|
The Pace of Change of the Miracle of the Glorious Qur'an
By: Dr. Majeed Ma’arif
The prophetic mission of the Prophet of Islam (SAWA) began simultaneously with the revelation of the Qur’an to him. The Qur’an for Allah’s messenger was tantamount to Moses’ rod.
The Prophet of Islam proved his justness with the Qur’an, especially in Mecca where they refuted him more vehemently. Here greater emphasis was placed on the Qur’an. In other words the Meccan Qur’anic surah and verses carried greater weight as far as the miracle of the Qur’an was concerned. The surah revealed in Medina were longer and had a wording nearer to ordinary wording. The Meccan surah, however, were short, rhythmical with cadences.
This beautiful wording created a dual feeling among Arabs. On the one hand, they were fascinated by the eloquence of the Qur’an and on the other, they refuted the Qur’anic verses as they sounded to them quite different from their beliefs. Arabs could not disregard overnight the firm opinions which they had inherited from their forefathers and said by the Qur’an to be erroneous. Hence, they had to choose a path other than that suggested by the Prophet. Some went along the path of their faith that was shown by Islam. Others antagonized the Prophet. The antagonism towards the Prophet was either ideological and cultural, or military.
Where the days of the Prophet were drawing to an end and in his last days, the polytheistic bases were destroyed, there was a religious solidarity in the Arabian Peninsula and all were Muslims. In this age there was no specific argument as to the miracle of the Qur’an and the secret thereof. The Qur’an and only the Qur’an had called people to Islam and no one had ever made known a surah verses the Qur’an.
Following the demise of the Prophet (SAWA) there emerged certain tribes known as tribes of apostasy” i.e. belonging to apostates like Musaylima, the liar, Siya and Taliha.
In the second century A.H. the Islamic culture was mingled with the cultures of non-Islamic nations. People converted to Islam because non-Arab people converted to Islam after their territories were conquered by Muslims. The opinions of foreigners were mingled with those of Muslims and the foreigners became pseudo-Muslims. In the second century A.H. there emerged an ideological development known to Muslims as atheism. Atheists believed that religion was an instrument for the Prophet to use for getting people united.
In this century atheists attacked on the Qur’an and this made Muslim scholars think whether the Qur’an was really a miracle and if so what its miraculous aspect was. Thus was how some Muslim scholars pored over the miracle of the Qur’an. As far as it was known, there was no independent book to have treated of the miracle of the Qur’an. In second and third centuries A.H. studies were conducted along two lines. One manifested the beautifies of the Qur’an. Abu Obayda Mu’ammar ibn Yahya, a scholar in the third century wrote a book entitled “Majaz-al-Qur’an”. Majaz is a figure of speech versus truth. Fara Nahvi writes a book entitled “Ma’ani-al-Qur’an” (the meaning of the Qur’an) and Jahiz also wrote another book entitled “Nazm-ul-Qur’an” (the order and systematic style of the Qur’an) and finally a scholar by the name of Ali ibn Zayn Tabari wrote his book entitled “Al Oslub val Balagha” the most learned writing on the style of writing peculiar to the Qur’an. Yet we have no book to deal with the miracle of the Qur’an.
From the third until the ninth centuries A.H. tens of scholars emerged in the world of Islam with writing on the miracle of the Qur’an. The most outstanding literary work was by Abu Abdullah Yazid ibn Mohammed Yasseli, who passed away in 306 A.H. Of course before him, Jahiz, the great Arab learned man had written his book “Nazm-ul-Qur’an” in which he showed the Qur’an was an excellent literary work. Unfortunately Nazm-ul-Qur’an is not extant. Jahiz said in his other work, “Al-Bayan val Tabyeen”, that he had written another book “Nazm-ul-Qur’an” in which he had shown some of the eloquent beauties of the Qur’an. But history said that Abu Abdullah Vasseti was the first author to have written about the miracle of the Qur’an and after him another scholar emerged by the name of Khata’i. In sixth century A.H. Zamakhshari wrote in his book “Al Kash’shaf” an expounding work that whatever specialty one might have, whether he was a theologian, a philologist or an orator, he would make no great achievement unless he knew rhetoric and eloquence, i.e. ancient scholars sought the beauties of the Qur’an wording more in its words and sentences than in its guiding language.
In the sixth and seventh centuries A.H., Fakhr Razi and Malakani emerged and so did Soyuti, the great scholar versed in the Qur’anic knowledge. In the eight and ninth centuries. Soyuti in his book “Itqan” Chapter 62, has referred to the miracle of the Qur’an and given a short account of the views of the scholars regarding the miracle of the Qur’an. In his other book “Motarak-al-Qur’an fi I’ijaz-al-Qur’an” he cited different views expressed by scholars on the miracle of the Qur’an from different aspects; eloquence, rhetoric and smooth literary style.
Ayatollah Kho’i, a contemporary thinker, in his book, Al-Bayan, has given three dimensions to the miracle of the Qur’an:
1. Permanent facts.
2. Reasoned and philosophical knowledge.
3. Making canon laws
In summary, when we transfer from ancient times to modern times, we feel that our attitude towards the Qur’an has changed, i.e. instead of perceiving literary subtleties of the Qur’an, we try to know what impression it has on our minds as far as its guiding aspect is concerned. What does this verse mean “We sent down the Qur’an for all troubles of believers and thus extended Our mercy over them all”? In this age of ours, the age of depreciation of values and moral decadence, man feels perplexed and confused. What then has the Qur’an thought for human salvation? This is the pivot of argument for our thinkers and perhaps that is why we need a new way of expounding the Holy Qur’an.
Translated by: Abul Hasan Qods
|
