Coolness of the eye - Some Wisdoms of the Surah of Takathur (Abundance)
Some Wisdoms of the Surah of Takathur (Abundance) (102)
Tags: Surah-yi Takathur, Abundance, Graves, Knowledge of certainty, Certainty, Hell, Eye of certainty, Yawm
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
(102:1) Abundance diverts you, (102:2) Until you visited the graves. (102:3) Nay! soon shall you know. (102:4) Again, nay! soon shall you know. (102:5) Nay! if you had known the knowledge of certainty, (102:6) You would surely have seen Hell. (102:7) Then, you shall surely see it with the eye of certainty; (102:8) Then on that day you shall surely be questioned about the boons.
Wisdom 1: This is a great wisdom-filled allusion that man is negligent of God and the Last Day, mostly because of his desire to overtake others in worldly and material progress. Thus, when his heart is dominated by worldly greed and desire, there is no place left for sacred remembrance and love of God.
Wisdom 2: If the negligence of a person is temporary, then the case is not serious, because he can improve and rectify himself after having been made aware. But if this neglect has become permanent, it means that he will go to the grave without accomplishing any religious feat. The grave is of two kinds: the dead and the alive, and accordingly, after physical death the body is buried in the physical grave, but the soul goes to the living grave. And reflect carefully about the living graves, for it is said here: "You visited the graves". That is, your negligence is such that you died the death of ignorance and unconsciously visited your living graves.
Wisdom 3: Nay! soon shall you know. That is, your views and knowledge are not correct and they need to be rectified and improved.
Wisdom 4: Again, nay! soon shall you know. That is, your views and knowledge will need even further improvement in the future.
Wisdom 5: Nay! if you had known the knowledge of certainty. That is, the defect in you is that you do not know the knowledge of certainty, for it is the knowledge of certainty that cures religious diseases, such as ignorance, doubt, suspicion. Because certainty (yaqin) is the name of recognition (ma`rifat), and the knowledge of certainty is that in which, contrary to conventional knowledge, the eye-witnessed secrets of ma`rifat are explained.
Wisdom 6: In this world except for the knowledge of certainty, there is no true knowledge, through which the secondary recognition of Hell and Paradise can be attained in this life. It is this knowledge which, acting as the eye, shows that ignorance is the fire of Hell, and that knowledge is the bliss and comfort of Paradise, so that the wise mu'mins benefitting from this recognition, may adorn themselves with knowledge and save themselves from ignorance.
Wisdom 7: When the believing servant passes through the stages of knowledge of certainty and recognises Hell and Paradise, then necessarily a time comes in which he sees Hell and Paradise with the eye of certainty. So that he may have the good news that he has escaped from Hell and is going to enter Paradise.
Wisdom 8: Where Hell, namely, ignorance is apparent in the light of knowledge of certainty, there Paradise, namely, knowledge itself is also apparent. And when the stage of the eye of certainty comes, then this reality becomes as bright as the sun. In this state, questions about the religious bounties can be both in this world and in the Hereafter also. For instance, it is as if an angel asks: What did you do with the all-pervading and fundamental bounty mentioned in the verse (5:3): "Today (i.e. in this cycle) I perfected your religion and completed My bounty to you, and approved the religion of Islam (i.e. obedience to gradual guidance)". Here it should be remembered that by "Today (al-yawm)" is meant the cycle which started with the declaration of Imamat. For, yawm means both a day as well as a cycle. You can investigate this further.
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, 6th August, 1991.
Addison, IL 60101, U.S.A.
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