Meditation
Contemplation is very much invited to, praised and applauded in the Glorious Qur’an. Allah, the Exalted, says : “And We have revealed to you the Remembrance that you may explain to mankind what has been sent down to them and that haply they may reflect.” In this noble ayah reflection is strongly applauded, because the aim of sending down this great heavenly Book, the great luminous paper, is that “haply they may reflect”. This is quite significant that the mere possibility of reflection causes the revelation of this great generosity [karamat]. In another ayah He says: ” Therefore, narrate the narratives [qasas] that they may reflect.” There are so many ayahs of this like or almost the like, as well as narratives [riwayat] which invite to reflection. An important point in this respect is that one should know what the commended reflection is, as there is no doubt in the fact that it is praiseworthy to think about the Qur’an and the hadiths.
One of the disciplines of reciting the Qur’an is the presence of heart, to
which we have already referred in this book, when we discussed the general
disciplines of the acts of worship; so, there is no need to repeat it.
Another one of its disciplines is meditation, by which we mean that the reciter
of the noble ayahs should look for the destination and the objective. Now as the
objective of the Qur’an, as the very luminous Book says, is guiding the people
to the ways of safety, bringing them out of the stages of darkness into the
world of light, and leading them to the straight path, one must, by way of
meditating on the noble ayahs, attain to the stages of safety, from its lowest
stage, which belongs to worldly dominion, up to its final stage, which is the
realization of a sound heart [qalb-i salim], according to the explanation
received from Ahlul Bayt (AS) saying that a sound heart meets Allah when it is
occupied by none other than Him. [1]
The soundness of the worldly and heavenly powers should be the quest of the
reciter of the Qur’an, as he will certainly find it in this heavenly Book if he
meditates on it. When the human powers become safe from Satan’s intrusion, and
when the way to safety is found and followed, man, in each stage of safety, will
be saved from a degree of darkness, and the bright light of Allah will
inevitably shine in him. If he gets rid of all sorts of darkness, the first one
of which is the darkness of the world of nature, with all its affairs, and the
last of which is the darkness of being inclined to multiplicity with all its
affairs, the absolute light will shine in his heart, leading him to the straight
path of humanity, which is, in this instance, the path of the Lord: “Surely my
Lord is on a straight path.” [2]
Contemplation is very much invited to, praised and applauded in the Glorious
Qur’an. Allah, the Exalted, says : “And We have revealed to you the Remembrance
that you may explain to mankind what has been sent down to them and that haply
they may reflect.” [3] In this noble ayah reflection is strongly applauded,
because the aim of sending down this great heavenly Book, the great luminous
paper, is that “haply they may reflect”. This is quite significant that the mere
possibility of reflection causes the revelation of this great generosity [karamat].
In another ayah He says: ” Therefore, narrate the narratives [qasas] that they
may reflect. ” [4]
There are so many ayahs of this like or almost the like, as well as narratives [riwayat]
which invite to reflection. The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said
on the revelation of the ayah “Surely in the creation of the heavens and the
earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men of
understanding,” [5]: “Woe to the one who reads it and does not reflect upon it”
[6] An important point in this respect is that one should know what the
commended reflection is, as there is no doubt in the fact that it is
praiseworthy to think about the Qur’an and the hadiths.
The best expression for it is that of the Khajah `Abdullah al-Ansari [ may Allah
sanctify his soul]. He says: “Do know that reflection is the insight’s attempt
to understand the purpose.” [7] That is, reflection is a seeking by the
“insight” [basirat], which is the eye of the heart, wanting to attain to the aim
and the result, which are the utmost perfection. It is quite clear that the
destination [maqsad] and the aim [maqsud] are the absolute happiness, attainable
through theoretical and practical perfection.
Therefore, it is man’s duty to obtain the humane objective and result, being
happiness, from the noble ayahs of the divine Book and from its stories and
tales. And, since happiness is to attain to absolute safety, the world of light
and the straight path, man should find through the honoured Qur’an the ways to
safety, the source of the absolute light and the straight path, as was stated in
the previously mentioned noble ayah. When the reciter gets the aim, he becomes
clear-sighted in getting to it, and the door of being benefited by the Qur’an
opens to him, and with it the doors of the mercy of Allah open, too. He, then,
would not spend his dear and short years and his capital for obtaining happiness
on matters which are not intended by the Message, preventing himself from
indulging in useless discussion and talk about such an important subject.
Having directed his heart’s eye for some time to this purpose, neglecting other
matters, the eye of the heart gets sharp in observing, and meditating on the
Qur’an becomes common to him, and the ways of utilization open to him, and there
open to him such doors that had not already been open to him, and he obtains
from the Qur’an such matters and knowledge that he had never obtained before. At
that time he can understand the meaning of the Qur’an being a cure for the
spiritual ailment, as is confirmed by the noble ayah: “And We reveal from the
Qur’an that which is a healing and a mercy to the believers, and it adds only to
the perdition of the wrongdoers,” [8] and the meaning of the saying of Imam `Ale
(AS): “Learn the Qur’an, for it is the spring [rabi`] of the hearts; and seek
cure with its light, since it is the cure for the hearts.” [9]
He does not seek from the Qur’an the cure of only the physical ailments, but
regards the main aim to be the cure of the spiritual ailments, which is the very
objective: of the Qur’an. The Qur’an has not been sent down to cure the physical
ailments, although such ailments do get cured by it. The prophets (AS), too, did
not come to cure physical ailments, although they did cure them. As a matter of
fact, they were the doctors for the souls, and the curers of the hearts and the
spirits.
Notes:
[1]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p.26, “The Book of Faith and Disbelief”, ch. On
“Sincerity”, hadith 5.
[2]. Surah Had: 56.
[3]. Surah an-Nahl: 44.
[4]. Surah al-A’raf: 176.
[5]. Surah Al-i’Imran: 190.
[6]. Nuruth-Thaqalayn, vol.l, p.350 (with a slight literal difference).
[7]. Manazilus-Sa’irin, section “The Beginnings”, ch. on “Reflection”.
[8]. Surah al-Isra’: 82.
[9]. Nahjul Balaghah, sermon No. 109 (with some change in the wording).
—
Source: Selected excerpt from Adabus
Salat (The Disciplines of Prayer) by Imam Khomeini.
