Man, The Qur'an And The Mizan

 

 

6.  MAN, THE QUR’AN AND THE MIZAN (BALANCE)


“BismillahirRahmnirRahim. Ar-Rahman (the Universally Gracious). He taught the Qur’an. He created man. He taught him self-expression. The sun and the moon are by calculation. The star and the tree are in prostration (to Allah). As for the sky He raised it and installed the Balance- do not disturb the balance then”.


The above text is a quotation in translation from Surat al Rahman, the 55th chapter of the Holy Qur’an and covers verses 1-8. For a man of spirit, like everything else in the Qur’an these will yield an incredible amount of interpretive crops which will throw equally incredible amounts of insight into the whole Qur’an and Islam that is its child.
Let us begin with an interpretive expansion on this holy text.


“The following is stated by and in the Name of the Universally Loving Merciful One (Allah the Most Sublime and Able): He taught the Qur’an to His Messenger Muhammad who then taught it to you. This Qur’an shall be your guide to all wisdom and grace. He it is Who created man to begin with. He taught man how to express his wishes, observations, ideas, feelings etc. The sun and the moon, as examples of universal created order, are moving and behaving in exactly calculated ways which makes their prediction an exact science for man, the science of astronomy which is the earliest exact science to develop among men. It was a monument to the constructive curiosity, mathematical genius and methodical hard work of Allah’s masterpiece and chief respondent and deputy called man. The star, as a representative of heavenly objects and the tree as that of the earthly, are completely and adoringly submissive to Allah, never erring from His laws of evolution, motion and interaction, The sky itself which is the apparent canvas on which innumerable astronomical and other cosmic objects and entities are spread infinitely deep and wide, is regulated with all its contents by a balance ( a balance which can be expressed in mathematical forms called equations) installed by Allah. Do not disturb this balance as when you attempt to modify natural conditions and do not disturb any other balances either, like the balance of justice or the balance of rights and obligations among people or the balances measuring your trading transactions or credits and debts. Even greater than this care for balance is interpreting the Qur’an in a way that all its statements addressing a given subject are carefully considered before you pass a judgment on a theological, creedal or legal subject to name but a few, if the more important as well”.  Beautiful, isn’t it?
This quotation and its above-proposed interpretation will be the aim of this lesson.
He taught you His Qur’an through His Messenger Muhammad who not only recited  it to you but also explained its meanings and aims by his thousands of acts and words- therefore study his all and any creditably reported traditions called Hadith or Sunna. The chief measure or BALANCE in the evaluation of each of these traditions should be their relation to or comparison with the statements of the Qur’an as well as other traditions on the same or  comparable subjects. Never neglect this evaluation measure, this effort to measure up the credibility of any claim.  Incidentally, we must thankfully admit that our great and pious Hadith ulema, on the whole, did an excellent job on this count.
Yet we are humbly of the opinion that neither muhaddithin (hadith scholars) nor fuqaha (scholars of jurisprudence) were prophets, let alone gods. The proof that even the best of them were fallible can be gleaned from the top and infallible source of guidance which is not only Allah’s full and final and completely authoritative message to us but interestingly the longest and most comprehensive and the only hundred percent reliable and creditable hadith which fell from the tongue of the Messenger of Allah- THE QUR’AN! He All-Wise says “Had this Qur’an been from other than Allah they (its critics) would find many discrepancies and disagreements in it” (4: 82). This means that for any discourse to be fully reliable it must come from Allah. Only the Qur’an can stand this test and other Islamic sources of knowledge like Hadith, fiqh and Sufi books and discourses, containing so many disagreements between them cannot be ascribed to Allah’s inspiration in their entirety (to some lesser degree they may though) but must be seen for what they are- human words subject to error. In fact no God- and self-respecting Islamic scholar or Sufi master ever alleges that his words or any judgments he passes are infallible. Some went as far as claiming infallibility only to make fools of themselves: any sensible and reasonably knowledgeable reader or listener could spot their blunders and just recoil in embarrassment. Actually many sayings and at least some parts of many books ascribed to some great sufis are not theirs but later corruptions added to by later copyists and redactors with dubious agendas. Perhaps the most victimized sufi master in this respect has been Muhyiddin ibn Arabi whose frequent excellent gnostic insights are terribly embarrassed by other atrocious claims wrongly ascribed to him by some later copyists and redactors of his works. If Allah’s true Books the Torah and the Gospel (Injil) could not escape the treacheries of later redactors how could those of Sufis who were no god after all?


This means that if and when we meet some statements and claims in the books ascribed to or describing great sufi ancestors of ours which statements fly only too badly in the face of that only incorruptible Text the Qur’an al Karim we may assume that the insertion concerned is not part of the original text. 
If this is admitted to be so then we may proceed to consult Allah’s Book on some important matters related to various Islamic sciences and see whether we can complement the scholarship of our spiritually pious and academically or gnosis-wise glorious ancestors. After all, Islam is too vast and subtle a field of research and discovery and no single generation of Muslims can exhaust its possibilities and put a full stop to its elucidation. Allah also will not be exhausted in His grace or creative powers so as to stop Him inspiring His servants more and more knowledge and understanding of His Ways, thanks and glory be to Him!
Surely I am not saying that I am that person who can criticise or supplant the conclusions of this or that number of past scholars and Sufi masters and being always correct. I also am no prophet and admit that I am fallible. Let each conscientious reader judge my words as best as they can and approve or reject. If (and I pray Allah for it) I make hits may those hits bring to me and to those who endorse them reward from Most Graciously Thankful (al Shakoor) Allah while if and when I am wrong may Allah the Most Graciously Merciful and Tolerant Forgive me and teach me what is more correct and may He also forgive those who will accept my any mistaken judgments. What can we say less than this, being in front of the Almighty King of the Creation and the Infallible Judge and Arbiter of all disputes, namely our Lord All-Gracious.  Let my upfront apologies for any mistakes to come be responded to only too kindly by Him.

 


