Session 61 Notes
Can anyone claim to believe in the Qur’an without ever reading it? They may have heard a few pieces of revelation here and there, does that make them eligible to claim that they believe in all of it?
Unfortunately, this is a problem in the Muslim community, i.e. those who are born into a Muslim community may not take the Revelation of God seriously. There are exceptions in the converts who read and study the Quran and, after being satisfied with it, claim that the Qur’an addresses their human needs. Their conversion to Islam and embracing it is based on the Qur’an being their guide for their life. Many Muslims may find themselves in trouble unless they don’t study the Qur’an as a guide for their life. Some regard it as a sacred book but not seeing much into what it is telling us and then just start imitating the Qur’an.
Those who come from non-religious backgrounds and are interested in Islam, how are they expected to read the Qur’an? Most of them would be using some translation. We can warn them that this is a book claiming that it is the word of God and the translation is limited to the understanding of the translator and cannot go beyond transferring only one of the literal meanings of it. We will discuss how the Qur’an must be read on its own terms.
How should one read the Qur’an? It must be read on its own terms
The Qur’an claims that it is the speech of the creator of the universe and human beings who knows them and their problems. When one picks up the mushaf to engage with the Qur’an, there is no author mentioned on that copy of the mushaf, as in other divine books. The Torah also has no author listed whereas the Bible has the authors mentioned including the four canonical ones which give the record of what they heard from Jesus and narrate it as his biography including some sayings. Whereas both the Torah and the Qur’an have no authorship to them from this world. They declare themselves to have a divine origin.
Thus, when someone is reading the Qur’an they must understand they are not reading the work of a man; it is not the writing of a human being. The Qur’an must be read as to what it claims to be the speech of the Creator of the universe and human beings in it. That is what it means to “read in its own terms”. For example one may be holding a sociology book, it cannot be read like a biology book which would make no sense. So, when the Qur’an says that it is the word of the Creator of the universe and human beings, we must read it bearing that in mind. That does not mean to confirm that it is the word of the Creator before reading and being satisfied with its content.
- A child brings a book to you and says it is written by the best mathematician ever. If you start reading the book written by the child himself but thinking that he is falsely claiming that the book is written by the professor of Mathematics. How much would you read it seriously? Even though the child is claiming that it is not his work but the work of the professor of Mathematics, when one takes it as the child’s own work, how seriously can the work be taken? The book will be treated according to the child’s capacity.
- When you start reading the book assuming that it is written by the professor of Mathematics. You would take it more seriously than the earlier case where the assumption was that it was written by a child. By seeing it as the work of the professor doesn’t mean that you would believe in it without any confirmation. You must evaluate what it states and whether it is acceptable or not and then come to a judgment. In the case of the Qur’an, confirm whether it is the word of God or not.
- If you are satisfied with the knowledge in it, only then will you confirm that what it says is true. The attitude one takes is important here.
- Most of the people are not satisfied with the message of the Qur’an because their initial approach to the Qur’an is wrong. They read the Qur’an as written by a person, by a man called Muhammad and they try to understand the message within the capacity of a human being. Rather, they must try to understand it according to the capacity of the Creator of the universe and see it as His speech. Our seriousness to the message changes based on how we view the book.
For example, anyone who spent some time in the oriental studies department, far and near eastern studies or newer terms of middle eastern studies and asian studies knows how they approach the texts studied. They usually take the Qur’an as being Muhahammad’s words. They say that since there were no jews in Mecca, he probably learnt it in his two trips to Syria along the route which had a population of Jews. They make ridiculous claims of him learning in a day or two from Jewish sources. They assume that he learned Moses’ and Pharaoh’s story from the Christian monks or Jewish scholars. They do not think that the speaker of the Qur’an is the Creator of the universe and human beings. It is hard for them to get the message because of their approach of taking the Qur’an as the word of a created human being. They usually concentrate on the story mentioned, the historical facts that they can cross reference.
This becomes important when introducing the Qur’an to someone. They must be reminded that it says it is the word of God, their Creator who is also the Creator of the universe. Thus, read the Qur’an in its own terms which says: “I am the word of God, the Creator of the universe from the beginning to the end.” One must read the Qur’an by bearing in mind that it is the word of the Creator of the universe. For example, when it says “I will a thing to exist and it comes into being” (2:117, 3:47, etc). Observe the universe and see how creation is happening. Can the universe exist by itself or is it created by a One who is not of the same nature as the universe, unlike the universe, i.e. the One who is the source of Existence of the universe? This source must be an Absolute Being, not a dependent being. The universe is changing continuously, what changes them? The beings in the universe are dependent on something else to change them. This being must be Absolute, Self-Existing Being who has Absolute Power, Knowledge, Will, etc.
Everyone can ask who can be my source of existence? Who or what can be the source of the existence of the universe? No one in this universe can give existence to another thing. Must this universe and created beings have a source of existence? Can anyone claim that the universe is self-existent? There is no evidence for that. If something is self-existent then it must be self-sustaining and the universe cannot show any sign of self-sustenance. The universe is subject to change continuously, which means that the universe and every single being in it cannot be self-sustaining. The atheistic approach gets stuck here. However, the Qur’an says read me with the witnessing of the universe and with the witnessing of your human capacity. The human body belongs to the universe, but human intelligence, consciousness, feelings, all sorts of endless feelings, all of them are human capacity which is called spirit, human spirit, which makes human, spiritual capacity.
We must thus use this human capacity to witness the universe, i.e. read the Qur’an and refer to human feelings to see the signs in the universe, whether it makes sense or not. The Qur’an being God’s words, speaks from God’s perspective. We have to explain the message from our perspective using the witnessing of the universe. We are in the age of reasoning where the witnessing of the universe is of utmost importance to see the consistency in the message of the Qur’an. The Qur’an must be read as if my Creator is speaking to me. Everyone should be able to say that and confirm that the Qur’an is from our Creator. Unfortunately, many Muslims do not relate the message to themselves by feeling it within themselves and consciously confirming that it is the word of God. The message is taken for granted by accepting whatever it says to be true, which is a lazy approach. One has to reflect, think and see how it is educating me as my Creator, my Rabb (Lord), my Educator. My Lord is teaching me who He is and who I am and how I must behave in this world. What am I expected to do? What is my future according to what my feelings are looking for? The message of the Qur’an addresses that and my feelings match, are compatible with the news it gives.
Reading the Qur’an as a Living Discourse
Revelation speaks to our present reality, narrates past events as lived human experiences for us
- The Qur’an should NOT be read as a history book: Revelation talks to us here and now, not there and then. Let’s take an example of a fable told to young kids mentioning the conversation of a bird and a fox speaking to each other. The point of the story is to teach good, moral behavior to the kids by using those characters as examples.
We should make the message of the Qur’an a living discourse applicable to our real life. The revelation talks to us here and now. There is a fine difference between hearing a story and taking a lesson from it which the Muslim community is familiar with, to the speech being a living discourse applicable to my life right now. Some Muslims say that all these stories are for lessons. No, the Qur’an doesn’t say that by giving all the prophetic stories to tell us what happened to them. The Qur’an uses “قصص” (stories told in the Qur’an about the living examples of the previous prophets) for you readers to think about, so that you find yourselves in it. God is speaking to me by giving me an example that I can relate to in my life. I must find myself in the message of the Qur’an addressing me, and then see if I confirm the message in my human reality or not. The difference is in finding oneself in the narration rather than taking a lesson from it.
For example, in the case of Moses, Harun and Pharaoh, I must check if I have a pharaonic attitude, or do I have the attitude of Musa or Harun? We can have both the pharaonic tendency in our ego and the prophetic tendency to accept the truth in our conscience. Most of the stories are like this where I may have both sides in me.
Another example is in the story of Adam. One of our side whispers and competes with our other side to try to divert us from our reality. The other side says: “I will help you and bring you evidence, angels to serve you.” Don’t we have these options in our lives? We have our conscience, reason on one side and egoistic tendencies on another. We must be able to identify ourselves with the characters rather than just take a lesson from the story.
Let’s study the following verse to practice:
قَالَ سَـَٔاوِىٓ إِلَىٰ جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِى مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ ۚ قَالَ لَا عَاصِمَ ٱلْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ ۚ وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا ٱلْمَوْجُ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُغْرَقِينَ
“[The son] replied, ‘I will take refuge on a mountain, which will protect me from the water.’ [Noah] said, ‘There is no protector today from the decree of God, except for those on whom He has mercy.’ And the waves came between them and he was among the drowned.” (11:43)
The background of the story is that Prophet Noah begged his son to join him by taking refuge in the ark, otherwise he would be drowned. Noah’s son replied that he will take refuge on a mountain which will protect him from water. His father had informed him that there would be water everywhere and only His ship would help save him. This is the “qissa”, event or story.
Are we in “جَبَلٍ ”, on a mountain? Are we facing a flood? For us to live the message, the flood for us represents the flood of denial which we must protect ourselves from. Prophet Noah is teaching us that there is no protector today from the decree of God, take refuge with God, which is the only way. The mountain represents the causes in the world that claim to offer us safety solutions, lifeless matter to satisfy us. The event of taking refuge on the mountain by Noah’s son is when we take refuge with the material causes.
Prophet Noah builds the ark which represents God’s message which he gradually receives from God and delivers it to the people, and takes refuge there whereas the son takes refuge on the mountain; both are taking refuge and want safety. None of the “causes” in our eyes are really causing something to exist, these causes cannot create. They have no ability to create themselves and they need to be just created and sustained by the Creator of the universe; all are under His command.
We experience floods and mountains everyday in our lives. For example, we may think the food is nourishing us but it is the Creator of the food who is nourishing us. The food is a gift from our Creator specially given to us out of His mercy. If we want to receive God’s mercy, we must take refuge with Him and accept that everything created is from Him.
The verse continues by mentioning that “the waves came between them, and he was among the drowned”. When one takes the material means as their source of satisfaction, “the mountain is going to protect me”, then the “drowning in the flood” happens. The decision of God is made between the confirmation and denial of reality. The water that drowns one who denies reality is the same water that saves those confirming the reality.
This is an example for us to distinguish between belief and unbelief. Both Prophet Noah and his son took the means. Prophet Noah did not say that he is not going to do anything and be saved by God. On the contrary, he had to build the ark or ship as instructed by God. To build the ship for us means to study the Qur’an and the prophetic message and prepare ourselves towards living with belief.
Either living with belief or disbelief is what we are responsible for. Upon death the human spirit is going to ask the “mountain” which it thought was the source of protection while living in this world, to protect it again. The mountain is destroyed as it is created, all means need to be created and are under the obedience of their Creator. Prophet Noah was asked by God to take refuge in the ark or ship. Rather than the mountain, God creates the ship for him to take refuge in, to protect him from the flood. My attitude is important, whether I obey the command of God and seek protection from Him or seek protection from the created beings. Either seek protection from the causes or from the Creator of the causes.