Towards Understanding the Qur'an. Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi
Editor’s Preface
Muhammad Modassir Ali, again a colleague of mine at the Institute, worked with me on this manuscript day after day and month after month and assisted me in ways just too numerous to be counted. He critically reviewed the text over and over again, his sharp eyes and penetrating brain perceiving errors, oversights and inadequacies which had escaped my notice. His constant and critical scrutiny of the text has doubtlessly led to the improvement of the text. Apart from providing academic assistance, Modassir also contributed very significantly to technical matters pertaining to the formatting of the text, to preparing the index, and helped me with the preparation of the Glossary of Terms and Biographical Notes. Enormous is the amount of time that he has devoted to and the extent of interest he has lavished on this work of mine and most valuable is the assistance he has rendered to me in seeing this book through to completion. I do not think that mere words can ever adequately express my gratitude to him.
The responsibility for whatever mistakes, oversights or inadequacies, remain in this work despite the assistance I have received, lies squarely on my shoulders.
May Allah bless all those whose names have been mentioned above as well as those whose names could not be mentioned although they have helped and encouraged and inspired me in connection with this work in one way or another.
Islamabad Zafar Ishaq Ansari
August 25, 2005
N.B. ▶ refers to the continuation of the paragraph adopted by Mawdudi in the Urdu translation
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It must be said at once that this is an introduction to Towards Understanding the Qur’an, and not to the Qur’an itself. It has been written with two objectives. First, to acquaint the reader with certain matters which he should grasp at the very outset so as to achieve a more than superficial understanding of the Holy Book. Second, to clarify those disturbing questions that commonly arise in the mind of the reader during the study of the Qur’an.
[ I ]
We are accustomed to reading books which present information, ideas and arguments systematically and coherently. So when we embark on the study of the Qur’an, we expect that this book too will revolve around a definite subject, that the subject matter of the book will be clearly defined at the beginning and will then be neatly divided into sections and chapters, after which discussion will proceed in a logical sequence. We likewise expect a separate and systematic arrangement of instruction and guidance for each of the various aspects of human life.
However, as soon as we open the Qur’an we encounter a hitherto completely unfamiliar genre of literature. We notice that it embodies precepts of belief and conduct, moral directives, legal
1 Mawlana Abul A[la Mawdudi wrote this ‘Introduction’ for his Tafhim al- Qur’an. It is being reproduced here to acquaint the readers with some of the basic ideas that inform the author’s approach to understanding the Qur’an. – Ed.
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prescriptions, exhortation and admonition, censure and condemnation of evil-doers, warnings to deniers of the Truth, good tidings and words of consolation and good cheer to those who have suffered for the sake of God, arguments and corroborative evidence in support of its basic message, allusions to anecdotes from the past and to signs of God visible in the universe. Moreover, these myriad subjects alternate without any apparent system; quite unlike the books to which we are accustomed, the Qur’an deals with the same subject over and over again, each time couched in a different phraseology.
The reader also encounters abrupt transitions between one subject matter and another. Audience and speaker constantly change as the message is directed now to one and now to another group of people. There is no trace of the familiar division into chapters and sections. Likewise, the treatment of different subjects is unique. If an historical subject is raised, the narrative does not follow the pattern familiar in historical accounts. In discussions of philosophical or metaphysical questions, we miss the familiar expressions and terminology of formal logic and philosophy. Cultural and political matters, or questions pertaining to man’s social and economic life, are discussed in a way very different from that usual in works of social sciences. Juristic principles and legal injunctions are elucidated, but quite differently from the manner of conventional works. When we come across an ethical instruction, we find its form differs entirely from anything to be found elsewhere in the literature of ethics.
The reader may find all this so foreign to his notion of what a book should be that he may become so confused as to feel that the Qur’an is a piece of disorganized, incoherent and unsystematic writing, comprising nothing but a disjointed conglomeration of comments of varying lengths put together arbitrarily. Hostile critics use this as a basis for their criticism, while those more favourably inclined resort to far-fetched explanations, or else conclude that the Qur’an consists of unrelated pieces, thus making it amenable to all kinds of interpretation, even interpretations quite opposed to the intent of God Who revealed the Book.
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[ II ]
What kind of book, then, is the Qur’an? In what manner was it revealed? What underlies its arrangement? What is its subject? What is its true purpose? What is the central theme to which its multifarious topics are intrinsically related? What kind of reasoning and style does it adopt in elucidating its central theme? If we could obtain clear, lucid answers to these and other related questions we might avoid some dangerous pitfalls, thus making it easier to reflect upon and to grasp the meaning and purpose of the Qur’anic verses. If we begin studying the Qur’an in the expectation of reading a book on religion we shall find it hard, since our notions of religion and of a book are naturally circumscribed by our range of experience. We need, therefore, to be told in advance that this Book is unique in the manner of its composition, in its theme and in its contents and arrangement. We should be forewarned that the concept of a book which we have formed from our previous readings is likely to be a hindrance, rather than a help, towards a deep understanding of the Qur’an. We should realize that as a first step towards understanding it we must disabuse our minds of all preconceived notions.
[ III ]
The student of the Qur’an should grasp, from the outset, the fundamental claims that the Qur’an makes for itself. Whether one ultimately decides to believe in the Qur’an or not, one must recognize the fundamental statements made by the Qur’an and by the man to whom it was revealed, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), to be the starting point of one’s study. These claims are:
1. The Lord of creation, the Creator and Sovereign of the entire universe, created man on earth (which is merely a part of His boundless realm). He also endowed man with the capacity for cognition, reflection and understanding, with the ability to distinguish between good and evil, with the
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freedom of choice and volition, and with the power to exercise his latent potentialities. In short, God bestowed upon man a kind of autonomy and appointed him His vicegerent on earth.
2. Although man enjoys this status, God made it abundantly plain to him that He alone is man’s Lord and Sovereign, even as He is the Lord and Sovereign of the whole universe. Man was told that he was not entitled to consider himself independent and that only God was entitled to claim absolute obedience, service and worship. It was also made clear to man that life in this world, for which he had been placed and invested with a certain honour and authority, was in fact a temporary term, and was meant to test him; that after the end of this earthly life man must return to God, Who will judge him on the basis of his performance, declaring who has succeeded and who has failed.
The right way for man is to regard God as his only Sovereign and the only object of his worship and adoration, to follow the guidance revealed by God,