The Poor-Man's Guide to Modernity - Independent Media Center

human faculties and why both are necessary to human wisdom and spiritual learning, see the
essay [2] Morality derived from the Intellect leads to Enslavement!. The report [3] Islam: Why is
the Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack? Part-II further dwells upon this bifurcation of left and right
half brain and what the language of the intellect (verses like 67:3-4 see discussion below), and
the language of the heart (verses like those quoted above), respectively speak to in the context
of the overarching spiritual teachings of the Holy Qur'an (such as in verse 20:114 discussed
below). One without the other is at best one-eyed! More often, usually blind. This is why the
Holy Qur'an refers to this spiritual condition in similitudes like: “on the hearts there are
locks” and “Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a
covering.”
This is also a common topic of exposition by genuine scholars of Islam but it has been
relegated to dusty old books in local languages which few ordinary people read. The advent of
the internet has made at least some of these works accessible to anyone today and there is
hardly any excuse for the lack of commonsense on how to sensibly study the Holy Qur'an. [4]
That's the cleansed heart metaphor – inter alia, a genuine desire to learn using all human
faculties at our disposal. Whereas anyone may pick up a copy of the Qur'an, read it, torch it,
defecate on it, shoot at it, and of course, even recite it in in the most surreal and melodious of
incantations that is prized by all Muslims worldwide. The cleansed heart is an empirical
demand not just of the Author of the Holy Qur'an to those who seek its teaching, but also of
rational commonsense.
Don't bring perceptual, ingrained, residual, or
prejudicial biases to reading any book or else
you won't comprehend the complete message
that was put in the book by its author. You'll
only get what you want to hear, believe, or
argue to serve your own narrow interests!
That's how fine literature is supposed to be
read, argued, and enjoyed – using one's own
interpretation and imagination. A fine book of
poetry or allegorical fiction can reasonably
mean different things to different people – and
they can argue about it all day if they like
without loss of sensibilities.
The Poor-Man's Guide to Modernity 175 / 334 Zahir Ebrahim