Irfan Ahmad Khan

 1.  I will draw a distinction between ‘true religiosity’ and ‘pseudo-religiosity’.  I will use my term ‘the Religion’ for common core of the teachings of the prophets and messengers of God who emphasized the oneness of human family as God’s servants.  And I will argue that the Religion straightens human relations in order to build a universal civilization of peace.  Its belief system is directed toward the establishment of economic and social justice in the human world and it underlines our accountability concerning proper use of earth resources for the wellbeing of humankind as a whole.  However, it is possible to exploit religious sentiments for purposes which are, essentially, anti-Religious.  Pseudo-religiosity is merely a show of religion.  For pseudo-religiosity the tradition, form and names are more important than the spirit and the very essence of Religion.  I will discuss how pseudo-believers act fanatically, sacrificing the purpose for which the Religion came into existence, to its emotional and external manifestations.     

2.  I will be concerned with both: the revival of a people through faith as well as the fact of degeneration of faith communities.  In earlier history, it is the Religion which brought about the above mentioned revival, leading to the dawn of a new civilization which became a blessing for humankind.  However, later the same faith communities which were thus revived during their Golden History may find themselves in a state of degeneration.  In fact, it seems to me that today we are living in a plural world of faith communities which are looking for their regeneration.

It is, therefore, recommended that there is intra-faith work within each faith community. This will be directed toward its own regeneration.  At the same time, interfaith work is also recommended.  This interfaith work will enrich the intra-faith work and will receive benefit from the intra-faith work.  As we will proceed further, there will be spiritual, moral and cultural progress in each faith community and at the same time, due to our interfaith work, a universal civilization of peace will emerge, slowly but surely.  Obviously as these two parallel activities of the faith communities continue, the most active participants will benefit the most, leaving a healthy impact on the whole.  I will also discuss the tendency in some faith communities to alienate themselves for the fear of being assimilated in the dominant culture.

3.  However, the Western Civilization with its secular appearance is the most important participant in the present Dialogue of Civilizations.  The West represents the most recent dawn of a new civilization with all its blessings (while some people in the East only see the threats) for the humankind.  I will contend that there is something common in the nature of the Secular West and our faith communities which are also in a state of degeneration – so the urgency of the intra- as well as inter-work.

4.  As a concerned person who has a genuine sense of belonging to both Islam as well as the West and who believes that God is active in more than one plane – to guide the human world toward peace, prosperity and progress – will examine in full detail the promises as well as our responsibilities, concerning the above two parallel activities.

“Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur’an; it asks you to reflect and reason….When I read the Qur’an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt the only answer for me was the Qur’an and God had sent it to me.”
- Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), former British pop star

It is through the Qur’an that we know: from where we come when we are born into this life; and where we will go after death. Through the Qur’an, God, our Creator and Sustainer, is speaking to us and guiding us concerning our lives. Through the Qur’an we know why God created us, and how one can live a successful life—here and in the Hereafter?

If people do not understand the Qur’an, then the purpose for which the Qur’an was sent shall remain unfulfilled; and this may lead to our own misfortune!

Some people believe that if we recite the Qur’an without understanding, even then we will be rewarded. But this is not our emphasis over here. We should ask ourselves the question, “Why did God send us this Book?”

According to the Qur’an, guidance is a matter of understanding. If there is no understanding there is no guidance. This is why thinking (fikr) is a form of ibadah.

In the Qur’anic Concept of God, God creates as well as guides. God guides the sun, the moon, and all other physical objects. God also guides plants and animals. For all these objects, of the physical and the biological world, God has prescribed a path which they follow.

The same is the case with human life. God has given us the ability to think and make judgments. But, in spite of it, very often people fail to use their ability to think properly.

