The Qur’an: A Physical Book or a Spiritual Light?
An Ismaili Understanding of the Qur’an's Real Form
The Qur’an throughout the history of Islam has been both the primary binding factor as well as the greatest source of confusion in the Muslim community. The fact that a community is both bound together and confused by their founding scripture is not unique to Islam. It is a problem that is prevalent in all of the major religions of the world. But why is this the case? Are we not all reading the same text? Even those who bore witness to the revelatory events during the time of the Prophet Muhammadﷺ immediately splintered into various groups upon his death. How could such a thing be possible? Is it that the Qur’an is unclear or vague? Several verses of the Qur’an seem to speak of the absolute clarity and ease of the message of God.
And strive for Allah with the endeavour which is His right. He has chosen you and has not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Abraham… (22:78).
Thus have We sent down clear signs; and verily Allah guides whom He will (22:16).
Yet despite verses of this sort, we know that there is great division among the Muslims surrounding the Qur’an. So then why can’t we truly see this message? What is the vision which can truly see the Qur’an as it should be seen?
Inseparable from the concept of vision is the concept of light (nur). For without light there is no vision. The Qur’an very clearly speaks about the importance of light in understanding the divine book of Allah such as in the following verses:
O men, a proof has now come to you from your Lord; We have sent down to you a manifest light (4:174).
Surely We sent down the Torah, wherein is guidance and light (5:44).
People of the Book, now there has come to you Our Messenger, making clear to you many things you have been concealing of the Book, and effacing many things. There has come to you from God a light, and a Book Manifest (5:15).
But why must God send down a light when we already have light by which our eyes see? Due to modern science we know that it is not just any light that is required for the vision of any particular thing. Rather the light itself must be of a frequency which matches the vision one wishes to behold. Our normal vision uses a very narrow spectrum of light to see and the world of the infrared and the ultraviolet reveal much that is hidden from mundane human sight. Our eyes need to adjust to different energy levels and become attuned to these different bands in order to see what they hide. The reality of the need for attunement extends also to sound in that higher and lower pitches or notes differ from one another in the same way that various frequencies of light do. It is due to energy. In psychology, we also refer to the concepts of empathy and sympathy which involve a matching of our frequencies to the frequencies of the person we’re seeking to connect with and understand. Therefore, at all levels, whether physical or mental or otherwise, we must adjust our nature to the nature of that which we wish to sense and comprehend. It is with this concept in mind that we must understand the meaning of “light” in Islam.
We clearly see that this light is distinct from scripture as it is written down on pages such as 5:15, 6:91, 21:48. In 42:52 we also see that the “Book” (kitab) is actually taught to the Prophet through a spirit which God refers to as being the true light used by the Prophet to guide people.
And thus have We inspired in you a Spirit of Our command. You did not know what the Scripture was, nor the Faith. But We have made it a light (nur) whereby We guide whom We will of Our bondmen. And lo! you verily guide unto a straight path (42:52).
Now, what is this spirit and light? Because the book or scripture can be seen very visibly in its words by all people, we know that this light or spirit is not a mechanism for seeing physically. Rather it is the means by which the Prophet comprehends the Book of Allah intellectually. This connection to intellectual understanding is seen in verses where instead of describing prophets as having the book and light, it describes them as having been given the book and wisdom (hikma).
Our Lord! And raise up in their midst a Messenger from among them who shall recite unto them Your Signs, and shall instruct them in the Book and in Wisdom and purifies them. Lo! You, only You, are the Mighty, Wise (2:129).
Even as We have sent unto you a messenger from among you, who recites unto you Our Signs and purifies you, and teaches you the Book and wisdom, and teaches you that which ye knew not (2:151)
When Allah made (His) covenant with the prophets, (He said): Behold that which I have given you of the Book and wisdom. And afterward there will come unto you a messenger, confirming that which you possess (3:81).
From these verses, it is clear that the Qur’an’s essence and reality is only accessible through an intellectual power which was sent down to the prophets through a spirit. The next point of inquiry then is what really was sent down to the Prophet on the Night of Qadr?
According to popular belief, the first five ayat of Surat al-‘Alaq were sent down to the Prophet on this night.
Recite: In the Name of thy Lord who created, created Man of a blood-clot. Recite: And thy Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the Pen, taught Man that he knew not (96:1-5).
It is important to note that the man we know as Muhammad was instantly made a Prophet and had authority over the believers the moment this took place. This means that even though the Prophet had only five verses of the scripture, he was in a position to guide the community in an absolute sense on the straight path (sirat al-mustaqim). Even when we see some of the later verses which specifically give the Prophet authority over all the believers (4:59, 4:64, 4:80, 4:83), the entire Qur’an has not yet been revealed verbally to the people. The Prophet is also said to be in possession of or having been taught the “Book” (kitab) several times in various ayat even though we know he does not reveal the final Qur’anic ayah until the end of his life.
