Re: Discussion about "My Ordeal with the Qur'an"
Reply #1036 - June 27, 2010, 11:43 AM
Chapter 4 - The Miraculous Nature of the Qurʾān (cont...)
Part 5 - Disorder in the Distribution of Topics. (Cont...)
2. There are many other Suras in the Qur'an that talk about women, such as Sura al-Ahzab for example, Chapter 33, containing 73 verses. This Sura begins with a general preamble from verse 1 to 3 and then from 4 to 6 it speaks about marriage and adoption. Then comes an interjected seventh verse that has no connection to what precedes it nor what comes after. From verse 8 to 27 it talks about fighting and jihad. Then it returns to talking about about women and marriage and adoption from verse 28 until 38. Then it jumps to an interjected verse, which is verse 39. From verse 40 until 48 is some beautiful speech about Muhammad which in my opinion is amongst the occasional outstanding pieces that we find in the Qur'an - In my opinion these verses should be in Sura Muhammad, which is chapter 47 in the Qur'an, but God's wisdom demands that it should be here. From verse 49 to 59 it returns to talking about women, marriage and adoption, and wives of the prophet with some interjections that the Qur'an has got us accustomed to expecting. From verse 60 until the end of the Sura is an assorted cocktail that hardly one page of the Qur'an is free from.
Regarding the presence of the passage about Muhammad in this sura, in verses which I said are amongst the outstanding verses, indeed it's presence in this place detracts from it's excellence and takes away much of it's beauty. Perhaps this is part of eloquence and signs of miraculousness! This can be applied to a large number of the Qur'an's excellent verses, for many excellent verses have had their radiance hidden through poor choice of positioning - lost under a huge pile of incongruous material that has no theme, substance, shape, nor purpose. Like a beautiful woman from a bad origin.*
Likewise we see that the the arrangement of the verses in the Qur'an is very primitive and we can find the explanation for this strange phenomena in the Abrogator and the Abrogated in the Qur'an. God Almighty said:
"None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?" (2:106)
For indeed a great deal of the Qur'an has gone, (47). In fact Al-Suyuti praised Abrogation saying that it is amongst the wisdoms that God favoured this Ummah with, to make things easier.
Suyuti relates many examples of what Uthman left out when he was collecting the Qur'an, on the basis that it was abrogated. Regarding this is the Hadith of Aysha who said: "When Sura al-Ahzab was recited at the time of the prophet it had two hundred verses," (48) Though now it has 73 verses only. Just as al-Suyuti also mentioned that a whole sura was revealed and then removed. (49)
This Abrogation has distorted the Qur'an and left it fractured, making it impossible to stitch together or coalesce its parts. These shreds are what constitutes the Qur'an that has reached us today.
The disarray and glaring fragmentation we see in the Qur'an, could be the inevitable result of multiple suras in one sura. Or the remainder of deleted suras of which only these fragments remain. Or perhaps they are drafts of verses that should have been revised and reviewed, but the sudden death of the prophet, afflicted by the poison that the the Jewish woman slipped into his food, didn't allow him to complete the required revisions.
My view is that this disarray in the Qur'an must to be faced by firm, brave action to return order to the disordered verses that have no link between them and the ones scattered here and there in hundreds of pages that the Mushaf (NB: name for the Qur'an) contains between it's covers. There must be an initiative to sort the muddle of these wildly disparate verses and re-unify them into a new, rational layout of order, composition and arrangement of chapters that responds to the demands of the age and create unity between this huge quantity of disparate muddle and sweep away the staleness between its parts which have no beginning nor end, nor head nor foot.
Throughout fourteen centuries not one voice was raised to rectify this defect, just as in India not one voice was raised in protest over bathing in the holy river at religious festivals or seeking healing, even though it's a filthy river that increases the sickness of the sick. Likewise no voice was raised in complaint against the cows who are let free to come and go as they please, grazing in the streets and public places, wandering between houses and shops without anyone being allowed to touch them, in a country where the starving see his livestock assets destroyed in front of him but silently does nothing. This despite that my comparison with Hindus is not a precise one.
Is this disorder in the Qur'an from the All-Wise, All-Knowing One? Oh people use your minds and don't get left behind in the race. Is this amongst the signs of miraculousness? Is there not a rational one amongst you?
How much we are in need of a new Qur'an that will do away with the old Qur'an and pull it up by the roots! Yes indeed we are in need of a new Qur'an that will keep pace with the age and progression and evolution of events after Nietzsche declared the death of the old God and the defeat of his dominion and sovereignty. Forget the old Qur'an, for there is no use in trying to patch-up the decrepit if we can bring about something new.
Indeed the Qur'an was once a breakthrough, but now it has become burnt-out. It was the revolution of revolutions in a time that lacked revolutions. The Qur'an, in it's time, was amongst the most important factors for progress. But today it has become an obstacle to all progress. This astonishing, baffling and peculiar hopping about that our Arab ancestors transmitted to us from the margin of history to the dawn of history, and once inspired them to become innovators of the age, masters of their time. If it wasn't for the Qur'an they would have remained groping about aimlessly in their stagnant plight till the day of Resurrection. It is as though the Qur'an propelled them to engage with the events of the time and threw them into the vast ocean of world affairs and helped them conquer new horizons.
Yes the Qur'an was once a a revolution, but, like all revolutions, it is a revolution for a limited time only. Then it must make it's way to the museum. Like all revolutions, it eventually becomes reactionary. The revolution has been replaced by a non-revolution. Yet we stubbornly insist on deluding ourselves that the revolution is still taking place. We are now sitting with our Qur'an in the darkness of the museum, brooding over memories of our life when we existed outside the museum. Every time we raise our heads and try to get out of the museum we are thrown back in it. It has been centuries since we lived in the time of revolution. We will never be able to see the truth unless we believe in truth and embrace it, for that alone will enable us to see the true nature of things without the pretense and self-deception.
The problems of the present generations of this nation cannot be solved in the same way as they were for the first generations. This time is a different time and the people are a different people and the needs and expectations are not the needs and expectations of the past. But the regressive ones amongst us insist on living with ghosts and flirting with the spirits of the past, and refusal to believe that the ghosts are ghosts. That is the power of ghosts to those who believe in ghosts!
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* Reference to the hadith: “Beware of the green manure.” The Companions asked: “What is the green manure?” He said: “A beautiful woman of bad origin (i.e. upbringing).” (Al-Daraqutni)
(47) Jalal al-Din Al-Suyuti, The Perfect Guide to the Sciences of the Qur'an, 2/25.
(48) The previous reference.
(49) The previous reference.
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This completes section 5 of chapter 4. Next is section 6 "Ambiguity in the Qur'an."
@Aziz if you see this:* then that means it is my own note - I will leave it to you to add them to our appendix if you see fit.
Topic: Discussion about "My Ordeal with the Qur'an"