Muqaddima — The Preface

مقدمہ

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Tafsīr-e-Ṣiddīqī By ʿAllāma Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir Ṣiddīqī ("Ḥasrat") Volume One

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Muqaddima (Preface)

The Majlis of the Quran: An Assembly of Its Servants

(The author opens his preface with an extended and luminous image: a great assembly — a majlis — in which the Quran is honoured, throne by throne, by all those who have served it across the centuries. The author employs this image to introduce the full range of Qurʾānic sciences and the chain of those who have transmitted and expounded the Book of Allāh.)

Let it be known that the Quran is a unique and immeasurable ocean. To it has been fastened a gate with many doors and portals — doors that shall never be closed until the Day of Resurrection. Each door has its own key and its own threshold. The Quran is the Book of the Lord of all worlds. Among the great luminaries (buzurgān) who gave it their service, the light of its knowledge has been deposited in the breast of the Messenger of Allāhﷺ— a most exalted and glorious treasure-house. The radiance of that treasure has, ever since, moved the hearts of the faithful to love and yearning; it kindles in the hearts of those who recognise truth a flash of divine awareness; it draws the hearts of seekers toward contemplation; and it has been — and ever shall be — the cause of their illumination. It enlightens the mind like a lamp in darkness, and through self-sacrifice (jānbāzī) it bestows blessings upon the one who acts accordingly. It is a gentle guide with subtle insights and pure inspirations — its words flow like a musical melody, stirring the depths of the heart. At times it causes glad tidings to dawn, and it moves the hearts of the people of knowledge; at times it bestows a life of eternal meaning upon those who had been living in heedlessness, granting them an immortal share. At times it is a source of inner comfort, a relief to the soul, and a restorer of the heart's composure — while for the generality of Muslims it provides the nourishment of mutual love and brotherhood.

The reality of this Book is like a vast ocean enclosed within a single shore. Into it has been set one gate, and within that gate are many doors and corridors that shall never be closed until the Last Day — each door opening onto the next.

One door bears the inscription:﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾

Innā naḥnu nazzalnā al-dhikra wa-innā lahu la-ḥāfiẓūn. "Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will be its Guardian." (al-Ḥijr 15:9)

And another inscription on that same threshold reads:﴿اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ﴾"Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous." (al-ʿAlaq 96:3)

This is the door of the Quran's preservation. Before Allāh, the Most High, are great thrones, and upon each sits one of the great custodians of the Book. Upon one throne sits Jāmiʿ al-Qurʾān, Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allāh be pleased with him), who in his own era gathered the scattered written record of the Quran from the Companions and bound it into a single bound volume (jild). Upon another throne sits the third Caliph, Sayyidunā ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allāh be pleased with him): he took the recension compiled under Zayd ibn Thābit, had seven copies (maṣāḥif) written out, and dispatched them to the seven great cities. On another throne sits Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allāh be pleased with him); on another, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allāh be pleased with him); on another, Zayd ibn Thābit (may Allāh be pleased with him); and on another, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allāh be pleased with him).

The Seven Readers (Qurrāʾ) of the Canonical Recitations. Then there is a further group of thrones occupied by the masters of the seven canonical readings (qirāʾāt sab ʿa), each accompanied by his two transmitters: Nāfiʿ of Madīna with Qālūn and Warsh; Ibn Kathīr with al-Bazzī and Qunbul; Abū ʿAmr with al-Dūrī and al-Sūsī; Ibn ʿĀmir of Shām with Hishām and Ibn Dhakwān; ʿĀṣim with Shuʿba and Ḥafṣ; Ḥamza with Khalaf and Khallād; and al-Kisāʾī with Abū al-Ḥārith and al-Dūrī. These readings are established by aḥādīth: the Prophetﷺwould recite the entire Quran to Jibrīl (upon him be peace), and in the month of his passing, twice over. Once, two Companions each read a word differently; both came before the Prophetﷺ, who declared both correct, saying:«أُنزِلَ الْقُرْآنُ عَلَى سَبْعَةِ أَحْرُفٍ»Unzila al-Qurʾānu ʿalā sabʿati aḥruf — "The Quran was revealed in seven modes (aḥruf)." (al-Bukhārī; Muslim) — each tribe reciting according to the dialect of its own tongue.

The Door of Supplication and Litany. On another level is a door bearing the verse:﴿ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ﴾"Call upon Me; I will respond to you" (Ghāfir 40:60), and another inscription:«الدُّعَاءُ مُخُّ الْعِبَادَةِ»al-duʿāʾu mukhkh al-ʿibādati — "Supplication is the very marrow of worship." (al-Tirmidhī) — the people of duʿāʾ and awrād are seated here. Among them is Imām al-Jazarī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Ḥiṣn Ḥaṣīn (Fortified Fortress); Imām al-Jazūlī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt (Signs of Goodness), that blessed compilation of ṣalāt and salām upon the Prophetﷺ.

The Awliyāʾ and Their Litanies. And nearby sits Imām al-Jazūlī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt — filled with prayers of blessings and salutations upon the Prophetﷺ. Among the other thrones in this section: Sayyidunā ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn (may Allāh be pleased with him) is seated with his Ṣaḥīfa al-Kāmila in his blessed hand, his voice resounding like a great plea to the Lord. Sayyidunā al-Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (may Allāh have mercy on him) sits on his throne with his Fuyūḍāt Qādiriyya (Qādirī Emanations). Sayyidī Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Abī Yūsuf al-Shādhilī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is present with al-Anwār al-Qudsiyya (Sacred Lights), which contains Ḥizb al-Baḥr (Litany of the Sea) and Ḥizb al-Naṣr (Litany of Victory). Sayyidunā ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allāh be pleased with him) and Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allāh be pleased with him) are also in this gathering.

A further door bears the inscription:﴿الَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ﴾— this is the door of taʿawwudh (seeking Allāh's refuge). With Sayyidunā ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allāh be pleased with him) and Sayyidunā ʿAlī (may Allāh be pleased with him) on that threshold. And nearby is Sayyidunā Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Ḥizb al-Baḥr and related litanies. And one throne holds Imām Mawlā Jalāl al-Dīn al-Āsī of Hyderabad (may Allāh have mercy on him), with his blessed Mishkāt al-Sharīf.

Another door is inscribed:﴿وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ﴾and﴿وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ﴾— this is the door of the mufassirūn (exegetes). Before this door: Sayyidunā ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (may Allāh be pleased with both of them) is on one throne. ʿAllāma Maḥmūd al-Ālūsī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is on another, with his Rūḥ al-Maʿānī (Spirit of the Meanings). Imām Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is present with his great Tafsīr (al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr). Qāḍī Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Bayḍāwī (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his Anwār al-Tanzīl (Lights of Revelation). Imām al-Baghawī (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his Maʿālim al-Tanzīl (Landmarks of Revelation). al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (may Allāh have mercy on him) is on one throne with his celebrated Tafsīr. ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Khāzin (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds Lubāb al-Taʾwīl (Essence of Interpretation). Imām Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds two works: the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (which he completed with his teacher Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī, may Allāh have mercy on him), and al-Durr al-Manthūr fī al-Tafsīr bi-l-Maʾthūr (Scattered Pearls in Transmitted Exegesis), containing the musnad (chain-supported) reports. And in one corner of this assembly, in a modest seat, is a faqīr (poor servant) — the author — who has taken the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn as his foundation and, writing in Urdu for the benefit of the common believer, has named this work Tafsīr-e-Ṣiddīqī, beseeching Allāh to grant it acceptance — so that those who cannot access the great Arabic exegetical works may find in this humble volume a sufficient guide.

The Door of Ḥadīth. Adjacent to this door is another, upon which is written:

﴿مَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا﴾"Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatever he forbids you, refrain from it" (al-Ḥashr 59:7), and﴿إِذَا جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا﴾"When a transgressor brings you news, verify it" (al-Ḥujurāt 49:6). Here are seated the great masters of Ḥadīth and the Companions who transmitted it. Among those whose names are mentioned:

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr (may Allāh be pleased with him), who was the first Companion to write down aḥādīth; ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allāh be pleased with him); ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allāh be pleased with him). And on a cushioned throne covered with a cloth is Sayyidatunā ʿĀʾisha al-Ṣiddīqa (may Allāh be pleased with her). ʿAbd Allāh al-Jirīb (may Allāh be pleased with him) is on one throne. Imām Mālik ibn Anas (may Allāh have mercy on him) is present with his Muwaṭṭaʾ (The Well-Trodden Path). Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is with his own recension of the Muwaṭṭaʾ. Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his great Musnad. Imām al-Bukhārī (may Allāh have mercy on him) — who from an immense store of aḥādīth selected the soundest for his al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ — is present, with also his companion work al-Adab al-Mufrad nearby. Imām Muslim (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. Ibn Mājah, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Qazwīnī (may Allāh have mercy on him), holds his Sunan Ibn Māja. al-Nasāʾī (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his Sunan al-Nasāʾī. Imām Abū Dāwūd (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his Sunan Abī Dāwūd, which contains the rulings and practice (sīra) of the Prophetﷺ. Sayyidunā Shihāb al-Dīn (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds his Mawāhib al-Ladunniyya (Divinely Bestowed Gifts). And ʿAlī al-Muttaqī al-Hindī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is here with his Kanz al-ʿUmmāl (Treasure of the Workers), which has the status of a dāʾirat al-maʿārif (encyclopaedia). To one side is Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb (Refinement of Refinement), containing the science of narrator-criticism (ʿilm al-rijāl). Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is present with his Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ (Memorial of the Ḥadīth-Masters) — a ḥāfiẓ (ḥadīth master) being defined as one who has memorised at minimum one hundred thousand aḥādīth with their chains.

Another door bears the inscription:﴿فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾"Ask the people of the Reminder if you do not know" (al-Naḥl 16:43), and also:﴿فَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ﴾"So take heed, O people of insight" (al-Ḥashr 59:2), and:﴿وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا﴾"Those who strive for Us — We will surely guide them to Our paths" (al-ʿAnkabūt 29:69). This is the door of fiqh (jurisprudence) and governance. At this door are seated the four rightly-guided Caliphs: Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allāh be pleased with them all), together with Sayyidatunā ʿĀʾisha al-Ṣiddīqa (may Allāh be pleased with her) and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, and Zayd ibn Thābit (may Allāh be pleased with them). From these luminaries did Imām al-Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allāh have mercy on him) derive the masāʾil (rulings) of fiqh from Quran and Sunna; his companions Imām Abū Yūsuf (may Allāh have mercy on him) and Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (may Allāh have mercy on him), along with other great jurists, are seated in a distinguished circle around him.

Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds with him the great jurisprudential texts (kutub al-fiqh). On a separate throne is Imām Mālik ibn Anas (may Allāh have mercy on him) with the Muwaṭṭaʾ — a work that comprehends the aḥādīth of practice. Imām Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is on another throne, with his Kitāb al-Umm (The Mother Book). They all competed in ijtihād (independent legal reasoning), deducing the rulings of islāmic law from Quran and Sunnā — for these two are the twin foundations of islāmic jurisprudence.

That was the age when the Quran and Sunnā sufficed to derive rulings, and any opinion that conflicted with them was to be rejected: "Whoever gives a ruling based on his own opinion has used the Quran as an anvil." Those were the times when a scholar might derive a ruling and then be told: "This has been superseded by a ḥadīth." He would at once retract it and say: "Discard my opinion; follow the ḥadīth."

On one throne sits Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Musnad — that great sea of ḥadīth. Imām Aḥmad understood the hierarchy of ḥadīth science more keenly than others. On other thrones, further generations of fuqahāʾ (jurists) are seated, each one drawing from Quran and Ḥadīth the rulings appropriate to his age — for fresh circumstances always require fresh derivation from the primary sources.

Another door. On it is written:﴿وَقِيلَ لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا مَاذَا أَنزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ﴾— a door belonging to the science of kalām (theological doctrine) and refutation of heresy. Here sits Sayyidunā ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (may Allāh be pleased with both of them): he undertook refutations of the Khawārij and the Rawāfiḍ (early sectarian groups), who had begun to appear in his era, bringing swift resolution to the controversies of his day. Those who follow the sectarians (nawādir) among men are few; the extremists (mutaʿṣṣibūn) number less. Their influence weakens quickly. Those who cling to their cult-of-personality tend toward irreligion and godlessness. Imām Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is on one throne with his Fiqh al-Akbar — he was perpetually engaged in debates with the Khawārij. Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is on another throne, actively engaged in refuting the misguided groups, with next to him his Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn (Positions of the Muslims). Imām Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is on a throne here with his Maqāṣid al-Falāsifa (Intentions of the Philosophers) and Tahāfut al-Falāsifa (Incoherence of the Philosophers). In Imām Ghazālī's time, the translations of Greek philosophical works had begun to circulate among Muslims, and these books were being read avidly by the Caliph al-Mahdī and Hārūn al-Rashīd. Imām Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (may Allāh have mercy on him) who systematically dismantled the philosophers' edifice — with his Mabāḥith al-Mashriqiyya (Eastern Investigations), Maʿālim, and other works of ʿilm al-kalām (systematic theology). And on another throne sits ʿAḍud al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Ījī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Kitāb al-Mawāqif (Stations) — a work through which hundreds of thousands of souls were led toward Islām.

The Door of Jihād and the Defence of Islām. On it is inscribed:

﴿مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ﴾"Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allāh; and those with him are strong against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves" (al-Fatḥ 48:29), and also:﴿وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ﴾"Prepare against them whatever force you can" (al-Anfāl 8:60), and the admonition: "Make them not take the disbelievers as allies rather than the believers" — this is the door of zakāt and jihād.

By this door, on a throne, sits Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allāh be pleased with him), who waged war against those who refused to pay zakāt, thereby saving the framework of Islām from dissolution. On another throne sits Sayyidunā ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allāh be pleased with him), in whose era Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) was conquered and administered. On another, Sayyidunā ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allāh be pleased with him), in whose era the frontiers of the Islamic state expanded far and wide. On another, Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allāh be pleased with him), whose bravery in battle was proverbial and whose eloquence was unmatched.

And on other thrones: Sayyidunā Abū ʿUbayda ibn al-Jarrāḥ (may Allāh be pleased with him), conqueror of Shām; Sayyidunā Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ (may Allāh be pleased with him), conqueror of Iran; Sayyidunā ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allāh be pleased with him), conqueror of Egypt. Nearby is the throne of Sayyidunā Khālid ibn al-Walīd, Sayf Allāh (the Sword of Allāh, may Allāh be pleased with him). Also present is the Caliph al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (of the Umayyad dynasty), with around him the commanders Muḥammad ibn Qāsim (conqueror of Sindh), Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr (conqueror of Morocco and the Maghrib), and Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād (conqueror of Spain). On another throne are ʿImād al-Dīn Zankī and Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī (may Allāh have mercy on him), who wrested Jerusalem back from the Crusaders with the backing and prayer of all Muslims. And there is Sultan Muḥammad al-Fātiḥ (Mehmed the Conqueror, may Allāh have mercy on him), who conquered Constantinople. Sultan Maḥmūd al-Ghaznawī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is also present, and Shihāb al-Dīn Ghūrī (may Allāh have mercy on him). On a further throne sits Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Akbar (may Allāh have mercy on him), who reorganised the Mughal armies; and nearby, when an army of one hundred thousand prisoners was captured, all became believers — there is also on his flank ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khiljī (may Allāh have mercy on him). And on another throne, Aḥmad Shāh Abdālī (may Allāh have mercy on him), who from the battlefields of Panipat drove out the enemies of the faith.

Another door bears the inscription:﴿وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا﴾"Hold firmly to the rope of Allāh, all together, and do not become divided" (Āl ʿImrān 3:103), and:﴿وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ﴾"your strength will depart" (al-Anfāl 8:46), and the ḥadīth:«الْمُسْلِمُونَ كَالْبُنْيَانِ يَشُدُّ بَعْضُهُ بَعْضًا»al-Muslimūna ka-l-bunyāni yashuddhu baʿḍuhu baʿḍan — "Muslims are like a structure, each part reinforcing the other." (al-Bukhārī; Muslim) — this is the door of unity, solidarity, progress, and protection.

By this door a throne holds Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allāh be pleased with him), who fought those who refused to pay zakāt and through jihād prevented the dissolution of the fabric of Islām. The scholars (ʿulamāʾ) have declared: "Laqad qāma maqāma nabiyy" — "He stood in the station of a Prophet." The Ṣiddīq — may Allāh be pleased with him — performed the prayer (ṣalāt), completed the Companions' recitation (khatm), and thus Allāh preserved the Quran through him. On the adjacent throne sits Sayyidunā ʿUmar al-Fārūqī (may Allāh be pleased with him) — in whose time the treasuries of the great empires fell to the Muslims, the lands were divided, regulations administered, various laws enacted, and diverse taxes on subjects imposed. And another throne for ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (the Umayyad Caliph, may Allāh have mercy on him), who brought the extra taxes back to the Islamic norm and sacrificed himself for justice — Hārūn al-Rashīd, the great Caliph, being a student of Imām Mālik, on whose throne knowledge, peace, and prosperity reached their zenith.

There is another throne here belonging to Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Akbar (may Allāh have mercy on him), with next to him ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khiljī (may Allāh have mercy on him), and nearby Shīr Shāh Sūrī (may Allāh have mercy on him), in whose era inns (sarāʾī) were built on the roads, great trees planted on roadside, and remarkable arrangements were made for the ease of travellers. In another corner of this door, scholars of varied specialities are seated on their own thrones.

On one throne sits Imām Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (may Allāh have mercy on him), with his Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn (Revival of the Religious Sciences), that comprehensive work on Islamic civilisation and spiritual reform, and his Mīzān al-ʿAmal (Scale of Action) and other treatises. On another throne, Shaykh Aḥmad al-Fārūqī (Imām Rabbānī, may Allāh have mercy on him): in the eras of Akbar and his successors, taṣawwuf (Sufi spirituality) and ilḥād (free-thought) had mixed in a confused fashion; Shāh Sunnī (ʿaqīda, the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunna) was being suppressed. Allāh the Most High strengthened the sanad (spiritual chain) of Islām through him, and through the blessed memory of Fārūqī — through his maktūbāt (letters) and his personal guidance — the purity of the faith was restored, and hundreds of thousands came to true Islām. His famous Maktūbāt Sharīf is at hand.

On a shaded throne nearby is Ibn Khaldūn (may Allāh have mercy on him), with his Tārīkh al-Islām (History of Islām) and the famous Muqaddima (Prolegomena) — in the Muqaddima the foundations of sociology (ʿilm al-ʿumrān) and important debates are found. And on another elevated throne is Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his masterwork Ḥujjat Allāh al-Bāligh (The Conclusive Argument of Allāh), which elucidates the philosophy of Islām from top to bottom. With him too is Fuyūḍ al-Ḥaramayn ʿan Aḥwāl al-Fanāʾ (Emanations of the Two Holy Sanctuaries on the States of fanāʾ) — a work that, with incontrovertible evidence, illuminates the virtue of Islām.

Another door. Inscribed upon it is:﴿سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ﴾"We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves" (Fuṣṣilat 41:53), and beneath it a fine inscription: "Aṣdaq kalimatin qālahā l-ʿarabu qawlu Labīd: alā kullu shayʾin mā khalaʾllāha bāṭil" — "The truest word ever spoken by an Arab is the saying of Labīd: Truly, everything apart from Allāh is vanity." This is the door of divine tawḥīd (unity).

Seated here are the people of shahāda (witnessing) and inner realisation — some aged men sitting with great dignity, who perceive what others cannot. Some among them are also composers of works on the sciences of mawāhib (divine gifts) and ṣuḥba (spiritual companionship).

On a great throne here sits Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allāh be pleased with him), on whose tongue the declaration "anta hī wa-raʾayt Allāh qabla" — "You are He — I saw Allāh before all else" — has been placed. Regarding him the Prophetﷺdeclared: "If you wish to see Abū Bakr, look upon one in whose breast Allāh has placed His own light." And further: "Through him whose breast I illuminated, I have illuminated Abū Bakr also."

Around his throne are gathered the great spiritual orders: the Naqshbandiyya, the Qādiriyya, and the Chishtiyya.

On another throne sits Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allāh be pleased with him), and his declaration resounds: "Salūnī ajibkum" — "Ask me; I shall answer you." Regarding him the Prophetﷺdeclared: "My flesh is the flesh of ʿAlī, and my blood is the blood of ʿAlī."

Around his throne are the great spiritual lineages: the Qādiriyya, the Chishtiyya, the Rifāʿiyya, the Akbariyya, the Sabriyya, the Shādhiliyya, and the Badawiyya — on their own thrones alongside others: Sayyidunā al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Sayyidunā Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, Sayyidunā Junayd al-Baghdādī, Sayyidunā Bāyazīd al-Bisṭāmī, Sayyidunā Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī, Sayyidunā Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Tustarī, Shaykh Ṣafī ibn Ziyād, Sayyidunā Abū ʿUmar, Sayyidunā Abū al-Qāsim al-Junayid al-Baghdādī (may Allāh have mercy on them all). These are those in whose era the books of those who had preceded them were purified in the crucible of the heart. Through their spiritual stations (maqāmāt) and the illumination of their hearts, they derived the knowledge of divine unity (tawḥīd) from direct experience. Among them in particular is Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī (may Allāh have mercy on him), with his Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (Meccan Openings) and Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (Bezels of Wisdom). And Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (may Allāh have mercy on him) with his Mathnawī Sharīf (Sacred Masnavi).

Another door bears the inscription:﴿جَنَّتِي﴾— this is the door of love of Allāh and nearness to Him. On a fine inscription below it is written the ḥadīth qudsī (Sacred Ḥadīth):

«مَنْ أَحَبَّهُ فَأَنَا سَمْعُهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ وَبَصَرُهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ وَيَدُهُ الَّتِي يَبْطِشُ بِهَا»Man aḥbabtuhu fa-anā samʿuhu alladhī yasmaʿu bihi wa-baṣaruhu alladhī yubṣiru bihi wa-yadahu allatī yabṭishu bihā. "Whoever I love — I become the hearing by which he hears, and the sight by which he sees, and the hand with which he grasps." (al-Bukhārī)

The people by this door are distinguished by the quality of ʿibādat (worship) and are the people of qurb (nearness to Allāh). They live and breathe in an intimacy with the Divine: the dead are revived through their hands; the living are guided; all giving and withholding comes through them. To grant each thing its due is their task; responding to the need of the moment is their vocation; to remain always within the presence of Allāh (ḥuḍūr) is their characteristic. They are distinguished from the ordinary people — not in how they eat and drink, in that they marry and are given in marriage, in that they sleep and are awake — but that their entire life is lived in the remembrance of Allāh, and their every word is drenched with His light.

On the thrones here: Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, Sayyidunā ʿUmar al-Fārūqī, Sayyidunā ʿUthmān, and Sayyidunā ʿAlī (may Allāh be pleased with them all). Also Sayyidunā Imām al-Ḥasan (may Allāh be pleased with him), Sayyidunā Imām al-Ḥusayn (may Allāh be pleased with him), and Sayyidunā Uways al-Qaranī (may Allāh have mercy on him). Sayyidunā Bilāl al-Ḥabashī (may Allāh be pleased with him) stands upright, his adhān still ringing in the ears.

At this door are seated thrones and thrones of the awliyāʾ (saints) — and this, by the will of Allāh, shall continue until the Last Day. By way of example only, some names of the great poles (quṭb) of sainthood are mentioned here:

Sayyid ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyidī Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥasan al-Samarqandī al-Chishtī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Aḥmad al-Rifāʿī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad al-Badawī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Naqshband (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyidī Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-Shādhilī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyidī Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-ʿArabī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Barkat ʿAlī Shāh Quṭb al-Samdārī (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī Ṣāber (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Niẓām al-Dīn Awliyāʾ (may Allāh have mercy on him); Sayyid Khwāja Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī (may Allāh have mercy on him).

From this it becomes clear that thrones are being filled by this door also — thrones that are being occupied now and thrones yet to be filled — as long as souls are being drawn to the worship of Allāh through the medium of bandagī (servitude) and devotion.

Near this door are further thrones: Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allāh be pleased with him); Sayyidunā ʿUmar al-Fārūqī (may Allāh be pleased with him); Sayyidunā ʿUthmān (may Allāh be pleased with him); Sayyidunā ʿAlī (may Allāh be pleased with him); Sayyidunā Imām al-Ḥasan (may Allāh be pleased with him); and Sayyidunā Imām al-Ḥusayn (may Allāh be pleased with him) — all radiant in their seats. And on another throne sits Sayyidunā al-Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (may Allāh have mercy on him), and on further thrones all those blessed friends (awliyāʾ) whose glances, laden with love and longing for Allāh, fell upon others, transforming them.

At the far end, a door opens endlessly outward — and in it is manifested that which shall never end: speak of it until Resurrection, speak of it beyond Resurrection, narrate the whole world; not a trace of it shall be exhausted. Not in this world, not in the Hereafter.

Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān — The Miraculous Inimitability of the Quran

(With the description of the Majlis now complete, the author turns to the proofs of the Quran's miraculous nature — beginning with the miracle of its preservation and then its inimitable literary excellence.)

On the Nature of Prophethood (Nubuwwa). The capacity of human expression and judgment is limited before the infinite will and displeasure of Allāh the Most High. Therefore, whenever Allāh wishes to guide humanity, He selects a human being of extraordinary disposition and innate purity — one who is a Messenger (rasūl) or Prophet (nabī). The fundamental purpose of such a one is the moral reformation of human character, the correction of false worship, the rectification of human deeds, the promotion of truthfulness, and the cultivation of justice. For these purposes, Allāh the Most High, in His mercy, distinguishes the Messengers with miraculous signs (muʿjizāt).

Miracles Proportionate to the Age (Muʿjiz al-ʿAṣr). In every era and for every nation, the Prophet is given a miracle appropriate to the dominant art or science of that age — because through mastery of that art or science, people of that time measure greatness. When a people are skilled in a certain art but do not know its ultimate principles, their confidence (iʿtimād) and understanding are bounded by that art alone. Thus: in the era of Mūsā (upon him be peace), when sorcery (siḥr) was the dominant art, he was given the miracle of the staff that swallowed the sorcerers' ropes, and the radiant hand (yadd al-bayḍāʾ). In the era of ʿĪsā (upon him be peace), when medicine prevailed, the miracle of healing the blind and the leper and raising the dead was given.

The Eternal Miracle (Muʿjiz al-Abadī). The miracles of the Prophets of the past were specific to their peoples and their limited times. Their miracles — recorded in the accounts (akhbār) — have come down to us from them. But the Prophet Muḥammadﷺ, the Seal of the Prophets, whose prophethood is for all humanity until the Last Day — he was given, beyond the miracles of the past, an eternal living miracle: the Quran. It proclaims its permanence:

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ

"Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will be its Guardian." (al-Ḥijr 15:9)

This is the eternal miracle that shall continue to bear witness to the truth of this everlasting religion.

Wujūh Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān — The Aspects of the Quran's Inimitability

In what dimension is the Quran a miracle? The scholars differ in their accounts.

The View of Naẓẓām. One view — that of al-Naẓẓām, a great literary figure among the Muʿtazila — holds that Allāh diverted (ṣarafa) humankind from rivalling the Quran from the beginning of time onwards. In his view, the challenge was not that the Quran itself is beyond imitation, but that Allāh removed from people the capacity (qudra) to respond. This view is entirely mistaken: if it were so, the Quran would not be a miracle (muʿjiz) at all — for the miracle is not that Allāh removed human capacity, but that the Quran itself, in its own nature, stands beyond what any created being can produce. Were one of the great literary men of the Arabs to sit before the Quran, he would bow his head and sacrifice himself before each verse and each āya. Presumably al-Naẓẓām viewed the Quran in a particular way — as though its inimitability (iʿjāz) were something external, a suppression by decree — but the Quran's inimitability is intrinsic to its nature.

It has been well said: the Quran was revealed in the language of the Arabs, who were the most eloquent people — who considered themselves the masters of Arabic and looked down on all other nations as non-Arabs (aʿjam). Therefore the Quran's inimitability in eloquence (faṣāḥa) and rhetoric (balāgha) is established.

For us — though we regard the Quran as a miracle in the realm of eloquence and rhetoric — we also know that it exceeds all human capacity far beyond the literary dimension. Its inimitability has many aspects that learned scholars have enumerated; the full detail may be found in the Sharḥ al-Mawāqif and other works on systematic theology (kalām). As the challenge of the Quran stands:

فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

Faʾtū bi-sūratin min mithlihi wa-dʿū shuhadāʾakum min dūni-llāhi in kuntum ṣādiqīn.

"Then produce a single sūra like it, and call upon your witnesses other than Allāh, if you are truthful." (al-Baqara 2:23)

And in conclusion, note this verse in praise of the Quran — a poem in the original Urdu of the author, expressing the same truth — [reconstructed]:

The Quran has silenced all other books —

Its words, its weight, its eloquence are the proof of God.

All worldly eloquence is here surpassed;

The style of the Quran is the Quran's style alone.

Apparent beauties are all here transcended —

This is the Word of Allāh, exalted and sublime.

(Page 13 ends with introductory verses in Urdu praising the inimitable style of the Quran, and then transitions to the main body of the muqaddima.)

Khatm-e-Nabuwwat wa Iʿjāz — The Seal of Prophethood and the Miracle

The Age of the Prophetﷺ. The Prophet Muḥammadﷺarose in an age of profound ignorance (jāhiliyya): the overwhelming majority of the people among whom he was sent could neither read nor write. He himself — by the wisdom and decree of Allāh — was al-Nabī al-Ummī, the Unlettered Prophet, who had never studied under any human teacher. Orphaned of his father ʿAbd Allāh before birth; of his mother Āmina at the age of six; and of his grandfather ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib at the age of eight. He grew up with no human tutor — for Allāh Himself was his Guardian and Educator.

That such a one should bring forth a Book like the Quran — one that to this day no one has been able to imitate — is the supreme miracle. If we consider: a person who grew up in darkness, surrounded by a people among whom literacy was rare, raised in an environment where neither books nor teachers were available — and yet who, in such circumstances, proclaims a divine message that overturns the entire order of the world, turns away the peoples of falsehood, corrects all creeds and religions, dismantles the governance of tyrant states, and causes those very mighty kingdoms to bow before it — is this not the hand of Allāh? Could such a thing be accomplished without the direct support of Allāh? Nowhere in the history of the world can a parallel be found. No! Never!

As the Qurʾānic challenge declares:

فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

Faʾtū bi-sūratin min mithlihi wa-dʿū shuhadāʾakum min dūni-llāhi in kuntum ṣādiqīn.

"Then produce a single sūra like it, and call upon your witnesses other than Allāh, if you are truthful." (al-Baqara 2:23)

Ḥifāẓat al-Qurʾān — The Preservation of the Quran. There is no religious book in the world whose preservation equals that of the Quran. Not among the Jews, nor the Zoroastrians, nor the Christians, nor the idolators — not a single one of their books has been preserved as the Quran has been preserved. The Quran has been guaranteed its preservation by Allāh Himself — not through the written word alone, but through living memory. Since the early days of the Prophetic mission until this very day, there have been ḥuffāẓ (memorisers of the entire Quran) — an unbroken chain of those who carry it in their hearts. There is no equivalent of this anywhere in the world.

Consider: is there a single place on earth today where a gathering is possible in which the entire Quran could be recited by heart, letter by letter, without a single deviation, and in which if any reciter errs in even a single letter, the surrounding ḥuffāẓ will instantly correct him? In which if the reciter makes an error in pronouncing a qalqala (echoing sound), or a hamzat al-waṣl (liaison), or reads a mumadd (lengthened letter) too short or too long, those around him immediately rectify the error? Such a tradition of living preservation simply does not exist for any other book in the world. This is the meaning of Allāh's promise:

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ

Innā naḥnu nazzalnā al-dhikra wa-innā lahu la-ḥāfiẓūn.

"Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will be its Guardian." (al-Ḥijr 15:9)

Akhbār al-Ghayb — The Quran's Knowledge of the Unseen

The Human Limitation. It is manifest that a human being possesses neither knowledge of the past in its fullness, nor knowledge of the future; he knows only the present, and that only within the limits of his experience. The announcements of the unseen (akhbār al-ghayb) are beyond the capacity of any human being — unless Allāh grants that knowledge.

The Quran narrates events from the histories of peoples whose entire lineages were unknown to the Prophetﷺor his contemporaries; and it contains prophecies that have been fulfilled with perfect accuracy, one after another, down to this day.

By way of examples, the following may be cited:

The stories of Ādam and Hawwāʾ (upon them be peace), the murder of Hābīl and Qābīl; the accounts of the Prophets Idrīs, Ibrāhīm, Ismāʿīl, Isḥāq, Yaʿqūb, Yūsuf, Lūṭ, Ṣāliḥ and the people of Thamūd; Shuʿayb and the people of Madyan and Ayla; Hūd and the people of ʿĀd; Sulaymān and the Shayṭān (upon Sulaymān be peace); Mūsā and Fīrʿawn (Pharaoh) and Hāmān; and further events from the history of the Banī Isrāʾīl; the stories of Dhū l-Qarnayn; the people of Sabaʾ; the people of the Ditch (Aṣḥāb al-Ukhdūd); the People of the Cave (Aṣḥāb al-Kahf) and their dog Raqīm; the people of al-Rass — all narrated with complete detail, though no access to these histories was possible in Arabia at that time.

Prophecies of the Future (Piśgōʾīhā):

سَيَقُولُ لَكَ الْمُخَلَّفُونَ مِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ شَغَلَتْنَا أَمْوَالُنَا وَأَهْلُونَا فَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَنَا يَقُولُونَ بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ مَا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ

Sayaqūlu laka l-mukhallafūna min al-aʿrābi shaghalatnā amwālunā wa-ahlūna fa-staghfir lanā yaqūlūna bi-alsinatihim mā laysa fī qulūbihim.

"The Bedouin who lagged behind will say to you: 'Our properties and families kept us occupied, so ask forgiveness for us.' They say with their tongues what is not in their hearts." (al-Fatḥ 48:11)

(This prophecy was fulfilled exactly as stated — the hypocrites among the Bedouin stayed behind from the expedition to Ḥudaybiyya and made precisely these excuses.)

And the prophecy about the Romans and Persians:

غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ

"The Romans have been defeated in the nearest land, but after their defeat they will be victorious within a few years." (al-Rūm 30:2–4)

At that time the Persians had defeated the Romans. The disbelievers of Mecca mocked: "The Romans, who are People of the Book, have been defeated — and you say they will win." Sayyidunā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allāh be pleased with him) wagered on this prophecy — and the Romans were indeed victorious within a few years. Thus the wager of Abū Bakr was vindicated and the prophecy fulfilled.

And the prophecy:

سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ

Sa-yuhzamu l-jamʿu wa-yuwallūna l-dubur.

"Soon shall this gathering be routed, and they will turn their backs." (al-Qamar 54:45)

This was the prophecy of the Battle of Badr, which Allāh fulfilled. And the prophecy of the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyya: "Indeed, Allāh has fulfilled for His Messenger the vision of truth: you will surely enter the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Ḥarām), if Allāh wills, in security, with your heads shaved or hair cut short, without fear (amānin)." (al-Fatḥ 48:27) — and this came to pass exactly.

On the Fulfillment of the Prophecy and the Verse of Purification:

That verse (āya) was among those which were fulfilled by Allāh — and then the next verse confirmed it with the further statement that Allāh knew what you did not know.

Faṣāḥat wa Balāghat al-Qurʾān — The Eloquence and Rhetoric of the Quran

The Quran's Stylistic Perfection. It is abundantly clear that the style (uslūb) of the Quran is of an order entirely its own. Neither the men of letters (udabāʾ) nor the orators (khuṭabāʾ) of the Arabs were ever able to produce its like. The Quran is a comprehensive book; it contains nothing that needs correction, nothing repetitive, nothing that falls short — and in it there is not a single word that could be removed or another added. Compare it with the works of other poets and orators: every individual poet produces now and then a verse of outstanding beauty, but taken as a whole his dīwān contains passages of different quality; a single poem may have some verses of high standard and others of less worth; and even the same poet's style varies between his earlier and later works.

The Quran, by contrast, is entirely uniform in its excellence from beginning to end. There are people of sound taste who, having neither read the Quran extensively nor studied it, upon hearing the Quran recited are immediately struck by the feeling that this is something altogether different — different from any human composition. Some illiterate people who have never been taught have, upon hearing the Quran recited, wept out of a sense of its majesty. A certain non-Arab gentleman once, upon seeing the Quran being read, came forward to listen, and then exclaimed: "What kind of speech is this? Is it human? Or divine? I could not tell — but it was as though a sun had arisen in which there was light, and around it flowed an ocean."

On the Measure of Inimitability. The question arises: what is the minimum amount of Qurʾānic text that constitutes the miraculous challenge? The scholars differ. Some say the minimum is a single sūra (sūra), however short; others say even a passage equal in length to the shortest sūra. The former view is that even a single āya, if it is short, constitutes the challenge. Others say even a passage equivalent to a short sūra in size constitutes the challenge.

On the Unique Style of the Quran. The uslūb (style) of Imruʾ al-Qays's Dīwān contains a few verses of varying quality — and anyone who knows these can immediately identify them; two or three verses suffice to distinguish the author. Similarly, the distinctive styles of the great poets of Urdu — Mīr, Saudā, Dard, Āzurd, Ẓawq, and Ghālib — are recognisable within a few verses, though even these masters have some weaker verses among their strong ones.

With the Quran, the situation is entirely otherwise: its entire text is of a uniformly supreme standard. Neither an excess nor a deficiency of even a single letter can be imagined in it, such is the measure of its perfection. As the Prophetﷺhimself said:

«بُعِثْتُ بِجَوَامِعِ الْكَلِمِ وَأَنَا أَفْصَحُ الْعَرَبِ وَالْعَجَمِ»Buʿithtu bi-jawāmiʿ al-kalim wa-anā afṣaḥu l-ʿarabi wa-l-ʿajam. "I was sent with the most comprehensive words (jawāmiʿ al-kalim), and I am the most eloquent of both Arabs and non-Arabs." (al-Bukhārī)

Yet even with this — the most eloquent of all human speech — the Quran is immediately and clearly recognisable as superior. This is proof that the Quran is not the word of the Prophet Muḥammadﷺ: it is the Word of Allāh the Most High.

Continuation: The Quran's Unique Style and its Superiority to All Other Speech.

One who reads both the Quran and the Ḥadīth together will immediately see that the style of the Ḥadīth is entirely different from the style of the Quran. Those who are acquainted with the different registers and styles of Arabic composition — whether verse, or prose, or the speeches of the pre-Islamic Companions — can immediately identify the literary personality of a given text. If one were to encounter two or three lines of ʿAmr al-Qays, one would at once say: this is his; or this is Abī Nuwās's; or this belongs to al-Jāhiliyya period, or to a poet who has experienced both the Jāhiliyya and Islām; or this is from a poet of the ʿAbbāsid period. A man of taste who has cultivated literary sensibility need only hear two or three verses to identify their authorship: is this the verse of Mīr or Saudā? Of Ẓawq or Ghālib? Of Dāgh or Amīr? — A fine reader of Urdu can identify these styles instantly.

However, with the Quran and the Ḥadīth — even a modest student of Arabic letters can immediately see that these are two entirely distinct registers, and that neither resembles the other. It is thus manifest to every person of taste that the Quran is not the speech of the Prophet Muḥammadﷺ; it is the Word of Allāh the Most High.

The orations of Sayyidunā ʿUmar al-Fārūq, the sermons of the Companions, the Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān and other literary masters — all are available. A foolish person might say: "If I have seen the eloquence of these works — since I have not seen the actual speech of the Prophet, how am I to know?" But such a person does not understand that the style of the Prophetﷺis more elevated than the styles of all the Companions, the men of letters, the orators — yet the Quran surpasses even the Prophet's speech. This is the miracle.

Fiṭrat Allāh — The Natural Order of Allāh. Observe the world: gather its waters, its fire, its soil, its air. Study their elements. Now, can you combine these elements and make a rose, or even a single petal of a rose? Impossible. The combining of elements is one matter — and the creation of a living form from them is an entirely different matter. What you do is artificial (maṣnūʿī); what Allāh does is natural (fiṭrī). Your work is imitative and composite; Allāh's creation is original and spontaneous. Similarly: gather all the letters of the alphabet, summon all the eloquent men of the world — and produce a single sūra of the Quran! Impossible. No — completely outside the realm of possibility. Your composition would be artificial, composite, deficient: dead where the Quran is alive; scattered where the Quran is integrated; empty where the Quran is full.

As the Quran itself says regarding those who compare it to lesser things — and then recites as an example what they tried to produce: an entirely ridiculous piece of nonsense (hawā — something hollow, empty) — which is as different from the Quran as the fly is from the sun. The business of Allāh and the business of created beings are entirely different. This is the iʿjāz — this is the miracle!

Kalām al-Ilāhī — The Divine Speech

The Speech of Allāh Compared to Human Speech. A poet expresses only what is in his heart and mind — and his speech is at the level of his heart. One who has a higher level of spiritual consciousness produces speech at a correspondingly higher level. Consider: the pre-Islamic Arab poets — their verses are full of love, bravery, and chivalry; yet these same poets also composed verses of lesser quality, in which artifice and affectation are apparent. The speech of Allāh the Most High is of an entirely different order and power. Similarly, the speech of those who have tasted the divine — the Arifūn billāh (the Gnostics of Allāh) — is of a higher calibre than the speech of those who merely imitate them.

A Famous Observation. The poet Labīd — one of the Seven Muʿallaqāt (Hanging Odes) poets — said upon accepting Islām and hearing the Quran: "What is there for me to say — Allāh has spoken." And he abandoned composing poetry. And it is said of the great pre-Islamic poet Imruʾ al-Qays, whose dīwān exists and whose style is immediately recognisable, that no one has been able to match even a few of his verses. How much more is this so with the Quran, where not a single verse has been matched by any human being?

On the Great Poets of Each Language. Every language has its outstanding poet: in Arabic, Imruʾ al-Qays; in Persian, Firdawsī; in Urdu, Mīr or Ghālib; in Pashtū, Ghālib's peer; in English, Shakespeare. But even these great poets, taken as a whole, have verses of high, middle, and low quality within their œuvre — and critics readily point out the weaker verses. The Quran, by contrast, is entirely uniform in its supreme quality from the first letter to the last: not a single word can be removed or added; its arrangement (tartīb) cannot be altered; its entire text is of one degree of perfection. And even if we consider only the aspect of eloquence and rhetoric — this is sufficient to demonstrate that it is a miracle far beyond human capacity.

Tārīkh al-Qurʾān — Early Encounters with the Quran

The Story of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb's Conversion. Sayyidunā ʿUmar (may Allāh be pleased with him) set out in a state of rage to kill the Prophetﷺ. On the way, he was told that his own sister had accepted Islām. He went to her house. With great insistence and force he tried to obtain the Qurʾānic page she had. He ended up hearing the recitation of Sūrat al-Ṭāhā (Sūrat Ṭāhā). Immediately his demeanour changed: the verse fell upon his heart like a light. ʿUmar came to the assembly of the disbelievers and said: "Is it possible for so great a chief as you to be overcome by a few words?" Then al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra (the most eloquent elder of Quraysh) heard it and declared:«إِنَّ لَهُ لَحَلَاوَةً وَإِنَّ لَهُ لَطَلَاوَةً»— inna lahu la-ḥalāwatan wa-inna lahu la-ṭalāwatan — "It has sweetness and it has charm." The people pressed him: "Say it is poetry — say it is sorcery." He thought and turned it over in his mind. He pronounced the famous verdict:

«كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ» — "How did he estimate it!" — a censure of his own inability. And then: «كَيْف قُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ» — "How was he struck, how did he measure it!" — and then again — he looked and frowned and scowled: «ثُمَّ عَبَسَ وَبَسَرَ». Then he turned away and became proud («ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ»). Finally he turned his back to the truth and said: «قَالَ إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ يُؤْثَرُ» — "This is nothing but sorcery handed down." (al-Muddaththir 74:19–24)

He accused the Quran of being siḥr (sorcery) — but he could not refute it; instead he called it sorcery. It is clear that when a human being encounters something that exceeds his capacity, and he sees no way to oppose it, he resorts to slander. The capacity of the human being is finite — and the Quran's surpassing of human capacity was admitted even by this enemy. He could not produce a refutation; so he fell back on slander. What kind of sorcery was it? He was an expert in sorcery — and in his very domain of expertise, he acknowledged it. Yet the Quran surpasses human capacity — and sorcery is that which is merely a trick in the domain of one's own expertise.

The Quran as a Source of Guidance (Hidāya). There is yet another aspect of the inimitability of the Quran which is entirely its own — and that is its quality as guidance. For a detailed treatment, consult the books of Tafsīr, the Sīra, and the relevant works. In all aspects of religious knowledge, the Quran stands supreme. I will not elaborate further here — teaching is my calling, not writing — but among the Muslims today there are some forty crore (four hundred million) Muslims in the world, and the guidance of the Quran reaches them all. The weakness of the Muslims today stems not from the deficiency of the Quran but from their failure to act upon it.

ʿIlm al-Tajwīd — The Science of Correct Qurʾānic Recitation

(The author now transitions into a detailed technical treatment of the phonetic sciences of Qurʾānic recitation — the makhārij al-ḥurūf (articulation points of the Arabic letters) and the ṣifāt al-ḥurūf (properties of the letters). This section, pages 20–22, draws on the classical tradition of tajwīd, particularly the versified treatise of Imām Ibn al-Jazarī, may Allāh have mercy on him.)

Makhārij al-Ḥurūf — The Points of Articulation of the Arabic Letters. The Arabic letters emerge from defined points of articulation (makhārij). As the classical verse states:

"Alif and its two companions — namely the wāw of the ḍamma and the yāʾ of the kasra — emerge from the hollow of the throat; they are called the ḥurūf al-jawf (the letters of the cavity)."

Letters of the Throat (Ḥurūf al-Ḥalq). From the innermost part of the throat emerge: hamza and hāʾ. From the middle of the throat emerge: ʿayn and ḥāʾ. From the outer throat, closest to the mouth, emerge: ghayn and khāʾ. As the verse:

"Farthest in the throat: hamza and hāʾ / The middle: ʿayn and ḥāʾ come from there / And nearest: ghayn and khāʾ"

Letters of the Tongue (Ḥurūf al-Lisān). The qāf (qāf) emerges from the furthest part of the tongue, closest to the back of the throat. The kāf emerges from just before that. The jīm, shīn, and yāʾ emerge from the middle of the tongue. The letters ḍād (ḍad) emerges from the edge of the tongue, from either side, when pressed against the upper molars. The letters lām and rāʾ and nūn emerge from the tip of the tongue in their respective positions, as the classical verse elaborates.

Letters of the Lips (Ḥurūf al-Shafatayn). The fāʾ is formed from the inner surface of the lower lip and the tips of the upper front teeth. The wāw, bāʾ, and mīm are formed from between the two lips. The mīm has a nasal resonance (ghunna) that emerges from the nasal passage (khayshūm).

(The remainder of this section enumerates all articulation points, following the classical mnemonic verses of the science of tajwīd.)

Ṣifāt al-Ḥurūf — Properties of the Arabic Letters

The properties (ṣifāt) of the Arabic letters are as follows:

(1) Jahr (voicing): the sound is full and continues in the articulation like a flowing stream, with a quality resembling the sustained sound of a buzzing bee. Its opposites include hamm and hams.

(2) Hams (whispering/aspiration): in the pronunciation of these letters, the breath flows along with the letter, making them breathier in quality.

(3) Shidda (plosiveness): in the pronunciation of these letters, the sound is held completely at the point of articulation and then released all at once. The letters of shidda are gathered in the mnemonic «أَجِدُ قَطٍّ بَكَتْ» (ajidu qaṭṭin bakat).

(4) Rakhāwa (fricativeness): in the pronunciation of these letters, the sound flows through the point of articulation without complete occlusion.

(5) Istifāl (lowering): these letters are pronounced with the tongue lowered away from the palate. The opposite is Iṭbāq (raising toward the palate).

(6) Iṭbāq (enclosure): in these letters — ṣād, ḍād, ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ — the tongue rises and presses close to the palate.

(7) Infiṭāḥ (openness): the tongue and palate are not in contact.

(8) Idhhlāq (ease of articulation): these letters flow easily from the tip of the tongue and lips.

(9) Iṣmāt (resistance): the opposite of idhhlāq; these letters are heavier in articulation.

The detailed properties and their opposites have been described above. The full detail of each letter and its classifications is a matter for the student to learn directly from a qualified teacher (ustādh) — for correct Qurʾānic recitation requires both theoretical knowledge and living transmission (talqīn).

As the classical mnemonic verse states:

"Lām and rāʾ — therein lies repetition — spread widely upon the tongue / The sound of shīn is broad and ḍād is elongated..."

The letter rāʾ (rāʾ) has the property of repetition (takrīr) — the tongue vibrates; this is actually beautiful but must not be exaggerated. The lām is released freely from one side of the tongue toward the upper teeth and the molars on that side — and this makes it beautiful to articulate. These matters are to be mastered under the guidance of a teacher.

Continuation: Tables of Letter Combinations in Tajwīd

(Pages 22–23 of the source contain detailed tables of consonant combinations — demonstrating the application of idghām (assimilation), ikhfāʾ (nasalisation), iẓhār (clear articulation), and related rules when the nūn sākin (quiescent nūn) or tanwīn (nunation) precedes various consonants. These are standard materials drawn from the science of tajwīd, particularly as presented in the Jazariyya mnemonic poem of Ibn al-Jazarī.)

The letters of the Arabic alphabet are here displayed in their combinations, grouped by their articulation points and properties — to facilitate correct recitation of the Quran:

Bāʾ — Tāʾ — Thāʾ — Jīm — Ḥāʾ — Khāʾ Dāl — Dhāl — Rāʾ — Zāy — Sīn — Shīn Ṣād — Ḍād — Ṭāʾ — Ẓāʾ — ʿAyn — Ghayn Fāʾ — Qāf — Kāf — Lām — Mīm — Nūn — Hāʾ — Wāw — Lā — Yāʾ

(The arrangement follows the traditional tajwīd sequence, covering all articulation points from the throat to the lips.)

Continuation: Idghām, Ikhfāʾ, Iẓhār — Rules for Nūn Sākin and Tanwīn

(Pages 23–25 continue the technical discussion of tajwīd rules, presenting the classical categories for the treatment of the quiescent nūn (nūn sākin) and tanwīn when followed by each of the twenty-eight Arabic letters. The source contains tabular material and mnemonic verses.)

Rules for the Nūn Sākin and Tanwīn:

(1) Iẓhār (Clear Articulation): When the nūn sākin or tanwīn is followed by one of the six throat letters (ḥurūf al-ḥalq): hamza, hāʾ, ʿayn, ḥāʾ, ghayn, khāʾ — it is pronounced clearly and distinctly, without any merging or nasalisation. Example: min ʿilm (مِنْ عِلْمٍ).

(2) Idghām (Assimilation):

• (a) Idghām biGhunna (with nasalisation): when followed by yāʾ, nūn, mīm, wāw (the letters of the mnemonic yanmūيَنْمُو) — the nūn merges completely into the following letter with a prolonged nasal resonance (ghunna). Example: man yaqūl (مَنْ يَقُولُ).

• (b) Idghām bilā Ghunna (without nasalisation): when followed by lām or rāʾ — the nūn merges completely without nasalisation. Example: wa-rasūl Allāh (وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ).

(3) Iqlab (Conversion): When the nūn sākin or tanwīn is followed by bāʾ — it is converted into a mīm, pronounced with ghunna and the lips lightly closed. Example: al-anbiyāʾ (الْأَنْبِيَاءِ).

(4) Ikhfāʾ (Nasalisation/Concealment): When followed by any of the remaining fifteen letters (ṣād, dhāl, thāʾ, kāf, jīm, shīn, qāf, sīn, dāl, ṭāʾ, zāy, fāʾ, tāʾ, ḍād, ẓāʾ) — the nūn is pronounced in a concealed, nasal manner, between clear articulation and complete assimilation. Example: man qāl (مَنْ قَالَ).

Signs and Markings in the Quran (ʿAlāmāt al-Qurʾān)

The Quran contains certain recitation marks (ʿalāmāt) that serve as guides to the tajwīd rules, making the proper reading of the Quran easier. These include:

(ḥ) ʿAlāmat al-Ikhfāʾ: The quiescent nūn is prolonged slightly so that it can merge into the following letter with a nasalisation. Example: man qāla (مَنْ قَالَ).

(ẓ) ʿAlāmat al-Iẓhār: The quiescent nūn is pronounced clearly and completely before the following letter. Example: min ʿilm (مِنْ عِلْمٍ).

ʿAlāmat Ḥurūf al-Ṭalq al-Thalātha: This sign is placed before certain letters — khāʾ, ʿayn, ghayn — to indicate that the nūn sākin is to be pronounced clearly before them. Sometimes this sign appears before letters other than nūn sākin as well — indicating that all the letters should be pronounced clearly and the following letter should not be assimilated.

(gh) ʿAlāmat Idghām biGhunna: When the letters of yanmū (يَنْمُو— yāʾ, nūn, mīm, wāw) follow a nūn sākin — pronounced with ghunna. The tanwīn before mīm sākin is similarly treated.

(m) ʿAlāmat Qalb: When nūn sākin or tanwīn is followed by bāʾ — the nūn is converted into mīm. Example: al-anbiyāʾ (الْأَنْبِيَاءِ).

Continuation: Signs of Madd (Prolongation) and Further Recitation Marks

(md) ʿAlāmat Madd Ṭawīl (Long Prolongation): This mark indicates where the madd (vowel prolongation) is to be elongated — six counts (equivalent to six alif units) in the obligatory cases, or four to five in the permitted cases. The intermediate (mutawassiṭ) madd is two alif units.

(×) ʿAlāmat Tafrīqa (Separation): A waṣl hamza (connecting hamza) with absolute hamza — read with full hamza sound. Example: lā ilāha illā Allāh tuḥsharūn.

ʿAlāmat Hamzat al-Waṣl: In the middle of recitation this hamza is dropped and the recitation continues; at the beginning it is pronounced. Example: waʾtū → aʾtū.

ʿAlāmat Bayḍa (Oval Sign): In some cases an alif is written in full at a pause (waqf) but dropped in continuation (waṣl). Example: aʾ-ataghfarta — at pause read alif, in continuation read without alif.

ʿAlāmat Tashdīd (Doubling): In the Quran, Allāh when followed by yaltathu and related forms has the shaddā (doubling mark) placed upon it only at the pause (waqf); in continuation it is not marked.

ʿAlāmat Ishmām (Rounding of the Vowel): In one place (qīl) in the Quran — the qāf is read with a slight ishmām (rounding toward ḍamma). This is indicated by the sign shm.

ʿAlāmat Imāla (Inclining): Whereby a fatḥa is inclined toward a kasra in recitation. Example: majrāhā wa-mursāhā (هود11:41).

Uṣūl al-Tafsīr — Principles of Qurʾānic Interpretation

(Beginning from page 26, the author introduces an extensive muqaddima on the principles of tafsīr (uṣūl al-tafsīr) and Ḥanafī uṣūl al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence) — the essential framework for understanding the Quran correctly. This section draws heavily on the Ḥanafī uṣūl al-fiqh tradition.)

