=practical example of Chiragh-i Rawshan is lit) in houses which Allah has permitted to be exalted, and His name to be remembered therein. His tasbih is recited therein in the morning and in the evenings 24:36”. This verse has at least two wisdoms.

First wisdom: In the physical houses of the Prophets, Imams and mu'mins is lit the ta'wilic lamp of the “Lamp-Verse”, because they are exalted due to Divine remembrance, as the tasbih of God is recited there in the mornings and in the evenings. Thus the sacred practice of (lighting) the Chiragh-i Rawshan is performed in such houses.

Second wisdom: In the light of the teaching and guidance of the Prophet and the Imam, mu'mins can kindle the lamp of Divine light in their inner houses (hearts). It is because of this that God has compared His holy light with a lamp in a house instead of comparing it with the world-illumining sun. For, allusions such as knowledge, practice and devotion which are in the lamp, where are they in the sun! That is, in order to build a sacred house in the heart and to kindle a lamp in the niche of its wall, one needs to strive hard. Then there are the allusions of the vessel of lamp, oil, wick, fire, flame, smoke, spread light and kindling of one lamp from another to observe and reflect on for the recognition of the Perfect Man, which do not exist in the sun.

If you want to recognise the brightest and most decisive verses of the Noble Qur'an, study the verses of light very carefully, so that by doing so many realities may be revealed to you. At the same time, it will also reveal that the keys of the treasures (of knowledge and wisdom) are hidden in the treasure of the Lamp Verse, from which you can obtain the key of every luminous treasure and enrich yourself with the everlasting wealth of knowledge and wisdom. It should also be remembered that the light verses have three ranks, which are the verses about Allah, the Prophet and the Imams, as the bright ayats (signs) of the universe are also in three degrees: the sun, the moon and the stars and those of the personal world too are in three ranks: the intellect, the soul and the numerous faculties of feeling and comprehension, as is clear from the mapping below.

Map of the verses of Light

It is evident from this map, that the name of the luminous sun of the world of Qur'an is misbah (luminous lamp), for why should the inner and luminous lamp which illumines the universe of its kind, not be called the sun? It is known to all that in this world, there is no lamp which functions like the sun and which on one side is called a lamp and on the other, a sun. But the inner light is everything, “small and great”, because it can do everything small and big, and it can have many names because of its many functions.

In verse (78:13), it is said: “And We have made a glowing lamp (sun)”. Reflect that the sun is greatly praised in this verse, but how? By comparing it with a glowing lamp. The wisdom of this is that in the Qur'an and spirituality wherever the sun is mentioned or observed, it should be known that it is this luminous lamp which is praised in the verse of misbah (24:35). This shows that in “Chiragh-i Rawshan” is hidden the ta'wil of the centre of inner lights. There is no doubt that externally it is a tradition, but its inner wisdoms are truly amazing. God willing, by the spiritual help of the Imam of the time, we will mention some of those wisdoms here, so that the knowledge of students and friends may be increased considerably.

Wisdom 1: In general Chiragh-i Rawshan is related to all the verses of light and in particular to the verse of misbah, therefore, different examples and ta'wils of light are hidden in it. Thus one great example of it is renewal, as the chain of change and renewal continues constantly in its flame. From this the veiled secret is revealed that the action of “light upon light” is like a chain or a rope and there is no delay or interval in it. And there are many wisdoms in the renewal of the flame.

Wisdom 2: In the verse of the lamp (misbah) both light and fire are mentioned. In Chiragh-i Rawshan also, they are inseparable. The wisdom of this is that fire denotes ardent love, and light is knowledge and recognition. Therefore, unless a mu'min burns in the fire of love of Mawla, the light of knowledge and recognition is not created in his heart. These examples of fire are also not without wisdom: where fire is under ashes, it is an example of hidden love, a spark indicates weak love, embers stand for silent love and a moving flame shows ardent love.

