Khutbah #19 - 06/11/98

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Alhamdulillahi rabbil'alamin wa salaatu wa salaamu ala Rasulihi  

Last week, I was speaking of the meaning of the Qur'an, and with regard to its interpretation wondering who you can trust - especially when those with conflicting opinions can be very forceful in their arguments. And let's face it, those with great power have always had a headstart in persuading other people around them to agree with their point of view.

There is a traditional saying that the Qur'an is entirely divine, but equally its interpretation is entirely human. Opinions rise to favour and are then discarded. How do we know that we aren't throwing the baby out with the bathwater? What information can we trust?

A few years ago a good friend told me a story of how he went to teach Islamic sciences at a leading University in a well-known muslim country. There was one author he wished to refer to, but found that there were no books by the man in the University Library, even though they were freely available (even in translation) in the non-muslim West.

It took some years for permission to access these books was granted, and they were finally allowed on the Library shelves. And I don't think that it was really due to the innovation of their ideas - they're nearly nine hundred years old, after all. For the name of this frighteningly radical author, whose work was too dangerous to read was Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali.

Many years ago, I came across one of Al-Ghazali's books that made a deep impression on me. Written towards the end of his life, it summarised his approach to the meaning of the Qur'an, and applied to it a way of grouping the verses under certain categories which he associates with various precious items. The book mainly deals with two of these categories, described as the jewels and pearls of the Qur'an.

According to Al-Ghazali, the verses of Qur'an can be divided into six groups, which with several sub-divisions lead to a total of ten separate categories.

First the most precious, the 3 Corundums, the Nature of God, subdivided into "Divine Essence" (the red and rarest of corundums, of which the Qur'an only gives occasional glimpses, as in ikhlas), "Divine Attributes" (blue grey corundum, more common, and relating to such things as God's knowledge, power and wisdom, speech, hearing and sight), and "Divine Works" (yellow corundum, a sea, the bounds of which cannot be ascertained by enquiry).

Next, we have verses describing "The Straight Path", with its associated subject "The Purification and Beautification of the soul".

The next category deals with "The life to come", the repose and delight of paradise and the humiliation and punishment of hell.

Then we have verses explaining "The conditions of the saints", from Adam, Noah and Abraham, Moses and Jesus to Muhammad, & "The conditions of God's enemies" such as Pharaoh, the people of Lot, etcetera.

Next, we have those verses which deal with "God's Arguments with Unbelievers"

And finally verses that define "The bounds of legal judgements"

Al-Ghazali then proceeds to demonstrate the Derivation of all the Islamic Sciences from these ten divisions of the Qur'an, and examines Surah Fatihah from this perspective in a chapter entitled: "Secrets of the Surah of the Opening, and how it comprises eight of the ten valuables of the Qur'an".

He begins with the Bismillah, 'In the Name of God the All-Merciful and All-Compassionate', and its information concerning God's essence. Mercy and Compassion are seen as a special attribute requiring all other attributes such as knowledge, power, etc.

'All Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds' includes two things, the basis of praise which is gratitude, the beginning of the straight path along with patience. The superiority of gratitude to patience is like the superiority of mercy to anger, as gratitude proceeds from joy, whereas patience proceeds from fear and awe, and is not free from distress and sorrow. To walk along the straight path to God by way of love and to perform the actions of love are much better than to walk along the path of fear.

'The All-Merciful and All-Compassionate' is not a repetition, as it has a different position and relates to the phrases on each side of it, the two great channels of mercy, the created worlds of God's Lordship and the day of judgement in the afterlife.

'You alone we worship' contains the spirit of the straight path, and the essential belief in Divine Unity, beautifying the soul, while 'You alone we ask for help' is purification from shirk.

'Guide us along the straight path' is the marrow of worship, and the rest of the surah, 'the path of those who have blessings upon them - not anger upon them - and not astray', is a reminder of God's favour to friends and anger towards enemies, so that encouragement is given, and awe excited in people's hearts.

"Thus the Surah of Opening has comprised eight of the ten divisions - divine essence, attributes and works, description of the life to come, and of the straight path together with both its sides, i.e. purification of the soul and making it beautiful, description of God's favour to his friends and of his anger towards his enemies, and finally description of the resurrection.

Only two divisions fall outside this surah, namely, God's argument with unbelievers and judgements of jurists - two subjects from which the sciences of theology and jurisprudence stem off. From this it becomes clear that these two subjects fall into the lowest grades of religious sciences. It is only the love of wealth and influence obtainable by them which has raised them to a higher status".

*****

There is a Hadith Qudsi in which the Prophet is reported to have said that God, the Mighty and Sublime, has said:

"I have divided prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servants shall have what they have asked for.

When the servant says: 'Al-hamdu lillahi rabbilalamin' (Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds), God the All-Mighty and Sublime says: 'My servant has praised Me'.

And when the servant says; 'Arrahmanirrahim' (The All-Merciful and All-Compassionate), God the All-Mighty and Sublime says: 'My servant has extolled Me'.

And when the servant says: 'Maliki yawmiddin' (Master of the Day of Judgement), God says: 'My servant has glorified Me (and on one occasion: 'My servant has submitted to My power)'.

And when the servant says: 'Iyyaka nabudu wa iyyaka nastain' (You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help), God says: ' This is between Me and My servant, and My servants shall have what they have asked for.

And when the servant says: 'Ihdina siratalmustaqim, siratalladhina anamta aleihim, ghairilmaghdubi aleihim wa la daleen' (Show us the straight way, the way of those with favour upon them, not anger upon them, and not astray), God says: 'This is for My servant, and My servants shall have what they have asked for'."

O God, forgive us, and have mercy on us, and guide us, and grant us security, and grant us sustenance.