Ya Laytani
Introduction:
[‘Uyoon Akhbar al-Ridha, volume 1 page 299]
Imam al-Ridha tells ibn Shabib: “If you wish to have a reward like that of those who were martyred with al-Hussain then say whenever you mention it: “O’ I wish I was with them so I would achieve a great victory.”
عيون أخبار الرضا 1: ماجيلويه، عن علي، عن أبيه، عن الريان بن شبيب، عن الرضا عليه السلام، قال: يا بن شبيب، إن سرك أن تسكنالغرف المبنية في الجنة مع النبي وآله صلوات الله عليهم فالعن قتلة الحسين عليه السلام، يا بن شبيب، إن سرك أن يكون لك من الثواب مثلما لمن استشهد مع الحسين عليه السلام فقل متى ما ذكرته: " يا ليتني كنت معهم فأفوز فوزا عظيما " - الخبر
The following narration is very odd, because the Imam advises the Shi’a mourning Imam al-Hussain to say the following words:
يا ليتني كنت معهم فأفوز فوزا عظيما
“O’ I wish I was with them so I would achieve a great victory.”
There is an issue however; these exact words are present in the Qur’an, with a twist:
It is a statement that the hypocrites utter!
وَلَىِٕنۡ أَصَـٰبَكُمۡ فَضۡلࣱ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لَیَقُولَنَّ كَأَن لَّمۡ تَكُنۢ بَیۡنَكُمۡ وَبَیۡنَهُۥ مَوَدَّةࣱ یَـٰلَیۡتَنِی كُنتُ مَعَهُمۡ فَأَفُوزَ فَوۡزًا عَظِیمࣰا﴿ ٧٣ ﴾
“But if bounty comes to you from Allah, he will surely say, as if there had never been between you and him any affection. "Oh, I wish I had been with them so I could have attained a great attainment." (4:73)
In this article, we aim to expand on the concept of batin tafasir (esoteric exegesis), how the Imam has the ability to redefine Qur’anic conceptions and example from both Shi’ite and prominent non-Shi’ite sources.
Let us begin!
A) Batin Tafasir
[Tafsir al-‘Ayyashi, vol 1, page 11]
“al-Fudhayl ibn Yasar said:
I asked Abi Ja’far [al-Baqir] about this narration:
‘There is no verse in the Quran, except that it has a dhahr (apparent) and batn (hidden). And there is no harf (letter), except that it has a limit. And to every limit there is a beginning.’
(I asked him) What does he mean by ‘dhahr and batn’?
He [al-Baqir] said: Its dhahr [is so and so], and its batn is its ta’wil - it includes what had passed, and what has not yet happened. It travels with precision, like the Sun and Moon..’
عن الفضيل بن يسار قال: سئلت أبا جعفر عليه السلام عن هذه الرواية " ما في القرآن آية الا ولها ظهر وبطن، وما فيه حرف الا وله حد ولكلحد مطلع " (5) ما يعنى بقوله لها ظهر وبطن؟ قال: ظهره وبطنه تأويله، منه ما مضى ومنه ما لم يكن بعد، يجرى كما يجرى الشمس والقمر،كلما جاء منه شئ وقع قال الله تعالى " وما يعلم تأويله الا الله والراسخون في العلم
In essence, the dhahir tafsir of the Qur’an is the apparent explanation of the verse; and the batin/esoteric/hidden tafsir is that which none but the Imams are bestowed with, and they impart this knowledge to others. It is an “alternate” meaning to a verse, and it is fully possible for it to contradict the apparent meaning, yet both the meanings are true , since both are from Allah.
To give an example of a Batin tafsir, let’s look at the following narration.
[Bihar al-Anwar volume 24 page 105]
“By the fig and the olive
And [by] Mount Sinai
And [by] this secure city [Makkah].” (95:1-3)
The Imam provides a batin tafsir for this verse:
“The Fig is the Messenger of Allah, the olive is the Commander of the Faithful, the mount Sinai is al-Hasan and al-Hussain, and this secure city is the Imams peace be upon them.”
تفسير علي بن إبراهيم: (والتين والزيتون * وطور سينين * وهذا البلد الأمين) قال: التين رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله، والزيتون أمير المؤمنينعليه السلام، وطور سينين الحسن والحسين عليهما السلام، وهذا البلد الأمين الأئمة عليهم السلام
Here we can see that while the apparent meaning is completely unrelated, the batin meaning refers to the Imams.
And unlike the dhahir tafsir, only the Imams can dictate the batin tafsir- since the batin tafsir comes from Kitab ‘Ali - book of Imam ‘Ali where He noted down thousands of gates of knowledge from the Holy Prophet.
B) Why the Imam can redefine a verse and explanation of the Ya Laytani narration.
Now, a dhahir and batin tafsir can clash in meaning- and often they will, yet this contradiction is not a flaw, rather they can both be the truth at the same time, in their own contexts.
To parallel this, Allah calls Himself the Apparent and the Hidden (Dhahir and Batin).
هُوَ ٱلۡأَوَّلُ وَٱلۡـَٔاخِرُ وَٱلظَّـٰهِرُ وَٱلۡبَاطِنُۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَیۡءٍ عَلِیمٌ﴿ ٣ ﴾
“He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden, and He is, of all things, Knowing.” (57:3)
Yet what may seem like a contradiction (Allah saying He is Apparent and Hidden at the same time), is in reality not a contradiction, but the two meanings complement each other.
Allah is Apparent in the sense that He is understood and known through His Signs and through His chosen ones, and He is Hidden in the sense that one cannot see Him.
Similarly, while the Batin tafsir may some times seem to contradict the dhahir, in reality they complement each other.
To give an example:
“And not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone” (18:110)
[Tafsir al-‘Ayyashi volume 2 page 353]
The Imam says this verse refers to the Wilayah of ‘Ali, do not associate with Him another caliph.
ولا يشرك بعبادة ربه أحدا) التسليم لعلى لا يشرك معه في الخلافة من ليس ذلك له ولا هو من أهله (6).
Since the verse is talking about Allah, the tafsir of the Imam may seem to contradict it since it refers to Imam ‘Ali.
But in reality, what it means is that Allah can’t be reached except through Imam ‘Ali and Submission to His Imamate, and it does not imply the Imam is God.
Thus the Batin tafsir can seem to contradict with the dhahir yet still be true.
With this backdrop, one may now return to the narration in our introduction.
The narration can now be explained very easily: ‘The Imam tells his companion to say this statement uttered by the munafiqin, yet the Imam can redefine the verse and provide a batin interpretation for it which can make the meaning of the statement positive.’
C) Examples from Shi’ite Sources.
[Ziyarat al-Nahiya al-Muqaddasa]
اَلسَّلامُ عَلَى الْمَقْطُوعِ الْوَتينِ،
“Peace be upon the one whose aorta was severed (Imam al-Hussain).”
This line from the Ziyarah of Imam al-Hussain, given by Imam al-Mahdi, uses the exact wording from the following verse:
ثُمَّ لَقَطَعۡنَا مِنۡهُ ٱلۡوَتِینَ﴿ ٤٦ ﴾
“Then We would have cut from him the aorta.” (69:46)
The problem is this verse refers to the holy Prophet, where Allah says that had he been a false prophet, God would seize him by his aorta.
Keeping this negative connotation of the verse in mind, the statement of the ziyarah seems to be negative. Yet the explanation is simple: the Imam redefines the verse to give a Batin tafsir that has a positive connotation.
Another example:
[Bihar al-Anwar Volume 26 page 121]
Imam al-Baqir says:
“And Allah created the souls of our Shi’as before their bodies by 1000 years and then spread them out and the Messenger of Allah recognized them, and ‘Ali recognized them and we recognize them through their tone of speech.”
وخلقهم من الطينة التي خلق منها آدم وخلق الله أرواح شيعتنا قبل أبدانهم بألفي عام وعرضهم عليه وعرفهم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآلهوعرفهم عليا ونحن نعرفهم في لحن القول
The later part of this narration, “we recognize them through their tone of speech” ونحن نعرفهم في لحن القول is also present in the Qur’an, but referring to the hypocrites.
وَلَوۡ نَشَاۤءُ لَأَرَیۡنَـٰكَهُمۡ فَلَعَرَفۡتَهُم بِسِیمَـٰهُمۡۚ وَلَتَعۡرِفَنَّهُمۡ فِی لَحۡنِ ٱلۡقَوۡلِۚ وَٱللَّهُ یَعۡلَمُ أَعۡمَـٰلَكُمۡ﴿ ٣٠ ﴾
“And if We willed, We could show them to you, and you would know them by their mark; but you will surely know them by the tone of [their] speech. And Allah knows your deeds.” (47:30)
Thus the Imam can provide a Batin redefinition of a verse to fit a different context,
D) Sunni Source.
Although not referring to Batin tafsir, sunni narrations do have parallels with verses of the Qur’an with negative connotations.
[Sahih al-Bukhari 4428]
Narrated `Aisha:
The Prophet (ﷺ) in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O ‘Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."
The last line of this narration is similar to the verse (69:46) that was quoted earlier. If one takes this narration in it’s apparent meaning, then he would conclude that either the Prophet was false, or that ‘Aisha did not believe in him, due to the connotations of “aorta being cut” from the verse. However, unlike the non-Shi’as, our Imams have the ability to redefine a Qur’anic verse through a Batin tafsir, and hence their usage of these phrases from the Qur’an would be perfectly okay. Although this bukhari hadith is not the same scenario, it is an interesting example nonetheless.
Conclusion:
The Imams have the ability to redefine verses of the Qur’an through Batin meanings and interpretations, and these interpretations they have received from Allah. The dhahir and batin are two sides of the same coin, they are both correct interpretations of the verses.
Wa Allahu ‘Aalam.
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