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سورة العماءSūrat al-`amā' (The Surah of the Divine Cloud) on Qur'ān 12:9 THIS SURAH IS BEING REVISED AND CORRECTED 2006-7 Stephen N. Lambden Part X of the provisional translation of the Qayyūm al-asmā’ (= QA) of the Bāb (mid. 1844/1260) with brief introduction and selective notes consists of a full versified English translation of the Sūrat al-`amā' (The Surah of the Divine Cloud). This translation was done in the early 1980s though not from any critical edition. I simply consulted several good mss. The versification of the surahs of the QA is often uncertain. The Bāb himself stated that there should be forty two verses in each surah of the QA as accords with the abjad numerical value of lī meaning "before me" in Q. 12:4b (Ar. لۑ= l + ī = 30+10= 40+2 for the "Sun" and the "Moon" = 42) though I often cannot always see quite how this figure is arrived at. In QA10 I tentatively count ADD verses and retain versification for the sake of reference and commentary. QA10 opens with the basmalah followed by the citation of Q.12:9 upon which it briefly comments in rewritten fashion in the course of the Sūrat al-`amā' , the Surah of the Divine Cloud. Four isolated letters (Ḥurufāt al-muqaṭṭa`āt) open the Surah proper, the letters ﻟﻤﻊĨ = A-L-M-` (Alif - Lām - Mīm- `Ayn = abjad 141). This succession does not occur in the Q. though A-L-M is found in six qur’anic surahs (= 2+3+29+30+31+32) and there are occurrences of isolated letters which seem expansions of A-L-M, such as A-L-M- Ṣ (Q.7) and A-L-M-R (Q. 13). The fourfold isolated letters المع A-L-M-` occur in Surah 10 in the 1261/1845 mss.
The QA. mss. 1323 has the fourfold isolated letters المغ A-L-M-Gh occur eight or nine times in the QA., prefixing surahs 5+10+30+43+72+82+103 and also perhaps QA107. The isolated letter ﻉ (`ayn) only occurs as an isolated letter in the qur’anic quintuple group of isolated letters K-H-Y-`-Ṣ which letters prefix Q. 19 (Mary). The addition of this `ayn to the A-L-M in various surahs of the QA., might be seen to extend them with this letter `ayn in that this is the first component of the Bāb’s parentally bestowed name, `Alī (also that of the first Shī`ī Imam ) – not that this the “correct” or the only possible explanation of these isolated letters. Aside from being creatively neo-qur’anic the exact significance of A-L-M-` in QA10 is unclear. For further details see my (unpublished) MESA., 2000 paper `Some Aspects of the Bābī-Bahā’ī interpretation of the Isolated letters (al-ḥurūfāt al-muqat*t*a`a) of the Qur’ān’ which deals in detail with the isolated letters of the QA and other writings of the Bāb. QA10:4-6 opens the Surah of the Divine Cloud by declaring that the messianic “Most Great Remembrance of God” (dhikr Allāh al-akbar) is praised through the ”Remembrance of Our Lord”. Devotionalistic dhikr ultimately revolves around the glorification of the quasi-messianic “Most Great Remembrance”. QA 10:4 states that the divine Bounty was bestowed upon Joseph and his brothers through manifest signs which are expressive of the mystery (sirr) of that Mighty Gate (al-bāb). This perhaps indicates that the quasi-qabbalistic relationships and permutations of the various letters of the alphabet enshrined in the kalimat al-tawhīd (= the 12 sons of Jacob) indicate the messianic secret of the Bāb and perhaps also allude to the eschatological “return” of Imam Ḥusayn. In Q. 12:8 the “brothers” plan to kill Joseph (cf. Ḥusayn’s martyrdom) or banish him so that Jacob’s love will be focused upon them. The Bāb seems to reconfigure this as an allegory of the “brothers” conspiring to hide or “veil” the “sign” of Joseph’s true greatness (= the letter ﻫ “h”?). Acting like his unreceptive contemporaries, the “brothers”, it may be