Issue 160 » March 8, 2002 -
General
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QURAN
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Translation:
Surah al-Nisaa (The Women)
Chapter 4: Verses 82"Do they not ponder the Quran? Had it been from anyone other than Allah, they would surely have found in it much inconsistency."
@ Commentary @
Disbelief & Hypocrisy: Due to Lack of Reflection
The main reason for the attitude of the hypocrites and non-believers was their lack of conviction that Quran came from God alone. They did not believe that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had received the revelations that he preached from God Himself. Here God reminds them of one factor behind their hypocritical conduct: that they do not ponder the message of the Quran.
Divine Origin of the Quran: Why is it Inconceivable to have a Man as its Author?
The Quran itself is a strong, persuasive testimony to its divine origin! The unity of the Quran and uniformity of its messages is admittedly greater than that of any sacred scripture in the world. From a mere human point of view, had this Quran been authored by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as some people used to and continue to claim today, we should have expected much contradiction in its message, because
1) the Messenger (pbuh) who preached it was not a learned or even a literate man, nor was he a philosopher;
2) it is inconceivable that any human being, like Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), could compose discourses on different subjects under different circumstances, and on different occasions, without being inconsistent in its overall message and outlook.
3) it is addressed to all grades of humanity.This is the Challenge of Allah!
Had the Quran been authored by a human, it would not have resulted in such a remarkably coherent, homogenous, and integrated work. It is also inconceivable that such a work would reflect a superb consistency in the mood and spirit of its Author, and a work too mature to ever need revision! Therefore, when properly studied and understood, its various pieces fit together well even when arranged without any regard to chronological order.
Let's Study and Live by what we Understand!
While Islam encourages intellectual debates and orders Muslims to use their mind and wisdom, in order to gain insights and enriching interpretations of the message of the Quran, it does not give people a free licence to have trivial arguments with one another using seemingly contradictory verses from the Quran, without resorting to interpretations offered by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), his sincere companions, or the pious and learned scholars.
A man reported to have said, "Once I visited the Prophet (pbuh) at his house. I found some people sitting near his door. They were talking among themselves. Someone quoted a verse. But they disagreed over its meaning and began to argue. Voices rose high. At that, the Prophet (pbuh) emerged and his face turned red with anger. He threw a handful of dust at them (as a sign of disapproval) and said, 'Take it easy, my people, for this is what destroyed the nations before you: it was by (unnecessary) disagreeing with their prophets and misquoting parts of their books to counter other parts of it. The Quran has not been revealed for some parts of it to be refuted with the others, rather, its parts testify (support and explain) each other. Therefore, live by what you understand. And what you cannot, leave it to the learned.'" [Ahmad and Ibn Kathir]
[compiled from "Towards Understanding the Quran", Vol II
by Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi and "Tafsir Ishraq Al-Ma'ani" by Syed Iqbal Zaheer]
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The Importance
of Appearance
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Thought-provoking
Story!
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~ The Triple Filter ~
During the golden Abbasid period, one of the scholars in Baghdad, the capital of Muslim caliphate at that time, was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great scholar and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," the scholar replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," the scholar continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?""No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."
"All right," said the scholar. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?" "No, on the contrary......"
"So," the scholar continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded the scholar, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
"O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong." [Surah al-Hujurat 49.012 ]
[contributed by Sisters Naila Kibria and Faaizah Salahuddin from University of Toronto, Erindale campus]