Spiritual Experiences - Light and Manifest Book
Light and Manifest Book
Tags: Light, Manifest Book, Luminous Movies, Musawwir
1. God, may He be exalted, says in (5:15): "Indeed there has come to you from God a light and a manifest book". That is, the Divine teacher and the holy Qur'an = the speaking Qur'an and the silent Qur'an = the most benevolent Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) and the wise Qur'an = the vicegerent of the Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) (the true Imam) and the heavenly book = the revealed light and the mighty Qur'an. Only one reality shines forth in this explanation, that is, together with the holy Qur'an there is always a Divine teacher present in the world. And, it has to be so according to God's justice, lest on the day of resurrection people argue against God that in their time there was no locus of manifestation (mazhar) of His light (4:165).
2. In the wise Qur'an, those verses which are revealed about the light of guidance testify that the Imam who has been appointed by God and the Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) for the people of faith, always exists and is present in the world generation after generation, so that the door of the spiritual bounties of the Qur'an and Islam may not close. This is because according to the above-mentioned verse, the light and the book (Qur'an) are inseparable, otherwise only the coming of the book would have been mentioned.
3. In verses (23:62, 45:29) of the wise Qur'an it is mentioned that Allah also has a speaking book. In such a case, it is necessary that these two books of God should be interconnected, because there is a spiritual connection in God's things. Thus, God's speaking book (light = Imam) and silent book (Qur'an) are both connected in such a way that spiritually (in batin) they are "light upon light" (i.e., one light) and physically (in zahir) one is the Teacher and the other the book (Qur'an), as said in a noble Hadith "`Ali is with the Qur'an and the Qur'an is with `Ali". (al-Mustadrak, III). A powerful trial-filled wisdom is hidden in this noble Hadith which is that Hazrat-i `Ali (May peace be through him) is with the Qur'an in the sense that he is mentioned throughout the Qur'an, and the Qur'an is with Hazrat-i `Ali (May peace be through him) in the sense that the Qur'an is in the light of Hazrat-i `Ali (May peace be through him). That is, all the miracles of the Qur'an were renewed in Hazrat-i Mawla `Ali (May peace be through him)'s personal world and the same renewal of the Qur'an occurs in every Imam. The meaning of "Everything being confined in the manifest Imam" is that the compendium of the explanation of everything is the Qur'an (16:89) and such a compendium is in the manifest Imam (36:12).
4. In verses (85:21-22) God says: "Nay, it is the most glorious Qur'an, written in a tablet which is guarded". By expounding the ta'wil of this verse, the Chief of believers (Amiru'l-mu'minin), Hazrat-i Mawla `Ali (May peace be through him) said: "It is I who is the Guarded Tablet" (Kawkab-i Durri). Undoubtedly, the light of the Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) is the Supreme Pen and that of Hazrat-i Mawla `Ali (May peace be through him) is the Guarded Tablet. These two are the supreme angels called the Universal Intellect and the Universal Soul because the things of the higher world are angels in the form of humankind.
5. Initially the light from God came in the Adam of the cycle. For the sake of trial, it is mentioned in the Qur'an by the name of "soul" (15:29, 38:72). The angels prostrated to this light, and it was this light in which there was the knowledge of the realities of things. I have already written this revolutionary secret that initially the angels prostrated to Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him), the vicegerent of God, at [this] destination of Hazrat-i `Izra'il (May peace be through him), which is also called `alam-i zarr. There, after advancing to the destination of the Intellect he was born intellectually in the image of Rahman where the angels prostrated to him a second time.
6. If you have certainty, you will benefit a lot. If by Divine help, the door of the great Qur'an's inner meaning opens, there are only secrets, as said in verse (7:11): "And indeed We created you (in the personal world of the Adam of the time), then gave you shape (i.e., you were merged in the Adam of the time and in this state you were given the Image of the Compassionate), then We told the angels to prostrate to Adam (in such a state you were one with Adam and by becoming his copies, were also separate from him)". In this way, you were together in the spirituality of every Prophet and every Imam, because each one of them holds the status of the Single Soul. This is God's unfathomable mercy that you have undergone an unconscious resurrection in every Single Soul so that today, in the light of the knowledge of certainty and tomorrow in paradise in the light of the eye of certainty, you may be able to see yourself in the spirituality of the Prophets and Imams, and you will be certain of this wisdom of God that you are going to receive a copy of every exalted personality as a paradisaical attire. For example, when somebody will enter the live picture or copy taken of Hazrat-i Sulayman (May peace be through him), in that state he will truly find himself as Sulayman.
7. There is a powerful wisdom-filled noble Hadith narrated by Hazrat i Mawla `Ali (May peace be through him): "The holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) said: 'In paradise there will be a bazaar in which there will be no buying or selling, except for the pictures of men and women. When someone likes a picture, he will enter it, that is, he will become like it'" (Tirmizi). In this Hadith, there are many allusions and satisfying answers to many questions for the people of wisdom, because in its inner meaning, this noble Hadith has a very great comprehensiveness of meaning. These pictures are neither of paper, nor of any physical movie, rather they are luminous movies which can be excellent examples of life and consciousness. You can call them the living and speaking copies of the Prophets, the awliya' and the ranks of human beings following them. You can call them the subtle bodies, the paradisaical attire, hur, gilman, jinn and pari, angel etc.
8. This means that whatever superb bounties God has made in paradise, one of them is that there are manifestations for the soul. For example, if someone wishes, he can enter and experience Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him)'s picture (copy). This bounty was made possible long before all people were together with Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him), the chosen one, in the form of particles from the beginning till the end and they were serving in many ways. Therefore, it is their right that in paradise they should become like their father Adam and so on and so forth.
9. At the end of verses (59:23-24) some special names of God are mentioned. One of them is al-musawwir (the Creator of forms). According to the sages, God is the Absolute King and therefore work is done by His command and He is above doing work. Thus, He is musawwir in the sense that, by His command the angels, Prophets and Imams make the excellent pictures of luminosity which are mentioned above. They make the copies of the intellectual, spiritual and subtle body of themselves and of others which are completely alive and knowing like them.
Karachi, 29th July 1997
Monday, 23 Rabi` I, 1418 A.H.
| Chapter Index | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter |