Thought Archive

Friday, September 14, 2007

Ramadan Post 1: What is Hidden

(003.007) He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic,
they are the foundation of the Book, the others are allegorical and beyond
understanding. But there are those seeking discord, and searching for its
hidden meanings, but no oneknows its hidden meanings except God. And those who
are firmly grounded inknowledge say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is
from our Lord:" andnone (of the people) will grasp the Hidden Message except men
of understanding
It is not denied, thus by men of the most literalist inclinations that there is interior or hidden meaning of the Quran. There is also knowledge that the Quran also has an exterior or apparent meaning known as Zahir, the one that is interpreted and fought over. Amongst us only most pure of heart are by implication are “the men of understanding”. But who are they, and how to attend the stage of this “understanding” without succumbing to a usual transgression of arrogance?

Many esoterical exegeses of the Book exist and they are all based on this ayat, indications that were perfected by Shia Imams and Ismaili Imams- , those pure of hearts on whom The Divine Light has shone its rays, making them blessed in desire. For an understanding, as has been proved time and time again, is not found in the minds of philosophers to be discerned by methods of critical reasoning. Neither it can be "revealed" by mathematical calculations, and by the link between the Number and the Word, for which Kabbalah is famous for, is not a spiritual path per se, but a distraction of the mind.. The Truth (Haqq) is rather not in the Word itself but it is the Word. The Book and Word are to be felt and are not to be read or heard. Ibn-Arabi and other mystics describe noumena, roughly corresponding with Plato's Forms or Idea — immaterial entities which can only be apprehended by a special, non-sensory, faculty: "intellectual intuition". Intellectual Intuition is, however only part of comprehension of Ultimate Noumenon. The Other Part is a faculty of Desire. Desire to understand what is Hidden and to love it, just like we love the apparent.

5 comments:

NoolaBeulah said...

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

I love the sound of it. Haven't a clue what it means.

Sayyid Qutb maintained that Christianity's 'affair' with Greek thought was the origin of a 'great alienation'. And now here you are quoting 'noumena' and Plato's forms. Better watch out!

Hazar Nesimi said...

No problemo my dear guest, as my Indonesian friend used to say. Sayyid Qutb neglected affairs the Heart and Oneness of God, in his unremitting fight. During my Ramadan I will post more subjects on the esoteric and exegesis of the hidden. My rational side is off to sleep for a month. Also as you see I am avoiding Aristotle :-)

Hazar Nesimi said...

Was just reading about him (Qutb), some similarities (with me) of how his hitherto parochial traditionalism came into clash in living in "satanic" US, perhabs before going he considered it to be a paradise (and so did I in 96, before setting foot there). Living in US made him an extreme Islamist, and me a "liberal". I think this is their complexes and fears that played a part. All those disenchanted with the West are afraid of their own inferiority and want to be superior over others even though claiming otherwise. Mine is the soil of the country I am born into, and bread I share with,its its prayers and its saints. This is where God is, with people who are humble believers and not arrogant masters.

NoolaBeulah said...

"All those disenchanted with the West are afraid of their own inferiority and want to be superior over others even though claiming otherwise."

I shouldn't be so ready to agree with that, but I am.

Nonetheless, your last sentence sounds like a recipe for contentedness in a spirit which the West does nothing to encourage.

Hazar Nesimi said...

Isnt't it obvious they (so called Islamists) claim to establish a world were no man will subject to laws of another, but free from any but God's Laws , but in fact (he, Qutb) wanted to establish a tyranny of men over other men so vile that will exceed any other tyranny. Quran was clear that only God can rule the World, and not men, especially men falsely claiming to be of God's. God anoints prophets to guide Humanity not to rule over it.