Teaching and Learning in the Qur'an
Vincent J. Cornell
University of Arkansas
We Hear and Obey.
In Islam, God is the ultimate source of knowledge
and the Qur'an is the primary source of religious
learning. The Arabic term Qur'an is a verbal
noun that carries the connotation of a "continuous
reading," "recital," or message that is recounted or
listened to over and over again. Thus, the term may
be translated into English as "recitation,"
"recital," or even "teaching." God "speaks" the
Qur'an and human beings learn by listening.� The
response of Muslims to God's command is, "We hear and
obey" (2:285). Those who actively listen to God's
teachings and obey his commands prosper and are saved
(24:51); the hypocrites who say, "we hear" but do not
listen (8:26) do not respond to the call and are
lost. Muslims are encouraged to "listen to God's
verses when they are recited," and should not "become
arrogant, as if [one] had not heard them" (45:8).
Clearly, as far as the Qur'an is concerned, God
teaches by speaking with the voice of authority;
human beings learn by listening to God's voice
through the text of the Qur'an and by submitting to
his authority. Although in contemporary Islam much is
made of following the call (da'wa) to
the truth, in Qur'anic discourse the person who hears
God's call submits and obeys (cf.
Higton, 2-3, 4-5).� This, after all, is the basic
meaning of the term, Islam: to submit to the
dictates of the divine Word. Because the existential
relationship between humans and their Creator is
expressed in terms of a lord-servant
(rububiyya vs. 'ubudiyya, literally,
"slavery") relationship, the condition of obedience
itself is logically prior to the form�such as
following God's call�that obedience takes: "When thy
Lord drew forth their descendants from the children
of Adam, He made them testify concerning themselves
[saying]: 'Am I not your Lord?' They replied, 'Yes,
we do so testify'" (7:172). ���
The Books of God and the World.
Throughout the Qur'an, divine revelation, and
especially the Qur'an itself, is called a "book"
(kitab). � However, this term should not be
understood as just an ordinary book. In medieval
Arabic, the term kitab stood for any type of
dictated communication, whether it was written or
verbal.� The Qur'an refers to itself as Umm
al-Kitab, "Mother of the Book" or "Sourcebook"
(13:39). As such, it acts as a model of divine
communication and as a sort of "teacher's guide" to
divine pedagogy. One learns from this book that
divine pedagogy is based on a methodology of what
today would be called "active learning." To use the
terms that Mike Higton applies to learning in the New
Testament, divine pedagogy in the Qur'an is a method
of participatory learning that is based on an
interleaved reading of two complementary
sacred texts: the Qur'an and the lived world around
us (cf.
Higton, 5-6).
An aya, a verse of the Qur'an, is a
teaching in the speech of God (9:6). A sign of God in
nature is also called an aya.� In Lisan
al-'Arab (The Tongue of the Arabs), Ibn Manzur
(d. 1311-12), one of the most authoritative
lexicographers of premodern Islam, defined aya
as a "sign" ('alama), a term that is
etymologically related to the verb "to teach"
('allama) and whose relevance to modern
semiotics cannot be overlooked. The purpose of these
divine signs, whether they are to be found between
the covers of the written Qur'an or in the "book" of
nature, is the same: it is to teach human beings
about the nature of the Divine Reality. To be a
person of knowledge ('alim), one must learn
two registers of divine discourse: the Arabic text of
the Qur'an and the "text" of the natural world. � The
world is a book to be studied and learned by the
person of knowledge, just as the word of God is a
book to be studied and learned by the religious
scholar. The prophet Abraham read the signs of God in
the stars, the moon, and the sun, and understood God
to be the creator of the universe (6:75-79). �
Likewise, the prophet Solomon was inspired by God to
learn the "discourse of the birds" (27:16).
