Forty Keys of Luminous Ta'wil - Introduction

Introduction

Tags: Forty Keys of Luminous Ta'wil, Luminous Ta'wil, Ta'wil

The present book "Forty Keys of Luminous Ta'wil" (Chihil Kalid-i Nurani Ta'wil) is one of the most special books of our revered teacher Hazrat-i `Allamah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, may his secret be sanctified. This book deals with not only ta'wil, but with luminous ta'wil.

Luminous ta'wil is also called the "absolutely pure ta'wil (ta'wil-i mahz-i mujarrad or ta'wil-i mujarrad-i mahz) in the works of da`wat-i haqq (invitation to the truth).¹ Regarding this ta'wil our revered teacher says: "It is that pure and bare [free from physical allegories and parables] ta'wil or the esoteric knowledge which is given to someone in his personal world, in which the real spiritual and intellectual manifestations and miracles are described without allegorical attire and parabolic veil. This knowledge was first of all given to Hazrat-i Adam."²

Observed in the light of the holy Qur'an and Prophetic Traditions, it becomes known that the veils of ta'wil are not only physical allegories and parables of tanzil, but also those of the ta'wil itself. This is because of the fact that the Qur'an has an exoteric (zahir) and an esoteric meaning (batin) and with each esoteric meaning there are several other esoteric meanings.³ Further, the tanzil (zahir or exoteric meaning) is related to the time of the holy Prophet or the natiq, whereas the ta'wil (batin or esoteric meaning) is related to his entire cycle which has the duration of more or less a thousand years. During this entire cycle, due to the exigencies of time and space, a chain of changes continues to occur in both the spiritual and physical aspects. This is evident from the Qur'anic verses (7:52-53), particularly where God says: "The day its ta'wil comes/ will come (ya'ti)". The verb ya'ti is an aorist, the meaning of which comprises both the present and the future tenses. That is, the ta'wil is going to come throughout the entire cycle. In this regard Hazrat-i Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah al-Husayni says: "... while the words of the Koran remain the same, every generation, every century, every period must have a new and different interpretation to that of the past, otherwise Islam will die ..."⁴

It is also necessary to know that the personality whom God chooses and appoints for the execution of ta'wil, is not constrained by any rule or law confined within time and space, rather He appoints him with sole authority over all human religious and worldly matters and as an absolute physician for all spiritual and worldly diseases,⁵ therefore he can make different ta'wils or farmans for every individual and every community appropriate to their conditions. For instance, he can prescribe a medicine with an element of poison for certain diseases, which may be cured by it, but for some others it may be fatal. With reference to this, the exalted Imam says: "When you have a headache, you go to the doctor who prescribes medicine for it and you benefit from it. However, if after six months if your foot is aching and you use the same medicine, what benefit are you going to get from it? At this time you must go to the doctor for the prescription for the foot and you will benefit from it."(purport)⁶ Further, with regard to the change of ta'wil according to the changing time and circumstances, he says: "I have changed [my farmans] seventy times in my seventy years of Imamat. That is, you see great difference between my early farmans and the present farmans."⁷

In short, this process of ta'wil reaches its culmination at the beginning of the cycle of resurrection, and no need for any physical allegory or parable is left. In such a situation, the ta'wil is called absolutely pure ta'wil. In order to facilitate the understanding of this reality, our revered teacher uses simple words and terms such as 'Luminous ta'wil' (nurani ta'wil) or 'Unveiled ta'wil' (kashfi ta'wil).

It is evident from the Qur'an (3:7) that its ta'wil is known only to God and the rasikhun fi'l-`ilm (those who are well-grounded in knowledge). According to the holy Prophet's own explanation the rasikhun fi'l-`ilm are he himself and Mawlana `Ali and his and the latter's progeny, namely the designated (mansus) pure Imams from the progeny of Mawlana `Ali and Mawlatina Fatimah. The holy Prophet says: "I am the master of tanzil and `Ali is the master of ta'wil."⁸ Further, in the Tradition of the Two Heavy Things (thaqalayn) explaining the eternal bond between the Qur'an's ta'wil and the guidance of the community by his and Mawlana `Ali's progeny, he says: "I am leaving two heavy things, the Book of God and my progeny (`itrat) among you. As long as you hold fast to them both, you will never go astray after me."⁹ This has been elaborated more by Imam al-Baqir when he was asked about the rasikhun fi'l`ilm. He said: "The holy Prophet was the most excellent among the rasikhun fi'l-`ilm. Indeed, God taught him all of what he revealed to him from tanzil and the ta'wil, and nothing was revealing to him except that he used know its ta'wil. Then after him, the rasikhun fi'l-`ilm are the awsiya' (legatees, i.e., the Imams) who know its (i.e., the Quran's) ta'wil completely."¹⁰

