The Qur'an - Revealed Truth

 The Only Certain Knowledge

Surah al-Isra 17:105 We sent down the Quran in Truth and in Truth has is descended and we sent thee but to give glad tidings and to warn

106 It is a Quran which we have divided in order that thou mightest recite it to men at intervals.  We have revealed it in stages.

107 Say, whether ye believe in it or not, it is true.  That those who were given knowledge beforehand, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration.

108 And they say, “glory to our Lord! Truly has the promise of our Lord been fulfilled.”

109 They fall down on their faces in tears, and it increases their humility and khushu.

110 Say “Call upon Allah or Call upon Al Rahman, by whatever name ye call upon Him, for to Him belong the most beautiful names.  Neither speak the Prayer aloud, not speak it in a low tone.  But seek a middle course between.” 

111 Say, “Praise be to Allah, who beget no son, and has not partner in His dominion, nor needs He any to protect Him from humiliation, Yea, Magnify Him for his greatness and glory.”

How perfect is Allah SWT’s guidance for us in His beautiful Qur’an!!! In these ayaat from Surah Al Isra, Allah SWT begins by reminding us that this Qur’an is the truth.  It is the truth and it was brought down from Allah in truth.  Everything about this marvelous book is truth.  In contains the truth, nothing in it is false or inaccurate or confused or contradictory.  It is absolutely true.

2:2. This is the Book;
In it is guidance sure, without doubt,
To those who fear God;

3:3. It is He Who sent down
To thee (step by step),
In truth, the Book,

Confirming what went before it;
And He sent down the Torah and the Injeel.

3:7. He it is Who has sent down
To thee the Book:
In it are verses
that are full of wisdom.  They are the foundation
Of the Book: others
Are otherwise. But those
In whose hearts is perversity follow
The part thereof that is otherwise,
Seeking discord, and searching
For its hidden meanings,
But no one knows
Its hidden meanings except God.
And those who are firmly grounded
In knowledge. They say "We believe
In the Book; the whole of it
Is from our Lord:" and none
Will grasp the Message
Except men of understanding.

Philosophers often talk about knowledge, what is it and how do we know.  Some Muslim philosophers, such as al Farabi, and more recently, Sayed Muhammad Baqir al Sadr, felt that humans can know and that what we know exists, and is actual.  Realists, such as al Farabi and Al Sadr were convinced that first principles, such as identity and causality are certain, necessary and true, and are knowable by human beings.  Other philosophers, such as Mullah Sadr and Qutb al Din Shirazi were illuminationists.  They held that wahy or revealed knowledge, such as that found in the Qur’an, is the only certain knowledge, and that even first principles are dependant and not as certain as wahy.  This is because first principles are assumptions and cannot actually be proven.  They are first principles upon which all else rests, but there is nothing to prove them with.  They would appear to be intuitive, such as identity – a thing is itself –  and they are compelling to be sure, but they are no more certain than inductive knowledge – knowledge based on experience and hinged upon probability and not certainty or necessity, and they are no more certain than faith.  They require a leap of faith.  We assume they are true, and they would appear to be necessarily so, but we do not have complete yaqin or certainty. 

Shaheed al Sadr felt the necessary aspect of first principles made them certain and generated yaqin, but in the end, only Allah’s knowledge is certain, and only wahy from Him has absolute yaqin.

In short, no matter how we approach the most fundamental thing in this universe, we cannot avoid a leap of faith.  Whether we approach Allah from science, from mathematics, from religion, we cannot avoid a leap of faith.  We must step off the cliff of certainty and simple surrender to Him.  And only by doing so, can we finally have certainty – for certainty is found only in His knowledge for He is all Knowing, Alim.

So this book, this Qur’an, is the most certain source of knowledge.  Some feel it contains everything and that they need no other book.  Although our Quran contains ayaat or signs of the truth in the universe and in ourselves, we are instructed by it to look outside the book – to look at nature, the stars and sky, the water, the land, our own selves.  Clearly, the Qur’an contains the ayaat or signs, but Allah’s knowledge is too vast to be contained in such a small book.  The Quran itself says:

18:109  Say, “If the sea were ink, sooner would the sea be exhausted than would the words of My Lord, even if another sea were added of its like.”

This Qur’an is to give glad tidings and to warn, and that is its main purpose.  It was given to us as a furqan or criterion, not as the sum total of all things.  Through it we gain guidance as to how to use our aql or intellect, so we can exercise our freedom of intention and come voluntarily to a relationship with Allah SWT.

Allah also notes that it was revealed in stages.  These stages are a blessing for the believers.  These ayat speak especially to those of us who have come to Islam, but they also speak to those who have strayed away and who later come back.  After all, we all must come to accept Islam as OUR deen, whether we be so called reverts or those born into a Muslim family.

2:23. And if ye are in doubt
As to what We have revealed
From time to time to Our servant,
Then produce a Sūra
Like thereunto;
And call your witnesses or helpers
(If there are any) besides God,
If your (doubts) are true.

