The obstacles and the barriers preventing being benefited by the Qur'an

Now that the greatness of the Book of Allah has been understood with considering all the required aspects of greatness, and the way of being benefited by it has been opened, it will be necessary for the learner of, and the benefit-deriver [mustafid] from, the Book of Allah to apply a further important discipline in order to get [the best] advantage. It is removing the causes which prevent the advantage, and which we call "the veils" between the benefit-deriver and the Qur'an. These veils are many, to some of which we shall refer presently.

One of these thick veils is self-conceit, through which the learner sees himself, because of this veil, in no need of getting any benefit from the Qur'an. This is one of Satan's important masterpieces, by which he always tries to inspire man with imaginary perfections, telling him to be contented with what he has, and to disregard everything other than that which he already has. For example, he makes the people of tajwid [reciting the Qur'an with intonation] contented with this small knowledge which they have, making it quite big in their eyes, slighting other knowledge to them, and making them compare the carriers of the Qur'an with themselves, causing them to be deprived of understanding the luminous divine Book and of getting any advantage from it. Similarly, he causes the men of letters to be contented with the meaningless from, making them believe that all the Qur'anic affairs are only those which they have. He engages the exegetes, as usual, with the ways of recitation, the different opinions of the linguistics, the times of revelation, the occasions of revelation, whether the ayah was revealed in Mecca or in al-Madinah, the number of the ayahs, their letters and the like. The scholars are also kept indulged in only learning the different aspects of indications, the diverse ways of arguments and the like. Even the philosopher, the wise man and the gnostic are imprisoned by Satan behind the thick veil of terminology, concepts and so on. The benefit-deriver [mustafid] must tear open these veils in order to look at the Qur'an from behind them, taking care not to stay at any one of these veils, so as not to be left behind the caravan of the travelers to Allah, nor be deprived of the sweet divine invitations. The Glorious Qur'an itself instructs that one should not remain still and should not be satisfied with a certain limit. This is frequently referred to in the stories of the Qur'an. Moses (AS), a great prophet as he was, was not contented with that position, nor was he satisfied with his high position of knowledge. He no sooner met that perfect man, al-Khidr, than he addressed him, quite humbly and modestly, saying: "May I follow you that you may teach me right knowledge of what you have been taught?" [305] He kept following him and acquired the knowledge he wanted to learn. Prophet Ibrahim (AS). also was not satisfied with the great state of faith and the special knowledge of the prophets (AS). He asked the Lord: " My Lord! Show me how you give life to the dead." [306] He wanted to proceed from the state of cordial faith up to the state of tangible confidence. Higher even than that is when Allah, the Exalted, told the Seal of the Prophets, the most learned person of all Allah's creatures, to say: "... Say: 'O my Lord! Increase me in knowledge". [307] Such instructions of the divine Book and relating the stories of the prophets, are but for us to learn from them, and to bring us to conscience and wake us from our negligent sleep.

