@ atheist.pk
1- there is no single verse in the Quran that says ALL verses are for all time... in some other post, I proved, using the Quran, the religion of Islam is not ALL the Quran.
2- To the best of my knowledge, not even Hadith says all the verses are for all time.
3- HOWEVER, (and please, Abu, read this), The religion of submission to God is for all time.. the Quran claims this has always been the case since the dawn of humanity and that the essence of its message is nothing new at all.
4- Now, since the Quran claims to be the last revelation, then it only makes sense (to anyone who supposedly believes in the Quran, like our friend, Abu) that the religion, as defined in the Quran, is for all time. Orthodox Muslims think this applies to ALL verses. It's simply there conjecture, even though the Quran itself can be used against their claim.
Did you hear me, Abu?
I do agree that the religion of submission to God is for all time and always has been. But I beleive that this could simply mean doing what is good and forbidding what is evil using our God-given gifts of intelligence and reasoning. Indeed, revelation does not reach all people - a lot of people die/have died without having ever heard a word of God's revelation. These people can/did still worship God however - by doing good and forbidding evil using their God-given intellect and reason - if they do this they are submitting to God's will. Indeed we all know the verse where God says in the Qur'an ''I have not created mankind for anything except my worship'' - if we need revelation to worship God, how then were these people supposed to worship God? I do not think that 'worship' in the Qur'an is meant to be in the calssical theological sense of the word. I beleive that God created all humans to do good in this world, to learn to do it using the gifts He has given us - when we do this we worship God.
The Qur'an is the last revelation - but I don't beleive that means it was meant to be applicable to all times. Indeed the verse that Hassan just quoted might indicate that the Qur'an was only meant to be limited to it's time and place:
"Thus have We sent by inspiration to thee an Arabic Qur'an: that thou mayst warn the mother of cities and those around it..." (42:7)
It's possible that revelation was sent from time to time to keep humanity on the right track during times and places where it was needed most. Indeed the Qur'an describes itself as a 'mercy' that is sent down. The fact that no more revelations are to be sent could be because humankind has reached the stage where our morals have developed far enough so we no longer need revelation but we can use our God-given soul and intelligence to their full potential. Maybe humankind has reached the stage where we have collectivly purified our souls enough to be able to judge for ourselves what is right/wrong and good/bad.
One issue I do have with what your saying is that if some of the verses were meant to be for the Prophet's time and some were to be for all-time, then how do we know for sure which is which - I think that if this was the case then God would have made it clear which was which. In addition if even some of the Qur'an was meant to be for all-time why didn't the prophet bother compile it into a single book before he died?
To me it just makes much more sense that the Qur'an was always meant to be limited to its time and place.
Topic: Discussion about "My Ordeal with the Qur'an"