METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
www.imranhosein.org
ANSARI MEMORIAL SERIES
AN INTRODUCTION TO
METHODOLOGY FOR
STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
IMRAN N. HOSEIN
imranhosein.org
IMRAN N. HOSEIN PUBLICATIONS
© Copyright reserved by the publisher
1437 (Hijri); 2016 (Gregory XIII)
ISBN 978-976-95837-1-9
Published by
IMRAN N. HOSEIN PUBLICATIONS
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Website: www.imranhosein.com
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Dedication
If you have not been reciting the Qur'an
(in Arabic) regularly from cover-to-cover,
and if, after having read this book,
you now make a sincere effort to do so,
then this book is dedicated to you.
A journey that is constantly repeated
“A man enquired: “O Allah's Messenger! which action
is most liked by Allah? He replied: ‘(the action of) him
who finishes a journey and then embarks on a journey”.
Darimi has added to this Hadith in his Sunan, the
following: “It was asked as to what was the meaning of
finishing a journey and undertaking another? (To
this) he replied: ‘A possessor of the Qur'an recites it
from its beginning to its end, and when he finishes, he
returns to the beginning (to finish it again),”
(Sunan, Tirmidhi)
Contents
Preface ......................................................................................... xiii
Ansari Memorial Series ............................................................. xvii
Introduction ................................................................................... 1
Chapter One
The Credentials of the Qur’an as the Word of the One God ..... 15
Absolute authenticity of the Qur’an......................................... 17
One uniform unchanging text of the Qur’an ........................... 21
Eternal literary excellence of text of Qur’an with no
revision ever necessary .............................................................. 22
Undiminished literary attraction of the Qur’an ........................ 24
The challenge to those who doubt the status of the Qur’an
as the Word of the One God which was revealed to an Arab
who could neither read nor write ............................................. 25
Those who reject the Qur’an ................................................... 33
The believing Christian, the believing Jew, and the Qur’an ..... 35
Chapter Two
Preparation for study through continuous daily recitation
of the Qur'an ................................................................................ 55
When should the Qur’an be recited? ........................................ 64
Chapter Three
Preparation for study through promptly acting in accordance
with what is understood in the Qur'an ....................................... 67
Chapter Four
Do not ignore – by-pass – or disrespect the Qur'an in the
pursuit of knowledge ................................................................... 73
Do not disrespect the Qur’an! .................................................. 74
Do not by-pass the Qur’an! ..................................................... 75
Chapter Five
Do not study any verse of the Qur'an (or any Hadith)
in isolation ................................................................................... 87
Wrong methodology lead to error concerning money .............. 91
Wrong methodology lead to error concerning the age at
which marriage is permissible ................................................... 93
Chapter Six
The verses of the Qur'an are like the stars in the sky ................. 99
Locating the system of meaning of a subject being studied
in the Qur’an ......................................................................... 104
Harmony in the stars and in the Qur’an ................................ 105
Chapter Seven
System of meaning in the Qur'an on the subject of
consumption of intoxicants and curing addiction to alcohol . 109
Chapter Eight
System of meaning in the Qur'an in the matter of Muslim
relations with the Christian, the Jew, the Torah, Psalms
and Gospel .................................................................................. 131
What is the status of Christians and Jews when judged
by the Qur’an? ....................................................................... 143
The Qur’an responds to the claim of Jews and Christians to
possess a monopoly on Truth and Faith ................................. 156
Chapter Nine
Ayat Mutashabihat (Verses To Be Interpreted) ....................... 161
Ayat Mutashabihat: The Muqatta’at ...................................... 168
Ayah Mutashabiha: Pharaoh’s body ....................................... 172
Ayah Mutashabiha: The Dream of Nabi Ibrahim,
i.e., Abraham (a) ......................................................... 179
Ayah Mutashabiha: Pax Qarnain (i.e., the world-order
of Dhul Qarnain) .................................................................. 187
Pax Qarnain – the journey to the West .................................. 197
Pax Qarnain – the journey to the East ................................... 199
Pax Qarnain – the enigmatic third journey ............................ 201
Qarnain: The second of the two Qarns .................................. 207
