Book Review: Spiritual Quest: Reflections on Quranic Prayer According to the Teachings of Imam Ali by Reza Shah-Kazemi

The Quran holds a very central position in Islam. Throughout centuries it has been recited by Muslims. This monograph is a contemporary insight into the spiritual, intellectual and moral dynamics set in motion by the short Quranic chapters. Shah-Kazemi bases his own philosophical reflections on the teachings of Imam Ali. He focuses on the moral and the mystical aspects of the texts. 

The authors stresses on the need to acknowledge religious diversity. According to the author Hazrat Imam Ali urges ‘each Muslim not to remain content at this level, but to penetrate into the depths of meaning, the batin, or ‘inwardly hidden’, doing so by means of that mode of esoteric interpretation, ta’wil, for which he was renowned’ (p. 5). 

Discussing Surat al-Maun the author states that ‘the integrity and the authenticity of one’s prayer is thus inextricable from virtue. Without the practice of virtue, one’s formal worship is deprived of sincerity, it is thus that one who prays, and is heedless of his prayers, is described as one who belies religion, who violates the integrity of al-din, insofar as he ruptures the nexus between faith and virtue’ (p. 90). Regarding Surat al-Ikhlas, the author mentions the prophet who had referred to the Sura as being the equivalent of one-third of the entire Quran (p. 95). This book can be helpful to anyone interested in knowing the deeper meanings of the different Surahs of the Quran.