Principles of Qur�anic Hermeneutics
Yamina Mermer
Indiana University
In Islam the �testimony� (shahaada) to the
truth of the unity of divinity
(tawhid),[1] i.e. to bear witness
that �There is no deity save God,� is central to
faith. In the definition of islam (surrender
to the divine Will as it is conveyed by the divine
Word), the shahaada is the first act required
of muslims. It also defines the content of faith,
whose primary element is faith in God. The one who
surrenders (muslim)[2] himself to the truth is
supposed to actually observe[3] how every thing in the
observable world, the world of testifying (�alam
al-shahaada), indicates this truth of
tawhid, and consequently testifies to the
truthfulness of the Qur�anic message. The
Qur�an[4] refers very often to
the universe and to the things and events in it and
describes them as symbols, indicators or signs
(ayat).[5] It invites the
addressee to ponder[6] over the meaning of
those signs in order to testify to the veracity of
the teachings of the Qur�an. But it also mentions
stories of prophets and of their miracles, which are
obviously not observable. What is their significance?
How is it possible to �testify� to the truth of
something that cannot possibly be observed? In order
to answer these questions we need some indispensable
knowledge of the principles of Qur�anic hermeneutics.
After setting up some basic rules, I will briefly
apply them to a few examples. It turns out that those
stories of the prophets and their miracles are
particular events but they are signs that point to
universally observed principles. They are like the
tips to general laws that can be observed and
experienced here and now. Hence, although
those events themselves cannot possibly be observed,
their truth can nevertheless be confirmed.
According to the Qur�an, the verses of the Qur�an
as well as things and events are signs (ayat).
God speaks through Qur�anic signs as well as cosmic
signs. The cosmos with all its activities is a kind
of speech. Each being, each event, each change is
like a word and their being in constant motion is
like speech. It is as though the universe has been
made to speak with constant change and renewal.
[7]
In the words of the Qur�an, �They will reply: God,
Who gives speech to all things, has given speech to
us (as well).� (41:21) That is, just as the
Qur�an is God�s speech with words, the cosmos is
God�s speech with act. This situation led the Muslim
scholar Said Nursi to define the Qur�an as �the
eternal translator of the mighty book of the universe
and the interpreter of the various tongues reciting
the verses of creations."[8] He explains that from
one point of view the Qur�anic signs translate the
cosmic signs according to our understanding and make
them speak; i.e. the meaning of the Qur�an unfolds in
the cosmic signs. The Qur'an actually explains how
every being or event is a sign pointing to the
existence of God and making Him known with all His
names and attributes of perfection. Nursi asserts
that each Qur�anic verse encompasses all the other
verses and contains all of the aims of the Qur�an
because it is the word of One Who encompasses
all.[9] God, in His infinite
mercy has included the whole in the parts, like a
hologram, so that man with his limited capacity may
grasp the meaning of the whole Qur�an in each of its
parts. The same is true for the cosmic signs: each
being, each thing or event is related to all the
others and has meaning only within that web of
relationships. For instance, an eye is an �eye� and
sees only when it is in the head, which is part of
the body, which is ultimately part of the cosmos.
Hence the maker of the eye can only be the maker of
the head, the body, and the whole cosmos because the
eye can only exist together with all of them.
[10] The crucial point is
that the Qur�anic ayat (verses/signs) and the
cosmic ayat (signs/verses) are accessible to
human understanding precisely because of their
aforementioned characteristic. Accordingly, although
man cannot comprehend the whole, he can reach
universal understanding by focusing on universal
particulars.
From another perspective, it can be said that the
cosmic signs disclose the reality of Qur�anic signs.
That is, God creates as he �speaks� the Qur�an. For
instance, He creates food and at the same time, He
says in the Qur�an that He is the merciful and
generous sustainer. He describes His acts of creation
to both �eye and ear�; He describes His act while
performing it, and explains his gifts of mercy as He
bestows them.[11] Thus, with the
Qur�an, word and act are combined: the creation is
made to speak through the Qur�an. That is, just as
God makes His existence and presence known and
perceptible through deeds, He also communicates His
presence through speech.[12] The response of
muslims to God�s speech is to learn by
listening.[13] Accordingly, in order
to understand and confirm the truth of Qur�anic signs
we need to �keep an eye� on the cosmic signs, i.e. on
things and events, and if we want to comprehend the
cosmic signs we should �keep an ear� on the Qur�an.
In other words, we are supposed to observe the
universe while listening to the Qur�an and vice
versa, for just as the universe is the Creator�s
speech through deed; the Qur�an is His speech through
word.
