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We are accustomed to reading books
which present information, ideas and arguments systematically and
coherently. So, when we embark on the study of the Qur'an, we expect that
this book too will revolve around a definite subject, that the subject
matter of the book will be clearly defined at the beginning and will then
be neatly divided into sections and chapters, after which discussion will
proceed in a logical sequence. We likewise expect a separate and systematic
arrangement of instruction and guidance for each of the various aspects of
human life.
However, as soon as we open the
Qur'an we encounter a hitherto completely unfamiliar genre of literature.
We notice that it embodies precepts of belief and conduct, moral directives,
legal prescriptions, exhortation and admonition, censure and condemnation
of evildoers, warnings to deniers of the Truth, good tidings and words of
consolation and good cheer to those who have suffered for the sake of God,
arguments and corroborative evidence in support of its basic message,
allusions to anecdotes from the past and to signs of God visible in the
universe. Moreover, these myriad subjects alternate without any apparent
system; quite unlike the books to which we are accustomed, the Qur'an deals
with the same subject over and over again, each time couched in a different
phraseology.
The reader also encounters abrupt
transitions between one subject matter and another. Audience and speaker
constantly change as the message is directed now to one and now to another
group of people. There is no trace of familiar division into chapters and
sections. Likewise, the treatment of different subjects is unique. If a
historical subject is raised, the narrative does not follow the pattern
familiar in historical accounts. In discussions of philosophical or
metaphysical questions, we miss the familiar expressions and terminology of
formal logic and philosophy. Cultural and political matters, or questions
pertaining to man's social and economic life, are discussed in a way very
different from that usual in works of social sciences. Juristic principles
and legal injunctions are elucidated, but quite differently from the manner
of conventional works. When we come across an ethical instruction, we find
its form differs entirely from anything to be found elsewhere in the
literature of ethics.
The reader may find all this so
foreign that his notion of what a book should be that he may become so
confused as to feel that the Qur'an is a piece of disorganized, incoherent
and unsystematic writing, comprising nothing but a disjointed
conglomeration of comments of varying lengths put together arbitrarily.
Hostile critics use this as a basis for their criticism, while those more
favorably inclined resort to far-fetched explanations, or else conclude
that the Qur'an consists of unrelated pieces, thus making it amenable to
all kinds of interpretations, even interpretations quite opposed to the
intent of God Who revealed the Book.
What kind of a book is the Qur'an?
In what manner was it revealed? What underlies its arrangement? What is the
subject? What is its true purpose? What is the central theme to which its
multifarious topics are intrinsically related? What kind of reasoning and
style does it adopt in elucidating its central theme? If we could obtain
clear, lucid answers to these and other related questions we might avoid
some dangerous pitfalls, thus making it easier to reflect upon and to grasp
that meaning and purpose of the Qur'anic verses. If we begin studying the
Qur'an in the expectation of reading a book on religion we shall find it
hard, since our notions of religion and of a book are naturally
circumscribed by our range of experience. We need, therefore, to be told in
advance that this Book is unique in the manner its composition, in its
theme and in its contents and arrangement. We should be forewarned that the
concept of a book which we have formed from our previous readings is likely
to be a hindrance, rather than a help, towards a deep understanding of the
Qur'an. We should realize that as a first step towards understanding it we
must disabuse our minds of all preconceived notions.
The student of the Qur'an should
grasp, from the outset, the fundamental claims that the Qur'an make for
itself. Whether one ultimately decides to believe in the Qur'an or not, one
must recognize the fundamental statements made by the Qur'an and the man to
whom it was revealed, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), to be the
starting point of one's study. These claims are:
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The Lord of the creation, the
Creator and Sovereign of the entire universe, created man on earth (which
is merely a part of His boundless realm). He also endowed man with the
capacity for cognition, reflection, and understanding, with the ability
to distinguish between good and evil, with the freedom of choice and
volition, and with the power to exercise his latent potentialities. In
short, God bestowed upon man a kind of autonomy and appointed him His
vicegerent on earth.
