التَّأوِيلُ الإِسمَاعِيلِيُّ لِلنُّجُوم — النُّجُومُ فِي التَّأوِيل: كَيفَ تُقرَأُ [وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ النُّجُومَ لِتَهتَدُوا بِهَا فِي ظُلُمَاتِ البَرِّ وَالبَحرِ] فِي 6:97 فِي التَّأوِيلِ الإِسمَاعِيلِيِّ
In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Nujum (النُّجُوم — Stars; sing. najm; from *n-j-m*: to appear at intervals, to emerge — najm = star, plant, that which appears; and najama = to spring up, to appear; al-nujum = the stars [pl.]; also: 53:1 'by the star when it sets' — Surah al-Najm [the Star]; the Quranic verses on stars as guides: [1] 6:97: 'wa-huwa alladhi ja'ala lakumu al-nujuma litahtadu biha fi zulumati al-barri wa-l-bahr' [And it is He who made for you the stars that you might be guided by them in the darknesses of the land and sea]; [2] 16:16: 'wa-'alamatin wa-bi-l-najmi hum yahtadun' [And by landmarks — and by the stars they are guided]; [3] 15:16-18: 'wa-laqad ja'alna fi al-sama' buruja wa-zayyannaha li-l-nazirina wa-hafaznaha min kulli shaytanin rajim' [And indeed We have placed constellations in the sky and adorned it for the beholders — and We have guarded it from every rejected devil]; [4] 55:6: 'wa-l-najmu wa-l-shajaru yasjudan' [and the star and the tree prostrate themselves]; [5] 53:1-2: 'wa-l-najmi idha hawa ma dalla sahibukum wa-ma ghawa' [By the star when it sets — your companion has not strayed, nor has he erred]; the cosmological function of stars in the Quran: the Quran consistently uses stars in three roles: [a] as navigational guides — travelers use stars to find direction in the darkness of sea and land; [b] as celestial adornment — God beautified the sky with stars; [c] as guards — the stars guard the heavens against devils [67:5 'and We adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them projectiles against the devils']; all three roles have Ismaili ta'wil significance; Ismaili ta'wil of al-Nujum: [1] stars as da'wa officers [awliya']: the stars' primary ta'wil function is as da'wa officers — the Imam's awliya', hujjas, and da'is who guide believers through the 'darkness' of batin-ignorance toward the Imam's ta'wil-light; the navigational function [6:97 — guided in the darkness of land and sea] corresponds precisely to the da'is' function: guiding seekers through the darkness of worldly ignorance toward the batin-truth; [2] the hadith 'my companions are like stars': the Prophetic hadith 'ashabi ka-l-nujum — ayyahum iqtadaytum ihtadaytum' [My Companions are like stars — whichever of them you follow, you will be guided] is a classic reference for the guidance function of the awliya'; in Ismaili ta'wil, 'companions' [ashab] includes not just the historical Companions but the ongoing chain of awliya' in every age — the Imam's current authorized da'is; [3] 15:16-18 — stars as guards against devils: the stars that guard the heaven against rejected devils [shayatin rujum] = the da'wa's doctrinal guardianship; the 'devil' [shaytan] who tries to 'overhear the heavenly assembly' = the uninitiated who tries to gain batin-knowledge without bay'ah; the da'is/awliya' as stars 'guard' the batin knowledge from those who would misuse it; [4] 53:1 'by the star when it sets' and the Imam's hujjah: Surah al-Najm opens with 'By the star when it sets — your companion has not strayed'; in Ismaili ta'wil, 'the star when it sets' = the hujjah who has completed his cycle of guidance; 'your companion has not strayed' = the Imam's authorized da'i does not err in transmitting ta'wil; [5] 55:6 'the star and the tree prostrate': the star prostrating to God = the awliya' submitting to the Imam's authority; the star-tree pairing [tree is rooted in earth, star is in heaven] = the batin-zahir complementarity of the da'wa's teaching; [6] the Pleiades ['Aqd al-Thurayya] and the constellation imagery: classical Ismaili texts use the Pleiades [Thurayya] as a constellation image of the da'wa hierarchy's structure — seven stars closely grouped = seven ranks of the da'wa) is the Quran's most sustained image of guidance through darkness.
Guidance Through Darkness
6:97 is precise: the stars exist “that you might be guided by them in the darknesses of the land and sea.” Darkness is the condition; the stars are the means of navigation through it. This is not decoration — the verse frames stars as instruments of purposeful guidance for those who do not otherwise know their way.
Ismaili ta’wil reads this consistently: the “darkness” (zulumat) is the darkness of batin-ignorance — the condition of a person who has not yet received ta’wil, who has only the zahir and cannot see the inner meanings of the Quran. The stars that guide through this darkness are the da’wa officers — the Imam’s awliya’, hujjas, and da’is — who illuminate the path to the Imam’s ta’wil-light.
The Guiding Companions
The Prophetic hadith “my Companions are like stars — whichever you follow, you will be guided” was controversial in its classical application (which Companions? all of them despite their disagreements?). In Ismaili ta’wil, the controversy dissolves: the “Companions” are the Imam’s authorized da’is in every age — the ongoing chain of awliya’ who transmit genuine bay’ah and ta’wil. There is no confusion about which ones to follow: the authorized hierarchy, with the living Imam at its summit, resolves the question.
Stars as Guards
15:16-18’s image of stars as guards against devils is one of the Quran’s stranger astronomical passages — the stars as projectiles against eavesdropping devils who try to listen to “the heavenly assembly.” In Ismaili ta’wil: the batin-knowledge is guarded by the da’wa’s authorized structure. The “devil” who tries to overhear the heavenly assembly is the uninitiated person who seeks batin-knowledge without proper bay’ah — and the da’is, like stars, guard this knowledge from misappropriation.
See also: Ismaili Cosmology Hudud Al Din, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation, Bayah And Walayah, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Layl Wal Nahar, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Malak