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 under-
stand 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 under-
standing 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 (1) denotes
studies concerned with the book of revelations sent down
upon the last Prophet Muhammad, (2) 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 circum-
stances. 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 reader-
ship, 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
Notes to the Introduction:
1. Sabuni, Muhammad ‘Ali: al-tibyan fi ‘ulum al-qur-an, Beirut, 1970, p. 10.
2. The customary blessings on the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be
upon 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.
From IslamWorld.net
