So we understand that this knowledge that is being spoken about is not for the soul.
It is for the body made of a (blood) clot, the body with a brain.
This is about the apparent knowledge.
The Apparent and Ethereal Aspect of Man
God addressed us when he said we have no value and that we are the product of a dirty clot of blood.
Neither do you have any value nor did you have any knowledge.
What is the purpose of saying this?
It is to make us aware that the body made of a blood clot is controlled by the lower self.
It is to humble the lower self.
‘al lazee allama bil qalam’.
God says that God rendered knowledge through ‘the pen’.
Normally, we understand that this particular thing here is [what is being referred to as] the pen,
that God picked up a pen and rendered knowledge to us.
That’s as much as our intellect can understand because we have also used the pen to write.
Now, let’s suppose you are unable to hear and speak so how would you be given any knowledge?
Someone would have to be the scribe and you will learn by seeing what is being written.
So now, if someone asked you, ‘you cannot hear and you cannot speak so how did you obtain the knowledge?’
You will say, ‘I was taught by the pen; it wrote and I learned’.
So we understand that this knowledge being spoken about is not for the soul.
It is for the body made of a (blood) clot, the body with a brain.
This is about the apparent knowledge.
Why is it about the apparent knowledge? Because the ability to comprehend and understand...
Just as God has made it abundantly clear in the holy Qur’an that understanding has to do with the spiritual heart.
A hadith states that God renders understanding to the spiritual heart.
Now, this word ‘fiqah’.
What does it mean?
Fiqah means understanding.
‘Deen ki fiqah’ means understanding of the religion.
So fiqah has to do with your spiritual heart.
Since fiqah has to do with the spiritual heart, therefore, God must have also rendered the knowledge to the spiritual heart.
And the knowledge granted to the spiritual heart does not come from the pen.
Whenever you see the words ‘ilm (knowledge)’ and ‘kalam (pen)’ alongside each other n the Qur’an,
understand it is in reference to the apparent knowledge.
And when you notice the words ‘wahi (divine revelation)’ and the spiritual heart, then understand it is about esoteric knowledge.
[God said] ‘awhaina (we sent a revelation unto you)’.
So these are two different things.
What is descended upon the spiritual heart by God is not called knowledge, God calls it a revelation.
Therefore, this verse is about the apparent knowledge.
‘Al lamal insaana ma lam y'alam’.
‘Man was rendered knowledge unknown to him’.
Then, ‘kallah…’ For instance, when you know the right thing and you explain it to someone else and, having explained it to them, you ask,
‘Alright, tell me what you understood’, and they give you a wrong answer, you say, ‘No, no! That’s not what it is!’
That’s when the word ‘kallah’ is used in Arabic.
When they do not understand despite explaining it, then you use the word ‘kallah’ in Arabic.
‘No, no!’ ‘innal insaana layatghaa’.
‘But man is inclined towards misguidance’.
No.
So why has God used ‘no, no!’?
God has said ‘no, no!’ because ‘al lamal insaana ma lam y’alam’.
God said, ‘I have granted him the knowledge, so do you think that he has become guided?’ ‘Kallah!’
‘No, no! I have granted him the knowledge but what is in the nature of man?’
It is in the nature of man to be inclined towards misguidance’.
‘Innal insaana layatghaa’.
Now, who is this in reference to?
You see, you have the main human soul inside you,
how can it be inclined towards misguidance while it’s simply sitting inside you?
How can your spiritual heart be inclined towards misguidance?
It’s not at all.
So what is it within you that is actively inclined towards misguidance in your day-to-day life?
It is the body created by a clot of blood because the body is controlled by the lower self.
This is in reference to the body because the soul cannot be misguided.
Bear in mind that it is in the nature of the soul to commemorate God’s name.
It is in the nature of the soul to worship God.
When God had created the body of Adam the Eminent One and then breathed the soul into the body,
as soon as the soul settled within the body, the very first thing it uttered was ‘Ya Allah’.
‘Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah’. Do you understand?
