IIB-C The Surah of Hud and more lives of the Prophets

"To them that are possessed of true understanding and insight the Surah of Hud surely sufficeth. Ponder a while those holy words in your heart, and, with utter detachment, strive to grasp their meaning."

The discussion of the lives of Salih and Hud are very brief - only one paragraph each! But this part from the Iqan seems to say that they have a concentrated meaning even if they are brief. Following the suggestion of this quote, though we may or may not be truly understanding, this week we read the Surah of Hud too.

The Surah of Hud
The Surah is named after Hud, who was a prophet of God who was not known to the Arabs or it seems anyone else at the time the Quran was revealed. The lives of Hud and also of another previously unknown prophet, Salih are described in the surah.

The Surah is more than just the story of Hud and Salih. It describes, in succession the tribulations of Noah, Moses, and Abraham as well. Comparing the two, this section of the Iqan actually is a commentary of sorts on this chapter of the Quran. It follows the lives of the same prophets, but describes certain elements of the lives of these Messengers.

Both Salih and Hud called their peoples away from their past religions and met with all the abuse and humiliation that the people could heap upon them.

A remarkable detail of the life of Salih is the story of how Salih brought the she camel to the people of Thamoud and they hamstrung it.

"They said, "O Saleh! our hopes were fixed on thee till now: forbiddest thou us to worship what our fathers worshipped? Truly we misdoubt the faith to which thou callest us, as suspicious."

He said, "O my people! what think ye? If I have a revelation from my Lord to support me, and if He hath shewed his mercy on me, who could protect me from God if I rebel against him? Ye would only confer on me increase of ruin.

O my people! this is the she-Camel of God, and a sign unto you. Let her go at large and feed in God's earth, and do her no harm, lest a speedy punishment overtake you."

Yet they hamstrung her: then said he, "Yet three days more enjoy yourselves in your dwellings: this menace will not prove untrue." Quran (Rodwell) Surah of Houd

I suppose this would be a particularly telling story to the Arabs at the time of Muhammed as the camel was the measure of wealth and prosperity, and they must look back at the people of Ad as being extremely ignorant to abuse the first camel in this way. Neither of these people the people of Themoud and Ad are known today, it is said in the Quran, they have vanished into history.

II A-D: The lives of the prophets.

"Examine the wondrous behaviour of the Prophets, and recall the defamations and denials uttered by the children of negation and falsehood, perchance you may cause the bird of the human heart to wing its flight away from the abodes of heedlessness and doubt unto the nest of faith and certainty, and drink deep from the pure waters of ancient wisdom, and partake of the fruit of the tree of divine knowledge. Such is the share of the pure in heart of the bread that hath descended from the realms of eternity and holiness."

After telling us He will lead us to true understanding the Iqan turns directly to the lives of the Prophets and the indignities troubles and sacrifices heaped upon them. This section goes on for quite some time.

This is a curious turn when you think of it - how are the events of someones life the first response to the question of true knowledge?

As you might guess, each of the small sections of the lives of the prophets has particular lessons.

A. Noah

"He several times promised victory to His companions and fixed the hour thereof. But when the hour struck, the divine promise was not fulfilled. This caused a few among the small number of His followers to turn away from Him, and to this testify the records of the best-known books."

This is not out of context, but what seems to me to be an important lesson: that what the Messengers from God promise is not necessarily as important as what they say... that some of these promises (like the land of Milk and Honey) do not need to be fulfilled (40 years wandering the Sinai). Really in this is not that there is a lie here, but a misunderstanding; the tests of Faith may come from wishing too fondly for what we want rather than what we need to know, and its inner significance...but i'll have to come back to that some other time.

B. Abraham
"It is well known what a host of enemies besieged Him, until at last the fires of envy and rebellion were kindled against Him. And after the episode of the fire came to pass, He, the lamp of God amongst men, was, as recorded in all books and chronicles, expelled from His city."

C. Hud

"In like manner, those words that have streamed forth from the source of power and descended from the heaven of glory are innumerable and beyond the ordinary comprehension of man. To them that are possessed of true understanding and insight the Surah of Hud surely sufficeth. Ponder a while those holy words in your heart, and, with utter detachment, strive to grasp their meaning."

That is a red flag :"surely the Surah of Hud sufficeth" . Some essential message here is in the Seventh Surah of the Quran. We decide to read that Surah at the next meeting. That the Revelation of God is boundless and without number is certainly to be part of that.

D. Salih
"Even as it is revealed: "And unto the tribe of Thamud We sent their brother Salih. ‘O my people,’ said He, ‘Worship God, ye have none other God beside Him....’ They made reply: ‘O Salih, our hopes were fixed on thee until now; forbiddest thou us to worship that which our fathers worshipped? Truly we misdoubt that whereunto thou callest us as suspicious.’"[Qur’an 11:61, 62.] All this proved fruitless, until at last there went up a great cry, and all fell into utter perdition."

Salih's life is described also on the Surah of Hud. The theme of people choosing the religions of their Fathers over the religion of God is definitely a theme we see throughout the Iqan.

To be continued!

Iqan Para1-3: Opening

I. The Opening: True Understanding is rooted in detachment from all that is in heaven and earth.

The first three pargraphs of the Kitab-i-Iqan, as with the tablets of Baha'u'llah that I have actually read, are entirely condensed discussion of the overall theme of the tablet.

"IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD, THE EXALTED, THE MOST HIGH.

No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth. Sanctify your souls, O ye peoples of the world, that haply ye may attain that station which God hath destined for you and enter thus the tabernacle which, according to the dispensations of Providence, hath been raised in the firmament of the Bayan.

THE essence of these words is this: they that tread the path of faith, they that thirst for the wine of certitude, must cleanse themselves of all that is earthly—their ears from idle talk, their minds from vain imaginings, their hearts from worldly affections, their eyes from that which perisheth."

Almost all the tablets of Baha'u'llah, as with the Qu'ran begin with Godly attributes from which the discourse will emanate. (the opening).

Here we are promised that as the book unfolds, the grandeur of God will be shown to us, as will the humbleness of men.

How does this incline us to true understanding? what is true understanding? what does this have to do with our imaginings, affections and idle talk that is so earthly? does that mean that we will be living entirely without these things?