Voices of Islam (22 page)

Qur’anic Imagery and the Hierarchy of the Senses

One revealing interpretive perspective, dramatically expressed in the dis- tinctive imagery of the later Islamic arts and poetry, has to do with the hier- archy of the senses—that is, of their spiritual and symbolic correlates—that is so richly developed throughout the Qur’an. In this regard, even students working with translations quickly notice the memorable imagery of taste, touch, and smell that unfolds, often in precise parallelism, throughout Qur’anic descriptions of the seven eschatological ‘‘Gardens’’ and ‘‘Fires.’’

However, readers also soon discover that the deeper and more pervasive symbolic structures of the Qur’an—especially those suggesting the spiritual dimensions of the Divine— revolve around the imagery of Light and Sound or abstract spatial metaphors of ‘‘proximity’’ and distance from God. What is in question here is not just peculiar literary features and rhetorical unities

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of the Qur’an, but rather the deeper question of the way in which different types of audiences and readers are encouraged to approach, practice, and integrate the realities of the Qur’an in ways that correspond to their own dis- tinctive spiritual sensibilities, aptitudes, and receptivities. As always in the Qur’an, the loftiest of such symbols are also the most outwardly invisible.

The Primacy of the ‘‘Invisible’’

Perhaps the most pervasive interpretive principle that one encounters in the Qur’an, even in English translation, is its constant insistence on the pri- macy of the ‘‘invisible’’ and on the corresponding depiction of the visible world as
theophany,
as an educational shadow-theater for our uniquely human task of enacting and realizing the divine names. This principle is the spiritual key to all the Islamic humanities—where the dominant later forms (music and poetry) come closest to mirroring the rhythms and translucent immateri- ality of the recited Qur’an itself—and to the traditional forms of
adab,
the unique spiritual expression and realization of individuality in similarly power- ful but self-effacing forms of right behavior and social interaction. Nothing in the Qur’an is more obvious and omnipresent than the centrality of the spiri- tual world, and the actors—jinn, prophets, angels, messengers, Friends of God, and even the spiritual ‘‘birds’’ and other symbolic animals—that ani- mate and direct its cosmic stage.

The Challenge of Contextualization

Readers of Arberry’s translation of the Qur’an who attempt to read the Medinan Suras without any of the later tools of contextualization discussed earlier will eventually note the relative rarity of specific sociolegal ‘‘prescrip- tions.’’ This observation is somewhat surprising, given the multitude of later interpretive uses made of such passages and given the widespread assumption that the Medinan sections of the Qur’an should somehow constitute a ‘‘book of laws’’ comparable to familiar Biblical texts. Before turning to traditional Muslim sources of contextualization and interpretation of these Medinan passages, readers should first take note of the importance of their proper contextualization and specifi ation, both in terms of their (supposed) original historical context and of the possible wider intentions or principles underlying each situation. Behind such basic interpretive questions, of course, one also encounters the recurrent problems of authority, power, and legitimacy. This essential and far-reaching caution applies to virtually
all
of the apparently prescriptive passages from the Medinan period. One has only to think of the heated contemporary controversies surrounding the many Qur’anic passages relating to
jihad
(effort in the way of God) to recognize the perennially problematic nature of what may be at stake in such problematic Medinan contexts.

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Unifying Themes

One of the most satisfying and effective approaches to appreciating the depth and unity of the Qur’an in English translation, especially for readers who are not otherwise accustomed to the metaphysical, theological, and rhetorical dimensions elaborated in the preceding sections, is to begin by noting certain unifying themes and symbols that are found in both the Meccan and the Medinan Suras. Once one has noted the recurrence of these distinctive sets of images and symbols, it is only a short step to ask the obvious follow-up question about what these recurrent themes are meant to signify.

Images of Nature

One of the most striking and obvious features of the Qur’an, even in trans- lation, is its powerful appeal to symbolism drawn directly from the soul’s experience of the natural world. The pervasive and unambiguously central role of Nature in the Qur’an—virtually neglected in many intellectualized forms of theological and philosophical interpretation—suggests a host of interpretive perspectives that are more richly developed in the later master- pieces of the Islamic humanities. In particular, readers focusing on this dimension of the Qur’an should keep in mind the sensory impact of all types of nature-imagery in the Qur’an as they were perceived in the challenging desert world of the Qur’an’s original listeners. Today one can best approach these conditions and the spiritual receptivities they still engender while camp- ing or hiking in the wilderness, or otherwise encountering relatively distant and pristine areas of the natural world. Such natural symbols, in the Qur’an as elsewhere, are most effective when they cannot be mistaken for mere abstractions.

‘‘The Origin and the Return’’: The Cosmic Map

From the earliest days, students of the Qur’an have noticed that it develops an elaborate spiritual ‘‘map’’ or guidebook to the soul’s purifica- tion and realization of its spiritual Source. The books of later Muslim interpreters approach this dimension of the Qur’an in terms of ‘‘The Origin and the Return’’ (
al-mabda’ wa-l-ma‘ad
) of the human soul. As already noted, careful study of the Qur’an reveals an elaborate symbolic ontology and cosmology, which closely parallels an even more complex symbolic account of eschatology and spiritual psychology. While readers may find deciphering this Qur’anic worldview an initially daunting task, it is nonetheless indispensable for understanding the scriptural origins and allusive depth of many of the later classics of the Islamic human- ities, especially in Sufi Shiite, and other the philosophico-theological traditions.

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The Divine Names

For beginning readers, much of the Qur’an appears to be a catalogue of different divine names, which they simply tend to ignore. Yet these manifold names, refl their centrality in the Qur’an, became a central topic and inspiration in all subsequent traditions of Islamic theology and spirituality. Indeed, the very goal of human existence is portrayed in the Qur’an, in repeated accounts of Adam’s creation and his inspired ‘‘knowledge of the Names,’’ as the gradual discovery and manifestation of the full range of attributes expressed in the divine names. This school of earthly existence, with its constant presentation of spiritual and ethical choices, culminates in the active realization of what the Qur’an terms ‘‘the Most Beautiful Names’’ (Qur’an 7:180).

In later theological terms, this unifying Qur’anic insight was expressed in the conception of the created world and the soul as theophanic manifesta- tions of the divine attributes. From this perspective, these recurrent Qur’anic lists of particular names can be read as more than just general reminders of the aims and parameters of the school of life. They also convey more specific allusions—a sort of ongoing ‘‘spiritual commentary,’’ like the words of the chorus in Greek tragedy—to the lessons and insights highlighted in the spe- cific Qur’anic contexts where those lists of names occur.

Light, Speech, and Writing

Two closely related families of imagery in the Qur’an have to do with the symbolism of all creation as a theophany of ‘‘Light’’ (Qur’an 24:35–40), including complex allusions to the heavenly luminaries and the alternations of ‘‘Day’’ and ‘‘Night,’’ and with the symbolism of creation as a manifesta- tion of divine speech or writing (including the divine ‘‘Words,’’ ‘‘Book,’’ ‘‘Pen,’’ ‘‘Tablet,’’ and so on). Although these symbolic images are elabo- rately developed in many forms of later Islamic thought, it is often illuminat- ing to encounter them directly in their original Qur’anic contexts, where their metaphysical dimensions are not always immediately apparent. In par- ticular, it is important to note that in these Qur’anic contexts the imagery of ‘‘Night,’’ far from being negative or opposed to the Light, typically refers directly to the divine depths of the invisible spiritual dimensions of creation and cosmogony.

Stories, Parables, and Allusions

Traditional interpreters of the Qur’an have often tended to separate out such different literary forms in the Qur’an as ‘‘stories’’ (including the Sura of Joseph, described as ‘‘the most beautiful of stories’’ [Qur’an 12:3]), allu- sions to earlier sacred fi and events, or parables and ‘‘symbols’’ (
amthal
). Each of these Qur’anic motifs has inspired significant examples of

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spiritual writing and teaching in later Islamic tradition. It is particularly revealing, given the frequent parallels that are drawn with Biblical and other spiritual literatures, to examine more closely each of the explicitly divine para- bles detailed in the Qur’an, together with the Qur’an’s own interpretive comments. These comments pointedly emphasize the contrast between such divine, spiritually valid parables and the unconscious—and ultimately illusory—‘‘likenesses’’ made up by human beings. Such passages are a particularly illuminating example of the ways the Qur’an itself suggests useful ways to interpret and more fully understand its teachings.

