There are Levels of Understanding of Holy Qur’an

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

21 December 2013   Malacca, Malaysia

Suhbah at a Private Residence

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Alhamdulillahi ’L-ladhee sharafanaa bi ’l-habeeb ‘l-mustafa, `alayhi afdal‘s-salaat wa‘s-salaam, wa an-ni`amihi az-zhaahir wa ‘l-baatin, wa nashaadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wahdahu laa shareeka lah, wa laa matheela lahu fee `uloowi shaanihi wa `azheemi sultaanih, wa nashhadu anna sayyidina wa mawlana Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebahu wa rasooluh, alladhee arsalahu rahmatan li ’l-`aalameen, wa shafi`yyan li ’l-mudhnibeen, wa astafaahu min al-`ibaad, sallahu `alayka yaa sayyidee, yaa rasuloollah yaa rahmatan li ’l-`aalameen.  

All praise to Allah, Who has favored us to be from Ummati Muhammad and has favored us with outward favors and inward ones. Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah…And Allah made Sayyidina Muhammad (s) The Chosen One from among His servants, Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him.

Allah favored us to be here today. You don't know maqaadeerullah, the Will of Allah, how it moves; you plan something, but in reality, what is Allah's Plan has to be fulfilled. No one knows what tomorrow is hiding for him except those whom Allah (swt) has favored to be His loyal servants, awliyaullah. Allah might give them something to their hearts, we call it either ‘inspiration,’ which is the best word, as revelation is for prophets. Ilhaam is inspiration that they can know about their followers from their own places all the way to where they have a follower or a mureed.

Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:

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Wa man kaana fee hadhihi `amaa fa-huwa fi 'l-akhirati `amaa wa adalloo sabeela.

But those who were blind in this world will be blind in the Hereafter and most astray from the path.

(Surat al-Israa, 17:72)

“Whoever is blind” means there are blind people, not blind physically, but blind spiritually; those who are blind from understanding the meaning of faith, imaan, because al-imaan, faith is by ghayb, by Unseen. The most important is to believe in the Unseen, not to believe in the seen as anyone can believe in that, but the Unseen is where people cannot understand and they cannot see it, so they don’t believe. But Allah said you have to believe in the Unseen:

Amantu billahi wa malaa’ikatihi wa kutubihi wa rusulihi wa bi ‘l-yawmi ‘l-aakhir wa bi ‘l-qadri khayrihi wa sharrihi min Allahi ta`ala wa bi’l-ba`tha ba`d al-mawti haqq.

I believe in the existence and oneness of Allah, His angels, His Books, His prophets, and I believe in the Day of Judgement, and in destiny, that everything good or evil ts from Allah, and I believe in life after death (and resurrection.) All of them are true and right.  (Imaan-e-Mufassil)

Al-imaanu bi-Llah is belief in the Unseen; Allah is Unseen and malaa’ikatihi, His angels are unseen, and kutubihi, His books are seen, although the words and letters are seen, but our intelligence to understand interpretation of the Holy Qur'an is Unseen! There are a lot of information and meanings, ma`anee are in the Holy Qur'an, and did Allah (swt) reveal to the Prophet (s) the same as we understand? No, the Prophet (s) has meanings from the Holy Qur'an that no one can understand and no one can reach! What awliyaullah inherited from the Prophet (s), and Prophet (s) gave them a drop of an ocean, they are drowned in the meanings of the Holy Qur'an, and for us normal people, we read and we understand hikmah, wisdom.

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Wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem.

Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Surah Yusuf, 12:76)

Everyone will understand differently, higher and higher, as Allah said “there is a knower above every knower.” And there are levels to understand the Holy Qur’an from Prophet (s), and they will be inspired from awliyaullah, but that is still a drop in an ocean. For us, we are not even inspired, but only involved in this dunya. We read and forget, but there are meanings behind every letter and behind every verse of Holy Qur'an. Is it not only Allah (swt):

????? ???????? ??????????? ?????? ?????? ??????????????? ??? ????????? ?????????? ??????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ???????? 

But no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say, "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord." (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:7)

No one knows its interpretation except Allah, but He put and there, wa ‘r-raasikhoona fi ‘l-ilmi, “and the mountains of knowledge…”, now scholars, because they are blind they don’t want to say ar-raasikhoona fi ‘l-`ilmi, “they know something.” They said, “O, the wa is `atifa” in Arabic, the first verse coming on top of another verse, so they use ‘and’, the AND connecting is not applying to “the mountains of knowledge,” because they can see what people are not seeing, they believe in it. Kullun min `indi’llah, “everything is from Allah” (swt.) But the meaning is that there are people that Allah gave them to know the meaning behind every verse according to their capacity, not according to a higher capacity, not above their capacity, but according to what they can carry. Unfortunately, there are scholars who don’t understand, who limit the meaning. Allah said, “Who is blind in this life will be blind in the Next and even worse than that,” because he doesn't believe in what he doesn't see; he wants to see everything, but what is the benefit? You want to see, but you don’t have the capacity, your heart doesn't have the capacity to carry that knowledge and you will be broken into pieces!

