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 IV

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

Part 3

This is because everything in existence is moving. In fact, even massive hard materials such as a piece of iron, which we think is solid and not moving on the inside, has been scientifically proven to not be solid. It is porous and has lacunas inside, with atoms in uninterrupted constant motion. Within a piece of iron are atoms moving freely in a vacuum, while apparently it is a solid block.

Movement of objects is what generates sonant letters. Inside all objects, from the smallest to the largest objects on the horizon like galaxies, suns, planets, and clouds, there are atoms that are moving and making sounds. Furthermore, the entire celestial body with its atoms is moving and making sounds. This, as we say, is based on the rule that every moving object makes sounds.

Some sounds have a frequency beyond the audible range. There are moving objects that make inaudible ultrasonic sounds and there are, also, moving objects that make infrasonic sounds. The sounds we identified in the written letters represent just a tiny section between inaudible ultrasonic sounds and infrasonic sounds. Within this tiny section there are unwritten sounds as well, for example, in the word “ngyma.” We, the Arabic speakers, do not have a specified character for the sound “nga,” except that we somehow contrive to transcribe it. Therefore, the sonant letters are immeasurable when compared to the written letters. Furthermore, the intellective letters are greater in number than the sonant letters. Intellective letters are almost incalculable, almost unlimited. Still, they cannot be unlimited since intellection is limited.

Earlier we discussed the limitation of intellection and how it ceases at the state of singularity. The fact that there is a state at which intellection ceases indicates that intellective letters are limited, but they are the closest thing to the absolute. They are broad enough to approach, to border, or to adjoin the absolute.

Sonant letters are the ones in the universe outside of the human, while the intellective letters are the ones in the universe within the human; they represent the free movement of thoughts. Thoughts accompany the swinging of the intellect from side to side. The mind, as we said, is the faculty of our dual perception. Also, we discussed the dual perception and the singular perception. Swinging of the mind from side to side enables it to distinguish perceptions. This swinging is thought. It is intellective letters.

Speaking of the outer universe and the inner universe, a Sage addressed man, saying: “You think yourself a small being while in you is folded the greatest universe!” as if he says: O little human being, know that this great universe is folded within you. It is known that all that exist outside of man are also exist within man. This is despite the fact that the outer universe is too big to imagine. With our naked eyes we see the celestial bodies, the suns, and the galaxies and think, as did our ancestors, that this is the entire universe. Whenever a new telescope is invented we discover new celestial bodies and new galaxies, and the more we become amazed at the reality of the grandeur of our external universe. Every time we discover new galaxies and dimensions, we think that this universe is infinite. This is because of the means available to us to know the dimensions of the universe and its expansions. This entire universe exists inside man.

We mentioned the Divine saying: “I created the universe for man, and man I created for myself.” Also, we said that, the universes are the vehicles of man, whereas man is God’s vehicle. This was alluded to in a related Divine saying: “My heavens and Earth do not contain me, yet the heart of my believing servant does.” Also, the Quran emphatically declares to the signs within the self—the internal universe—while referring to the signs covering the horizons: “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) This means that the Lord manifests His Self through His creations, in order for our minds to recognize Him. What is manifested in the creations is that every creation has a creator.

From its inception, the mind has told us, from experience and practice that never fails, that no product is produced without a producer. Never, in our life experience nor in the experience of our ancestors or in our written and unwritten history, has a thing produced itself. The universe is visible; experience tells us that the podium before us is made by a carpenter as everything about it is indicative of its producer. So rationally, the universe has a producer. We have previously mentioned that simple Bedouin when asked: What tells you of the existence of God? He replied: “The dung is indicative of the camel.” This means if he sees camel dung, while he treks through the desert, it comes to his mind vividly that a camel has passed by the area, or there is a camel, whether nearby or far away. The dung is indicative of its existence. He said: “The dung is indicative of the camel.” That is to say, the product is indicative of the producer. The Lord says: “We shall show them our signs on the horizons and within themselves.” Percepts indicate an internal power with which we perceive. It is the perceptual power. This perceptual power expands, strengthens, becomes grandiose, and keeps growing until one becomes cognizant of God.

The novices in piety know God by His creations. But Sages know the creations of God, by their Creator. So, allusions in the verse go like this: “We shall show them our signs on the horizons (the initial knowledge) and within themselves (the advanced knowledge).” We vacillate in this manner, between the outward and the inward—the exoteric and the esoteric—until we know God, “until it is true to their inners.” Some reprehension can be noticed at the last part of the verse: “Does not your Lord suffice, since He is witness over all things?” As if to say: why shouldn’t you know the creation by the Creator, instead of knowing the Creator by the creations? “Does not your Lord suffice, since He is witness over all things?”

In a particular state of sagacity, the creations veil the Creator, so by the Creator the creations are known. In this way, God is known by His emanation from within us—by the disappearance of the veils between us and Him. These are the veils of ignorance, fear, illusion, myth, and bad habits. Thus, the Quran says: “No, but that which they have earned is overlaid on their hearts” (83:14). The word “overlaid” means covered. Nothing blocks the Pre-eternal Truth enshrined in our hearts, which is God, from being reflected by our minds except for the vanities between Him and us. These are nothing but creations. The major vanity is the ego followed by the other creations. If we can lift these veils between God and us, we will not need to seek to know Him by the external universe. However, there is no way to lift the veils between God and us, except by intellectual and spiritual discipline. We gain this discipline when we move between the inside and the outside to correlate our knowledge of the external universe with that of the internal universe. Eventually our minds are sharpened by devotion, discipline, and rectification – they become neutral – until they are liberated from our egos and carry out God’s command. Then they become contented with God, and follow Him with obedience, compliance, and submission. When we reach all these levels, we will not seek to know God by His creations; rather we will seek to know the creations by the Creator: “Does not your Lord suffice, since He is witness over all things?”