Therefore, out of Divine Mercy, God has offered further help. God sent, throughout human history, prophets and messengers, who conveyed Divine Guidance to human beings in all parts of the world. At the end, God sent the Qur’an which was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Last Messenger and the Final Prophet of God. The Qur’an is the Divine Book for the guidance of humanity. The Prophet (peace be upon him) explained the practical implications of the Book by his own words and deeds. But he also emphasized that everyone must have direct contact with Allah’s Words. The Qur’an says repeatedly: “Obey God and obey God’s Messengers,” that is, try to understand the Book, and follow its guidance in life. Follow the guidance of the Prophet and try to understand how the Prophet himself explained the Divine Guidance to his first addressees for their benefit and for the benefit of all later generations.”

In order to understand the Book with one’s own mind/heart, an actual contact with the Divine Words has to take place through hearing, seeing and/or touching. Certain conditions can succeed in inducing an inspiration by putting our fu’ad (mind/heart) to work. In fact, when God’s Message, in His Own Words, touches one’s innermost being the whole of one’s being feels its resonance for quite some time. And, it is possible to have a lifetime impression. We do not deny the role of memory and imagination, but memory and imagination need experiential bases (of the original physical contacts) which are provided through the above three channels.

Reciting the Qur’an or listening to a recitation is the first and foremost mode through which the above contact takes place. One’s feeling that the Lord is speaking directly to His servant (me) who has a heart and listens with full attention (50:37) can bring the servant closer to the Qur’an. As the Prophet himself suggested, every believer is supposed to develop some taste for the music of the Qur’anic Ayat (Verses). The time after midnight was suggested to the Prophet (73:1-6) himself for quiet moments of reflection upon the Divine Ayat. However, it is at this time that some other servants of God also stand up for their prayers (73:20) after having taken some rest. All around, there is a perfect peace and calm, because everyone else is asleep. Likewise, the fajr (dawn, before sunrise Salah) time would provide an excellent time for listening to God’s Words (17:78).

But hearing is not the only medium through which a touch of Divine Ayat is experienced. Seeing, which every so often goes along with reciting, also plays an important role in this connection. In fact, seeing provides a more stable medium for our faculty of understanding. In listening to recitation there is a continuous forward movement of our faculty of hearing which our fu’ad (understanding) has to chase and sometimes this movement may be too fast for our reflection. This is why sometime qira’ah, i.e. recitation of the Qur’an with slower speed, makes more intensive reflection possible. At the same time, we also need a faster review of the whole span of Ayat. Or maybe our fu’ad needs a brief stop to have a look at the whole Ayah, or even part of an Ayah, or set of Ayat, or even a whole Surah (Chapter). In such cases our faculty of seeing helps the person who is reading. As opposed to hearing, which has to keep running forward along the recitation in order to decipher the flux of musical sound, our sight is capable of having a comparatively stationary view, of a whole set of Ayat or even the whole of a smaller Surah in one look.

We must not ignore here the significance of touching the Ayat with our fingers. The finger-touch helps our forward-moving sight to take better snapshots of more elementary parts of Divine Ayat. Our sight, when assisted by our finger touch, possesses even greater stability and makes consideration of each word/phrase easier for fu’ad.

It is also important to note that, whatever be the channel, the purity of the object actually touched, seen, or heard counts for a real impact and a clearer grasp of meaning. For example, in having overlooked the Divine Words, a mushaf (the Scripture, i.e. the Qur’an) without its translation is much more helpful in understanding the Divine Signs, their meanings and structure. For a reader who knows sufficient Arabic, a mushaf with translation or other help-material, would act as a hindrance to the eyes and thereby to the fu’ad of every reader who can easily understand the language. Readers are, therefore, requested to apply their eyes to the pure Text. If they have difficulty in understanding due to their poor knowledge of the Arabic language, (which we urge them to make up as soon as possible), they are requested to first seek help from some translation of the Text in order to see/listen directly to God’s Words – free of any foreign elements.

