One of my most memorable lessons from my grandmother was the teaching of this surah. She made me memorize it and the minute I arrived at her house. she would recite and I would follow, then she made me laugh by making her tongue into a taco! This surah was so important to her and she was absolutely adamant about me committing it to memory, she told me to recite it over and over every day, as many times as I could. She also said that in times of trouble or deep despair, that I was to recite this Surah and rest in the knowledge that He is Allah, He is One. As a 10 year old, the only thing I really wanted to do was to please my grandmother, so I did as she instructed and throughout my life through joy and sorrow, this Surah has been with me. Always.
Much later in life, as I began to study formally about Islam, I came across many interesting tafsirs about this Surah that my grandmother had taught me. But the one tafsir that was so profound, that as I was reading it, I felt the strings of the deepest part of me were being plucked was Ibn al-Arabi's metaphysical exposition.
The common translated names for this Surah are the surah of purity, fidelity or sincerity. It is also known as the surah Al-Tauhid and plays a significant role in the metaphysics of Ibn al-/Arabi. Perhaps because it refers to the absolute Oneness of God. One blogger had this to say about Ibn al-'Arabi's tenderings of this Surah and I quote:
"This very short surah might be considered the basis of Islamic metaphysics. Certainly for Ibn ‘Arabi, it is tremendously important, and he had a vision in which it was given to him as a special gift. Indeed, we can see it as containing the seed of his whole, vast exposition on the metaphysics of being..."
You will find the blog at https://ibnarabi360.wordpress.com/tag/ikhlas/
The gist of it is this, my grandmother taught me much more than just a Surah, she taught me faith, and the importance of having a sense of humor. Life is hard enough as it is, and these two lessons have stayed with me all these years. May Allah bless my grandmother, Hadiana Nasiboe Roespinoedji, who rests in the eternal abode of the One.