In the sciences of Quran and Ḥadīth as well as in Law (qānūn), the word (lafẓ) takes precedence — meaning is derived from words. In philosophy, conceptual meaning takes precedence. In the transmitted sciences (naqliyyāt), the transmitted expression (riwāya) is primary — meaning is always secondary to text.

Classification of Words (Tasnīf al-Alfāẓ):

(1) By the scope of application: khāṣṣ (specific), ʿāmm (general), mushtarak (ambiguous/shared), and muʾawwal (interpreted).

(2) By the mode of use: ḥaqīqat (literal) and majāz (metaphorical); wāḍiḥ al-dalāla (clear in signification) and khafī al-dalāla (obscure in signification).

(3) By mode of manifestation and concealment:

• Clear: naṣṣ (unequivocal text), ẓāhir (apparent), mufassar (explained), muḥkam (firmly established).
• Obscure: khafī (hidden), mushkil (ambiguous), mujmal (unelaborated), mutashābih (equivocal).

(4) By the nature of signification (dalāla): ʿibārat al-naṣṣ (the expression of the text), ishārat al-naṣṣ (the implication of the text), dalālat al-naṣṣ (what the text points to), and iqtiḍāʾ al-naṣṣ (what the text demands).

Khāṣṣ (Specific Term). A word coined to refer to one specific thing or category.

Sub-types of khāṣṣ: (1) ʿalam (proper noun), (2) khāṣṣ waḍʿan (specific by coinage), (3) ism jins (genus name).

(1) ʿAlam: A proper noun that does not apply to more than one individual — such as "Zayd," "ʿAmr."

(2) Khāṣṣ waḍʿan: A name given to all individuals sharing a specific dhāt (essence) and māhiyya (quiddity) within one species — such as "human being" (insān).

(3) Ism jins: A name that applies to individuals of differing essences — such as insān in the usage of the Muwallid (those who use Arabic as a second language), meaning "mankind" in different modes of being.

Important Principle. It is generally necessary for the khāṣṣ to be taken in its specific (khāṣṣ) sense in the Quran. No interpretation (tafsīr) or taʾwīl of the khāṣṣ is valid unless there is a clear contextual indicator (qirīna). The khāṣṣ text (naṣṣ khāṣṣ) is established definitively (qaṭʿan) by a single authentic Prophetic report (khabar wāḥid) or analogy (qiyās). The qaṭʿī ruling of the khāṣṣ is actionable immediately.

As for the recitation:﴿فَاقْرَءُوا مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ﴾— it is established that Qurʾānic recitation is absolutely obligatory (farḍ muṭlaq), while recitation of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa specifically is wājib (obligatorily due) — not farḍ in the absolute sense [a key Ḥanafī distinction].

Continuation: ʿĀmm — The General Term

ʿĀmm (General Term). A word coined to encompass more than one entity, all of which it comprehends. Examples: mudrikūn (comprehenders), muslimūn (Muslims), min māʾ (from water) — all general terms.

Sub-types of ʿāmm: (1) ʿĀmm that has not been specified (ʿāmm ghayr makhṣūṣ). (2) ʿĀmm that has been partially specified (ʿāmm makhṣūṣ): such as faqdibū — which is general in its import but has been specified by other evidence.

General rule: In the Ḥanafī school, a general term (ʿāmm) whose address (khiṭāb) is to the community also includes the Prophetﷺhimself, unless there is specific evidence to the contrary. If Allāh addresses the Prophetﷺdirectly with yā ayyuhā al-rasūl, the address also includes the umma (community). If a pronoun (ḍamīr) refers to a plural (jamʿ), it is general over all members of that plural. If a word is general and unrestricted by any contextual factor, the Ḥanafī school holds that the full generality is operative — unlike other schools. Example:﴿إِنَّ الْأَبْرَارَ لَفِي نَعِيمٍ﴾— if a specific time restricts the general term, the restriction holds for that time only; thereafter the general term reverts to its full scope.

(3) ʿĀmm makhṣūṣ (Specified General Term): A general term from which some individuals have been excepted — such is said to be "specified." Example:﴿فَاقْتُلُوهُمْ﴾— which is general, then specified by﴿أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا﴾— the ruling on usury (ribā) is excepted. The ruling of a ḥadīth in such a case provides additional detail (tafṣīl) — and a ḥadīth whose text is established, and which concerns a matter for which no independent qiyās is available, is valid as a specifying agent.

The ʿāmm does not cease to be general merely because it has been specified; the remaining instances retain their general applicability. A person within the scope of the general term remains bound by it even after some are excluded.

The general term is binding (wājib al-itibāʿ) upon all its subjects.

Principle: The Quran's ʿāmm cannot be specified by a khabar wāḥid (solitary report) alone [a key Ḥanafī position].

Continuation: Mushtarak (Ambiguous/Polysemous Term) and Principles of Majāz

Mushtarak (Polysemous Term). A word coined to apply to multiple, different referents by way of convention — such that each meaning is separately established. The generalisation (ʿumūm) of a mushtarak is permitted in some scholars' view; but the Ḥanafī school holds that a mushtarak may not simultaneously be applied to all its meanings unless there is specific evidence (qirīna) requiring each.

If one of the meanings of a mushtarak is metaphorical (majāzī) — and that metaphorical meaning is the more contextually appropriate — then the metaphorical meaning may be adopted for the word. This is called ʿudūl (departure from the literal). When a single metaphorical meaning is being applied, it is based on the ʿalāqa (relation) between the literal and the metaphorical.

Ḥaqīqa wa Majāz (Literal and Figurative Use)

Ḥaqīqa (literal meaning): a word used to mean what it was originally coined to mean.

Majāz (figurative meaning): a word used to mean something other than its coined meaning, by virtue of an ʿalāqa (relationship, connection) between the two meanings.

If the ʿalāqa is one of resemblance (mushābaha), this is istiʿāra (metaphor). If the ʿalāqa is of another type (contiguity, causation, etc.), this is majāz mursal (metonymy).

Elements of istiʿāra (metaphor): mustaʿār minhu (what is borrowed from); mustaʿār lahu (what it is borrowed for); mustaʿār (the borrowed term); wajh al-shabah (the common attribute between the two); and jāmiʿ (the element that unites them) — such as bravery (in "Zayd is a lion").

By convention among the uṣūliyyūn (jurisprudents), ʿalāqa al-tashhīh is called istiʿāra maʿnawī (conceptual metaphor) and majāz mursal is called istiʿāra ṣūrī (formal metaphor).

Istiʿāra ṣūrī occurs in: cause and effect (sabab wa-musabbab), general and particular (kullī wa-juzʾī), whole and part (kull wa-juzʾ), and similar relations.

As regards cause and effect: Allāh has ordained that the sabab (cause) be used to denote the musabbab (effect), and vice versa, in certain contexts — such as: "He gave her release" (ṭalāq) — meaning he divorced her — where release (the effect) stands for divorce (the cause). Similarly: "He brought (ṭalāq, release)" may mean "He sent down rain" — where the effect (rain) stands for the cause (release from drought).

Continuation: Categories of Textual Clarity and Obscurity — Dalāla

Indicators of Departure from Literal Meaning (Qirāʾin al-Majāz): (1) A customary impossibility (istiḥāla ʿādiyya) — when the literal meaning is rationally or conventionally impossible. (2) A customary intention (qirīna) showing that the literal meaning is not what is intended. (3) The context of the speech (siyāq al-kalām) — when the surrounding words make the literal meaning inapplicable. (4) The object (maʿmūl) of a word — when the word's complements demand a non-literal interpretation.

Naṣṣ (Unequivocal Text). The naṣṣ is that form of speech whose signification is absolutely clear and whose sense is fully explicit — with no room for alternative interpretation (taʾwīl). The naṣṣ is conclusive (qaṭʿī) in its intended meaning. It is established definitively, such that no taʾwīl is possible. Therefore there is no room for objection against the conclusiveness of the naṣṣ as a legal authority.

Ẓāhir (Apparent Meaning). The ẓāhir is that whose intended sense is clear from the primary (rājiḥ) meaning of the word, though a secondary (marjūḥ) meaning is theoretically possible. Acting upon the ẓāhir is obligatory (wājib). The departure from the ẓāhir without a clear indicator is morally wrong (ithm) though not categorically invalid (jāʾiz). It does not affect the legal validity (ṣiḥḥa) of an act, but it is a sin (ithm). Thus there is no objection against the ẓāhir's binding force (wujūb) and conclusiveness.

ʿAmal bi-l-Ẓāhir (Acting on the Apparent Meaning): Acting on the ẓāhir is definitively obligatory. The mufassir (exegete) may disagree about the preferred interpretation — that is the domain of ijtihād.

Mufassar (Explained Text). The mufassar is that whose meaning is clear and explicitly explained — such that taʾwīl (interpretive deviation) is not possible in the current context, because the text has been so precisely elaborated. Acting upon it is obligatory and definitive (wājib qaṭʿī). The only way the mufassar can be superseded is by abrogation (naskh).

(The distinction between ẓāhir and naṣṣ is that the ẓāhir allows the theoretical possibility of another meaning, while the naṣṣ does not.)

Continuation: Khafī, Mushkil, Mujmal, Mutashābih — Degrees of Obscurity

Khafī (Hidden/Obscure). A word which is ẓāhir (apparent) but which, in a specific application, becomes obscure due to an external circumstance — not due to the word itself. For example, a word clearly applies to a general class but becomes ambiguous in a specific sub-case. In such cases, additional research (tatabbul) and reflection are required to remove the obscurity.

