METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
A Spiritual Bond with Nabī Muhammad (s)
Maulānā spent a great deal of time explaining that Nabī Muhammad (s) was not a postman whose function was simply to deliver the package of Islam and then to say goodbye and go on his way. Rather, he has an abiding role to play in the lives of believers, even after he died and left this world. The proof of this is to be found in the Qur’ān where all Muslims, for all times to come, are ordered to send salutations and greetings of peace on him, even after he is no longer in this world:
“Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation.”
(Qur’ān, al-Ahzāb, 33:56)
The very clear implication of the above is that Nabī Muhammad (s) is alive in another world, and that he receives the salutations sent to him by the believers. But it has always been the belief of those who follow the religion of Nabī Ibrāhīm (Abraham (a), that there is life beyond death. If the Prophet (s) is alive in another world, and we are commanded to send salutations on him which he receives, then it is possible that he has abiding roles to play in the religious life of a believer even after his death and departure from this world. Does the Qur’ān offer any guidance on this subject?
The Qur’ān does speak about the role and mission of the Prophet (s) in communicating the divine guidance and revelations to a non-Jewish people (i.e., the Arabs) who were hitherto living in manifest error, in purifying them, and in teaching them the Book (i.e., the revealed scripture) and wisdom. But then it went on to speak of a people who would come at a later time, who have as yet no contact with the Prophet (s), for whom he will also perform the same role and function:
“He it is Who hath sent among the unlettered ones a messenger of their own, to recite unto them His revelations and to make them grow, and to teach them the Scripture and Wisdom, though heretofore they were indeed in error manifest,
“Along with others of them who have not yet joined them. He is the Mighty, the Wise.”
(Qur’ān, al-Jumu’āh, 62:2-3)
There are two amazing implications which emerge from the above verses of the Qur’ān. The first is that, by divine planning, no one can by-pass either the Qur’ān or Nabī Muhammad (s) and yet penetrate ‘truth’ in its totality (i.e., the complete truth that is accessible to human beings). And it is for this reason that the Qur’ān has no direct mention in it of Dajjāl. It is by divine wisdom that the world has only one means of acquiring comprehensive knowledge of Dajjāl, and that is from the Āhadīth of the Nabī Muhammad (s). It is only through the Āhadīth on Dajjāl that we can recognize and identify the references to Dajjāl in the Qur’ān.
The second implication is that Islamic scholarship (among others) in Ākhir al-Zamān (i.e., the End-time) is destined to receive from Nabī Muhammad (s), something of what those who lived at his time also received from him. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why he spoke about the End-time Muslims in the way that he did:
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“My Ummah (i.e., community) is like the rain. I do not know which (shower) is better – the first or the last.”
(Jāmi’ al-Tirmīdhī)
We do not claim that scholars will be the only ones who might qualify to be amongst such people, however since the Prophet (s) declared that the Ulamā (i.e., scholars) are “inheritors of the Prophets” (inheriting a special role in post-prophetic history and a status appropriate to that role), the implication is that they must be included amongst those who will have that special End-time blessing.
to be continued .....
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