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THE
QURAN'S WISDOM AND HUMAN PHILOSOPHIES
A
most true evidence for the nobility of
the wise Quran, the clearest proof its
truth and a most powerful sign of its
miraculousness, is this:
The
Quran contains and explains all the
degrees of manifestation of Divine Unity
in all its varieties (Unity of Divine
Being, Unity of Divine Attributes, Unity
of Divine Names, Unity of Divine acts,
affirming His ‘positive’ Attributes
and affirming Him to be free of any kind
of defects and shortcomings, etc.) and
with all the requirements of these
degrees and varieties, and never
detracts from the balance among them. It
also maintains the equilibrium among the
elevated Divine truths. Moreover, it
contains all the commandments and
principles required by all of the Divine
Names and maintains exact, sensitive
relationships among them. Also, it holds
together all the acts and functions of
God’s Divinity and Lordship with
perfect balance (not attaching more
importance to some exclusively). Thus,
this containing, maintaining and holding
with balance is a matchless virtue and
characteristic, which is not to be found
in the works of even the greatest minds
among mankind. It is to be found in
neither the works of saints who have
penetrated the inner realities of
things, nor the books of the ‘Illuminists’
who discerned the inner aspects of
things and events, nor the products of
the knowledge of wholly purified
scholars who have penetrated the world
of the Unseen. It is as if, according to
the principle of the division of labor,
each group have been devoted to one of
the branches of the mighty tree of
truth, busied with only its leaves and
fruits in unawareness or neglect of the
others.
The
absolute, unlimited truth cannot be
comprehended by restricted minds and
visions. It can be comprehended only by
the vision of the Quran which is
universal and all-encompassing. The
others no matter if they also benefit
from the Quran, cannot comprehend the
universal truth in its entirety, with
their limited minds, restricted to only
a few parts of it and wholly absorbed in
them. They frequently go to extremes,
dwelling on one or two points more than
the others, thus destroying the balance
and accurate relations among the truths.
We will try to approach this point with
a parable, which is as follows:
A
parable to understand the Qur’an’s
and human philosophy’s approach to
existence
Suppose
there were some treasure under the sea,
full of numerous jewels of every kind.
Divers plunge into the sea to search for
those jewels but since their eyes are
closed, they try to find them with
dexterous use of their hands. One of
them seizes a somewhat big diamond and
concludes that the treasures consist of
that diamond only. When he hears of
other jewels from his friends, he thinks
that they are facets or embellishments
of that diamond. Another one finds a
round ruby and still another, a square
amber, and so on. Each of them assumes
that the treasure consists of what he
has found only, the others being its
parts, facets or embellishments.
This
kind of thought and attitude destroys
the balance and accurate relations among
truths, and even changes the color of
many of them. One is compelled to make
forced interpretations and detailed
explanations in order to see the true
color of truths or show them to others.
Some even go so far as to deny or
falsify them. Those who make a careful
study of the books of the ‘Illuminists’
and the works of the Sufi masters who
rely on their visions and illuminations
without weighing them on the scales of
the Quran and the Sunna of the
Prophet, will undoubtedly confirm this
judgment of ours. Although these have
benefited from the Quran and generally
been taught by it, their teachings have
certain shortcomings and are defective
because they are not the Quran itself.
The verses of the Quran, which is the
ocean of truths, encompass and see the
whole of the treasure and describe the
jewels in so harmonious and balanced a
way that they show their beauty
perfectly.
For
example, just as the Quran sees and
shows the grandeur of Divine Lordship
expressed by the verses, The whole
earth is His handful on the Day of the
destruction of this world and building
of the next, and the heavens are rolled
up in His Right Hand (al-Zumar,
39.67) and The day when We shall roll
up the heavens like a scroll rolled up
for books (al-Anbiya’,
21.104), so too it sees and shows the
all-encompassing Mercy expressed by
these: God, nothing on the earth or
in the heavens is hidden from Him. He it
is Who shapes you in the wombs as He
pleases (Al ‘Imran, 3.5-6);
Not a moving creature but He grasps
it by the forelock (Hud,
11.56), and How many a moving
creature there is that bears not its own
provision. God provides for it and for
you (al-Ankabut, 29.60).
Also,
just as it sees and points out the vast
extent of the creativity expressed by (He)
has created the heavens and the earth
and made the darkness and the light
(al-An‘am, 6.1), so too it sees
and shows the comprehensive Divine
disposal of things and His encompassing
Lordship by He creates you and what
you do (al-Saffat, 37.96). It
sees and shows the mighty truth
expressed by He gives life to the
earth after its death (al-Rum,
30.50) and the truth concerning His
munificence, expressed by Your Lord
has inspired the bee (al-Nahl,
16.68), and the great truth concerning
His Sovereignty and command, expressed
by The sun and the moon and the stars
subservient by His command (al-‘Araf,
7.54).
The
Quran sees and shows the truth of
compassion and administration expressed
by Do they not observe the birds
above them in ranks, spreading their
wings and closing them? None uphold them
save the Most Merficul; indeed He sees
all things (al-Mulk, 67.19),
and the vast truth expressed by His
Seat includes the heavens and the earth,
and he is never weary of preserving them
(al-Baqara, 2.255), and the truth
concerning His overseeing, expressed by He
is with you wheresoever you may be (al-Hadid,
57.4), and the all-embracing truth
expressed by He is the First and the
Last and the Outward and the Inward, and
He knows all things (al-Hadid,
57.3), and His being nearer to beings
than themselves, expressed by Truly,
We have created man and know what his
soul whispers to him; We are nearer to
him than his jugular vein (Qaf,
50.16), and the elevated truth expressed
by The angels and the Spirit ascend
to Him in a day the span of which is
fifty thousand years (al-Ma‘arij,
70.4), and the all-encompassing truth
expressed by God enjoins justice and
absolute kindness, and giving to
kinsfolk, and forbids all shameful
deeds, and things abominable to sound
conscience, and injustice and rebellion
(al-Nahl, 16.90).
In
short, the Quran sees and shows in
detail all the truths concerning this
world and the next, pertaining to
knowledge and practice, and each of the
six pillars of faith. It also points out
purposefully and earnestly each of the
five pillars of Islam, and all the other
principles of securing the happiness in
both worlds. It preserves the exact
balance and maintains the accurate
relationship and proportion among them.
The subtlety and beauty originating from
the harmony of the entirety of those
truths give rise to a form of the Quran’s
miraculousness.
It
is because of this mighty truth that
although the scholars of theology are
the students of the Quran and have
written numerous volumes on the pillars
of faith, since like the Mu‘tazilites
a certain portion of them have preferred
reason over transmitted knowledge
originating from Divine Revelations,
they have not been able to explain them
as effectively as even ten verses of the
Quran. It is simply as though they have
dug tunnels under the mountains as far
as the end of the world to obtain and
convey water. They have gone along with
the chains of cause and effect as far as
the beginning of time and then, cutting
the chains, jumped over to eternity to
obtain the knowledge of God, which is
the water of life for people, and prove
the existence of the Necessarily
Existent One. As for the Quranic verses,
each can extract ‘water’ from every
place like the staff of Moses, opening
up a window from everything and making
known the Majestic Maker. It is also due
to this reality that since the leaders
of all the heretical groups who have
delved into the inner nature of things,
who, not following the Sunna of
the Prophet, upon him be peace and
blessings, but relying instead on their
visions, have returned from half way and
formed different sects, they have been
unable to preserve the proportion and
balance of truths, and so fallen into
heresy and misguidance and caused the
deviation of certain groups of people.
Thus, their disability also demonstrates
the miraculousness of the Quran
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