His Book Will Surprise You

The other day, I was speaking with a friend about the Holy Quran. My friend said, “whenever I read the Quran, I feel it keeps repeating itself.” Then he asked, “what is the point of reading it every day?”   

In this post, I would like to post a short good (like authentic) tradition, regarding the Quran and its magnificence and hope that my friend and who ever that may think like him would re-examine their views.

Following this tradition, I will make a few points.

Arabic Text:

عَلِيٌّ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الْمُغِيرَةِ عَنْ سَمَاعَةَ بْنِ مِهْرَانَ قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع

إِنَّ الْعَزِيزَ الْجَبَّارَ أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ كِتَابَهُ وَ هُوَ الصَّادِقُ الْبَارُّ فِيهِ خَبَرُكُمْ وَ خَبَرُ مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ وَ خَبَرُ مَنْ بَعْدَكُمْ وَ خَبَرُ السَّمَاءِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ لَوْ أَتَاكُمْ مَنْ يُخْبِرُكُمْ عَنْ ذَلِكَ لَتَعَجَّبْتُمْ.

Farsi Translation:

امام صادق (ع) فرمود:

راستى كه عزيز جبّار كتاب خود را بر شماها فرو فرستاده و او است كه راست گو و نيك خواه است، در كتاب او است گزارش شما و گزارش هر كه پيش از شما و گزارش هر كه پس از شما است و گزارش آسمان و زمين و اگر بيايد نزد شما كسى كه شما را از آن گزارش دهد، هر آينه به شگفت آئيد.

English Translation:

Ali has narrated from his father from Abdillah ibn Al Mogheira from Sama'ah ibn Mehran who has said, Abu Abdillah (peace be upon him) said:

Allah the Majestic, the Compeller descended His book upon you, and He is the Truthful, the Most Righteous. It includes and encloses information about you, information about those previous to you and information about those coming after you. And it includes information about the sky and the earth and if someone came and told you about all of these you would be surprised."

First and foremost, our imam (peace be upon him) begins by clarifying that His book is sent from Him and He is the Truthful. This opening section removes any doubt that His book may contain void information. He is, also, the Most Righteous. What ever that is revealed from Him stems from His righteousness and will be good for His sincere followers and servants.

It is followed that His book, encloses information about past, present and future. This is quite important. Many individuals when they read His book, attempt to understand it through past events. For example, they try to know when and where a verse was revealed and who and what it was addressing when it was revealed. Subsequently, they assume that if there are verses that they can link and connect to specific events in the past, then it must not be applicable to the present or to the future. Via this method, they limit the influence and application of His book in their contemporary lives and decision-making.

Furthermore, in this tradition we read in His book we find information about the sky and the earth.

The final part of this tradition is the part that ties all of this together and highlights the magnificence of His book. Without specifying any time or place, which leaves it open to all times and all places, we are told that His book has the capacity to surprise us. It is implied that regardless of how much we already know or how advanced we have already become, within this book there is information that would continue to surprise us. It contains in it confounding information about the future and about our natural world.  There is no wonder that we constantly hear from those who regularly read His book that they are amazed at how often they encounter something new that they had not encountered in the previous readings.

Now, it is important to keep in mind and remember that this tradition must be placed within a proper context. It must be understood alongside other traditions that speak about His book and about knowledge in general.  Based on other traditions, we are strongly recommended to read fifty verses of His book daily, and we are strongly recommended to do so contemplatively. In addition, it is well-known that our faith strongly encourages us to seek knowledge and study the creations of Allah, in order to obtain hints about the magnificence of Allah.  If we put this tradition, within the context of these other religious recommendations, we may conclude that to see more within His book, we must gain auxiliary information by gaining knowledge from outside of His book, and to incorporate such knowledge into our thoughts and reflections as we read fifty verses of His book contemplatively on a daily basis. Through this method, we gain the opportunity to be astonished regularly by God’s book.

Lastly, it should be noticed that this tradition does not specify any specific sort of individual that has the ability to inform us about the astonishing facts within God’s book. Thus, we do not have any reason to assume that ordinary individuals are incapable of discovering the implicit information within His book. If the right conditions are followed properly, then the doors of this treasure may be opened to any one.

Source:

Al-Kafi, Volume 2, Page 599, Tradition #3