Читать книгу The Qur'an: Essential Teachings - Abdur Raheem Kidwai - Страница 12

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The Qur’ān

And if you (O mankind) are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our servant, then produce a sūrah like it and call your witnesses or helpers besides Allah, if you are truthful.

But if you cannot, and certainly you cannot [produce it], then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones. Hellfire is prepared for the unbelievers.

(al-Baqarah 2:23-24)

APART from stressing that the Qur’ān is a unique and inimitable Book, this passage defines the important concepts of the Scripture, Revelation and its bearer, Allah’s Messenger. Such clarification was necessary as the Qur’ān was being revealed at a time when people held hazy notions about these. Most of the earlier religious communities did not possess any Scripture. For them, oral tradition served as their guidance. Some fallacious views however had crept into the beliefs of followers of even major world faiths who had been favoured with the Scriptures, especially as regards their source status. For example, the Jewish holy Book is reckoned as Scripture by Christians. Known popularly as the Old Testament, it forms part of the Bible. As opposed to this instance of the appropriation of one faith community’s Scripture by another, there is yet another example at the other end of the scale. The Theravada Buddhist Scripture, the Tiptaka is taken only as a preparatory text by Mahayana Buddhists. For Hindus, the Bhagavad Gita is, no doubt, an important religious text yet it is not part of their Scripture, the Vedas. Besides Scripture, there have been serious misconceptions about the nature of divine revelation and its human recipient and the relationship between the two. On this count, the example of the Bible is most instructive. The Bible, though widely regarded as Scripture, took hundreds of years of compilation to receive this designation. No one can say with certainty which part of the Bible represents the exact Word of God and which is the product of its human scribes. More regrettably, for Christians, Christ has more meaning than the Bible.

In the above quoted passage, the Qur’ān presents a clear and cogent account of Scripture, divine revelation alone being its origin and content and the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as its recipient being the one who faithfully transmitted it to mankind without having any role in its composition. The Qur’ān represents wholly the Word of God in its purity. In stating these articles of faith, the Qur’ān dispels all the prevalent misconceptions about Scripture which is the very basis of a faith community. More significantly, the Qur’ān declares that it is a miracle which is unique and inimitable. Also, it clarifies the relationship between the Word of God, the Qur’ān and its bearer the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who is essentially God’s servant. It leaves no room for confusion.

The passage is equally remarkable for the statements it declares, though initially directed at its immediate addressees, yet addressed to the whole of mankind. These are that

The Qur’ān is the direct Word of God.

It was sent down piecemeal to Allah’s servant, the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Qur’ān is inimitable.

No human being, individually or jointly, can produce anything like the Qur’ān.

Those refusing to accept the above statement as true will be consigned to Hellfire.

Moreover, the passage vindicates the Oneness and Omnipotence of Allah, the Messengership as well as the humanness of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and the genuineness of the Qur’ān as the Word of God.

At the outset, it is declared that the Qur’ān is the direct Word of God. On this count the Qur’ān excels all existing Scriptures. For the latter have been distorted beyond recognition. It is impossible for one to distinguish between their divine and human components. By contrast, the Qur’ān has been preserved in its pristine purity since the day of its revelation up to the present time. It exists word by word exactly as it was sent down by Allah. Another striking feature of the Qur’ān is its gradual revelation, spread over around 23 years, which bears out its uniqueness. For it was sent down as the Book of guidance for an emerging community of believers in seventh-century Arabia. Circumstances changed dramatically during the course of its revelation. The community naturally needed clear instructions at each and every step. That the Qur’ān adequately catered for their ever-changing needs reinforces its divine credentials. For only the Word of God could steer a community in such trying circumstances. Furthermore, that the Qur’ān helped establish the invincible Muslim community and Islamic state and the splendid Islamic civilisation in Arabia during the brief span of only 23 years is another pointer to its miraculous nature. Only Allah’s Book could accomplish all this in such a short time. Such a feat is without a parallel in history.

The Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), servant of Allah is introduced as its recipient. This point is emphasised with a view to refuting misconceptions about his role in the authorship of the Qur’ān. Being a servant of Allah he regarded it as his greatest privilege to transmit it faithfully to his audience. As an unlettered person, not known for his literary or intellectual prowess in his pre-Prophetic life, he could not be credited with the composition of such a masterpiece as the Qur’ān is. However, blinded by their stubborn opposition to Islam, the unbelieving Arabs rejected the Qur’ān as the product of the Prophet’s mind. In this passage they are asked to see reason and realise that the Prophet being Allah’s obedient servant did not and could not ascribe anything to Allah which was not His. Notwithstanding this weighty argument adduced by the Qur’ān, even present-day detractors of Islam persist in hurling the same silly charge of dubbing the Qur’ān as the work of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It shows their ignorance of the phenomenon of divine revelation and their inability to note the marked distinctions between the human and the divine. In their malicious attempt to divest the Qur’ān of its divine origin, they betray their lack of discernment. A work as perfect as the Qur’ān could not be produced by the human mind.

Going a step further, the Qur’ān throws out an open challenge, asking the distrustful unbelievers to compose even one sūrah (chapter) like the Qur’ān. They are further told to seek the help of others, including those whom they imagine to be gods, besides Allah, in taking up this challenge. As part of this scintillating challenge the Qur’ān asserts that the unbelievers, both in the present and future, will never achieve any success in this attempt. History testifies that this Qur’ānic challenge has remained unanswered. Man should better realise that the Qur’ān is a miracle and that he is wholly subservient to Allah. Since this is the incontrovertible truth, man should not pursue further the path of falsehood or self-destruction which would land him only in Hellfire. Both the unbelievers and their idols made of stone will be the fuel of Hellfire. It will add to the unbelievers’ anguish to see their idols beside them being roasted in Hellfire.

This dire warning rests on the premise that the Qur’ān is an unmatchable work. The unbelievers will never be successful in composing anything like the Qur’ān because it is characterised by numerous outstanding features. Of these, the following are worth mentioning:

Unlike the palpable miracles granted to earlier messengers, which were specific to their time and place, the Qur’ān is timeless, relevant for all mankind until the end of time.

The Qur’ān is inimitable in terms of its literary, linguistic and rhetorical excellence, a point conceded, in equal measure, by both the seventh-century unbelieving Arabs and twentieth century Orientalists. Since its emergence on the scene, the Qur’ān has all along been the standard in the Arabic language and literature, against which all literary works are measured. In its vocabulary, usage, idiom, figurative language, literary devices, narrative techniques, textual finesse and stylistic features the Qur’ān is a work par excellence. Any human work pales into insignificance in comparison to its literary splendour and majesty.

Notwithstanding its considerable length, consisting of more than six thousand verses, the Qur’ān stands out for its perfect coherence and cohesion. Unity of thought and singleness of purpose permeate and bind every part of the text. This distinction has never been achieved in any literary work composed by man. Some Qur’ānic scholars have conclusively identified this continuity of thought and thematic unity, featuring as it does like a thread, connecting one verse with the next and one sūrah with the next. Such thematic links appear more pronounced between the concluding part of one sūrah and the opening of the next. In sum, the Qur’ān is thematically an indivisible whole. Its distinct overarching worldview characterises its each and every part. Such amazing unity of thought and dexterity in introducing and developing intertwined themes is unimaginable in any product of the human mind. Moreover, the several layers of meaning as found in the Qur’ān are its other baffling characteristic. Readers of varying mental calibre grasp the meaning and message of the Qur’ān to their utmost satisfaction. Yet on each reading the Qur’ānic text yields new meanings. It would be pointless to look for such valuable elements in any human work.

The Qur’ān is essentially the Book of guidance. In this respect, once again, it is unique. Contained in it are directives of abiding value both for individuals in their personal lives and for the society and community at large. Its scheme of instruction envisages every conceivable situation in which man might find himself – adversity or prosperity, war or peace, fear or hope, and a minority or majority condition. In all that the Qur’ān relates, especially of the history of earlier communities, the note of guidance for readers is always to the fore. It is to the Qur’ān’s credit that its immediate addressees, the seventh century Arabs notorious for their evil ways and moral and spiritual degeneration, turned into role models of excellent conduct and enviable morals and manners. Their transformation, needless to add, was achieved, thanks only to the guidance imparted to them by the Qur’ān. More strikingly, the Qur’ān has continued to provide the same guidance to billions of people in every age, including our own times. No book can compete in any degree with the Qur’ān in terms of the perfect guidance it embodies for everyone – the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the specialist and the lay, the male and the female, and the ruler and the ruled. As an impeccable code of conduct governing every sphere of life, it instructs man comprehensively on how to live his life for the best, a way which will secure his deliverance and promote peace and happiness in the world. For its vast range of guidance benefiting every segment of society and for its indelible imprint on human lives the Qur’ān ranks as supreme.

That the Qur’ān is the infallible Word of God is borne out by the actualisation of its many prophecies. In the given circumstances these prophecies appeared as remotely impossible. The conditions of the day did not favour any of these. The unbelievers of the day took to mocking at these, taking them as wild flights of fancy. However, since these were announced by Almighty Allah, they came true in no time, much to the bewilderment of those who had rejected them outright. To illustrate the point, let us briefly examine just two such Qur’ānic prophecies:

i. In 615 CE Sūrah al-Rūm was revealed to the Prophet, with these opening verses:

Alif. Lām. Mīm. The Roman empire has been defeated, in a land close by; but they, after this defeat of theirs, will soon be victorious, within a few years. With Allah is the decision, in the past and in the future. On that day the believers shall rejoice, with the help of Allah: He helps whom He will, and He is Exalted in Might, Most Merciful. It is the promise of Allah. Never does Allah depart from His promise, but most men do not understand.

(al-Rūm 30:1-6)

As pointed out by ‘Abdullāh Yūsuf ‘Alī, this prophecy about the Roman victory was made

when the tide of the Persian conquest over the Roman Empire was running strong. The Christian Empire of Rome had lost Jerusalem to the Persians, and Christianity had been humbled in the dust. At that time it seemed outside the bounds of human possibility … that the tables would be turned and the position reversed within the space of eight or nine years.¹

ii. While comforting and consoling the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in the early Makkan period when the unbelievers ruthlessly persecuted him and even planned to assassinate him with a view to obliterating his nascent Islamic community, the Qur’ān promised him: “We have exalted your fame,” (al-Inshirāḥ 94:4). In the given circumstances, the Makkan unbelievers took this as a cruel joke. For he was then a lone figure, detested by his own tribesmen, including some of his own family members. By then only a handful of weak, resourceless people had responded positively to his call. Otherwise, he was widely dismissed as an outcast. Within a few years of the above prophecy, however, he reached the zenith of success, both spiritual and material. To this day he is universally acclaimed as the most successful religious figure, even by Orientalists given to Islam-bashing. The following glowing tributes paid by them point to the heights of fame scaled by him, as the Qur’ān promised:

“It does not seem too much to say that if any one man changed the course of history that man was Muhammad.” (Charles Issawi, “Muhammad’s Historical Role”, The Muslim World, CT, USA 40 (April 1950, p. 95). “Of all men Muhammad has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race.” (J.W. Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, London, 1864, 1, 329.) “Muhammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, XVth edition, p. 898.) “Compare Muhammad with the long roll of men whom the world by common consent has called “Great”. Take him all in all, what he was and what he did, and what those inspired by him have done, he seems to stand alone above and beyond them all.” (Bosworth-Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, London, 1874, pp. 339-340.) “Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth, out of the unpromising material, a nation never united before, in a country that was hitherto but a geographical expression; established a religion which in vast areas superseded Christianity and Judaism and still claims the adherence of a goodly portion of the human race; and laid the basis of an empire that was soon to embrace within its far-flung boundaries the fairest provinces of the civilized world.” (Phillip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, London, 1948, pp. 121-122.)

These accounts give a fair idea of the veracity of the Qur’ānic prophecies. Needless to add, no human work can even be remotely compared with the Qur’ān on this count.