Another rule of usul al-tafsir (methodology
of Qur'anic exegesis) is that speech derives its
power of meaning from four sources: the speaker, the
form of the speech, the addressee, and the purpose of
the speech. [14] If for instance,
speech is in the form of command or prohibition, it
looks to the speaker�s will and authority, in
accordance to his position. Consider a commander who
utters the words �Forward, march.� These words
represent a command and are binding if the addressees
are subject to the authority of the speaker. If the
same words are uttered by a soldier for example, we
may conjure that he is joking; in any case, no one
would take his words as a command. So although the
two statements are the same in form and content, they
are different in meaning. That is both the speaker
and the addressee are crucial in determining the
meaning of speech.. In the case of the Qur�an, since
the claim is that it is the word of God, then I need
to consider it as the word of God if I don�t want to
alter its meaning. Indeed, �who the speaker is�
determines the meaning of the content. It would be
methodologically inappropriate to assume that the
Qur�an is the word of a man while it claims to be the
word of God, because that assumption would modify the
alleged meaning. For instance the Qur�an says,
Whenever We will anything to be, We but say unto
it Our word �Be!� and it is� (16:40).[15] In
order to understand this �verse� it is important to
know who the speaker is and who he is
addressing and what its purpose is. The Qur�an says
that it is the Creator of all things speaking
to created human beings in order to teach them
the cosmic reality of tawhid and its relevance to the
human condition.. Now if I read it as the word of the
messenger who brought it, i.e. Muhammad, then I would
be reading something other than the Qur�an, a product
of my own imagination. Yes, the content would be the
same, but it would not be the same message.
Methodologically, we[16]are supposed to
consider a document as it claims to be unless proved
otherwise and read it accordingly. Now the messenger
who brought the Qur'an never claimed to be its
author; he asserted that it was revealed to him by
God. The Qur�an itself professes to be an address of
the Creator of the heavens and the Earth. [17]
Consequently, we will regard each verse of the Qur'an
as the word of God. But if after that it does not
make sense; if it is inconsistent in itself or in
relation to the universe to which it often refers,
then we will have the right to suspect its claim. If
however from the beginning we reject the claim that
the Qur'an is God's word, then what we will read will
not be the �Qur'an�[18], anymore, but some
text allegedly written by Muhammad. And Muhammad
would no longer be the messenger of God but an
impostor who lied in the name of God.[19]
����� In addition, it should be noted that the
Qur'an condemns blind imitation. It repeatedly
condemns the blind following of the tradition of
forefathers, But when they are told, �Follow what
God has bestowed from on high,� some answer, �Nay, we
shall follow that which we found our forefathers
believing in and doing.� Why, even if their
forefathers did not use their reason at all, and were
devoid of guidance? �.Deaf are they, and dumb,
and blind: for they do not use their reason (2:
170-171) The Qur�an persistently says, �So will you
not think?� and refers what it says to reason. It
invites those who refuse to consider its proposition
as reasonable on its merits to �produce an evidence
for what they claim.�[20] The believer is over
and over invited to think and ponder over the
evidences in the universe in order to confirm his
iman (belief) in the truth of the Qur'anic
message.
It is also important to realize that the messenger
Muhammad, who was also the first teacher of the
Qur'an, taught that God speaks to everybody, at all
times through the Qur�an.[21] It addresses the most
common people and the elite; all may listen and
benefit from its teachings. Nursi likens it to �a
repast at which thousands of different levels of
minds, intellects, and spirits find their
nourishment. Their desires are fulfilled and their
appetites are satisfied.�[22] Surely, if the Qur'an
is God�s universal address to all humanity as it
claims to be, it should transcend time and space and
it should make sense to everyone, at all time. It
should speak to its addressee here and now. As
to the main goal of the Qur�an, according to the
consensus of the scholars of Qur�anic exegesis, it is
the major pillar of faith, i.e. tawhid (divine
unity). In other words, the Qur�an�s most important
aim is to teach its addressee how to �translate� the
language of the cosmic signs in order to testify to
the truthfulness of divine unity. Tawhid does
not simply refer to belief in one God as opposed to
two or three. The Qur'an asserts that human beings
have been created in such a way that they innately
recognize the existence of one Creator.[23] It
narrates the Prophet[24] Abraham's search for
his Lord in celestial bodies (stars, moon, and sun),
his recognition that transient created things could
not be gods and eventually his seeking for God's
guidance; Then when he beheld the moon rising, he
(i.e. Abraham) said, "This is my sustainer!"- But
when it went down, he said, "Indeed, if my Sustainer
does not guide me, I will most certainly become one
of the people who go astray!" (6:77). As he
understood and admitted his limitations, he was made
to realize the transcendent and comprehensive
existence of God. By doing so he became the locus of
God's love, and "a good paradigm" (60:4) for
the believers as the Qur'an states, And who could
be of better faith than he who surrenders his whole
being unto God and is doer of good withal, and
follows the creed of Abraham, who turned away from
all that is false - seeing that God exalted Abraham
with His love? (4:125).[25] Because Abraham
surrendered himself wholeheartedly, he attained a
state of receptivity to revelation and hence
revelation was bestowed unto him.