Wisdom 3: On the occasion of da`wat-i baqa' or da`wat-i fana', a sacred lamp is lit in a house and no other light is allowed to be kept or used as long as this lamp remains burning, so that this light remains unique in the house. The ta'wil of this is that in the personal world there is one light only which is sufficient to illumine its heavens and earth.

Wisdom 4: At the start of the traditional ceremony of Chiragh-i Rawshan, the Qazi stands in front of the Khalifah and with the collective recital of salawat raises the lamp from the ground and places it down again three times. The wisdom of this is that the light of the heavens and the earth is one, but it has three relations: the relation to God, the relation to the Prophet and the relation to the Imam of the time. Also once the lamp is lit, then for some time this luminous lamp is lifted from the ground and held in the hand to show by allusion that the same one light of God is both in the heavens and the earth.

Wisdom 5: Another name of Chiragh-i Rawshan is da`wat (invitation) the main purpose of which is in two stages: firstly, to invite to Islam (submission) and Iman (faith), as it happened in the first cycle and secondly, to invite to the higher ranks of spirituality and to the light of recognition, as happened in the latter cycle. But since this great plan was not possible without knowledge and wisdom and dhikr and `ibadat, in this wisdom-filled tradition, two kinds of effective `ibadat are enjoined: one is the `ibadat of knowledge and the other, practical `ibadat, so that by performing them, great reward may be availed to both those that are alive and those who have passed away.

Wisdom 6: The sheep which is slaughtered for the sake of da`wat is called “da`wati” and is considered sacred like all sacrificial animals. One essential condition for the selection of such an animal is that it should not be lean or skinny. It should have fat, so that the lamp may be lit from the oil of its melted fat. The wisdom-filled allusion of this is that those mu'mins who are weak in belief, `ibadat and true knowledge cannot be the da`wati sheep of the rank of spirituality, because as yet they do not have that substance of progress and perfection from which the luminous lamp is kindled.

Wisdom 7: A blessed saying of Hazrat Imam Muhammad al-Baqir which is a great luminous treasure and has the precious gems of ma`rifat is:

Mā qīla fi'llāhi fa-huwa finā, wa-mā qīla finā fa-huwa fi'l-bulaghā'i min shī`atinā

(Whatever is said about Allah is about us (in ta'wil) and whatever is said about us (in ta'wil) is said about those of our followers who are advanced).

Many treasures can be discovered by this key wisdom and (similarly) a great treasure is also hidden in the example of Chiragh-i Rawshan. Here it is important to note that the place where a treasure is buried appears insignificant to the eye which observes superficially.

Wisdom 8: Hazrat Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq was once asked about the Lamp Verse (24:35). He said: It is a parable which God has struck for us. Thus the Prophet and the Imams are Allah's guides and His signs (miracles) through whom people are guided to Tawhid. (al-Mizan, Vol. 15, p. 141).

Wisdom 9: If you study the diagram of the Lamp Verse (misbah) carefully, you will note that the Lamp Verse, the Sun and the Intellect are on the same line, the reason for which has already been explained there. Another reason is that the word “misbah” is grammatically an instrumentive noun from “subh (morning)”. That is, misbah is the thing from which the subh is made, that is, the sun. But by the sun here is meant the sun of the personal world, which, in addition to the Prophets and the Imams, also rises in mu'mins of the first rank. Nonetheless, it should be remembered that the light which is observed in the beginning of spirituality is not that of the sun, nor the moon, but of the stars. Yet its beauty and attraction is so amazing that many people are misled into believing it to be the Divine manifestation (67:5; 72:8; 37:6-7).

Wisdom 10: In these stars (nujum, kawakib) and lamps (masabih) there is great trial, because there is the possibility of greatest deviation as well as of successful guidance. Next comes the light of the moon and finally at the rank of azal (pre-eternity), the sun of the light of intellect (6:75-79) rises and the morning of azal and the evening of abad (post-eternity) is seen, but between the two there is only a span of a few minutes. The reason for this is that at this place, the Divine hand enfolds everything which is spread out, for as God says: “And everything with Him is in a measure” (13:8). This is the misbah (Chiragh-i Rawshan) which, in the form of the sun of intellect, always rises and sets at the rank of azal.

