Superlative Knowledge of the Friends of Allah – extracts from Inba ul Hayy by Imam Ahmed Rida Khan

`Allāmah Ibrāhīm Bayjūrī [may Allāh be pleased with him] states in his explanation of Qasīdah Burdah, “For every verse of the Qur’ān, there are a thousand sciences that can be understood. As for those which are beyond understanding, they outnumber those that can be understood.”

It is mentioned in Sharh `Ashrawī that certain Awliyā’ state, “We found 400000 meanings under every letter of the Qur’ān. Whatever meaning is mentioned in one place is not repeated in another.”

Imām `Abdul Wahāb Sh`arānī [may Allāh have mercy upon him] stated in Mīzān ush-Sharī`at il-Kubrā: “My brother Afdhaluddīn derived 247999 sciences [`ulūm] from Sūrat ul-Fātihah. Then, he turned all of them to bismi-Llāh and then believed them to be hidden in the letter ‘bā‘ and further in the dot of the letter ‘bā‘.”

Imam Sh`arānī [may Allāh be pleased with him] further states: “According to us, a person cannot be complete [kāmil] in gnosis [m`arifah] until he is able to derive all the laws and schools of the independent jurists [mujtahidīn] from any desired individual letter of the Qur’ān.”

This is further strengthened by the following narrations:

It is narrated from Sayyidunā `Alī [may Allāh ennoble his countenance], that he stated, “If I wish, I can do the exegesis of Sūrat ul-Fātihah equal to the weight of seventy camels.”

It is narrated from Sayyidunā `Alī [may Allāh ennoble his countenance], that he stated, “If I narrate to you the exegesis of Sūrat ul-Fātihah, it will weigh the mass of seventy camels.” (al-Yawāqīt wa al-Jawāhir of ash-Sh`arānī, part-3)

It is narrated from Sayyidunā `Alī [may Allāh ennoble his countenance], that he stated, “Know from me whatever you wish before my passing away, because whatever you ask me about anything beneath the Throne, I will explain it to you” (Kanz ul-`Ummāl, #36502)

Sayyidunā Abū Tufail `Amir bin Wathilah [may Allāh be pleased with him] narrates, “Once, I was present in a gathering in which Sayyidunā `Alī was admonishing the people. I heard him say in his speech, ‘Know from me whatever you wish. By Allāh! If you ask me about anything that is to be until the Day of Judgement, I will explain it to you’.” (Kanz ul-`Ummāl, #4740, 2/565)

It is narrated from Sayyidunā `Abdullāh bin Mas`ūd [may Allāh be pleased with him] that, if the knowledge of Sayyidunā `Umar Farūq [may Allāh be pleased with him] is placed in one pan of a scale and the knowledge of the remaining entire human race is placed on the other pan, his knowledge would outweigh that of everyone put together.

Sayyidunā Abdullāh bin `Abbās [may Allāh be pleased with him] narrates, “If the rope of my camel is lost, I will locate it in the Qur’ān.” (Ithāf us-Sādah, Chapter 4: On the exegesis of the Qur’ān)

Translated by Najibullah Qadiri