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Qur'anic Minarets - Light from the Qur'anic Minarets Part 3

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Light from the Qur'anic Minarets Part 3

Tags: Hazrat Ibrahim, Imam, Hazrat Lut, Hazrat Isma`il, Sa`y, Forehead

1. Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him)'s Prayer: Read verses (2:126-129) carefully, where Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him) prays to God for extremely important and fundamental things of religion:
   
   First Prayer: May the city of Makkah be a place of protection and peace and those of its dwellers who believe in Allah and the last day have various kinds of fruit. That is, may the recognition of the asas' rank be the means of spiritual protection for the believers and may they thereby attain the fruits of knowledge and wisdom.
   
   Second Prayer: May He accept the service which Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him) and Hazrat-i Isma`il (May peace be through him) rendered in the construction of the Ka`bah.
   
   Third Prayer: During the construction of the House of Allah, they also prayed that He may make them His special, selected most obedient [servants].
   
   Fourth Prayer: There should be such a group from their progeny who truly obeys God, i.e., the Imams of guidance.
   
   Fifth Prayer: "And show us the places [of our pilgrimage]" (2:128), that is, the spiritual places. "And accept our repentance", (2:128), that is, (turn to us and enable us to reach the rank of the truth of certainty, which is the place of azal).
   
   Sixth Prayer: "O our Lord! Send in them (i.e., the Imams) a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them your signs (ayat) and teach them the heavenly Book and wisdom and purify their (souls), so that after this purification, they will be the Imams of the people."
2. Who are the Chosen Ones (mujtabas) (22:78)?: Imams are the selected believers (9:105) and the same are the chosen ones too (22:78). Study verses (22:77-78) carefully, whatever is said there is about the Imams from the progeny of the holy Prophet, who are the progeny of Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him) (4:54), such as "He has chosen you" (22:78; "And has not laid upon you in religion any impediment" (22:78), that is, He has given you abundant knowledge to interpret and to do ta'wil in the explanation and elucidation of rules (ahkam); "The religion of your father Ibrahim", that is, Islam is the religion of your father Ibrahim (May peace be through him), i.e., you are heirs to this religion; "He named you Muslims", that is, the obedient ones; "Not only before [i.e., previous scriptures] but also in this Qur'an"; "So that the Messenger," i.e., the light of the Prophet may be present and witness over you, and you, i.e., the light of Imamat may be present and witness over all humankind. The key wisdom of this verse should be well understood that the light of Prophethood is the permanent witness over the light of Imamat and the light of Imamat is the permanent witness over the people and such a witness is always present even though the people may be unaware of this bright fact.
3. Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him) – the Father of the People: "Ib" means father and "rahim" means people. This is a compound word of the Chaldean language, which means the father of people, as abu'l-bashar (the father of humankind) is the title of Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him), and abu'l-bashar-i thani (second father of humankind), is that of Hazrat-i Nuh (May peace be through him). Similarly, every Prophet and Imam is spiritually the father of the people. For a bright proof [of this] see verse (7:172) that God brought out the progeny (dhurriyyat) of the children of Adam from their loins and asked them: "Am I not your Lord? Indeed, they replied". These children of Adam (May peace be through him) who are at the rank of spiritual perfection are the Prophets and Imams, from the world of particles which is in their loins their progeny is brought out in their respective times and the covenant of Divine Providence is taken. This shows that the blessed name of Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him) alludes to the fact that every Prophet and every Imam completely possesses the rank of the "Father of the people" in his respective time.
4. Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him)'s Circle of Da`wat: Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him) was the son of Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him)'s brother, Haran. God favoured and exalted him with the rank of Prophethood, as mentioned in verse (21:71): "And We rescued him (i.e., Ibrahim) and Lut sending them to a land in which We have kept blessings for the people of the world, i.e., the earth of the Universal Soul." It is also mentioned in verse (21:74): "To Lut We gave wisdom and knowledge and We rescued him from the town (the inhabitants of) which had been doing filthy deeds." Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him) was appointed to do the work of da`wat in the towns of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc. which were situated in that part of Jordan where the Dead Sea or the Sea of Lut is situated today.