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2.
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Although man enjoys this status,
God made it abundantly plain to him that He alone is man's Lord and
Sovereign, even as He is the Lord and Sovereign of the whole universe.
Man was told that he was not entitled to consider himself independent and
that only God was entitled to claim absolute obedience, service and
worship. It was also make clear to man that life in this world, for which
he had been placed and invested with a certain honor and authority, was
in fact a temporary term, and was meant to test him; that after the end
of the earthly life man must return to God, who will judge him on the
basis of his performance, declaring who has succeeded and who has failed.
The right way for man is to
regard God as his only Sovereign and the only object of his worship and
adoration, to follow the guidance revealed by God, to act in this world
in the consciousness that earthly life is merely a period of trial, and
to keep his eyes fixed on the ultimate objective - success in God's final
judgment. Every other way is wrong.
It was also explained to man that
if he chose to adopt the right way of life - and in this choice he was
free - he would enjoy peace and contentment in this world and be
assigned, on his return to God the abode of eternal bliss and happiness
known as Paradise. Should man follow any other way - although he was free
to do so - he would experience the evil effects of corruption and
disorder in the life of this world and be consigned to eternal grief and
torment when he crossed the borders of the present world and arrived in the
Hereafter.
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Having explained all this, the
Lord of the universe placed man on earth and communicated to Adam and
Eve, the first human beings to live on the earth, the guidance which they
and their offspring were required to follow. These first human beings
were not born in a state of ignorance and darkness. On the contrary, they
began their life in the broad daylight of Divine Guidance. They had
intimate knowledge of reality and the Law which they were to follow was
communicated to them. Their way of life consisted of obedience of God
(i.e. Islam) and they taught their children to live in obedience to Him
(i.e. to live as Muslims)
In the course of time, however,
men gradually deviated from their true way of life and began to follow
various erroneous ways. They allowed true guidance to be lost through
heedlessness and negligence and sometimes, even deliberately, distorted
it out of evil perversity. They associated with God a number of beings,
human and non human, real as well as imaginary, and adored them as
deities. They adulterated the God-given knowledge of reality with all
kinds of fanciful ideas, superstitions and philosophical concepts,
thereby giving birth to innumerable religions. They disregarded or
distorted the sound and equitable principle of individual morality and of
collective conduct and made their own laws in accordance with their base
desires and prejudices. As a result, the world became filled with wrong
and injustice.
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It was insistent with the limited
autonomy conferred upon man by God that He should exercise His
overwhelming power and compel man to righteousness. It was also
inconsistent with the fact that God had granted a term to the human
species in which to show their worth that He should afflict men with
catastrophic destruction as soon as they showed signs of rebellion.
Moreover, God had undertaken from the beginning of creation that true
guidance would be made available to man throughout the term granted to
him and that his guidance would be available in a manner consistent with
man's autonomy. To fulfill this self-assumed responsibility God chose to
appoint those human beings whose faith in Him was outstanding and who
followed the way pleasing to Him. God choose these people to be His
envoys. He had His messages communicated to them, honored them with an
intimate knowledge of reality, provided them with the true laws of life
and entrusted them with the task of recalling man to the original path
from which he had strayed.
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These Prophets were sent to
different people in different lands and over a period of time covering
thousands and thousands of years. They all had the same religion; the one
originally revealed to man as the right way for him. All of them followed
the same guidance; those principles of morality and collective life
prescribed for man at the very outset of his existence. All these
Prophets had the same mission - to call man to his true religion and
subsequently to organize all who accepted this message into a community
which would be bounded by the Law of God, which would strive to establish
its observance and would seek to prevent its violation. All the prophets
discharged their missions creditably in their own time. However, there
were always many who refused to accept their guidance and consequently those
who did accept it and became a "Muslim" (Muslim would be anyone
obeying God) community gradually degenerated, causing the Divine Guidance
either to be lost, distorted or adulterated.