Another one of the veils is that of the false ideas, and the batil ways, which are sometimes caused by the inabilities of the person himself, and they are mostly the outcome of subordination and imitation. This veil particularly conceals from us the Qur'anic knowledge. For example, if, by listening to our fathers, mothers, or some ignorant preacher, we got a false idea fixed in our hearts, it would be a veil, a barrier, between us and the noble divine ayahs [of the Qur'an]. Thus, even if there were thousands of ayahs and hadiths defying that idea, we would either dismiss them on the basis of their exoteric meanings, or we would not consider them with the aim of understanding. Regarding beliefs and knowledge there are numerous examples, but I shall abstain from counting them, as I do know that this veil cannot not be torn by the sayings of someone, like me. Nevertheless, just to present a sample, I will refer to one of them, which is somewhat easier to understand: Despite all the ayahs which have been revealed in respect of meeting Allah and knowing Him, all the narratives that were related to the same subject and all the indications and allusions, open and hidden, in the invocations and the supplications of the Imams (AS) , some uninformed and vulgar persons have spread the belief that the way to knowing Allah was completely closed. The door of knowing Allah and discerning the Beauty [of Him] is interpreted to be the same as meditating upon the very Essence of Allah, which is prohibited, or rather impossible. They may even refrain from entering this field and prefer not to acquaint themselves with such knowledge which is the delight of the eyes of the prophets and holy men [auliya']. It is much to be regretted by the people of Allah to see a chapter of knowledge, which can very aptly be described as the goal of sending the prophets and the most cherished demand of the holy men, should be so prohibited to the people that a simple mentioning it would be regarded complete disbelief and mere heresy. These people take the knowledge [ma `arif] of the prophets and the holy men [auliya] to be the same as the knowledge [ma'arif] of the common people and [unlettered old] women about Allah's Essence, Names and Attributes. Sometimes they say even more than that: "So-and-so has good, vulgar beliefs. We wish we kept to the same vulgar belief." This is quite correct, because when this wretched person utters these words, he has already lost his vulgar beliefs, and, at the same time, regards other beliefs, which are the beliefs of the elite and the people of Allah, to be false. This wish is quite similar to the wish of the disbelievers who, as in the noble ayah, say: "... and the disbeliever shall say: `O would that I were dust!' [308] should we want to relate in detail the ayahs and the narratives concerning the meeting with Allah, in order to expose this corrupt belief caused by ignorance and Satanic conceit, we would need to write a separate book. Especially, if we wanted to explain the knowledge which has been neglected due to this thick Satanic veil, it would be clear that this negligence is one of the stages of neglecting and discarding the Qur'an, and it is probably the most regretful stage, as is described in the Qur'an: "And the Messenger said: `O my Lord! My people have treated this Qur'an as a forsaken [thing]." [309] Forsaking the Qur'an has many stages and countless degrees, and we may possess a good number of them.

If we bound this divine Book in a nice and valuable cover, and we kissed it and put it on our eyes whenever we wanted to recite it or to take an istikharah [ consulting the Qur'an to do, or not to do, something ] with it , would it mean that we did not forsake it?

If we spent most of our lives perfecting our intonation when reciting the Qur'an, and improving our linguistic and rhetorical knowledge of it, would it mean that we brought the Qur'an out of being forsaken?

If we learnt the different ways of reciting the Qur'an and other relevant subjects, would we be declared not guilty of deserting it?

If we took in all the aspects of the miraculousness and the artistic beauties of the Qur'an, would we be excluded from the complaint of the Messenger of Allah? Never ! None of these is intended by the Qur'an and its Great Revealer! The Qur'an is a divine Book, and it contains divine affairs. The Qur'an is the string connecting the creatures to their Creator, and through its instructions there should be a spiritual and invisible tie between the servants of Allah and their Lord. From the Qur'an there should emerge divine sciences and intuitive knowledge. The Messenger of Allah, according to a narrative in the noble al-Kafi, said: "Knowledge is of three kinds: a clear ayah, a fair obligation and a current tradition." [310]

The Glorious Qur'an is the bearer of these sciences. If we could take them in, we would not be deserting the Qur'an. If we accepted the calls of the Qur'an, and learnt from the stories of the prophets (SA) which are full of admonishments, information and philosophies, and if we absorbed the admonitions of Allah, the Exalted, of the prophets and of the wisemen, as stated in the Qur'an, we would not be deserting it, as indulging in the formal picture of the Qur'an is also keeping to the earth, and is of Satan's whisperings, from which one must seek refuge with Allah.

