By: Dr. Mohammed Hamidullah
Contents of the Qur’an
- As stated previously, Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the Word of God, revealed to His messenger Muhammad. This messenger is only an intermediary for the reception and communication of the revelations. His role is neither that of an author nor of a compiler. If the Prophet Muhammad sometimes ordered the suppression of certain verses, that was done merely on the basis of a new revelation coming to him from the Almighty.
- God is transcendent and beyond all physical perception of man. It is through the medium of a celestial messenger, an angel, that God causes His will and His command to be revealed to His human messenger, for the sake of mankind. God is above all bounds of language. We may in explanation employ the metaphor that the prophets are lightbulbs, and revelation the electric current — when the current contacts the lightbulb, the lightbulb provides light according to its voltage and colour. The mother-tongue of a prophet is the colour of the lightbulb, whereas the power of the lightbulb, (i.e., the current and other things) are determined by God Himself. The human factor then, is just an instrument of transmission and only an intermediary.
64/a. The Qur’an is, according to Islam, the Word of God, and the Qur’an repeats again and again that the believer must recite it day and night, whenever he can. The mystics have explained quite well that man travels towards God by means and through the Word of God (the word of God being the main road) just like an electric current is the ‘road for light’ when the lamp is connected to a power supply. This is not empty verboseness. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad had strongly recommended that one should read the whole Qur’an once a week. This has led to its division into seven parts called manzils. Further, the Qur’an has 114 chapters, called surats, each of which has a number of verses, called aayats. In Arabic, manzil means a station after the day’s journey; surat means a walled enclosure, a room; and the root awa, from which the word aayat is derived, means to go to bed. ‘Station,’ ‘room,’ ‘bed’ – these are the three elements of the journey of the traveller, spiritual or temporal. The traveller undertaking a long spiritual journey has to halt at a station after the day’s journey, and requires a room and bed to take rest before a further journeying the next day in his continuous sojourn towards the Eternal and Limitless! - The Qur’an is addressed to all humanity, without distinction of race, region or time. Furthermore, it seeks to guide man in all walks of life – spiritual, temporal, individual and collective. It contains directions for the conduct of the head of a State, as well as a simple commoner, of the rich as well as of the poor, for peace as well as for war, for spiritual culture as for commerce and material well-being. The Qur’an seeks primarily to develop the personality of the individual – every being will be personally responsible to his Creator. With this purpose, the Qur’an not only gives commands, but also tries to convince. It appeals to man’s reason as it relates stories, parables and metaphors. It describes the attributes of God, Who is one, Creator of all, Knower, Powerful, capable of resuscitating us after death and taking account of our worldly behaviour, Just, Merciful, etc. It contains also the mode of praising God, of pointing out which are the best prayers, what the duties of man are with regard to God, to his fellow-beings and to his own self. This last because we do not belong to ourselves but to God, who has deposited our self with us. The Qur’an speaks of the best rules relating to social life, commerce, marriage, inheritance, penal law, international law, and so on. But the Qur’an is not a book in the ordinary sense – it is a collection of the Words of God, were revealed, during the course of twenty-three years, to His messenger sent among human beings. The Qur’an employs graphically the word “king” for God, and “slave” for man. When a king desires to communicate a message to His slave, He sends a messenger, and gives His instructions to his envoy. Therefore, there are certain things understood and implied; there are repetitions, and even changes of the forms of expression. Thus God speaks sometimes in the first person and sometimes in the third. He says “I” as well as “We” and “He”, but never “They”. It is a collection of revelations sent occasion by occasion (and this fact must be recalled to the beginner) and one should therefore read it again and again in order to be able to grasp the meaning better. It has directions for every person, every place and for all time.
- The diction and style of the Qur’an are magnificent and appropriate to its Divine quality. Its recitation moves the spirit even for those who only listen to it without understanding it. In passing, the Qur’an (cf. 17/88, 11/13, 2/23, 10/38) has, by virtue of its claim of a Divine origin, challenged men and jinn to produce collectively even a few verses equal to those of the Qur’an. The challenge has remained unanswered to this day.
Hadith - The narrations on Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, are called Hadith, whether they concern what he said or did, or even simply tolerated among his disciples if they said or did something in his presence. This tacit approval implies the permissibility of the conduct in question of the public.
- The Qur’an has reminded us dozens of times about the juridical importance of the Hadith: “…obey God and obey the messenger…” (4/59), “…what the messenger giveth you, take it; and whatever he forbiddeth, abstain from it…” (59/7), “nor doth he speak of his own desire; it is naught save a revelation that is revealed” (53/3-4), “And verily in the messenger of God ye have a good example for him who looketh unto God and the Last Day and remembereth God much” (33/21-22). Thus, whatever the Holy Messenger commanded, it was, in the eyes of the community, the will of his Divine sender. There were cases when the Prophet, not having received a revelation, had made a personal effort to formulate an opinion through common sense. If God did not approve it, a revelation would come to correct him. This internal process of the formation of the Hadith came only post evetum to the knowledge of the community, and had no practical consequences. But the Hadith has another importance, as under:
- The Qur’an is often succinct; it’s the practice of the Prophet for one to look for the method of application, details and necessary explanations. As an illustration, the Qur’an has said merely, “Establish the service of worship,” without giving the details of the manner in which it should be celebrated. The Prophet also did not describe everything merely with words. That is why one day he told the faithful: “Look at me, see how I worship, and follow me.”
- The importance of the Hadith was increased for the Muslims by the fact that the Prophet Muhammad not only taught, but also took the opportunity of putting his teachings into practice in all the important affairs of life. He lived for twenty-three years after his appointment as the messenger of God. He endowed his community with a religion which he scrupulously practised himself. He founded a state, which he administered as supreme head, maintaining internal peace and order; heading armies for external defence; judging and deciding the litigations of his subjects; punishing criminals, and legislating in all walks of life. He married and provided a model for family life. Another important fact is that he did not declare himself to be above the ordinary law, which he imposed upon others. Therefore his practices did not only involve private conduct, but a detailed interpretation and application of his teachings.
- As a man, Muhammad was modest and careful in his actions. As a messenger of God, he took all necessary and possible steps for the communication as well as the preservation of the Divine message, the Qur’an. Had he taken the same steps for the preservation of his own sayings, he would have been considered by some to be egotistical. For that reason, the Hadith literature is quite different from that of the Qur’an. ***