The Qur'an contains the revelations of
Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, to
mankind. It is the message from God to man and therefore
of utmost importance to us. To properly grasp a message,
one needs first of all to understand its contents exactly,
and for this purpose one must study the Qur'an deeply and
in detail. In fact, some people do spend their whole lives
studying the Qur'an, reading and reflecting upon it and,
as they grow and develop, both physically and spiritually,
they discover for themselves new meanings and
implications.
Secondly, some special knowledge of the
circumstances that surround the message is also necessary
for fuller understanding of its meaning and implications.
Although some part of this special knowledge can be
derived from the Qur'an itself, there remain other areas
of knowledge that can only be discovered by wider study
and research.
Muslims have from earliest times,
applied themselves not only to the message from Allah the
Qur'an but also to its setting and framework, and the
preoccupation with these ultimately developed into the
'sciences' of or 'knowledge' about the Qur'an, known as
"ulum al-qur'an'.
The proper approach to the Qur'an, in
my humble view, can be described in three stages. You
must:
- first, receive the message of the Qur'an, by
hearing or reading it;
- second, understand the message of the Qur'an
by reflecting upon it and studying its meanings;
- third, apply the message of the Qur'an by
ordering your personal life as well as the life of
society according to its message.
The branch of knowledge, called 'ulum
al-Qur'an may be used as a means for the
accomplishment of the second stage, understanding the
message of the Qur'an, by understanding its setting and
circumstances.
According to a general definition, 'ulum
al-qur'an [Sabuni, Muhammad 'Ali: al-tibyan fi 'ulum
al-qur-an, Beirut, 1970, p. 10.] denotes studies concerned
with the book of revelations sent down upon the last
Prophet Muhammad, [The customary blessings on the Prophet
(Allah's blessings and peace beupon him) each time his
name is mentioned will not be repeated in the text, but
the reader is kindly requested to observe this Muslim
tradition.] namely:
- Its revelation.
- Its collection.
- Its order and arrangement.
- Its writing down.
- Information about the reasons and occasions of
revelation.
- About what was revealed in Makka and what in Madina.
- About the abrogating and abrogated verses.
- About the 'clear' and the 'unclear' verses.
The term also covers Qur'an-related
studies, such as:
- The explanation of verses and passages by the
Prophet himself, his Companions, their followers and
the later exegetes of the Qur'an.
- The methods of explanation.
- The scholars of exegesis and their books.
The aim of this book as all 'ulum al-qur'an
is to help towards a better understanding of the Qur'anic
message by providing information on its setting, framework
and circumstances. To a great extent it is a descriptive
account of the traditional subject of 'ulum al-qur'an.
Some branches of 'ulum al-qur'an, such as the divisions of
the text, style, literary form etc., have only been
touched upon briefly, while others that seemed more
important have been dealt with in more detail. In
particular such topics related to the understanding of the
text (asbab al-nuzul, al-nasikh wa al-mansukh, etc.) have
been treated more extensively while others, such as the
'seven ahruf' or the 'Uthmanic writing, which are of
benefit only to readers with a good knowledge of classical
Arabic, have been introduced, but not elaborated upon.
I have restricted myself to presenting
the generally-accepted views on the issues and, where no
consensus exists, have referred to the most important of
the divergent opinions. Although I do have my own views on
some questions, my basic aim in this 'Introduction' is
generally to inform the reader about the subject, and not
to guide him overtly or covertly towards my own
conclusions.
There are a number of matters related
to the study of the Qur'an to which I have drawn special
attention since this 'Introduction' to the 'ulum al-qur'an
is aimed at a special readership, namely, young educated
Muslims with little or no access to the original sources
on the subject. I have therefore included several topics,
of special relevance for that readership, such as:
- Orientalists and the Qur'an.
- Translations of the Qur'an.
- Modern interpretation of the Qur'an.
- Language of the Qur'an.
- Reading and recitation of the Qur'an.
Again, particularly for the benefit of
these readers, I have often quoted typical examples to
illustrate the various points discussed and make them more
easily comprehensible.
Finally, to assist readers not familiar
with Arabic, I have supplied references to English
translations, where available (such as translation of
hadith books, etc.). However, on certain topics (e.g.
asbab al-nuzul or al-nasikh wa al-mansukh) there is no
literature available as yet in English and references had
to be restricted to Arabic sources only.
I have also attempted to note in the
bibliography at least one or two books in English for each
section, from which more insight may be gained on the
topic discussed.
May this volume (to the best of my
knowledge, the first of its kind in a European language)
fulfil its purpose and assist you to grasp fully the
message of the Qur'an and to apply it in your life, and
may Allah accept this humble effort and forgive its
shortcomings.
Ahmad von Denffer
Leicester. Ramadan 1981/1401