Another veil which prevents us from being benefited by this luminous Book is to believe that except what the exegetes have written or understood, no one has the right to make use of the noble Qur'an. Contemplating and thinking about the noble ayahs are mistakenly regarded to be interpretation, as interpretation according to one's own opinion is not allowed, and thus, because of this false belief and invalid opinion, the Glorious Qur'an was deprived from being utilized in any way and, consequently, it was completely deserted, despite the fact that to utilize it morally, faithfully and gnosticly has nothing to do with exegesis, be it according to opinion or else. For example, suppose some one could get out some lessons from the dialogue between the prophets Moses and al-Khidr (AS), how they talked to one another, how severely Moses, great a prophet as he was, traveled in order to acquire the knowledge which he lacked, and he implored al-Khidr (AS) in the way stated in the noble ayah: "May I follow you that you may teach me right knowledge of what you have been taught?" [311], then al-Khidr's reply, the excuses of Moses (AS), the greatness of the station of knowledge, and how a student should behave toward his tutor, in which there may be twenty disciplines. What connection have all these with exegesis, or exegesis according to opinion? Many advantages of the Qur'an are of this kind. Take, for example, someone, who, in respect of Islamic teachings, understands from Allah's saying: "All praise is for Allah, the Lord of the worlds" that all praise and extolment are exclusively Allah's. He learns from it His Unity of Actions, and says that from the noble ayah he gathers that every perfection, beauty, might and majesty which are in the world-and which the eye of the squint-eyed and the heart of the veiled ascribe to the beings - are Allah's and no being has itself any share of them. Therefore, praise and extolment are solely Allah's, and nobody shares them with Him. But has this anything to do with exegesis, be it according to opinion or not? There are so many other affairs from which many usages can be obtained, though having no connection with exegesis whatsoever. Besides, to exegete according to opinion is still arguable, as probably it does not concern the ayahs about knowledge and the speculative sciences, which conform with the criteria of intellectual proofs, nor the ethical ayahs which have to do with intellect, since such exegeses coincide with the strong intellectual proofs or with explicit rational indications, such that if an exterior does not conform with them, they are to be turned away from that exterior. For example, the noble ayahs: "And your Lord comes, and the angels rank on rank," [312] or "The Beneficent has settled on the Throne," [313] in which the conventional [`urf] understanding contradicts the proof, to refute the exterior and to explain them by proof is not explaining according to opinion, and can never be prohibited.

Therefore, it is possible, or believed, that exegesis according to opinion concerns the ayahs of precepts, of which the hand of opinion and intellect is short, and they must be devotionally and obediently taken from the treasurers of revelation and the descending places of the angels of Allah, as most of the noble hadiths in this respect defy the Sunni jurisprudents who wanted to comprehend Allah's religion by way of their own intellects and by comparisons. Some noble narrative says: "Nothing is farther away from the intellects of men than the exegesis of the Qur'an". [314] Another noble narrative says: "Allah's religion cannot be conceived well by intellects". [315] Such narratives prove that by "Allah's religion" they mean devotional obedience to the religious precepts, or else, proving the Maker, tauhid, Glorification, the Resurrection Day and Prophethood, or rather all sorts of knowledge are within the intellect's lawful right and field of specialty. That which is in the expressions of some notable narrators who said that proving monotheism depends on traditional proof, is strange, or, more aptly, it is one of the disasters from which we must take refuge with Allah. This speech does not need to be condemned and disgraced, but our complaint is to Allah.

Another veil which prevents understanding this heavenly Book and being benefited by its knowledge and admonitions is the veil of disobediences [ma`asi] and the opacity caused by rebellion against the sanctity of the Lord of the worlds. By this veil the heart is prevented from understanding the truths. It must be noted that just as there is a corresponding image for each of the good and bad deeds in the heavenly world, there is a similar one inside the soul, through which the innermost part of the soul gets either luminous and likewise the heart gets purified and luminous, in which case the soul becomes clear and polished like a mirror, prepared to receive the invisible manifestation and the appearance of the truths and knowledge, or the soul gets dark and devilish, in which case the heart becomes like a rusty and tarnished mirror, unable to reflect any divine knowledge and invisible truths. A heart in such a condition will gradually fall under the authority of Satan, and Iblis becomes the possessor of the kingdom of the spirit, and the hearing and seeing, and the other senses and powers, too, become at the disposal of that evil creature. The hearing becomes completely blocked against the divine teachings, and the eyes do not see the splendid divine signs and they become blind to Allah's truth, signs and ayahs. The heart does not become learned in religion, and is deprived of meditating on the clear signs of Allah, His Names and His Attributes, as Allah, the Exalted says: "They have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. They are as cattle - nay, they are even worse..." [316] Their look at the world is like the look of the cattle and the animals at it, void of value and deliberation. Their hearts, like the hearts of the animals, lack meditation and remembrance, or rather, the more they think of the ayahs and hear admonitions and instructions, the more their negligence and haughtiness increase. Thus, they are even lower than the beasts and graver in going astray.

