Introduction to the Study of the Qur’ān
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’ān,
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’ān 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’ān 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 the notion of what a book should be - that
they may become so confused as to feel that the Qur’ān is a piece of
disorganised, 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 favourably inclined resort to far-fetched explanations, or else
conclude that the Qur’ān 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’ān? 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 diverse 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 the
meaning and purpose of the Qur’ānic verses. If we begin studying the Qur’ān 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 of 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’ān. We should realise that as a
first step towards understanding it we must empty our minds of all preconceived
notions.
The student
of the Qur’ān should grasp, from the outset, the fundamental claims that the
Qur’ān makes for itself. Whether one ultimately decides to believe in the
Qur’ān or not, one must recognise the fundamental statements made by the Qur’ān
and the man to whom it was revealed, the Prophet Muhammad, to be the starting
point of one’s study. These claims are:
1. 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.
2. 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 made clear to man that life in this world, for which he
had been placed and invested with a certain honour 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 crosses the
borders of the present world and arrives in the Hereafter.
3. 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 to God (i.e.
Islām) 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.
4. 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 chose
these people to be His envoys. He had His messages communicated to them,
honoured 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.
5. 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
organise 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.
6. At last
the Lord of the Universe sent Muhammad 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 organise into one community
all who responded to his mission and accepted the guidance revealed to him.
Such a community was to be dedicated to the two-fold task of moulding its own
life in accordance with God’s guidance and striving for the reform of the
world. The Qur’ān is the Book which embodies this mission and guidance, as
revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad.
If we
remember these basic facts about the Qur’ān 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
characterised above as “the right way.” The real objective 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’ān with these facts in mind it is bound to strike us that the Qur’ān
does not deviate one iota from its main subject, its central theme and its
basic objective. All the various themes occurring in the Qur’ān are related to
the central theme; just as beads of different sizes and colour may be strung
together to form a necklace. The Qur’ān 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, criticises the
beliefs, morals, and deeds of different peoples, elucidates supernatural truths
and discusses many other things besides. All this the Qur’ān does, not in 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
emphasises 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’ān
mentions everything only to the extent and in the manner necessary for the
purpose it seeks to serve. The Qur’ān confines itself to essentials thereby
omitting any irrelevant details. Thus all its contents consistently revolve
around this call.
Likewise,
it is not possible to fully appreciate either the style of the Qur’ān, 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’ān,
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 Prophet Muhammad so that he
could spread its message and call people to adopt an attitude to life
consistent with its teachings. Nor is the Qur’ān 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:
1.
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.
2. A
fundamental knowledge of reality was furnished and misconceptions commonly held
by people in that regard - misconceptions which gave rise to wrong orientations
in life - were removed.
3. People
were exhorted to adopt the right attitude towards life. Moreover, the Qur’ān
also elucidated those fundamental principles which, if followed, lead to man’s
success and happiness.
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 clothed
in a literary style suited to the taste and temperament of the people to whom
they were originally addressed. 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
colour 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:
1. A few
people responded to the call and agreed to join the Ummah (nation) committed,
of its own volition, to submit to the Will of God.
2. Many
people reacted with hostility, either from ignorance or egotism, or because of
chauvinistic attachment to the way of life of their forefathers.
3. The call
of the Prophet did not remain confined to Makkah, it began to meet with
favourable response beyond the borders.
In spite of
the strong and growing resistance and opposition, the Islāmic movement
continued to spread. There was hardly a family left in Makkah one of whose
members at least had not embraced Islām.
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 Islām 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 Sūrahs (chapters) of the Qur’ān.
It is now
clear to us that the revelation of the Qur’ān 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’ān were revealed step by
step according to the various, changing needs and requirements of the Islāmic
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’ān which were revealed in harmony
with the growth of the Islāmic movement were not published in the form of
written treatises, but were spread orally. Their style, therefore, bore an
oratorical flavour 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 revolutionise 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 real devotion 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 professional lecture.
This
explains the repetitions we encounter in the Qur’ān. 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 Islāmic movement could not have moved forward in its true spirit.
If we reflect on this, it also becomes clear that the Prophet did not arrange
the Qur’ān in the sequence in which it was revealed. As we have noted, the
context in which the Qur’ān was revealed in the course of twenty-three years
was the mission and movement of the Prophet; 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’ān - 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 Islām. Their
instruction had to start with the most elementary things. After the mission had
reached its successful completion, the Qur’ān 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
levels. It was no longer necessary for the Qur’ānic verses to be arranged in
chronological sequence. In the changed context, it had become necessary for the
bearers of the mission of the Prophet 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’ān to group together in one place all
verses relating to a specific subject; the nature of the Qur’ān requires that
the reader should find teachings revealed during the Madīnan period
interspersed with those of the Makkan period, and vice versa. It requires the
scrutiny 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 Islām, and
acts as a safeguard against lop-sidedness. Furthermore, a chronological
arrangement of the Qur’ān 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’ān. This would have been quite
contrary to God’s purpose in revealing the Qur’ān; 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’ān appear to be suffering from a
misapprehension as to its true purpose. Sometimes, they almost seem to be under
the illusion that it was revealed merely for the benefit of students of history
and sociology!
The present
arrangement of the Qur’ān is not the work of later generations, but was made by
the Prophet under God’s direction. Whenever a Sūrah 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 Sūrahs. The Prophet
followed the same order of Sūrahs and verses when reciting during ritual Prayer
as on other occasions, and his Companions followed the same practice in
memorising the Qur’ān. It is therefore a historical fact that the collection of
the Qur’ān 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’ān was an obligatory part of those prayers,
Muslims were committing the Qur’ān to memory while its revelation continued.
Thus, as soon as a fragment of the Qur’ān was revealed, it was memorised by
some of the Companions. Hence the preservation of the Qur’ān 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’ānic 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.
After the
death of the Prophet, the storm of apostasy convulsed Arabia and the companions
had to plunge into bloody battles to suppress it, many companions who had
memorised the Qur’ān had become martyrs. This led Umar to plead that the Qur’ān
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, who had worked as a
scribe of the Prophet.
The Qur’ān
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’ān still exist today [see chapter - Preservation and
Literary Challenge of the Qur’ān.]
The Qur’ān
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’ān. Anyone who really wishes to understand the Qur’ān, 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’ān 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’ān which refuses
to open its treasure-house to such readers.
For those
who want only a superficial acquaintance with the doctrines of the Qur’ān 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’ān over and
over again, taking notes of everything that strikes them as significant. Those
who are willing to study the Qur’ān 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’ān 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’ān are likely to be resolved by a
careful second reading.
Only after
acquiring a total perspective of the Qur’ān should a more detailed study be
attempted. Again the reader is well advised to keep noting down the various
aspects of the Qur’ānic teachings. For instance, he should note the human model
that the Qur’ān 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’ān. To take another instance, the reader
might proceed to investigate the Qur’ānic 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’ānic teachings
on questions of belief and morals, man’s rights and obligations, family life
and collective behaviour, economic and political life, law and social
organisation, war and peace, and so on. Then he should use these various
teachings to try to develop an image of the Qur’ānic 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’ān.
Moreover,
anyone wishing to study in depth the Qur’ānic 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 studied. Unresolved problems where human thinking seems to have got
stuck should be noted. The Qur’ān should then be studied with these unresolved
problems in mind, with a view to finding out what solutions the Qur’ān has to
offer. Personal experience again suggests that anyone who studies the Qur’ān 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’ān
demands practical involvement with the struggle to fulfill its mission. The
Qur’ān is neither a book of abstract theories and cold doctrines which the
reader can grasp while seated in a cosy armchair, nor is it 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 placed
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 and 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’ānic truths merely by
reciting its verses, without so much as stepping upon the field of battle
between faith and unbelief, between Islām and ignorance? To appreciate the
Qur’ān 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 Islām 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 favourable response from
Tā’if which led, instead, to cruel persecution of the bearer for the Qur’ānic
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 Islām only at
a later stage.
This will
be an experience different from any so-called “mystic-experience.” I designate
it the “Qur’ānic mystic experience.” One of the characteristics of this
‘experience’ is that at each stage one almost automatically finds certain
Qur’ānic 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’ān, yet
it is impossible for the Qur’ān to fail to reveal its true spirit to him.
It is well
known that the Qur’ān claims to be capable of guiding all mankind. Yet the
student of the Qur’ān finds that it is generally addressed to the people of
Arabia, who lived in the time of its revelation. Although the Qur’ān
occasionally addresses itself to all mankind - 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 time. 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 an altogether novel
interpretation. 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 Oneness of God, the
Qur’ān 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’ānic 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’ān in that connection be used to rectify the beliefs of other polytheists?
Is the Qur’ānic line of argument for establishing the Oneness 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 doctrine from an eternal one, 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’ān 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’ān 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’ān has not laid down detailed regulations even in respect of such
oft-repeated subjects as Prayers and Zakāh. The reader finds this somewhat disconcerting
and wonders in what sense the Qur’ān 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’ān, 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 Islāmic programme for life. It
seeks to consolidate these by appealing to both the person’s mind and to
his/her heart. Its method of guidance for practical Islāmic 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 Islāmic 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’ān.
Source: M. Mawdudi, Introduction – Towards Understanding the Qur’ān, (complete tafsir
[explanation] of the Qur’ān), available in full online: www.quranproject.org