Thus, from the Qur'anic perspective, Muslims are
"People of the Book," but they do not study the Book
in an ordinary way. � The Qur'an makes it clear that
spiritual learning is interactive; it is meant
to transcend passive learning or rote memorization. �
Significantly, the Qur'an most often uses the Arabic
verb "to study" (darasa) when referring not to
Muslims, but to Jews or Christians. These earlier
"Peoples of the Book" are depicted as missing the
spiritual point of Islam by fetishizing the word of
God and by approaching the divine message in an
unreflective way. An example of such a depiction can
be found in the following verse:
A subsequent generation succeeded them and
inherited the Book. They take whatever they find in
this lower world and say, "It will be forgiven
us."� If something similar came to them, they would
take it again. Have they not accepted the Covenant
of the Book, such that they should say naught about
God but the truth? And they even studied
(darasu) what is in [the Book]!� The Abode
of the Hereafter is better for the God-fearing. Do
you not remember? (7:169)
Learning by Seeing (Qur'an 6:101-106).
The only use of the verb darasa in the
Qur'an that does not refer to Jews or Christians is
in Surat al-An'am (6. The Cattle):
"Thus do we display our signs (ayat), so that
they may say to you [Muhammad], 'You have indeed
studied (darasta)!'� And so that we may make
[the Message] clear for a people who understand"
(6:105). � Here, the practice of formal study is
referred to in a mocking tone, for in the context of
the wider discourse in which the verse appears, real
learning is "learning by seeing" (cf.
Higton, 2).� This latter type of learning is
referred to in the Qur'an as "The Eye of Certainty"
('ayn al-yaqin, 102:7).� In the following
verses, learning by seeing involves the visionary
experience of revelation, the display by God of signs
to be read by those with discernment, and spiritual
sight as a form of consciousness, the sight that
comes from the "eye" of the soul:
Such is Allah, your lord.� There is no god but He,
Creator of All Things. So worship him, for He is
the Agent (Wakil) of All Things.
Vision does not comprehend him, but he comprehends
all vision. He is the Caring (al-Latif), the
Fully Informed (al-Khabir).
Visions (basa'ir) have come to you from your
Lord. � Whenever one sees, it is for the sake of
his soul, and if one is blind, it is against [his
soul]. I am not your keeper.
Thus do we display our signs so that they may say
to you [Muhammad]: "You have indeed studied!" � And
so that we may make [the Message] clear for a
people who understand.
So follow what has been revealed to you from your
Lord. There is no god but He.� And turn away from
those who assign partners to him (6:102-106).
The concept of "learning as seeing" that appears
in this discourse broadly corresponds to Plato's idea
of the "vision" of the intellect; it refers to the
knowledge that is acquired by the spiritual
intelligence, which the Qur'an locates metaphorically
in the heart. Before attaining this type of
knowledge, the breast of the believer must first be
"opened to Islam" (39:22).� Once the breast is
opened, the heart assimilates God's teaching as a
divine "light" or illumination (39:22).� With the Eye
of Certainty, what leads a person to knowledge of God
are not arguments that are to be understood by the
rational mind, but rather theophanic "appearances"
(bayyinat) that strip away the veil of worldly
phenomena to reveal the divine Truth. These
theophanies constitute a self-evident argument for
anyone with understanding.� The importance of such
self-evident arguments to the acquisition of
religious knowledge is reflected in the fact that
Sura 98 of the Qur'an is entitled
al-Bayyina.
The Teaching of Wisdom (Qur'an 2:30-39).
One of the most important uses of the Arabic verb
"to teach" ('allama) in the Qur'an can be
found at the end of verse 113 in Surat
al-Nisa' (4, The Women), where the revelation of
the Qur'an is portrayed as a wisdom teaching: "Allah
has revealed to you [Muhammad] the Book
(al-Kitab) and the Wisdom (al-Hikma)
and taught you (wa 'allamaka) what you did not
previously know (ma lam takun ta'lam)."� It is
clear from this passage that there are two main
vehicles for God's teachings: written scripture, in
the form of the revealed text of the Qur'an, and the
subtextual "Book of Wisdom" that complements the
written scripture. The semiotic nature of these
wisdom teachings can be discerned in verses 30-39 of
Surat al-Baqara (2, The Cow), which
introduce humanity's divine vicegerency and describe
the temptation and expulsion of Adam and Eve from the
Garden. � In the first portion of this discourse we
are informed that God taught Adam the "names" of all
things:
And [God] taught ('allama) Adam all of the
names. Then He placed [Adam and Eve] before the
angels and said, "Make known to me the names of
these if you indeed uphold the truth (in kuntum
sadiqin)."