Building up a relationship with Divine Words means, more than anything else, building our relationship with Divine Ayat (of the Qur’an), reading/ reciting them or listening to their recitation over and over again – as we reflect over their meanings and walk in their light (39:22). Ayat of the Qur’an invite us to thinking– they have a message for us. Every Ayah makes a point which needs to be reflected upon. In fact, an “Ayah” means “something significant, which needs to be understood.” But there are other levels on which contact is build up with the Divine Words, some of them lower but some even higher than that of Ayatic reflection. Therefore, before we proceed further, let us have a look at more significant levels on which our contact is maintained with the Divine Text.

Various Levels on Which We Build A Relationship With the Qur’anic Text:

(i) The basic level is that of letters, whether consonants (huruf, sing. harf) or vowels (harakat, sing. harakah).

No recitation is correct unless and until every harf (consonant) and every harakah (vowel) has been correctly uttered. Likewise, a good hearing will be one which does not miss any letter uttered, whether consonant or vowel. And the same will be true on writing, seeing or touching, which should also take care of each and every letter.

(ii) We must relate ourselves with each and every word of the Qur’an, whether noun or verb, adjective or adverb; even prepositions and conjunctions should be given full consideration. Sometimes we do not give due consideration to conjunctions and prepositions, and thereby miss very significant points in the understanding of the Qur’an.

The significance of conjunctions lies in showing how various statements are mutually connected, and thus conjunctions help in giving us a broader view of a complex reality whose various aspects are represented by these statements. The Qur’anic conjunctions play a very important role in showing us the structure of a Surah which alone contains a complete Divine Discourse comprising Ayat as points which are systematically related.

(iii) An Ayah of the Qur’an may comprise more than one sentence. But sometimes one gets the impression from some Ayat that, as such, one of them does not even make one complete sentence. Being successful in building a relationship with a Qur’anic Ayah would involve being able to understand the linguistic expression the Ayah makes as a whole. And this may be a very complex point – as is the case for some longer Ayat.

We may have to consider some other points concerning our relationship with Qur’anic Ayat. But first let us discuss the Surah, which is a very important unit of Revealed Guidance in Divine Words and consider how to build our relationship with the Qur’an as a whole.

(iv) The Divine Book is made up of 114 Divine Discourses or Surahs. Every Surah is a complete discourse which is very systematically organized. There is a central theme of every Surah which organizes various discussions which the Surah comprises. In fact, this is the reason why the Qur’an did not challenge (as in 2:23) its skeptical opponents, who doubted that it was Divine Revelation, to bring any number of Ayat like the Ayat of the Qur’an. The Qur’anic challenge, on the other hand was related to ten Surahs (11:13) or even one Surah of the Qur’an (2:23; 10:38) or the Qur’an as a whole (17:88).

Also have a look at the Outline and Structure of Surah al-Fatihah. In order to appreciate the systematic structure of the Qur’anic Surahs, a learner should select a short Surah and keep reading it over and over again, till its structure becomes clear to him/her and he/she is able to see what is the main point which the Surah makes and how it is actually made in this Divine Discourse.

(v) Significance of Ramadan: Just as the Qur’anic Surahs are very well organized units of the Qur’an, within the Qur’an its Surahs are very systematically arranged. During the month of Ramadan the Muslim Community has a very special program in which the believers build their relationship with the Book as a whole.

Throughout the year the believers relate themselves with the Qur’anic Surahs, reciting the Surahs one after another and reflecting over the Ayat of these Divine Discourses. However, when Ramadan arrives, there is a month-long annual celebration of the Qur’anic Revelation. (2:185). The Muslim Community tries to build its relationship with the Qur’an as a whole, reciting the Qur’an and listening to the recitation of the Qur’an as much as possible. During the day the believers fast, and at night they perform special additional prayers to listen to at least one complete recitation of the whole of the Qur’an.

A true understanding of the Qur’anic Ayat is possible only for those who keep reciting and listening to the recitation of the whole of the Qur’an. We hope our notes on al-Fatihah and al-Baqarah will practically demonstrate this important point.

