The age-old dream of the human caravan is not to send astronauts in their orbit in outer space.. it is to send its individuals - every single individual in his orbit of self-realization. It is high time that this dream be thus reinterpreted. It is also the sacred duty of every man and woman to help intelligently reorientate human endeavour towards the culmination of this pilgrimage.

Mahmoud Muhammad Taha - Answers to the questions of Mr. John Voll - 17.7.1963

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Simplifying the New Islamic Call - Episode VII

Ustadh Mahmoud Muhammad Taha
Translated by Salah Ahmed Farah
Click here to access original talk in Arabic

Part 2

Indeed the Quran and its nuances and teachings descend from God, and we are only exposed to them by virtue of God, and by virtue of mastering monotheism. This is what we have been talking about. Mastering monotheism depends on things like individual effort in worship, acquaintance with the lore of the era, and most importantly: Divine Grace—the benevolence shown by God toward the adorer. The Quran emphatically declares: “We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it becomes manifest to them that He is the Truth. Is your Lord not sufficient Witness over all things?” (41:53) Therefore, the more we see the signs on the horizons and excel in worship, the more we derive benefits from monotheism. With more attainment in monotheism, we understand more from the Quran—we understand more from God through the Quran. That is the basis of our hope in our potential ability to find, from the Quran, solutions to our contemporary problems. We do not believe that there is a need for a new revelation. On the contrary, between the two covers of the Holy Quran, everything is included. We should only endeavor to achieve a new understanding. This can be attained by exposure to Divine Grace and by excelling in worship, along with becoming acquainted with the ethos of our era, as we have explained.

We have said that the access to the Quran and this new understanding is discovered on the basis of the Quran being dual. We also said that the key to the Quran is the life of the Prophet, and the Prophet’s life also involves duality. Duality means that each meaning is in a pair. However, the close meaning has obscured us from the distant meaning, as we have said about the verse: “Whoever wills among you may take a right course” (81:28). We said this is the close meaning, on which the exoteric code was based. In fact, this very meaning has obscured us from the distant meaning, which is: “Your will is effectual only if it is the Will of God, the Lord of the worlds” (81:29). The first verse is exoteric, while the second verse is esoteric. When we are confronted with the first verse, the second verse seems abrogated to us—we are engaged in the first verse and distracted by it and by the illusions in our mind which we have termed “mental illusions.” In so much as we are distracted from the second verse, it seems abrogated to us. When we are blessed with good fortune, discernment, and piety, we will pass through the stage of “whoever wills among you may take a right course” and then the meaning of “your will is effectual only if it is the Will of God, the Lord of the worlds” will dawn upon us. At that time, the second verse will be applicable to us. The first verse is also applicable, but as a means to an end—we will be aware that it is transitory. We will be aware that it is transitory moreso than at an earlier time when it was perceived as the most that could possibly be applied (at that time); which is the case for those people who perceive that the exoteric code is the most that they can practicably apply. Yet, with profound knowledge of the exoteric code and the awareness of its intricacies and bases, you will come to know that the exoteric code is your bridge to the esoteric code.

The primacy of pairs—duality—is due to a primary consideration that the Quran is comprised of words from the Lord to His servants. The primary consideration, from its peak to its base, is that the Quran is (descends) from God to mankind. God says: “Ha Mim (the Arabic letters laryngeal ‘H’ and ‘M’). I swear by the Book that makes things clear: We have made it a Quran in Arabic that you may understand. As, in the Mother of Scriptures with Us, it is truly elevated, full of wisdom” (43:1-4). The apparent Arabic meaning of this verse goes along the current line of interpretation. It gives the baseline for the earth, which is the Arabic Quran. Also, this verse gives the peak which is where God exists—where no place for where—out of time and place with the God Self, at His lofty height. The Quran, at this level, is the God Self. The Quran is the Word of God. It is the eternal attribute of His Self. In the final analysis, it is not something other than the Divine Self. Rather, it is the Divine Self. This is what is asserted in the verse: “As, in the Mother of Scriptures with Us, it is truly elevated, full of wisdom” (43:4). This is the greatest underlying reason behind the primacy of duality. However, a relatively minor reason behind the primacy of duality is that we have dual perception as well as singular perception. Dual perception is given by our senses, while singular perception follows from our mind’s filtering of information that has been received through our senses: it has entered a state of singularity from the plurality of our senses. From this plurality, received through our senses, comes singular perception.