Another one of the thick veils, which is a heavy curtain between us and the teachings and admonitions of the Qur'an, is the veil of loving this world, which causes the heart to completely be devoted to it, and the inclination of the heart entirely turns towards mundane matters, neglecting remembering Allah and turning away from both remembrance and the One to be remembered. The more the love for this world and its affairs, the thicker the veil and the curtain on the heart. Sometimes this love so overwhelms the heart, and the power [sultan] of endearing post and position becomes so influential, that the light of the divine nature [fitratullah] in the heart is put off, and the doors of happiness are closed to man's face. It is, however, possible that the locks of the hearts mentioned in the noble ayah: "Will they, then, not meditate on the Qur'an, or are there locks on the hearts?" [317] are those locks of mundane attachments. The one who wants to be benefited by the Qur'anic knowledge and to make use of the divine admonitions, will have to purge the heart from such impurities, and drive away the pollution of cordial sins, which are being engaged with other than Him, because the non-purified [heart] is no place for these secrets. Allah, the Exalted, says: "It is surely a noble Qur'an, in a protected Book; none shall touch it save the purified ones." [318] Just as the touching of the external body of this Book is not allowed for the one whose external body is not purified, by both legislation and obligation, similarly its knowledge, admonitions and secrets are prohibited to the one whose heart is smeared with the filths of the mundane longings. Allah, the Exalted, says: "This is the Book, wherein is no doubt, a guide for those who fear Allah." [319] The one who does not fear Allah and is faithless -according to the God-fearingness and the faith of the common people-is deprived of the formal lights of the admonitions of the Qur'an and of its true beliefs, while the one who does not fear Allah and is faithless- according to other degrees of fearing Allah, which are the fearing of the elite, of the upper elite and of the most upper elite - is deprived of the other degrees of the Qur'an. However, going into the details and relating other ayahs to the same effect would lengthen the subject. Nevertheless, we are going to end this chapter with an honoured ayah, which will be sufficient for the wakeful people, provided that it is well pondered upon.

Allah, the Exalted, says: "...Indeed there has come to you from Allah a light, and a clear Book, with which Allah guides him who seeks His pleasure unto the ways of safety, and brings them out of darkness into the light by His permission, and guides them unto a straight path." [320]

There are many specific points in this noble ayah, and to explain them we would need to write a separate thesis, for which there is no opportunity now.

Notes:

[305]. Surah al-Kahf: 66.

[306]. Surah al-Baqarah: 260.

[307]. Surah Ta-Ha: 114.

[308]. Surah an-Naba': 40.

[309]. Surah al-Furqan: 30.

[310]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 1, p. 37, "Book of the Merits of Knowledge", ch. On "The Description of Knowledge and its Merits", hadith 1.

[311]. Surah al-Kahf: 66.

[312]. Surah al-Fajr: 22.

[313]. Surah Ta-Ha: 5.

[314]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 89, p.95, "The Book of the Qur'an", ch. 8, hadith 48. `Ayyashi's Exegesis, vol. 1, p. 12.

[315]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 2, p. 303, "Book of Knowledge", hadith 41. From Ikmalud-din (Completing the Religion).

[316]. Surah al-An'am: 179.

[317]. Surah Muhammad: 24.

[318]. Surah al-Waqi`ah: 77-79.

[319]. Surah al-Baqarah: 2.

[320]. Surah al-Ma'idah: 15-16.

Meditation

One of the disciplines of reciting the Qur'an is the presence of heart, to which we have already referred in this book, when we discussed the general disciplines of the acts of worship; so, there is no need to repeat it.

Another one of its disciplines is meditation, by which we mean that the reciter of the noble ayahs should look for the destination and the objective. Now as the objective of the Qur'an, as the very luminous Book says, is guiding the people to the ways of safety, bringing them out of the stages of darkness into the world of light, and leading them to the straight path, one must, by way of meditating on the noble ayahs, attain to the stages of safety, from its lowest stage, which belongs to worldly dominion, up to its final stage, which is the realization of a sound heart [qalb-i salim], according to the explanation received from Ahlul Bayt (AS) saying that a sound heart meets Allah when it is occupied by none other than Him. [321] The soundness of the worldly and heavenly powers should be the quest of the reciter of the Qur'an, as he will certainly find it in this heavenly Book if he meditates on it. When the human powers become safe from Satan's intrusion, and when the way to safety is found and followed, man, in each stage of safety, will be saved from a degree of darkness, and the bright light of Allah will inevitably shine in him. If he gets rid of all sorts of darkness, the first one of which is the darkness of the world of nature, with all its affairs, and the last of which is the darkness of being inclined to multiplicity with all its affairs, the absolute light will shine in his heart, leading him to the straight path of humanity, which is, in this instance, the path of the Lord: "Surely my Lord is on a straight path." [322]