Wisdom 11: Now we must answer an important question: What is the relation of Chiragh-i Rawshan to the death of a mu'min? Is spiritual salvation only by lighting the Chiragh, or is there some other secret? Although the answers to such questions have already been given, it can be elaborated that when the tradition of Chiragh-i Rawshan is an example and ta'wil of the Lamp Verse, then its purpose is to bring forth many points of wisdom and ma`rifat. One of them is that although physically a mu'min dies, spiritually he never dies. He leaves the physical body and wears the paradisiacal attire of the subtle body. Previously he was dark, but now he becomes bright and transforms from immobile into mobile, from finite into infinite and from low into high. All these allusions are found in the practice of Chiragh-i Rawshan, for lighting the lamp is like inbi`ath (resurrection), when dense oil turns into a subtle flame, its light illuminating darkness and its oil moves by being transformed into light which spreads and expands and the flame rises upwards.

Wisdom 12: Hazrat Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah, salawātu'llāhi `alayh, on many occasions has mentioned in a wisdom-filled way, the Divine lamp which it is possible to kindle in the heart of mu'mins, such as: “The healthy human body is the temple in which the flame of the Holy Spirit burns.” The exalted Imam thus emphasises the importance and progress of the spark of Divine light. The following is another farman of the Imam: There is a stock of oil in the lamp of your soul, but if you do not kindle it with a match-stick how will the light be created? How long will you waste your remaining life in frivolity and ignorance? You should be aware of esoteric knowledge. Also in a special farman of the holy Imam the spiritual and intellectual lamp is mentioned in an extremely impressive way and all necessary instructions regarding how to kindle it are given.

Wisdom 13: Chiragh-i Rawshan is the symbol and evidence of the fact that every mu'min is a living martyr and that for such martyrs, there is reward and light both in this world and in the next. Read verse (57:19) in the Qur'an, and the Hadith in this connection is: “Kullu mu'minin shahid (Every mu'min is a martyr)”.

Wisdom 14: Chiragh-i Rawshan is a material light which is an example as well as an evidence of the Light of guidance (Imam of the time). Thus when the Chiragh (lamp) is kindled, it means that the mu'mins believe that the living and present Imam is true and testify that the same Mawla is the mazhar of the light of God, the light of the Prophet and the light of `Ali.

Wisdom 15: One of the beautiful names of Almighty Allah is “an-Nur (Light)”, which is mentioned in the Lamp Verse as “Allāhu nūru's-samāwāti wa'l-ard (Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth)”. And the beautiful names of Allah are the Holy Prophet and the Holy Imams, for as Mawla `Ali says: “I am His beautiful names and His supreme similitudes and His great signs.” That is, the beautiful names of God are living and speaking (7:180) and similarly, His supreme similitudes (30:27) and great signs (miracles) (53:18) are also living and speaking.

Wisdom 16: Chiragh-i Rawshan, in which the verse of misbah (24:35) and the verse of siraj (33:46) are mentioned together, is based on the example of the book of spirit and spirituality and light and luminosity. Therefore, Chiragh-i Rawshan is like a wisdom-filled book, the greatest purpose of which is the recognition of light. We have already mentioned the three relations of light. A fourth one is that after God, the Prophet and the Imam, the light also belongs to the mu'min men and mu'min women, mentioned in verses (57:12-13; 66:8). This is clearly verified by a farman of Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq (`a.s.), who said: “Thus the mu'min lives in five aspects of the light: his entrance is light, his exit is light, his knowledge is light, his speech is light and his return to Paradise is light.” (al-Mizan, Vol. 15, p. 140).