THE MOST SERIOUS JUDGEMENT IMBALANCE- MISTAKEN OR MISCONCEIVED BELIEFS OR CLAIMS ABOUT ALLAH


There is not a single statement in the Qur’an nor among the more reliable examples of hadiths which throw even the slightest shadow on Allah’s Majesty, Power, Knowledge, Wisdom, Justice, Mercy or any other of His Most Beautiful Names (al Asma al Husna). But on the last point there does exist both a misconception and a misguided practice.
The misconception is that Allah’s Names can be used as magical talismans or passwords for the obtainment of desires; it is said that one must just find the correct name to address Allah and lo and behold the desire must and shall be fulfilled by Allah almost as if Allah is subject to verbal enchantment. This is particularly the case with the so-called most secret and greatest name of Allah (al Ism al A’zam), which when used like a trump card will move Allah to grant any desire. This Divine Names business seems to have crept into Islam from the Jewish mysticism where a list of the Names of God (Yahwah), each with a specific, predictable influence on Allah whereby His compliance with his enchanting servant is secured.
This is not to say that we have not got a long range of Divine Names in the Qur’an- we indeed do. But the mistake begins by cataloguing them as if they are the elements of a talisman and the list is ascribed to the Prophet himself! So, a ‘hadith’ advises: For Allah are ninety nine Asma al Husna and whoever repeats them enters the Paradise. They are:....., a list is given.  But this list does not stand close scrutiny not least because it fails to include quite of few names mentioned in the Qur’an while it adds some others which are not mentioned in the Qur’an at all. Could the Messenger of Allah be so ignorant?  Should he not include, first and foremost those Names mentioned in the Qur’an? For example there is an excellent string of Names at the beginning of Surat al Ghafir (or Mu’min): Ghafir al Zanb, Qabil at Tawb, Shadid al ‘Iqab and Zit-Tawl, four of them. These are not mentioned in the ‘canonical list’ attributed to the Prophet. Instead ‘names’ never mentioned are included: al Hafidu (one who lowers, humiliates) while we have a far better Qur’anic verb ‘yuzillu’, which in the noun form  of ‘al Muzillu’ and expresses the same meaning. ‘Hafada’ simply means ‘to lower’. So Allah says to His Prophet “Ahfid janahak lil-muminin”, i.e. “Lower thy wing (of protection) for the believers” (15: 88). We have in the Qur’an, but not in the ‘canonical’ list ‘Zul Quwwati-l Matin’. In short, the list is both incomplete and overshooting and the imperfection and ignorance suggested are not worthy of the Messenger of Allah. It smells like an invention. For a few centuries during the evolution of Hadith the temptation to invent hadiths proved too irresistible for many too ambitious or crooked people and ulema made a speciality of identifying such hadiths, exposing and even cataloguing them. In general hadiths about creedal matters flying in the face of the Qur’an or common-sense or decency can be dismissed as fakes. A true hadith must please the heart of a believer and not disturb it or nauseate him.
Even more suspiciously the list has a rhyming sequence and being so long it looks highly unlikely and uncharacteristic of the Messenger of Allah to bother with the compilation such a liturgical- musical piece on top of which it is suffering from the said imperfections and more. It simply is too musical and poem-like to suggest a derivation from the practical, level-headed person that the Messenger of Allah was. It is no use to exonerate its anonymous compilers: all efforts based on falsehood are not worthy of respect although the product may be of some appreciable use. We must always be honest and realise that we cannot better either Allah or His Messenger in promoting Islam by supposedly improving on their statements and teachings. Allah’s Most Beautiful Names are in the Qur’an, His greatest Name (al Ism al A’zam) is ALLAH and that is why we call out ‘Allahu Akbar!’ five times a day all over the world for 15 centuries now. No one can call out to Allah with as full sincerity and faith and repentance as he or she can muster and not be heard and helped by Allah one way or another but well enough. The opposite is below the dignity of Allah. You do not have to search for a mystery hidden name which will disarm and oblige Allah! 
After all did He not say “We did not miss anything in the Book” (6: 78)? Would He exclude His Grandest Name? And what is the use of such primitive mystery- and curiosity-seeking while we have far more important and better things to do? This addiction to ‘mysteries’ and ‘charms’ and enchantments are not commensurate with the serious mission of Allah’s Prophet and Islam that he brought from Allah in a renewed form. But all this is relatively harmless and perfectly bearable if some people like them and benefit from them. Well-meaning improvisations may be forgivable. Ultimately Allah knows best and I beg Allah’s forgiveness for anything I said wrongly.


The real bad innovation is calling in absentia on beings other than Allah for the delivery of wishes. All pagan religions are plagued with this and among the great three religions of Semitic origin and among them Christianity is the worst offender. Christians, especially the Catholics (Latin) and the Orthodox (Greek) are addicted to pray to Jesus and Mary first and a legion of saints (‘santa’ in Latin and ‘hagios’/ pronounced as ‘ayyos’ in Greek) whose real or alleged graves are shrines. The tradition of grave/shrine and saint worship can clearly be traced to both pre-Christian Roman and Greek paganisms which in fact are two sister traditions. Romans took over from Greeks a whole pantheon of gods with occasional name changes and their lands from one end of the ancient world to the other were dotted by thousands of shrines ascribed to gods and demi-gods where visitors thronged and sought supernatural solutions to their often impious problems. Some gods or demi-gods (later termed ‘saints’) were specialists in the satisfaction of a certain need, like curing illnesses or securing a coveted sexual partner or giving wealth. All these survived into Christianity and some parts of popular Islam- and with ‘good’ reason: the shrines of saints had resident guardians who were busy and happy with converting people’s superstitions and desires, not infrequently arbitrary  and impious, into cash. Actually pagan or subsequently paganised religions have always provided lucrative opportunities to clever operators looking for a secure, lucrative and prestigious trade.


That only Allah can be prayed to in Islam is in no doubt. Only too many verses emphasise this and Allah could not be more angry and condemnatory with the offenders. We are just quoting a few:
“Mosques are for Allah, therefore do not call on (pray to) others alongside Allah” (72- 18).
“It is He Who enables you to travel on land and sea. When you are in a ship and it carries you on thanks to sweet winds whereupon the passengers are delighted a forceful storm hits, waves attack them from every direction and they realise that they are entirely surrounded. As a result, they call on Allah with unique sincerity and devotion to His religion “We promise- if you save us from this we will surely be thankful” (10: 22). Again:
“Say: ‘what do you think- if and when Allah’s punishment or the hour (of destruction) comes to you, to other than Allah do you pray, if you are truthful?’  Never! To Him exclusively you pray and He removes what you are praying about if He so will and you forget what you used to associate with Him (as lesser gods or saviours)” (6:41).


You see, you are not calling on Hassan or Hussein or Abdullah but Allah and only Allah when things get real tough. If Allah’s testimony and only too explicit command is not enough to prove the case what is? If even polytheists realise that it is only Allah pure and simple and direct Who can help one in desperate situations will not the pure monotheist (hanif or muwahhid) Muslim realise the same at all times and not degrade and destroy himself by stooping to call on Allah’s servants however dear they may be? May Allah forgive us for our any mistakes and guide us to the best conduct. 


We can quote several more verses like these all of which boil down to this: Even polytheists forget about their gods other than Allah when the danger they face is too great. How come then Muslims who are supposed to be the purest of monotheists, can call on persons other than Allah when in need of something?


That however holy no servant of Allah can be prayed to can be seen from how Allah considers the Christ in this respect:
“They (Christians) adopted their (learned) priests and (ascetic) monks as well as the Christ son of Mary as lords under and alongside Allah while they were commanded to worship but One God. There is no god but He and He is far absolved from those they associate with Him” (9: 31).


Here we are: Allah will not permit us to treat even his best and holiest servants like we treat Him- gods or quasi-gods capable of delivering benefits and removing harm from us if asked whether to their face or in absentia. That Allah is not far and less than willing or able to respond to our prayers and no intermediaries are either needed or allowed can be seen from the verse:
“When (o Muhammad) My servants ask you concerning Me let them know that indeed I am Near- I accept the call of the caller on Me. Let them therefore accept My call (to Islam), and believe in Me in order that they are guided to maturity (2: 186). Neither here nor anywhere in the Qur’an Allah gives the slightest indication that He can entertain beings lesser than Him to be the recipients of prayers.


One particular verse is abused to legitimise such behaviour: “O believers fear Allah and seek means to Him and fight in His Way so that you achieve salvation (5: 35), and
“Say: Pray to those you imagine despite Allah. They can neither relieve you nor can they change anything. On the contrary, those prayed to seek means to achieve more nearness to their Lord, they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment (17: 56- 57).
Since the last described beings are obviously humans, in fact good persons like prophets, learned and pious scholars and in Sufi terms true sheikhs/spiritual guides- because they work towards achieving nearness to Allah, they hopefully pray for His mercy and fear His punishment, they are the last persons to dare to pose as prayers-accepting and wishes-delivering agents since they themselves are desperately unsure of their own salvation and work and pray like mad to save their own necks. Read again “Say (o Prophet): in fact I do not have the power to harm or benefit you (72: 21).


All above of course with two provisos. A servant can cause good or harm to himself or to others if Allah so wills and permits. So, it is perfectly legitimate and hopefully effective to ask somebody whom we believe is a better servant of Allah to pray for us concerning the satisfaction of any legitimate need. For example, the sahaba could ask the Prophet to pray to Allah for them and the Prophet occasionally did; in some instances though he warned the person not to ask for the thing but bear its loss or absence patiently for greater reward in the hereafter. Secondly we can pray to Allah nominating a good servant as our hopeful supporter/intercessor and again Allah may grant our wish as hoped. What is illegitimate is praying to other creatures or imaginary beings as if they have automatic and unlimited access to Allah’s treasures and favours. This is where Islamic tawhid and un-Islamic shirk separate.
So let us pray for each other and hopefully Allah will accept and let us pray to Allah nominating or indicating servants we believe better than us as our intercessors with Him and all these are well and good. After all Allah Himself told us that to His good servants He grants a right to act as intercessors for us with Him:
“No intercession with Allah by anybody gives benefit except by whom Allah permitted”(34: 23). Whom better Allah will permit than Muhammad (sws)?