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At last the Lord of the Universe
sent Muhammad (peace be on him) to Arabia and entrusted him with the same
mission that He had entrusted to the earlier Prophets. This last
Messenger of God addressed the followers of the earlier Prophets as well
as the rest of humanity. The mission of each Prophet was to call men to the
right way of life, to communicate God's true guidance afresh and to
organize into one community all who responded to his mission and accepted
the guidance vouchsafed to him Such a community was to be dedicated to
the two-fold task of molding its own life in accordance with God's
guidance and striving for the reform of the world. The Qur'an is the Book
which embodies this mission and guidance, as revealed by God to Muhammad
(peace be on him).
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If we remember these basic facts
about the Qur'an it becomes easy to grasp its true subject, its central
theme and the objective it seeks to achieve. Insofar as it seeks to explain
the ultimate causes of man's success or failure the subject of the Book is
MAN.
Its central theme is that concepts
relating to God, the universe and man which have emanated from man's own
limited knowledge run counter to reality. The same applies to concepts
which have been either woven by man's intellectual fancies or which have
evolved through man's obsession with animal desires. The ways of life which
rest on these false foundations are both contrary to reality and ruinous
for man. The essence of true knowledge is that which God revealed to man
when He appointed him his vicegerent. Hence, the way of life which is in
accordance with the reality and conducive to human good is that which we
have characterized above as "the right way". The real object for
the Book is to call people to this "right way" and to illuminate
God's true guidance, which has often been lost either through man's negligence
and heedlessness or distorted by his wicked perversity.
If we study the Qur'an with these
facts in mind it is bound to strike us that the Qur'an does not deviate one
iota from its main subject, its central theme and its basic objective. All
the various themes occurring in the Qur'an are related to the central
theme; just as beads of different sizes and color may be strung together to
form a necklace. The Qur'an speaks of the structure of the heavens and the
earth and of man, refers to the signs of reality in the various phenomena
of the universe, relates anecdotes of bygone nations, criticizes the
beliefs, morals, and deeds of different peoples, elucidates supernatural
truths and discusses many other things besides. All this the Qur'an does,
not to order to provide instruction in physics, history, philosophy or any
other particular branch of knowledge, but rather to remove the
misconception people have about reality and to make that reality manifest
to them.
It emphasizes that the various ways
men follow, which are not in conformity with reality, are essentially
false, and full of harmful consequences for mankind. It calls on men to
shun all such ways and to follow instead the way which both conforms to
reality and yields best practical results. This is why the Qur'an mentions
everything only to the extent and in the manner necessary for the purpose
it seeks to serve. The Qur'an confines itself to essentials thereby
omitting any irrelevant details. Thus all its contents consistently revolve
around this call.
Likewise, it is not possible fully
to appreciate either the style of the Qur'an, the order underlying the
arrangement of its verses or the diversity of the subjects treated in it,
without fully understanding the manner in which it was revealed.
The Qur'an, as we have noted
earlier, is not a book in the conventional sense of the term. God did not
compose and entrust it in one piece to Muhammad (pbuh) so that he could
spread its message and call people to adopt an attitude to life consonant
with its teachings. Nor is the Qur'an one of those books which discusses
their subjects and main themes in the conventional manner. Its arrangement
differs from that of ordinary books, and its style is correspondingly
different. The nature of this Book is that God chose a man in Makkah to
serve as His Messenger and asked him to preach His message, starting in his
own city and with his own tribe (Quraysh). At this initial stage,
instructions were confined to what was necessary at this particular
juncture of the mission. Three themes in particular stand out:
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Directives were given to the
Prophet on how he should prepare himself for his great mission and how he
should begin working for the fulfillment of his task.
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2.
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A fundamental knowledge of
reality was furnished and misconceptions commonly held by people in that
regard - misconceptions which gave rise to wrong orientation in life -
were removed.