So all those human beings who said, when God asked, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ What did they say?
‘Qaloo bala shahidana’. ‘Verily, we bear witness’.
All the souls that God bestowed the wealth of faith, essentially when those souls are sent into the body,
they shall follow the custom of Adam the Eminent One and say the name of God.
The human soul is not inclined toward misguidance nor is the spiritual heart inclined toward misguidance.
What is being said here ‘innal insaana la yatghaa’ alludes to the human body.
The human body, the eyes, the hands and feet become involved in transgressions. The tongue makes you backbite, the tongue lies.
You will get an evil whisper in your heart that tells you to spy on a godly person,
because the source of the evil whisper doesn’t believe that person to be godly.
Therefore, Satan uses your entire body for his purpose.
But the body [of the person] considers itself clever.
When the body is being used as a spy, the eyes are used to see what the godly person is doing, the ears will be used to hear.
The body will smell, see and sense.
The entire being was dipped in misguidance.
Why?
Because ‘innal insaana la yatghaa’.
The human being remains inclined toward misguidance because they are stationed in this world, they are surrounded by misguidance.
‘An raahu astaghnaa…’ ‘and he looks upon himself (considers himself) as self-sufficient’. He believes he doesn’t need anyone.
Just as many people, especially Muslims,
believe they do not require an intermediary; they believe they do not need the intermediary of the saints, sages and spiritual dignitaries.
They are of the opinion that they can obtain guidance directly by reading the Qur’an.
They want the world to know that they are independent and self-sufficient,
that they know absolutely everything and do not require anybody’s help or support.
But do not forget what God said, ‘all must return to the Creator’.
The theme of this verse is the apparent aspect of human beings, it is not about the ethereal aspect of human beings.
It is about the apparent aspect.
Any knowledge that came into this world was not the creation of any human being.
Whether it is apparent knowledge or ethereal, it has all come from God.
Now, all these great scientists, intellectuals and scholars have studied and learned knowledge,
they have discovered knowledge but they have not invented knowledge.
Knowledge is God-gifted.
Whether it is the knowledge of this world or the knowledge of religion, it is not man-made.
Whether it is the knowledge of this world or religion, it comes from God.
God said in a verse, ‘Lillaahi ma fi samawaati wa ma fil ard’
. Here, God is explaining his connection, his ownership.
For instance, you would say, ‘this is mine’.
Similarly, God says, ‘lillaahi (it belongs to God)’ ‘ma fee samawaati (whatever is in the skies)’, ‘wa ma fil ard (and on the land)’.
Everything belongs to God.
There is nothing in the land and the skies that is not owned by God and that is not connected to God. Everything belongs to God.
In the correct chronological order, the very first chapter revealed unto Prophet Muhammad (s) is Surah Al-Alaq.
This was the starting point of the Quranic revelations.
This Surah was descended unto Prophet Muhammad (s) when the Prophet (s) was in the Cave of Hira.
Further in the chapter, God says,
‘ara-aital lazee (have you not seen the one)…’ ‘yanhaa (who stops)…’ ‘abdan (my servant)...’ ‘iza salla (when he glorifies me)’.
Hearing this would make one think that it is about a person who comes and physically stops you.
Various religious scholars think the use of ‘salla’ means to offer salah.
However, there are many interpreters who -
You see, there is the interpretation of a regular interpreters,
but then there is the interpretation that comes from an Imam e Tafseer (scholar of interpretation).
If you study the religion (Islam), you will find out that there have been some noted scholars of Islamic creed.
And their speciality, their expertise was in constructing the creed.
They study what a common Muslim’s creed should be, a common religious scholar does not have such expertise. These are superior scholars known as Aima e Aqaid (scholars of creed).
Similarly, some scholars have the expertise of Fiqh; they make Sharia clearer and easier to understand.
And similarly, there are some scholars known as Aima e Tafseer;
their expertise is in interpretation.
A regular interpreter is one who provides apparent interpretation and the apparent explanation of the Qur’an. That’s a regular interpreter.
