Important Questions from the Sūrah of Luqmān
Tags:
My dear and respected friend, Nuruddin Rajpari, resides in America and loves religious knowledge greatly. He, with his dear friends, study the Ismaili teachings regularly and with yearning. According to him during this atomic era, it is particularly important for every mu'min to have true knowledge especially in a great country like America where a storm of varied material advancements has occurred. For this reason, he and his friends occasionally send written questions and this time they have asked essential questions from Sūrah of Luqmān (31).
In this regard, the humble servant, Naṣīruddīn, who considers himself dust under the feet of mu'mins, seeks success and spiritual help (ta'yīd) from the sublime court of the true Lord. May He, the Omnipotent help this indigent servant. Āmīn! O Lord of the worlds!
By the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Question 1: Please explain the ta'wīl of Alif Lām Mīm Answer: Alif Lām Mīm are among the disjointed letters (ḥurūf-i muqaṭṭacāt) of the holy Qur'ān. Almighty Allāh has sworn by His sacred and glorious names in these letters. Thus, He has sworn in alif by the First (the Pen), in lām by the Guarded Tablet (lawḥ-i maḥfūẓ) and in mīm by the written (marqūm). Thus, the ta'wīl of alif is the First, i.e., the Divine Pen which is the Universal Intellect, by the lām is meant the Guarded Tablet which is the Universal Soul and the ta'wīl of mīm is written (marqūm), which is also called raqīm, meaning that spiritual writing which is recorded in the Guarded Tablet. The Lord of honor has sworn by His three great names. The principle should be remembered that the manifestation of the Divine Pen (the First) is Nāṭiq(ṣ), that of the Guarded Tablet (lawḥ-i maḥfūẓ) is Asās and that of raqīm (marqūm = written) is
the Imām. For further ta'wīl of alif lām mīm, see the booklet "Pīr Nāṣir-i K̲h̲israw(q) and Spirituality."
Question 2: What are the special āyāt mentioned in the second verse of Sūrah of Luqmān? What is the ta'wīl of the Wise Book?
Answer: Those verses (āyāt) in the world of spirituality are Pen, Tablet and raqīm and in the physical world they are Nāṭiq(ṣ), Asās and Imām, as mentioned above. The Wise Book is the Imām(ṣ) of the time, who has the rank of God's speaking Book.
Question 3: Please expound on the word guidance (hidāyat), mercy (raḥmat), and piety? Furthermore, please explain why guidance and mercy are associated with piety.
Answer: Guidance is among the fundamental and crucial matters of religion. Therefore, this is related to the Divine Law (sunnat), which is unchangeable. That is, Allāh's guidance is always acquired through the true Guide, the Imam of the time, for which first there is the chain of prophethood and subsequently the chain of Imāmat and such a guidance is mercy because it is certain and free from and above differences, doubts and suspicions. This means it is essential to have a living guide in every age for the sake of guidance from God, the merciful, the compassionate, so that he may be the light of Qur'ān and the Guide of the time. Guidance and mercy are related to the beneficent because they are obedient individuals, who are beneficent to themselves and to others. Thus, guidance and mercy are for such people.
Question 4: Kindly tell us the lexical and technical meaning of ṣalāt and zakāt. What is the ta'wīl hidden in having belief in the hereafter (āk̲h̲irat)?
Answer: The lexical meaning of ṣalāt is prayer, benediction and following and its technical meaning is namāz. Lexically zakāt means purity and technically it means that amount of wealth which is obligatory to pay. The ta'wīl of ṣalāt is to establish a true mission (dacwat) and the ta'wīl of zakāt is to give knowledge. The ta'wīl
of believing in the hereafter is to accept the spiritual rank of the Imām of the time and to then have certainty of this reality as the eye of certainty or the knowledge of certainty.
Question 5: Is guidance equally for all creatures, or is it gradual? What is the clear meaning of achieving success (falāḥ)?
Answer: Guidance is not equal but it is gradual. That is, it is according to the different categories of human beings, animals, vegetables and minerals. In other words, guidance is most common as well as most special. The bliss or felicity of a group lies in receiving God's most special guidance. Falāḥ means success which is attained through the purification of the carnal soul and which requires special guidance.