Spiritual Virtues and Prophetic Exemplars

One of the central interpretive challenges in the Qur’an, as in the Bible, is to discover the essential connections between the spiritual virtues and their dramatization in the stories presented in the scriptures. Such stories often allude to various spiritual exemplars and intermediaries, such as the prophets of earlier eras. However, these Qur’anic allusions also extend to both exem- plary and ‘‘hypocritical’’ Muslims (and outright enemies) from Muhammad’s own surroundings, as well as other legendary figures from indigenous Arabic and Biblical traditions.
27
These exemplars and the virtues they represent are subjects that are richly amplifi in later Hadith accounts,
Sira
literature (involving the life of the Prophet, his Companions, and the history of the early Muslim community), and ‘‘tales of the prophets’’ (
Qisas al-Anbiya’
), which often include apocryphal materials from before the advent of Islam. Here it is useful for students to begin with the typically very brief Qur’anic accounts themselves, without relying on interpretive materials from external sources, since reliance on later forms of ready-made interpretation tends to foreclose the demands of actively imaginative interpretation that are other- wise demanded by the unadorned English translation.

CONCLUSION: THE QUR’AN AS MIRROR AND PRISM

O Beloved, through Love we are conjoined with You: Wherever You put Your foot, we’re the ground for You! In this school/path of Loving, how can it be

That we see the world through You— and yet, we don’t see You?

(Quatrain of Jalal al-Din Rumi)
28

One of the key teachings of the Qur’an, indeed of the Islamic tradition more generally, is the primacy of intention. All the pointers and observations mentioned above may help to reveal unsuspected dimensions of the Qur’an, or to remove certain obstacles that stand in the way of more fully appreciating the Qur’an in translation. However, these suggestions

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are no substitute for the intention and receptivity that each reader alone can provide. Some of the greatest spiritual teachers in Islam have summed up their advice for anyone encountering the Qur’an in a single phrase: ‘‘You should seek to understand each verse as though it were being revealed directly to you.’’

As others have even more simply put it, the Qur’an is a mirror for the soul. We discover in it what we bring to it, in proportion to the effort we actually devote to penetrating its mysteries. We hear its revelations to the degree that we truly listen. Yet as the Qur’an so often reminds us, the true mirror through which we perceive the Qur’an—and all the divine ‘‘signs’’ —is the illumined Heart, which is itself (in the words of a famous hadith) ‘‘the Throne of the All-Merciful.’’ For the Qur’an is like a prism, a refracting lens, that is set between the divine creative Light and its endless momentary reflec- tions in every shifting facet of creation.

The ordinary vision of the human being, as Rumi’s poem reminds us, remains entranced and beguiled by this world’s shimmering shadow play of veils and colors. The Qur’an, which more than 20 times pointedly describes itself as ‘‘
the
Reminder,’’ offers a potent response to the dilemma highlighted by the great Sufi poet. Through the revealing lens of the Qur’an, we can gradually come to discern the One luminous, invisible Source of those end- lessly shifting reflections, first discovering—and then mirroring back in our own illumined responses—those ‘‘Most-beautiful Names’’ that are so uniquely manifested in each theophanic event. We shall show them Our Signs on the horizons and in their own souls, until it shines forth to them that He is the truly Real (Qur’an 41:53).

NOTES

1. See the detailed discussion of these problems, particularly in connection to the recurrent misunderstandings arising from English translators’ common use of familiar ‘‘Biblical’’ terms, in James Winston Morris, ‘‘Qur’an Translation and the Challenge of Communication: Toward a ‘Literal’ (Study) Version of the Qur’an,’’
   Journal of Qur’anic Studies,
   2 (February 2000): 53–68. This article, which will be included in my forthcoming book
   Openings: From the Qur’an to the Islamic Humanities,
   forms a helpful supplement to the cautions outlined below.
   

