Love in the Holy Quran (review)

Preceded by ten pages of accolades by a veritable who's who of the contemporary Muslim world, as well as a foreword by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, this book consists of five parts surrounded by three 'Introductory Chapters' and two 'Concluding Chapters'. This unusual format, indicative of a royal disregard for conventional academic practice, is the just beginning of anomalies that abound in this work. The introductory chapters provide the five goals of the work (1-6), a note on its methodology (6-7), and a paragraph with the heading, 'Note to the Readers about the English Translation' (7-8) which says nothing about the English translation but rather leads to a suggestion 'that during the course of reading this book, [the reader] should periodically put it down and carefully consider its theories and conclusions, and then meditate upon his or her own experiences to see if and how they related and bear out' what the author asserts (8).

The other two introductory chapters, 'The Secret of Love' and 'The Definition of Love', are likewise full of isolated quotations stitched together through a forced narrative: 'The Definition of Love', for instance, begins by stating, 'It is in the nature of things that love cannot be defined exactly, because there is something in love - as there is in pain - which cannot be portrayed or conveyed by description alone' (11) and concludes by asserting that:

our previous definition of love is confirmed by the etymological root of the word 'hubb' ('love'), which comes from the word 'habb' ('seed') thus implying a seed falls into the ground, grows, then brings forth a new and beautiful plant. God makes this clear in the Holy Qur'an with His words: The likeness of those who expend wealth in the way of God is as the likeness of a grain ('habb') that sprouts seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains; so God multiplies for whom He will; God is Embracing, Knowing

(Al-Baqarah, 2:261).

It is not entirely clear how this verse supports the definition of love provided by the author.

The book proper finally begins with Chapter 4, 'God and Love' - a chapter where one would expect to find a systematic exposition of the Qur'anic concept of love, but where, instead, one finds a loose association of ideas: a partially and poorly translated verse, Q 3:159, And when you are resolved, rely on God; for God loves those who rely [upon Him], taken out of context, is used to juxtapose mercy and love; it is then asserted that,

we may even say that Mercy engenders Love; for the word rahmah ('mercy') is derived from Rahim ('womb')...if we reflect on the womb, we will realize that the womb produces mercy just as it produces children, because when a child is born from the womb, he or she already naturally enjoys his or her mother's love.

(15-16)

This is not the only example of strange juxtaposition; the entire book is a free-flowing text, loosely connected through a stream of consciousness narrative yet presented as a scholarly text (based on a PhD thesis awarded by none other than an institution that used to evoke love and respect: al-Azhar, of late, sadly ravaged by the combined currents of modernity, politics, and expediency).

The rest of the text of the book also reads as if someone awoke one morning, uttered certain verses of the Qur'an, and then started to speak extemporaneously about them, once in a while pausing to ask questions which are actually prefaced by the word 'Question' in bold: 'Question: If the world and human being were created out of mercy, and thus love, and for mercy and thus love, then how can it be that God does not love certain (evil) people?' He continues:

As we will later see, God willing, the only creatures and things which God does not love are...