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The Revelation Of
The Glorious Quran |
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A Miracle to last till the End!
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Well before God's revelation
marked him as a Prophet, Mohammad(p)
had rejected the religion of Arabia.
This religion called on the worship
of several gods, and Mohammad felt
that these idols were not
responsible for life or creation.
Questioning the religion that he was
born into, Mohammad (p) found peace
in reflection, meditation, and
contemplation; however, these acts
of private worship did not give
Mohammad the answers that he was
searching for. In his late thirties
Mohammad began a practice of
retirement, where he would seclude
himself from his family and
relations and spend several days in
a cave on top of a mountain two
miles outside of Makkah. He
continued this for many years:
during the month of Ramadan,
Mohammad would often spend the
entire month in seclusion, for some
instinct must have told him that in
this holiest month he would find the
answers to his questions. So, it was
in his fortieth year that Mohammad
(p) received the revelation from
God.
While engaged in worship in a corner
of the cave of Hira in the heart of
the night, the orphan son of
Abdullah who had never studied or
attended a school, was suddenly
shaken by the summons, "O Muhammad!"
followed by the command to recite,
this being the beginning of
revelation. A wave arose from the
limitless ocean of Divinity, rent
the breast of the Prophet,
bewildered and anxious, and filled
to the brim the cup of his spirit.
Mohammad was shocked and afraid. How
could there be another voice in the
cave when he was all alone?
Nevertheless, he replied: "I am not
one of those who can read". After
his answer, he was taken up, and
violently hugged and then set free:
the voice repeated, "Read". Mohammad
could only give the same answer: "I
am not one of those who can read".
The being repeated the same action,
hugging him again. Once again it
commanded him to "Read". This time
Mohammad gave a different answer: he
said, "What shall I read?", and the
voice said:
"Read! In the Name of your Lord, who
has created you! He created man from
a clot of blood. Read, and your Lord
is the Most Gracious, He who has
taught by the pen, Taught man what
he did not know."
[Al-Quran: 96:1-4]
The shining of a light from the
realm of the unseen covered and
enveloped his being and shone forth
on his fair features, giving rise to
new and bright life in the darkness
of the night. Then, with a painful
tumult in his heart and bearing on
his shoulders the heaviest
responsibility conceivable, he set
out for home from the cave of Hira,
destined to become the teacher of
all human beings and to assume the
leadership of humanity on its long
march forward.
What force was it that had
disquieted him despite his infinite
patience, made him anxious despite
all his tranquil courage, and
plunged his whole being into painful
turmoil? Thereafter the envoy of
revelation came repeatedly, reciting
verses to him, profound and
astounding verses that bore no
resemblance from the point of view
of style and content either to the
words of the Prophet himself,
eloquent as they were, or to the
conventional prose and poetry of the
age.
Although the Arabs of the Age of
Ignorance knew neither how to read
nor how to write and had no
historians, philosophers or
scholars, they were famed for the
excellence of their poetry and the
eloquence of their speech. The
Prophet, however, had never
participated before the beginning of
his mission in the cultivation of
the arts of poetry and eloquence.
His conduct, on the one hand, and
the verses of the Quran, on the
other, both testify that he made no
compromises in conveying his
message. He conveyed the message
that he had been ordered to deliver
clearly, unambiguously and in utter
contradiction both with the beliefs
and inclinations of the people and
with his own immediate interests. He
loudly proclaimed the revelation he
had received to the evil and the
ignorant, to a people made
degenerate and corrupt by the
worship of the idols they had
fashioned themselves, and he
informed them that their sole
salvation lay in the worship of the
One God.
The new factor that appeared at a
particular time in the life of the
Prophet and caused him to engage in
unprecedented forms of activity was
the wondrous phenomenon of
revelation, the heavenly message
which he as the most lofty and
qualified of men had been chosen to
receive. Before then, no preliminary
effort or particular inclination had
been seen on his part that might
have led to the bringing about of
the sudden and remarkable
transformation of the world he was
now about to accomplish.
The factor that had this profound
effect on Muhammad, that changed
that quiet and reflective man into
an explosive source of revolutionary
energy and enabled him to bring
about such a profound transformation
of humanity, from within the intense
darkness of the Arabs' Age of
Ignorance, was nothing other than
revelation. It was a call that
penetrated the very depths of the
souls of human beings that melted
the marrow of their bones, and
directed all their strivings to the
attainment of perfection.
