On the very last days of the life of the Gracious Prophet of Islam (S) a significant event took place that led the path of the Islamic society to deviation. At the time, the Prophet (S) in an attempt to prevent decadence and deviation of his nation asked to be handed a pen and paper in order to inscribe a note for assuring the guidance of all. However, by an evil utterance the loving path of divinity was blocked and the ties of heavenly guidance were broken: “Why, he is talking under hallucination; book of God is enough for us and we seek guidance in it!”
The teller remembered well when on the Ghadir Day the Prophet (S) also strongly made the same advice to the Moslems and had exclusively depicted salvation via these of his two precious memorials: Koran, and the Accredited Phylum (Itrat) (A); nor had he forgotten the prophet’s words of a few days ago when the Messenger of God walked into the mosque whilst keeping on his feet by putting his blessed arms around the shoulders of The Commander of the Pious (Amir el Mo’menin) (A) and Ibn-Abbass, and gave his last advices concerning these two gifts of God to people.
But, on this occasion the Gracious Prophet (S) intended to put to writing his bequest; an act that if actualized would provide an authentic credential which would have nullified all evil wants and caprices. There was no time to waste and by any means possible the issuance of such writ had to be put off!
Indeed, was the Messenger (S) only the presenter of the Divine Book and all his obligations was limited to publicize the verses of the Holy Koran? Did they not remember when the Koran was revealed to them how the Prophet of Islam (S) attempted to elaborate and interpret it? Also, the many times that they had to refer to him so as to further enquire about the meanings of the holy verses? Was it not this same book that had ordered all to refer to the Gracious Prophet of God (S) and to indisputably obey him; yet, we find that they so frantically pushed aside the Messenger of God (S) and untruly lied about their resorting to the Holy Koran?
Indeed on that day the motto “The Book of God suffices” was the obvious manifestation of opposing the Prophet (S) and over all times after his demise, the defiers of Sacred Household (A) took cover behind such motto so as to use the pretext of obliging by the Holy Koran for continuing their enmity with the Accredited Phylum (A) of the Gracious Messenger of God (S).
Nevertheless, those considering themselves the true followers of the Prophet (S) also believed in obeying the Sacred Household (A) and in compliance with the Divine Order and the advice of the Prophet (S) would consistently resort to his two most cherished memorials and had sought guidance in illuminating rays of light from them.
Expository
Faith in the eminency of Imamate of the Sacred Household (A) whom God Almighty has ordained after the blessed being of the Prophet of Islam (S) to be the guidance of mankind towards God is among the primal Islamic beliefs and the teachings of the Gracious Prophet (S). Accordingly, as a characteristic of a Shiaa believer is to assume a connection between these honored dignitaries and the verses of the Holy Book of Koran believing thus the only ratified way to gain insight into the grandeur precepts of the sacred verses is through reference to and by the aid of truest teachers and sages of the Koranic knowledge, namely, the Sacred Household (A). This is a fact pronounced in both the Koranic verses wherein Prophet Muhammad (S) and his Sacred Household (A) are introduced as the sages in the Koranic knowledge and also reflected in the assertions by the Infallible Imams (Ma’sooms) (A) who attribute themselves to such merits.
By reference to the quotes by such dignitaries whilst witnessing the confession of others in being incapable and lacking wisdom to face the supreme knowledge and wisdom of the Sacred Household (A), it is established that in order to trace the divine objectives in the Koran verses and in order to gain guidance from the Book’s radiances we are only obliged to acknowledge the Justice of Koran and extensively trust the divine messages of Koran which is only construed by appending the holy verses to the words of the Sacred Imams.
