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The Seventh Flash

 

[This is about the seven sorts of predictions concerning the Unseen at the end of Sura al-Fath.]

 

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

 

Truly did God fulfil the vision for His Prophet: You shall enter the Sacred Mosque, if God wills, with minds secure, heads shaved, hair cut short, and without fear. For He knew what you knew not, and He granted besides this, a victory soon to come. * It is He Who sent His Prophet with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, and enough is God for a Witness. * Muhammed is the Prophet of God; and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, [but] compassionate among each other. You will see them bow and prostrate themselves [in prayer], seeking grace from God and [His] good pleasure. On their faces are their marks, [being] the traces of their prostration. This is their similitude in the Torah; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, [filling] the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the unbelievers with rage at them. God has promised those among them who believe and do righteous deeds forgiveness, and a great reward.

 

These three verses from Sura al-Fath contain many aspects of miraculousness. Of the ten universal aspects of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition's miraculousness, the aspect of its giving news of the Unseen may be seen in seven or eight ways in these three verses.

 

 

 

THE FIRST

 

Truly did God fulfil the vision for His Prophet, to the end of the verse, gave certain news of the conquest of Mecca before it happened. It occurred two years later just as predicted.

 

THE SECOND

 

And He granted besides this, a victory soon to come, states the following: for sure the Peace of Hudaybiya was apparently opposed to the interests of Islam and the Quraish were victorious to an extent, but it is giving news that in reality it would be a great victory and the key to further conquests. For although with the Peace of Hudaybiya the physical sword was temporarily hung up, the flashing diamond sword of the Qur'an was unsheathed, and it conquered minds and hearts. Through the truce, the two sides mixed with one another. The virtues of Islam and lights of the Qur'an rent the veils of obduracy and tribalism, and enacted their decrees. For example, people like Khalid b. Walid, a brilliant warrior, and Amr b. al-As, a brilliant politician, who could not accept defeat, were defeated by the Qur'anic sword manifested through the Truce of Hudaybiya. After submitting in perfect obedience to Islam in Medina, Khalid became a "Sword of Allah"; a sword in the conquests of Islam.

 

A n I m p o r t a n t Q u e s t i o n : What was the wisdom in the defeats of the Companions of the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the Glory of the World and Beloved of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, against the idolators at the end of Uhud and beginning of Hunayn?

 

T h e A n s w e r : Among the idolators were many persons like Khalid who in the future would be equal to the leading Companions of that time. Therefore, so as not to degrade them entirely in the view of the future, which for them would be glorious and honourable, Divine wisdom gave them in the past immediate recompense for their future good works and did not completely destroy their pride. That is to say, the Companions of the past were defeated by the Companions of the future, so that the future Companions would enter Islam, not through fear of the flashing sword, but through zeal for the flash of truth, and so that they and their natural valour should not be brought low.

 

THE THIRD

 

The words, and without fear tell this: "You shall circumambulate the Ka'ba in complete safety." However at that time the majority of the nomadic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula were hostile, and most of the environs of Mecca and the tribe of Quraish, enemies. Through predicting that "Soon you shall circumambulate the Ka'ba without fear," it was indicating and foretelling that the Arabian Peninsula would submit and all the Quraish enter Islam and total security be established. And it all occurred exactly as predicted.

 

THE FOURTH

 

He it is Who sent His Prophet with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion predicts with complete certainty that "the religion which the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) brought would triumph over all religions." However at that time Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism had hundreds of millions of adherents and were the official religions of world-dominant states like Rome, China, and Persia, which had hundreds of millions of subjects, and Muhammed the Arabian was unable to subdue his own small tribe even. And yet it is foretelling that the religion he brought would triumph over all religions and be victorious over all states. And it does this in most clear and definite manner. The future confirmed this prediction, with the sword of Islam extending from the Pacific Ocean in the East to the Atlantic Ocean in the West.

 

THE FIFTH

 

Muhammed is the Prophet of God, and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, [but] compassionate among each other. You will see them bow and prostrate themselves.... Through telling of the elevated qualities and characteristics which were the reason for the Companions being the most elevated of human kind after the prophets, the start of this verse describes through its explicit meaning the excellent qualities which would mark the class of the Companions. And through its implied meaning, the verse alludes to the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, who would succeed to the office of the Prophet (PBUH) after his death through the institution of the Caliphate, and gives news of the fine attributes which were what most distinguished each of them and marked them out. It is as follows:

 

And those who are with him alludes to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who was distinguished and famous for being among the Prophet's special followers and party to his conversation, and again for entering among his special followers by being the first to die. While are strong against the unbelievers points to Umar, who in the future would cause the countries of the globe to tremble at his conquests, and with his justice would descend on tyrants like a thunderbolt. And compassionate among each other gives news of Uthman, who, in the future when the most serious dissension was being fomented, would sacrifice his own life and spirit out of perfect kindness and compassion so that the blood of Muslims should not be spilt, preferring to be martyred wrongfully while reading the Qur'an. And so too, You will see them bow and prostrate themselves [in prayer], seeking grace from God and [His] good pleasure tells that with his complete worthiness to undertake the Caliphate and government, and his heroism, and his choosing perfect asceticism, worship, poverty, and frugality, and whose bowing and prostrating in prayer was corroborated by everyone, Ali (May God be pleased with him) was not responsible for his position in the future and the wars and strife in which he was involved, and that his intention and wish was for Divine favour.

 

THE SIXTH

 

The phrase, This is their similitude in the Torah makes predictions concerning the Unseen in two respects:

 

T h e F i r s t : It gives news of the qualities of the Companions mentioned in the Torah, which was as though the Unseen for an unlettered person like the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace). Yes, as described in the Nineteenth Letter, in the Torah are the following lines about the Companions of the Prophet who was to come at the end of time: "The standards of the holy ones are together with them." That is, his Companions would be pious worshippers, righteous, and saints, so that they were described with the term "the holy ones," that is, "sacred." Although the Torah has been corrupted through being translated into numerous languages, it corroborates with many of its verses the statement of Sura al-Fath, This is their similitude in the Torah.

 

T h e S e c o n d aspect of it giving news of the Unseen is this: with the phrase This is their similitude in the Torah, it is predicting that "The Companions and the generation that followed them would achieve such a degree of worship that the luminosity of their spirits would shine in their faces, and that marks would be apparent on their foreheads, like a sort of stamp of sainthood, caused by their repeated prostrations." And indeed the future proved this brilliantly, with complete clarity and certainty. Numerous important persons within that strange dissension and political upheaval demonstrated the mystery of This is their similitude in the Torah, who day and night performed prayers of a thousand rakats like Zaynu'l-Abidin, and performed the morning prayer with the ablutions of the prayers of the previous evening, like Tavus al-Yamani.

 

 

 

THE SEVENTH

 

The sentence, and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, [filling] the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the unbelievers with rage at them, gives news of the Unseen in two respects:

 

T h e F i r s t is the prediction concerning the Companions in the Gospel, which was like the Unseen for the unlettered Prophet (PBUH).

 

Yes, in the Gospels are verses like, With him is a staff of iron, and his community is like him describing the Prophet who was to come at the end of time. That is, a Prophet would come who would not be unarmed like Jesus (UWP), but would bear a sword, and be charged with waging jihad, and his Companions too would carry swords and be charged with jihad. The one bearing the "staff of iron" would be the Ruler of the World. For in one place in the Gospels it says: "I am going so the Ruler of the World may come." That is to say, the Ruler of the World is coming. It is thus understood from these two verses of the Gospels that at the start the Companions would appear to be few and weak, nevertheless they would burgeon like seeds, grow, thicken, and find strength. When they were about to be overwhelmed and smothered by the rage that this would cause the unbelievers, they would subjugate mankind with their swords and prove that the Prophet (PBUH), their leader, was the Ruler of the World. The verses express exactly the meaning of the above verses of Sura al-Fath.

 

S e c o n d A s p e c t : These sentences predict the following: the Companions certainly accepted the Pact of Hudaybiya out of their weakness and small number, but within a short time they so grew and acquired such strength and loftiness that, planted by the Hand of Power in the field of the face of the earth, they multiplied in most elevated, powerful, fruitful, and plentiful fashion. Especially in relation to the shoots of mankind at that time, which were short, weak, defective, and scant due to neglect and heedlessness. They would grow strong and cause glorious states to rage at them in envy, jealousy, and anger. Yes, the future verified this prediction in most brilliant fashion.

 

There is in this prediction the further following slight hint: it indicates through the word forgiveness that, although while praising the Companions' excellent qualities they should have been promised the greatest rewards, in the future serious faults would arise among the Companions due to strife. For forgiveness indicates the existence of faults. And at that time the thing most demanded by the Companions, the greatest bounty, would be forgiveness. The greatest reward would be absence of punishment, due to forgiveness. Just as the word forgiveness makes this subtle allusion, so too it is connected with the verse at the beginning of the Sura, That God may forgive you your faults of the past and those to follow Through giving the good news of forgiveness at the start of the Sura for not true sins, because the Prophet is exempt from sin and does not commit them, but forgiveness for a meaning in keeping with the rank of prophethood, and giving the good news of forgiveness for the Companions at the end of the Sura, it adds a further subtlety to the allusion.

 

Of the ten aspects of miraculousness contained in the above-mentioned three verses at the end of Sura al-Fath, we have discussed here only the aspect of predictions concerning the Unseen, and of the numerous aspects of that aspect, only seven aspects. At the end of the Twenty-Sixth Word, which is about Divine Determining and man's faculty of will, a significant flash of miraculousness is pointed out in the position of the letters of the last verse. Like this last verse looks to the Companions with its sentences, so does it look to their situations with its phrases. And like it describes their attributes with its words, so too with its letters, and with the repetition of the number of letters, does it allude to classes of famous Companions like the Companions of Badr, of Uhud, of Hunayn, of the Bench, and of Ridwan. And so does it also express many further mysteries through ‘coincidences' (tawafuqat) and abjad reckoning, which are branches of the science of jafr, and keys to it.

 

 

 

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

[in connection with the predictions concerning the Unseen indicated by the ‘allusive meanings' of the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath, similar predictions in the following verses, also through their allusive meanings, will here be briefly discussed.]

 

 

 

A Postscript

 

 

 

And We should have shown them the Straight Way. * All who obey God and the Prophet are in the company of those on whom is the grace of God—of the Prophets, the Veracious, the Witnesses [or Martyrs], and the Righteous: And how goodly a company are these!

 

We shall point out two of the thousands of fine points expounding these verses.

 

FIRST POINT

 

As the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition expresses truths through its explicit, clear meanings and senses, so it expresses many allusive meanings through its styles and forms. Each of its verses contains numerous levels of meanings. Since the Qur'an proceeds from all-encompassing knowledge, all its meanings may be intended. It cannot be restricted to one or two meanings like man's speech, the product of his limited mind and individual will.

 

It is because of this that innumerable truths contained in the Qur'an's verses have been expounded by Qur'anic commentators, and there are many more which have not been expounded by them. In addition to its explicit meanings, there is much significant knowledge contained in its letters in particular and in its allusions.

 

SECOND POINT

 

Through the terms,

 

of the Prophets, the Veracious, the Witnesses [or martyrs], and the Righteous: And how goodly a company are these!,

 

this verse describes the people of the Straight Path and the groups of the Prophets, the caravan of the Veracious, the community of the Martyrs, the class of the Righteous, and those who follow them, who are those among mankind who truly receive the Divine bounties, and furthermore, explicitly pointing out the most perfect of those five groups in the World of Islam, it then indicates the leaders and chiefs of those five groups through mentioning their well-known attributes. In addition, with a flash of miraculousness giving news of the Unseen, it specifies in one respect those chiefs' positions in the future.

 

Yes, of the Prophets looks explicitly to the Prophet Muhammed (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and the phrase the Veracious looks to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (the Veracious). It also indicates that he would be second after the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and first to succeed to his place, and be known with the special title of ‘Siddiq,' and be seen at the head of all the veracious. Then the Witnesses [or Martyrs] mentions Umar, Uthman, and Ali (May God be pleased with all of them) together. It indicates indirectly that the three of them would succeed to the Caliphate of the Prophet after ‘al-Siddiq,' that the three of them would be martyred, and the merits of martyrdom added to their other virtues.

 

The Righteous alludes to distinguished persons like the Companions of the Bench, and of Badr and Ridwan. While the explicit meaning of And how goodly a company are these! encourages others to follow them, and its implicit meaning, through showing the generation that succeeded them to be honoured and illustrious, alludes to Hasan (May God be pleased with him), who as the fifth Caliph affirmed the Hadith "After me the Caliphate will last thirty years—in order to show its great value despite its brief duration.

 

I n S h o r t : Like the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath look to the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, corroborating this, these verses look in partial and allusive manner to their future positions in a way that predicted the Unseen. The flashes of this sort of miraculousness which gives news of the Unseen, which is one sort of the Qur'an's miraculousness, are so numerous to be incalculable. Externalist scholars restricting them to forty or fifty verses is due to their superficial view. In reality they number more than a thousand. Sometimes there are four or five aspects giving news of the Unseen in a single verse.

 

O our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or do wrong.

 

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

 

A Second Explanation of the Above Postscript

 

In addition to corroborating the predictions concerning the Unseen at the end of Sura al-Fath, the verse,

 

All..... are in the company of those on whom is the grace of God—of the Prophets, the Veracious, the Witnesses, and the Righteous: how goodly a company are these!

 

also elucidates what is meant by the people of the Straight Path and the verse the path of those whom you have blessed and describes the luminous, familiar, attractive large caravan travelling the lengthy road leading to eternity, and in concise and urgent manner urges the believers and the conscious to join, follow, and accompany the caravan. In addition to its explicit meaning, like the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath, this verse indicates through allusive and figurative meanings—called in rhetoric ma'aridu'l-qalâ m and mustatba'at u't-tarâkib—the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs and Hasan (May God be pleased with him), the fifth Caliph. It gives news of the Unseen in several respects, as follows:

 

Just as the above verse states through its explicit meaning that the caravan of the Prophets, the group of the Veracious, the community of the Martyrs and Witnesses, the category of the Righteous, and the class of the generation following the Companions are the people of the Straight Path and those among mankind who receive elevated Divine bounties, and are ‘the doers of good', so too it indicates in a manner predicting the Unseen that the best and most excellent of those groups are found in the World of Islam, like this: it points to the heirs of the Prophets who follow on in succession through the mystery of the legacy of the prophethood of the Messenger of the end of time, and to the caravan of the Veracious who follow on from the source of veraciousness of the Most Veracious One, and to the convoy of the Martyrs, who are bound through the rank of martyrdom to three of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and to the community of the Righteous, who are tied to it through the mystery of And those who believe and do good works, and the categories of the generation following the Companions, who represented the mystery of Say: If you do love God, follow me: God will love you and forgive you your sins; for God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful and were in the company of the Companions and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. So too, through its allusive meaning, it gives news through the term and the Veracious that Abu Bakr the Veracious would succeed to the Noble Prophet's (Upon whom be blessings and peace) position after him, and would be Caliph, famous among the Muslim Community with the title Siddiq (Veracious), and be the chief of the caravan of the Veracious. With the phrase the Martyrs it foretells the martyrdom of three of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and that after the Veracious there would three martyr Caliphs. Because Martyrs (Shuhada) is plural, and the lowest number [in Arabic grammar] of the plural is three. That means, Umar, Uthman, and Ali (May God be pleased with them) would lead Islam after the Veracious One and would be martyred. And it occurred exactly as predicted.

