Words on a page
Added Nov 19, 2008 (originally published Apr
04, 2007)
A book is not simply words on a page - it is one mind crafting an
effect upon other minds - it does not assume its true form except
through the action of reading. By this it creates a world of image and
story within our minds like software running within the engine of our
imagination. In this way, the text becomes capable of lifting off the
page
as the words construct elaborate landscapes within the domain of our
mind's eye.
The Qur’an is not words on a page - the Qur’an is not the Qur’an until
its verses take shape in the mind, connect and confirm one another, and
its unfolding contents settle into the heart - only then does it begin
to speak its magic within us. It speaks its content not with words and
sounds but through a transformative alchemy arising from layered
meanings which work one over from the
inside out, taking what lays within in a dormant, unrealized, embryonic
state, out of potentiality towards actuality. Descended from a high
Reality revelation is coded in this lower world into letters, words,
and verses
each of which are a sign of its origin and a transforming catalyst for
the one who absorbs its reality into themselves. It shapes and forms
the clay of our being through its instructive commands which, like the
compressed, encoded language of a geonome, can build the spiritual
edifice that otherwise lays only partially or haphazardly constructed
within our hearts.
This Qur'an is a book meant to be read for what it is - a Messenger
from higher worlds speaking directly to us. With such a message,
reading
is only an initiation of intent, a drawing back of the bow; the message
is aimed at the heart - we must bare our chests to receive it, and let
it fly from the bow of the intellect to the heart which receives and
absorbs
it. Let it pierce with sincerity and
intensity into the center of our being - that center, that heart
through which all the streams of consciousness and awareness
flow - open ourselves to it - seek understanding, seek transformation,
seek
resurrection - a truer self.
This is not an emotional endeavor, it is not simply wishing to achieve
understanding, it is shaping and re-shaping one's life in all it’s
aspects so that life itself becomes a straight path that leads to
comprehension,
to knowledge that is internalized in the heart and clear in the
intellect. God spoke to the Prophet through the angel, sending the
Qur’an down upon the Prophet's heart as a guidance for us all - the
Prophet received it in his innermost heart and so became the "speaking
Qur'an", the one who actualized within his personality it's
transformative reality. The Prophet in turn passed on to us the
alchemical words of the Qur'an. It is for us (with help and
guidance) to lift them from the written page and apprehend something of
their reality - to approach it as a revelation from God sent down to
lift up. He is
speaking to us through this Qur’an -
our provision lies within it.
We activate the Qur’anic speech when the
words lift from the page by means of our intellects, settle into our
hearts, manifest in our actions, and rise again, lifting us from the
dust of the earth towards the “ways of ascent.” Till then, we are
slaves of our lower nafs, orphans veiled from the One who
made us,
the spiritually destitute
lying in the dust.
“…and what will make you comprehend
what the ascending path is? (It is) the setting free of a slave, Or the
giving of provision in a day of hunger, To an orphan, Or to the poor
man lying in the dust.” (Qur’an 90:12-16)
-
Irshaad Hussain
Shards of Knowledge
What do we know
Intellect in Islam
Forgetfulness
"The spiritual wayfarer is not like a runner who seeks water in the desert. The runner, once he arrives at the well in the oasis, has found something that he did not have at the start. The wayfarer of the path to God is more like a fish in the sea. It is only when the fish reaches the mountain spring that feeds the sea that it becomes aware of the reality that had been there from the beginning; surrounding it all along....
Another similitude for man’s ascension is what might be called a journey from oblivion and forgetfulness (ghaflah) to awareness and recollection (tanabbuh). Moreover, if the way from ignorance to knowledge is, as Plato has put forward, based upon recollecting and remembering, then this too becomes an appropriate example for the ascension in question.
In the journey from oblivion to awareness, man moves toward a reality that he had the knowledge of from the outset and that which he originally possessed. It was only that he had forgotten this and had become unaware.
Some verses of the Qur’an explicitly characterize man’s ascent to the
higher realms as a movement from forgetfulness to awareness, while
others warn of his obliviousness towards the inevitable meeting with
his Lord. In Sura Qaf, man is blamed for being oblivious of the
Resurrection:
“Certainly you were heedless of it,
but now We have removed from you your veil, so your sight today is
sharp.”
What is being implied in the above verse is that this Resurrection will
not just take place on the Last Day - ushered in by the sound of a
trumpet – but rather, that it is taking place right now, and the moment
of entry into it is the moment when the veil of forgetfulness and
oblivion is lifted from the eyes of people and not only from the
Resurrection itself...."
(from "Existence and the
Fall (Hasti wa Hubut)" by Hamid Parsania - translated by Shuja Mirza)