Western people look in a text for a meaning that is fully expressed and immediately intelligible, whereas Eastern peoples are lovers of verbal symbolism and read in depth. The words for them are reference points for a doctrine that is inexhaustible

One reason why Western people have difficulty in appreciating the Quran and have even many times questioned whether this book does contain the premises of a spiritual life lies in the fact that they look in a text for a meaning that is fully expressed and immediately intelligible, whereas Semites, and Eastern peoples in general, are

lovers of verbal symbolism and read in depth. The revealed phrase is for them an array of symbols from which more and more flashes of light shoot forth the further the reader penetrates into the spiritual geometry of the words: the words are reference points for a doctrine that is inexhaustible; the implicit meaning is everything, and the obscurities of the literal meaning are so many veils marking the majesty of the content.

 

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