Engaging With the Qur'an: Qur'anic Appeal, "Do You Reflect," "Do You Think?"
By
Moin Qazi, New Age Islam
6 November
2023
"Whoever Listens Carefully to The Words of
Allah, And the Words of His Messenger with His Mind and Ponders Over Them with
His Heart, He Will Arrive Through Them at Certain Meanings, Sweetness,
Guidance, Remedy for The Hearts, Blessings, And Benefits That He Would Never
Find in Any Other Words, Whether Poetry or Prose"
-------
The Qur'an,
literally "the recitation," also transliterated as Qur'an, Koran, or
Al-Qur'an, is the Word of God, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the
medium of a human language. This is the Book; about it, there can be no
doubt; it is a path for those who are aware of God
The Qur'an
is the central religious text or scripture of Islam. It is a moral compass and
a primary source of belief and practice for Muslims. It informs Muslim conduct,
law, faith and practice across religious and temporal life.
No other
sacred scripture has ever had a similarly immediate impact upon the lives of
the people who first heard its message and, through them and the generations
that followed them, on the entire course of civilization. The Qur'an provides a
comprehensive answer to the question, "How shall I behave to achieve the
good life in this world and happiness in the life to come?" The Qur'an was
revealed by the angel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad in the west Arabian towns of
Mecca and Medina beginning in 610 and ending with Muhammad's death in 632 CE.
The Qur'an
is derived from the verb Qara'a- "to read" and "to
recite." The Qur'an was revealed by the angel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad
in the west Arabian towns of Mecca and Medina beginning in 610 and ending with
Muhammad's death in 632 CE. It is shorter than the Christian New Testament and
is divided into 114 chapters (sura, plural suwar) and 6,616 verses (Aya,
plural Ayat) and is taken to be the direct words of God or Allah. The
word Aya literally means "sign". The Quran was sent down in
Arabic: "Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran that you might
understand" (Q 12:2)
The suras
range in length from three to 286 verses. They also vary in style and content.
Each surah is named after some conspicuous word in the text, such as "The
Elephant", "Light", "Dawn", "Thunder",
"The Cave", "The Moon" or "Smoke".
The largest
number of verses deal with God's majesty and power and with the various aspects
of His creation. Most of the Quran's legal or quasi-legal pronouncements are
concentrated in a few of the longest surahs. The subjects covered by Quranic
law include dietary regulations (e.g. the prohibition of consuming pork or
wine), matters of family law (e.g. inheritance rules), ritual law (e.g. the
performance of ablution before prayer or the duty to fast during the month of
Ramadan), commercial law (the prohibition of usury) and criminal law (e.g. the
punishment for theft or manslaughter).
There are
didactic parables about former biblical and Arabian personages and communities.
Adam, the first man, is expelled from Paradise for eating from the forbidden
tree. Noah builds an ark to save a select few from a flood brought on by the
wrath of God. Abraham prepares himself to sacrifice his son at God's bidding.
Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and receives a revelation on Mount
Sinai. Jesus — born of the Virgin Mary and referred to as the Messiah — works
miracles, has disciples, and rises to heaven.
In the same
way, the universe has its fundamental laws and finely regulated order. The
Quran lays down rules, a moral code and a body of practice that Muslims must
respect. The Quran speaks to the nature of reality and the cosmos and
pronounces moral and spiritual principles for the individual and society. Its
core message urges its adherents to stand by fairness and justice and replace
vices like hatred, arrogance, greed, lust and anger with the virtues of love,
compassion, mercy and forgiveness.
The Qur'an
is a compendium of admonitions, commandments, prescriptions, proscriptions,
injunctions, proclamations, and sermons. If the Qur'an is the divine word of
guidance, the Prophet's life is a model that transmuted this message into a
persona. He was the Qur'anic figurehead who best expressed the ideals of the
Islamic faith in human incarnation. He was sent with this Book to serve as an
all-embracing code of ethics, morality, and religious duties to last unto
eternity. Just as the Qur'an embraces every facet of human life, the life of
the Prophet penetrates with exceptional versatility the complete domain of
human experience, both public and private
As a
literal transcript of God's speech, the Qur'an is regarded as sacred, pure,
uncorrupted and infallible. It is the earthly reproduction of an uncreated and
eternal heavenly original, according to the general view referred to in the
Qur'an itself as "the well-preserved tablet" (al-law? Al-Mahfuz;
Qur'an 85:22). The Qur'an was sent down in Arabic: "Indeed, we have
sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an that you might understand" (Q. 12:2).
The Qur'an
is an "open" book, a spiritual and moral resource that, properly
understood, provides Muslims with helpful guidance through the complex maze of
modern life. The Qur'an came to speak to all of humanity. However, it came to
say not in a vacuum but within a historical context. Hence, its immediate
objective was the moral and religious situation of the Arabs of the Prophet's
time
Through the
science of Tafsir (exegesis), the Qur'an is kept alive as a force in the
lives and cultures of Muslims everywhere. It remains relevant to every age
through commentaries that are no longer limited to Arabic. However, the
ecosystem of Islamic thought is no longer as vibrant as it was in its formative
years. Unlike the great scholars of the past, who were polymaths and valued
criticism, most of today's traditional scholars lack the tools of contemporary
critical scholarship and are not open to discussion and dialogue on the
contents of the Qur'an in the m; modern context.
Much of the
Qur'an recounts stories of people and communities from the past who received
revelations in the form of various scriptural texts. And, much of the Qur'an is
also a relaying of past peoples who transgressed the boundaries set by God and
who worshipped other than God—all as a way of warning and redirecting readers
and believers to a life of what is good and right and to an absolute and pure
monotheism in which nothing and no one is taken as a god besides God.
The special
message of Islam is twofold. It first completes the message of the previous
prophets— Muslims recognize the Judaic prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah,
who have also been adopted by Christianity—by putting an end to the dispute
between the Nestorians and Jacobites about the nature of Christ: Muslims
believe that Christ is of the Spirit of God, not God Himself, because God "begetteth
not nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him"
(112:1-4). In other words, Christ, for Islam, is a prophet, not part of the
Godhead. Then the Qur'an goes on to support the message of Christ and to
criticize those who denied it: "And verily We gave unto Moses the
Scripture, and We caused a train of messengers to follow after him, and We gave
unto Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs (of Allah's sovereignty) and We supported
him with the Holy Spirit. Is it ever so that, when there cometh unto you, a
messenger (from Allah) with that which ye yourselves desire not, ye grow
arrogant, and some disbelieve and some slay?" (2:87). Islam is thus seen
as a continuation of the true spirit of religion as revealed by God to the
earlier prophets:
"Say
(O Mohammed), We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that
which was revealed unto Abraham and Ismael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes,
and that which was vouchsafed unto Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their
Lord. We make no distinction between them, and unto Him, we have
surrendered"
(3:84).
The Qur'an is not arranged either
chronologically or thematically—for the most part, the suras are arranged from
beginning to end in descending order of length. The first verse or surah,
al-Fatiha, is the most recited chapter of the Qur'an as it is said multiple
times in every ritual prayer.
The suras
range in length from three to 286 verses. They also vary in style and content.
Each surah is named after some conspicuous word in the text, such as "The
Elephant," "Light," "Dawn," "Thunder,"
"The Cave," "The Moon", or "Smoke." The most
significant number of verses deal with God's majesty and power and the various
aspects of His creation. Most of the Qur’an's legal or quasi-legal
pronouncements are concentrated in a few of the longest surahs. The subjects
covered by Qur'anic law include dietary regulations (e.g., the prohibition of
consuming pork or wine), matters of family law (e.g., inheritance rules),
ritual law (e.g., the performance of ablution before prayer or the duty to fast
during the month of Ramadan), commercial law (the prohibition of usury) and
criminal law (e.g., the punishment for theft or manslaughter).
There are
didactic parables about former biblical and Arabian personages and communities.
Adam, the first man, is expelled from Paradise for eating from the forbidden
tree. Noah builds an ark to save a select few from a flood brought on by the
wrath of God. Abraham prepares himself to sacrifice his son at God's bidding.
Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and receives a revelation on Mount
Sinai. Jesus‒born of the Virgin Mary and referred to as the Messiah‒works miracles, has disciples, and
rises to heaven.
In the same
way that the universe has its fundamental laws and finely regulated order, the
Qur'an lays down laws, a moral code and a body of practice that Muslims must
respect, whatever their epoch and environment. The Qur'an speaks to the nature
of reality and the cosmos and pronounces moral and spiritual principles for the
individual and society. Its core message urges its adherents to stand by
fairness and justice and replace vices like hatred, arrogance, greed, lust and
anger with the virtues of love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness.
The tragedy
is that the Qur'an is still inaccessible to the majority of Muslims either on
account of their illiteracy or because they resort to self-exclusion,
harbouring a notion that the Qur'an can be handled only by specialists. Most
Muslims today know the message of the Qur'an mainly from secondary sources,
which may not be reliable.
It is also
true that as Muslim empires became ever more powerful, interpretations of
Islamic texts became increasingly arrogant and brash; instead of seeing the
Qur'an as supplementing what had come before, it was used as a tool for
superseding the previous books to promote their new ideology.
To Muslims,
the sacredness of the Qur'an is expressed even in their relationship to its
physical presence. Islamic teaching spells out that Muslims must not touch the
Qur'an without first undergoing a ritual hand-washing called ghusl, which makes
them ritually pure. I still remember my childhood days when the Qur'an used to
be wrapped in a specially stitched satin or velvet cover. We could not dare to
access the Qur'an; our Qur'anic recitation and learning came from the Qur'an
primers. The Qur'an and the primers were placed on the head of a tall shelf to
be absolutely out of reach of teenagers. The entire Qur'an was spread over
thirty such primers called a Juz. If these primers, perchance, fell to
the ground, they had to be hastily priced up, kissed, and placed against our
forehead to renew our commitment to their sanctity. A stern reprimand was a
usual penalty. Our teacher used to tell us to give out a Kaffara (an
equal amount of food grain as a charity) to atone for this sin.
The Qur'an
is eternal. It is timeless, its words unchanged since it was first revealed.
The Qur'an itself says: "And if all the trees on earth were pens and the
ocean (were ink), with seven oceans behind it to add to its (supply), yet would
not the words of Allah be exhausted (in writing): for Allah is Exalted in
Power, Full of Wisdom" (Q31:27). We call it Holy Qur'an, Noble Qur'an,
Glorious Qur'an, Al-Furqaan, Al-Kitaab, Al-Zikr, Al-Noor, Al-Huda. We studied
the Qur'an with the aid of several classical and contemporary commentaries
under the guidance of a cleric.
While there
are several translations of the Qur'an in several languages, they cannot
substitute the original Arabic, where we can see the real import of the verses
through their application to our changing context. While every language has
words and concepts, which have counterparts in others, oriental languages are
saturated with words that are invested with meanings not recorded in
dictionaries. English is not adequately
equipped to convey the subtleties of an eastern language like Arabic, whose
individual words are laden with great luminosity. It is virtually impossible to
find an accurate and concise equivalent in English for Arabic words. Hence all
translations of the Qur'an are, at best available translations. One of the most
evident problems in the translation of any religious text is the differences
between the culture of the original text and the new culture for which the text
is being translated. In cases where there are doctrinal differences among
groups within the faith, competing translations of ambiguous passages tend to
be composed and promoted.
We cannot
fail to consider the great intellectual Martin Lings, who provided a distinct
and unique perspective on understanding the Qur'an's message. He feels that we
have heard many times the words "development. (Tatawwur)" and
"progress (Taqaddum)" and "renewal (Tajdid)"
and "renaissance (Nahdah)," and perhaps it will not be a waste
of time to pause and consider what they mean. "Development" means
moving away from the principles. Although it is necessary to move a certain
distance from the directions to make applications of them, it is vital to
remain near enough for contact with them to be fully effective. Development
must, therefore, never go beyond a certain point. It implies that we should not
fear increasing our distance from the principles to where action degenerates:
Guide us on transcendence. Yet the Prophet said, "The best of my people
are my generation, then they that come after them, then they that come after
those." And we must conclude from the Qur'an that a general hardening of hearts
is inevitable with the passage of the centuries. The hope of communities must
lie not in "progress" or "development" but in
"renewal," that is, restoration. In its traditional, apostolic sense,
renewal is the opposite of development, for it means a restoration of something
of the primordial vigour of Islam. Renewal is, thus for Muslims, a movement of
return, that is, an action in a backward rather than a forward direction.
The Qur'an
continuously invites its readers to ponder and reflect. Hence the recurring
Qur'anic invitations and appeals, "Do you reflect," "Do you
think?", "Do you not take heed?" Although we can always hear the
Qur'an speaking anew to a particular situation.
The Qur'an
has historically exhibited a unique potency for invigorating the spirits with
optimism, rattling the conscience to wakefulness, and uprooting their most
deeply entrenched false convictions from people's minds. Is there nothing
remarkable? The votaries would ponder about multiple notorious Arabs who were
goaded by the motivation of assassinating him, were disarmed by the recitation
of the Qur'an and transformed from enemies to allies and from staunch
disbelievers to the sincerest devotees.
Ibn
Taymiyyah (d. 1328 AH) says,
"Whoever listens carefully to the words of
Allah, and the words of His Messenger with his mind and ponders over them with
his heart, he will arrive through them at certain meanings, sweetness,
guidance, remedy for the hearts, blessings, and benefits that he would never
find in any other words, whether poetry or prose."
The biggest casualty of the suppression of
Islam's speculative tradition that provided vibrancy to the Qur'an and other
Islamic laws and concepts was the "Muslim mind," which shut itself
off to "ijtihad" (independent reasoning), allowing 'over-inclusive
scripturalism' to dominate the Islamic world, turning even trivial questions
into scholastic religious debates.
The great
philosopher-poet Muhammad Iqbal’s has given future generations a great mantra.
We must remember t that we can no longer afford to keep wallowing in our past
glory and composing paeans and ballads in its praise. We have been doing it for
centuries, and the time has come when we must give proof of these exemplary
women's deeds by emulating them instead of turning them into revered respected
icons of our great civilization.
All scriptures
are a spiritual and moral resource that, if they are correctly understood and
internalized both in letter and spirit, the reader can negotiate the
complexities of modern life. It is the nature of the human dialogue that
finally culminates in the direction one is seeking for his salvation. The real
wisdom that we can glean from our genuine moral books is the one that enhances
our spirituality and helps us constantly think outside the box of our earthly
concerns by keeping in mind the intersection of time and timelessness.
-----
Moin Qazi is the author of the bestselling book,
Village Diary of a Heretic Banker. He has worked in the development finance
sector for almost four decades.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-spiritualism/quran-quranic-invitations-reflect/d/131054
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism