220903P - THE SPACE-TIME DIMENSION IN THE QUR’AN

Presented at a program for Scandinavian researchers on September 3, 2022 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

1.0 THE CONCEPT OF OCCASION OF REVELATION, sabab al nuzuul

• Proper understanding and interpretation of a verse require knowing the spatial and time circumstances of its revelation.
• The Qur’an was revealed in a dynamically changing society. The verses revealed related to events actually taking place. The event is called sabab al nuzuul (occasion/purpose) of the revelation.
• Thus, the present order of the verses in the mushaf is different from the chronological order in which they were revealed.
• Arranging the verses in chronological order is like writing the history of the Islamic dawa during the 23 years during which the Qur’an was revealed.
• The time and physical features of Hijaz, the place of revelation, are featured in the Qur’an text and must be understood to understand the text and its application.

2.0 THE PIECE MEAL REVELATION OF THE QUR’AN, nuzul al Qur’an munajjaman

• The Qur’an is written on the guarded tablets, al qur’an maktuub fi al lawh al mahfuudh^[1].
• It was set down as a whole to bayt al ‘izzat on the earthly sky in the month of Ramadhan^[2].
• It was taken by Jibril from there to the prophet ad hoc in bits and pieces, nuzuul al Qur’an munajjaman^[3] over a period of 20 years.
• The first verse to be revealed was ‘iqra’ followed by ‘al muddathir’.
• Most of the Qur’an was revealed during the daytime and most of it was revealed when the prophet was in town.

3.0 WISDOM BEHIND THE PIECEMEAL REVELATION

• The main reason was to make sure that the first Muslims learned the teachings of the Qur’an in a practical context so that their understanding of the message would be perfect and thus ensure correct transmission to the later generations.
• The deep understanding of the Qur’an by the companions was necessary for the preservation of the purity of the message.
• If the revelation was stating a general principle not tied to an event, the companions could not understand it deeply.

4.0 EXAMPLE OF A REASON FOR REVELATION-1: Surat al Mujadilah 58:1-4

• The surat al mujadilah was revealed when Aws bin Alsamit repudiated his wife's Khalwah bint Thalabah based on an unjust pre-Islamic custom of dhihaar that automatically and irreversibly voided a marriage.
• She went to the prophet to complain of the injustice and engaged him in debate. The legislation on that matter had not yet been revealed the prophet asked Allah for guidance then the chapter was revealed.

5.0 EXAMPLE OF A REASON FOR REVELATION-2: Surat al Mujadilah 58:1-4

• قَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّتِي تُجَادِلُكَ فِي زَوْجِهَا وَتَشْتَكِي إِلَى اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ يَسْمَعُ تَحَاوُرَكُمَا إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ.
• الَّذِينَ يُظَاهِرُونَ مِنكُم مِّن نِّسَائِهِم مَّا هُنَّ أُمَّهَاتِهِمْ إِنْ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ إِلاَّ الَّلائِي وَلَدْنَهُمْ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَقُولُونَ مُنكَرًا مِّنَ الْقَوْلِ وَزُورًا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌ.
• وَالَّذِينَ يُظَاهِرُونَ مِن نِّسَائِهِمْ ثُمَّ يَعُودُونَ لِمَا قَالُوا فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَتَمَاسَّا ذَلِكُمْ تُوعَظُونَ بِهِ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ.
• فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ شَهْرَيْنِ مُتَتَابِعَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَتَمَاسَّا فَمَن لَّمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَإِطْعَامُ سِتِّينَ مِسْكِينًا ذَلِكَ لِتُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ.

 

6.0 ADVANTAGES OF KNOWING THE OCCASION OF REVELATION

• The first reason is to explain the underlying reason of the revelation, bayaan al hikmat waraa al tanziil.
• The second was to make the revelation specific for a specific circumstance, takhsiis al hukm.
• The third reason was to assure an understanding of the meaning of the Qur’an.

7.0 PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN THE QUR’AN

• The education of the first Muslims used what we call today ‘Problem-based learning’. A verse was not revealed until there was a practical problem to which it related at that time and place.
• The reason for revelation must be an event or a question and not just a mention of historical events. For example, the story of the invasion of Makkah by elephants is not the reason for the revelation of surat al fiil.

8.0 BOOKS ON ASBAB AL NUZUUL

• لباب النقول في أسباب النزول للالمام الحافظ جلال الدين عبد الرحمن بن ابي بكر السيوطي توفي ٩١١ه
• العجاب في بيان الأسباب للامام الحافظ احمد بن علي بن محمد بن احمد بن حجر العسقلاني توفي ٨٥٢ه
• أسباب نزول القرآن للامام علي بن احمد الواحدي توفي ٤٦٨ه

9.0 UNIVERSALITY OF THE QUR’AN AND THE TIME-SPACE DIMENSIONS OF ITS REVELATION

• The time-space of the revelation was for purposes of understanding and application by the first Muslims.
• The majority of scholars take the generality of the text and not the specific nature of the occasion of revelation in its time and space dimensions.
• The generality of the text allows the application of the underlying principles to different future time and space contexts.
• الإسلام و القرآن صالح لكل زمان و مكان

10.0 EXTREMIST MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE SPACE-TIME DIMENSION

• Many situations of extremist views are epistemological and are due to a misunderstanding of the sources of knowledge in Islam.
• An extremist will try to recreate the historical physical and social circumstances of the revelation in a modern-day context that has different time and space dimensions.
• The correct approach is to derive the principles and underlying wisdom from the space and time dimensions at the time of revelation and apply them to a modern context.
• It is not necessary to recreate the exact historical circumstances which were referred to by Dr. Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman as the ‘Islamic historical solution’ الحل الإسلامي التاريخي.

REFERENCE:

1. Surat al Buruuj: 21-22
2. Surat al Qadar:1, Surat al Dukhaan:3, Surat Baqara:185
3. Surat al isra:106