Jewels of Qur'an Series: Surah Al Balad

Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

In the Series of Key Qur’an talks the focus of this discourse is Surah Al Balad – ‘The City’. In Arabic the word for city, connotes town or country – every human is a city, containing multitudes of interactions and connections at numerous levels. Shaykh Fadhlalla highlights how Qur’anic interpretation is classically divided into four categories. In order to be appropriately nourished, the full package of the path needs to put together, prepared and imbibed. We are inheritors of the gifts of prophetic light and manner of conduct as to how to be more in tune with the cosmic light. The Qur’an is a multi - layered manual and needs to be approached appropriately. Al Balad provides a map of human cosmology. Important topics include: Human weakness, frailty and transformation, awakening to perpetual presence, the constant interplay between self and soul. We are all challenged as to how to rise above our enslavement to attachments, desires and illusions. The key message of this discourse is the unfolding of knowledge and wisdom that connects heavens and earth.