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Towards Understanding the Qur’an

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. An efficient way to carry out this investigation would be to note under separate headings, such as ‘conducive to success’ and ‘conducive to failure’, any relevant material encountered. 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 behaviour, 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 an 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 studied. Unresolved problems where human thinking seems to have got stuck 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.

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