"Moses said unto him, 'Shall I follow thee, that thou mightest teach me some of that which thou hast been taught of sound judgment?' He said, 'Truly thou wilt not be able to bear patiently with me. And how canst thou bear patiently that which thou dost not encompass in awareness?' He said, 'Thou wilt find me patient, if God wills, and I shall not disobey thee in any matter.'"
Quran 18:66-69
We're continuing our discussion of surah 18, al-Kahf, "The Cave," which I've admitted is one of my favorite surahs in the Quran. Again, as I've also admitted, I suppose one shouldn't actually admit to having a favorite divine revelation, but, as I've attempted to do from the beginning of this nearly year-long venture, I've tried my best to be honest - while also reminding folks that this is my own personal reflection, and that I don't speak for anyone other than myself. Here we have a continuation of the discussion between Moses and Khidr (the "Green One") which will dominate the next several days, inshallah, of the blog. To an outsider it seems strange for many reasons, initially, as we discussed, because if you know nothing about Islam you might be surprised that Moses is in the Quran (although, as we know, Moses is mentioned more often in the Quran than any other prophet). It might also seems strange that Moses is taking a seemingly subservient position in the discussion" "Shall I follow thee, that thou mightest teach me some of that which thou hast been taught of sound judgment?" The simplest answer is to point out that Moses and Khidr represent two separate concepts: the former might be considered to possess exoteric knowledge and the latter possesses esoteric knowledge. God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses, whereas, again drawing from Nasr, for Khidr, "It is an esoteric knowledge of the inner realities of things and of universal truths revealed directly to him." (p. 753) Essentially, Moses recognizes that Khidr knows things that haven't been revealed to him and he wants to learn from him. That said, Khidr lets him (and us) know that it will not be that simple, which we'll see in the upcoming days. Nevertheless, Moses promises to be patient.
Quran 18:66-69
We're continuing our discussion of surah 18, al-Kahf, "The Cave," which I've admitted is one of my favorite surahs in the Quran. Again, as I've also admitted, I suppose one shouldn't actually admit to having a favorite divine revelation, but, as I've attempted to do from the beginning of this nearly year-long venture, I've tried my best to be honest - while also reminding folks that this is my own personal reflection, and that I don't speak for anyone other than myself. Here we have a continuation of the discussion between Moses and Khidr (the "Green One") which will dominate the next several days, inshallah, of the blog. To an outsider it seems strange for many reasons, initially, as we discussed, because if you know nothing about Islam you might be surprised that Moses is in the Quran (although, as we know, Moses is mentioned more often in the Quran than any other prophet). It might also seems strange that Moses is taking a seemingly subservient position in the discussion" "Shall I follow thee, that thou mightest teach me some of that which thou hast been taught of sound judgment?" The simplest answer is to point out that Moses and Khidr represent two separate concepts: the former might be considered to possess exoteric knowledge and the latter possesses esoteric knowledge. God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses, whereas, again drawing from Nasr, for Khidr, "It is an esoteric knowledge of the inner realities of things and of universal truths revealed directly to him." (p. 753) Essentially, Moses recognizes that Khidr knows things that haven't been revealed to him and he wants to learn from him. That said, Khidr lets him (and us) know that it will not be that simple, which we'll see in the upcoming days. Nevertheless, Moses promises to be patient.
No comments:
Post a Comment