The answer to this conundrum is made clear once again by 42:52. What the Prophet truly received was a spirit from God which is the true source of all guidance. This was what the Prophet received in its entirety on the Night of Qadr. Therefore, this light from the spirit takes precedence over all other things given to the Prophet. Within this light is the book, wisdom, and even the kingdom (mulk) which is mentioned in conjunction with some prophets (2:25). Furthermore, this means that in the absence of this spirit, there is no book, hikma or kingdom. When we see this discourse through the lens of what we know of physical light, we realize then that light of the Prophets is not words placed in their ears but rather it implies that the Prophets’ souls are brought into a frequency of energy in line with the divine frequency and this leads to the disclosure of all reality to them. This reality has been stated much more beautifully and concisely by the 14th Ismaili Imam, al-Mu‘izz, quoted in Qadi Numan’s Ta’wil al-shari‘ah as follows.
“Verily, God sent down the light [nūr] which He mentioned in the Qur’an upon the heart of Muhammad. The Prophet did not send down that divine lordly light upon the hearts of the believers because they lacked the capacity to bear it, due to the disparity between the Prophet and the believers among the common people. He only conveyed the meanings of the inspiration [waḥy] and the light – its obligations, rulings and allusions – by means of utterances composed with arranged, combined, intelligible, and audible letters. When the Prophet constructed these utterances and letters and enclosed the meanings that the inspiration contained within them, the recitation [al-qur’ān] constructed according to the light – which is the inspiration [al-waḥy] sent down [to him] – became the word of the Messenger [qawl al-rasūl]. Thus, the construction, the expressions, and the composition are due to the Prophet. Thus, it [the Qur’an] is the Speech of God [kalām Allāh] and the word of the Messenger of God [qawl rasūl Allāh].”
Imam al-Mu‘izz, in al-Qadi al-Nu‘man, Ta’wil al-shari‘ah, ed. Nadia E. Jamal, tr, Khalil Andani, “Shi‘i Ismaili Approaches to the Qur‘an: From Revelation to Exegesis”, in The Routledge Companion to the Qur‘an, edited by George Archer, Maria M. Dakake, Daniel A. Madigan, 306.
If one does not possess a soul which is attuned to the divine frequency, then they are not in real possession of God’s Book though they may have a copy of the Qur’an. This is made clear in the following verses.
That (this) is indeed a noble Qur’an in a Book kept hidden which none touch save the purified (56:77-79).
The Qur’an is guarded by God and its reality is for only those who are purified. And this purification is associated only with the divinely designated and chosen people of God.
And (remember) when his Lord tried Abraham with (His) words, and he fulfilled them, He said: Lo! I have appointed you an imam for mankind. (Abraham) said: And of my offspring He said: My covenant does not include wrong-doers (2:124).
God chose Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of Imran above all beings, descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower (3:33-35).
Allah's wish is but to remove uncleanness far from you, O Ahl al-Bayt, and purify you with a thorough purification (33:33).
We can see here that wrongdoers can never be eligible for divine authority and that the only truly pure are those chosen from the single family of which the Holy Prophet was a part of. And this extends through the descendants or Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet as stated in 33:33. It is clear then that, just as without physical light we are shrouded in darkness and cannot see anything, without the spiritual light of the Prophets and Imams, we cannot be said to possess any book or wisdom or any sort of understanding. The Qur’an only truly functions as a Qur’an when placed under this light. Without this light, there is no Qur’an. This then is the reason for the confusion in the Qur’an.
“Verily, I am leaving behind for you two weighty matters (al-thaqalayn): the Book of God (kitāb Allāh) is a rope extending from heaven to earth, and my descendants (ʿitratī), my Ahl al-Bayt. Verily, the Gracious (al-laṭīf), the Aware (al-khabīr) informed me that the two of them will never separate until they return to me at the Paradisal Pool.”
Prophet Muhammad, Hadith al-Thaqalayn,
(Narrated in over 60 reported chains in Sunni Muslim texts compiled in the first 300 years after the Prophet).
The other amazing implication here is that if the Light exists, one cannot ever be without the Book of Allah. This then makes it clear what is meant by the Hadith-i Thaqalayn where the Prophet said that the Book of Allah and his progeny are never, and can never, be separated. In theory, even if the entire Qur’an were to vanish, the true followers of a bearer of the Light or Nur would still not have lost anything.
Ya ‘Aly Madad,
Navid Amiri
March 17th 2024
Contact: n11amiri@gmail.com
Follow on Instagram @ismaili intellectual tradition
 | A guest post by
|
Thank you for a lucid explanation of al-Quran. When various Muslim groups come together and agree that each group's interpretation is accepted by all regardless the "Light", are we not presented with a serious problem?