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People were exhorted to adopt the
right attitude towards life. Moreover, the Qur'an also elucidated those
fundamental principles which, if followed, lead to man's success and
happiness.
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In keeping with the character of the
mission at this stage the early revelations generally consisted of short
verses, couched in language of uncommon grace and owner, and clothed in a
literary style suited to the taste and temperament of the people to whom
they were originally addressed, and whose hearts they were meant to
penetrate. The rhythm, melody and vitality of these verses drew rapt
attention, and such was their stylistic grace and charm that people began
to recite them involuntarily.
The local color of these early
messages is conspicuous, for while the truths they contained were
universal, the arguments and illustration used to elucidate them were drawn
from the immediate environment familiar to the first listeners. Allusions
were made to their history and traditions and to the visible traces of the
past which had crept into the beliefs, and into the moral and social life
of Arabia. All this was calculated to enhance the appeal the message held
for its immediate audience. This early stage lasted for four or five years,
during which period the following reactions to the Prophet's message
manifested themselves:
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A few people responded to the
call and agreed to join the ummah committed, of its own volition, to
submit to the Will of God.
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Many people reacted with
hostility, either from ignorance or egotism, or because of chauvinistic
attachment to the way of life of their forefathers.
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The call of the prophet did not
remain confined to Makkah, it began to meet with favorable response
beyond the borders.
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In spite of the strong and growing
resistance and opposition, the Islamic movement continued to spread. There
was hardly a family left in Makkah one of whose members at least had not
embraced Islam.
During the Prophet's long and
arduous struggle God continued to inspire him with revelations. These
messages instructed the believers in their basic duties, inculcated in them
a sense of community and belonging, exhorted them to piety, moral
excellence and purity of character, taught them how to preach the true
faith, sustained their spirit by promises of success and Paradise in the
Hereafter, aroused them to struggle in the cause of God with patience,
fortitude and high spirits, and filled their hearts with such zeal and
enthusiasm that they were prepared to endure every sacrifice, brave every
hardship and face every adversity.
This stage was unfolded in several
phases. In each phase, the preaching of the message assumed ever wider
proportions, as the struggle for the cause of Islam and opposition to it
became increasingly intense and severe, and as the believers encountered
people of varying outlooks and beliefs. All these factors had the effect of
increasing the variety of the topics treated in the messages revealed
during this period. Such , in brief, was the situation forming the
background of the Makkan SURAS of the Qur'an.
It is now clear to us that the
revelation of the Qur'an began and went hand in hand with the preaching of
the message. This message passed through many stages and met with diverse
situations from the very beginning and throughout a period of twenty-three
years. The different parts of the Qur'an were revealed step by step
according to the multifarious, changing needs and requirements of the
Islamic movement during these stages. It therefore could not possibly
possess the kind of coherence and systematic sequence expected of a
doctoral dissertation. Moreover, the various fragments of the Qur'an which
were revealed in harmony with the growth of the Islamic movement were not
published in the form of written treatises, but were spread orally. Their
style, therefore, bore an oratorical flavor rather than the characteristics
of literary composition.
Furthermore, these orations were
delivered by one whose task meant he had to appeal simultaneously to the
mind, to the heart and to the emotions, and to people of different mental
levels and dispositions. He had to revolutionize people's thinking, to arouse
in them a storm of noble emotions in support of his cause, to persuade his
companions and inspire them with devotion and real, and with the desire to
improve and reform their lives. He had to raise their morale and steel
their determination, turn enemies into friends and opponents into admirers,
disarm those out to oppose his message and show their position to be
morally untenable. In short, he had to do everything necessary to carry his
movement through to a successful conclusion. Orations revealed in conformity
with requirements of a message and movement will inevitably have a style
different from that of a professorial lecture.
This explains the repetitions we
encounter in the Qur'an. The interests of a message and a movement demand
that during a particular stage emphasis should be placed only on those
subjects which are appropriate at that stage, to the exclusion of matters
pertaining to later stages. As a result, certain subjects may require
continual emphasis for months or even years. On the other hand, constant
repetition in the same manner becomes exhausting. Whenever, a subject is
repeated, it should therefore be expressed in different phraseology, in new
forms and with stylistic variations so as to ensure that the ideas and
beliefs being put over find their way into the hearts of the people.
At the same time, it was essential that
the fundamental beliefs and principles on which the movement was based
should always be kept fresh in people's minds; a necessity which dictated
that they should be repeated continually through all stages of the
movement... If these ideas had lost their hold on the hearts and minds of
people, the Islamic movement could not have moved forward in its true
spirit.
If we reflect on this, it also
becomes clear that the prophet (pbuh) did not arrange the Qur'an in the
sequence in which it was revealed. As we have noted, the context in which
the Qur'an was revealed in the course of twenty-three years was the mission
and movement of the prophet (pbuh); the revelations correspond with the
various stages of this mission and movement. Now, it is evident that when
the prophet's mission was completed, the chronological sequence of the
various parts of the Qur'an - revealed in accordance with the growth of the
prophet's mission - could in no way be suitable to the changed situation.
What was now required was a different sequence in tune with the changed
context resulting from the completion of the mission.
Initially, the prophet's message
was addressed to people totally ignorant of Islam. Their instruction had to
start with the most elementary things. After the mission had reached its
successful completion, the Qur'an acquired a compelling relevance for those
who had decided to believe in the prophet. By virtue of that belief they had
become a new religious community - the Muslim Ummah. Not only that , they
had been made responsible for carrying on the prophet's mission, which he
had bequeathed to them, in a perfected form on both conceptual and
practical level. It was no longer necessary for the Qur'anic verses to be
arranged in chronological sequence. In the changed context, it had become
necessary for the bearers of the mission of the prophet (pbuh) to be
informed of their duties and of the true principles and laws governing
their lives. They also had to be warned against the deviations and
corruptions which had appeared among the followers of earlier prophets.
It would be foreign to the very
nature of the Qur'an to group together in one place all verses relating to
a specific subject; the nature of the Qur'an requires that the reader
should find teachings revealed during the Madinan period interspersed with
those of the Makkan period, and vice versa. It requires the juxtaposition
of early discourses with instructions from the later period of the life of
the Prophet. This blending of the teachings from different periods helps to
provide an overall view and an integrated perspective of Islam, and acts as
a safeguard against lopsidedness. Furthermore, a chronological arrangement
of the Qur'an would have been meaningful to later generations only if it
had been supplemented with explanatory notes and these would have had to be
treated as inseparable appendices to the Qur'an. This would have been quite
contrary to God's purpose in revealing the Qur'an; the main purpose of its
revelation was that all human beings - children and young people, old men
and women, town and country dwellers, laymen and scholars - should be able
to refer to the Divine Guidance available to them in composite form and providentially
secured against adulteration. This was necessary to enable people of every
level of intelligence and understanding to know what God required of them.
This purpose would have been defeated had the reader been obliged solemnly
to recite historical notes and explanatory comments along with the Book of
God.
Those who object to the present
arrangement of the Qur'an appear to be suffering from a misapprehension as
to its true purpose. They sometimes almost seem under the illusion that it
was revealed merely for the benefit of students of history and sociology!
The present arrangement of the
Qur'an is not the work of later generations, but was made by the Prophet
under God's direction. Whenever a Surah was revealed, the Prophet summoned
his scribes, to whom he carefully dictated its contents, and instructed
them where to place it in relation to the other Surahs. The Prophet
followed the same order of Surahs and verse when reciting during ritual
Prayer as on other occasions, and his Companions followed the same practice
in memorizing the Qur'an. It is therefore a historical fact that the
collection of the Qur'an came to an end on the very day that its revelation
ceased ...
Since Prayers were obligatory for
the Muslims from the very outset of the Prophet's mission, and recitation
of the Qur'an was an obligatory part of those prayers, Muslims were
committing the Qur'an to memory while its revelation continued. Thus, as
soon as a fragment of the Qur'an was revealed, it was memorized by some of
the Companions. Hence the preservation of the Qur'an was not solely
dependent on its verses being inscribed on palm leaves, pieces of bone,
leather and scraps of parchment - the materials used by the Prophet's
scribes for writing down Qur'anic verses. Instead the verses came to be
inscribed upon scores, then hundreds, then thousands, then hundreds of
thousands of human hearts, soon after they had been revealed, so that no
scope was left for any devil to alter so much as one word of them.
When, after the death for the
prophet, the storm of apostasy convulsed Arabia and the companions had to
plunge into bloody battles to suppress it, many companions who had
memorized the Qur'an suffered martyrdom. This led 'Umar to plead that the
Qur'an ought to be preserved in writing, as well as orally. He therefore
impressed the urgency of this upon Abu Bakr (The first Caliph). After
slight hesitation, the latter agreed and entrusted that task to Zayd ibn
Thabit-al-Ansari, who had worked as a scribe of the Prophet...
The Qur'an that we possess today
corresponds exactly to the edition which was prepared on the orders of Abu
Bakr and copies of which were officially sent, on the orders of Uthman, to
various cities and provinces. Several copies of this original edition of
the Qur'an still exist today.
The Qur'an is a Book to which
innumerable people turn for innumerable purposes. It is difficult to offer
advice appropriate to all. The readers to whom this work is addressed are
those who are concerned to acquire a serious understanding of the Book, and
who seek the guidance it has to offer in relation to the various problems
of life. For such people we have a few suggestions to make, and we shall
offer some explanations in the hope of facilitating their study of the
Qur'an.
Anyone who really wishes to
understand the Qur'an, irrespective of whether or not he believes must
divest his mind, as far as possible, of every preconceived notion, bias and
prejudice, in order to embark upon his study with an open mind. Anyone who
begins to study the Qur'an with a set of preconceived ideas is likely to
read those very ideas into the Book. No book can be profitably studied with
this kind of attitude, let alone the Qur'an which refuses to open its
treasure-house to such readers.
For those who want only a
superficial acquaintance with the doctrines of the Qur'an one reading is
perhaps sufficient. For those who want to fathom its depths several
readings are not even enough. These people need to study the Qur'an over
and over again, taking notes of everything that strikes them as
significant. Those who are willing to study the Qur'an in this manner
should do so at least twice to begin with, so as to obtain a broad grasp of
the system of beliefs and practical prescriptions that it offers. In this
preliminary survey, they should try to gain an overall perspective of the
Qur'an and to grasp the basic ideas which it expounds, and the system of
life that it seeks to build on the basis of those ideas. If, during the
course of this study, anything agitates the mind of the reader, he should
note down the point concerned and patiently persevere with his study. He is
likely to find that, as he proceeds, the difficulties are resolved. (When a
problem has been solved, it is advisable to note down the solution
alongside the problem). Experience suggests that any problems still
unsolved after a first reading of the Qur'an are likely to be resolved by a
careful second reading.
Only after acquiring a total
perspective of the Qur'an should a more detailed study be attempted. Again
the reader is well advised to keep noting down the various aspects of the
Qur'anic teachings. For instance, he should note the human model that the
Qur'an extols as praiseworthy, and the model it denounces. It might be
helpful to make two columns, one headed 'praiseworthy qualities', the other
headed 'blameworthy qualities', and then to enter into the respective
columns all that is found relevant in the Qur'an. To take another instance,
the reader might proceed to investigate the Qur'anic point of view on what
is conducive to human success and felicity, as against what leads to man's
ultimate failure and perdition. In the same way, the reader should take
down notes about Qur'anic teachings on questions of belief and morals,
man's rights and obligations, family life and collective behavior, economic
and political life, law and social organization, war and peace, and so on.
Then he should use these various teachings to try to develop and image of
the Qur'anic teachings vis-à-vis each particular aspect of human life. This
should be followed by an attempt at integrating these images so that he
comes to grasp the total scheme of life envisaged by the Qur'an.
Moreover, anyone wishing to study
in depth the Qur'anic viewpoint on any particular problem of life should,
first of all, study all the significant strands of human thought concerning
that problem. Ancient and modern works on the subject should be studies.
Unresolved problems where human thinking seems to have got struck should be
noted. The Qur'an should then be studied with these unresolved problems in
mind, with a view to finding out what solutions the Qur'an has to offer.
Personal experience again suggests that anyone who studies the Qur'an in
this manner will find his problem solved with the help of verses which he
may have read scores of times without it ever crossing his mind that they
could have any relevance to the problems at hand.
It should be remembered,
nevertheless, that full appreciation of the spirit of the Qur'an demands
practical involvement with the struggle to fulfill its mission. The Qur'an
is neither a book of abstract theories and cold doctrines which the reader
can grasp while seated in a cozy armchair, nor it is merely a religious
book like other religious books, the secrets of which can be grasped in
seminaries and oratories. On the contrary, it is the blueprint and
guidebook of a message, of a mission, of a movement. As soon as this Book
was revealed, it drove a quiet, kind-hearted man from his isolation and
seclusion, and place him upon the battlefield of life to challenge a world
that had gone astray. It inspired him to raise his voice against falsehood,
and pitted him in grim struggle against the standard-bearers of unbelief,
of disobedience of God, of waywardness and error...
One after the other, it sought out
everyone who had a pure and noble soul, mustering them together under the
standard of the Messenger. It also infuriated all those who by their nature
were bent on mischief and drove them to wage war against the bearers of the
Truth.
This is the Book which inspired and
directed that great movement which began with the preaching of a message by
an individual, and continued for no fewer than twenty three years, until
the Kingdom of God was truly established on earth. In this long an
heart-rending struggle between Truth and Falsehood, this Book unfailingly
guided its followers to the eradication of the latter and the consolidation
and enthronement of the former. How then could one expect to get to the
heart of the Qur'anic truths merely by reciting its verses, without so much
as stepping upon the field of battle between faith and unbelief, between
Islam and Ignorance? To appreciate the Qur'an fully one must take it up and
launch into the task of calling people to God, making it one's guide at
every stage.
Then, and only then, does one meet
the various experiences encountered at the time of its revelation. One
experiences the initial rejection of the message of Islam by the city of
Makkah, the persistent hostility leading to the quest for a haven in the
refuge of Abyssinia, and the attempt to win a favorable response from Ta'if
which led, instead, to cruel persecution of the bearer for the Qur'anic
message. One experiences also the campaigns of Badr, , of Uhud, of Hunayn
and of Tabuk. One comes face to face with Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab, with
hypocrites and with Jews, with those who instantly respond to this call as
well as those who, lacking clarity of perception and moral strength, were
drawn into Islam only at a later stage.
This will be an experience
different from any so-called "mystic-experience". I designate it
the "Qur'anic mystic experience". One of the characteristics of
this 'experience' is that at each stage one almost automatically finds
certain Qur'anic verses to guide one, since they were revealed at a similar
stage and therefore contain the guidance appropriate to it. A person
engaged in this struggle may not grasp all the linguistic and grammatical
subtleties, he may also miss certain finer points in the rhetoric and semantics
of the Qur'an, yet it is impossible for the Qur'an to fail to reveal its
true spirit to him.
It is well known that the Qur'an
claims to be capable of guiding all mankind. Yet the student of the Qur'an
finds that it is generally addressed to the people of Arabia, who lived in
the time of its revelation. Although the Qur'an occasionally addresses
itself to all mankind of its contents are, on the whole, vitally related to
the taste and temperament, the environment and history, and the customs and
usages of Arabia. When one notices this, one begins to question why a Book
which seeks to guide all mankind to salvation should assign such importance
to certain aspects of a particular people's life, and to things belonging
to a particular age and clime. Failure to grasp the real cause of this may
lead one to believe that the Book was originally designed to reform the
Arabs of that particular age alone, and that it is only the Book an
altogether novel interpretation, proclaiming that its aim is to guide all mankind
for all time.
... If, while addressing the people
of a particular area at a particular period of time, attempting to refute
their polytheistic beliefs and adducing arguments in support of its own
doctrine of the unity of God, the Qur'an draws upon facts with which those
people were familiar, this does not warrant the conclusion that its message
is relevant only for that particular people or for that particular period
of time.
What ought to be considered is
whether or not the Qur'anic statements in refutation of the polytheistic
beliefs of the Arabs of those days apply as well to other forms of
polytheism in other parts of the world. Can the arguments advanced by the
Qur'an in that connection be used to rectify the beliefs of other
polytheists? Is the Qur'anic line of argument for establishing the unity of
God, with minor adaptations, valid and persuasive for every age? If the
answers are positive, there is no reason why a universal teaching should be
dubbed exclusive to a particular people and age merely because it happened
to be addressed originally to that people and at that particular period of
time.
... Indeed, what marks out a
time-bound from an eternal, and a particularistic national doctrine from a
universal one, is the fact that the former either seeks to exalt a people
or claims special privileges for it or else comprises ideas and principles
so vitally related to that people's life and traditions as to render it
totally inapplicable to the conditions of other people. A universal
doctrine, on the other hand, is willing to accord equal rights and status
to all, and its principles have an international character in that they are
equally applicable to other nations. Likewise, the validity of those
doctrines which seek to come to grips merely with the questions of a
transient and superficial nature is time-bound. If one studies the Qur'an
with these considerations in mind, can one really conclude that it has only
a particularistic national character, and that its validity is therefore
time-bound?
Those who embark upon a study of
the Qur'an often proceed with the assumption that this Book is, as it is
commonly believed to be, a detailed code of guidance. However, when they
actually read it, they fail to find detailed regulations regarding social, political
and economic matters. In fact, they notice that the Qur'an has not laid
down detailed regulations even in respect of such oft-repeated subjects as
Prayers and Zakah. The reader finds this somewhat disconcerting and wonders
in what sense the Qur'an can be considered a code of guidance.
The uneasiness some people feel
about this arises because they forget that God did not merely reveal a
Book, but that he also designated a Prophet. Suppose some laymen were to be
provided with the bare outlines of a construction plan on the understanding
that they would carry out the construction as they wished. In such a case,
it would be reasonable to expect that they should have very elaborate
directives as to how the construction should be carried out. Suppose, however,
that along with the broad outline of the plan of construction, they were
also provided with a competent engineer to supervise the task. In that
case, it would be quite unjustifiable to disregard the work of the
engineer, on the expectation that detailed directives would form an
integral part of the construction plan, and then to complain of
imperfection in the plan itself.
The Qur'an, to put it succinctly,
is a Book of broad general principles rather than of legal minutiae. The
Book's main aim is to expound, clearly and adequately, the intellectual and
moral foundations of the Islamic program for life. It seeks to consolidate
these by appealing both the person's mind and to his/her heart. Its method
of guidance for practical Islamic life does not consist of laying down
minutely detailed laws and regulations. It prefers to outline the basic
framework for each aspect of human activity, and to lay down certain
guidelines within which man can order his life in keeping with the Will of
God. The mission of the Prophet was to give practical shape to the Islamic
vision of the good life, by offering the world a model of an individual
character and of a human state and society, as living embodiments of the
principles of the Qur'an.
Pasted From :
http://www.islam101.com/quran/studyOfQuran.htm
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