Locating the system of meaning of a subject being studied in the Qur’an

METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN 

by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

www.imranhosein.org

Locating the system of meaning 
of a subject being studied in the Qur’ān

In the same way that the stars in the sky cannot function as lamps for us unless and until we study, understand and grasp the pattern in which they are inter-connected, so too the verses of the Qur’ān have to be studied and understood to locate the pattern with which they are inter-connected in order for us to discover their true meaning. Maulānā Dr. Muhammad (s) Fazlur Rahmān Ansārī, the author of the great 2-volume work on the Qur’ān entitled "The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society", has described that pattern as the system of meaning of the subject:   

Now, besides consistency,  the conformability of the Holy Qur’ān in its various parts,  as mentioned in the above verse, brings us to the logic of theoretic consciousness,  which, too, is inherent in the holy book, even as the logic of religious consciousness is enshrined therein.  

The conformability, however, signifies, in the estimation of the best Qur’anic authorities, not only uniformity of teaching but also the principle that all the verses of the holy book are inter-related as parts of an intelligible system – whereby the existence of a system of meaning in the Holy Qur’ān is positively established, as also the technique of the exposition of that system.  

 (QFSMS, Vol. 1 p. 111.) 

Not everyone is a mariner with knowledge of navigation through the stars; so too only scholars of Islam would devote the effort for study of the system of meaning of a subject dealt with in the Qur’ān. That system of meaning cannot be grasped without the simultaneous application of both external study and internal insight. The Qur’ān has described this integration of external and internal knowledge as Majma’a al-Bahrain (i.e., the meeting of the two oceans), and the model of such scholarship was depicted in the person of someone called Khidr who bore an uncanny epistemological resemblance to Nabī ‘Isa (Jesus (a). (See my book entitled In Search of Khidr’s Footprints in Ākhir al-Zamān).    

Source: Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

to be continued .....

The verses of the Qur’an are like the stars in the sky

METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN 

by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

www.imranhosein.org

CHAPTER SIX

The verses of the Qur’ān are

like the stars in the sky

“And we have surely adorned the lowest sky with lamps …” 

(Qur’ān, al-Mulk, 67:5) 

The Qur’ān, directs our attention to the stars above and informs us that they were placed in the sky as an adornment and in order to beautify the sky: 

”

“Behold, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with the  beauty of stars.” 

(Qur’ān, al-Saffāt, 37:6)

But it is part of the divine wisdom with which He teaches methodology for the study of the Qur’ān, that he has described those very stars in the sky above as lamps: 

“And, indeed, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with lamps, and have made them the object of futile guesses for the evil ones [i.e., astrologers]: and for them have We readied suffering through a blazing flame.”  

(Qur’ān, al-Mulk, 67:5) 

The reason why He has described the stars as lamps is because they have an important additional function to perform, since Allah Most High has put them there so that they can be used to locate direction: 

“And He it is who has set up for you the stars so that you might be guided by them (for direction, for example, when travelling) in the midst of the deep darkness of land and sea: clearly, indeed, have We spelled out these messages unto people of [innate] knowledge!” 

(Qur’ān, al-An’ām, 6:97)  

Rivers and mountains, like stars in the sky, also assist in the same matter of providing a sense of direction: 

“And he has placed firm mountains on earth, lest it sway with you, and rivers and paths, so that you might find your way,

“as well as [various other] means of orientation: for [it is] by the  stars that men find their way.”  

(Qur’ān, al-Nahl, 16:15-16)  

In order for the stars to function as lamps with which we can locate direction for travel, or direction of the Qiblah (i.e., direction of prayer), it is necessary for us to first study how they are inter-connected and how they combine to form a whole. We must carefully study the stars to grasp the ‘big picture’, and only then can we read our present location and find the desired direction. Indeed there is an entire branch of knowledge known as astronomy, and one part of astronomy is devoted to the study of the stars. For thousands of years before the modern telescope was invented, numerous civilizations achieved great sophistication in this branch of knowledge through which stars became lamps. 