implied, desired to inhibit any sign of the messianic parousia of the Bab-Dhikr and/or the returned messianic Ḥusayn (= Joseph). Alternatively, according to QA10:8 the “brothers” sought to “banish” Joseph “to the land of the Divine Unicity” (ard* al-aḤadiyya), the domain of the alphabetical locus of the divine unity where God alone is manifest in the monotheistic theophany. The special individuality of Joseph (the ﻫ “H”) is subsumed into the one Deity (Q. 2:9). God, however, in line with the messianic realization, singled out Joseph as a messianic figure who cannot be theophanologically subsumed into the pleroma of the other “letters” (= "brothers"). In QA 10:9, in other words indicates that God did not keep Joseph “hidden” in meaningless occultation but explicitly manifested him from among his “brothers”. He did not conceal Joseph even though his position is deeply veiled from the unworthy. His messianic, eschatological role cannot be negated, nullified or absolutely concealed: “And We, verily, made him a noble herald of good tidings”. Occultation must give way to theophay; becloudedness to luminosity. The Joseph of divine guidance cannot be either “killed” or “hidden”. Divine providence will not allow this. At QA10:17 it is stated that God relinquished his providence unto those like Joseph’s “brothers” who, symbolic of unbelieving enemies (?), abandoned Joseph, the “ concealed letter” ( ﻫ “H” = 5 = the Bāb ?) of the Book of God. The shrouded mystery of Joseph cannot remain hidden. Such abandonment and concealment by the ungodly cannot succeed. God and Joseph cannot be excelled or providentially outstripped (QA 10:18). Rather than permitting the sorry fate of Joseph, his being abandoned and concealed, God declares that He will “manifest Our servant unto you in a Divine Cloud of Light (`amā' min nūr). The messianic secret will be emblazoned in the Sinaitic realm of the divine theophany, the “Divine Cloud of Light” (`amā' min nūr). (QA 10:19). This secret, however, will only be evident to those that watch out for the advent of the messianic dhikr Allāh) “Remembrance of God”, in both the morning and in the evening: “ (QA 10:19b). God hath made such watchful persons to be clear sighted in His Pure Religion and upright upon the True Path. The celestial realm of `amā’ (lit. Cloud) in the esoteric cosmology of the Bab seems a theophanological realm closely related to the sphere of the Sinaitic theophany of divinity. Like the “pit” into which Joseph was cast by his “brothers” it is a concealing “cloud”, though the brilliancy of the messianic reality transmutes it into an `amā' min nūr a “cloud of Light”. Having written 40 or more pages on `amā in my commentary upon the Rashh-i `amā' of Baha’-Allāh (cf. my Website) I shall not repeat details here (cf. also my Sinaitic Mysteries SBBH5 paper)
THE QAYYŪM AL-ASMĀ' Part X سورة العماءSūrat al-`amā' (The Surah of the Divine Cloud) on Qur'ān 12:9 IN PROGRESS : 2006 [ 1-2]بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate اقْتُلُوا يُوسُفَ أَوِ اطْرَحُوهُ أَرْضًا يَخْلُ لَكُمْ وَجْهُ أَبِيكُم وَتَكُونُوا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ قَوْمًا صَالِحِينَ
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The Most Great Remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh al-akbar) is One praised through the Remembrance of Our Lord the Exalted. [5]
So praised be He Who sent down the Book, just as He hath willed, in accordance with that which He hath willed. He, God, is powerful over all things. [6]
When thou will something it is naught save the like of that which We have willed. And God is witness unto all things. [7]
We, verily, bestowed Our bounty upon Joseph and his brothers through manifest signs expressive of the mystery (sirr) of that Mighty Gate (al-bāb).