A very important point to note here is the belief of Shiates in the necessity of the Koran to be accompanied by an expounder. This thought does not mean that the verses of the Holy Book are incomprehensible, or that the verses need be deciphered from certain codes due to ambiguous meanings in the Words of God, nor that there are discordances with the Arabic grammar in the language used, neither that the verses are not expressed eloquently and fluently, and neither due to other similar disparages. In fact such skeptic objections towards the Shiaa show the thoughtlessness of the critics to Shiaa. Shiaa is not saying Koran is not comprehensible, but that the referral to God from the understood apparent meanings of the Koranic Verses requires an absolute supplement; the best and most fundamental of such supplements are the expository quotations of the teachers of the verses of Koran.
In explicit terms, what is clear is that if the meaning and reasoning are to be considered in the texts of the Koran, then the verses can be entirely considered as God sent; however, our argument is over the apparent or seeming expressions of the verses and thus our main point of discussion here is to verify whether we can apprehend the intent of God Almighty from the appearing meanings of Koranic verses. In this regard, the Shiaa claims that saintship narrations for the Holy Verses read; this being the main argument we are handling here.
In view of that, no Shiaa can refute that understanding the meanings of appearing Koran texts requires narrative exposition although many perspectives and intrinsic conceptions of the Holy Koran also exist that are only attainable via the guidance and teachings of Koran’s expounders.
Taking heed of such claim would nullify many of the cynicism of the opposers. Since later on in our lectures we shall be covering the theoretical reasoning for necessity of having the expounder alongside the Koran, thus, at this point we shall not pursue the matter.
In opposing, the antagonists too present their reasoning to claim the Holy Koran itself to be sufficient for the guidance provided by God; for instance, by reference to aspects in Koran they claim that since Koran is declaring itself to be radiance of light, guidance, foresight and reason, and its verses as expositions, then there would be no need for any complements or supplements; light in itself is expediently illuminant and requires no sources for giving light and is not dependent on any other source for providing lightness and should Koran be deficient for guiding mankind, then the term “guidance” for it should be omitted.
They also say that Koran is sent down for everyone and invites people to ponder into its content and become obedient. All this in their view proves that Koran does not require any complement nor supplements to express itself. Subsequently, they view that to correlate the understanding of Koran to a certain number of people not only is in discordance and inconsistency with Koran, but disproves the principles of intellect and rational mindsets. Also, they reason that abiding by the theory of accompaniment of Koran with an expounder would mean God is not accredited to being capable of delivering His purports which in turn implies that both the distinctive features of the Holy Koran and thereby the most principle rules of language are negated.
As it can be seen the most fundamental point to be considered in this discussion is the independency and/or reliance of Koran in delivering its purports and it should be asked whether it is possible to gain insight into Godly intents by referring to advices and sayings, recollections, narrations and moral recounts from outer resources or instead it suffices only to ponder and think in the Holy Book of Koran in order to reach divine guidance?
Step by step, in continuing our lectures we shall remove doubts and contentions of opposers to the accompaniment of Koran with an expounder and shall present as argument some major proving facts and further elucidate this theory in order to nullify other ambiguities. Therefore, in lessons 2 to 4 we have refuted the different outlooks towards this theory and in lessons 5 to 7 the chief reasons that prove the accompaniment of Koran with an expounder is given. Lesson 8 to 10 present the rational and narrated reasoning in the framework of the teachings of the Prophet of Islam (S) and the Sacred Household (A). Lessons 11 to 16 are also to provide more clarifications regarding the theory and give review over other obscurities. The final lesson, very briefly refers to the way to gain correct discernment about Koranic features and attributes by resorting to the theory of the necessity for accompaniment of an expounder with the Holy Koran.
Hoping that the literature presented here would be a pretext to become closer to the Heavenly Book of Koran and an orifice towards the luminous light of wisdom of the Holy Dignitaries at the Court of the Sacrosanct God and some reserves for the eventual day of remorse and insolvency.
Topics Discussed in this lecture:
Did the Prophet (S) only have the responsibility to propagate the Verses of Koran?
Is Koran very general, vague or incomprehensible?
Does the Holy Koran need an expounder and divine instructor?
What do the opposers against the belief (the need for an expounder for Koran) say?
Reliance or independence of Koran in delivering its purports?
Etc…
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