Rum of the East and Rum of the West .................................. 215
Appendix 1
An Introduction to the Religious Thought of
Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari (r) ....... 217
The Qur’an and Rahmah (i.e., kindness, mercy, compassion) 218
The Qur’an and the Rational Faculty .................................... 220
The Qur’an - the fountain of all Knowledge .......................... 222
Methodology ......................................................................... 225
The Qur’an validates the Hadith ........................................... 226
Naskh – cancellation or abrogation of divine revelation ......... 233
What Allah causes to be forgotten! ......................................... 238
Gog and Magog ..................................................................... 240
The Imperative of Islamic Spirituality .................................... 247
A Spiritual Bond with Nabi Muhammad (s) ...... 257
Rejection of Sectarianism ....................................................... 261
A rare moment in time is gone – a golden opportunity
is perhaps lost! ....................................................................... 264
Index ........................................................................................... 267
Ansari Memorial Series ............................................................. 289
Preface
Methodology for the Study of Dajjal the False Messiah was meant to be included as a chapter of my book on Dajjal. However I realized that it was too long to function as a chapter, and hence I had to remove the material that was specific to Dajjal, and then publish it as a separate book altogether: An Introduction to Methodology for Study of the Qur’an. I have no regrets in doing so since it was my desire that this be my last effort at teaching basic methodology for the study of the Qur’an. I have done no more than offer that methodology. Those who wish to do so, can search for books which teach the subject comprehensively. The ‘Introduction’ to the religious thought of the distinguished Islamic scholar, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari (1914-1974) contains important information and analysis on methodology which complement the text of this book. Readers are advised to carefully read that ‘Introduction’ to his religious thought in order to enhance their understanding of the subject of this book. It is located in Appendix 1 of the book. Indeed most of what is explained in the text itself on methodology has come from him, and it is he who should have written this book. I wish I had an introductory book such as this to study when I was his student and I was just beginning my study of Tafsir al-Qur’an. Had he written it, I have no doubt that it would have spurred me on to a faster and more productive effort of study of the Holy Qur’an.
Allah Most High declared that He sent down the Qur'an in the Arabic language in order that it might provoke a people to think (Qur’an, Yusuf, 12:2), and hence to study the Book with the rational faculty. Most translators of the Qur’an admit that it cannot be translated to another language. (See Muhammad Asad’s essay entitled: Can the Qur'an be translated? Published by the Centre Islamique, Geneva. 1964). Rather, the most that can be achieved in a translation is an approximate rendering of the meaning of the miraculous Arabic text. For this reason we always quote in this book, the actual Arabic text of the Qur'an which has been preserved unaltered for close to fifteen hundred years, and having done so, we then offer an explanatory translation with our explanatory comments (always carefully enclosed in brackets). We have done so in order to facilitate the proper study of the Qur'an. References for quotations from the Qur'an are always provided below the translation of the Arabic text as follows: first the name of the Surah, then the number of the Surah, followed by the verse number; e.g.,(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:21; Qur’an, Yusuf, 12:2; etc.). We sometimes quote only a relevant part of the text of a long verse of the Qur'an since, to do otherwise would unduly increase the size of the book. Readers can access the entire text of such verses if they log on to the website: www. islamicity. org/quransearch
Finally, I wrote most of this book in the month of Rabi alThani 1437, while on a brief visit to the city of Geneva in Switzerland, in order to participate in a seminar on ‘Preparing for Nuclear War’. I gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance provided by Mushtaq's Food Machinery of UK which made my travel to Geneva, as well as my stay in Geneva, possible. I also gratefully acknowledge Kamal Ahmad Musa's beautiful work in the cover design of this book. He is from the Holy Land (Palestine). Finally I also acknowledge the kind assistance of my dear student from Singapore, Hasbullah Bin Hithayathulah Shafi'iy, who assisted me in many different ways, including locating several Ahadith. May Allah bless them all for their kind assistance. Amin!
Imran N. Hosein
Geneva
Rabi al-Thani 1437; February 2016
to be continued .....
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