Ibn ‘Arabi: Plunge into the Qur’an
Concerning the hadith:The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “The Qur’an was revealed according to seven [ways of reading the] words (aḥruf), for every word of those words, there is an outer and inner [dimension]; and for every word there is border (or limit/ḥadd) and for every border there is a place of awareness or ascent (muṭtalaʿ).
Al-Munāwī in his commentary on the hadith quotes Ibn ʿArabī, “Plunge into the ocean of the exalted Qurʾān, if your self is expansive (in kunta wāsiʿa al-nafsi). Otherwise, restrict yourself to studying the books of commentators on its exoteric dimension (li-zāhirihi) and do not plunge [into it], lest you become annihilated since indeed the Qur’an’s ocean is deep. Were it not for the fact that the diver sets out for places that are near the shoreline, he would never emerge [and return] to you. So the prophets and [their] inheritors who preserve [traditional wisdom] are those who set out for these places [close to the shoreline], out of mercy for the world.””
But as for those who [plunge in and] keep going (wāqifūna), those who reach (wasalu) [the depths], hold on, and are not turned back; neither does anyone derive benefit from them, nor do they derive benefit from anyone. So they have set out–ather, they have been driven to set out–into the midst of the ocean. So they plunge in and will never emerge, even until eternity-after-time.” (Al-Munāwī, Fayḍ al-qadīr fī sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, vol. 3, p. 55; Futuhat, ed. Sultan al-Mansub, section on ma’rift lam alif: لا , v. 1, p. 269).
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Suyūṭī regarded this hadith as being “virtuous” (ḥasan), although al-Albani, the controversial 20th century hadith critic, regarded is as being “weak.” Numerous Qur’an commentators of different perspectives, such as Tabari (not simply Sufi commentators) included this hadith in their commentaries.
Here is the Arabic directly from Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futuhat:
فاغطس في بحر القرآن العزيز إن كنت واسع النفس وإلا فاقتصر على مطالعة كتب المفسرين لظاهره ولا تغطس فتهلك فإنّ بحر القرآن عميق ولولا الغاطس ما يقصد منه المواضع القريبة من الساحل ما خرج لكم أبداً فالأنبياء والورثة الحفظة هم الذين يقصدون هذه المواضع رحمة بالعالم وأما الواقفون الذين وصلوا ومسكوا ولم يردوا ولا انتفع بهم أحد ولا انتفعوا بأحد فقصد وابل قصد بهم ثبج البحر فغطسوا إلى الأبد لا يخرجون