“Why?”“SinceAllāhhasdecreedintheQur'ān,‘Andthattheplacesofsajdah
areforAllāh.’(72:18)thatisthesevenplacesofthebody[whichtouches
the ground in prostration],... ... .. so they should not be cut off.”
All those present accepted and were satisfied with his proof.
ThiskindofinterpretationisinfactinterpretationoftheQur'ānbythe
Qur'ān,andispeculiartotheAhlu'l-bayt(a.s.),andnoone,towhatever
degreehe maybe amaster of interpretation,is abletosucceedin per-
fectlyunderstandinginterpretationinthisway unlesshehas takenthe
lead from the Imams of the Ahlu 'l-bayt and has made them his example.
2.Whatwehavesaidaboveisonlyinregardtothecorrectinterpreta-
tionof theesotericmeaning andcommands oftheQur'ān.Butbeneath
theesotericwordsandmeaningsoftheQur'ān,thereareshadesandlay-
ersofspiritualmessageswhichcanonlybecorrectlyexplainedbyquali-
fiedguides.TheProphetofIslam(a.s.)said,“TheQur'ānhasabeautiful
outermeaning andaprofoundinnermeaning.”[12] He alsosaid,“The
Qur'ānhasprofundity,anditsprofundity isdeeptoo,uptoseveninner
layers.”[13]
Accordingtothegreatexegetists,theentireQur'ānhasahermeneutics
andan inner meaning to it, and to arriveat themby thought and re-
searchaloneisnotpossible.Itisnotexplicabletoallthroughwords,for
the ability to perceive and practice this is not given to all men. Only
thoseneartoGod,thepure,thosefreefrommoralcorruption,cancom-
prehendthis,anduseitforthesolutionofthedifferencesandincidents
betweenmen,andlearnit,andthen,byvirtueoftheimmunityfromer-
ror and mistake that they have from God, teach it to others.
Those who are spiritually near to God and free from error are the
ProphetandhisAhlu'l-baytaboutwhomtheQur'ānsays:Allahdesires
only to keepaway fromyou, Othe Ahlu 'l-bayt, abominationand to
cleanse you.(33:33)There is also a hadith which says that only the
Prophet and his Ahlu 'l-bayt can perceive all the truths of the
Qur'ān.[14] ThisimpliesthattheProphet(whowastherecipientofthe
Qur'ān)and hisAhlu 'l-bayt(who werehis closefamily-members)are
more acquainted with the meaning of the Qur'ān.