The Wisdom Contained in the Two Facets of the Qur'an: The Inner and
the outer
Man's primary life, namely, the temporal life of this
world, is as a bubble on the immense sea of the material; and since all his
transactions concern the material, he is throughout his life, at the mercy of
the moving waves. All his senses are occupied with the material and his thoughts
influenced by sensory information. Eating, drinking, standing, speaking,
listening, like all other human actions, take place in the sphere of the
material and not in the sphere of thought.
Moreover, in reflecting upon such concepts as love, enmity, ambition
and nobility, one comes to better understand them by translating them into
language derived from the senses or from actual material objects; for example,
the magnetic attraction of lovers, a burning ambition, or a man's being
a mine of wisdom.
Capacity to comprehend the world of meaning, which is vaster than that
of the material, varies from man to man. For one person it may be almost
impossible to imagine the world of meanings; another may perceive it only
in the most superficial terms and, yet another, may comprehend with ease
the most profound of spiritual concepts.
One may say that the greater a man's capacity to under- stand meanings,
the lesser he is attached to the world of the material and its alluring,
deceiving appearance. By his very nature, each person possesses a potential
for understanding meanings and, provided that he does not deny this capacity,
it may be cultivated and increased further.
It is not a simple matter to reduce meaning from one level of understanding
to another without losing its sense. This is particularly true for meanings
possessing great subtlety which cannot be transmitted, especially to ordinary
people, without adequate explanation. As one example, we may mention the
Hindu religion: anyone reflecting deeply upon the vedic scriptures of India
and studying the different aspects of its message will ultimately see that
its basic aim is the worship of one god.
Unfortunately this aim is explained in such a complicated manner that
the concept of oneness reaches the minds of ordinary people in the form
of idol-worship and the recognition of many gods. To avoid such problems,
it becomes necessary to communicate meanings hidden beyond the material
world in a language which is rooted in the material and readily comprehensible
world.
Indeed some religions deprive their adherents of rights accorded to
them by the religion itself: women, for example, in Hinduism; Jews and
Christians who, in general, are denied access to knowledge of their holy
books. Islam does not deprive anyone of their rights in the din, and both
man and woman, scholar and layman, black and white are equal in being accorded
access to their religion.
god affirms this in chapter iii:195, "Indeed I do not allow the
work of any worker, male or female, to be lost," and, again, in
chapter xlix: 13, "O mankind! Truly we have created you male and
female and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another.
indeed the noblest of you in the sight of god is the best in conduct."
In this manner the Qur'an addresses its teachings to mankind at large
and affirms that every man may increase himself in knowledge and, thereby,
perfect his own behaviour.
In fact, the Qur'an addresses its teachings specifically to the world
of man. Since, as mentioned earlier, each man has a different capacity
of understanding and since the expounding of subtle knowledge is not without
danger of misinterpretation, the Qur'an directs its teachings primarily
at the level of the common man.
In this manner, the subtlest of meanings can be explained and multiple
meanings and ideas expressed, to the ordinary person, by co-relating them
to concrete sensory meanings; meaning, therefore, is always inherent in
the letter of the words.
The Qur'an reveals itself in a way suitable {or different levels of
comprehension so that each benefits according to his own capacity. In chapter
xliii:34 god emphazises this idea: Truly We have appointed it a lecture
in Arabic so that you may perhaps understand and indeed in the source of
the book, which we possess, it is sublime, decisive.
God describes the different capacities of man's comprehension in the
following metaphor in chapter xiii:17 He sends down water from the sky,
so that valleys flow according to their measure;
and the prophet, in a famous tradition 1 says: "We prophets talk to
the people according to the capacity of their intellects."
Another result of the multiple meanings within the Qur'an is that the
verses take on a significance beyond their immediate text. Certain verses
contain metaphors which indicate divine gnosis far beyond the common man's
understanding but which, nevertheless, become comprehensible through their
metaphorical form.
god says in chapter xvii:89, "And indeed We have displayed for
mankind in this Qur'an all kind of similitudes, but most of mankind refuse
everything except disbelief. " And again in chapter XXIX:43 God
talks of metaphors as a means of expression, "As for these similitudes,
We coin them for mankind, but none will grasp their meanings except the
wise."
Consequently, we must conclude that all Qur'anic teachings
which deal with subtle profound knowledge, are in the form of similitudes.
1 Muhammad
baqir al-majlisi, bihar al-anwar, vol. 1, p.37.