 

Also, it is giving news through the phrase the Righteous that people like the People of the Bench who performed good works, acts of worship, and feared God, and are commended in the Torah, would be numerous in the future. While the phrase How goodly a company are these! praises the generation that followed the Companions and accompanied them in learning and good works. And in addition to showing that to accompany those four groups on the road to eternity is good and commendable, it points out that Hasan's brief period as Caliph was important, as was confirmed by the predictions of the Prophet (PBUH): "The Caliphate after me will last thirty years," and, "This my grandson Hasan is master of men, by means of whom God will reconcile two great groups," thus quelling dispute and conflict. In this way it indicates that Hasan would be a fifth Caliph succeeding the Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs. While through a device called in rhetoric Mustatba'atu't-tarakib, it alludes to the fifth Caliph's name with the phrase How goodly (hasuna) a company are these!

 

There are many further mysteries like these allusive predictions, but since they are outside our purpose, that door has not been answered for now. There are numerous verses of the All-Wise Qur'an which give news of the Unseen in many respects. This sort of the Qur'an's predictions of the Unseen number thousands.

 

 

 

* * *

 

Conclusion

 

 

 

One of the miraculous points of the All-Wise Qur'an which is manifested through ‘coincidences' is as follows:

 

In the All-Wise Qur'an, the total number of instances of the Divine Names of Allah, Merciful (Rahman), Compassionate (Rahim), Sustainer (Rabb), and He (Hu) in place of Allah, is approximately four thousand. According to a second sort of abjad reckoning which is in accordance with the arrangement of the alphabet, the value of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate is also around four thousand. Since small fractions of large numbers do not spoil ‘coincidence', they have been disregarded. Also, together with the two conjunctival waw's which Alif. Lam. Mim. comprises, it makes approximately two hundred and eighty. In addition to coinciding with both the approximately two hundred and eighty instances of the word Allah in Sura al-Baqara, and the around two hundred and eighty verses of the Sura, if reckoned with the second sort of Abjad reckoning, it again makes about four thousand. That coincides both with the five famous Divine Names mentioned above, and if the fractions are disregarded, with the numerical value of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. That is to say, as a consequence of this mystery of ‘coincidence,' Alif. Lam. Mim. is both a title comprising the One it signifies, and a name for al-Baqara, and a name of the Qur'an, and a concise index of both of them, and a sample, summary and seed of both, and a summary of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

 

According to the well-known Abjad system, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate is equal in numerical value to the Name of Sustainer. Similarly, if the doubled Ra in the Merciful, the Compassionate (ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim) is counted twice, it becomes nine hundred and ninety and a key to numerous important mysteries—with its nineteen letters, the key to nineteen thousand worlds.

 

Among the subtle ‘coincidences' of the word Allah in the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition is that in the whole Qur'an eighty instances of the word Allah at the beginning of the bottom line of pages look to each other in corresponding manner. So too do eighty instances of the Name at the end of the bottom line look to each other in the same way. And again fifty-five instances of the word Allah right in the centre of the bottom line fall one on top of the other, uniting as though to make a single instance of the Name of Allah. At the start of the last line a single and sometimes three-letter short word numbers, with gaps, twenty-five, thus when added to the coinciding fifty-five at the middle of the lines, makes a ‘coincidence' of eighty; this makes a coincidence of eighty both at the beginning of the line and at the end. Could such a subtle, fine, orderly, and well-balanced, miraculous ‘coincidence' be without wisdom or subtlety? God forbid, such a thing could not be! For sure, significant treasuries could be opened up with the tip of these ‘coincidences.'

 

 

 

O our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or do wrong.

 

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

 

S a i d N u r s i

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