We have said that singular perceiving is not learning, rather it is the eventual outcome of learning. It is the fruit of learning—it is eternal life. As our life is under the baneful influence of fear, the way to eternal life is through learning. Because of fear, our life is imperfect, as ignorance is the cause of fear. So, if we have knowledge, we will not be afraid—if we have knowledge of that which we are afraid, it will become normal and familiar and, in any case, will not evoke fear in us.

Yet there exists, besides that grand reason or wisdom that gave prominence to dual meanings of the words of the Lord in His lofty height to His servant of earth, another reason for duality, which concerns exoteric and esoteric meanings. The Quran emphatically addresses the matter of exoteric and esoteric meanings in the very verse of duality: “God has revealed the best words in a dual Scripture; it chills the skins of those who fear their Lord, so that their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of God. Such is God’s guidance; He guides whom He wills. And for the one whom God sends astray, there is no guide” (39:23). Here, the exoteric is their skins, and the esoteric is their hearts, “so that their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of God. Such is God’s guidance; He guides whom He wills.”

The word “dual” in this verse means that the meanings are in pairs. They start from the earth and end in the absolute. However, between the beginning and the end are endless meanings with endless ranks. A meaning ranked just above the next closest meaning is considered a distant meaning. In other words, speaking of a distant meaning and close meaning does not necessarily mean an earthly meaning counters a meaning in the absolute. That possibility does actually exist. However, below the absolute meaning are innumerable and endless layers of meanings, as it is a distant sojourn from the finite to the transcendent. Therefore, meanings vary within and between these ranks. An example of this variance is found in the two verses we read about exoteric code and esoteric code. The verse close to us is: “Whoever wills among you may take a right course” (81:28). It is close to us because it follows our mental illusion. It is close in the sense that we think we are capable of taking a right course, and that we are also capable of deviating—whoever wills among you may take a right course. The distant verse is: “Your will is effectual only if it is the Will of God, the Lord of the worlds” (81:29). That is the distant meaning versus the close meaning. The concept of will has an exoteric meaning that follows our illusion and tells us that you have effectual will. This is obvious and easy for us to understand.

Yet, there is a distant meaning that goes against our illusion which states that you do not have effectual will, except a will given to you by God—“your will is effectual only if it is the Will of God, the Lord of the worlds." Another example of a meaning that is distant and hard to accommodate is found in the verse: “O believers, be pious to God with true piety and do not die except as Moslems [in submission to God]” (3:102). A meaning relatively closer than that and seems to be abrogating it is found in a narrative that the Companions of the Prophet once exclaimed: “Who among us can be pious to God with true piety!” So, the Quran descended to their level: “So be pious to God as best you can, listen, obey, and spend; it is better for yourselves, as whoever is saved from his own avarice, such are they who are successful” (64:16). This is the meaning (of piety) that is close to us. It is, of course, a meaning that is understood according to our capability.

We may fail to discern all of the dual meanings in the Quran; or rather we may fail at our first attempts. That does not disprove the rule that the Quran is dualistic. Rather it furnishes the proof of our incapability of being thoroughly acquainted with all of the dual meanings in the Quran. The rule as such is settled and is not in need of proof. Yet, some people think that if we were unable to elucidate dual meanings for every verse, whenever we are asked about a verse, then this rule is nullified. That is, of course, mistaken. That may merely demonstrate our incapability of knowing the Quran extensively, let alone having comprehensive knowledge of the Quran. Yet, for all intents and purposes, the rule that the Quran is dualistic would not be nullified. As a matter of fact, that rule is not in need of proof. The Quran, of course, indicates this rule explicitly: “God has revealed the best words in a dual Scripture” (39:23). We have previously quoted the text of this verse. So, it would not be wrong to say, the word “dual” means the meanings are in pairs. Rather, this is the foundation of the expectation that the Quran is capable of solving all the problems of mankind, once it is perceived as containing the duality of close and distant meanings.

Again, the more you have extensive understanding of the Quran, the more the next distant meaning becomes closer than any further meaning beyond it. Then that further meaning becomes closer than an even further meaning. The rule is that knowledge elevates us from our earthly knowledge on the way toward Absolute Knowledge. The Quran emphatically declares: “They encompass nothing of His knowledge except as He wills” (2:255). We understand that in every moment, every day, the Lord wills new knowledge for us to learn.

God Almighty says about Himself: “Every day He has a Status” (55:29). Of course, His exoteric day is twenty-four hours. But, this above-mentioned day of His is subtle to the extent that it transcends time. His exoteric day, here on earth, is twenty-four hours, on which the exoteric code and obligations are based. Yet, His day keeps elevating until it transcends time. It elevates from the twenty-four hour day until it becomes a second; then the second divides into a billion fractions; until it transcends time. One can say that God’s day is a fraction of a billionth of a second. Every moment He has a new manifestation—He gives us new knowledge. This is what is asserted in the verse: “Every day He has a Status” (55:29). His Status is Self-manifestation for mankind to know Him. This is what is indicated in the verse: “They encompass nothing of His knowledge except as He wills” (2:255). Also, as in the verse “Above every possessor of knowledge is one who knows more” (12:76), knowledge varies between our knowledge on earth to that of the Supreme Council of angels, until it transcends to God’s Absolute Knowledge. That is to say, the variation indicated in the verse “Above every possessor of knowledge is one who knows more” continually transcends to the Knower, the Omniscient—to the Divine Self.

So, the dual meanings are in fact ascending. That is to say, they are not something bounded—they are infinite. They are our ascendants to God. We have no ascendants to Him, except through knowledge. Also, there is no way to perceive Him, except through knowledge, as perception is knowledge. Witnessing, however, is a stage of exoteric knowledge annihilation when you are literally at your wit’s end. As long as you feel knowledgeable, you are at a level of enlightenment, but you are also obscured by your knowledge. If you die to your exoteric knowledge while being alive with your ignorance—if you are aware of your ignorance, you are more enlightened than when you are aware of being knowledgeable. At the level of being knowledgeable, you are enlightened—you are, for instance, knowledgeable at the level of Divine Attributes and Names. But if you felt helpless to attain knowledge—if your mind came to a standstill from being helpless—you will be acquainted with God. You will be surer of God, for you are then in a state of Divine witnessing.

We receive knowledge through one of two organs or through both organs, which are the heart and the mind. The heart is the faculty of singular perception, as we have already explained, while the mind is the faculty of dual perception. That is to say, we perceive through our minds at the stage of oppositeness—at the stage of Divine names, attributes, and actions where we find oppositeness. It is the stage of trueness, where the opposite of trueness is falsehood, however, while at the stage of singularity—the stage of truthfulness, the stage of the Divine Self that has no opposite—we perceive through our hearts. Perceiving through our heart is not considered learning in the sense of the customary method of acquiring of knowledge. Rather, it is a state of learning annihilation. It is a state of bewilderment. At this state of bewilderment, Divine witnessing occurs. Divine witnessing is total engrossment. The one who witnesses the Divine Self will be held completely engrossed, as he encounters eternity. Learning led him to eternal life, and it lifted his veils of delusions, vanities, and fears—it has liberated him from fear.