Wisdom 17: When a mu'min walking on the spiritual path is annihilated in the Imam of the time by his knowledge and good deeds, he is also annihilated in the Prophet (fana' fi'r-rasul) and annihilated in God (fana' fi'llah) and in such a case, the same one light of God, the Prophet and the Imam becomes his light also. That is, the great secret is revealed to him that he, in his higher “I” (ana-yi `ulwi), has always been merged in the absolute light and has never been separated from it. For light is only one, but due to mirrors appears to be many, just as the moon and the countless stars are like mirrors or mazahir (loci of manifestation) for the sun. Thus there is no doubt that there is separation among bodies, but there is no separation in the light. There is nothing except union in the light. However, since these things are all material, therefore the complete representation of reality is difficult.

Wisdom 18: In the world of multiplicity (this world), the sun, the moon and the countless stars are separate and scattered, while in the world of unity, the law is totally different from this. In it there is only one light which functions as the sun, the moon and the stars. The same is true for misbah (lamp), masabih (lamps) and siraj-i munir (luminous lamp). Because the greatest miracle of God is astonishing that, He in His kingdom, always acts to enfold and unfold (2:245). That is, by enfolding the world of multiplicity in His hand, He makes the world of unity and then by unfolding the world of unity, makes the world of multiplicity, while they at the same time also remain in their respective places. If we then say that the world of unity or the subtle world is Monoreality, God willing, this would not be untrue.

Wisdom 19: It is necessary for you to reflect upon the Divine wisdom that in the Wise Qur'an, Divine light is compared to a luminous lamp (misbah 24:35) and that the light of the Prophet is compared to a luminous lamp (siraj-i munir 33:46) too and it also says that disbelievers cannot extinguish this lamp of guidance (9:32; 61:8). In reality, this means that in the spiritual world, not two lamps but only one lamp is sufficient. Because when God Himself in His mighty Book uses the word “munir (luminous)” in its sublime meanings (the light of azal=the light of the Universal Intellect=the Luminous Book, 3:184; 22:8; 31:20; 35:25; the Throne and Dais=the Pen and Tablet=the (glowing) Lamp, 78:13; luminous moon 25:61) then one should realise that all the beauties of the world of unity are gathered in the same one light and this absolute light whose name is Chiragh-i Rawshan or luminous lamp is borne by the living and present Imam as the successor of the Prophet.

Wisdom 20: If an `aziz asks me what I think about those jama`ats who do not have the tradition of Chiragh-i Rawshan, and whether they are deprived of this great bounty or is it that they also have such bounties? I would say that there is not a single jama`at of the holy and pure Imam which does not have a special religious bounty. I have been to several jama`ats of the world and seen them and as for the countries I have not been able to go to myself, I have heard that the murids of the Imam wherever they live in the world, have a tradition that brings them close to the love of the Imam and devotion to him and it gives them tremendous benefit in their belief.

Wisdom 21: The law of nature and the Divine act are with the people, when one realises that God is the light of the heavens and the earth and closer to man than his own jugular vein (50:16), what secret then is hidden in saying that He sent Messengers, revealed Books, sent the soul (19:17) and that He sent the light (4:174)? Is not the concept of spatial remoteness and height found in this kind of saying? The answer is that such sayings are only examples (amthal) and veils and their meanings (mamthulat) and veiled realities are truly wondrous. Thus the Wise Qur'an, for the sake of the understanding of ordinary people, has said for example: “arsala (He sent)”. This example also veils a reality which is: “ba`atha (He brought to life)”. And the ta'wil of it is: He caused the Perfect ones to experience the complete practical death and life both at the level of soul and the rank of intellect in this lifetime so that they could attain every kind of knowledge and recognition. Now, in this state, the chosen ones of God are given every bounty from hand to hand, it is neither sent nor revealed. Yet, this is not in the spatial or geographical sense, but in the spiritual sense and in the sense of honour, for there is remoteness and closeness, lowness and elevation there too.

