Precious Treasure - A Great Gift of Knowledge

A Great Gift of Knowledge

Tags: Ranks, Saff, Alif-lam-mim, Alif-lam-mim-ra', Saq, Hazrat Sulayman

On behalf of Khanah-yi Hikmat and Idarah-yi `Arif, I present this gift of knowledge with utmost sincerity and happiness to President Amin Kotadia and Secretary Mariam Kotadia, Idarah-yi `Arif, London Branch, under whose patronage the Branch is flourishing and prospering. Despite all praise, it is not possible to do due justice to their devotion, dedication, numerous services and sacrifices and love for the Imam of the time and earnest and ardent yearning for the acquisition of true knowledge. Therefore, as the army to spread and impart true knowledge, let us pray for their true reward to the Lord of the treasures of the universe, that may He grant them success in every walk of life and bestow upon them the best in this world and best in the next! And may He confer upon them the crown of recognition! Amin ya rabba'l- `alamin (Amin, O the Lord of the worlds!)

In verse (78:38) God says: "The day when the spirit and angels will stand in rank, none will be able to speak, save him whom the Beneficent allows, and he will speak what is right." Ta'wil: The place of Intellect is mentioned in this verse and it is the place of oneness where standing in rank means to be one. In other words, this is the manifestation of the luminous body in which all are gathered. Whoever may be in that holy and pure form, he alone will speak and whatever he speaks will be the truth.
In verse (89:22) God says: "And your Lord and angels will come in ranks, as they ought to be in ranks." Ta'wil: To come from one place to another is the action of the body, and God is free from body, therefore this verse is among the equivocal ones (mutashabihat). The ta'wili wisdom of this verse is that Hazrat-i Qa'im and the great angels will come in ranks in the world of religion. The ta'wil of their standing in rank is that they will have one common personality.
Wherever the word "saff (rank)" is mentioned in the wise Qur'an, it means one single person at the highest place, as God says: "Verily God loves those who battle in His path in ranks, as if they were a solid structure (bunyanun marsus)" (61:4). That is, the mu'mins are one in the single personality (shakhs-i wahid) and this describes their unity and strength when they do spiritual jihad.
The above explanation was about standing in rank according to Qur'anic wisdom. Now, let us focus on the enumeration of God. He says: "Verily He has encompassed them and has enumerated them as ought to be enumerated" (19:94). That is, He has unified them by encompassing and enumerating them according to the law of oneness.
In verse (72:28) God says: "And He has surrounded the knowledge of the Prophets and has enumerated all things in a (single) number." That is, all things including the spirituality of the Prophets are encompassed in the manifest Imam. The single number means the holy personality of the Imam of the time. It is important to remember that when God surrounds things, this becomes their centrality and when God enumerates them, this becomes their unity. That is, the meanings of God's speech and act reach their climax.
In verse (6:115) God says: "Perfect is the Word of your Nourisher (kalimah-yi bari) in truth and justice. There is none that can change His words." That is, the fountainhead of truth and justice is the Divine Word. The Perfect Words are unchangeable and they are the treasures of knowledge and wisdom.
The "muqatta`at" letters of alif, lam, mim (م ل ا) are mentioned in the wise Qur'an in the beginning of six surahs (2, 3, 29, 30, 31 and 32) and those of alif, lam, ra' (ر ل ا) in the beginning of five (10, 11, 12, 14 and 15). A special ta'wil of these two forms is: Alif is the oath by the First, namely, the Pen; Lam is the oath by the Tablet; Mim/Ra' is the oath of writing (marqum/raqim). In other words, they are the Universal Intellect, Universal Soul and the Word "Be" (Kalimah-yi kun), which are the great signs and the Book as well.
All the gardens of paradise are gathered in the luminous body, as God says: "And (created) the gardens of densely growing trees" (78:16). God also says: "And garden-closes of thick foliage" (80:30). This is because all the fruits of knowledge and recognition are gathered here, as said in the verse: "And the shades of the trees of paradise will be close to them and the clustered fruits thereof will bow down" (76:14). That is, if the people of paradise desire a bounty, it will tantamount to their command and anything they desire will appear instantly.
In the verse: "Every soul has to taste death. Then unto Us you will be returned" (29:57), this teaching of the heavenly wisdom mentions the miraculous death which occurs sometime after the spiritual birth, which is full of marvels and wonders, the result of which is to return to God.
In verse (41:53) God says: "Soon will We show them our signs on the horizons (of the world) and within themselves too, until it will be manifest unto them that He is True." The present scientific marvels and wonders and then the cycle of spirituality are indicated in this heavenly prophecy made during the time of prophethood. The purpose of these two kinds of miracles is obviously to recognise the soul in its light as it ought to be recognised, so that the recognition of the Nourisher (rabb) may be attained when this light reaches the level of the certainty of truth (haqq al-yaqin).
The ta'wil of the shin (saq) is the Intellect, as God says: "The Day the shin will be laid bare and they (disbelievers) will be summoned to prostrate themselves but will not be able (to prostrate)" (68:42). That is, where and when the light of Intellect will manifest and the disbelievers will be summoned to obey, they will not be able to obey. A shin is also mentioned with reference to Queen Sheba, as God says: "It was said to her: Enter the palace. And when she saw it, deemed it a pool and bared her legs" (27:44). That is, when she saw the light of Intellect, she tried to understand it instantly with the external and internal aspects of her particular intellect and all at once tried to assess its depth to cross it, but her conjecture was wrong. The third mention of the leg is in verse (75:29-30 ), in which the death of animal soul is mentioned: "And one leg will be joined with another; unto your Lord that day will be the driving". In tanzil this verse mentions the physical death, but in ta'wil it is the mention of the spiritual death, in which the external intellect is joined with the internal intellect.
