The Quran – The Ocean of knowledge and each drop of it is itself an Ocean
The Quran is revealed to Mankind through the Prophet MohammadSAW.There are two ways to understand its content one is it is outward ( Zahari) meaning and the inward ( Batin) meaning. One who wants to comprehend the true meaning of this sacred book should accept both versions.To remain only stick to one meaning and underestimating the other one is nothing but short-sightedness. Commentaries dealing with the ẓāhir of the text are called Tafseer (commentary”), and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the Batin are called Tawveel (“interpretation” or “explanation”), which involves taking the text back to its beginning. Esoteric commentators believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to Allah and his prophet Mohammad (PBUH) or the persons whom Almighty Allah will bestow. Therefore, the person who claims that he/she understood the content of the Quran fully is short-sighted. Abdulla Bin Abbas RA is the first companion who wrote the interpretation of the Quran He extracted from it what he understood keeping in view the need of the time and capacity to understand the content. Now the question arises if a genius companion like Abdulla Bin Abbas RA gave the interpretation. Why do the Scholars of Islam feelthe need to write more and more Tafasīr? The fact of the matter is that there is no end meaning or end word sofar as the meaning of the Quran is concerned. To say that the Quran is the ocean of knowledge and each drop of it is itself an ocean is too little to say about this holy book. There are many examples in the holy book of the Quran that supported both the manifested ( Zahiri) and concealed ( Batini ) meaning to the verses. One such example mentioned in the Quran is the meeting between Hazrat Musa AW and Hazrat Khazir RA that is narratedas: In the direction of Almighty Allah, Musa along with Usha (companion) started his journey with food which was in form of a cooked fish to meet the Khizr who was blessed with exceptional knowledge by Almighty Allah. The meeting intended to make Musa familiar with the Knowledge which was unfamiliar to him. While traveling, Musa asked Usha to place the fried fish so that they elude their appetite but he replied to Musa that the fish they cooked for food came into life and jumped into the sea and he forgot to mention the same. Musa, Oh! “That is the place where that person will meet us according to the direction of Almighty Allah” so they turned back reached that very place and the person (Khizr) was already waiting for him. They proceeded the journey and the details of which is as Once Khizr and Musa were to cross a river. They saw a boat tied at the bank of the river and sat in it. As the boatman rowed the boat across, Khizr started making holes in the bottom. That shocked and surprised Musa. He came out in alarm: What is God’s name are you doing? We shall be drowned.’ Khizr put his forefinger on his lips. It seemed a new boat and it was getting flooded after he had made holes, Khizr put stoppers in them. Soon they reached the other side safely Moving ahead, Khizr saw the boy playing on the ground, Khizr wrung his neck to death. Musa screamed. What! You have put an innocent boy to death.’ But Khizr again warned him to be quiet. Soon they came to a village. They knocked on the door of a householder for food but instead of giving some food to them, they humiliated them. They came across a dilapidated boundary wall of that house. Khizr stopped and started putting the bricks lying on the ground one atop of the other on the wall to repair it.
Musa got puzzled he told him that he had put a young boy to death he was repairing an old wall. But since he had given his word to Khizr, he kept quiet. Khizr then explained everything to Musa About making holes in the bottom of the boat, he said that the ruler was a tyrant and his men would certainly have taken his new boat away for his pleasure if they had not bored holes in it. He did not want the boatman to lose his livelihood. As for that young man, his parents were true believers – whereas we had every reason to fear that he would bring bitter grief upon them by his wickedness. A wayward and wicked child causes more grief to his parents by living than in his death. God desired to save the couple the greater grief and give them a more loving and righteous son. Khizr was able to foresee that he would grow up into a heartless man who would torment innocent people. “Now tell me, was my conduct right wrong. What about the repairing of the old wall? Under the wall lies a buried treasure. He wants the villager, who is poor and needy, to discover it and become prosperous. This they will do when they plow the land. Finding the wall in their way, they will demolish it and discover the treasure. ( Sura Kahf), This is one of the aspects to understand the episode but Sufi adds one more dimension to this episode. According to them: Almighty Allah could directly acquaint Musa with the secrets of those episodes but he enlightens Musa through Khirz which clearly shows that one cannot attain the highest form of knowledge without a guide but there are some exceptional cases where Allah directly revealed the knowledge to anyone like Hazrat Khazir. There are many such examples in history where we meet with some of the personalities who had no as such any teacher/guide but they enlighten the whole world with knowledge and became the torchbearers for humanity. The knowledge (Alim) that the person directly receives from the Almighty Allah by way of intuition or by any other way is known as the Khazri Alim in Sufi terminology. The other way of understanding that particular episode is that Allah directed Musa to reach a particular place in search of the person whom he was supposed to meet is the lucid way to make Musa aware that nothing can be achieved without any struggle. Cooked fish that became alive at a particular place shows that where there is the presence of Wali (Friend Allah), death turns into life there. As the Sufis metaphorically use fish as the heart of a person which regains its energy when he/she encounter the friend of Allah/ Wali, the knowledge seeker jumped into the ocean of knowledge same as the fish jumped into the ocean making a path that leads to Allah. As said by our beloved Sufi Saint Sheikh-Ul Alam:
“Dil Choya Gaad Huckma Thayun.
Ziker-Hund Payeen Dis Lasyow Taa-Y”
Let me conclude this with the statement made by Imam Jaffar Sadiq RA about the glory of the Quran. “The book of Almighty Allah comprises four things: the statement set down, the allusions, the hidden meanings relating to the supra-sensible world, and the exalted spiritual doctrines. The literal statement is for ordinary believers. The allusions are the concern of the elite. The hidden meanings pertain to the friends of God. The exalted spiritual doctrines are the province of the prophets.”
(The author is a P.G student of Arabic from Sheikhpora Haril,Handwara Kashmir. Views are exclusively his own)
