In fact, there are many such examples of interpretations by our forefathers that are cited even by today’s educated people. That is because, as we noted, many people are convinced that the forefathers’ interpretation of the Quran is equivalent to the Quran. It is possible, if they scrutinize this issue, they may change their mind. They may abandon this conviction if they truly examine closely any interpretation of the Quran that they are convinced to be equivalent to the Quran, whether by bin Abbas, Baydawi, Zamakhshari, or any other commentator. In practice, these people are convinced that the forefathers’ interpretation of the Quran is equivalent to the Quran. Often they contend with us: “Commentators did not hold your view. Are you interpreting the Quran just as you like? As an example, bin Abbas did not say so, or Zamakhshari did not say so!” This, implicitly, means they are convinced that the forefathers’ interpretation of the Quran is equivalent to the Quran. The point that must be made clear is that the forefathers’ interpretation of the Quran is simply their understanding of the Quran. Their understanding is subject to their individual erudition, the ethos of their time, their worship, and the perfection of their monotheism. The primary thing, which must never be ignored, is that the meanings are to be taken from practice, not from words. Just as we gave the example of the word “camel” to explain this point, we can give more examples. In fact, this matter does not even need examples. One should not need to give so many examples of it. It is as clear as self-evident truth.

Still, the problem with the veil of expressive language is very big. It expands to the extent that the language sometimes even impedes and obscures understanding. What should not be ignored is that expressive language originated to be used in our daily living and daily practices. In fact, language evolved from onomatopoeia, which can be passed on from animals. Onomatopoeia is found in primitive tribal languages, as well as in advanced languages. As an example, we form the word “creak” whose sound is imitative of the sound of the breakage, or the word “crack” whose sound is imitative of the sound of the breakage. So, the meaning, here, is derived from the vocalized sound. Language originally evolved from sounds that have developed since the animal epoch. Animals also have languages. When you hear the dog barking, the cat meowing, or the donkey braying, it would not be difficult for you to identify the source of the sound. And this even works from the sounds of metal; I mean, let us say that you have an iron door and a wooden door. If you are sitting in your home when the iron door is knocked on, just from the sound of knocking—from the sound of knocking on iron—you would recognize that this is the iron door. Similarly, from the knocking sound on wood, you can recognize knocking on the other door. Clearly, expressive language has, in fact, originated from sounds.

Sounds, as inherited from animals, have since evolved. In primitive tribes, expressive language almost stops at the primitive stage, where words are derived from sounds. Later, sounds evolved for the sake of survival—for the sake of meeting daily living needs. Then, metaphors and similes are introduced to incorporate allegorical meanings. In any case, expressive language will remain limited, because, at best, it is the mind’s medium to convey and receive ideas. But the Divine knowledge is beyond our minds. As far as the Divine knowledge, it begins when the mind falls short of perception. In the past it was said: “Real perception is feeling helpless to attain perception.” When the mind falls short of perceiving God, it begins to know Him with this helplessness, in the sense that the mind knows there is a meaning greater than the one perceived. As Sages explain, the “how” is out of place in knowing God.

It is stated in the hadith: “Ponder over the creation of God and do not speculate on His Self, otherwise you will be misled.” We said the reason is that minds do not perceive God—they do not fully grasp Him. God cannot be known except by minds, but cannot be fully grasped by minds. That is, God’s action can be known by minds. The mind knows, for example, that every product has a producer. It is the daily practice of the mind, which never fails, to understand that every product has a producer. From here the mind comes to know God the Creator of the universe, who created me and you and others. God the Creator can be known by our minds. But, when we transcend God’s actions, attributes, and names—the grades at which we perceive through pairness—we come to the threshold of singularity where minds fall short of perceiving God.

So that we can know Him, and approach Him by advancing in knowledge, God made duality the first step in the descent from singularity to plurality. He says: “All things We have created in pairs that you may recall” (51:49). The phrase “All things We have created in pairs” refers to the position of minds. Minds perceive through duality. God created good and evil; dark and light; sweet and bitter, because, as has been said: “Things are more manifest by their opposites.” You advance in knowledge until you reach the level of singularity, where the mind fails to proceed any further. At this point, faith remains the guiding light for the mind to continue forward. We mentioned the verse: “the Earth We have spread out, so what an excellent flattener We are!” He further said, “All things We have created in pairs that you may recall. So, flee to God; I am, from Him, an eloquent harbinger to you” (51:48-50). All things We have created in pairs that you may recall—that you may ascertain. By the way, God wants us to “recall,” because knowledge is not something new to us—we do not learn something new, but remember something forgotten. That is because the eternal truth is embedded firmly in our hearts, but is overlaid with darkness. God says: “No, but that which they have earned is overlaid on their hearts” (83:14). The eternal truth is embedded firmly in our hearts, but we have forgotten it in the course of our pursuits in time and place. Then, our memories were kindled. So God says: “that you may recall.” The phrase: “So, flee to God; I am, from Him, an eloquent harbinger to you” is in fact a call for us to shift from plurality to singularity. When proceeding from plurality to singularity, we will halt at the station of pairness, the station of duality, which is the closest station to oneness. Thus, the meaning conveyed by the verse, “All things We have created in pairs that you may recall. So, flee to God; I am, from Him, an eloquent harbinger to you,” is to flee from the opposites to the Single who has no opposite—flee from plurality to singularity.

The Quran uses the literal meaning of an expression at the highest conceivable eloquent use of language suitable to the levels of the minds engaged. The mind lags behind when faced with signs that require following. At the highest conceivable eloquent use of language suitable to the levels of minds engaged, the Quran emphatically declares signs such as the set of letters “ALM,” (found at the beginning of a chapter of the Quran) which is, of course, not Arabic, but rather a sign. The meaning of any letter, as stated, is in its association with other letters. When using signs, the Quran is telling us: your quest is before you, so adhere to my teaching to know me. This is at the level of meanings that the Quran conveys to our minds—the level of the literal meaning of the word. The understanding of a word should not be taken from its literal meaning, but must be scrutinized beyond the literal meaning. The words of the Quran, as we said, can be understood through the cooperative utilization of monotheism with language. Ultimately, this cooperation winds up at the level of signs. Such signs require complete submission, and docility, which is what Islam actually signifies.

Just as the Quran follows sensory illusion, it also follows mental illusion. Sensory illusion is very minor when compared to mental illusion—it is far less serious. The evident, however, is that the literal meaning of the Quran follows these two illusions, the sensory and the mental. The intent of the Quran is to move people slowly and wisely from illusion to reality without disturbing them.

Sensory illusion pertains to the external world, the indicators on the horizons, while mental illusion pertains to the internal world, the indicators within the self. The internal world is considered most important, though our means of approaching God is through both worlds, the indicators on the horizons and the indictors within our souls. This is understood from the verse: “We shall show them Our signs on the horizons (of the physical world) 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) The phrase “We shall show them Our signs on the horizons” refers to the sensory events, especially sight. For example, we see the Earth is flat, and the stars are small as ball bearings. Then the phrase “within themselves” refers to the indicators of the minds. The senses are the faculties by which the mind receives information about the external world. Given the frailty of our senses, sensory illusion is beyond any doubt. It is the mind’s job to filter incoming information and put an end to each illusion. This can be clearly explained by an illustration. Imagine for example, you are standing on a set of railroad tracks. You look and see that the two tracks are converging or are about to meet at the horizon—the distance between them is diminishing. But, in spite of the optical illusion that the two tracks are converging, the fact that they are parallel is a settled mental matter—the mind knows it is an optical illusion. These types of sensory illusion exist and even influence the perception of sensible people in particular with profound insights. In fact, the function of our minds is filtering information received through our senses to eliminate sensory illusions.

The indicators of the mind, which are the layers and levels of intellect, involve a very great deal of illusion. The Quran as well proceeds from an adherence to these mental illusions. It proceeds to slowly move from illusion to reality. Even great Sages find it difficult to dispense with these illusions.

Mental illusions stem from the fact that we are capable of making choices. We can choose to stand up, to sit down, to sleep, to raise our hand, to glance, or to avert our glance; we are capable of making choices. These voluntary actions suggest to our minds that we have the faculty of will power. We can act of our own freewill. We often hear this phrase in the context of freewill and determinism. The fact that we are in control of our voluntary actions gives the mind a false impression that we have a will that is independent of God’s Will—we consciously will our actions.

The matter of freewill and determinism is the utmost subtlety in philosophy and in monotheism. Settling this matter has defied grand Sages. As a matter of course, in Islam there is a group of people who claim that man has a free will. These people have founded their claim and philosophy on the Quran, where there are numerous literal meanings supporting their claim. They have based their understanding on the idea that requital in religion—the reward and penalty for good and evil deeds—is necessarily undeniable. In their opinion, it is irrational to punish man for his evil deeds if he has no free will, because his punishment would be an injustice. So, if God remains pure, untainted by injustice, then man must have a free will. The other group, who are the Sufis, believes that if man is capable of making effectual choices, he would have been a partner of God in causality. Therefore, it is necessary that man not be endowed with free will, for the simple reason that the rule of a single cause in monotheism affirms that the existing effectual will is single. This view necessitates that man has no power of free will.

Each of man’s choices, whether large or small, even inhalation and exhalation, are determined beforehand. Determinism seeks to justify punishment with the nuances of the wisdom of causality, which is, of course, the truth. The evident, however, is that people who do not practice, monotheism, to seek understanding shall err greatly because the Quran follows mental illusions.

People who have taken up the literal meanings of the Quran have erred greatly. This error led to their weakness in monotheism—it led them, whether they like it or not, to believe in the existence of two causal agents. This is, as a matter of course, polytheism. They found supporting texts but failed to realize that the text follows (mental) illusion. We see an example of that, when the Lord says: “Whoever wills among you may take a right course” (81:28). Here, the meaning conveyed is that whoever wishes may take a right course, and is capable of doing so. Still, just as he is capable of taking a right course, he is also capable of deviating—capable of being righteous and also capable of straying. This verse follows the mental illusion that we received through our voluntary actions. The verse that follows immediately says: “Your will is effectual only if it is the Will of God, the Lord of the worlds” (81:29). Just as the flat Earth prevents us from making any other consideration, because the text follows the customary intuition of the time, we may also be prevented from experiencing the reality of the single effectual Will. The illusion, obtained from the verse that we have a will apart from God’s Will, prevents us from experiencing anything else. This is because the literal meaning follows the customary intuition that we have conscious will. We feel like we have a will apart from God. Our volition emanates from our familiar voluntary actions. For example, you can effectually choose to eat or refrain from eating; you can choose to sleep, or at least lie down, or you can go for a walk. Because of these voluntary actions, we perceive the literal meaning – that follows our customary intuition – as the true meaning of the Quran, while overlooking the verse: “Your will is effectual only if it is the Will of God, the Lord of the worlds” (81:29).