According to the Qur'an, man knows intuitively
that there must be a Creator and he understands what
the Creator is not, but in order to know Him, he
needs revelation. The Muslim scholar Ibn 'Arabi
(1165-1240) explains that the only knowledge about
God that we can acquire through rational means is the
knowledge of the existence of God and of what God is
not. That is, we can grasp God's incomparability as
illustrated in the story of Abraham, but we cannot
gain affirmative knowledge of God. Only revelation
can inform us about what God is rather than what he
is not. [26]� Furthermore since
the Qur'an instructs man to strive to know God when
he already knows His existence, it must be referring
to another kind of knowledge that exceeds man's
acquired knowledge.[27] That is, revelation
does not just state the obvious; it teaches what
cannot be learned without having recourse to its
teachings. If, for instance we understand divine
unity as meaning no more than 'there is only one
God,' then we can rightly conclude that Divine
revelation is superfluous and unnecessary. The point
however, is that the Qur'an teaches who that
God is and what his purposes in creation are; it
teaches how to know God with all his names and
attributes of perfection and hence to love and
worship nothing beside Him.[28] In other words the
purpose of the Qur'an is to teach that all that is
lovable and valued in things and beings proceeds from
the Divine attributes of perfection; they all belong
to their Enduring Creator alone and not to the
transient created things themselves by means of which
they are made manifest in this world. In other words,
all created things point, beyond themselves, to the
meanings of the divine attributes of perfection. They
are signs speaking of their Maker.
When we reflect upon this reality of the created
world and testify to its truth in our life (as the
Qur'an bids us do), then our love for the world and
the things in it is transformed into love for their
creator,[29] and that is the core
of tawhid (divine unity) as it is expressed in
the Qur�anic verse, God, there is no deity (i.e.
there is nothing worth worshipping and loving) save
Him, indeed to Him alone belong the attributes of
perfection (20:8). The Muslim scholar Said Nursi
(1886-1960) compares beings in the universe to a huge
orchestra celebrating the Divine names. With their
very mode of existence, they act as mirrors to the
Divine attributes of perfection in many respects:
they declare their maker�s power though their
intrinsic weakness, His riches and grace through
their inherent neediness and poverty, and His
everlastingness through their ephemerality. Each
being, each event proclaims that nothing possesses
deity but He, and attest that the Qur�anic truths
are not mere metaphysical ideals but cosmic
realities. [30] Every thing is like a
mirror reflecting the divine attributes of perfection
and thus making its Maker known and glorifying
Him.[31]
In order to participate in this glorifying, one
needs to acknowledge that his existence is dependent
on a �wholly other� and that the continuance of his
existence is due solely to the creativity of that
other. Then he realizes that everything else also
owes its existence to that same creator. That is, he
sees the weakness and neediness of all things to the
extent he admits his own weakness and neediness; and
as a result he becomes aware that all grace and
mercy, all attributes of perfection - reflected on
himself or on beings - belongs to that creator alone.
This awareness is the beginning of �glorifying� God
and concurrently the beginning of �understanding� the
reality of existence, for they are related in
accordance with the Prophet Muhammad�s saying, act
upon what you know and God will teach you what you do
not know. That is, as he purifies his ego
following the teachings of the Qur�an and realizes
that he is not the real master in his sphere of
disposal, i.e. as he gives up the illusion that his
existence is essential and independent, the meaning
of revelation starts unfolding itself to him as it is
alluded in the following verses, Behold, it is a
truly noble discourse (Lit. qur�an) (conveyed unto
man) in a well-guarded writ (kitab) which none but
the pure can touch (56:77-79).[32] That is to say,
to testify to the truth of tawhid, the
foremost aim of the Qur�an, entails the
authentication of its reality in the universe,
[33] a task that can be
accomplished to the extent one participates in that
cosmic reality and experiences tawhid in his
own life.
Let us consider the following Qur�anic verse,
He taught Adam the Names, all of them (2:31).
According to the above rules of exegesis, this verse
addresses us here and now and teaches us how
to testify to the cosmic reality of tawhid and
as a result to the truth of the Qur�anic message. It
is not just narrating the story of a prophet called
Adam, for the Qur�an does not claim to be a book of
history and the Prophet Muhammad did not read it as
such. In fact the Qur�an reduces the stories of the
prophets to their essential features precisely
because it does not want the addressee to get drowned
in unnecessary information and deviate from the aim
of the message taught in those verses. But how is the
teaching of the names to Adam mentioned in this verse
relevant to my situation here and now?�
Moreover, given that the Qur�an instructs the readers
to use their reason, how is it possible to understand
this incident rationally? And lastly, what is the
wisdom in the Qur�an�s mentioning particular events
like this? The answer is in the Qur�an itself, in
accordance with a very fundamental principle that I
have applied so far but without spelling it
explicitly. This is that all of the Qur�anic
�statements and ordinances are mutually complementary
and cannot therefore be correctly understood unless
they are considered as parts of one integral
whole.�[34] Hence in order to
understand what �Adam� and �names� refer to, we need
to consider them within the Qur�anic context.[35]
���� In verse 2:31, �Adam� refers to the whole
human race as is clear from the preceding verse 2:30,
where Adam is referred to as �one who shall inherit
the earth� and as one �who will spread corruption on
earth and will shed blood.� More important, however,
is verse 7:11. In the verses following 2:30, the
Qur�an mentions how all the angels prostrated before
Adam except Iblis (Satan). [36] In 7:11, it recounts
the same event but with definite reference to all
mankind as the preceding verses clearly demonstrate,
O( people) We have given you a (bountiful) place
on earth, and appointed thereon means of ivelihood
for you: (yet) how seldom are you grateful!
