JOURNEYING BACK TO THE QURʾĀN

 LIVING QURʾĀN IN THE PROPHETIC LIGHT

This one-day seminar delineates a path to the Qurʾān that takes us to the heart of the Prophetic era when the Qurʾān was being revealed to the blessed heart of the unlettered Prophet. It was an era in history and out of history, when both dimensions of Time were fully operative in all realms of existence throughout the entire order of the cosmos: serially, through successive descent of the Qurʾān from the Well-Guarded Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), aya by aya and sura by sura—najman—in Divinely ordained order, precisely timing the revelation with the needs of the Prophetic mission, and vertically, anchoring every letter of the last of His messages to the humans and the Jinns in the ever-lasting realm of His Mercy, will full protection from all intrusions from all creation. Thus anchored in timeless meta-history, and simultaneously operating in history, the Qurʾān is a Light, as it self-referentially calls itself nūran mubīn, that “whose radiance cannot be extinguished, a lamp whose flame does not die, an ocean whose depth cannot be fathomed, a path that does not lead astray, a blaze whose brilliance does not darken, a criterion whose evidence cannot be suppressed, an elucidation whose cornerstones cannot be demolished,” as ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (13 BH-40/609-660), Allah be well- pleased with him, described it. 

This light came into this world through another Light: Muhammadan Light. Join us to explore what was it like to receive the Qurʾān from his blessed tongue? What was it like to live with him, upon him blessings and peace, and listen to him recite the verses of the Book and receive Wisdom from him and be purified through him? How did this Prophetic Light really transform and purify those who were Divinely chosen to be his Companions? What does it mean to be the true inheritors of the Book that Allah has made “the quencher of the thirst of the learned, a springtime for the hearts of jurists, a destination for the path of the righteous, a cure after which there is no malady, a light not followed by darkness, and a rope whose knots are firm”. 

How can we—living as we are at a time of great tribulations and engulfed in the darkness of the post-modern world—reach out and connect to this Light beyond the gulf of darkness, and illuminate our hearts through the medium of Muhammad Light? 

The seminar content draws from several entries of the just published second volume of the Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qurʾān (IEQ)—a seven-volume reference work that presents all concepts, places, persons, events, and things mentioned in the Qurʾān based on a wide range of primary sources including in diverse branches of the sciences of the Qurʾān such as Tafsir, Hadith, Arabic lexicons, Prophetic biographies, universal histories, specialized dictionaries, and treatises on spiritual and moral psychology some of which have never been used in any reference work on the Qurʾān in any Western language. 

We invite you to join us to learn more about how IEQ can be a helpful tool to connect to the ever-lasting Light of the Qurʾān and light of the one who was chosen by Allah Most High to convey His Light to us.