The command of revelation negated
all the false and lying criteria
which human beings had regarded as
the measure of goodness and
considered the sole means of
evaluating human characteristics and
habits, while, in fact, clothing
falsehood in the garment of truth.
It brought into operation new and
clear criteria which showed human
beings the goals to which they
should strive to advance and brought
about creativity in their lives. The
veil of ignorance and silence was
torn apart, the human beings'
energies were set to work, the power
of thought within them was aroused,
and their spirits were borne aloft
toward the infinite summit of being.
A people who in their ignorance and
lowliness would tear each apart on
account of the most insignificant
things and had lost all virtue,
thanks to their various forms of
enslavement, now became, through
Islam and its great concept of
monotheism - the true pillar of
humanity and the breaker of idols -
so elevated of spirit and so
self-sacrificing that they happily
abandoned both their lives and their
property. The remarkable stories of
self-sacrifice on the part of those
early Muslims will stand eternally
as examples of true nobility.
The Prophet of Islam had the vision
and belief of a world leader, but he
began to proclaim his Divine summons
to monotheism in a relatively
restricted sphere, a closed
environment where tribal
institutions exercised great
influence and idols were counted as
the most sacred and beloved of
objects. It was an environment that
was not in any way prepared to
accept the message of Divine unity.
The heavenly teachings of Islam and
the culture to which they gave rise
were superior not only to the
intellectual atmosphere prevailing
in the idolatrous society of the
Arabs but also to all the religious
doctrines and cultures of that age.
The program for reforming systems of
thought and culture that had become
corrupt was laid down by a man who
had never studied, who was
unlettered, and who knew nothing of
the religious books or the
civilization of his age.
At first he invited his relatives to
worship the Creator, and then the
people of Mecca and the Arabian
Peninsula. Finally he proclaimed to
the entire world his mission as the
last of the Prophets.
The Prophet had been born into an
environment where human beings
engaged in empty boasting out of
their shortsightedness and tribal
mentality, where privileges were
based on unjust social conditions
and prejudices. Now he arose and
swept aside all those false
privileges. He established new
values and concepts with respect to
labor, life and social relations, in
the framework of a series of rules
and ordinances, and strove to
concentrate all the goals and
thoughts of the human being on a
program for liberating peoples from
slavery, and delivering the
oppressed from the tyranny of
emperors and kings. Even for those
who do not regard these exalted aims
as having a heavenly origin will
admit that they are among the most
exalted and previous values
observable in human history.
What is significant about the
Revelation, the Message of God, is
that it was an act for which the
Prophet (pbuh) was ready. Meaning,
that he had already forsaken the
beliefs of his people and his
culture. Mohammad (pbuh) had proved
himself ready for prophethood
through his pious actions and
behavior. Among his people he had
already earned the name Al-Amin, The
Trustworthy. Moreover, Mohammad (pbuh)
was a mature man, one who had lived
the majority of his life, and could
devote the next twenty-three years
of that life to the service of God.
Since different verses of the Qur'an
were being revealed as and when
appropriate, it was not possible
from the very beginning to write and
preserve it in a book form. So,
during the initial stage of Islam,
major emphasis was laid on memory as
a means of preserving the Qur'an.
When a revelation used to come in
the very beginning, the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhi wasallam) would tend to
repeat its words instantly so that
they would be memorized well enough.
Thereupon, Allah Almighty directed
him through the verses of Soorah
Qiyaamah that he need not repeat
words in a hurry immediately as
revelation came. Allah Almighty
would himself endow him with a
memory that he will be unable to
forget the words of the revelation
once its descent has been completed.
So it was that the moment the
Qur'anic verses would come to him,
they would be committed to his
memory the next moment. Thus, the
blessed chest of the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhi wasallam), was the most
protected vault of the Qur'an, in
which there was no chance of even
some common mistake, editing or
alteration. Moreover, as a matter of
additional precaution, he used to
recite the Qur'an before angel
Jibra'eel every year during the
month of Ramadhaan; and the year he
left this mortal world he completed
a cumulative review of Qur'anic
recitation twice with Jibra'eel. (Saheeh
Bukhaari with Fat'hul Baari)
Again, as it was, he would not
restrict his teachings of the
Sahaabah (Companions) to just the
meaning of the Qur'an, but had them
memorize its words as well. Then,
the revered Companions were
themselves so enamored with a desire
to learn and remember the Qur'an
that every one of them was anxious
to get ahead of the other. There
were women who claimed no dowry from
their husbands except that they
would teach the Qur'an.
