Thursday, September 9, 2010

Ali 'Imran: Ayah 7

Bismillah
As salaamu alaikum,

Ramadan Mubarak.

He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, 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:" and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.
3:7



So finally we have reached aya 7. Praise God!!! And there is much contained within this verse. We also get more examples of the link between Ali 'Imran and Suratul-Baqara, but I'm not going to go into that just yet.

This aya explains the types of verses that are found in the Qur'an, and what our approach to understanding each should be. There are at least two types of ayaat: the fundamental verses of established meaning, which are the basis of the book, and the allegorical -open to interpretation- verses, the others.

Since Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, has given us verses that are open to interpretation, He has also given us clear guidelines, based on the fundamental verses, whereby we may interpret the allegorical verses. In other words the allegorical verses can only be interpreted into a meaning that is supported by the clear verses of the Qur'an.

In the dictionary allegory means: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. This definition further clarifies my intended meaning, in that a hidden meanings in the Qur'an can become apparent to anyone but those meanings must be supported by the established verses of the Qur'an in order to be valid. The difference, however, is that these verses go beyond the mere interpretability indicated in the definition, rather Allah has intended with them more than one meaning, and we diminish our understanding of the Qur'an if we try to suppress some of its meanings for any reason.

A good example of this is in sura Al-Baqara aya 228:

And the divorced women should keep themselves in waiting for three courses


Is the meaning of "three courses" three menstrual cycles or three cycles of purity? The answer is both. Both meanings are intended and both are used. One of the wisdoms I see in this is the lenience and mercy of Allah to us. He gives us different ways to do the same thing so that everyone can practice at least one thing easily.

Then aya 7 says:

But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings

My first impulse from reading the english interpretation of this aya is that it must be bad to "follow the part that is allegorical," but is that what Allah is saying? Reading the verse in arabic as Allah revealed it, (with the help of master Yoda of course) I see that "following the part that is allegorical" is connected to something else "seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings." And all of that together is the attribute of one with a perverse heart. And that leads to my next question

What does it mean to have a perverse heart and to seek discord? I'm thinking hard now, because there is much from the Qur'an that we use to divide ourselves. Could an example of this perversity be in those who want to practice homosexuality and claim that it is not a sin by twisting and reshaping the words of Qur'anic interpretations? Or could an example of this be some of our sisters who don't want to cover their hair and they twist the words of the Qur'an stating that it is only necessary to cover the "bosom." Hmmm...

I wonder what can be at the root of all this? The common threads I keep returning to are a lack of submission and a lack of knowledge. The Qur'an is clear and everything that is unclear is explained in detail in the hadith. So what's the problem? I hope the end of this aya can explain this for us.

"but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge..."

In the Qur'an there is no punctuation so let me show you another meaning of this aya without the punctuation.

"but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge"

Here Allah shows us the qualification for one to interpret the Qur'an: a firm grounding in knowledge. The Prophet interpreted the Qur'an and gave some of his companions the ability to do this as well. The best example I can think of is Ibn Abbas.

Back to that point about submission. How can we submit to Allah if we don't know what He has commanded us to submit to? This part of the aya demonstrates to us who has the right to interpret the Qur'an: those firmly grounded in knowledge. Like the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him. And those among the companions who were given permission to interpret the Qur'an like ibn Abbas, and the scholars of the past who systematically categorized knowledge so that the later generations would have access to it.

يقولون (They) "say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:" and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding."

I believe in the book the whole of it is from Allah, and I pray He makes us people of understanding.

P.S.
Yes I know those last two paragraphs are redundant. But I couldn't figure out a better way to say it. hmmm.................hmmm........... nope....
I got nothing

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