For understanding the excellence, merit and greatness of Allah’s Book, we must go to the doorstep of the Ahle Bait (a.s.) and try to understand the same from them.
The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) prophesied, “Allah will not punish a heart that possesses the Quran.[1]”
Again, he (s.a.w.a.) remarked, “The best amongst you is the one learns the Quran and teaches it.[2]”
The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) said, “O People! Surely, you are in a calamitous house. You are in a state of travel and the speed of your travel is very fast. Indeed, you have seen the nights and the days, the sun and the moon, wear out the new, make near every far thing and bring forth all the promised things. Thus, prepare the provisions for the distance of the desert.”
At this juncture, Miqdaad Ibn al-Amr (r.a.) stood up inquired, “O Messenger of Allah! What is the calamitous house?”
He (s.a.w.a.) replied, “The house of calamity and severity. When mischief becomes unclear for you like the part of a dark night, it is binding upon you to fasten unto the Quran. For, it is the intercessor whose intercession is acknowledged and a complainant whose complaint is accepted. Whoever places it (Quran) in front of him, it will guide him to paradise and whoever places it behind himself, it will drag him to hell. It is a guide that steers to the best path. It is a book in which are the details, explanations and acquisitions. It is a decisive statement and not a joke. It has an apparent and a concealed. Its apparent is wisdom and its concealed is knowledge. Its apparent is elegant and its concealed is profound. It has layers and its layers have further layers. Its wonders cannot be enumerated and its amazements do not decline. In it are the lamps of guidance and the stations of wisdom. It is a guide upon the known thing for the one who knows it.[3]”
Ameerul Momineen Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) reports, “I heard the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) say, ‘Jibraeel came to me and said, ‘O Muhammad! Soon there will be mischief in your nation’. I asked, ‘So what is the way out from it?’ He replied, ‘The Book of Allah! In it is the news of the explanation of what was before you, the news of what will be after you and the judgment of what is between you. It is a decisive statement and not a joke. Any oppressive ruler who rules (over the Muslims), not acting upon it, Allah will destroy him. Whoever seeks guidance from other than it, Allah will deviate him. It is Allah’s strong rope, the Wise Remembrance and the Right Path. Desires don’t corrupt it and tongues don’t cover it. It does not get worn out on repetition and its wonders don’t cease. Scholars never feel satiated from it…Whoever talks from it has spoken the truth, whoever acts upon it will be rewarded and whoever fastens unto it will be guided to the right path. It is a Mighty Book; falsehood does not come to it from the front or from behind, a descent from the Wise, the Praiseworthy.[4]”
Thus, from the above traditions it is absolutely clear that the best knowledge to be acquired is that of the Holy Quran. It commands and prohibits. In it, punishments have been specified, traditions have been established, examples have been cited and religion has been explained. It is a warning in itself and a proof upon the creatures. People’s covenants have been taken upon it and their souls have been pledged to it so that it explains to them what they have to perform and from what they have to refrain so that whoever is destroyed is destroyed only on account of explanation and whoever lives does so because of explanation. Surely Allah is Hearing and Knowing[5].
But it should be borne in mind, as we have clearly laid down in the preface, that the Book of Allah cannot be understood without the explanation, exegesis and elaboration of the Ahle Bait (a.s.). Anybody who tries to acquire that path will be destroyed through the Quran itself.
[1]Al-Amaali of Shaikh al-Toosi (r.a.), p. 6, H. 7
[2]Al-Amaali of Shaikh al-Toosi (r.a.), p. 367
[3]Tafseer al-Ayyaashi, vol. 1, p. 2, H. 1
[4]Tafseer al-Ayyaashi, vol. 1, p. 3, H. 2
[5]Tafseer al-Ayyaashi, vol. 1, p. 7, H. 16 The tradition is from Ameerul Momineen Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s.)