Our aim is not to create an exegesis of the Qur’an but to allow you, the reader, the thinker, the wonderer, the beautiful, to feel connected with yourself and the world around you. Only then will you know your Lord. Using the principle of correspondence, our aim is to build a personal relationship between the soul and the universe, with words or phrases acting as indications or allusions to matters that the soul and the universe know of; as references to what the universe wishes to disclose to the soul.

These teachings of the principle of correspondence is based on Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq (Imam in Arabic meaning Guidance) from his Tafsir which is like no other.

For those who know, Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (born and died in the city of Madinah 8th century) brings the Muslim world together. He is the fifth-generation grandson to the Prophet Muhammad, the sixth Imam for Shi’a Ithna’ashari Muslims, the last Imam for most Ismaili Muslims, found in the lineage of most Sufi Muslim orders, teacher to Abu Hanafi who later became the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of thought, influenced the Sunni Maliki school of thought and also the teacher to the alchemist Jabir b. Hayyan who later became the founder for alchemy in the Arab world.

"In the opening citation of the tafsir, the following is related from Jafar al-Sadiq: ‘The Book of God has four things: literal expression (ibarah), allusion (isharah), subtleties (lata'if), and the deepest realities (haqa'iq). The literal expression is for the commonalty (awamm), the allusion is for the elite (khawdas), the subtleties are for the friends (of God) (awliya), and the deepest realities are for the prophets (anbiya) Allusion (isharah), subtlety (latifah), and reality (haqiqah) define the different levels of interpretive comments contained in the tafsir Ja’far, and place the reading of this commentary on the spiritual register"

 (Farhana Mayer: Spiritual Gems, p.xxxi, 2011)

Our teachings within this website are based on and credited to the book:

Spiritual Gems: The Mystical Qur’an Commentary Ascribed to Jafar al-Sadiq 

as contained in Sulamls Haqaiq al-Tafsir from the text of Paul Nwyia

Translated and Annotated: Farhana Mayer

An extract from Spiritual Gems reads:

Spiritual Gems has been written as a work of engaged scholarship. As well as containing the translation, it is an exposition of the commentary. This book should be read on a spiritual register. Though it is clothed in Muslim garments, the wisdom is universal. The truths appearing here in Quranic and Islamic form are to be found in all traditions within their diverse forms. This wisdom and these truths are shared with all readers, in this book and in its companion volumes. Among the readers will be some who will smile with quiet recognition; some who are overwhelmed, at least initially, but who persevere; some who will baulk heavily and who should perhaps set this aside. And there will also be those who immediately taste the dew upon their lips, maybe not for the first time, and who respond to the gentle, beckoning caress, the soft, silent swirl of the holy mist of Gods peace and set forth, walking with God, towards the unimaginably beautiful and peaceful, the indescribably loving and lovable.