God alone is the Creator, Sustainer and Sovereign of all beings – everyone else is God’s servant. God alone is worthy of worship. Each person will one day return to God to account for one’s performance in the present phase of life.

The prophets helped their followers in building a relationship with their True Deity. They taught their people how to remember God’s name and how to glorify God. They taught how to live, morally and spiritually, a clean, pure life, doing our duty to God and God’s creatures. Through straightening the man-God relationship, they straightened human life as a whole. Mainly, prophets and messengers came at a time when the human society was full of mutual exploitation, corruption, injustice and violence. Human society was divided into conflicting groups. Those who had more wealth and power – instead of helping their fellow human beings – were trying to dominate over weaker sections of society. The prophets of God advocated that there should be no lordship of man over man. None other than God has the status of a deity or a lord. All human beings are equally servants of One God. Thus the prophets of God invited their people to tawhid or servitude to One God, The Lord of All Humankind. This movement turned the divided humanity into One Family of God’s Servants who had mutual respect and mutual concern. Those who were well off shared their resources with those who were in more severe need. The Divine Guidance revealed to the prophets of God was based upon social and economic justice and emphasized a sustainable society.

Unjust and cunning leaders exploited people’s sentiments and the masses blindly followed them. However the true prophets of God helped their people in their spiritual and moral development and guided them to the path of wisdom (hikmah). To the believers, the Divine Book was a constant source of enlightenment in all their affairs.

The Tawhidic mission aims at giving human beings their true freedom and dignity. It liberates their minds and spirits from all slavery – including their blind following of so-called religious leaders. The prophets emphasized the use of `aql or reason. They taught our intellectual faculties are Divine blessings and as God’s thankful servants we must use them properly.

What is most important, Tawhidic message involves accountability to God. Every person is answerable to God for what he/she does. Whatever resources have been given to us, we are responsible for their proper care and we should use them for the benefit of our fellow human beings, who are all God’s servants. We are required to live a pious and virtuous life, with peace and justice, in accordance with the Divine Guidance revealed to the prophets of God. On the Day of Judgment everyone will stand before the tribunal of God to receive God’s forgiveness and reward or punishment.

Just as each individual person has an (ajal), i.e. has been given a limited span of time to live, the whole humanity itself has a limited period to show its performance. When this term (ajal) is over, this world will be annihilated. Later, an altogether different world will come into existence – starting with the resurrection of the dead and the Judgment Day. The new world will open, in the Vicinity of God, unlimited possibilities for future progress and prosperity for the virtuous part of the human world. Nothing is emphasized in the Qur’an like the Forgiveness and Mercy of God. Of course, the criminals who, in spite of God’s repeated warnings, do not repent and do not seek God’s forgiveness – the incorrigible part of humanity – will meet what they were promised, i.e. eternal doom. However, God keeps assuring the sinful servants not to be disappointed in the Mercy of their Lord: If they come back in time and repent, all their sins will be forgiven.

Just as God is testing each individual through giving one some of God’s blessings or depriving one of some of God’s blessings, in the same way various groups of human beings are being tested. The Qur’an mentions the People of Noah, the People of Thamud, and the People of Pharaoh, etc., who gained supremacy over earth due to their progress in the field of science and technology, but transgressed against God and filled the earth with corruption and zulm (violence and injustice). When they did not repent, in spite of Divine Warnings which came through prophets of God, ultimately Divine Punishment came and eliminated them from the surface of the earth. It is interesting to see that just as there is a term (ajal) for each individual and a term (ajal) for humankind as a whole, the Qur’an also mentions a third ajal in the context of rise and fall of various civilizations. God tests various human groups by giving them (e.g.) some kind of supremacy in the human world for a limited period of time.

