Objectives & Sciences of the Quran
Excerpted from At-Tasheel li-Uloom at-Tazeel by Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi –al-Gharanti
The main objective of the Quran is to invite people to worship Allah alone and believe in Islam. This objective entails two things to which all meanings of the Quran indicate.
First: clarification of the worship that people are commanded to observe.
Second: Mentioning incentives motivating and guiding people to how they should worship Allah.
Worship is divided into two categories: principles of the creed and practical rules. As for incentives, they include: arousing of interest and warning of punishment.
The sciences found in the Quran are seven: knowledge of Tawhid-ur-Rububiyyah (Oneness of Allah’s Lordship), knowledge related prophet-hood, the Hereafter, rules of Islamic Shariah, promising of reward, warning of punishment, and narratives.
As for knowledge of Tawhid-ur-Rububiyyah, it is about confirming the existence of Allah and deducing that He exists by reflecting on His creatures.
Everything that is mentioned in the Quran regarding the invitation to reflect on the creatures, and pondering on the creation of the earth, the heavens, plants, winds, rain, the sun, the moon, the night, and the day, etc. All these things prove the existence of a Creator who created them, Allah.
Moreover, knowing that Allah is the only Creator of this universe leads to the fact He is one in His names and attributes as well as attesting to the fact that He is free from any imperfection.
As for knowledge related to prophet-hood, it is about confirming that Allah sent all the prophets [peace be upon them] in general, and confirming that He sent Messenger Muhammad, [peace be upon him] in particular. It also includes confirming that Allah revealed the divine Scriptures to His prophets, confirming the existence of the angels, among whom were intermediaries between Allah and His prophets, and refuting the claims of those disbelieve in anything of these things.
It also falls within this category what has been mentioned in the Quran about consoling Prophet Muhammad, and honoring and praising him and the other prophets.
As for knowledge related to the Hereafter, it includes confirming that resurrection on the Day of Judgment will take place, establishing proofs of its occurrence, and refuting the claims of its deniers. It also includes mentioning things related to the Hereafter, such as Paradise, Hell, reckoning, the balance, books of deeds, the great horrors of the Day of Judgment, etc.
As for rules of Islamic Shariah, they include commands and prohibitions. They are divided into five categories: obligatory, recommended, prohibited, disliked, and permissible. Some of these rules are related to the body, such as praying and fasting, some are related to wealth, such as giving the Zakat, and some are related to the heart, such as sincerity, fear of Allah, hoping for Allah’s forgiveness.
As for knowledge of reward, it includes things such as promising of attaining worldly success, such as victory and prominence and promising of attaining the reward of the Hereafter, which is mentioned more in the Quran, such as, mentioning Paradise and its bliss.
As for warning of punishment to the disobedient, it includes things such warning of punishment in the worldly life and the Hereafter, which is mentioned more in the Quran, such as mentioning attributes of Hell and its torment and attributes of the Day of Judgment and its horrors.
Reflecting on the method of the Quran, one finds that promising of a reward is followed by warning of punishment to combine between arousing of interest and fear and to distinguish each one of them by means of mentioning the other, the saying goes:
By means of antonyms, things become clear.
As for knowledge related to narratives, they mention stories of the former prophets and other people, such as the story of the People of the Cave, and the story of Dhul-Qarnayn.
Someone may ask, ‘What is the wisdom behind repeating narratives about the prophets in the Quran?’
The answer to this question involves three points:
• A particular surah of the Quran may mention some of the news of the prophets that is not mentioned in other surahs. Thus, each narrative has extra information that is not mentioned in another surah.
• Some narratives of the prophets have been elaborately mentioned in some parts of the Quran. On the other hand, they have been briefly mentioned in other parts of the Quran to demonstrate the eloquent style of the Quran in both ways.
• Narratives about the prophets have been mentioned in the Quran for various objectives. They are repeated in the Quran in accordance with the multiplicity of their objectives.
Some of objectives of the narratives of the Quran:
• Confirming the prophet-hood of the former prophets of Allah by mentioning some of their miracles and mentioning how those disbelieved in them were destroyed.
• Confirming prophet-hood of Messenger Muhammad [peace be upon him], as he informed about these narratives though no one taught him them. Allah says, interpretation of meaning, [That is some of news of the unseen We reveal to you. You knew it not neither your people before this revelation. So be patient. Indeed, the good end is for the God-fearing.] [Surah Hud:49]
• Confirming Allah’s Oneness. After mentioning the destruction of the disbelievers, Allah says in the Quran, [We wronged them not but they wronged themselves. Their gods they worshipped besides Allah availed them not at all when the command of your Lord came and they increased them not but destruction. [Surah Hud: 101]
• Learning lessons by reflecting on Allah’s Omnipotence and His severe punishment for the disbelievers.
• Consoling Messenger Muhammad in respect of his people’s rejection to believe in Islam by instructing him to imitate the former prophets. Allah says, interpretation of meaning, [Indeed, messengers before you were rejected and they were patient with the rejection and they were persecuted until Our victory came to them. None can change the words of Allah. Indeed, some of the news of the messengers has come to you.] [Surah the Cattle: 34]
• Consoling Messenger Muhammad and promising him that he will be victorious just as the former prophets were victorious.
• Warning the disbelievers of the punishment of Allah, just as the former disbelievers were punished.
• There are other wonders and lessons mentioned in the Quran. Moreover, it mentions how the prophets argued with their people and refuted their claims, etc. In sum, mentioning the stories of the prophets have many benefits. Therefore, they have been repeated in the Quran, just as the saying goes, for every situation, there is an appropriate speech.
No comments:
Post a Comment