This revelation in stages is actually one of the proofs of the Qur’an.  If wahy is the only source of true knowledge, then any form of wahy must prove itself.  That the Qur’an was revealed by Allah SWT through the agency of the Angel Jibreel to the Prophet Muhammad SAW is without a doubt.  Over and over Allah swears to its truth in revelation.  And in this ayat, He challenges anyone to come up with a chapter like unto it.  In another ayat, He challenges people to come up with even an ayat like unto it.  No one, in 1400 years, has ever produced its like. 

The revelation over time is also a blessing and a guidance.  For example, when Allah SWT wanted to prohibit alcohol, He did so in stages.  First, He told us not to come to prayer with a mind befuddled.  Then, he revealed that it had good and bad in it, but mostly bad.  Then He prohibited it completely.  It is reported that the Prophet noted that if the prohibition had been sent down all at once, the people of that time, who were heavy drinkers, would have revolted.  Same with people today.  This gradual revelation gives us a guideline for how to wean ourselves off the substances we abuse these days – both drugs and alcohol.

Next Allah SWT describes the state of those who were given knowledge before they heard the revelation of the Qur’an.  How many people of the book or those who have deep faith in the Divine have come to Islam after reading the Qur’an.  I remember the first time I read the translation of the Qur’an.  I could not put it down.  I was amazed.  Every word I read I knew to be true.  My heart leapt, as we say.  And even from those first few days, when I heard the Qur’an recited, tears streamed from my eyes. 

One important point Allah SWT makes here is that when a person who truly believes in Allah hears the words of Qur’an, he or she is increased in their khushu.  This is an allusive word.  Khushu is what we strive for in salaat.  It is that state of full commitment and concentration, a complete link with Allah and with each other.  Salaat comes from the root, SLL, which indicated complete peace, communion.  It is communion with Allah and community with the believers.  And when we pray, we should feel the full humility before our Creator, the full brotherhood with each other, and the sakina or peace that passes all understanding that comes from complete yaqin, complete certainty and complete submission to Allah, Rabbi al – Alaamin. 

May Allah SWT grant us this khushu, this fullness of concentration, certainty and peace, and may He forgive us all the sins and faults we have and remove for us these obstacles that block our ability to obtain that degree of khushu.

Ha Mim Sajda  41:1 Ha. Mim.

2 A revelation from the Beneficent, the Merciful,

3 A Scripture whereof the verses are expounded, a Lecture in Arabic for people who have knowledge,

4 Good tidings and a warning. But most of them turn away so that they hear not.

5 And they say: Our hearts are shielded from that unto which thou (O Muhammad) callest us, and in our ears there is a muffler, and between us and thee there is a veil. Act, then. Lo! we also shall be acting.

6 Say (unto them O Muhammad): I am only a mortal like you. It is inspired in me that your God is One God, therefor take the straight path unto Him and seek forgiveness of Him. And woe unto those who associate others with Him.

Here Allah SWT reminds us that this revelation is from the Most Beneficient, Most Merciful Being.  It is a mercy to us to receive this guidance.  Allah created us, gave us freedom of intention, and gave us guidance so that we can be with Him and have the best in this life and the next.  He does not want us to suffer.  We are the cause of our own suffering.  He tells us that the verses of this book, the signs contained in this book were sent down to facilitate our relationship with Him.  They were revealed in clear Arabic, the language of the Prophet and his people so that the people who immediately heard this revelation would understand it.

We may wonder at this Qur’an in Arabic.  Why Arabic?  Certainly the Arabic language has some special attributes.  It is constructed on roots that carry a meaning, so that even if the meaning of a particular word changes over time, the original jist can be gleaned.  Language is such that words do change over time.  I can think of words whose meanings have changed just in my short lifetime.  So this attribute of Arabic helps retain original meanings even over the 1400 years since its revelation.  This is one of the ways Allah SWT has preserved our Kitab, and will continue to do so til Yawm al Qiyamah.

But unfortunately many place a shield between themselves and Allah SWT.  They do not want to understand the Book, or listen or see anything.  They are in denial.  They may complain that they do not understand the message.  These are the people who say the Qur’an has allegorical meanings – the mutashabihaat.  They do not look to the muhkumaatuhunna – the wisdom and truth in the Qur’an.  They seek to create fitnah and desperately seek excuses not to obey Allah SWT.  They are like those that Allah mentioned in surah al baqarah who were given a simple instruction, slaughter a cow.  But they kept asking, “What kind of cow?”  “What about this, what about that?”  They almost did not even do what they were commanded to do, because they tried to make it nearly impossible to do it…  Disobedience colored their every action.  So act, Allah is aware of all your actions.

41:6 Say : I am only a mortal like you. It is inspired in me that your God is One God, therefor take the straight path unto Him and seek forgiveness of Him. And woe unto those who associate others with Him.

We are only humans just like them, but we have the certainty, the yaqin born of revelation, of wahy, that Allah is One, and that He has given us a straight path to Him and that those who associate others with Him, they are the ones who are at a loss.  May Allah forgive us and make us of those who do not associate others with Him, and who follow always His wise guidance.