In short, although the holy Prophet was the most excellent among the rasikhun fi'l-`ilm or well-grounded in the knowledge of ta'wil, practically it is being executed by Mawlana `Ali and after him, by the designated Imam of every time is the sole authority of ta'wil. Concurrently it is also evident from the Qur'an that from the time of Hazrat-i Adam till today the main function of the Prophets and Imams is to teach human souls and make them like themselves as mentioned in the Qur'an in Hazrat-i Ibrahim's words: "So whoever follows me, he verily is of me." (14:36) Therefore, although in reality the sole authority of ta'wil is the Imam of the time, but as a result of his complete recognition, submission and devotion to him, his light also rises in his murids' personal world and they too can also become capable of seeing the world of Command with their inner eye despite being in the physical world. Such murids are granted the permission to do ta'wil, a reality which is mentioned clearly in the following verses of Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw:

   Bar jan-i man chu nur-i Imam-i zaman bi-taft
   Laylu's-sarar budam-u shamsu'z-zuha shudam 
   Nam-i buzurg Imam-i zaman ast azin qibal 
   Man az zamin chu zuhrah ba-du bar sama shudam¹¹

When the light of the Imam of the time shone upon my soul [Though previously] like the last pitch dark night of the lunar month, I became the blazing sun
The Supreme Name is the Imam of the time, therefore, Through him, like Venus I reached the heaven from the earth

It is through this light of the Imam of the time and his permission that Sayyidna Nasir wrote a book like Wajh-i Din on ta'wil. In the history of the True da`wat, like Sayyidna Nasir, there have been many luminaries in whom the light of Imamat rose and who have written books on ta'wil with the permission of the Imam of their own time, such as Sayyidna Ja`far bin Mansur al-Yaman, Sayyidna Qazi Nu`man, Sayyidna al-Mu'ayyad, Sayyidna Pir Sadr al-Din, Sayyidna Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din. A few only examples of their respective works are Ta'wil al-Zakat, Ta'wil al-Da`a'im, al-Majalis and Ginans, etc.

In our own great cycle of Resurrection a very resplendent example of this luminous tradition is our revered teacher Hazrat-i `Allamah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, in whose personal world the Imam's light had risen and he was thus blessed to receive the permission to do luminous ta'wil. With utmost gratitude he dedicated his precious life in fulfilling this sacred duty. He wrote over a hundred books on ta'wil, of which the present book is one and it is also a practical proof of the blessed permission of the Imam of the time to do ta'wil, since such a book cannot be written except by someone who has received ta'yid (spiritual help) from the Imam of the time. In this book, he has mentioned many sublime realities in a few words, therefore in order to understand them, it is necessary to study his earlier works which are in greater detail and are easier to understand. Praise be to Allah, for His favours and beneficence!

Faquir-i haqir,
Markaz-i `Ilm-u Hikmat,
London.
5th August, 2021

Endnotes

¹ Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw, Wajh-i Din, ed. Gholam-Reza Aavani (Tehran, 1977), p. 306; See also: Sayyidna Hibatu'llah al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din Shirazi, al-Majalis al-Mu'ayyadiyyah, ed. Hatim Hamid al-Din (Oxford, 1407 A.H., 19860, II, 395, 612; Ibid, (1426 A.H./2005 A.D.), III, 8-9.

² `Allamah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, La`l-u Gawhar (Karachi, 1999), p. 111.

³ `Allamah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, Hazar Hikmat (Karachi, 2005), pp. 114, 396.

⁴ Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah al-Husayni, Mubarak Talika and Messages (Mombasa, 1955), p. 32.

⁵ Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw, Jami`u'l-hikmatayn, ed. H. Corbin and M. Mo'in (Tehran-Paris, 1953), pp. 14-15.

⁶ Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah al-Husayni, Kalam-i Imam-i Mubin (Gujarati) (Bombay, 1950), I, 125-126.

⁷ Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah al-Husayni, Kalam-i Imam-i Mubin (Gujarati) (Bombay, 1950), II, 491.

⁸ al-Majalis al-Mu'ayyadiyyah, II, 395.

⁹ Ibid., 218, 557.

¹⁰ Sayyidna Qazi Nu`man, Ta'wil al-Da`a'im, ed. A.A.A. Fyzee (Cairo, 1963), I, 22-23.

¹¹ Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw, Diwan, ed. Sayyid Nasru'llah Taqawi (Tehran, 1367 solar/1988), p. 273.

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