The ta'wīlī secrets of the second verse:
Tags:
Ḥā Mīm: Ḥā = 8, and Mīm = 40, and their sum is 48, and their decimal (uqūd) is 4 with 8 remaining. The ta'wīl is four fundamentals, i.e., Universal Intellect, Universal Soul, Nāṭiq, and Asās, 7 Imāms, and the vicegerent (k̲h̲alīfah) of Ḥaz̤rat-i Qā'im . By these hierarchs and by the Speaking Book (light) we have not made the book of spirituality Qur'ān in a foreign language, but in Arabic (i.e., in your mother tongue) so that you may be able to understand easily and indeed, it is sublime and wise with us in the rank of asāsiyyat. In other words, it is `Alī [who is] (sublime) and Ḥakīm (wise).
A specific translation of kitāb-i mubīn as the speaking Book is correct. And for the correlation of this translation, see verse (43:18) in Sūrah of Zuk̲h̲ruf. On this basis, it is also correct to translate "Imām-i Mubīn" (36:12) as the speaking Imām, that is, the Imām who does the ta'wīl. It is because not everything can be confined in the circle of tanzīl rather, it is the expansion of the ta'wīl in which all intellectual and spiritual things are confined, as Almighty Allāh says (75:19): "Then its bayān (i.e., ta'wīl) rests upon Us." You should also carefully read the verses preceding this noble Qur'ānic verse, which mentions the recitation of the Qur'ān (i.e., tanzīl) and subsequently mentions the bayān-i Qur'ān (i.e., ta'wīl). Another great wisdom in this connection is that just as the wise God has made the holy Prophet responsible for the tanzīl and recitation of the holy Qur'ān, similarly He has not made him responsible for its bayān but He has Himself taken its responsibility in the future and has said that the ta'wīl is going to come (purport 7:53). So, this means the holy Imāms were to work on the ta'wīl by the command of God and His prophet.
It is a fact among the tremendous miracles of the wise Qur'ān that where it is in the Maṣḥaf it is in Arabic; where it is in the book of universe, it is in creative and synthetic writings; where it is in the Guarded Tablet, it is in spiritual writing; [similarly] in the
command of 'Be,' in a most comprehensive word, in the Divine Pen, in intellectual movements; in the Perfect Words, in all-embracing meanings; in the Supreme Name, in the light of remembrance; in the previous heavenly scriptures, in spirit and spirituality and where it is in the form of practical ta'wīl, there it is necessarily in the spiritual state and personal language because the Qur'ān itself says in the language of wisdom that its ta'wīlī spirit and spirituality for a mu'min is not in a foreign language [rather in the personal language].
Had there not been this relationship between the holy Qur'ān and Mawlā `Alī in God's presence, the Prophet(ṣ) would neither have said that "The Qur'ān is with `Alī and `Alī is with the Qur'ān," nor would he [the Prophet(ṣ)], linking the Imām from the ahl-i bayt with the Qur'ān according to the Ḥadīs̱ -i S̱ aqalayn, appointed them his successors. This shows that the Qur'ān and the Imām are attached to each other externally and internally.
Three kinds of things are found in God's Godhead: intellectual, spiritual and material. These things are in two places: the external world (āfāq) and the internal world (anfus). The best model of the internal world is the personality of the exalted Imām after the holy Prophet, that is, his blessed personality is the world of particles, which is the Guarded Tablet of the world of particles. Then there it is his higher soul that has the rank of Soul of Souls, Supreme Soul, Universal Soul and universal Guarded Tablet. The unity and integrity of these two tablets is like that of the sun and its reflection (which reflects from a clean mirror), but which in reality are one.
It is very strange that human beings have the concept of spiritual progress and the most sublime ranks of paradise, but they do not understand the grandeur of the Perfect Man, who, on behalf of God, is not only the model of spiritual ascension and elevation, but is also the means of guidance. For example, they believe in the ḥadīs̱ that "The heart of a faithful servant is the throne of Almighty Allāh" but they do not think that the practical example of this reality is the Imām. This also implies that where it is possible for an ordinary mu'min to become the throne of God, there, by Divine
mercy and favor, the exalted Imām is already the Guarded Tablet. In this regard, how appropriately Mawlā-yi Rūmī has said: "The Man of God, i.e., the Perfect Man himself, is the Universal Intellect and the Universal Soul. Do not think that the throne (cars̲h̲) and pedestal (kursī) are separate from him [somewhere else]."
The [lexical] meaning of Ummu'l-kitāb as the Guarded Tablet is indeed correct; however, the question is about its state and capacity: What kind of Tablet is it that it can preserve all things in their intellectual, spiritual and material form? A tablet which is without intellect and soul cannot encompass all intellects and souls. It can be done only by a great soul that can attach to itself material things on one side and intellectual ones on the other. Its example can be found from the partial soul, which has preserved innumerable particles of body and souls and countless words of intellect within itself.
Just as in the science of existence, number two is necessary after one because it is the intermediary between unity and multiplicity, similarly in Islām, which, after the affirmation of one God, there is the concept of two great personalities, the Pen and the Tablet. An example of this reality in the macrocosm is the sun and the moon, in the microcosm, it is the intellect and the soul, in the plane of existence, the hereafter and this world, in the major cycle, it is the Nāṭiq and the Asās. The same Pen and the Tablet are also two great angels, the Universal Intellect and the Universal Soul or the Throne and the Pedestal, whose manifestations (maẓhars) in the physical world are the Messenger(ṣ) and the Imām.
It is true that exoterically sūrah of Fātiḥah is the Mother of the Book (Ummu'l-kitāb). However, in this example, the exoteric difference between the Ummu'l-kitāb and the Qur'ān is not hidden. Therefore, if a person superficially observes al-Ḥamd, he will see only its external form and will find materially no room for the complete Qur'ān in it, but a wise person with their keen eye becomes sure that the holy Qur'ān is contained in it, in its all-embracing comprehensiveness and most extensive ta'wīlī state. This is a bright and excellent example of the reality that Mawlā
`Alī is esoterically and spiritually the Ummu'l-kitāb.
As an example, every individual gives birth to their record of deeds. In this sense, it is a irrefutable fact that every individual is the mother of their personal book (i.e., book of deeds) as the Qur'ān says in verse (17:14): "Read your book. You are sufficient as reckoner against yourself this day." This event is not such that the spiritual book, i.e., the book of deeds, is received after the physical death, but it is also given to any individual who dies spiritually during their lifetime to the carnal soul. This is an example and a proof that the speaking Book, namely Asās is on the whole, the Ummu'l-kitāb.
17th March, 1984
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