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Chapter VIII: Excellence of the Quran

The reciter who is outside these three things gets the rank of the heedless. Imam Jafar Saleq said with regard to the highest rank : By God, God disclosed His light for His servants in His words but they do not see it. He once fell in swoon in prayer.
When he regained his senses, he said : I was repeatedly reciting the verse of the Quran in my heart and I then heard it as it were from its author. My body could not stand at His glory. If the mind is rasied high, one can get sweetness in invocation. Hazrats Osman and Huzaifah said : If the mind becomes pure, it cannot rest satisfied only with the recitation of the Quran. The sage Sabet Bonani said : I bore hardships for 20 years and have been getting His gifts for the last 20 years. One can become fit for this verse on account of his sight of the author of words : Flee towards God.
Another verse. Don't set up partner with God.' He who does not see Him in his every action, sees someone else and he who looks to anything besides God sees towards secret Shirk. To see nobody in any action except God is sincere Tauhid.

(10) To be free from ones own strength and ability and not to see towards himself with the eye of pleasure and purity. When

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you read the words of praise of pious men, don' t include yourself among them, but hope that God may include yourself among them. When you read the verse of the punishment of the transgressors, think that it was said about you. Hazrat Ibn Omar used to say : O God, I seek forgiveness from you for my sins and infidelity.

SECTION 4

TO INTERPRET THE QURAN ACCORDING TO INDIVIDUAL OPINION

The Prophet said : If a man explains the Quran according to his opinion, let him, seek his abode in Hell'. Thelearned men who explain it according to its literal meaning accuse the Sufis for their explanation. They explain the verse of the Quran which Ibn Abbas or other companions did not make. The spirit of the above Hadis is that the Quran should be interpreted according to the sayings and doings of the Prophet. Difference arises when it is believed that there is no meaning of the Quran except its open meaning. The meaning of the Quran is wide to the wise. Hazrat Ali said : God has given His servant the understanding of the Quran. If it is not without the Tafsirs of the early sages, what is the meaning of this understanding ? The Prophet said : There are surely for the Quran open meaning, secret meaning, limits and different steps. Hazrat Ali said : If I wish, I can load seventy camels withTafsir of the chapter Fateha' What is it meaning?

Source: Imam Al-Ghazali, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Revival of the Islamic Sciences)
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