2. However, the unique language of the Arabic Qur’an is also different from the common dialects of spoken Arabic as well. Indeed, some of its unusual words and expressions were apparently mysterious even for its original audiences.
   

3. Some helpful current Web sites, most including a range of translations and translated shorter commentaries as well as audio and video material, include http:// www.quranonli
   ne.net, http:/
   /www.reciter.org, http:/
   /www.altafsir.com, and http://www.islamicity.com.
   

4. In this chapter we will follow the standard abridged scholarly citation system of giving first the number of the Sura, then the number of the verse or
   aya
   : thus (1:3) =
   

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   93
   

   Surat al-Fatiha,
   verse 3. Muslim sources usually give instead the standard Arabic names traditionally associated with the Suras.
   

5. The
   Basmalla
   refers to the Arabic phrase, ‘‘In the Name of God the All- Loving, the All-Compassionate’’ (
   Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim
   ), that opens virtu- ally all of the Suras of the Qur’an.
   

6. See Morris, ‘‘Remembrance and Repetition: The Spiritual Foundations of Islamic Aesthetics,’’
   Sufi Magazine,
   47 (2000).
   

7. For centuries, a similarly wide-ranging cultural role was played by the teaching of Latin prayers and rituals in Catholic schools, coupled with the wider use of Latin at higher levels of education, across many cultural and linguistic divides. Until recent times, the learned written forms of many of the vernacular Islamic languages (Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Malay, and so on) likewise presupposed significant knowledge of the classical Arabic of the Qur’an.
   

8. Partly because of the traditional reverence for the calligraphed Qur’anic text, as well as related technical challenges involving Arabic calligraphy, printed or litho- graphed books only became widely available in most regions of the Islamic world dur- ing the nineteenth century, and in some areas even more recently.
   

9. See Kristina Nelson,
   The Art of Reciting the Qur’an
   (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985), and William A. Graham,
   Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion
   (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
   

10. Of course much the same could be said of the fully literate scriptural special- ists and authorities in most religious traditions, prior to the radically new historical developments connected with the Reformation, mass literacy, and the spread of print- ing and affordable vernacular books, including Bible translations. Those revolutionary developments only superficially touched much of the Islamic world until very recently. The contemporary popularization in many Muslim countries of the Internet and mass digital media is already bringing about dramatic unforeseen transformations in the traditional structures of religious education and interpretive authority.
    

11. See the outlines of this process in Morris, ‘‘Situating Islamic ‘Mysticism’: Between Written Traditions and Popular Spirituality,’’ In
    Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics and Typologies
    , ed. R. Herrera (New York and Berlin: Peter Lang, 1993), 293–334. A wider discussion of this issue is also included in the forthcoming
    Open- ings: From the Qur’an to the Islamic Humanities.
    

12. Two of the most comprehensive introductions to the study of the Qur’an in translation, which are accessible for university-level students, are Neal Robinson,
    Dis- covering the Qur’an: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text
    (London: SCM Press, 1996), and Muhammad Abdel Haleem,
    Understanding the Qur’an: Themes and Style
    (London: IB Tauris, 1999).
    

13. Michael Sells,
    Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations
    (Ashland, Oregon: White Cloud Press, 1999) provides a particularly effective and accessible example of what can be accomplished in this regard. The volume includes annotated and carefully crafted translations of many of the shorter Meccan Suras, as well as a use- ful CD of examples of Qur’anic recitation.
    

14. Perhaps the most helpful Qur’an translation of this type (providing very extensive notes dealing with related historical contexts, Hadith, and other traditional contextual material) is that of Muhammad Asad,
    The Message of the Qur’an
    (London:
    

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    The Book Foundation, 2003). The recently established
    Journal of Qur’anic Studies
    also provides an important venue for keeping track of the many new translations and scholarly publications in this field.
    

15. Hanna Kassis,
    A Concordance of the Qur’an
    (Berkeley: University of Califor- nia Press, 1984). Under each Arabic root, Kassis also mentions the different English equivalents used by several other popular English Qur’an translations, in addition to Arberry.
    

