Ta Ha

Alchemy of the Soul

The transformative power of the religion only begins with the testimony of faith. 

When Umar (ra) the then arch enemy of the faith set out to murder Muhammed (saw) he was told that he should see to his own household first, for unbeknownst to him his sister had entered the religion. 

After aggressively slapping her, he felt remorse and asked for her to read what Muhammed (saw) had been sent. 

She read the first verses of Surah Taha, and later Umar said that it was as if the revelation had been revealed just for him. 

It spoke directly to him. 

TaHa

We have not revealed unto you this Quran that you should be distressed by it. 

But as a reminder unto him who fears. 

A revelation from the Creator of the earth and the high heavens. 

The most merciful who is established on the throne (of authority). 

To Him belong all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and whatever is between them and whatever is beneath the soil. 

And if you pronounce the word aloud (or keep it hidden, then it matters not), for to Him belongs the knowledge of what you keep secret, and what is still more hidden. 

Allah, there is no god but He, and to Him belong the most beautiful names. *1

Why did these verses have such a transformative effect on Umar (ra)?

For he was a man of a single heart,  not devious, nor cunning but simply true to whatever he believed to be true. 

And he had seen and worried about the new faith, that it had set father against son, son against father and brother against brother. 

And this discord within his community was a source of dismay and distress to him. 

So much so that it was the very reason that he had wanted to end it by ending the Messengers life. 

So with the first line of TaHa it was as if this pain that he was feeling was being directly addressed: that Truth is simply that, even that is when it distresses people it still remains true. 

And the clarity, simplicity and beauty of the message made it an evident truth. 

And then the decisiveness of the judgment was made clear ... it does not matter whether you declare its truth or not, for Allah knows what you keep secret and those things that are still more hidden in you. Then should you not submit your will to the One who knows you better than you know yourself?

Umar (ra) set out with loosened sword to kill the Messenger (saw), and ended up on that same day bearing witness to his truth and the Oneness of God. 

Indeed the revelation of the Quran is a psychological manual on many levels. 

Indeed when we read the battle of Uhud in the historical account given by the Seerah and then compare it to the account given in the revelation then we see a disparity. 

Unlike other revelations given to other prophets which were in essence prophesies of the future, the revelation of the Quran (like in the Uhud example above) occurred after the fact. 

It is as if God is teaching us that things happen, but what is more important than the fact of the happening is your interpretation of what happened. 

It is what you decide to take from it, and how you remember it, that can act as a positive spur for you to go on from there. 

At Uhud the Messenger (saw) and the Muslims were defeated. 

And yet the Messenger (saw) said of Uhud that it is like a mountain of gold for the believers. 

Who other than a Messenger could have said such words?

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not lecture, nor talks, nor this above. 

*1 Ibn Ishaq tells us that it was recited to verse 14- Verily I am Allah, there is no God but me, so serve me only, and establish regular prayer to remember me. However the words establish prayer belong at earliest to a late Meccan period.