Ismaili Ta'wil of al-Kalima — The Word: How 14:24-27 ('Have You Not Considered How God Set Forth a Parable — A Good Word [Kalima Tayyiba] Is Like a Good Tree, Its Root Firm and Its Branches in the Sky — It Gives Its Fruit Every Season by Permission of Its Lord — and a Bad Word [Kalima Khabitha] Is Like a Bad Tree, Uprooted From the Ground, Having No Stability'), 3:45 (Jesus as 'a Word From God'), and 36:82 ('Kun Fa-Yakun — Be! and It Is') Are Read in Ismaili Ta'wil as the Kalima Tayyiba Being the Imam's Living Ta'wil and the Kalima Khabitha Being Zahiri-Only Practice Without Batin-Walayah

In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Kalima (الكَلِمَة — The Word; from *k-l-m*: to speak, to address; kalima = a word, an utterance, a statement; kalam = speech, discourse; the Quran's use of kalima: al-kalima in Quranic usage refers to: [a] a divine utterance or decree [the word of God]; [b] a profession of faith or statement; [c] in 3:45, Jesus is described as 'kalimatan minhu' [a word from God] — this is one of Islam's most distinctive Christological claims; [d] in 14:24-27, the kalima tayyiba [good word] and kalima khabitha [bad word] are used in an elaborate parable; the key verses: [1] 14:24-27: 'alam tara kayfa daraba Allahu mathalan kalimatan tayyibatan ka-shajaratin tayyibah — asluha thabitun wa-far'uha fi al-sama' — tu'ti ukulaha kulla hinin bi-idhni rabbiha — wa-yadribu Allahu al-amthala li-l-nasi la'allahum yatadhakkarun — wa-mathal kalimatin khabithatin ka-shajaratin khabithah — ijtutthat min fawqi al-ardi ma laha min qararr' [Have you not considered how God set forth a parable: a good word [kalima tayyiba] is like a good tree — its root firm and its branches in the sky — it gives its fruit every season by permission of its Lord — and God sets forth parables for people so that they may take heed — and the parable of a bad word [kalima khabitha] is like a bad tree, uprooted from the ground, having no stability]; [2] 3:45: 'ya Maryamu inna Allaha yubashshiruki bi-kalimatin minhu ismuhu al-Masih 'Isa ibn Maryam' [O Mary, indeed God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him — his name is the Messiah Jesus son of Mary]; [3] 36:82: 'innama amruhu idha arada shay'an an yaqula lahu kun fa-yakunu' [His command, when He wills a thing, is only that He says to it 'Be!' and it is]; [4] 9:40: 'wa-ja'ala kalimata alladhina kafaru al-sufla wa-kalimat Allahi hiya al-'ulya' [and made the word of the disbelievers the lowest and God's word the highest]; [5] 2:37: 'fa-talaqa Adamu min rabbihi kalimatin fa-taba 'alayhi' [And Adam received words from his Lord and He turned to him — indeed He is the Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful]; the parable's structural elements: [a] kalima tayyiba [good word]: tree with firm root + branches in the sky + fruit every season; [b] kalima khabitha [bad word]: tree uprooted, no stability; [c] the root [asl]: the foundation, the ground of being; [d] the branches [far']: the extension into the sky, the upward reach; [e] the fruit [ukul]: the ongoing produce, the seasonal output; Ismaili ta'wil of al-Kalima: [1] kalima tayyiba as the Imam's living ta'wil: the kalima tayyiba = the Imam's ta'wil — the living, active, ongoing word of God transmitted through the Imam's authorized da'wa; 'its root firm' = the Imam's chain of walayah rooted in the Prophet and 'Ali and the Imams before; 'its branches in the sky' = the da'wa hierarchy reaching up through the cosmological levels; 'it gives fruit every season' = the Imam's ta'wil continues to produce batin-fruit [wisdom, guidance, spiritual development] in every era, every prophetic cycle; [2] kalima khabitha as zahiri-only practice: the kalima khabitha = zahiri religious practice without batin-walayah — an uprooted tree with no stability; the 'uprooting' = disconnection from the chain of walayah; a religion practiced without connection to the Imam's living ta'wil is 'uprooted from the ground' — it has no continuous root in the prophetic succession; it produces no lasting spiritual fruit; [3] 3:45 — Jesus as a Word from God: Jesus described as 'a Word from God' [kalimatan minhu] = the Imam-prophet function in the Ismaili cycle; the Prophet-Imam who is God's 'Word' in the sense of being the living embodiment of the divine message for their era; in Ismaili cosmology, each cycle's prophet/Imam is a divine 'word' sent into history; [4] 9:40 — God's word highest, disbelievers' word lowest: in Ismaili ta'wil, God's word [kalimat Allah] = the Imam's ta'wil and walayah; the word of the 'disbelievers' [al-ladhina kafaru] = zahiri-only practice that rejects the Imam's batin; the cosmic competition between kalimat Allah and the kafirin's word is the competition between walayah and its rejection; [5] 2:37 — Adam's received words as ta'wil: 'Adam received words from his Lord and He accepted his repentance' = Adam's re-entry into walayah through the divine words; in Ismaili ta'wil: every mu'min who receives the Imam's ta'wil through bay'ah recapitulates Adam receiving the divine kalima — the words that restored his relationship with God) is Ismaili ta'wil's most botanically ramified image.