However, an Imam e Tafseer is one who provides the interpretation, translation and esoteric explanation.
Tarjuma (translation) is the literal meaning of the Qur’an whereas taweel is the esoteric explanation.
Now obviously, providing the esoteric explanation of the Qur’an is only possible for those scholars of interpretation who have been bestowed the spiritual benevolence from Prophet Muhammad (s).
So those scholars of interpretation have stated that ‘salla’ does not allude to salah alone,
it means to engage in the commemoration of God’s name in a way that people are able to witness.
For instance, when you’re offering salah it’s not possible for people to not be able to tell what you’re doing.
As soon as you stand with your arms like this, people will be able to see you’re offering salah.
That’s why it is said here that you must commemorate God’s name in a way that people can see that you’re engaged in Zikr Allah.
When would this happen?
When you commemorate God’s name verbally.
If you’re engaged in silent commemoration of God’s name, nobody would know what’s going on.
Mullah Ali Qari wrote in his explanation that ‘sallah’ refers to loud chanting of Zikr Allah.
Now, these words ‘ara-aital lazee yanhaa abdan iza sallaa’,
‘have you not seen the one who stops my servant from engaging in my commemoration?’
Who is this person that stops him?
This is the very first chapter of the Qur’an that was revealed in the Cave of Hira.
The infidels had no idea what was happening, so who would have been stopping it from happening?
It’s the very first verse, very first chapter!
So whose stopping it from happening?
So, as Zahir Shah just said right now, this alludes to the lower self.
It’s the lower self that stops you. ‘Have you not seen the one who stops my servant from engaging in my commemoration?’
This blessed chapter is all about the human body and the lower self.
Now, this is the very first chapter and it was the very first time a divine revelation was descended unto the Prophet (s).
And with this revelation, God bestowed knowledge unto Prophet Muhammad (s)’s blessed body,
And all the trials, tribulations and thoughts that plagued Prophet Muhammad (s) on this path were being solved by God.
God explained to the Prophet (s) that the one who stopped him from engaging in Zikr Allah was [the lower self]. ‘Didn’t you see someone was stopping you? Who was he?’
Now, the Prophet (s) never physically went to any madrassa
nor read any books, he did not do anything and this is why people call him ‘ummi’. Ummi means one who is unlettered.
Whereas, God has said, ‘I have granted knowledge’. So tell me is it better to gain knowledge in a madrassa or directly from God?
If God is the tutor there is no chance of any mistakes, there is no possibility of any mistakes,
nor can that knowledge be doubtful.
Because if the knowledge is taught directly by God - like God has mentioned in the Qur’an:
ar Rahmaan allamal Qur’an.
God said this regarding himself, ‘It is I who granted the knowledge of the Qur’an to Muhammad (s)’.
Therefore, in other words, the madrassa of Muhammad (s) is God himself. What greater madrassa and muddaris can there be other than God?
So this is when God decided to begin to spiritual training of Prophet Muhammad (s).
God began the process of spiritually training the Prophet (s) through his blessed body and the lower self.
And the word ‘alaq (clot)’ is used for us. We are made of the clot.
Now, let’s take a look at how the flesh of the human body is created, through the perspective of spiritual sciences.
The flesh, the muscles of the human body, have you ever noticed that it is threaded?
For instance, this piece of cloth looks whole to you but when you stretch it like this, you will see the individual threads.
Similarly, the flesh is also created by the threading -
like in the loom machine, the thread is weaved through and it slowly creates fabric.
Similarly, the constant flowing of blood creates a blood-thread.
When that blood-thread is formed, it is formed through clotting.
Thread upon thread. Those threads will accumulate and create muscles and then it shall form a chunk of flesh.
This is constantly happening in our bodies.
If clotting stops happening in our bodies, then muscles would stop being formed.
This is the process of creation.
This is why whenever you read this word in the holy Qur’an, then understand it is in reference to the human body.
God did not create the soul with blood, right?