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KITAB, QURAN & ARABIC

CHAPTER 1     KITAB, QURAN & ARABIC –     IS "ARABIC" THE NAME OF A LANGUAGE OF MIDDLE EAST AND THE BOOK QURAN ...

Thursday 10 October 2024

ESOTERIC AND EXOTERIC

NO OFFENCE INTENDED. THIS ARTICLE MAY OFFEND MANY TRADITIONALIST AND EVEN UNCONVENTIONAL THINKERS. THESE ARE MY HUMBLE FINDINGS, READERS, RESEARCHERS ARE FREE TO DISAGREE.

THIS RESEARCHED ARTICLE WAS IN RESPONSE TO A COMMENT BY A FACE BOOK FRIEND OF MINE.

ESOTERIC AND EXOTERIC MEANING WITHIN THE BOOK QURAN

Respected Brother thanks for reading my articles and finding some fault in my line of thinking. For the sake of the clarity I am accentuating your comments in my reply. I hope you won’t mind and take it in a good spirit.

You have said in your comments that -

(1) - You are gifted intellectually masha Allah and are doing a great job in extracting esoteric meanings from the Quran.

Let me inform you that I am not well equipped or qualified to extract hidden meanings from the old Arabic Text of the Quran. Neither do I have any spiritual guide from where I could receive esoteric meanings of the words of the book Quran. In fact I don’t believe in any hidden meanings which are not available in the spoken and written language. The meaning of words which I take or derive is in public domain in the form of various Classical Lexicons and some meanings are even present in the context of the book Quran itself and there is nothing great or esoteric about it. I am just an ardent fan of the book Quran trying to study through sheer hard work and there is nothing supernatural about it.

The simple meanings of word esoteric are abstruse, obscure, arcane, abstract, difficult, hard, puzzling, perplexing, enigmatic and cryptic, etc. When we say that the real message of the book Quran is esoteric and meant for especial audience then we are accusing the author of the book Quran of nepotism; that means that the real message is hidden from common people and the core message is meant for special chosen people. The common people who are not gifted enough would have to taste or have to be satisfied only with the cursory or outer meanings and they would be deprived from the crux of the book Quran.

(2) - “//However the Quran is at many levels of meaning and although I agree that knowing oneself and finding one's purpose in life is the highest objective it doesn't mean that those who have lived in the past and now who are following the Quran in the simple exoteric manner and have good character are misguided, //”

I have never said those who have not understood the book Quran are misguided, I don’t judge people, sometimes I am critical but I never disrespect people. Books are simple messengers of information, they don’t guide people. People are guided by their own intellect and commonsense; I have been writing on my blogs since very long and I don’t remember that I have disrespected anyone; if I have shown any disrespect then I apologize for my mistake.

I am very sensitive about the book Quran and if you say it has many level of meanings then I really get upset. To me it is like you are accusing the book Quran of ambiguity and the message is not clear because it has many level of meanings for people with different understanding – let me tell you I am very passionate when the book Quran is concerned and I cannot tolerate such allegations or misunderstanding that the book Quran has multiple meanings, this means that the book is not clear and specific about its topics. Sorry brother for not controlling my emotions. How can anyone accuse a simple worded clear book of having so many meanings for single word? That also means that different meanings will create different context and several references to context. This will make a clear cut message of the Quran sound mumbo jumbo, all people are happy with their own level of perception.

The theory of multi meaning works for the defenders of religion when they are incapable to explain the meaning of some verses; they escape from the situation by declaring the mercurial or inconsistent nature of the book Quran. The author of the book is not a magician that he continuously changes the direction of the language with the time and according to the grasping power of individuals. The author does not want to please its reader with compromising the message for the sake of its audience. This mindset indirectly accuses the author of being whimsical that he cannot write or convey a clear simple message with a single syntax with simple meanings for ordinary people. I don’t blame you for nurturing this type of belief; such beliefs are common in Sufis and so called scholars of religion. They might not know the reason but I know the reason for such apologetic views.  

 

(3)“// simply since they have not understood the esoteric meaning of the Quran as you state explicitly in your teachings. You suggest their lives were totally "wasted" and you seem to even include the great scholars and Sufi mystics in that category simply because they didn't have your view. Ridiculing others beliefs as you seem to do in some posts simply as they have understood in the simple manner, but may have excellent hearts, is against the Quranic verse.//”

I have great respect for Sufis and all traditional translators, I never said their lives were totally wasted, brother you seems to carry some bad image about me. Although I have not read any Sufi work but one thing I very well know that Islam spread in the world because of the relentless work of Sufis. Genuine Sufis are the most misunderstood people; they were misunderstood by their contemporaries and they were even misconstrued by their ardent followers because they were much ahead of their time.