The Prophet (s) said to his Companions (r), ashtaqtu li ahbaabee, “I miss my lovers.” Who are those (he spoke of), “I miss them?”

And the Sahaabah said, alasnaa ahbaabuk, “Are we not your beloved ones?”

And the Prophet (s) said, “No, you are not those ones, you are ikhwaanee, my brothers, but there are my beloved ones, people who come in the future near the Day of Judgment; they lived after you and me. Yuminooon bee wa lam yarawnee, they believe in me and they never saw me.”

It is not easy. The Sahaabah (r) saw the Prophet (s) and believed in him, but you here and those outside here, the Muslim ummah and mu’min ummah, they did not see the Prophet (s) and they believed in him. “They are my beloved ones.” It is not easy. The Prophet (s) asked:

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The Prophet (s) was sitting with his Companions and said, “Who are the ones with the most imaan, that astonishes and stuns me?” He asked the Sahaabah (r), “Did you hear about them or can you figure out who these people are?” They looked at him and thought, “Who can be of the best imaan?” They said, “The angels, who are always under Allah's Order in everything; it must be the angels.” The Prophet (s) said, Wa kayfa la tumin al-malaaikata wal-amru fawqahum yarawnahu, “How can the angels not have strong imaan when they are in the Divine Presence and they see what they see? Of course they have the best imaan. No, they have imaan, but there are others with the best imaan.” The Sahaabah (r) thought some more and said, “If it is not the angels, then it must be the Prophets.” The Prophet (s) said, “How are the Prophets not going to have imaan when Allah (swt) reveals to them morning and evening and they hear Allah's revelation through Jibreel (a), who brings them the message, or Sayyidina Musa (a), who talks directly as Kaleemullah? How can they not believe when it is being revealed to them?” Then the Sahaabah (r) looked at each other and said, “If not the angels and not Prophets, then it is us. How is it not us and we are following you?” And the Prophet (s) said, “How do you dare to say ‘us,’ and how can you not have imaan when you are among the Prophet (s) and see what he is bringing to you? No, there are others who have the best imaan. The people with the most imaan are those coming after me, who believe in me although they did not see me, and that means coming after you, O Sahaabah! Those are in truth my brothers!” (Related from Ibn Abbas)

“Who are the people with most imaan?”

They said, “The angels.”

And the Prophet (s) said, “How can the angels not have strong imaan when they are in Heavens making dhikrullah every moment, of course they will have strong faith.”

Then they said, “The prophets.”

And the Prophet (s) said, “Of course their faith must be so strong as they are receiving Revelations as Messages.” And then, “Who has the most astonishing imaan in their hearts, who are these people?”

“They are the Sahaabah,” they said.

And the Prophet (s) said, “How? You are with me and I am among you and you are seeing me! How can you not have astonishing imaan?”

They gave their life for the Prophet (s) and the Prophet (s) is telling them there are people with stronger imaan than them.

So they asked, “Who are these people if they are not angels, not prophets, not Sahaabah? Who are they?”

“They are people coming after me who believed in me and never saw me.”

Who are these? They are these people (indicates the crowd), may Allah make us one of them!

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Wa man kaana fee hadhihi `amaa fa-huwa fi 'l-akhirati `amaa wa adalloo sabeela.

But those who were blind in this world, will be blind in the hereafter, and most astray from the Path. (Surat an-Najm, 17:72)

So the one who cannot see is blind in Akhirah, and the evidence is in the two ahadith that I mentioned. Sahaabah were not blind, but that reality was not yet given to them. They were surprised and asking, “Then who, if not angels?” They did not deny, like some people today who deny anything they did not come across or they didn’t understand it. They say, “Where is it written?” O stupid person! Can you understand where it is written, can you analyze the meaning? Don't you know the Holy Qur'an contains in each verse millions of meanings that we don't know? Allah gave some to the Prophet (s) and Prophet (s) gave some to awliyaullah. If you are not a wali, how can you understand? The Sahaabah (r) at first were not understanding who has the a`ajabu imaan, “The most astonishing faith, something of incredible faith.” They didn't know, they said, “Angels,” and Prophet (s) said, “No.” They didn’t deny, but said, “Then who?” But today if you speak with someone, he denies and says, “You are kafir.” The first word on their tongue is, they have nothing else except these four: shirk, bid`a, kufr, haraam. So they are blind, then how can they see the interpretation of every verse? But there are meanings that we need to to know, to taste and not keep being blind. Search where the awliya are, sit with them, learn from them as they are hidden treasures!