(7:10). We have created you, and then formed you,
and then we said unto the angels, �prostrate
yourselves before Adam!�- Whereupon they prostrated
themselves, except Iblis (7:11). From this
aya, it is obvious that the name Adam
symbolizes the whole human race as all commentators
on the Qur�an have unanimously agreed. So when the
Qur�an says that He taught Adam the Names
(al-asma�), all of them, it is actually saying
that all human beings have been taught all the Names.
But what are these names? The Arabic for �names� is
asma�, and its singular form is ism.
The term ism primarily denotes the intrinsic
attributes of a thing under consideration. In other
verses (7:180; 17:110; 20:8 and 59:24), the term
asma� has been combined with the term
al-husna which is the plural form of
al-ahsan (that which is best or most goodly).
The combination al-asma� al-husna, a
term reserved in the Qur�an for God alone, is often
rendered as �the attributes of perfection,�[37] e.g.
And God�s (alone) are the attributes of perfection
(al-asma� al-husna); invoke Him, then, by these, and
stand aloof from those who distort the meaning of His
attributes (asma�) (7:180).
Thus the names refer to the divine attributes of
perfection that constitute the reality of all things
as indicated above. The �teaching of the names�
alludes to man�s comprehensive disposition in
learning countless sciences and acquiring knowledge
about the Creator�s attributes and qualities through
those sciences, all of which are signs to the Divine
Names. Nursi writes that �All attainments and
perfections, all learning, all progress, and all
sciences, each have an elevated reality which is
based on one of the divine Names. On being based on
the Name�the sciences and the arts find their
perfection and become reality. Otherwise they remain
incomplete and deficient.�[38] Accordingly, medicine
for instance, finds its perfection and becomes
reality when it relies on the divine name Healer and
sees �its compassionate manifestation in the vast
pharmacy of the earth.�
So in fact, the minor event of the teaching of the
names to Adam is actually the tip of a universal
observed principle namely the teaching of all the
attainments with which mankind has been inspired.
Nursi asserts that �through this minor event, the
Qur�an expounds a universal principle which is
essential instruction in wisdom for everyone at all
times.�[39] This verse teaches
that this ability and the resulting attainments are
to be consciously used to ascend to the divine Names,
which are the realities and sources of those
attainments. In Nursi�s view, the verse says:
Come on, step forward, adhere to each of the names,
and rise! But your forefather was deceived one time
by Satan, and temporarily fell to the earth from a
position like Paradise, Beware! In your progress,
do not follow Satan and make it the means of
falling into the misguidance of �Nature� from the
heavens of the divine wisdom. Continuously raising
your head and studying carefully my attributes of
perfection (or My divine Names), make your sciences
and your progress steps by which to ascend to those
heavens. Then you may rise to my Names, which are
the realities and sources of your science and
attainments, and you may look to your sustainer
with your hearts through the telescope of the
names. [40]
Therefore although verse 2:31 mentions the miracle
of Adam, an event that the addressee has not seen, it
is possible for him to testify to its truthfulness
and confirm it because it refers to a universal truth
that he can observe in the universe and experience in
his life. This is how the cosmic signs help the
Qur�an�s addressee witness to the truthfulness of the
Qur�anic verses (signs), which interpret and expound
the cosmic signs. The same analysis may be applied to
different verses of the Qur�an related to the stories
of the prophets.
R.W.J. Austin states that �the Koran places the
prophets outside history, within the framework of the
Unitarian message of Islam; it speaks in both general
and universal terms, as it were.�[41] The central
theme in the Qur�anic reference to the stories of the
prophets is the teaching of the reality of
tawhid. In accordance with the Prophetic
tradition, the different prophets correspond to
various spiritual types and consequently, to
different ways to reach knowledge and love of
God.[42] For instance, the
miracle of the staff of Moses, is referred to in the
verse 2:60, And We said, strike the rock with your
staff. Nursi reminds us that the roots of plants
and trees spread through hard rock and earth just as
easily as branches spread in the air. He says, �Like
the Staff of Moses, each of those silken rootless
conform to the command of, And We said, strike the
rock with your staff, and split the rock.�
[43] This way Nursi plays
off the fact that revelation and creation witness to
each other: the observed facts show that the miracle
of the Staff of Moses points to a universal law, and
the verse tells us that those observed facts are not
�natural� events that happen haphazardly but rather
�miracles�[44] of Divine power and
mercy. Nursi also mentions how delicate and fine
green leaves retain their moisture for months even
when it is extremely hot, as in the summer. It is as
though those leaves recite the verse, O fire be
coolness and peace for Abraham! (21:69) against
the heat of the sun, like the limbs of Abraham did
against fire. Again the cosmic signs are juxtaposed
to the Qur�anic signs/ verses.[45]
From the above principles of Qur'anic exegesis, it
is clear that understanding the Qur'an entails that
the interpreter engages the Qur'anic signs as well as
the cosmic ones. Understanding is given to him to the
extent he succeeds in internalizing the meaning those
signs convey. This process however is not arbitrary.
It has been taught by the messenger Muhammad to whom
the Qur'an was first revealed and as a matter of fact
by all the prophets as the Qur'an teaches. [46] In the
Qur'anic context, the messenger Muhammad epitomizes
the excellent Man (al-insan al-kamil) in the
sense that he realized his createdness at the
highest level and admitted his inherent weakness and
neediness before His Creator and consequently became
receptive to Divine revelation. He evinced a
tawhid journey that reaches its apogee through
purification of the ego from its false claims of
existing by itself and from itself, and of conceiving
of itself as a source of perfection including true
understanding of the world. As one purifies one�s ego
and surrenders himself to the reality of his
createdness, he can share in the cosmic reality of
tawhid and therefore testify to its reality in
his own life.
Subsequently, the muslim (the one who
surrenders himself) may say like the prophet of
islam (surrendering), �I only follow
whatever is being revealed to me by my Sustainer:
this (revelation) is a means of insight from your
Sustainer, and a guidance and grace unto people who
believe. Hence, when the Qur�an is read, hearken unto
it, and listen in silence, so that you might be
graced with (God�s) mercy� (7:203-204). �Silence�
has been traditionally understood to refer to the
fact that none other than the Creator knows the
reality of creation, hence when God speaks in the
Qur�an, the wisest stand is to give up prejudices and
preconceptions as much as possible and listen
so that �true understanding� � which is also mercy �
may be bestowed upon one. The Sustainer�s favor and
mercy dwells in the purification of the ego that
yields proper listening and relying on the dynamic of
gift of everything including understanding of the
true meaning of the divine speech. The same law of
ihsan (munificence and gift) is at work in the
domain of divine creativity i.e. both in nature and
in revelation. Divine mercy and all other attributes
of perfection manifest themselves in the form of a
beautiful fruit or a drop of water and also in
meaningful words. All are divine speech, all are
signs and symbols whose meanings are disclosed to us
when we listen rather than merely project our
�understanding� onto them. It seems therefore that
listening is an important rule of Qur�anic reasoning
(QR). In order to practice QR one needs to trust the
Qur�anic text, listen to it, and allow it to disclose
its reasoning to him. Otherwise if he simply �plays�
with the text he may end up reading himself rather
than the Qur�an. QR is certainly not merely
cogitation but a living interaction with the
scripture for it has a fundamental ontological
element that makes it more than just experiential or
historical in the sense that it can at least be
generalized if not universalized.
ENDNOTES
[1] The term tawhid is
a verbal noun, the gerund form of the root w
�h-d (to unite). It carries the connotation of a
continuous, dynamic process rather than to a static
state of being. Thus, although it is usually
translated as �unity,� it is better rendered as
�unification.� (NB: Most Arabic words stem from roots
that consist of three or less often four consonants.
Thus the meaning of any one word is related at its
root to many other words.)
[2] The term muslim is
the active participle of the verb aslama (to
surrender). Aslama is the fourth derived form
of the root s-l-m (to be safe, secure).
Note that theverbal noun i.e. gerund of the first
form salima is salaam (peace,
peacefulness).
[3] In Arabic the words
�observe� or shaahada and �testimony,
testifying, witnessing� or shahaada are
semantically related. Shaahada (to observe) is
the third derived form of the root sh-h-d,
while shahaada is the verbal noun (gerund) of
the first form i.e. shahida (to witness).
[4] The Arabic term
qur�an is a verbal noun, the gerund form of
the root q-r-�. It thus carries the meaning of
a continuous reading, a message that is repeatedly
recounted. It may be translated as �recitation� or
even �teaching.�
[5] In lisan al-�Arab
(the Tongues of the Arabs),the lexicographer Ibn
Manzur (d.1311), defines aya as �alama
(sign), a term which is etymologically related to the
verb �allama (to teach). This corresponds to
the teaching of the Qur�an that the purpose of these
divine signs, whether Qur�anic signs or cosmic signs,
is to teach the nature of the divine reality.
[6] The verb �aqala (to
use one�s reason/intellect) appears 47 times in the
Qur�an, e.g.
And He has made the night and the day and the
sun and the moon subservient (to His laws, so that
they be of use) to you; and all the stars are
subservient to His command; in this behold, there are
signs (ayat) indeed for people who use their
reason! (16:12)
And in the succession of night and day, and in
the means of subsistence which God sends down from
the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it
had been lifeless, and in the change of the wind; (in
allthis) there aresigns (ayat) for people who
use their reason (45:5).
The verbsfakkara and tafakkara
(2nd and 5th forms of the root
f-k-r) both meaning to ponder, reflect, and
think, appear 18 times in the Qur�an; e.g.
Verily, in the creating (creation) of the
heavens and the earth, and in the succession of night
and day, there are indeed signs (ayat) for all
who are endowed with insight (and) who remember God
when they stand and when they sit and when they lie
down, and (thus) reflect on the creation of the
heavens and the earth: �O our Sustainer! You have
not created this without meaning and purpose.
Limitless are You in Your glory!" (3:190-191)
And it is He who has spread the earth wide and
placed on it firm mountains and running waters, and
created tereon two sexes of every (kind of ) plant; ;
(and it is who) causes the night to cover the day.
Verily, in all this are signs (ayat) indeed
for people who think! (13:4)
[7] Bediuzzaman Said
Nursi,�The letters,� in Risale-i-Nur
Collection (Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1994),
339-340; Risale-i Nur Kuliyati, 481.
[8] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,
�The Words� in Risale-i- Nur Collection
(Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 2002), 376- 377.
[9] Nursi, The Words,
454.
[10] Nursi, The Words,
577.
[11] Nursi, The Words,
444.
[12] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,
The Supreme Sign (Berkley; Risale-i-Nur
Institute of America, 1979) Trans. H. Algar,
49-50.
[13] The Qur�an encourages
its addresses to �listen to God�s ayat
(verses/signs) when they are recited,� and to not
�become arrogant, as though (they) had not heard
them.� (45:8)
[14] Nursi, The Words,
443-444; Risale-i-Nur Kuliyati, (Istanbul:
Nesil basim yayin, 1996), 2019.
[15] Note again the close
relationship between speech and deed: �We say �Be�
and it is�! Deeds are a manifestation of speech.
[16] �We� here refers to
those interpreters of the text who do not wish to
impose their understanding on the text but rather to
allow it �to speak for itself� as Toshihiko Isutzu
says. (T.Isutzu, Concepts in the Qur�an,
(Montreal: McGill Unversity Press, 1966), 3.
In the modern academic study of religion, there
are two dominant positions: The so-called
hermeneutics of charity, which in the social sciences
is identified with Max Weber, and the hermeneutics of
suspicion which is identified with the tradition of
Emile Durkheim. Here �we� refers to none of them
because in either of these two approaches a choice
needs to be made whether to listen to the
self-description of the object of study (here the
Qur�anic text) or to ignore it in favor of models
provided by academic theory. The hermeneutics of
charity is not, as it is often assumed, inherently
aligned with emic discourse. Often it appropriates
the other as material for modern Western academic
theories. The attempt to understand often turns into
colonial eisegesis. [See K. Patton, A Magic Still
Dwells : Comparative Religion in the postmodern
Age (Berkeley: Univ. California Press, 2000), 2.]
Also the bracketing of the subjective required in the
hermeneutics of suspicion does not necessarily
challenge emic discourse.
[17] The Qur'an says, "Or
do they say: He himself has composed this (message)"?
Nay, but they are not willing to believe! But
then,(if they deem it the work of a mere mortal,) let
them produce another discourse like if- if what they
say is true! (52:33-34).
[18] See footnote 34.
[19] And who could be more
wicked than he who attributes his own lying
inventions to God or gives the lie to His signs?
Verily such evildoers will never attain to a happy
state (6:21).
[20] And yet they choose
to worship (imaginary) deities instead of Him! Say:
�Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this
is a reminder (unceasingly voiced) by those who are
with me, just as it was a reminder (voiced) by those
who came before me.� But nay, most of them don�t know
the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away (from
it) (21:24).
[21] Hundreds of verses of
the Qur�an point to this fact; they start with �o
people� or end with �these are examples for people
who think.� For instance,
O people! Worship your Sustainer, who
has created you and those who lived before you, so
that you might remain conscious of Him, who has made
you the earth a resting place for you and the sky a
canopy, and haas sent down water from the sky and
thereby brought forth for you sustuneance: do not,
then, claim that there is any power that could rival
God, when you know (2:21-22).
And among His wonders is this: he displays
before you the lightning, giving rise to (both) fear
and hope, and sends down water form the skies, giving
life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless:
in this, behold, there are signs indeed for people
who use their reason! (30:24).
