Quran3

Al-Qur’an (The Recitation)

Lecture

Clinton Bennett,P.hD.

• a revelation/recitation in Arabic (12: 2, 43: 3) (right to left)

• untranslatability - renderings as interpretrations.

• a miracle of language (2: 23)

• regarded as unsurpassed in Arabic literature

• "sent down"/God’s eternal word to Muhammad (570 - 632) via Gabriel between 610 and 632.

• tradition that Muhammad was unlettered - the virgin human vehicle through which the word was manifested (NO HUMAN CONTENT).

• various scribes recorded sections - recited "piecemeal" addressing particular situations.

• proclaimed Islam as God’s final revelation for humankind, a religion of obediance forsaking evil and upholding "the good" (including justice and equality).

• aims to bring all life under divine authority

• vehemently anti-polytheist and iconoclast

• 114 chapters (Surahs) 6,666 verses (ayahs)

• arranged roughly by length

• Makkan shorter (reflect persecution); Madinan longer (reflect success) - hijrah 622. Codified during Uthman’s Khalifate (644 - 56)

• first revelation came to Muhammad on Mt Hira (probably Ch 96); "Recite, in the Name .........

Surah Al Fatiha

Linguistic beauty (rhymed prose) is lost in English rendering: here is a transliteration of Al-Fatiha (the opening) and the English gloss.

The Fatiha: Transliteration of the Arabic: bismi-llahi-r-rahmani-r-rahim. al-hamdu lil-lahi rabb-il-`alamin. ar-rahmani-r-rahim. maliki yawm-id-din. iyya-ka na`budu wa iyya-ka nasta`in. ihdi-na as-sirat al-mustaqim. . sirat alladhina an`amta `alayhim ghayr-il-maghdubi `alayhim wa la ad-dallin.

English: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise belongs to God, Lord of all beings The Merciful, the Compassionate. Ruler of the Day of Judgment. Only You do we serve and only from You do we seek aid. Guide us along the straight path. The path of those whom You have blessed, Not those against whom You have sent Your wrath nor those who are astray.

• The Book in which there is no doubt (2: 2); the Firqan (Crtiterion) of right from wrong (3: 4).

• became source-book for Muhammad’s theocratic state/for the Muslims ummah (nation) after his death.

• For Muslims, the Book, like Muhammad, completes a succession of Books and Prophets (contains stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus etc).

• It confirms and corrects earlier Books (charge that Jews and Christians have corrupted their Books)

• central to Muslim decotion, worship, law, theology, daily life, ethics .....

• always recited during ritual prayer (Salat)

• an aural/oral text

• calligraphy emerges as major art form

• recitation (tajwid - making beautiful)

• to learn by heart a great blessing and honour

• tafsir (exegesis) of the Qur'an has several branches: the best tafsir is when the Qur'an expains the Qur'an, followed by the Sunnah explaining the Qur'an. The situation of revelation determines whether a verse has universal application, or not. Verses are either clear, or allegorical. The Sufi tradition especially stresses two levels of meaning, outer (literal, exoteric, obvious - zahir) and inner (esoteric, hidden, allegorical, batin)

•Intense debate (9th century) whether Qur'an was created in time (and therefore in some sense an historical document) or uncreated (God's eternal word, first 'sent down' onto a heavenly tablet, the mother of the book, then piece by piece to Muhammad, an a-historical text). The Mutazalites (rationalists) zealous for God's unity argued the first, what emerged as orthodoxy (the school of al-Ashari (d 935)) the second. The Mutazalites' dogmas were enforced under Khalif al-Ma'mun (d. 833) when the traditionalist Ibn Hanbal was flogged and imprisoned. After 861, the traditionaists (uncreated) won and belief in the Qur'an's createdness became heresy (an innovative/non-original belief, bida. For the Mutazalites, a prexistend Qur'an implied that the events it describs must also have been pre-ordained by God, which denies free will and compromises God's justice. An eternal Qur'an that always exists as a divine attribute, said the Mutazalites, gives us God and God's Word and compromises tawhid, divine unity - Islam's most fundamental tenet.

•Much debate about the meaning of anthropomorphic verses in which God sees, hears, sits on a throne/people see God's face on judgement day. Does God literally see, through eyes, hear through ears? Or are these verses to be understood metaphorically? Al-Ashari's solution was to say that Muslims must accept that God does see, etc, because the Qur'an says so, but 'without asking how' (bila kayfa.

• Western scholars construct an alternative account - as Muhammad’s composite creation drawing on earlier scriptures/Arab/Jewish material/legends etc.

The hadith

The hadith are records or accounts of Muhammad's sayings and acts, that is, of his sunnah (example) Technically, an hadith is a single traditionl (the plural is ahadith For Sunnis, six collections of hadith are recognised as ‘sound’ (sahih), namely those of Muslim (817-74 CE), Bukhari (810-70 CE), Daud (817-88 CE), al-Tirmidhi (821-92 CE), al-Nasa (d 915), al-Darimi (797-868 CE) and Ibn Maja (824-86 CE) while Shi’a recognise the ‘Four Books’ (al-kutub al arb’ah). Hadith are classed as sahih or sound, hasan, good or noble and da'if or weak. Only the first category can be used as the basis of a legal ruling. There is evidence that forged hadith were being used in the early period to justify various opinions, so establishing the authenticity of hadith was an important branch of Islamic scholarship. Initially, the collectors established a valid chain of transmission, isnadthat traced reliable a line of reliable, pious transmitters back to a companion of the Prophet. However, the content (matn) also had to be consistent with the Qur'an/Muhammad's message. Since Muhamamd was inspired when exercising his prophetic role, the hadith are also classed as wahy but while the Qur'an is unrehearsed speech (direct speech of God) the hadith are rehearsed speech (not the direct words of God but an account of what God's inspired messenger said and did while acting in his prophetic role). However, about 40 qudsi hadith are God's direct speech (holy traditions). After the Qur'an, the hadith form the basis of Islamic faith, practice and of the sharia'ah or legal system.