Opening the Qur'an: Introducing Islam's Holy Book

Introduction

introduction In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . The words with which the Qur’an begins open us to understanding this holy Book of Islam and through it Islam, Muslims, contemporary situations , and ourselves. The Gambian Muslim scholar Sulayman Nyang advised a group of non-Muslim professors who ventured to teach others about Islam that if we began with and stayed focused on the Qur’an everything would follow naturally.1 He was absolutely right. The Qur’an is the basis for Islamic piety, politics, social life, mission, and more. It is the daily comfort, guide, resource, liberating power, incentive for hope for over a billion people, and more. For Muslims the Qur’an is al-Furqan, the Criterion , revealed to Muhammad as “an admonition to all creatures . . . sent down by HimWho knows the mystery in the heavens and on the earth.”2 Still,reading the Qur’an can be a bewildering experience.It is a book, yet more than a book. The word Qur’an means “proclamation” and “recitation .” Muslims believe that the Speaker of each word and Arranger of its order is the One-Only God. So its words, spoken, chanted, preached, quoted, and written in seventh-century Arabic, are holy and are to be heard, handled, interpreted, and applied with reverence. Al-Qur’an alKarim (the Noble Qur’an) or al-Qur’an al-Majid (the Glorious Qur’an) is unlike any other book. Expecting something like the Bible’s books, chapters, and verses, readers instead encounter 114 sections called surahs, viii divided into units called ayas. One surah may consist of more than two hundred or fewer than half a dozen ayas. Likewise, ayas are of different lengths, ranging from a few to scores of words. Each surah has a traditional name,some sounding odd to unopened ears,such as Cow (Heifer), Ants, Spider, and Flame, and others that are familiar, such as the Arabic equivalents of Mary, Noah,Abraham, and Jonah. I use the traditional title and number when citing a passage for the first time; thereafter, I use only the number. Readers who expect historical narratives, stories, logical sequences of ideas, or essays on morals, are puzzled once they pass the beautiful first surah (which I examine in detail) and often are shocked and then bogged down by Surah 2 (the Cow) and even offended by Surah 3’s (Family of Imran) strictures against nonbelievers.Those familiar with biblical accounts may be startled by Quranic versions of stories about Abraham,Moses,and Jesus. Instructions to maim thieves, flog adulterers, and slay opponents, along with descriptions of the agonies of Hell and the delights of the eternal Gardens, have been criticized for inculcating cruelty, violence, and lust.At the same time,sections such as the Throne and Light ayas (both of which are considered in detail),Purity of Faith (al-Ikhlas,Surah 112),and portions concerning the beautiful coherence of creation soar with poetic images,express the compassion of God,and challenge all humans to establish justice and peace. Misunderstandings of the Qur’an by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, especially in the late twentieth and into the twenty-first century, have led to and still generate distortions and hostilities. Concepts such as jihad (struggle), martyrdom, the roles of women, and the treatment of nonMuslims in Muslim-majority societies—all subjects dealt with in the Qur’an and in this book—have fueled fears, rumors, and conflicts. I follow Nyang’s advice:my aim here is to engage the Qur’an’s spiritual depth and recognize its impetus to foster a devout interethnic community so as to foster an understanding of Islam and,with Muslims,create equitable social orders.This book by a non-Muslim offers other non-Muslims an entry into the Qur’an and ways in which readers may start to understand,assess, and perhaps adapt Quranic aspects to their own situations. Introduction ix OPENING THE QUR’AN’S PROCEDURE This book offers a step-by-step procedure that makes the Quranic message accessible to students, teachers, clergy, and general readers. Following this introduction is a basic chronology from the birth of Muhammad (ca. 570) to the death of his grandson, Husayn (680). Three parts and three appendices follow.These provide comparative religious,geographic,and historical contexts together with accounts about the Qur’an’s origins,structures, contents and issues,and some views of those...