The most important verse in the quran?
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Peace all. This verse is one of the keys to interpreting the quran. I think it could mean that the mutashabihat(similies) are verses that require more direct experience and contemplation because they are expressed in a metaphorical or similie form.They also have the greater possibility of being misunderstood and used for 'harmful' and innapropriate purposes.
The mukham(decisive,'judged',clearer.) are those verses which are easier to understand as they are like universal facts.(however they still need to be contemplated over.) The taweel of the metaphorical verses is the explanation of the reality to which the metaphorical verse is pointing to.(see surah 12 and yusufs dream,also surah 18 and moses encounter with the mystic.) This explanation can come through intuition,direct experience,prolonged study,meditation,science,teachers etc..And judgement of what these verses mean can be suspended until the real taweel comes.(eg the hand chopping verse,the lashes verse,the slaves verse etc.. etc...)
Words in essence are a tool to understand underlying relities,eg an apple is a phrase that seeks to explain a round fruit..the word is not the fruit or the reality itself. With this in mind even the mukham(decisive,judged,clearer.) verses are expressing an underlying reality though in less abstract form.
So care should be taken in following the letters of the verses rather than the underlying reality or real message(or spirit.). Some laws may also be contextual and time based/relative while others may be more absolute.
I think the prophet was trying to convey a message of genuine universal peace(islam.) and open-mindedness to the truth(the signs or ayahs.) and these were not confined to a single book,but embraced an open methodology to discover knowledge from the entire universe.(The quran is a pointer to reality,but not the whole of reality.) This methodology utilises several tools(intuition,intellect,universal facts,subjective experiences,objective experience,non quranic facts etc..) and is an ongoing spiritual process of study,reflection and meditation which leads to enlightenment,real knowledge and the highest wisdom...which is compassion for all things... This process may be called salat(connecting to the truth.) and leads to zakat.(purification.) I deduce this from 2945.
Salat is the process (reducing illusions and connecting to real truths.) while zakat(purification from illusion and attaining universal compassion.) is the resultant effect and goal.
Peace all. -
Peace be upon you,
The verse in question is referring to AL KITAAB, not AL QURAAN.
Therefore it is the universe itself that has clear signs and other signs that are not clear. It is not addressing any physical book called "Koran".
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Peace idol-free and all. I totally agree with kitab meaning the universe.(in its true reality.). I also view the quran as a part of that universe,and for the purpose of this post i put the word 'quran' in as many assume the verse to be about the book that is called the quran.I know that you view the quran as any reading(not just the 114 chapters.) and i also have sympathy with that view. When posting i was making the assumption that i was addressing people who were of the quran=book opinion. And one of my main messages was we have to be very careful in interpretating texts.This also applies to the universe and anything we read or regard as knowledge. I am glad you pointed out that point,as it is very important to discern/clarify/understand the information we receive,whether from a specific book or from any other part of the universe.
Peace.