Simple common sense is enough for us to recognize that if we look at only one star, or just a few stars, without a knowledge of the big picture that emerges from a study of the totality of stars, we can make mistakes when selecting direction.    

It is this very lesson in methodology that Allah Most High has taught at the very beginning of the Qur’ān when He declared that all the angels obeyed His order to them to prostrate before Ādam (a) except Iblīs (i.e.Satan). It was because of methodology that the sentence was divinely-constructed like this, since wrong methodology of studying a verse in isolation (or standalone) would inevitably lead to the conclusion that Iblīs was an angel. When, on the other hand, we use the right methodology of studying the totality of the data in the Qur’ān, we find that Iblīs was not an Angel, and could not have been an Angel, but, rather, was a Jinn. 

It is indeed very strange that so many scholars of Islam in a modern age which has already witnessed the return of the Israelite Jews to Holy Jerusalem to reclaim that town as their own, have failed to recognize the presence of Gog and Magog in the Judeo-Christian Zionist alliance which has brought about that momentous return. They have made the elementary mistake of remaining fixated on one solitary Hadīth which they misunderstand to declare that Gog and Magog will be released into the world only after the return of the true Messiah, Nabī ‘Isa (Jesus (a), the son of the virgin Mary. In doing so, they have ignored the Qur’ān which declares that it explains all things, and hence must explain that momentous return.  

Source: Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

to be continued .....

Wrong methodology lead to error concerning the age at which marriage is permissible

METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN 

by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

www.imranhosein.org

Wrong methodology lead to error concerning 

the age at which marriage is permissible

  

It remains a matter of profound regret that many Muslims (including some scholars) came to a deplorable conclusion, based on a misreading of a solitary verse of the Qur’ān that Allah Most High has permitted marriage with a girl even before she reaches the age of puberty:  

“Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly (menstrual) courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no (menstrual) courses (it is the same): for those who carry (life within their wombs), their period is until they deliver their burdens:  and for those who fear Allah, He will make their path easy.”  

(Qur’ān, al-Talāq, 65:4)

The above verse deals with the law of divorce in Islam which prescribes a waiting period after a pronouncement of divorce, before the divorce enters into-force, or takes effect. That waiting period is three menstrual periods of the wife who is being divorced. In the event that the wife has reached the age of menopause when women stop having the menstrual periods, the law prescribes instead, a waiting period of three months. It then explains that the same waiting period of three months will apply for wives who (otherwise) have no menstrual periods.    

Such a woman who does not have her normal monthly menstrual period can either be one who has not as yet reached the age of puberty – hence she will not qualify as other than a child – or a woman who suffers from an abnormal state of no menses. Which of the two is the Qur’ān referring to in the above verse? 

The very clear answer emerges from even a cursory study of the rest of the Qur’ān that marriage is always with Nisā (i.e. women), and never with a child. Whenever the Qur’ān has referred to marriage, or to intimate relations, it has always used the word Nisā. 

In one verse in particular, the Qur’ān has referred to Nisā as Harth (i.e., tilth or field which is ploughed so that seeds can be planted with the hope that they will fertilize and grow and produce a crop): 

“Your women are your tilth; go, then, unto your tilth as you may  desire …” 

(Qur’ān, al-Baqarah, 2:223) 

In order therefore, for a girl to become Nisā, and hence eligible for sexual intercourse with men, she must reach the age of puberty, since it is only at this age that her womb can qualify as Harth, or a field which can be cultivated. Prior to that age her womb cannot be cultivated since no seed can ever be fertilized and grow. 

