“We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs).”(2:87)
“There came to you Moses with Clear (Signs).”(2:92)
“This because they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah and slaying His Messengers without just cause.”(2:61)
“Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They are your garments and ye are their garments… seek what Allah Hath ordained for you…Those are Limits (set by) Allah: Approach not nigh thereto. Thus doth Allah make clear His Signs to men: that they may learn self-restraint.”(2:87)
From the first days of man Allah has been sending prophets with knowledge, clear scientific proof and miracles to show man that the world he knows is much more than hunting and gathering, wisdom is the result of religion and science is the foundation of wisdom, “Thus doth Allah make clear His Signs to men”.
The signs that Allah placed in creation and mentioned extensively in the Quran are not just limited to people in the physical world seeing what is occurring in the spiritual world, or the connection between the spiritual world and the physical world, they mean every kind of sign in creation, we are asked to read, investigate and discover all His commands in creation, the way Allah decreed His creation to be governed, and all of this relates to the laws found in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Physiology etc.
This fact is clear from the Quran, at times Allah instructs man to read his spiritual signs in creation, “Therein lie portents for those who read the signs” (al-mutawassimin) (15:75), at other times He asks man to read his scientific signs in creation, “Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean (buoyancy) for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah Sends down from the skies (behaviour of weather), and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead (soil health); in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth (zoology); in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they Trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth (atmospheric pressure);- (Here) indeed are Signs (scientific knowledge) for a people that are wise (those interested in more than just eating and procreation).”(2:164)
While there are signs for people who are Muhsinoon, those pure and can understand the spiritual world, the kind of signs mentioned in 2:164 are for people who are wise and know science.
“Our Lord! send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse Thy Signs (in the Universe) to them and instruct them in scripture (spiritual life) and wisdom (how to understand the world), and sanctify (purify) them (from what harms them in life): For Thou art the Exalted in Might, the Wise.”(2:192)
It was the prophets role to teach people about all aspects of creation including science, “A similar (favour have ye already received) in that We have sent among you a Messenger of your own, rehearsing to you Our Signs (all the different kinds), and purifying you, and instructing you in Scripture and Wisdom, and in new knowledge.”(2:151)
The second instruction Allah revealed after the very first revelation to “Iqra” (Read), was, read the signs in the name of your Lord who is the Creator, and the first sign Allah taught His messenger (saws) was regarding human Physiology, that man had been created from “allaq” (a clot or germ cell or something that clings, this is the Quran’s descriptive imagery).
If we take the words in the verse “Bismi Rabika” (in the name of your Lord) it is the same as saying Bismi-llah (in the name of Allah) with the difference being the emphasis on Allah being our Rabb (Lord).
“The term bismillah, is a combination of three words”
1. “The particle “bi” which can mean “by”, “for”, “with the aid of”, “through” or “by means of” and points toward that which happens next”.
2. The next word in this phrase is “ism” (name), based on it’s root s-m-w or a-s-m, which indicates the manner by which something is distinguished, whether by use of an identifying mark, or by being raised up high so that it may be distinguished, and would include a name, reputation, even a light or vibration, and points toward the very essence of the thing, the inherent qualities and signs of it’s existence and it’s underlying reality.
3. “The ending of the term is the word Allah, which is the Arabic name of the One. The Semitic roots of the word Allah extend back several thousand years to the Canaanite Elat, Hebrew El and Elohim, and Aramaic Alaha. These roots point toward unity, oneness, the eternal power which includes all of existence and of non-existence. In modern English this would generally be translated as God (which is old English, likely based on the Sanskrit word hu, meaning that which is worshipped, honored or adored)”.
Using these basic roots, the term “bismillah” in the Name of Allah may be translated as:
- By means of the very essence of God
- For the glory of our Creator
- With the light of the One
- With the guidance of The Divine
- As an instrument of the One
- In harmony with Divine Presence
The central idea is that whatever we do, every action that we take, every breath that we breathe, is done for, because of, and through the essence of the One who has created us, the idea of pronouncing the bismillah is to focus the self on Allah before we take any action, and so we are mindful of Him throughout it and ultimately our life. This is also spiritually true because the heart of man finds comfort in the remembrance of the creator, and the heart of man shapes his mind and perception of the world so pronouncing the bismillah benefits man psycholgicaly.
The instruction to, “Read the Signs in the name of your Lord who has Created you”, means to read the signs By means of the very essence of Allah who is the creator, since creation itself is a metaphor for Allah’s qualities.
In pronouncing the “bismillah” before any action we take in life it also means we are now doing that action in the path of Allah and through His protection and guidance, this is what it means to invoke the name of Allah over something, you ask Him to watch over you from the unseen harms in the Universe.
We must do what ever we need to, to perceive His signs by any means, Allah commanded this asked from mankind because it will bring us closer to him.
Allah says in the Qur’an;
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
“You who have iman! (Faith) have taqwa (awareness) of Allah and seek the means of drawing near to Him (al Wasila), and do jihad (struggle to come closer by purifying your selves) in His Way, so that hopefully you will be successful”(5:35).
The word Jihad means to struggle for something and Here Allah is telling us to do Jihad an nafs (Jihad of the self) and struggle to discover the way and means to approach him in life, He is instructing us to explore, discover, learn and establish the ways of Approach to Him in creation.
The Ummah (muslim nation) did exactly this at the beginning of Islam by outlining and defining the science of Ihsan, Human Perfection through tasaawwuf (sufism), and the steps needed to achieve this. Islamic Arab society began with the backdrop of an ancient savage world it had now become a society that focused on perfecting the self and could work to understand the mysteries of the Universe, a society that is depraved and in chaos can not appreciate the need to study nature and the universe, and so this is what Abu Huraira (ra) meant when he said “Allah’s Apostle has left the world and now you, people, are bringing out those treasures” the treasures are science and knowledge.
The first step is to focus the self on the creator, “seek the means of drawing near to Him”, so it is done by the acts that draw you closer to Him, Ibadah (worship), opening our perception of Him will make us ponder over His creation. Today we are bombarded with science but for most of mans time on earth this was not the case, Allah sent us these instructions 1400 years so we could reach the point in time we are now in, a time when we know most things in His Universe.
Imam Ibn Kathir wrote in his Tafsir regarding this verse, Ibn `Abbas said that the word “Wasilah” means ‘the means of approach’. Mujahid, Abu Wa’il, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, `Abdullah bin Kathir, As-Suddi, Ibn Zayd and others gave the same meaning for Wasilah.
Qatadah said that the Ayah means, “Seek the means of approach to Him by obeying Him and performing the acts (in life) that please Him” (not simply worship alone).
أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَى رَبِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ
“Those whom they call upon (themselves) seek a means of access to their Lord (Allah)”.(17:57) “Some humans used to worship the Jinn (devils), then those Jinn themselves became Muslim and (sought a Wasilah to Allah), but the humans adhered to their religion (of worshipping the Jinn).’’
“Wasilah is a means of approach to achieve something, and it is also used to refer to the highest grade in Paradise (which tells us the significance of finding a wasilah to Allah), and it is also the grade of the Messenger of Allah, his residence and the nearest grade in Paradise to Allah’s Throne.” (Tafsri Ibn kathir, 5:35, 17:57)
The Rank of the prophet (saws) is called al Maqam al Mahmood, it is the messengers (saws) grade as the wasillah (connection) to Allah for us, and only one Human being can be given that rank, the one who would achieve the most nearness to Allah in life.
Allah was telling His prophet (saws) and us that the signs in creation can be read if we draw closer to him by acts of Ibadah (worship) and other acts that please him in life like seeking knowledge.
An Idiom is an expression that cant be understood from the meanings of its different words, but has a separate meaning of its own when those words are combined, “The phrase “In the name of” is an idiom having the connotation of “with the blessings of”, “under the governance of”, “as an instrument of”, “in devotion to”, “in adoration of”, “on behalf of”, “with the support of”, “or for the glory of”. In each of these cases, the idiom “In the name of” indicates that one is submitting to, honouring or glorifying that thing which is being referred to”.
So to “Read (Iqra) in the Name of your Lord” is an instruction on how to find a Wasila (means) to read the signs of the Creator, this is through our coming closer to him by worshiping him because worship opens and directs the senses to Allah and His creation.
The first sign that Allah intended for us to learn about was Physiology, the human body and how it was created, He then intended for us to discover and learn about the different systems of the human body, and to learn about all the signs in creation through both physical and spiritual means. The proof of this is in the fact Allah taught this lesson to His messenger by spiritual means but then instructed Him to look for the physical (scientific) signs in the universe.
Rasul Allah (saws) found His wasila (means) to Allah in the cave of hira, after his meditation and contemplation Allah looked at Him and said “And, indeed, in time will thy Sustainer grant thee [what thy heart desires], and thou shalt be well-pleased. Has He not found thee an orphan, and given thee shelter? And found thee lost on thy way, and guided thee? And found thee in want, and given thee sufficiency?”(93:5-8).
“He found you without knowledge of your own worth, so He made you aware of your great worth. He found you erring away from [understanding] the implications (maʿānī) of [Allah’s] affection (maḥḍ mawadda) for you, so He gave you to drink of the draught of His affection in the cup of His love. Then He guided you to gnosis (maʿrifa) of Him and invested you with the robe of His prophethood and His messengership, that He might guide [you] by them to proximity (qurb) with Him, and to His unicity (waḥdāniyya).(Tafsir al Tustari, 93:7)