Question 6: Regarding the purport of verse ten, some say that Allāh established the heavens without pillars whereas others state that He created them on unseen pillars. What are your thoughts on this?
Answer: The latter opinion is correct and the purport of the Qur'ānic verse is that God has created this universe on pillars invisible to us because its particles, subtle or dense are overlapping and contiguous and there is no region of the Universal Body which is devoid of a body, i.e., matter. The entire expansion of the encircling sphere is filled with every kind of matter and the sun is the center of this physical universe.
Question 7: Please tell us what is the rank of Ḥaz̤rat-i Luqmān in the light of the way he is described in the Sūrah bearing his name.
Answer: Qur'ānic reality is very clear about Ḥaz̤rat-i Luqmān that he was among the perfect (kāmil) and perfector (mukammil) human beings because God bestowed him with wisdom, which is the capital of intellect and knowledge, that is, the abundant good granted after achieving this wisdom. It is in the light of wisdom that all those bounties start to appear which the Benevolent Lord has created for human beings. Hence the gratitude incumbent on wise Luqmān alludes to the people of wisdom to show gratitude.
Question 8: It is obvious that Ḥaz̤rat-i Luqmān recognized God and he was a monist (muwaḥḥid) thus, he advised his son against polytheism (s̲h̲irk). The question is in what sense is polytheism tremendous wrong (ẓulm)?
Answer: There are two kinds of rights: the rights of God, and the rights of servants. If ideologically any individual removes Godhead and the kingdom from the true Lord and associates them with someone else, this concept is tremendous injustice. It is obvious that from this great injustice, they will be unjust to themselves as well as to others. Conversely, recognition of God and tawḥīd (believing in one God) holds the status of tremendous justice.
Question 9: There is no obvious difficulty in comprehending the literal meaning of verse fifteen of the same sūrah. However, when we discuss spiritual parents based on the ta'wīl, the question which arises is: How is it possible for the spiritual mother and father to command any of their children to be polytheistic (do s̲h̲irk)?
Answer: This is an opportune and important question but there are certain subtleties of spiritual secrets which mean that rather than a written answer we will leave it for a later time more appropriate for an oral answer. God willing, we can discuss it when I meet any of you.
Question 10: In verse sixteen, what does the mustard seed signify? Are Qur'ānic examples among the possibilities or impossibilities? If you state that whatever work the omnipotent God shows in the domain of possibilities is performed in any form, then please explain to us how He brings forth a thing equal to a mustard seed from rocks, heavens and the earth?
Answer: In this sacred verse, the mustard seed is an example of the particle of soul. Whatever examples are mentioned by the holy Qur'ān as the concept of possibility are among those which are going to happen externally or internally (physically or spiritually). It is in this way that the entire wisdom of the wise Qur'ān is hidden in such examples. Therefore, the ta'wīlī purport of the Qur'ānic
verse is that on the day of resurrection, God will bring forth the souls of all things in the entire universe in the form of particles. Here, rock is prominently mentioned because people deem rocks as lacking soul, however there is a type of hidden soul which is frozen. There is a wisdom-filled verse of Allāh (17:50): "Say: Be you stones or iron." Although God has said this command through the holy Prophet(ṣ), this farmān is an exegesis and an explanation of the verse 36:81: "Be! It is" (kun fa-yakūn). It is clear from this that just as the human soul can ascend to [aḥsani taqwīm], it can descend too towards the lowest of the low ("asfala sāfilīn" 95:5).
Question 11: How has Allāh subjugated all things of the heaven and the earth for humankind? In what sense are God's physical and spiritual bounties complete for human beings? Also, please explain the meaning of knowledge, guidance and luminous book, the way they are referred to here.
Answer: All human souls have an ultimate and extremely exalted, common soul which has numerous names, such as Soul of souls, Single Soul, Universal Soul, etc. It is the essence and soul of the entire universe whose manifestation is the Perfect Man. Therefore, all those mu'mins who merge with the Universal Soul through the maẓhar (locus of manifestation) will experience that the entire universe has been subjugated to them and in this merging, they attain the external and internal Divine bounties without the slightest decrease.