[8] This whereupon they [Joseph's brothers] said: `Would you veil the sign of Joseph which God placed among you to the end that, in very truth, you become capable men on earth, [9] or banish him to the land of the divine unicity (ard* al-aḥadiyya) in order that the face of your father be clearly directed towards you? And after that be a pure people in the dominion by virtue of the concealed mystery' (Q 2:9). [10]Yet God, is verily, is the One Who manifested a person from among ourselves [Joseph] . And We, verily, made him a noble herald of good tidings [a man]. We, indeed, made the heavens and the earth to be signs for Our servants. And God is witness unto all things. [11] God will assuredly enable you to see His mighty signs from the seat of truthfulness (maq`ad al-ṣidq) through, in very truth, Our servant [the Bāb]. [12] We, verily, sent down the verses which are in the ancient Scrolls (ṣuḥuf) and God is, in very truth, well-informed about His verses and about the Remembrance (al-dhikr). [13] We, verily will show you the signs in the horizons and in your selves in order that you might bear witness that He is the True One (cf. Q. 41:53) [14] God, verily, made the Path for such as shall be questioned about the Gate (al-bāb) in the presence of their Lord. [15] And God, verily, sent down this Book upon His servant [the Bāb] in order that he might, in very truth, and by Our leave, bear witness unto all the worlds. [16] He verily, have enumerated in that Book all that God sent down upon all the Prophets and righteous ones, in very truth, in all the [divinely revealed] tablets (al-alwāḥ). [17] We relinquished Our providence unto you in that you abandoned a concealed letter [= Joseph = ﻫ “H” ?] of the Book of God expressive of the shrouded mystery. [18] The people have lied to the effect that they to some degree excelled [outstripped] Us in obedience to the All-Merciful. And God, verily, is witness unto all things. [19] We, verily, shall manifest Our servant unto you in a Divine Cloud of Light (`amā' min nūr); unto that is, such as watch out for [the advent of the] Remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh), the True One, in the morning and in the evening. [20] God hath made such [watchful] persons to be clear sighted in His Pure Religion and upright upon the True Path. [21] Among the people are those who say, `We have believed in God and in His Most Great Remembrance (dhikr allah al-akbar). [22] And God is, in very truth, clear-sighted with respect to his [true] servants.' [23] In reality they disbelieved with their tongues after they attained certainty for themselves. [24] And God, verily, taught their selves: `You [pl.] are newly avowed disbelievers in God, the Exalted.' [25] Erelong, by the leave of God, the Exalted, shall hell-fire and its rock encompass them in the vale of the blazing hell (wadd al-jaḥīm). [26] Such indeed shall be your punishment [recompense] (jazā') from God for you are reckoned hypocrites in the Upright Religion of God. God, verily, is witness of that which you know. [27] O ye people! Were ye not given news of those who lived before you and, in very truth, warned of the terrible punishment of the All-Merciful? [28] Did We not promise you a Garden of God, its magnitude comparable to the magnitude of the heaven and of the earth, prepared for such of Our pure servants as believe in the Exalted Remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh)? [29] Therein, in very truth, you shall, by Our leave, have whatever your souls desire that is excellent and fresh (cf. Q 41:31b). [30] So praised be He Who, no God is there except Him, the Lord like unto Whom there is not a single thing. And God, in very truth, is One worshipped. [31] We, verily, by the leave of God, gave you warning about a Remembrance (dhikr) for you are forbidden to relate to him outside of the Truth [?]. [32] So supplicate the Remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh), the True One, by petitioning the Gate (al-bāb) and being, in very truth, repentant before God, the True One. [33] By the Lord of Heaven! God, in very truth, decreed that your sustenance be an allotted portion sent down in this Heaven. [34] What is it with you that you do not relinquish your base passions when it is the case that the Truth which is Great hath come unto you from the presence of God, the Exalted? [35] He [God] is the One Who hath decreed that the sun be a [source of] splendour and that the moon be a light so that you might, in very truth, seek of His bounty the enjoyment of worldly provision (`ar al-mā ta` min al-ḥayawat; cf. Q.10:5) which is praiseworthy. [36] God, verily, decreed that the Abode of the Hereafter be for such as desire God and His servant according to the Extended Path of the Upright Trace (al-khaṭṭ al-qā'im) in the vicinity of the [Sinaitic] Fire. [37] Know, O servants of God! that your Lord Who is God, the True One, hath conveyed His [messianic] Proof (ḥujjat) unto you, for you, in very truth, were observant of God and of His signs. [38] The [true] believers are such as desire naught within themselves save, in very truth, the All-Merciful and His Remembrance, the Beloved One. [39] On account of the Mighty Cause (amr al-`azīm), the wondrous mystery of the All-Splendid One (sirr al-jalīl) about that which you hide and that which you reveal (sirrakum wa jahrakum; cf Q.6:3) hath been brought [into the open] by God. [40] Through His religious Cause (amr) God will teach you such information as none prior to Him were, in very truth, able to penetrate. [41] He is the One Who sent down from heaven purified, blessed Water upon the earth. [42] And He is the One Who created man from Water then assuredly made him capable of consanguinity and affinity (nasab an wa sihr an; `blood relationship and marriage'; Q. 25:48,54).
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