Hazrat-i Sulayman (May peace be through him) was an Entrusted (mustawda`) Imam. His Qur'anic story contains an example of the spiritual kingdom of great souls. Queen Sheba represents the hujjats of the night (hujjatan-i shab). For, it is a great secret that the true guide keeps the people of the entire world attached to his personality through the hujjats of the day (hujjatan-i ruz) and the hujjats of the night. Numerous wisdoms are hidden in this law.
God grants to every Prophet and every Imam the same spiritual kingdom that He granted Hazrat-i Sulayman (May peace be through him). This great favour has thus continued from the very beginning as a heritage, as is said: "And Sulayman became Dawud's heir" (27:16). This wisdom-filled indication makes the reality clear to the intellect and wisdom that Hazrat-i Sulayman (May peace be through him)'s spiritual kingdom was already with his father Hazrat-i Dawud (May peace be through him). The question may arise here that if it was so, it would have been mentioned in the Qur'an. With due humility, I would like to say that everything is mentioned in the wise Qur'an in the language of wisdom and it is because of this that this holy Book of God is called the wise Qur'an.
One special name of Qur'anic wisdom is "hikmat-i balighah (the perfect wisdom)" (54:5). For, every example, every word, every allusion and every wisdom of this unprecedented and unique heavenly Book is filled with the light of true guidance and it can therefore guide to the highest stage. Hence, it is very appropriately made the ladder of spiritual access to the light of the Throne (nur-i `arsh). Therefore, not only is everything mentioned in the wise Qur'an, it is also easy to understand, as God repeatedly draws attention to the "concept of the easiness" of the Qur'an, such as in the verse: "And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: Then is there any that will receive admonition?" (54:17). This means that the Qur'an is difficult from one aspect and from another, it has been made easy. It is also known that God wants ease for everyone (2:185). Therefore, the Compassionate God made the Prophet [a] light to shed light on the wisdoms and secrets of the wise Qur'an (5:15; 42:52). In the cycle of Imamat, by God and the Prophet's command, the True Imam is the Qur'an's light and the lamp of guidance (57:28). Thus, in the surah of Qamar (Moon) attention is repeatedly drawn towards this easy aspect of the Qur'an.
Whether it is time or place, body or soul, everything is in a limited quantity with God (13:8). However, the beginingless and endless nature of the concept of creation does not cease nor is it even affected. In fact, this helps to understand it. That is, according to the law of power and nature God creates everything from its opposite. For instance, the time of the day and night is limited, but by turning it round in the form of a circle, God creates months, years and infinite time. Hence, although everything is in a limited quantity and in a limited circle, there is no beginning and no end of the repetition and revolving of the survival and annihilation of things. This is in the light of Qur'anic wisdom (21:33; 36:40).
A person has more or less as many souls as those of the planet earth. Certainly, it was for this reason that the wise Qur'an said: "Whoso kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all humankind, and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all humankind" (5:32). The wisdom of this verse is that a human being is a personal world and potentially the people of the entire world are living in him. Thus, by God's permission if a divinely guided person revives a person in the sense of faith and real life, it is as if he revives all humankind in his personal world. Such a miraculous person is the Imam of the time, who alone can revive the dead in this way.
Everything has a shadow or a reflection. Likewise, light too has a shadow, however it is more appropriate to say reflection, for the shadow of light is entirely different from the rest of the shadows. It is luminous and bright like the reflection of the sun shining in the mirror. Thus, God, the Compassionate, casts a reflection of His light from the sublime Throne upon the hearts of all humankind, which all of them accept as their natural or inborn intellect. At the same time, by God's permission the sun of guidance rose, so that the particular or inborn intellect may be nourished and progress and simultaneously its status and rank may be determined. Then God seized all these reflections very easily in His hand of power; if He had willed He would not have lifted them from here, as He says: "Have you not seen how your Lord has spread the shade - and if He willed He could have made it still - then We made the sun its guide; then We seized it easily" (25:45-46 ). There are great luminous wisdoms and the didar of knowledge filled with theophanies in this blessed verse.
An extremely great wisdom which can puzzle all of us is: A human being, walking on the circle of spirituality reaches the place of post-eternity, he finds pre-eternity in the same place too, and due to which the great miracle of his ibda` and inbi`ath becomes one. That is, ibda` and inbi`ath are the two names of one reality, as God says: "And you have come to Us one by one as We did create you the first time, and you have left behind you all that We bestowed upon you" (6:94).

London,
3rd August, 1984.

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