5. Shameful Deeds of Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him)'s Community: When Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him) came to the city of Sodom and settled there, he saw that its inhabitants were so engrossed in abominations and seditions that he sought God's protection. In addition to their other vices, they had invented a wicked act, which was to be promiscuous with young boys to fulfil their carnal desires. There was no practice of this shameful act until that time among the nations of the world, as the holy Qur'an says (7:80-81): "And (remember the event of) Lut when he said to his people: Do you commit lewdness which none in the world has done before you? Verily you satisfy your lust with men instead of women. Nay, you are a wanton people."
6. The Esoteric Aspect of Sodomy: In this connection, it is better that you carefully study Chapter 41 of Wajh-i Din. Nonetheless, some light will be shed here on this subject. There is always a group of people of truth on one side in this world and a group of falsehood on the other. The former has the [symbolic] status of man and the latter the status of woman. Thus, in reality, it is extremely necessary for the man to spiritually marry a woman, that is, he should teach the knowledge of the da`wat-i haqq and the woman should accept it. On the contrary, if an individual amongst the people of falsehood, who has the status of woman, does the work of da`wat, he will be accursed of God and the Prophet, because he considered himself like a spiritual man. This curse can also include an individual of the people of truth, who potentially was a spiritual man, but due to his ignorance he made a woman his husband, as the holy Prophet says: "May God curse the men who imitate women and the women who imitate men." Both homosexuality and lesbianism have been condemned in this.
7. Divine Chastisement: Eventually the time of Divine chastisement came. At the fall of night Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him), by the indication of angels, left Sodom with his family, but his wife refused to accompany him and returned to Sodom from half the way. When the night came to an end, a dreadful cry overthrew the people of Sodom and they were thrown upside down and the rain of stones from above obliterated their name and trace and they had to suffer the same consequences which the previous nations did due to their disobedience and arrogance.
8. Hazrat-i Isma`il (May peace be through him): This blessed name is also a compound word, consisting of two words "isma`" and "il". "Isma`" means to listen and "il" means God in the Hebrew language. The Arabic word 'isma`' and the Hebrew word 'shuma`' mean 'listen'! because God had listened to Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him)'s prayer before the birth of Hazrat-i Isma`il (May peace be through him) and Hazrat-i Hajirah (May peace be through her) was given the glad tidings by an angel that: God has listened to your painful prayer. He was given this name for this reason. In Hebrew, it is pronounced 'Shuma`il'.
9. The Uncultivated Valley and Hazrat-i Hajirah and Hazrat-i Isma`il (May peace be through them): When Hazrat-i Isma`il (May peace be through him) was born to co-wife Hazrat-i Hajirah (May peace be through her), the fire of envy and jealousy flared up in Hazrat-i Sarah (May peace be through her). Eventually when they could not live together, Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him), by Divine command, took the mother and child and came to the plain of Makkah, where there was nothing except sand and hills, as mentioned in verse (14:37): "O our Lord! I have settled some of my offspring in an uncultivated valley near Your sacred House, that they may establish prayer, our Lord! Therefore, make the hearts of some of the people incline towards them, and provide them with fruits in order that they may be thankful."
   
   Wisdom: When difficulties and trials befall the believers, the secrets of spiritual ascension and elevation are hidden in them. Therefore, the exalted Imam keeps each of his spiritual children, whose rights have been usurped, in the barren plain of the personal world together with the affectionate and loving mother, where in the future the spiritual Ka`bah is going to be built, so that by the renewal of similitudes of the magnificent spiritual events of Hazrat-i Ibrahim (May peace be through him) and Hazrat-i Isma`il (May peace be through him), their perfect recognition may be attained.
10. Some Questions:
    1. What does the word 'sa`y' (running) mean (37:102)?
    2. What are the meanings of ransom (fida) and the great sacrifice (dhibhin `azim) (37:107)?
    3. What is the relevance of the forehead mentioned in this sacrifice (37:103)?

16 Muharram 1401 AH/19th August, 1989 AD

Note: For the exoteric aspect of the stories of the Prophets, see "Qisasu'l-Qur'an" by Mawlana Muhammad Hifzu'r-Rahman (Urdu: Vol 1-2, Vol 3-4).

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