The Qura'an's Role as Man's Guide
By Rizwan Arastu
The Qur’an lies squarely at the center of the Islamic system of guidance. It is the fountainhead of Islamic learning and the ultimate standard for judging the veracity and merit of all other propositions. Accordingly, Muslims maintain a reverence for it inasmuch as it is the word of God; we regularly read it in Arabic whether or not we understand it, and the particularly conscientious among us may even study its translation and exegesis. All withstanding, I believe many of us lack a sophisticated understanding of the precise role the Qur’an is meant to play in the guidance of humankind. In what follows, I offer some thoughts to help develop such an understanding and to outline a methodology for practically and realistically benefitting from the Qur’an.
Historically, there was a group of Muslim scholars who believed it impermissible to act on the Qur’an except in those cases where a verse is unequivocal in its intent or there is a clear tradition explaining its intent.1 They believed much of the Qur’an to be inaccessible to all but God’s infallible guides: the Prophet and the Imams. At the other extreme, a modern popular trend in the study of the Qur’an considers the book to be equally accessible to all people regardless of their intellectual ability, skill set, or knowledge of the Arabic language. Accordingly, they believe that each person should read the Qur’an, if only in translation, and glean whatever he understands from it without regard to his own limitations or the rich tradition of Qur’anic scholarship. They believe that God, by His grace, will guide them and inspire them with the correct understanding.
My goal is to explain and promote an approach that lies between these two flawed extremes.
The Qur’an calls itself, “A guide for all people.”2 It also urges all people to contemplate its meaning and deprecates those who do not as having hearts sealed with locks.3 Such verses create within us fervor to implement a regimented study of the Qur’an in our daily lives. Such fervor is commendable.
However, when we act upon this fervor and begin studying the Qur’an, we quickly realize we face many challenges. Most of us do not know Arabic and must rely wholly on translations. Some of these translations are written in an arcane style, while others seem to not fully be in English, but are rather stuck in the limbo of “translationese.”4 Few offer commentary, but even these commentaries tend to have issues with reliability and helpfulness. Very little of the vast literature of Qur’anic commentary has found its way into English.
To further complicate matters, the Qur’an’s style differs greatly from any other book. It does not progress sequentially from topic to topic, but seems to circle through its content, revisiting similar themes and stories periodically from a different perspective or with greater or lesser detail. A single topic will be discussed in various parts of the Qur’an so that one cannot know the Qur’anic view on that topic unless one has mastered all the verses related to it.
How then is a Muslim individual to benefit deeply from the Qur’an? Furthermore, how is a non-Muslim to benefit from it? The best point of departure in approaching the Qur’an, as with any endeavor in learning, is to humble ourselves by realizing our own limitations and the vastness of our own ignorance.
It is true that the Qur’an is guidance for all and that all should contemplate its meaning. However, it is the duty of Qur’anic scholars, to extract its intended meaning and to present those teachings through the media of translations, commentaries, and classes. Once these teachings are made available to an individual, it is his duty to assimilate these teachings in his own study of the Qur’an, and to implement them correctly in his life and in society at large.
The Qur’an hints at this distribution of responsibilities when it says, after mentioning the parable of the spider’s web, “We draw these parables for all people, but no one grasps them except those possessed of knowledge.”5 The verse does not mean that only the scholars grasp the parables of the Qur’an, for that would imply that God’s parables have failed to communicate to the very people for whom they were intended. Rather it means that no one grasps them directly and firsthand except the scholars.
The purpose of conceiving this two-tiered structure is not to allow the scholars to monopolize the Qur’an or to stifle the minds of lay people as some may fear. The scholars do not comprise a class of people and they have no birthright to knowledge. They are regular people who have devoted themselves to learning, living, and teaching God’s religion. They are not eager to monopolize scholarship, but only feel a duty to preserve the religion intact as a trust given to them by God. Any individual who is eager to explore the Qur’an deeply should, even must, devote himself to the path of formal Islamic learning. After acquiring the prerequisites, he can in turn become the conduit for conveying these teachings to others.
Let us now look specifically at the various categories of Qur’anic verses to delineate the roles of the scholar and non-scholar in understanding and implementing these verses.
A small number (some estimate 500)6 of the Qur’an’s 6000 plus verses address legal matters, and the vast majority of these provide general principles rather than specifics.7 Nonetheless, a correct understanding of these verses and their practical implications must be consigned to an Islamic jurist. As a consequence, a non-scholar can benefit from the guidance of these verses only through the medium of a jurist.
Verses related to
the tenets of faith
Each individual is responsible for directly understanding his basic beliefs, and he cannot simply say he believes whatever others believe. However, because correct belief is critical to our overall spiritual well-being, we should solicit the guidance of the scholars on verses with implications for our beliefs before binding ourselves with a particular opinion.
Some of the Qur’an’s ethical exhortations are clear to all. But others require us to delicately differentiate seemingly similar issues and to find a balance between those that are apparently contradictory. For instance, where is the line between dignity and pride and between humility and dishonor? How do we trust in God as the Provider, and at the same time justify working hard to earn our provisions? Because these verses are challenging, it is necessary to solicit a scholar’s help in developing our understanding. However, once an individual has understood the principles, it is up to him to implement them in his life.
These verses are generally spread throughout the Qur’an. Piecing the story together requires a comprehensive knowledge of the Qur’an for which a scholar’s help is needed. It is also beneficial to get a scholar’s input in extracting the correct lessons from the story. Once a person has correctly understood a story and its implications, it is his responsibility to contemplate the story and find parallels in his own life so that he can translate those lessons into practice.
One of the epithets of the Qur’an is “the Reminder.” Many verses simply remind us of things we already know but have likely forgotten. For example, we may know of death’s imminence, but we often forget about it until we are reminded by the Qur’an or circumstances in life. We may know of heaven and hell, but we often forget just how pleasurable the former is and how painful the latter. To be reminded by these verses, we need not have any special expertise once we have learned the original lesson correctly.
Unfortunately, understanding this methodology and our responsibilities and limitations is only the first step in availing ourselves of the Qur’an’s guidance. The more important step is to actually act on this methodology and fulfill our responsibilities. However, as I mentioned earlier, the resources available to an English speaker are meager at best.
We find ourselves at a critical point in the history of Islam as it is a relatively new addition to western civilization. It will take time for Muslims to develop a strong literary tradition in English. By contrast, the translation of the Bible, especially its King James Version, is an outstanding work of literature and has long been a source of ideas, symbols, and idioms for western civilization. It may take generations before Muslims develop a translation of the Qur’an that effectively communicates its complexity and beauty in English, and even longer before English commentary can match its Arabic and Persian counterparts. The key is to get more well-educated and devoted Muslims to pursue formal Islamic education so that they can become producers, or at least conduits, of Islamic knowledge instead of consumers. Only when the best and the brightest western Muslims become scholars can we expect an Islamic Renaissance in the West. May we live to see that day!
1. al-Sadr, Muhammad Baqir. Durus fi ‘ilm al-usul, vol. 2 p.184.
2. Qur’an 2:185.
3. Qur’an 4:82 and 47:24.
4. Nida, Eugene. The Theory and Practice of Translation. p. 100. Brill, Leiden: 1982.
5. Qur’an 29:43.
6. al-‘Amili, Zayn al-Din (al-Shahid al-Thani). Al-Rawdah al-Bahiyyah vol.1 p. 235.
7. Amoli, Jawadi. Tafsir-e Mawzu’i vol. 1, p.389-390.