Also in the hadith, the prophet Muhammad is
reported to have said that �Every prophet was sent to
his own people; but I am sent to all mankind�
(bu�ithtu li�l-nasi kaffa). See Bukhari,
Tayammum, 1.
[22] Nursi, The Words,
402.
[23] Verse 30:30 says, And
so, surrender your whole being steadfastly to the
ever-true faith, turning away from all that is false,
in accordance with the disposition (fitra) which God
has instilled into people: for not to allow any
change to corrupt what god has thus created �this is
the (purpose of the) ever-true faith; but most people
know it not.
�The term fitra rendered here as
�disposition�, connotes in this context man�s inborn,
intuitive ability to discern between right and wrong,
true and false, and thus, to sense God�s existence
and oneness� (it) consists in man�s instinctive
cognition of God and self-surrender (islam) to
Him� (M. Asad, The Message of the Qur�an
(Gibraltar:Dar al-Andalus, 1980), 621).
[24] "We should point here
that the words 'prophet' and 'Prophecy' may not
convey precisely the same ideas in the three
monotheistic religions. �According to the
Koran, each prophet, including Christ, is a
messenger sent by god to a particular people. This
view �presumes that the prophet has reached the
spiritual heights of human nature and that he is,
like Adam, "God's representative on earth.� The
Koran places the prophets outside history,
within the framework of the Unitarian message of
Islam; it speaks in both general and universal terms,
as it were. Its prophets run the gamut from Adam to
Mohammad and include not only the prophets and
patriarchs of the Old Testament, but also an
indefinite number of messengers sent by God to
ancient Arabic and non-Arabic nations. The Bible
stories linked to various prophets reappear in part
in the Koran, but reduced to their essential
features and, as it were, crystallized into symbolic
accounts" (R. W. J.Austin in the introduction to his
translation of Ibn'Arabi's The Bezels of
Wisdom (NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), xii).
[25] Literally, "God chose
Abraham to be His beloved friend
(khalil)."
[26] W.C. Chittick, The
Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-'Arabi's Metaphysics
of Imagination (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989),
159.
The Qur�an points to this fact, How could it be
that He who has created all should not know all when
He alone is unfathomable in His wisdom,
all-aware! 67:14. The Qur�an also says, Hence,
place your trust in the Living One who dies not, and
extol His limitless glory and praise: for none is
aware of His creatures�s sinsas He- He who has
created the heavens and the earth and all that is
between them in six aeons, and is established on the
throne of His almightiness: the Most Gracious! Ask,
then, about Him, the One who is truly aware
(25:59). That is, ask God Himself since He alone is
aware of the mysteries of the universe. This is
usually understood that �it is only by observing His
creation and listening to His revealed messages that
man can obtain a glimpse, however distant, of God�s
Own reality.� Asad, The Message of The Qur�an,
557.
[27] S.Hakim, "Knowledge of
God in Ibn 'Arabi" Ed. S. Hirtenstein and M. Tierman,
Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi: A Commemorative Volume
(USA: Elements, Inc, 1993), 270.
[28] Nursi, The Words,
299-300.
Nursi explains that only revelation can teach true
unity of God (tawhid), "which is to see the
stamp of His power, the seal of His Lordship
(rububiya); it is to open a window directly
onto His light from everything and to confirm and
believe with the certainty of seeing it that every
thing emerges from the hand of His power and in no
way has He any partner or assistant in His Godhead or
in His Lordship or in His sovereignty, and thus to
attain a sort of perpetual awareness of the divine
presence." Nursi, The Words, 300.
[29] �The heart loves
whatever the source of loveliness is� B. S. Nursi,
Risale-i-Nur Kulliyati, 611.
[30] Nursi, The Words,
342-343.
[31] The Qur�an says, He
is God, the Creator, The Maker who shapes all forms
and appearances! His alone are the attributes of
perfection; all that is in the heavens and on earth
extols His limitless glory: for He alone is almighty,
truly wise! (59:24) There are many other verses
that teach that all beings glorify their Maker with
praise. See for instance, 17:44; 58:1; 59:1 etc.
[32] The commentators
understood that from one perspective, this verse
means that �only the pure of heart can truly
understand and derive benefit from the Qur�anic
revelation.� Note also that the word �Qur�an� refers
to God�s address to humanity and cannot be confined
between the folds of a scroll or the covers of a
codex. As Daniel Madigan explains in his work, The
Qur�an�s Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam�s
Scriptures (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2001), from the Qur�an�s refutation of the
proof value of written texts, as well as from the
absence of a significant role for written material in
the early history of the Qur�an and in Islamic
ritual, it can be inferred that scrolls and codices
were not perceived as evidently important, and
certainly not as constitutive of the authority of
scripture. Madigan construes that the notion of
kitab (scripture or writ) as evidenced in the
Qur�anic discourse exhibits an extraordinary
elusiveness, which makes it impossible to understand
scripture as a fixed, closed corpus. For once
a book is produced, it exist independently of its
author. The Muslim community however, has always had
a lively sense that the Qur�an�s author remains
engaged with his audience. The appeal of tradition to
kalam Allah (speech of God) as the key to
understanding revelation is probably a means to avoid
the term scripture, which is often associated
with the mushaf (codex). It is significant to
note that although scripture occupies a central
position in the faith and practice of Muslims, their
approach to scripture is almost totally oral.