Here knowledge means dācī because he has the rank of the knowledge of certainty. Guidance means ḥujjat who is at the rank of the eye of certainty. The Luminous Book is the Imām of the time who has the rank of the truth of certainty. He is the fountainhead of light and the one who spreads light.
Question 12: Please explain the ta'wīl of al-curwatu'l-wus̱ qā in verse 22.
Answer: In some matters of Islam, it is obligatory and necessary to turn the countenance towards God's House and to keep the
countenance of the soul towards God at all times is more obligatory and necessary and to submit it, that is, the Higher "I", to the unique Essence (ẕāt-i yaktā) is the greatest work. This is the most special meaning of submission hidden in the word 'Islam'. According to the Islamic concept, the meaning of this submission is that the higher end of the human soul is forever linked with the Divine light, similar to the sun's rays being always linked with the sun. Therefore, the one who submits their soul's countenance to Allāh in this sense and in addition they are beneficent, they have held on to a very strong handhold and this very strong handhold is the walāyat of the Imams of guidance.
Question 13: Please explain a special wisdom of verse twenty-five.
Answer: Reflecting upon this blessed verse, it appears that the disbelievers belie that there is God and that He has created the heavens and the earth, but the main cause of their disbelief is ignorance because most of them do not know.
Question 14: "If all the trees on this earth were pens; and [encircling] ocean (i.e., the water of the entire world) with seven more of such oceans help it were ink, the Words (kalimāt) of Allāh could not be exhausted." What is the meaning of kalimāt in this verse?
Answer: These Words mean the perfect words (kalimāt-i tāmmāt), particularly the Word "Be (kun)", which although it is one, its manifestations are countless. This is because in every Perfect Human Being there is not one manifestation of the word "Be!" but there are numerous manifestations and one universe of knowledge and the chain of such universes has neither a beginning nor an end. It is in this sense that the Divine words never cease and in which are hidden universes of intellect and soul.
Question 15: Please explain the wisdom-filled verse of 31:28: "Your creation and resurrection (bacs̱ , i.e., inᵐbicās̱ ) is but like a Single Soul."
Answer: a) Each of the Prophets and Imāms is the Single Soul
of their respective time. Within himself he is one but [unifies] the souls of all creatures within himself, whereas in his spiritual creation, completion and inᵐbicās̱ (resurrection) they are with him in an unconscious state. b) The wisdom of the above-mentioned Qur'ānic verse is that whatever state of an individual, consciousness or spiritual birth or spiritual death or resurrection, it will be like that of the Single Soul. c) This means for all the people the path of spiritual progress is the same and that is the straight path (ṣirāṭ-i mustaqīm) on which greats souls have already advanced.
Question 16: The wise Qur'ān repeatedly draws our attention to the Divine Law that He, the Omnipotent, creates two contrary things from one another and causes them to hide in one another, just as night enters into the day and day into the night (31:29). What is the special purpose of drawing attention to this law?
Answer: The purpose is tremendous, which is that we should thoroughly understand the law of opposites: How the state of existence is hidden within non-existence and how existence is hidden in the potential of non-existence; how the hereafter is created from the world and how the world comes into existence from the hereafter. In addition, we also need to reflect upon the many wisdoms of the Qur'ān which carry both negative and positive aspects. If one aspect is apparent, the other is hidden.
Question 17: What is the ta'wīl of the sun (s̲h̲ams), moon (qamar), an 'Appointed Term' (31:29) and ark (fulk, 31:31)? In addition, please explain the meaning of this holy verse: "Verily Allāh! With Him is the knowledge of the Hour" (31:34).
Answer: The ta'wīl of the sun and moon, is first the Nāṭiq(ṣ) and the Asās, then Asās and Imām and finally Imām and Ḥujjat. That of the 'Appointed Term' is Ḥaz̤rat-i Qā'im, and the ark, which sails in the ocean of spirituality, is the light of the Imām of the time, which is the living Supreme Name and the light of remembrance.
The meaning of the verse: "Verily Allāh! With Him is the knowledge
of the Hour" (31:34) is that those Perfect Human Beings who have attained the special closeness of Allāh attain the practical knowledge of the resurrection.
Dust under the feet of mu'mins 7th June, 1984
| Chapter Index |