Historical Notes:

1. On this occasion (1992), after travelling to the west, I decided to go to Yarqand (China) and on the 3rd September, departing from Gilgit, reached Sost. The next day, on 4th September, I reached Kashghar and on 5th I reached Yarqand, where in Zarafshan, my beloved son, Sayf-i Salman Khan lives with his family. After staying twenty-two days in Yarqand and Kashghar, I returned home. By the grace of God the journey was very successful, although the roads of our area were largely destroyed by torrential rains, which caused hardship to a certain extent, but after success, who remembers hardship?
2. Divine power is extremely wondrous and unique and not only I but many other people were amazed by the event that my elder brother Suhrabi Khan (who was ninety-seven years old and had not been well for a long time), after a brief conversation and meeting, passed away that night. It appeared that in this there was some Divine wisdom. We made a humble attempt to talk about points of knowledge to those many people who came during the seven days following his demise. It has been a custom in our area that if there is a learned man in a gathering, then those present there should take benefit from his knowledge. Countless thanks to God that in addition to sincere prayers of many mu'min men and mu'min women for the soul of my elder brother, the good deed of dissemination of knowledge was also accomplished.
3. Gilgit is a town and the centre of our area. I reached it on the 6th October, 1992. Here spring arrived due to meeting with esteemed and dear friends, who asked again and again when Dr. Faquir Muhammad Hunzai and Mrs. Rashida Noormohamed-Hunzai and Mr. Zahir Lalani would be coming. Their sweetness and those of other friends reached its climax when all of us gathered in a spiritual assembly (ruhani majlis) and every lover of Mawla appeared to be intoxicated and enraptured. Such assemblies of knowledge and remembrance were held with many ardent lovers of the light of Imamat, such as the Chief Adviser, Ghulam Qadir, President Sultan Ishaq, Sube-dar Major `Abdul Hakim, Overseer Dildar, Mr. Mahbub and Mr. Alif Khan. I subsequently heard that the same enrapturing state was experienced by all at the blessed house of Dr. Aslam in Aliabad.
4. I am truly wonderstruck and dumb-founded: the `azizes of which country should I mention! In a sense it is easy because we all believe in the law of “all in one”. Nevertheless, there are many stages of the zahir which come before the batin and accordingly by some excuse there should be the sweet mention of close friends. Thus by luck, when the wisdoms of this article added upto twenty-one, I remembered a pleasant event in Chicago (U.S.A.), which was: I was at the home of my `azizes Hasan Kamria and Karimah Hasan. Among my other `azizes Akbar A. Alibhai and his begum, Shamsa A. Alibhai had come to meet me. They had spread a dining table with twenty one different kinds of fruit. I said: Why are there so many fruits? They replied: To satisfy your liking for research and curiosity about everything. I asked dear Shamsa to kindly make a list of them. She did so with their English names, which I kept with the date 19th July, 1992.
5. It does not make any difference whether I write a few words or not about the sacred service of knowledge in which my `azizes have admirably participated, because the Honourable Scribes (82:10-11) whom God has appointed as the preservers of deeds, record everything without omission. The chain of ta'wil (7:53) about which the Holy Qur'an has prophesied, continues and therefore we need to think about the Honourable Scribes and the record of deeds according to the exigencies of modern thinking and principles of spirituality. For it is not correct to think that the record of deeds will be like a worldly book in a material form, because the writing of angels is not like worldly writing, but is utterly different. How can I make you understand the nature of the record of deeds? Keeping modern science in mind, it can be said that it is like a movie, but as it is prepared by the Honourable Angels, it is adorned with the beauties of intellect and soul and knowledge and wisdom. The worldly film has neither intellect, nor soul. However in view of the fact that sometimes it deals with ethics, religion and science, we can say that the writing of spirituality or angels resembles it.
6. This article “Chiragh-i Rawshan” has been written at the earnest and sincere request of Mr. Sultan Ishaq, President of Khanah-i Hikmat, Gilgit, whose heart is full of and illumined by the love of the Imam of the time. He is a well-wisher of the beloved Jama`at and a lover of knowledge and wisdom. It is because of his suggestion that such a wisdom-filled article has been prepared. Praise be to Allah! It is His great favour.

Humble Nasir,
6th December, 1992.