[The angels] said, "All glory is yours!� We have no
knowledge (la 'ilma lana) except that which
you have taught us (illa ma 'allamtana).�
Verily you are the Knowledgeable (al-'Alim),
the Wise (al-Hakim).
[God] said, "Oh Adam! � Make known to them their
names." � And when [Adam] had made known to them
their names [God] said, "Did I not tell you that I
know the secrets of the heavens and the earth
(ghayb al-samawati wa al-ard), and that I
know what you reveal and what you conceal
(2:31-33)?"
In these verses, the "names" that God teaches to
Adam stand for the essential natures of things.� By
teaching Adam the "names of all things," God bestows
upon humanity the wisdom of both the inner essences
and the outer forms of created things. This ability
to understand both overt and subtle truths is
fundamental to the concept of wisdom in the Qur'an.
For the Sufi Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240), the "names" that
God taught to Adam were, in a sense, God's own names,
because all of existence is a manifestation of the
divine names.� In Book 558 of al-Futuhat
al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations) Ibn 'Arabi
states, "In truth, our entities are [God's] names. �
They can be nothing other, for in His own self God
decrees and differentiates affairs" (Michel
Chodkiewicz, William Chittick, and James W. Morris,
The Meccan Revelations Volume I).� According
to Ibn 'Arabi, when the angels say to God, "We have
no knowledge except what you have taught us," they
are actually saying, "We have no knowledge of our
existence apart from what you have made known in us."
In other words, the self-knowledge of the angels,
like the self-knowledge of all sentient beings, is
not newly learned knowledge. � Rather, it is "old"
knowledge. It is, in effect, a remembrance of times
that have been lost (une recherche du temps
perdus) to present-day consciousness, an
existential remembrance of the primordial covenant
struck between creature and Creator at the beginning
of time: "He made them testify concerning themselves
[saying]: 'Am I not your Lord?' They replied, 'Yes,
we do so testify'" (7:172).
Qur'an 18:54-82.
The most famous parable of teaching and learning
in the Qur'an is the narrative of Khidr the hermetic
sage (18:60-82), of whom God says, "We taught him
knowledge from our own presence" (wa 'allamnahu
min ladunna 'ilman) (18:65). This "knowledge from
God's presence," which is referred to in Islamic
literature as 'ilm laduni, defines the wisdom
(hikma) that is the goal of divine pedagogy.�
Surat al-Kahf (18, The Cave), where the Khidr
narrative appears, contains three stories that are
presented as parables in the manner of wisdom
traditions: these are the narrative of the Seven
Sleepers of Ephesus, the Khidr narrative, and the
Dhu'l-Qarnayn (The Two-Horned One) narrative, which
Muslim exegetes have associated with the Alexander
romances of late antiquity.� The Khidr narrative in
particular is a parable of discipleship whose use of
the imagery of a fish, a boat, and the sea is
somewhat reminiscent of Mark 1:16-20 in the New
Testament. This narrative is prefaced (18:50) by a
reminder of the earlier narrative of the creation of
Adam and of God's command to the angels to
acknowledge Adam's vicegerency (2:30-39). The text
goes on to state that God has explained the meaning
of numerous parables in the Qur'an, but that human
beings remain, for the most part, argumentative and
contentious (18:54). "Who," asks the Qur'an, "is a
greater wrongdoer than one who is reminded
(dhukira) of the signs of his Lord and turns
away from them, forgetting what his hands have
wrought? � Verily, we have covered their hearts with
veils, lest they understand it, and over their ears
we have placed deafness.� So if you call them to
guidance, they will never come to guidance at all"
(18:57).� This, indeed, is one of the messages of the
Khidr narrative, in which the Prophet Moses is unable
to remain patient with the unexplained� and seemingly
unexplainable� actions of his mysterious guide.
Ultimately, Moses is rejected by Khidr as an unworthy
disciple because his lack of patience denotes a lack
of obedience. This is one of many reiterations in the
Qur'an of the point made at the beginning of this
paper: that learning demands first of all obedience
and a willingness to listen and "see."
Knowledge by Remembrance.
Verse 18:57 above also reminds us that divine
pedagogy, whether it is in the form of the written
Qur'an or the wisdom tradition that acts as its
complement, relies before all else on the ability of
the heart to remember what it has "heard" or "seen"
of the divine truth. In the Qur'an, the verb "to
remember" (dhakara) appears in one or another
of its forms�in the sense of remembering, recalling,
invoking, recollecting, or remembrance�no less than
280 times.� It is far more common than any variation
of the verb "to learn," and the frequency of its
appearance underscores the importance of remembrance
as a tool of divine teaching.� "All that we relate to
you of the stories of the Messengers of God," says
the Qur'an, "is for the purpose of strengthening your
inner heart (fu'ad).� In this [Qur'an] is the
Truth, a warning, and a remembrance (dhikra)
for the believers" (11:120). According this and other
similar verses, the greatest sin committed by humans
is ghafla, the forgetfulness of the
self-evident truths that every created being was born
to remember.�
Ultimately, all of the "hearing" and "seeing" that
is part of learning God's wisdom in the Qur'an takes
place in the heart, which is the site of spiritual
intellection.� Although the pedagogy of the Qur'an
also speaks to the mind as a means of approaching
knowledge, it is clear from numerous passages that
the mind, in its love of argument and attachment to
rational intellectual processes, may actually hinder
remembrance and render one "deaf" or "blind" to God's
message. In a letter to the Sufi Abu 'Uthman
al-Makki, the master of the Sufi way Abu al-Qasim
al-Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910) speaks in the following
terms of the scholar ('alim) who lives
entirely in the mind and is spiritually tone-deaf to
God's Wisdom:
The circumstance which prevents you and those in
your state from achieving your goal after . . .
long hours of study and protracted meditation in
collating your knowledge and increasing its scope,
is your inclination towards indirect sophistical
interpretation and your predilection for worldly
standards of which you yourself are unaware. Now
there are many types of those devoted to indirect
interpretation.� There is the type who is aware of
his own failings and recognizes his hidden
fallibilities, but nonetheless continues to
interpret indirectly; [such a person relies] on
fallible knowledge and from time to time forgets
the inherent weakness in his method of deducing
knowledge. There is also the type that favors
indirect interpretation with the objective of clear
and proven truth in his deduction. But in this
process he cannot escape his own unwitting
prejudice, which must influence him in his aim. As
a result, he has an overweening trust in the
conclusions which he achieves and relies on them
exclusively . . . [Such] people are they who have
based their guidance on the exposition of men whose
counsel though sincere is wanting, men whose fate
it is not to light on the ultimate truth which they
seek. (Ali Hassan Abdel-Kader, The Life,
Personality, and Writings of al-Junayd,
132-135).
In contrast to the scholar who is prevented by his
own mind from learning the divine Wisdom is the sage
or wise man (hakim), who realizes that
whatever he says or knows is meaningless unless it is
first sanctioned by God. The wise man, echoing the
teachings of the Qur'an, counsels the scholar to open
his heart to God's wisdom and to realize that
knowledge gained by remembrance is superior to the
knowledge gained by formal intellection. � This path,
the way of the sincere student of the soul, is the
only path toward the attainment of true knowledge. �
Such a person, according to Junayd, "walks in the
footsteps of the prophets and follows the way of life
of the friends of God (awliya' Allah) and the
righteous (salihin).� He does not stray after
innovations, nor does he refrain from accepting the
agreed traditions of Islam.� In learning he is
expert, well grounded, and strong and his attitude is
clear, explicit and balanced . ... Such are those who
have filled and beautified their lives with the
remembrance of God.� They pass their lives in good
and fine works and they leave behind for their fellow
men a praiseworthy memory and the brilliance of their
light shines clearly for their fellow creatures"
(Ibid, 143-144).
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