The same guidance from the Qur’ān concerning marriage is to be found in the verse where Allah Most High directed attention to the collective responsibility of the community of Muslims for maintenance of an abnormally high number of widows and orphans in the wake of two wars which had taken place (i.e., the battle of Badr and of Uhud). His first, and most urgent response, was to advise a means of resolving the problem of maintenance of orphan girls (since they are His first priority) as follows:    

And if you fear that you will not be able to fulfill (your collective responsibility to maintain) the orphan (girls), (since, for example, the Zakāt funds may not suffice) marry from among those (orphan girls who have become) women (i.e., who have reached the age of puberty) and who are pleasing to you,  – two or three or four; but if you fear that ye cannot do justice (in respect of maintaining all these wives with equity since, for example, you may not have the resources to do so) then (marry only) one (and instead of marrying those orphan girls who are eligible for marriage) you may take them (with their guardians’ consent, as Milk alYamīn) as those that your right hands possess (who do not have to be maintained on the basis of equity with wives). That is better (for you) since you will consequently not do injustice (by failing to maintain the orphan girls who are the most vulnerable of all those who need to be maintained.  

(Qur’ān, al-Nisā, 4:3) 

 (Note: When you have the resources to do so, you should then marry such Milk al-Yamīn, so they would then become wives.  While we do not address and explain the subject of Milk al-Yamīn at this time, and in this book, it should be clear to our readers that wrong methodology has also led many to a wrong explanation of the several verses of the Qur’ān on this subject.)  

The above verse makes it abundantly clear that the orphan girls can be married only when they are women, i.e., they have attained the age of puberty. 

It is now also clear that the Hadīth in Sahīh Bukhārī which declared that Nabī Muhammad (s) married a six-year-old child, is in manifest conflict with the Qur’ān, and hence false and fabricated.  

Those who disagree with the above should show some integrity by declaring that it is Sunnah to marry a six year-old, and that they are themselves prepared to accept and to apply this Sunnah, since Allah Most High has declared (Qur’ān, al-Ahzāb, 33:21) that the conduct of the blessed Prophet is the best example or model of human conduct. They should also explain why no one has followed this so-called Sunnah since the time of the blessed Prophet. 

Finally, they should prepare to defend their view when ISIS arranges for the marriage of a 6 year-old child with a 55 year-old man to be video recorded with Zionist-supplied state-of-the-art recording equipment, and that video is then broadcast on every television channel in the world. 

Source: Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

to be continued .....

Wrong methodology lead to error concerning money

METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN 

by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

www.imranhosein.org

Wrong methodology lead to error concerning money

Not only did Allah Most High teach this important lesson of methodology, but He also went on to test those who study the Book. For example, He declared in Sūrah al-Kahf that the young men slept in the cave for 300 years after which He woke them up from their sleep. They then decided to send one of them to the market to buy some food and gave him money with which to buy the food. The Qur’ān has used the word Wariq for the money that was taken to buy the food. Since Waraq can mean leaf or paper, those who used the methodology of studying a verse in isolation came to the conclusion, wrongly so, that paper could be used as money, and hence that today’s paper-money (i.e., currency notes) was Halāl.  

Gold and silver coins that the Qur’ān recognized as money (i.e., Dinār and Dirham) always have intrinsic value, whereas paper-money has no intrinsic value. Rather it has a fictitious value that is manipulated to unjustly enrich western civilization while impoverishing all those who resist western domination. 

The deadliest weapon that the west employs against those who resist their domination is the weapon of inflation, and this is made possible because of manipulation of the (fictitious) value of paper-money. (See my book entitled The Gold Dinār and Silver Dirham – Islam and the Future of Money). Paper money or currency notes in today’s monetary system are bogus fraudulent and utterly Harām, but the Muftis of Islam who deliver legal opinions, remain in a state of blissful ignorance of this fact – even while some of them frolic in Wall Street. Those who disagree, and who reject this view, will learn in their graves the truth that they cannot dispute. 

Source: Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein

to be continued .....

How Do We Replace Paper Money With Gold Dinar & Silver Dirham? 

Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein