METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
The Qur’ān and the Rational Faculty
Allah Most High went on to further declare, after having declared that He taught the Qur’ān, that He created mankind, and taught man al-Bayān. What this means is that He bestowed on him the rational faculty with a capacity and the technique with which to study, understand, explain, and then to teach what was acquired, to others:
“He has created man and bestowed on him articulate thought and speech.”
(Qur’ān, al-Rahman, 55:3-4)
The implication of of juxtaposing the first two verses with the third and fourth in this passage of the Qur’ān, is that the primary function of the rational faculty is for the study of the revealed scriptures, of which the last is the Qur’ān, in order to understand those revealed scriptures and to then explain and teach them to others.
One of the most marvelous examples of the application of the rational faculty to the study and the explanation of the Qur’ān, in so far as its guidance is to be applied in this modern age, can be found in Maulānā’s magnum opus, The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society in two volumes (herein-after referred to as QFSMS – available in English and French from the online bookstore: www. imranhosein.com). While others used their rational faculty for the pursuit of other ends and goals, Maulānā used his rational faculty almost exclusively for the study and exposition of the Qur’ān.
to be continued .....
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