Furthermore, the evidence indicates that they
coalesced around the Qur�an while it was still oral,
still in process as the pledge of God�s relationship
of guidance to them rather than as a clearly defined
and already closed text.
According to Madigan, the Qur�an refuses
resolutely to behave as an already closed and
codified text since its role is to address people and
situations as they arise. It insists on remaining
open and responsive and makes it clear in its form
and statements that it prefers to function as the
voice of God�s continuing address to humanity.
Madigan presents a compelling semantic analysis of
the Qur�an�s self-awareness. He argues that the
Qur�an views itself not as a completed book, but as
an ongoing process of divine writing and re-writing;
as God�s active engagement with humanity. In fact the
Qur�an does not identify itself with the kitab
(scripture or book) , to which it refers in the third
person when proclaiming, defending, and defining it.
Yet it does not speak of the kitab as
something already fixed and separate but primarily as
a symbol, for the Qur�an (discourse) is the
very mode by which the kitab is made manifest
and engages with humanity.
The Qur�an presents itself and is conscious of
itself in a distinctive manner: it is not so much
interested in writing as a mere description of the
form of the divine word as in the source of its
composition, authority and veracity. The Qur�an�s
claim to being a kitab is a symbol for God�s
knowledge and authority rather than a simple
statement about its eventual mode of storage. As
kitab, it intended to be the locus of
continued guidance. The Qur�an�s kitab cannot
be mistaken for a book since it has no fixed
boundaries: it is not made completely clear whether
this text, i.e. the Qur�an, is the whole kitab
or part of it, one of several kutub (plural
form of kitab) or the only one. As a matter of
fact, the implicit claim to totality and completeness
contained in the word �book� may lead to the
identification of the limits of the God�s kitab with
the boundaries of the text. Such understanding may
become perilous for it opens the possibility of
�possessing� the kitab and claiming hegemony
over understanding it rather than listening to it and
relying on the givenness of understanding.
[33] The antithesis of
tawhid is shirk or ascribing partners
to God not only in His godhead but in all His
attributes of perfection. Shirk is defined in
another verse as ascribing the attributes of
perfection to things and beings themselves, And
God�s alone are the attributes of perfection; invoke
Him, then, by these and stand aloof of those who
distort the meaning of His attributes (by applying
them to others); they shall be requited for all that
they were wont to do! (7:180). Hence to ascribe
power and creativity to causes, to Nature, etc is, by
the Qur�anic criterion of tawhid, shirk and
idolatry.
[34] Asad, The Message of
the Qur�an, 261.
[35] Nursi says, �Seek the
meanings of the Qur�an in its luminous words, rather
than those gimmicks and artifices you sneak in the
back-pocket of your mind.� Nursi, Risale-i Nur
Kulliyati, 1989.
[36] And When We told the
angels, �Prostrate yourselves before Adam!�- they
prostrated themselves except Iblis. 2:34.
[37] M.Asad, The Message
of the Qur�an, 231
[38] Nursi, The Words,
270.
[39] Nursi, The Words,
254.
[40] Nursi, The Words,
270
[41] R.W.J. Austin,
Introduction to Ibn �Arabi�s Bezels of Wisdom
(NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), xii.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Nursi, The Words,
17.
[44] The Arabic word for
�miracle� is �mu�jiza�. It does not refer to a
�marvelous event that is attributed to a supernatural
cause. Mu�jiza is derived from the root
�a-j-z, which means �to be incapable.�
Something is a mu�jiza in the sense that all
causes, all things are incapable (�ajiz) of
making it. Thus it is not used only for the miracles
of the prophets. Since, the Qur�an holds that for one
single thing to be, the whole universe must be there,
i.e. it exist only within the universe and therefore
to make one thing is equivalent to making everything.
The creator of one thing can only be the creator of
all the universe. Causes themselves are being made
and they cannot create. As far as creatorship is
concerned, they are all �ajiz, , but as far as
being made is concerned they are all mu�jiza
or miracle.
[45] Nursi, The Words,
17.
[46] The Qur�an refers to all
prophets as paradigms to be followed in reaching
knowledge of God. Each one of them represents a
different aspect of divine wisdom and as such their
paths are relevant to man in different situations of
his life. He can identify with their ways at various
moments of his life. See also note 11.
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