Contemplation is very much invited to, praised and applauded in the Glorious Qur'an. Allah, the Exalted, says : "And We have revealed to you the Remembrance that you may explain to mankind what has been sent down to them and that haply they may reflect." [323] In this noble ayah reflection is strongly applauded, because the aim of sending down this great heavenly Book, the great luminous paper, is that "haply they may reflect". This is quite significant that the mere possibility of reflection causes the revelation of this great generosity [karamat]. In another ayah He says: " Therefore, narrate the narratives [qasas] that they may reflect. " [324] There are so many ayahs of this like or almost the like, as well as narratives [riwayat] which invite to reflection. The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said, on the revelation of the ayah "Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men of understanding," [325]: "Woe to the one who reads it and does not reflect upon it" [326] An important point in this respect is that one should know what the commended reflection is, as there is no doubt in the fact that it is praiseworthy to think about the Qur'an and the hadiths. The best expression for it is that of the Khajah `Abdullah al-Ansari [ may Allah sanctify his soul]. He says: "Do know that reflection is the insight's attempt to understand the purpose." [327] That is, reflection is a seeking by the "insight" [basirat], which is the eye of the heart, wanting to attain to the aim and the result, which are the utmost perfection. It is quite clear that the destination [maqsad] and the aim [maqsud] are the absolute happiness, attainable through theoretical and practical perfection.

Therefore, it is man's duty to obtain the humane objective and result, being happiness, from the noble ayahs of the divine Book and from its stories and tales. And, since happiness is to attain to absolute safety, the world of light and the straight path, man should find through the honoured Qur'an the ways to safety, the source of the absolute light and the straight path, as was stated in the previously mentioned noble ayah. When the reciter gets the aim, he becomes clear-sighted in getting to it, and the door of being benefited by the Qur'an opens to him, and with it the doors of the mercy of Allah open, too. He, then, would not spend his dear and short years and his capital for obtaining happiness on matters which are not intended by the Message, preventing himself from indulging in useless discussion and talk about such an important subject.

Having directed his heart's eye for some time to this purpose, neglecting other matters, the eye of the heart gets sharp in observing, and meditating on the Qur'an becomes common to him, and the ways of utilization open to him, and there open to him such doors that had not already been open to him, and he obtains from the Qur'an such matters and knowledge that he had never obtained before. At that time he can understand the meaning of the Qur'an being a cure for the spiritual ailment, as is confirmed by the noble ayah: "And We reveal from the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy to the believers, and it adds only to the perdition of the wrongdoers," [328] and the meaning of the saying of Imam `Ale (AS): "Learn the Qur'an, for it is the spring [rabi`] of the hearts; and seek cure with its light, since it is the cure for the hearts." [329] He does not seek from the Qur'an the cure of only the physical ailments, but regards the main aim to be the cure of the spiritual ailments, which is the very objective: of the Qur'an. The Qur'an has not been sent down to cure the physical ailments, although such ailments do get cured by it. The prophets (AS), too, did not come to cure physical ailments, although they did cure them. As a matter of fact, they were the doctors for the souls, and the curers of the hearts and the spirits.

Notes:

[321]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p.26, "The Book of Faith and Disbelief", ch. On "Sincerity", hadith 5.

[322]. Surah Had: 56.

[323]. Surah an-Nahl: 44.

[324]. Surah al-A'raf: 176.

[325]. Surah Al-i'Imran: 190.

[326]. Nuruth-Thaqalayn, vol.l, p.350 (with a slight literal difference).

[327]. Manazilus-Sa'irin, section "The Beginnings", ch. on "Reflection".

[328]. Surah al-Isra': 82.

[329]. Nahjul Balaghah, sermon No. 109 (with some change in the wording).