The Quranic Perspective

In the upcoming posts, we will study a number of verses that had been traditionally associated with religious months.  This is done by ;

i. studying the context of the verses, and 

ii. analyzing the associated quranic terminology by using classical Arabic lexicon.   

An Arabic word can have a range of meanings, and it is important for us to understand their basic meanings and its derivatives.  The derived meanings can be evolved meanings based on distortions by those who came later, for whatever motives.  

The Quranic terminology must be as close as possible to the original or basic meaning.  And to test this, the context of the verse must come into play.  It is very important that we have a clear grasp of the context that remains faithful and sensible to the quranic narrative.

In many cases, the Quran articulate its verses by explaining the verse, or the quranic terminalogy, in subsequent verses.  This is how the text is made clear to its reader.

The distortion of the quranic terminologies

The distortion of the quranic terminologies can only be from texts outside the Quran. And its purpose was no other than to form an organized religion, a campaign started by the Abbasid to unite the empire under a single religion.  And this campaign was to appeal to all by making the Quran something familiar to all of them.  And this familiarity of the old ways was how the Abbasid had won their religious campaign, and the Quran accepted by all.

 

The Quran already gave warnings to those returning to the old ways, abandoning the teachings of Muhammad after he died.  

3:144  And not The Praised One (Muhammadun) except a messenger; certainly passed away before him; So if he died or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah at all, and Allah will reward the grateful ones.

The Quran also questioned why would anyone seek to return to the times of ignorance when Allah’s judgement had come before them. 

5:50 Then is it the judgement of the ignorance (al-jāhiliyati) they seek? But who is better than Allah in judgement for a people who are certain.

In order to return to their previous ways of ignorance (al-jāhiliyati), there was no better way other than inventing lies against the Prophet and presenting another book other than the Quran.  They certainly did not like the Quran and wished to conceal the truth in the Quran. 

43:78  We had certainly brought you the truth, but most of you, to the truth, were averse.

And they do this by writing whatever they desire, with their own hands, in their own books.

2:79 So woe to those who write the scriptures with their own hands.  Then they say, “This is from Allah”, to exchange with it a little price.  So woe to them for what they have written with their hands, and woe for what they earn.

And to misled the people, they mixed truth with falsehood, for those who were unaware, by using the Prophet's name. 

2:42  And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know.

It is therefore not surprising to find the practices of the jahiliah in the present religion of Islam such as worshipping the black stone and stoning rituals, which had become integral to Islam.  Why have we not questioned these? Or did we simply follow what our forefathers had been doing for generations

2:170  And when it is said to them, "Follow what Allah has revealed," 

they say, "Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing." Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?

So have we not consider the Quran with the best statement (hadith) ?

4:82  Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah , they would have found within it much contradiction. 

7:185  Have they not look in the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and what Allah has created from everything and that perhaps has become verily near their term.  So in what statement (hadithin) after this will they believe?

 

45:6  These are the signs of Allah which We recite to you in truth. Then in what statement (hadithin) after Allah and His signs will they believe?

And should we disregard the best statement (hadithin) from Allah? 

39:23  Allah has revealed the best statement (hadithin): a consistent Book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills. And one whom Allah leaves astray - for him there is no guide.

So the Quran asks:

68:36-38 What has happened to you? How do you judge? 

Or you have a book wherein you learn?  Indeed for you in it, what you choose. 

Many Muslims had shied from studying the Quran in fear of misunderstanding the verses, or finding some verses difficult to comprehend due to the confusing text.  This is exactly why we need to study the text and the words carefully in order to extract the intended meaning.  The classical Arabic lexicon is crucial in reverting towards the original meanings of Quranic terminology.  

The Quran is full of allegories to explain contemporary situations that are repeating throughout history.  So it is important to identify descriptive meanings of the words and verses, as they are applicable to our present predicament.  

 

Apart from using the classical Arabic lexicon, we must not forget to decipher the intended meaning based on the text itself.  This is how the Quran explain itself by articulating the verses to express the intended message.  So even if those trying to impose their narrative in the Quran had distorted the Quranic terminology, we can easily deconstruct the verse to extract the essence of the message.  Very often the Quran will explain the subject matter in the subsequent verses to make clear the message.

 

We are very fortunate today that there are many Quran reading tools available that we are able to analyze each words and the concordance of the Quranic words that had been systematically indexed online.  In this way, we are able to analyze the usage of a particular word, its root meanings and variations.  Usually, meaning of words with the same root will not depart very far from the basic meaning and we are able to evaluate whether such words had been distorted or  evolved towards a new meaning.

 

Below are some of online portals that will be useful for those who are interested to further their own personal studies on the Quran.

 

http://corpus.quran.com  is a good online Quran research tool that documents and categorize each words into a systematic indexing into a Quranic dictionary, word concordance, and frequency of words used.

 

http://islamawakened.com/index.php/qur-an  is a compilation of various translators including contemporary translation.  There are over 50 translations available on this portal, so you will be able to compare each verse in over 50 renditions.  It can give a better comprehension of a particular verse, or you may observe differences or something new.

 

http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/01_A/123_Alm.html   is the online source for the classical Arabic lexicon in digital index format.  A very useful tool to be used with http://corpus.quran.com