In the above perspective, the following two cases have special significance:

a) The Case of the Children of Israel: God sent many prophets and messengers to take care of the spiritual and moral development of the Children of Israel so that as a community of believers they stand in the human world with the tawhidic mission and help the establishment of economic and social justice on earth. The Qur’an discusses their story at length, starting with the story of Joseph, to whom a whole Surah of the Qur’an is devoted. The Qur’an discusses the story of Moses and Jesus in more details. It also discusses the stories of David and Solomon as great prophets and kings (Caliphs of God) who established justice and peace on earth. The Qur’an briefly mentions many other prophets of the Children of Israel. The Qur’an underlines that when the Children of Israel did not fulfill their (Tawhidic) covenant, they lost their glory which the Lord of Humankind had blessed them with. The Prophet repeatedly emphasized that the Muslim Community must learn a lesson from the history the Children of Israel as narrated in the Qur’an.

(b) The case of Ummah Muslimah (or the Global Muslim Community) :

According to the Qur’an, no more prophets or messengers will be coming after Muhammad (peace be upon him). Now, it is the responsibility of the followers of the Prophet that they convey the Tawhidic message to the rest of the world and present their own practical example. If this believing community will fulfill their covenant with God, God will help them and give them an honorable position in the human world and they will be rewarded in the Hereafter. Muslim people should learn from the story of the Children of Israel which is elucidated in the Qur’an. If, on the other hand, they will fail to convey the Tawhidic message to the rest of the world – through their practical example and through their words – as earlier the Children of Israel did, who thereby faced great humiliation in the human world, their own fate will not be different.

The Qur’an invites its readers to think: Creation is not in vain. Good and evil are not the same. So the fate of virtuous people and that of evil-doers will not be the same.

Reason (‘aql) itself is a mode of Divine guidance to man: Those who are sincerely looking for guidance and use their reason, God will surely guide them to the Truth. It is God’s special favor to human beings that God has been sending, throughout human history, prophets and messengers for the guidance of humanity. This mode of guidance is called ‘revelation.’ Through revelation God gives us knowledge of al-ghayb (the Unseen or the Hidden), the reality which, in this phase of life, lies beyond our perception. The Revelation gives, in Divine Word’s, basic guidance for the Community of the Believers. The Prophet further explains the Revealed Text through his own words and deeds and, with the cooperation of his Community of Believers, gives it a concrete and practical shape. Islamic thought and Islamic life is, in fact, a continuing process of understanding and living the Divine Text, which continues even after the Prophet has left this world. The community of the believers is expected to continue this process of understanding in changing human situations, investing all their abilities and skills in this endeavor. At the same time they also keep the example of the Prophetic guidance before their eyes.

The above is rooted in the Qur’anic concept of knowledge and reality:
The Qur’an explains that God has a two-fold relationship with the world: God creates as well as guides (20:50, 87:1-3).

Every thing and every person owes its/his existence to God. Whatever exists today, or existed earlier, was created by God. And it is only through God’s act of creation that any object will come into existence in future.

Likewise, every being in the universe follows the laws prescribed to it/him by God. All movements and changes in the vast unlimited astronomical world are guided by God and every object, big or small, follows the path prescribed to it by God. And the same is true of the subatomic world. Likewise all developments in the botanical world as a whole, and all growth or decay, even in the life of a tiny plant, follow the path prescribed for it by the Creator (e.g. 87:2-5).
The same is true of animal life (e.g. 16:68-69), which is the domain of instinctive guidance. However, human beings belong to a higher level of beings. God has blessed them with `aql, or reason, i.e. ability to understand. They can make moral judgments and distinguish between true and false. Merciful God has further helped them with revealed guidance.

Thus, Divine guidance on the human level has two modes:

(i) Innate or instrumental guidance, (ii) Revealed guidance.

Mode One of Divine Guidance to humans: The Qur’an explains, God has given to humans moral consciousness (91:7-8). Much like animals, human beings also have biological impulses. But they may choose to follow their moral judgment in spite of the fact that it goes against their biological impulses. On these occasions, it is their reason which prevails over their emotions.

