Source: http://untiredwithloving.org/aya.html

Aya means signpost, sign, token, in general ‘distinction mark’.

Ta’Ayya something means to discern something or distinguish something.

Aya of a man is when he is distinguished from other men (imagine man approaching you in a crowd).

Ayy could be used for amazement when reading Ayy :

31:34 Verily the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone!!!!!) … Nor does any Nafs (Self) knows in Ayy what land she is to die!!!!! Verily with Allah is full knowledge and He is acquainted (with all things!!!!!!!).

Aya of Allah means the bewildering enchantments about Allah that amaze:

41:53 Soon will We show them our Signs (pl. Aya) in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?

Irfan (Noesis, knowledge without learning)

We only understand our surroundings and ideas, always, by something pointing at something else or our Self pointing at something else or something else pointing at our own Self:

Q: What is Ishāri (Vectorial) Tafsir (Exegesis)?
A: Sufis had adopted an indirect technique to elucidate the Divine Words free of direct verbal explanations, and its origin can be traced to Maryam Virgin Mother of Jesus peace be upon them both:

19:29. Fa (Therefore) She Ishārat (Pointed) at he  (the newborn father-less Prophet when was questioned about the baby).

فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ

Remark: Fa is used as a subsequent event caused by something earlier, something amazing happened to Mary, and the only action she could take to express anything about it was by pointing. Removal of Fa removes the entanglement with the past event and therefore lack of Ishara.

And again:

3:45 Behold! the angels said: “O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Kalima (Word) from Hu: his name Christ Jesus, the son of Mary

إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ

Putting the two together: Mary pointed at the Divine Word without herself explaining anything, the act of pointing brought about the explanation, indirectly, from the Divine Source not from Mary.

If you see something perplexing and extraordinary in the sky, you hurriedly point at it and at most you might utter: Look! or That! or There! While, at loss with words, your hand and pointing-finger stretches towards the fascinating object. The latter is the nature of Ishāri (Vectorial) Tafsir (Exegesis).

In absence of such gripping astonishment there is no ‘pointing’ and thus no Ishāri (Vectorial) Tafsir (Exegesis)!

Remark: As a physicist or engineer writes equations and numbers that express the structure of the world we live in, the breathing processes and the sounds/phonemes of our speech can also be used to describe the nature of the universe and its creation! The former is ‘equational’ while the latter is homomorphic i.e. like an acoustic projection rendering same-ness of structures free of equations.

© 2015-2002,  Dara O Shayda