Hundreds of Companions, freeing
themselves from all other concerns,
had devoted their whole lives for
this purpose. Not only did they
memorize the Qur'an but also went on
repeating it within the nightly
prayers. "When someone migrated from
Makkah and came to Madeenah", says
Ubaadah Ibne Saamit, "the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhi wasallam) would entrust him
to one of us Ansaar so that he could
teach Qur'an to the new comer." The
mosque of the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhi wasallam) was so filled with
voices generated by learners and
teachers of the Qur'an that the
Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)
had to ask them to lower their
voices so that mistakes are not
made. (Manaahilul 'Irfaan)
Thus memorisation of the Qur'an was
given more emphasis in early Islam
as this was the only protected and
trustworthy method given the
conditions of that time. The reason
is that the number of people who
could read or write was very limited
in those days. The means of
publishing books, such as printing
press, etc., were not there.
Therefore, in that situation, if
writing was taken to be sufficient,
it would have neither been possible
to spread the Qur'an on an extensive
scale nor to protect it reliably. In
its place, Allah Almighty had
blessed the people of Arabia with a
memory of such dimensions that
thousands of poetic lines would
normally rest in the memory of one
person after another. Common
ordinary villagers would remember by
heart their genealogies and those of
their families and unbelievably
enough - even those of their horses!
Therefore, this power of memory was
well utilized for the conservation
and protection of the Qur'an and it
was through it that the verses and
chapters of the Qur'an reached all
over in to the far corners of
Arabia.
Besides having the Qur'an committed
to memory, the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhi wasallam) made special
arrangements to have the Qur'an
committed to writing as well. Zayd
Ibne Thaabit says: "I used to write
down the words of wahee for him.
When wahee came to him he felt
burning with heat and the drops of
perspiration would start rolling
down on his body like pearls. When
this state would go away from him, I
would present myself before him with
shoulder-bone or a piece (of
something else). He would go on
dictating and I would go on writing.
When I would be finished with
writing, the shear weight of copying
the Qur'an would give me the feeling
that my leg is going to break and
that I will never be able to walk.
In any case, when I would be
finished with writing, he would say:
'Read.' I would read it back to him
if there was a shortcoming, he would
have it corrected and then let it be
known to people. (Majma'uz Zawaa'id
with reference to Tabraani)
Thus, there existed, during the time
of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi
wasallam), a copy of the Noble
Qur'aan which he had arranged to be
committed to writing under his
supervision. Although, it was not
there as a formally prepared book,
but it certainly was there in the
form of various units of available
writing materials. Along with it, it
was also the practice of some
revered Companions that they would
make copies of the Qur'anic verses
and keep them for personal
recollection. This practice was
common since the very early period
of Islam. Accordingly, much before
Umar embraced Islaam, his sister and
brother-in-law had in their
possession verses of the Qur'aan
which they had written and kept in a
book form. (Seerah Ibne Hishaam)
After reading about the Revelation
of the Holy Qur'an, you might find
the following of interest:
How the Holy Qur'an was
preserved: Zayd Ibne
Thaabit says: "I used to write down
the words of wahee for him. When
wahee came to him he felt burning
with heat and the drops of
perspiration would start rolling
down on his body like pearls. When
this state would go away from him, I
would present myself before him with
shoulder-bone or a piece (of
something else). He would go on
dictating and I would go on writing.
When I would be finished with
writing, the shear weight of copying
the Qur'an would give me the feeling
that my leg is going to break and
that I will never be able to walk.
In any case, when I would be
finished with writing, he would say:
'Read.' I would read it back to him
and if there was a shortcoming, he
would have it corrected and then let
it be known to people.
The Demand of the Qur'an for a
Direct Confrontation: From the
very first day that the Prophet
began preaching his message of
monotheism, he summoned people also
to a realistic vision of the world.
When inviting them to faith, he
addressed their wisdom and
intelligence and called on them to
use their eyes and their ears to
perceive the truth.
Do we deserve the Qur'an ?
The student of the Qur'an will find
out that, Qur'an is telling us that
the messengers of Allah will lead
the people from darkness into the
light and that nowhere in the Qur'an
does Allah tell us a story of a
community misled by its messenger or
given the wrong teachings by him.
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