The Qur’an mentions faculties of ‘sam’a´,’ ‘basar’ and ‘fu’ad’ (‘hearing,’ ‘seeing’ and ‘understanding’) as Divine blessings. See, for example, 32: 9. Humans are able to grasp the religious truths when these are conveyed to them, by the prophets and messengers of God, in the languages which their people speak. When they listen to the Ayat of the Qur’an, people feel ‘it is exactly what they were looking for!’ The Primordial Man sees the phenomena of nature as Divine signs. People perceive in these phenomena Hands of their Merciful Lord working for the benefit of human life. The Qur’anic Ayat (signs) make the same signs of nature more easily understandable to human beings, through its descriptions of these signs in clear Arabic language, In fact, due to the above mentioned innate guidance, human beings possess a potential to believe (i.e. have iman) – as if the Divine guidance were rooted in the human nature itself. And, as we keep reflecting on the Qur’anic Ayat, it is this innate guidance that enables us to understand various points of Divine Guidance. Consider the following point which the Revealed Guidance in Divine Words makes in clear terms and our religious consciousness immediately testifies to its truth:

Through the present phase of life God is testing us. A new chapter will open on Judgment Day when each of us shall stand before our Creator to account for our own performance in this life.

Human beings have `aql, or the ability to understand and make judgment, which is further refined with revelation. The believers continue their reflections upon human destiny and the purpose of human life in the light of Divine Guidance.

Mode Two of Divine guidance to humans is comprised of God’s sending prophets and messengers who received the Revelation for the guidance of humanity. They conveyed the Divine Words to their people and explained the Revealed Guidance in Divine Words in their own words and by their own practical example.

As a general rule, when the Qur’an speaks of ‘guidance’ in the narrow sense, it refers to mode two of the Divine Guidance to Man (see e.g. 2:38). However, it is due to mode one of Divine guidance that humans have a potential to receive and understand ‘guidance’ in the narrow sense (i.e. mode two of Divine guidance). The innate guidance has the nature of instrumental guidance. The revealed and the instrumental guidance work together just as our faculty of seeing works when there is light. Both our faculty of seeing as well as light are blessings from God and one can not work without the other.

Mode two of Divine guidance has also two elements:

1. A chosen servant of God who receives the Divine Words through revelation and explains it to his people in his own words and through his own practical example;

2. Revealed Guidance in Divine Words

In guiding humankind, it is The Divine Policy that God chooses one of God’s servants from humankind to communicate directly to him and to deliver God’s Message to his people. This chosen servant of God is called a ‘prophet’ or a ‘messenger.’ The prophet of God recites the Divine Words to his people and explains them through his own example and in his own words. The prophets of God work under Divine supervision. God watches that there is no mistake in their explanation and interpretation of the Divine Guidance. When needed, God would intervene and send a new revelation correcting the prophet so that in the net result there is no mistake. Thus, even though a prophet is a human being, he is infallible. When other believers make a mistake, they mutually criticize and correct each other. The prophets of God are above believers’ criticism. God criticizes them when required. Because there will be no more prophet after Muhammad (peace be upon him), now no one can claim this infallibility. No member of the believing community is above believers’ mutual criticism.

A Futile Debate. The fallacy of those who say “The Quran is sufficient, therefore, Hadith, is not required” is quite obvious. One cannot both believe the Quran and disbelieve Hadith unless one actually does not understand the Quran. Of course, the Quran is sufficient as a source of guidance. But then you should really develop a relationship with the Divine Book and use your abilities and skills in understanding it. And how there can be doubt concerning the importance of Hadith; while the Quran itself establishes the necessity of the Sunnah (whose reports we get through Hadith). Hadith is definitely a most significant source of Islamic knowledge. Instead of wasting our time in the futile debate above we should try that the Muslim people revive their relationship with the Quran so that the above point is clear to them.

1. Unfortunately those who try to establish the Hadith is also required, through their wrong argument that the Quran is not sufficient say very little concerning the mutual relationship of the Quran and the Hadith and their relative importance. Very naively, sometimes they would place the Quran and the Hadith parallel to each other saying “both are required” – as if the two were equal in importance, in all respects, and no priorities were involved in deriving guidance through the two sources of knowledge and guidance and as if there was no meaningful relationship between the two.
2. The Priority of the Quran is something concerning which there should be no disagreement in the Ummah. The Quran always places “obey God” before “obey the prophet.” And the hadith also places the Book before the Sunnah. Of course it is important that we understand the nature of this priority. Due to our interest in issues of methodological importance, we emphasize the following points.
3. The most basic difference between the Quran and the Hadith is that Quran alone is words of God. Even if a hadith is also a linguistic expression of a revelation from God, its status is below the status of “Divine Words.”

Should we say that in such a hadith meanings are revealed from God and these are given verbal form by the prophet? (or maybe by Jabriel, it is important that Hadith Qudsi should be defined as riwayah lul ma’ni – “a report of what God said in the Prophets words.” In Hadith Qudsi; inspite of the fact that God is in the first person, it is the Prophet (or maybe Jabriel) who is conveying in his own words what, apparently, God is saying.

In the Quran, it is God Himself, Who is speaking a language which humans speak. But language is only a medium through which the Divine expression is taking place. Otherwise the linguistic expression of the Quran is free of all human elements. The linguistic expression of the Quran is free of all human elements. The linguistic expression of the Quran is Divine even when God is in the second or third person and when some human being(s) or angel(s) or jinn are in the first person.

On the other hand, the Sunnah introduces a human (or at least a non-Divine) element in guidance. Perhaps this difference between the Quran and the Hadith was not clear to Fazlur Rahman who made such a revelation. He brought the human element in the Quran, the way it is only in the Hadith.

“The Quran is our primary/basic text which is explained/ interpreted through Sunnah.”

The above statement explains the nature of the relationship between the Quran and the Sunnah (and thereby Hadith)

(This relationship is not reciprocal. It will be a mistake to treat the Quran as explanation or interpretation of Hadith or Sunnah or even treat Hadith as more basic.)

The Prophet applied (the guidance of) the Divine Text to the human situation which he and his first believers encountered.

He explained the Divine Words – through his action and speech – to his first addressees.

He accomplished the above tasks under Divine supervision. Whenever, there was a need, God would correct or guide him – maybe through a new revelation. Thus the Prophet worked out the meanings of the Revealed Guidance in Divine Words

a)      in a situation

b)      to a people

c)      without any mistake because, the Prophet alone worked under direct Divine Supervision.

And this believing community (in fact, each of its individuals) is also supposed to keep it direct relationship with the Quran for fresh guidance

a)      in changing human situations

b)      as its abilities to understand and grow with the progress in human sciences, art, and literature, etc.

c)      and do it collectively – correcting and appreciating, mutually.

d)      as they keep the Sunnah of the Prophet before their eyes.

The above has methodological implications

(i)                  To have a true understanding of the Sunnah we must keep before our eyes the Quranic text which is, thus, being explained or interpreted or whose practical implications are being worked out through it.

(ii)                It is also required that we consider the people to whom this text is being directly explained by the Prophet i.e. consider their abilities and skills to understand, due to their being at a particular stage of human development.

(iii)               Likewise the consideration of the human situation, to which the Quranic guidance was applied by the Prophet and under his guidance by his first believers, is also essential. They saw the Divine Words addressing a particular human situation. It was, in fact, their own situation – the situation of their people and the situation of their world as a whole. And they understood the Quran in this situation. (And this also has to do with the stage of scientific, technological and cultural development that apparently intended in bringing about this situation into existence.)

