The Qur'an and Its Study. Adnan Zarzour
for discussion about behaviour and action, or the implementation of rules and principles. In fact, it allowed for discussion of the psychological conditions and social laws as they took place in Muslim society and throughout the Prophet’s lifetime as the Qur’an was being revealed. Thus, the Qur’an gives these conditions and laws a practical dimension during the course of the Prophet’s lifetime and shows their historical dimension in the accounts it gives of earlier prophets and communities.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the scriptures of earlier prophets were revealed all at once, and that the Qur’an is the only Divine book to be revealed in parts, thereby taking care to mould the lead generation of Muslims and so Islamic history.
We may also say that the revelation of the Qur’an in parts is evidence that the Qur’an is the final Divine message. As it accommodated the Prophet’s history along with the histories of earlier prophets, we realise that no further revelation would come later to document this history. We thus understand what it means to say that the Qur’an is the final message and that Muhammad was the last of God’s messengers (peace be upon them all).
4.2 Guiding the Steps of Implementation
The fact that the Qur’an provided guidance on the implementation of its laws and legislation, correcting mistakes and pointing out shortcomings, emphasises the importance of practical and full implementation. Thus, we have the practical model for all future generations, provided by the first generation that lived through the period of revelation, mistakes and corrections. The Qur’an was revealed one surah or passage at a time, recording what that first generation did, their failings and shortcomings. It told them how they should react as a community at times of ease or hardship, in victory or defeat. The aim was not only to train them in evaluating wrong or corrupt situations and putting them on the right track to achieve the desirable change, it also educated them to appreciate that a painful or undesirable situation produced by a correct principle must not be taken as justification to bypass that principle or to try to change or amend it. We may give the example of the Battle of Uḥud, which was the subject of many Qur’anic verses addressing this point. One of these verses says: ‘It is by God’s grace that you deal gently with them. Had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would surely have broken away from you. Therefore, pardon them and pray for them to be forgiven and consult with them in the conduct of public affairs. When you have resolved about a course of action, put your trust in God. God loves those who put their trust in Him’ (3: 159).
This Qur’anic verse commands the Prophet (peace be upon him) to adhere to the principle of consultative government despite the fact that such consultation was an indirect cause of military defeat;76 the direct cause of the defeat was that an army unit did not stick to the Prophet’s orders. Hence the defeat must not be taken as an excuse to abandon the principle of consultation or to limit it, let alone resort to the opposite course.
5. Revelation and Reality
Some scholars suggest that revelation was in response to what took place in reality. They advance this amazing view on the basis that some of the verses that include legislation or rulings were revealed on particular occasions. We will discuss this fully when we tackle the subject of reasons for revelation. We need, however, to make a brief comment here in order to dispel any confusion that may result from what we said under point 4 above concerning the revelation of the Qur’an in parts to educate the Muslim community.
5.1 Most Qur’anic verses were revealed without a direct reason necessitating them. These include all the verses that speak of the Islamic faith, its beliefs and principles. Related to this aspect are all the parts of the Qur’an that were revealed in the Makkan period with their varied and broad subject matter ranging from the universe to nature, man and history.
With the revelation of some verses that address these issues the existing set up was demolished and replaced by a solid and lofty structure where man, throughout human life, will find welcoming shelter. Other verses opened up areas of knowledge that were unrelated to time, such as the creation of nature, the operation of natural laws, man’s creation, the life of prophets and the history of nations and communities, etc. In both these areas, it is wrong to say that revelation answered the requirements of an existing situation, or, as scholars of theology [i.e. Uṣūl] claim, that revelation met its needs and was subject to its acceptability.77 It is also wrong to say that when the existing situation demanded, revelation was forthcoming, and when it relaxed, revelation also relaxed.
5.2 The verses that were revealed for certain reasons are only a portion of the legislative part of the Qur’an or what is related to it and this part includes no more than five hundred verses. Looking at all the reports that speak of reasons for revelation shows that few of them are accepted by scholars of Hadith. Indeed, it is important to exclude what is not related to reasons of revelation and to define what is meant by this. It is also important to look carefully at what commentators on the Qur’an say in this connection in order to determine what may be related to reasons of revelation and exclude what is not. Scholars of the Qur’an agree that a reason of revelation means ‘what a verse or a passage revealed in giving a verdict concerning something at the time of its occurrence’. This is what is meant by ‘an existing situation’.
5.3 These very verses may be taken as examples of the extent of realism in such verdicts and legislation. They are totally unlike the idealistic and theoretical forms philosophers produced and which were totally unrealistic.
When we look carefully at these we realise that they explain situations directly related to human nature and perfectly suit it, regardless of the special circumstances of time, place and personage. In other words, they give us human models and show how they should be sorted out at all times. This is expressed by scholars of the Uṣūl al-Fiqh, or legal theory, in a well-known maxim: ‘What matters is the general meaning of the text, not the particular cause for its revelation.’
In the light of these observations we understand the reason for revelation as being the occasion that required the making of the ruling known and of its being put into practice. In other words, it signalled the start of its implementation, and this within the general framework of ending ignorant practices and establishing Islamic rules within the individual and society. This was a continuous process throughout the period of revelation of the Qur’an.
Needless to say, the events that took place during the Prophet’s lifetime in the first Muslim community do not constitute part of the reasons for revelation. Indeed, this is a question of recording in the first place, similar to the Qur’anic discourse about the history of earlier prophets and communities. So, when the Qur’an addresses other aspects of these events and the then existing reality, this was not in response to the reality or to provide justification for it. Rather, the address is concerned with setting the process of implementation on the right track. We may say, therefore, that the events of that period, which is part of history, moved along with the process of revelation throughout its era, making clear that the revelation, or the Islamic culture in its broad sense, shaped history, and not the reverse.
It is beyond the scope of this work to give a full discussion of the relation between culture and history, or between theory and Islamic history. Indeed, we have discussed this elsewhere.78 So, we simply say that it is revelation, or culture, that shaped history. Hence, it is totally wrong to say that when the existing situation demanded, revelation was forthcoming, and when it relaxed, revelation also relaxed.
We feel that this view is taken from other cultures. It was history that shaped European culture, which is a different case to that of Islamic culture. Hence, to say that practice can judge revelation simply means putting the Qur’an and man-made cultures on the same level. Indeed, it may border on alleging that the Qur’an is not God’s revealed word. We referred earlier to the question of consultation in public matters. So, if revelation is an answer to reality why has no revelation criticised the principle of consultative government when it led to defeat in the Battle of Uhud?
5.4 Finally, we may reconfirm the fifth purpose we mentioned above, namely, asserting that the Qur’an is revelation from God the Wise, the Worthy of Praise. We noted that despite being revealed over a period of twenty-three years, the Qur’an is very consistent in style and content. We may add that every