I have said somewhere that the traditional understanding of the book Quran wasted my prime years and I don’t want others to suffer the same way which I suffered due to wrong understanding of the book Quran. I consider everyone great; life is a journey towards greatness, some lack behind some evolved early; it’s a roller coaster ride. I have not the read or study any work of Sufis but I know their contribution in the spread of Islam. People called them mystics because their words and deeds were mysterious to them; masses love their character but could not grasp the reason for their impeccable character and behavior.

 

(4) “ // - Although I agree with many of your esoteric Quranic interpretations and like I have mentioned I have reached exactly the same conclusions even in the details for many topics I do not disregard the exoteric as you have done totally. You seem to have to totally rejected even the Quran in terms of simple exoteric interpretation and this is clearly dangerous and erroneous //”

I have to address this important issue of "extracting esoteric meanings from the Quran" since long back but I was reluctant to engage in unnecessary wrangle and create unwanted controversy. Now your long comments gave me the opportunity to put forth my views; thanks for that.  I have realized that many people believe that the message of the book Quran has many different layers of meaning and is unfolded on the people when the time is right or when the student is ready the teacher appears. This statement is partially correct. First the book Quran does not have different message for different people. The book has only one meaning and only one theme; the second statement is correct, that the teacher appears when the student is ready.

Such saying is very common among the Sufis and some educated people also believe that the book Quran contains two types of messages one esoteric & other exoteric. They believe that one message of the book is only for selected ones and it is transferred through heart to heart, only to those students who are ready to grasp. It is believed that the secret communication must never be written but transferred from heart to heart. The original reason for hiding the original message from the masses is because of cahoots between the traditional clergies and the powerful rulers as they were not ready yet to know the actual message but unconventional message of the book Quran.

Arab and Persian Sufis suffered a lot during Abbasid regime backed by powerful but defeated Sassanian. The entire message of the book Quran was systematically changed in the line of belief of vengeful Sassanian and Romans. Arabs defeated the two great empires of that time so naturally that the royals among them were bearing grudge against their conqueror. Those who knew the real message of the book Quran were harassed and killed in multitude. Those who knew the real message of the book Quran were brutally massacred in a very short period of time. Within the 100 years of spreading of Islamic philosophy the entire message of the book Quran was toppled upside down. The few who managed to uphold the true teaching of the book Quran became quite because their life was at stake and some manage to escape to foreign lands or were hiding their true knowledge and faith.

Why Sasanians and later Romans rampantly killed those who knew the message of the book Quran?

The shrewd materialistic Sassanian very well understood that the spiritual message of the book Quran was the reason behind the spirit and strength of uncivilized Arabs. So they decided to neutralize that metaphysical spiritual message into superficial religious doctrine.

The Sassanian were a very proud Persian civilization but became weak due to continuous war between Romans later known as Byzantine Empire (602-628). By the end of the conflict, both sides had exhausted their human and material resources and achieved very little. Consequently, they were vulnerable to the sudden emergence of the poor persecuted Arab Ebionites, whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the war with ease, sometimes without a battle. The Ebionites armies swiftly conquered the entire Sassanian Empire as well as the Byzantine territories in the Levant, the Caucasus, Egypt, and North Africa. In the following centuries, the Byzantine and Arab forces would fight a series of wars for control of the Near East.

Ebionites was a Jewish Christian sect persecuted and harassed by Romans that migrated to North of Arabia [Nabatea, and Paneas, Moabitis, and Kochaba in the region of Bashan, near Adraa] to escape oppression from main stream Jews and Christians. These variant sects reflect the esoteric and evolving nature of early Christian sects, as well as the tendency of patristic polemicists to conflate different sects and mis-attribute unusual views and practices, more typical of Gnostic Christianity than Jewish Christianity. Some modern critical scholars argue the Church Fathers' condemnation of Ebionites as "heretics" and "Judaizers" is both ironic and tragic, since many Ebionite views may have been closer to the authentic views of not only the first disciples of Christianity but also of the ancient historical facts.

Ebionites were early Christian mystics or Sufis who translated their Jewish Christians philosophy into concise Arabic text; today we recognize their marvelous work as the book Quran. The so called early Muslims were actually very minor sect of Jewish Christian philosophy that faced extinction within maximum of 100 years of advent of traditional religion of Islam. The early fabricated history and interpretation of the book Quran were done in the line of Sassanian and Roman Christian beliefs.

