METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
An Introduction to the
Religious Thought of Maulānā
Dr.Muhammad (s) Fazlur Rahmān Ansārī (r)
The most distinctive characteristic of the personality of Maulānā Ansārī was his life-long devotion to the Qur’ān. He spent his entire life studying the Qur’ān, and then explaining and teaching it to others.
Nabī Muhammad (s) declared of those who spend their lives studying and teaching the Qur’ān, that they are a people with the highest status of all:
“The best among you are those who have learnt the Qur’ān and teach it (to others)”
[Sahīh Bukhārī]
Maulānā’s devotion to the Qur’ān may have thus raised him to a status of the highest and the best of those who worshipped the One God.
The Qur’ān and Rahmah (i.e., kindness, mercy, compassion)
Maulānā was of the view that whenever Allah Most High made mention of one of His names/attributes while directing attention to a particular activity or matter, the implication was that those who pursued an effort in that matter would receive the blessings that are inherent in that particular divine attribute. Hence, when Allah Most High chose to make mention of his name of al-Rahmān, i.e., the Compassionate God, when He declared that He taught the blessed Qur’ān:
“The Most Compassionate (God) has taught the Qur’ān.”
(Qur’ān, al-Rahman, 55:1-2)
The implication for Maulānā, was that whoever studied the Qur’ān sufficiently to teach it to others, would continuously receive Rahmah (i.e., Compassion and Mercy) from Allah Most High.
Those who devote their entire lives to the continuous recitation of the Qur’ān, and to studying it and teaching it to others, have another divine promise of great reward. That promise was conveyed in the very first revelation of the Qur’ān that was transmitted by the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet while he was in meditation in a cave high up on a mountain close to Makkah.
Allah, Who is al-Akram (i.e., He Who is Most Noble and Generous), commanded that the Qur’ān be recited! He did so in the very first word of the very first revelation of the Qur’ān that was sent down to Nabī Muhammad (s) (repeated in both 1st and 3rd verses):
“Recite (or read, and hence study) and your Lord-God is Noblest (Most Bountiful and Generous).”
(Qur’ān, al-’Alaq, 96:3)
The implication of the above is that those who continuously recite the Qur’ān, and who devote an effort to study it, and who, having understood even a small part of the Book then teach it to others, would be elevated to a noble status in this world and the next by He Who is Most Bounteous and Generous.
Maulānā Ansārī was a scholar who lived for the Qur’ān, and died while still devoted to the mission of reaching the Qur’ān out to mankind, hence it is that so many years after his death he still commands such respect, and is held in such high esteem in the world.
to be continued .....
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