Application to one's own condition

Application to one's own condition

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the important disciplines of reciting the Qur'an that causes one to get so many good results and advantages, is "application" [tatbiq]; that is, each ayah which he recites and thinks about, he is to apply its concept to his own condition, to make up for his shortcomings by resorting to it, and to cure his ailments with it. Take, for example, the honoured story of Adam (AS): See what caused Satan to be expelled from the Sacred Threshold of Allah, despite his countless acts of worship and long devoted bowings, so that you may purge yourself from it, because the state of Allah's proximity belongs to the pure ones, and with Satanic conducts and character no one can be admitted to that Sacred Presence. From the noble ayahs one can learn that the reason behind Iblis's refusing to bow down was self-conceit and self-admiration :" I am better than he: You have created me of fire while him You have created of clay." [330] This self-conceit led him to selfishness and ostentation, which is arrogance. This led him to obstinacy, which is independence and disobedience, and hence he was expelled from the Sacred Court. We, from the beginning of the life, call Satan as the accursed and the discarded, and yet we ourselves possess his very vile characteristics. It has not occurred to us that anyone possessing the same reasons, which caused the dismissal of Satan, will be dismissed, too. Satan has no particular specialty, whatever reason expelled him from the threshold of Allah's proximity would never let us into that proximity. I am afraid that the curses which we send to Iblis are to be shared by us, too.

We may further think of the same noble story, and what caused the superiority of Adam (AS) over Allah's angels, so that we ourselves may acquire them, too, as much as possible. The cause was "teaching the names", as the Qur'an says: "And He taught Adam all the names" [331] The high degree of teaching the names is realizing [tahaqquq] the state of Allah's Names, such as the high degree of counting the Names as in the noble hadith: " Allah has ninty-nine names; whoever reckons them enters Paradise" [332] which means realizing [tahaqquq] their truth, by which man obtains the Paradise of the Names.

Man, by way of cordial austerities, can be the manifestation [mazhar] of Allah's Names and the great divine sign, and his existence becomes a divine one, and the hand of the divine Beauty and Majesty manages his kingdom. In another hadith it is also said that: "The connection of a believer's soul to Allah, the Exalted, is stronger than the connection of the sun's ray to it or to its light." [333]

In another correct hadith it is said: "When the servant approaches Me through his supererogatory acts, I love him, and when I love him I become his ears with which he hears, and I become his eyes with which he sees, and I become his tongue with which he speaks, and I become his hand with which he takes." [334]

In a hadith it is said: "'Ali is Allah's eye and hand" [335] and similar ones, as in a hadith: " We are His Most Beautiful Names " [336] In this respect, rational and traditional proofs and plenty.

Generally speaking, whoever wants to get a good share and advantage from the Qur'an, will have to apply each of the noble ayahs to his own condition so that he may get its complete benefit. For example, the noble ayah of the surah al-Anfal says: "The believers are those whose hearts feel fear when Allah is mentioned, and when His ayahs are recited to them they increase them in faith, and in their Lord do they put their confidence." [337] A salik must see whether he falls in line with these three attributes or not: Does mentioning Allah make his heart collapse and fear fall upon him? When the noble divine ayahs are recited to him, will the light of faith increase in his heart? Are his confidence and trust in Allah, the Exalted? Or is he void of any one of these stages and devoid of these attributes? If he wants to know whether he fears Allah and that his heart falls down because of that, let him look at his deeds. The one who fears Allah, would not dare to do an act of pertness, or to violate any divine law in the Presence of His Sacred Majesty. If his faith increase by the divine ayahs, the light of faith flows to his external kingdom, too. It is impossible for the heart to be luminous while the tongue, the speech, the eye, the sight, the ear and the hearing remain in the dark. A luminous person is the one whose entire worldy and heavenly powers are radiant, diffusing light, and, besides guiding him to happiness and the straight path, they throw light on the road for others and guide them along the road to humanity. Likewise is the one who depends upon Allah and puts his trust in Him, in which case he cuts his eye of covetousness off others, and puts down his burden of need and poverty at the threshold of the Absolute Self-sufficient, and regards others as poor and helpless as himself.

So, the duty of the traveller to Allah is to expose himself to the Glorious Qur'an, and, as the criterion to tell a true and valid hadith from a false and invalid one is to expose it to the Book of Allah, and the one which is not in harmony with it is to be judged as false and nonsense, similarly, the criterion for telling straightness from crookedness, and happiness from wretchedness, is that it is to turn out in the Book of Allah to be straight and correct. And, as the character of the Messenger of Allah is the Qur'an , he [the salik] should make his character coincide with the Qur'an, so that it corresponds to that of the perfect friend of Allah. The character which is contrary to the Book of Allah is nonsense and false. Likewise, he is to conform all his [other] knowledge, [ma`arif], condition of heart, internal and external deeds with the Book of Allah, so as to be in harmony with it, and the Qur'an becomes the image of his inside:

You are the clear Book that

By its letters the hidden is exposed. [338]

There are other disciplines in this field, some of which have already been mentioned early in this book under the title "the general discipline of worship", and some others are mentioned here. Going on explaining further disciplines will lengthen our discourse, therefore we relinquish them, and Allah is the Knowing.

Conclusion

Hereunder the translation of some noble narratives are related to complete the advantage and to have the blessings of the sayings of the [Prophet's] pure progeny:

The noble al-Kafi, on the authority of Sa'd, quotes Imam al-Baqir (AS) to have said: " O Sa`d, learn the Qur'an, for it comes on the Resurrection Day in the best of forms, " then he added to the same effect, saying that it would pass through each rank of the masses of the believers, the martyrs, the prophets and the ranks of the angels, and all of them say: `This is brighter than us', until the Messenger of Allah (SA) introduces it ... as the hadith goes. [339]

Imam as-Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: "When Allah, the Exalted, gathers all the first and the last peoples, they suddenly see a person proceeding, having an image the better of which has never been seen before." [340]

There are many other hadiths of similar content which prove the sayings of the people of knowledge to the effect that for each being in this world there is a matching image in the Hereafter.

From the hadiths of this chapter it is gathered that the deeds also have their images in that world. The noble al-Kafi, on the authority of Imam al-Baqir (AS), says: "The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: `I, the Book of Allah and my progeny will be the first to come to the Almighty, the Omnipotent, then my ummah will come after us. Then I ask: What did you do with the Book of Allah and my Ahlul Bayt?"' [341]

In another hadith, the Almighty, the Glorified, says to the Qur'an: "By My Omnipotence and Majesty, and by My High State, I will surely honour him who has honoured you, and I will disdain him who has disdained you." [342]

We must know that if we did not revive the precepts and the teachings of the Qur'an by putting them to practice and understanding their truth, we would not be able to reply the question of Allah's Messenger on that day. Which disdain is worse than discarding its objectives and neglecting its calls? Honouring the Qur'an and its people, who are the infallible Ahlul Bayt, is not done only by kissing its cover or their holy shrines. This is a weak sign of honouring and respecting, which will only be acceptable if done according to its instructions and their teachings. Otherwise they would be more like scorning and sporting. Noble hadiths strongly warn those who recite the Qur'an and then do not practically follow its teachings. In `Iqabul A`mal, by Shaykh as-Saduq [may Allah be pleased with him], quoting the Messenger of Allah (SA), it is stated that he said in a hadith: "The one who teaches the Qur'an and does not act according to it, and loves this world and prefers worldly pleasures to it, is worthy of Allah's wrath and is placed on the same level with the Jews and the Christians who threw the Book of Allah behind their backs. The one who recites the Qur'an with the intention of obtaining reputation [sum`ah] and mundane gains, will meet Allah with a bony, fleshless face, and the Qur'an will slap his nape to push him into the fire and let him join those before him. And the one who recites the Qur'an without following its instructions, will be raised blind on the Resurrection Day. He will ask: 'O my Lord, why have You raised me blind whereas I was a seeing one?' He will reply: `It is so because Our signs came to you but you forgot them, and so you are forgotten this day.' [343] Then he is ordered to be thrown into the Fire. But the one who recites the Qur'an for the pleasure of Allah and for learning the features of the religion, his will be a reward, the equal of the reward given to all the angels and the prophets and Messengers (AS)"

"The one who learns the Qur'an to show off, seeking reputation by way of arguing with the fools, take pride in his knowledge against the scholars and seek with it mundane matters, Allah, on the Resurrection Day, will separate all his bones from one another, and there will be no torture in the Fire severer than his, and there will be no sort of torment unless he is subjected to it, owing to Allah's strong anger and displeasure."

"If the one who learns the Qur'an is humble with his knowledge, teaches the servants of Allah and asks Allah for whatever reward there is with Him, there will be in Paradise no one whose reward is more than his, and there will be in Paradise no high rank and lofty state unless his share of the rank is higher and of the state is loftier. [344]

Concerning meditating on the meaning of the Qur'an, learning lessons from it and being affected by it there are many narratives, such as the hadith in the noble al-Kafi, on the authority of Imam as-Sadiq (AS), that he said: "It is in this Qur'an the stand of the guiding light and the torches for tae dark nights. So, let the scrutinizer roam with his wide open eyes to see clearly, because thinking is the life of the discerning heart, like the enlightened one who walks with light in the dark" [345] The Imam means that as man needs common light to see his way in the dark so as not to fall over in a precipice, with the Qur'an, which is the light that guides and the torch which lights the road of gnosticism and faith, he is to advance on the dark road to the Hereafter and to Allah so as not to tumble down into devastating precipices.

In Ma`aniyul Akhbar there is a hadith from Imam 'Ali (AS) saying that: "The true jurisprudent is the one who would not leave the Qur'an reluctantly and turning to something else. Beware that there is no good in a knowledge without understanding, there is no good in the reciting without contemplation and there is no good in a worship without deep knowledge of it." [346]

In al-Khisal and Ma' aniyul Akhbar, the Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said: "The bearers of the Qur'an are the informed ones [`urafa] among the people of Paradise." [347] It is obvious what is meant by "the bearers" of the Qur'an. It means the bearers of the Qur'anic knowledge and teachings, the result of which in the Hereafter is to regard them among the learned and the people of heart. To merely bear the external form of the Qur'an, without getting its lessons and being benefited by its teachings, and convey its knowledge and admonitions, without putting its precepts and laws into application, would be like that which is said by Allah, the Exalted: "The likeness of those who are entrusted with the Torah, yet they apply it not, is as the likeness of the ass carrying books. " [62:5]

Noble hadiths on the Glorious Qur'an, its affairs and disciplines are too many to be contained in this small book. Peace be upon Muhammad and his progeny.

Notes:

[330]. Surah al-A`raf: 12.

[331]. Surah al-Baqarah: 31.

[332]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 4, pp. 186 - 7.

[333]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 242, "The Book of Faith and Disbelief' ch. on "The Believers' Brotherhood to One Another", hadith No. 4.

[334]. Usulul Kafi vol. 4, p.53, "The Book of Faith and Disbelief', ch. on "The One Who Hurts the Muslims and Slights Them", hadith No. 7.

[335]. In a sermon by Imam 'Ali (AS), it is said: "I am Allah's eye and His truthful tongue and His hand." Ma`aniyul Akhbar, p. 17, hadith 14. At-Tauhid, p. 65, ch. 22, hadith 2.

[336]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 1, p. 196, "The Book of at-Tauhid", ch. on "Wonders", hadith 4.

[337]. Surah al-Anfal: 2.

[338]. This is a line of a poem which begins with: You think you are a small matter While in you is contained the biggest world. The poem is ascribed to Imam 'Ali (AS).

[339]. Usulul Kafi ,vol. 4,p. 394, "Book of the Merits of the Qur'an", ch. 1, hadith 1.

[340]. Ibid.

[341]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 4, p. 400, "Book of the Qur'an's Merits", ch. 1, hadith 4.

[342]. Ibid., hadith 14.

[343]. Surah Ta-Ha: 125-6.

[344]. 'Iqabul A'mal, pp. 332, 337 and 366.

[345]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 4, p.400, "Book on the Merits of the Qur'an", ch. 1, hadith 5.

[346]. Ma'aniyul Akhbar, p. 226, ch. on "The Meaning of the True Jurisprudent", hadith 1.

[347]. Ma `aniyul Akhbar, p. 323, ch. on "The Meaning of the Informed Ones of the People of Paradise", hadith 1. AI-Khisal, vo1.1, p. 28, ch. on "The One", hadith 100.

 

Find us on Facebook