 

Some wise man, mystics or Sufis who survived the onslaught of mass killing began to propagate the original Islam in a very careful manner because the traditional Islamic Empire was very strong and spread over vast land. Sufis sacrificed a lot for upholding the true message of the book Quran in their heart. This way it became their normal practice to hide the real message of the book Quran from the canonical well established institutes of Islam.  

Exoteric and esoteric meaning of the book Quran is a serious part of belief of many people and I need to clear this misconception as it is related to the reputation of the book Quran.

One must be open minded and ready to grasp the guidance or inspiration that comes across in various forms or literature. The researchers must be passionate about their subject that they inclined to learn, gradually the seekers will discover the ultimate truth if they are on the right track. Truth is like Sunlight nobody can permanently hide it.

The doctrine of batini (الْبَاطِنُ) or esoteric theory crept into societies due to cahoots between dictatorial Kings and religious Priests. The Kings were brainwashed by zahiri (ظَهِيرٍ) concept of religion by fake priests. It became a compulsion for very rare independent thinkers to embrace exoteric version of religion or the canonical version of religion because of it has King's stamp of approvals on it. These way different rituals were introduced by the impostor priestly class, specifically established religious institutes to teach their version of Islam as the prestigious part of learning.

The free thinkers / Sufis knew the consequences of opposing the priest so they kept quiet and became aloof from the masses. To save their skin the philosophers (sufi) apologetically acknowledged the relationship between the outer and inner dimensions of the book Quran although it was basically to save their skin from ignorant dictators. 

There are many instances where group of free thinkers / sufis and their families were hunted down and were wiped out, crucified, executed and burned alive in the name of blasphemy or for their divergent views. Sufis / mystics were often called as heretics and were tortured in the name of saving religion

The Sufis could not openly teach the message of the book Quran so they floated the theory of esoteric and exoteric message of Islam which gradually became familiar as the time passed. Finally the original message of Islam buried in their hearts and faded away. Later on and till this day the clever religious authorities established and institutionalize this modus operandi to fool the masses in the name of Islam and religion.

It was very difficult for Sufis to find a suitable student whom they could pass the enchanting message of the book Quran, they used to roam, travel in search for thirsty students but somewhere lucky to get single student but majority died without finding a good student.

The bitter truth is that the message of the book Quran is crystal clear and not ambiguous at all. It does not have any esoteric or exoteric contents. The message of the book Quran is metaphysical (غيبي) commonly known as unseen (الْغَيْبِ). The vocabularies of the book Quran do not have multiple meanings; one for exclusive intellectuals and other meaning for ordinary masses. Originality of every religion is distorted because the masses wants to believe, revere, worship and do not want to know, because knowing is difficult, following or believing as the crowd believe is easy. 

Zahir – Relates to the outer, apparent, or exoteric dimension of the Islamic faith. It can also refer to the world of bodies or the actions of an individual. This includes dress code for men and women, eating habits and rituals.

 

Batin - Relates to the inner, spiritual, or esoteric dimension of the Islamic faith. It can also refer to the inner world or the true intention behind an individual's actions. 

Here are some ways that the concepts of zahir and batin are understood in different schools of Islamic thought: 

Shi'a Muslims

The Imam of Time is the only one who can understand the esoteric meaning of the Quran. 

Sufism

The actions of an individual are the zahir, and the intention in the heart is the batin. Sufis believe that spiritual guides can purify the batin to ensure that the zahir follows Shariat. 

Ismaili Muslims

The zahir and batin are complimentary ways of perceiving truth, and the relationship between the two is symbolized by translucence.

 

The Sufis or the axial age sages were extraordinary individuals. They were much ahead of their time. 

Ever thought why no bygone Sufis have translated the book Quran yet, were they not qualified? They were wise, matured and qualified enough but they never propagated the message through the verses of the book Quran. They spread the message of the Quran wisely through stories and songs in local languages. They adapted the culture wherever they migrated. Character was their main forte. The reason was they were in minority among minorities.

Brother if we say the words of Quran has two or more meanings for different audiences then we are ridiculing the message of the Noble Quran 

The vibrant of words of the book Quran are the main victim and the message suffers due to the tussle between exoteric and esoteric debates, this lead to confusion among the masses and some clever minded people take advantage of it. The consequence is more than two sets of ideology emerged from within the book Quran and the Sufis bore the brunt of being heretic sect of Islam from the “mainstream Islam”.

These are my observation as a humble translator and student of the book Quran.

www.ahleaqal.com

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