To Sages, the greatest universe is man. A Sage addressed man saying: “You think yourself a small being while in you is folded the greatest universe!” Here, he referred to the universes, and he pointed to the Creator beyond the universes. The Greatest of all is God. And If God is within us, then how is it that we are small? This is what he meant to say. To Sages, the greatest universe is not that on the horizons, rather it is man. This greatness is, of course, not spatial, rather is pertaining to the worthiness of the creation—man is the greatest creation in the universe.

Here, the concept of intellective letters can be clearly explained by an earlier point. Intellective letters are immeasurable when compared to sonant letters. On the other hand, sonant letters are immeasurable when compared to written letters, yet they are also limited. Sonant letters are immeasurably greater than written letters, but are also limited—the difference between them and written letters is immeasurable. However, intellective letters are almost unlimited. They, as we said, are limited, but adjoin the infinite. In this sense, they are immeasurably greater than the sonant letters.

The Quran is not the Arabic language. The Quran is God Self lowered to levels close to us and coalesced in the implements of the Arabic language so that we may understand God. We proceed to say that people who think the Arabic language can penetrate and assign meanings to the Quran are in fact deeply obscured from the Quran. Arabic gives only the superficial meaning of the Quran. It gives the interpretation of the Quran, which is the wrapping seal, as we once called it. The Quran has seven seals. The wrapping can be unsealed by the Arabic language. The person capable of interpreting the Quran must attend to many different types of knowledge: accurate knowledge of the Arabic language, knowledge of Arab conventionalities, and knowledge of the days of the Arabs, including their history, their wars, their tales, and the idiomatic language they express in Arabic. The interpreter must be familiar with all this to be able to interpret the Quran. Then, after all this knowledge, the depth of interpretation will not pass the wrapping seal—will not pass further than the crust of the Quran. Inside the crust are seven layers, and within each layer there are seven layers, unending. This is because Arabic gives us just the tip of the Quran, which ends with God—the Quran is God Self. Let us, once again, read the verse: “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 two ends are explicitly indicated in the line: “We have made it a Quran in Arabic” on Earth, in the land of the Arabs. When revealed, the Quran came out in Arabic in its current form. It is, of course, intended for the whole world, but it was revealed in the Arabic language to the Arabs through an Arab Prophet, so that we the Arabic speakers may understand. But the Quran, in the Mother of Scriptures with God Self, is ineffable. Remember, it is the Divine Self. Even when it states as “truly elevated, full of wisdom,” it is only a statement, the allusion is in “HM.” HM has no meaning because they are letters. Letters are specifications of sounds caused by movement, which is unknown. This movement progresses from specification toward the absolute.

Arabic in fact originated from daily practices to meet the needs of the living body. The expressive language was not developed for connotations. It evolved through time from coarseness to delicateness to accommodate concepts, allusions, and fine thoughts that agitate in the human psyche. It should be clear that the language is totally incapable of conveying the true meanings of the Quran. In fact, we cannot even get the full meaning of any word except by certain experiences, from which we can understand the intended meaning. This can be clearly explained by an illustration. The word “camel” conveys to the listener in the Kababish country a meaning, which is completely different for the meaning that comes to the listener in Khartoum. The word “camel” may not convey any meaning to a child in the upscale neighborhood of al-Im’tidad in Khartoum, or perhaps may convey to him a single image of a camel walking with firewood. And perhaps he may not have seen this image in al-Im’tidad of Khartoum; maybe he saw it in another place. But, anyway, let’s assume that a child from Khartoum saw the camel with the firewood. Once he hears the word “camel,” a single image rises in his mind of a camel walking with swinging gait carrying firewood. A similar child in the Kababish country has a different experience when he hears the word “camel;” it conveys to him numerous images, colors, and sizes of camels. That is because his living practice is in an environment full of camels, while the living practice of the other child is in an environment where he rarely sees camels. This is the way language works―meaning changes along with living practice.

Expressive language becomes adequate by our living practice. Meanings, which enter our minds when we hear a word, come from our living practice. Here it should be clear that the meanings of the Quran come from the practice of worship. Arabic words are just allusions to meanings revealed in our minds through the practice of living and worship. Language is not only incapable of conveying the true meanings of the Quran; it also makes the Quran inaccessible.

People, who, these days, give so much attention to the Arabic language, if they knew the truth about the language, knew that the Arabic language of the Quran is not of real value and it may be a barrier, they will relieve themselves of a lot of effort, and at the same time, people will relieved of a lot of reading, and a lot of listening material. Thus, people will not overlook the reality of what is required of them, which is to receive the meanings of the Quran through the practice of monotheism. The value of Arabic is in referring to the meanings, but meanings are formed in the implements of language, through practices of worship and monotheism. The meaning of the Quran is received directly from God.

This takes us to the end of our fourth episode. God willing, our fifth episode will be devoted to the Quran and language.