“That Day no intercession gives benefit except by whom Allah permitted and of whose word He is pleased with” (20: 109). Again, the Messenger of Allah should be the top.
Of course intercession is not limited to prophets- all good servants may be granted the distinction, both in this world and the next. Which means we should associate (i.e, be friends with Allah’s best servants) we can find and ask them to pray for us for any legitimate needs of ours to be satisfied by Allah. If we ourselves are asked by other believers to pray for them then we should, because Allah is much kinder and responsive to our well-meaning prayers for each other than we can ever imagine.


As for the visiting of graves of Muslims in general and exceptional Muslims like the Prophet and those we Sufis call awliyaullah such visits are surely very meritorious,. That is to say great sawab (rewards) accrue to them. Visiting the Prophet’s holy grave which is within his mosque Masjid al Nabawi is both an incomparable spiritual experience and a cause of a great advance in salvation because loving Allah’s Messenger is included in loving Allah. Loving the sahaba al kiram (his noble companions) and again visiting their graves in order to honour their sacred memories is included in the love for and veneration of the Prophet. Visiting the graves of any and every Muslim for Allah’s sake are similarly pious and meritorious acts.
As regards whether the Prophet and other Muslim dead hear our salutations and other  talk addressed to them, they do hear us but not in a way we can imagine with our ordinary conception about sense perceptions. The dead live in the spirit world, the pious are guests of Allah (“Bal ahyaun ‘inda Rabbihim yurzaqun” 3: 169) and if Allah wills and permits they may hear us- no bar to that. As regards their visiting us in dreams and in the much rarer form of daytime impressions again why not? Souls of the pious have a lot of freedom but our meeting them is again in the spirit world and that is because we do not only live in this material world but have a parallel life in the spirit world of which we are normally unaware. Reality dreams (ru’ya salih) as well as some pious altered states of consciousness put us in touch with the spirit world which we partially share with the dead. Lastly living souls also can meet in the spirit world both in the waking and dream state: although psychologists call such experiences ‘hallucination’ they are no less real for that, albeit real in a different or modified sense. All these are multiply reported experiences to which this humble writer can bear personal testimony. Again, these are miracles/karamat from Allah and as such need no explanation- they are what they are and full stop. In this context I refer my dear readers back to Lesson 3 of this textbook where the primacy of consciousness over all realities is explained.
Any true claims about communicating with the dead and those otherwise absent can be explained by the primacy of consciousness over all other perceived realities: In the ever-active ocean of existence nothing is really lost, especially survivable are human souls whose least residue are the effects, both physical and mental, they added to the cosmos which effects act as causes to continue to produce other effects. Especially true and valid is a genuine experience of seeing and talking with the Messenger of Allah. After all he lives in memories with such bright impressions that for him to materialise in our minds and communicate with us are only to be expected. Allah is the only eternal and underlying and overarching reality and His any creatures He can present to us in any way, at any place and time as He pleases. Only truth and salvation can proceed from an experience of the Prophet in any form. However basing one’s scholarly or spiritual claims on such experiences is dangerous and should not be allowed to prevail- such experiences bind the one who experienced them and cannot be used to prove a spiritual or practical point in dispute to others. That is not the least because people may lie about such experiences and great fitna may ensue as a result. For example a ‘saint’ may say (and some did say) that a book they wrote about Sufism was given them by the Prophet (sws) in a vision or even more daringly, had come down from where the Qur’an itself had come down from- can you believe it!? But when you read their book you can only laugh at least at some of the claims made in them. The claims simply fly in the face of the Book of Allah and the most credible hadiths attributed to the Prophet. Let us not forget that in Islamic history we had to contend with quite a few false prophets who managed to gather thousands and even millions of followers. The Qur’an and the more reliable part of Hadith are our criterions as are the inspirations made to our hearts in the light of these two. May Allah guide us always.    


These are the legitimate limits and good manners for the business of prayer and intercession, honouring our dead and rightly-guided spiritual experiences and inspirations and may Allah never make us ignorant and negligent of what He loves us doing for Him. Amen.


 

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