(Of course, the Sunnah is guidance for all coming generations of mankind – (ii) and (iii) only underline that the later generations that very naturally understood everything from their perspective (and through their own situation) and through their own abilities and skills, should not neglect the stage of human development i.e. the minds to whom the explanation was made and the situation to which the Divine Text was applied.)

While human beings will continue reflecting upon the Quranic ayat with their growing abilities to understand and in their changing human situations, God makes it sure that this task is accomplished by God’s Prophet under God’s own supervision so that there is a model for all following generations,

Thus, in fact, the Sunnah of the Prophet actually worked out such practical implications of the Quran and explicated the meaning of the Divine ayat through his words and deeds the way the believing community, left to it, would have never been able to do.  Mainly, we should not overlook the contributions in it of Jibriel, and, of course, of the direct inspirations, the Prophet received from God. As a student of the Quran himself – who was all the time reflecting upon the Divine Words, the Prophet understood very well how these inspirations were, in a way, telling the Prophet what was implied in the Divine Words.)

In the above, F(i)-(iii) aim at restricting the understanding of Hadith by way of these three considerations. Now it is important to note that the progress of (authentic) Quranic understanding should not be hampered by such restrictions. As suggested in the above the believing community which maintains its direct relationship with the Revealed guidance in Divine Words continues understanding its text afresh in changing human situations and with its growing abilities to understand, while guidance of hadith is essential, Hadith role should not be misunderstood as being restrictive of Quranic understanding. Hadith being an understanding of the Quran and not vice versa, keeping the Quran before our eyes is required more in understanding the Hadith, the way keeping the Hadith before our eyes is not required in understanding the Quran.

[Note of caution: We do not deny the illuminating role of the Hadith in the understanding of the Quran. It is expected that those who will keep the Quran before their eyes in the understanding will sometimes receive very illuminating suggestions in the in the understanding of the Quran itself. And it is truer of good students of the Quran.]

The Divine Linguistic Expression (i.e. the Quran) which is in the Arabic language has immense possibilities of meanings inherent in it. However, any other linguistic expression which presents an understanding of it via translation would hold only some of those (possibilities) of meanings. Therefore, a dependence on such an understanding of this Revealed Guidance in Divine Words or any understanding RGDW in its light would block further progress of Quranic Understanding, and some time may even distort it. In fact, such an understanding of this Divine Linguistic Expression – by human beings mainly those other than the Prophet – has the following limitations:

1. 1. It has the possibility of being a mistaken understanding of Divine Words or it may fall short of being a right understanding of RGDW.
   2. And even when it is free of such a mistake, this understanding is limited by our limited abilities to understand – due to our being at a certain stage of scientific and technological (etc.) development.
   3. And this understanding is further limited by our inability to see beyond the human situations which we encounter. (When we see the Text as addressing the human situation, we encounter certain (possibilities) of meaning which are highlighted to us while certain other possibilities may (still remain hidden from us.)
   4. Due to differences of calibers in a human being and the Divine Being, our understanding as well as the linguistic expression in which we express this understanding always remains far below the Divine counterpart of it. Due to this qualitative difference the linguistic expression which we use as a substitute of the Divine Expression e.g. via translation remains an extremely poor carrier of possibilities of meanings inherent in the Divine Text and our dependence upon it will block all progress of Quranic understanding.

[The belief that guidance is a continuing process, and that the treasures  of the meanings of the Divine Words will never be exhausted – as suggested in both Quran and the Sunnah – is based upon the following cosmological presumption:

For the Progress of human understanding and guidance, God has been working on two different planes. He had been sending His prophets and messengers with Revealed Guidance in Divine Words and is still inspiring His faithful readers of the Book though the coming of Wahy (revelation) has stopped. And He has been leading the intellectual and technological evolution of mankind through all this progress in human knowledge. Likewise the developments in the field of humanities also help in the growth of our abilities to understand.]