16. The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an
    , ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2001–2005).
    

17. Camille Helminski’s
    The Light of Dawn: Daily Readings From the Holy Qur’an
    (Boston: Shambhala Books, 1998) provides a beautiful, poetically rendered illustration of the usefulness of this particular approach, which more closely refl
    

    the actual contemplative use of the Qur’an in Islamic prayer and spiritual life.
    

18. The most accessible introduction to the life of the Prophet and the early Mus- lim community is Martin Lings,
    Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
    (London: Inner Traditions, 1987). This work is particularly helpful in suggesting the relevant images of the Prophet in later Islamic traditions of piety and spirituality. Robinson’s
    Discovering the Qur’an
    (see n. 12 above) provides an extensive bibliogra- phy of the wider scholarly literature on the Prophet’s life, along with a balanced dis- cussion of more recent historical and philological approaches. A wide spectrum of traditional Muslim commentary literature (
    tafsir
    ) is summarized for Suras 1–3 in Mahmoud Ayyoub,
    The Qur’an and Its Interpreters
    , in 2 Vols. (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1984 and 1992).
    

19. Books written in Arabic (and other Islamic languages using the Arabic alpha- bet) normally begin from the right-hand side of the opened book, which English readers naturally assume to be the book’s end.
    

20. See the experimental development of a variety of intentionally literal and vis- ually revealing translation devices in James W. Morris, ‘‘Dramatizing the Sura of Joseph: An Introduction to the Islamic Humanities,’’ Annemarie Schimmel Fest- schrift issue of
    Journal of Turkish Studies
    18 (1994): 201–224. An expanded version of this translation and commentary will be included in the forthcoming
    Openings: From the Qur’an to the Islamic Humanities
    .
    

21. See the translation by M. Abul Quasem of al-Ghazali’s still remarkably useful
    Jawahir al-Qur’an,
    which is built around this distinction, in
    The Jewels of the Qur’an: Al-Ghazali’s Theory
    (London: Kegan Paul, 1983).
    

22. See the introduction to our study, ‘‘Dramatising the Sura of Joseph,’’ cited in
    

    n. 20 above.
    

23. Our ‘‘Arabic’’ decimal number system originally came to the Arab world from India, and its figures are designated in Arabic as ‘‘Indian’’ numbers. Over the course of Islamic history, the complex system of Arabic letters and their numerical equiva- lents gave rise to the esoteric discipline of the ‘‘science of letters’’ (
    ‘ilm al-huruf
    ), rooted in the sacred Qur’anic alphabet.
    

24. Qur’anic Arabic uses a very specifi highly visible particle (
    sawfa
    or
    sa-
    ) to indicate those cases where a verb refers specifically to a future event or contingency. Such definitely future verb forms (as in 102:3–4) are almost never highlighted as such in English translations.
    

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    95
    

25. For an excellent and wide-ranging introduction (with very helpful bibliogra- phy) to the historically complex questions surrounding ‘‘Biblical’’ figures and stories in the Qur’an, see Brannon M. Wheeler,
    Prophets in the Qur’an: An Introduction to the Qur’an and Muslim Exegesis
    (London: Continuum, 2002). Wheeler Thackston’s translation of al-Kisa’i’s
    Tales of the Prophets
    (Chicago: Kazi Publications, 1997) pro- vides a representative illustration of the types of popular stories and legends that often inform traditional Muslim interpretations of the Qur’an.
    

26. Toshihiko Izutsu’s
    Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an
    (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1966) still remains the best introduction to the problem of the spiritual virtues in the Qur’an, focusing on the complex Qur’anic (and early Islamic) transformation of earlier Arab ethical norms and values. See also our chapter, ‘‘The Mysteries of
    Ihsan
    : Natural Contemplation and the Spiritual Virtues in the Qur’an,’’ in the forthcoming
    Openings.
    

27. See n. 25 above for references to the prophetic stories in question.
    

28. Jalal al-Din Rumi,
    Kulliyat Shams-i Tabriz
    , ed. B. Furuzanfar (Tehran, 1341/1922-3), p. 64 (no. 11 of the
    Ruba’iyyat
    ).