If someone will tell you there is a treasure on the island of Shaykh Isma`il, you will see millions of people going there to dig to get the treasures, is it not? You will leave everything and run to get a treasure. Here you have a Holy Treasure, the Holy Qur'an, Allah's Holy Words! Can Allah's Words be limited? Why are they limiting it? Why are they not understanding the meaning behind it? There are some `ulama who did understand and put books on that, they gave some hints to learn, but we have to keep looking and looking and looking. As we run to dig the treasure from the island, let us dig in the Holy Qur'an and get meanings we never understood. For example:

???? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ????????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ???? ?????? ????? ???????? ?????

Behold, he saw a fire, so he said to his family,“You stay. I perceive a fire; perhaps I can bring you some burning branch from there or find some guidance at the fire.” (Surah Taha, 20:10)

Sayyidina Musa (a) was giving direction to his family when he left Yemen towards Egypt and they were in the desert in the night and it was cold. So he told his family, “I am seeing a fire far away. Let me go there and and maybe I will find some wood and bring it so that we can warm ourselves.” So he left them and he went. As he approached that light, that is where Allah called him.

Allah (swt) said, “O Musa! Take off your shoes. How are you coming with your shoes to Me? Is there no adab? Take your shoes off and approach.” 

So he took off his shoes and approached. After that, now digging into the meaning, one of the great awliya wanted to know the meaning and he was digging and not passing through that verse like that. That wali is Sayyidina Muhiyyidin ibn `Arabi (q), one of the greatest of awliyaullah, who wrote books, fountains of knowledge running through his heart and he was writing it. Grandshaykh `AbdAllah, may Allah bless his soul, said, “When Sayyidina Muhiyyidin ibn `Arabi (q) wants to write, he sleeps on wudu with a pen in his hand and paper in front of him, whatever kind of paper at that time, and he sleeps. Whatever inspiration comes, his hand is moving with the pen in it and he writes in his sleep and when he wakes up, whatever came from the Prophet (s) it is written on the paper. That is how he wrote Futoohaat al-Makkiya; he never wrote from himself, always inspired in his dreams.”

To awliyaullah, dreams are visions while to us they are dreams. So in his tafseer, Sayyidina Muhiyyidin ibn `Arabi (q) said when Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Allah (swt):

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Qaala rabbee aarinee anzhur ilayk.

He said, “O my Lord! Show Yourself to me, that I may look upon You.” (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:143)

“Let me see You.” And Allah (swt) said to him, “You cannot see Me with all that load on your back.” But he persisted and Allah likes that, so he was persistent in his du`a. So when he persisted, Allah said:

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Allah said, "By no means can you see Me (directly), but look upon the mountain; if it abides in its place, then you shall see Me." When his Lord manifested His glory on the mount, He made it as dust, and Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses, he said, "Glory be to You! To You I return in repentance, and I am the first to believe." (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:143)

“Okay, look at the mountain. I will show, manifest My Beautiful Names and Attributes to the mountain and if the mountain stays in its place, you will see Me.” Allah does not appear on a mountain, but He manifested His Beautiful Names and Attributes on the mountain and it made the mountain perish, flattened it, and Sayyidina Musa (a) fainted. When that happened, because Allah called him to His Presence, but Sayyidina Musa (a) came with someone with him, he brought with him his ego. How did Sayyidina Muhiyyidin ibn Arabi (q) interpret that? He said that in that time, everyone had shoes but the shoes were made from the skin of donkeys, and the donkey is ignorant; the characteristic of a donkey is to be ignorant. Sayyidina Musa (a) was asking to go into the valley and approach the Light, and he was supposed to take off his shoes as they represented his ego; to take his shoes out and come surrendering to Allah (swt)’s desire, not even asking anything, because Prophet (s) never asked anything and (s) reached Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa with no question. But Sayyidina Musa (a), when he questioned, he questioned with his ego with him, so Allah (swt) manifested on the mountain His Beautiful Names and Attributes and Sayyidina Musa fainted as he was not able to carry. So how he is going to carry the Holy Qur’an when he fainted from the Ninety-nine Names and the Holy Qur’an contains Asmaa al-Husna. So what happened? Allah revealed to Sayyidina Muhammad (s), but his heart never flattened like the mountain.

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Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily you would have seen it humble i