Mushkil (Ambiguous). A word whose obscurity arises from the word itself — either because it has multiple meanings (ishtirāk), or because the intended sense requires insight (nazr) to determine. For example: the term qarʾ can mean either the period of purity (ṭuhr) or the menstrual period (ḥayḍ) — and scholars have disagreed which is intended in﴿وَالْمُطَلَّقَاتُ يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنفُسِهِنَّ ثَلَاثَةَ قُرُوءٍ﴾(al-Baqara 2:228). The solution requires further investigation.

Mujmal (Unelaborated). A word in which the intention of the speaker (murād al-mutakallim) is not fully clear from the word itself — such that further elaboration (bayān) is required from the Sunnā or from other evidence. The mujmal remains mujmal until the elaboration (bayān) arrives. For example: the Quran's commands for ṣalāt (prayer) and zakāt (alms) without elaboration of their details — these are mujmal in themselves, requiring the Sunnā to explain them.

Mutashābih (Equivocal). That whose meaning cannot be conclusively determined at all — and whose knowledge belongs exclusively to Allāh. The mutashābih are those verses whose taʾwīl is known only to Allāh. In the early tradition, the great scholars — the Ḥuffāẓ al-Qurʾān — referred the mutashābihāt to Allāh and affirmed them without delving into the "how" (bi-lā kayf). Later, when the Muʿtazila and related groups began pressing their deviant interpretations, the scholars of kalām developed appropriate responses to the mutashābihāt.

Continuation: Bayān (Elaboration/Clarification)

Bayān (Elaboration). The purpose of bayān is to make the intention (maqṣūd) manifest — so that the listener can act upon it.

Conditions for Bayān: The bayān must: (1) Clarify the intended meaning; (2) Not introduce a new ruling; (3) Not contradict the established ruling; (4) Be appropriate to the occasion.

The Quran's bayān is established through: (1) a definitive text (naṣṣ); (2) an apparent text (ẓāhir); (3) a khabar wāḥid (solitary authenticated report). A khabar wāḥid cannot, in the Ḥanafī school, abrogate (naskh) the Quran — but it can further specify (takhṣīṣ) its general provisions.

Sharṭ (Condition). Sharṭ is that upon which a ruling is made conditional (mawqūf).

Sub-types: (1) Sharṭ ʿaqlī: a condition whose rational necessity is self-evident — e.g., life is a condition for all legal acts. (2) Sharṭ sharʿī: a condition established by the Sharīʿa — e.g., ritual purity (wuḍūʾ) is a condition for prayer (ṣalāt).

Istisnāʾ (Exception). The exception specifies that a certain individual or sub-class is excluded from a general ruling. The remainder of the general term retains its full scope.

ʿIlla (Legal Cause/Ratio Legis). The effective cause (ʿilla) of a ruling:

(1) Adnā: the minimum degree — a merely contingent factor. (2) Awsaṭ: the middle degree — as in:﴿فَإِذَا جَاءَتْكُمُ الْمُطَلَّقَاتُ﴾— "the condition (sharṭ) is when the divorced women come to you." (3) Aqwā: the highest degree — such as:﴿وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ﴾— the ʿilla is not merely the waṣf (description) but its implications require investigation: the ruling of the full ʿilla necessarily follows only when all its elements are present; the element by itself does not compel the same ruling in other contexts unless the qiyās (analogy) is sound.

Continuation: Ghāya (Termination/Terminal Boundary)

Ghāya (Terminal Limit). Ghāya has two forms: (1) Where the ghāya (end-point) itself is included in or excluded from the ruling. (2) Where the ruling does not extend to the ghāya itself.

If the ghāya constitutes a self-sufficient reality, and its existence is distinct from the rest of the ruling — then both (the ruled domain and the ghāya) will carry their own rulings.

If the ghāya is included in the scope of the initial address (ṣadr al-kalām), then the ruling and the ghāya are one — and the ghāya's ruling follows from the main ruling. But if the ghāya is not part of the initial address, the ruling up to the ghāya holds in full. Example:﴿إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ﴾(al-Māʾida 5:6) — "up to the elbows" — the elbows are included in the ruling of washing.

ʿIbārat al-Ḍarūra (Expression of Necessity). When a word lacks a signifying agent to express the required meaning, the meaning is obtained by the ḍarūra (necessity) of the context. There are four types of silence (sukūt) that indicate intention:

(1) Bayān bi-l-sukūt — when the context itself conveys the intended meaning: e.g., in response to "Did Zayd come?" the answer is simply "He came" — the context supplies "Zayd." (2) The state (ḥāl) of the speaker conveys meaning — e.g., the silence of a woman during the announcement of her marriage (nikāḥ) constitutes her consent (according to the Ḥanafī school). (3) The silence of a person qualified to speak constitutes a ruling — as in the adhān (the call to prayer). (4) Silence for the sake of prolonging speech — as in the qaṣīda (ode) or the musnad mustaṭīl (extended isnād).

Bayān bi-l-Taʿdīl (Revision/Modification): when a ruling given at one time is replaced in a later time because of changed circumstances — this is taʿdīl, not naskh (abrogation), as long as the essential purpose (maqṣūd) remains the same. The original and revised rulings are both operative — each in its appropriate time.

Continuation: Nasx (Abrogation) and the Related Principles

Important Note. According to the Ḥanafī school, the naṣṣ (definitive text) of the Quran cannot be abrogated by a ẓannī (probable) evidence; only a qaṭʿī (definitive) evidence can abrogate it.

Abrogation of the Quran by the Quran. The Quran can abrogate earlier Qurʾānic rulings; this is naskh proper.

Specification of the Quran's General Terms. The ʿāmm (general) of the Quran may be specified by a ḥadīth mashūr (well-known ḥadīth — i.e., reported by a sufficient number of authorities in every generation to preclude forgery), but not by a khabar wāḥid (solitary authenticated report) in the Ḥanafī school.

The Quran can also be specified (takhṣīṣ) by another Qurʾānic text that is at least as strong or stronger.

Muṭlaq wa Muqayyad (Unrestricted and Restricted Expressions):

(1) When the muṭlaq (unrestricted) and muqayyad (restricted) refer to different rulings and different occasions — the muṭlaq is not restricted by the muqayyad.

(2) When both refer to the same ruling and the same occasion — the muṭlaq is to be read as restricted (ḥaml al-muṭlaq ʿalā l-muqayyad) — i.e., the unrestricted statement must be understood in the light of the restricted one.

(3) When the ruling is the same but the occasion is different — in the Ḥanafī school, the muṭlaq is not automatically restricted by the muqayyad.

(4) When the rulings are different and the occasion is one — then in the Ḥanafī school, the muṭlaq is not restricted by the muqayyad.

Mafhūm al-Mukhālafa (Implication of Contrast — the "Divergent Implication"). Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allāh have mercy on him) holds that the mafhūm al-mukhālafa (the implication that the negation of the specified condition or attribute implies the opposite ruling for what is not specified) is a valid legal argument. The Ḥanafī school does not accept mafhūm al-mukhālafa as an independent source of ruling, except in specific cases:

Conditions for valid mafhūm al-mukhālafa: (1) The mentioned attribute must be the motive (dāfiʿ) for the ruling. (2) The implied divergent ruling must not be weaker or equal to the mentioned ruling. (3) The stated text (manṭūq) must not be in response to a question (jawāb li-suʾāl). (4) It must not be because the addressee was unaware.

Sub-types of mafhūm al-mukhālafa: mafhūm al-laqab (name implication), mafhūm al-ʿadad (number implication), mafhūm al-waṣf (attribute implication), mafhūm al-sharṭ (condition implication).

Continuation: Tajwīd — Rules of the Letter Rāʾ and Further Recitation Marks

(Pages 34–35 return to the technical sciences of recitation — specifically the rules for the tafkhīm (emphatic pronunciation) and tarqīq (light pronunciation) of the letter rāʾ, followed by a continuation of tajwīd discussion.)

Rules for the Letter Rāʾ (Rāʾ):

The rāʾ is subject to two states:

(1) Tafkhīm (Emphatic Pronunciation) — when the rāʾ bears a fatḥa or ḍamma, it is always pronounced emphatically (thick): Example: rabb — rūḥ.

Also in the following cases at pause (waqf): when the rāʾ sākin (quiescent) is preceded by a letter with fatḥa, it is emphatic at pause: example: khayr — khayr.

(2) Tarqīq (Light Pronunciation) — when the rāʾ bears a kasra, it is always light: Example: karīm — raḥīm.

Further Rules:

• If the rāʾ is sākin and preceded by a letter with kasra, and that kasra is intrinsic to the word (not added for grammatical joining), and the following letter is not one of the ḥurūf al-mustaʿliyya (elevated letters: ṣād, ḍād, ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ, ghayn, khāʾ, qāf) — then it is light.
• If the rāʾ sākin is preceded by a letter with fatḥa, it is emphatic.
• If both the rāʾ and the preceding letter are sākin — then the letter before the sākin determines the vowel-quality of the rāʾ.
• If the rāʾ bears a kasra and is followed by a mustaʿlī letter, the Ḥafṣ recitation is light (tarqīq). Example: wa-sabʿīlu — if the letter between the rāʾ and the mustaʿlī letter is one of the ḥurūf al-Ṣādd (ṣad, ḍād, ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ) — then the rāʾ is emphatic.

(The technical details of these rules require oral transmission from a qualified teacher. A summary has been given here; the full elaboration is in the specialist works of tajwīd.)

Continuation: Nawāsikh al-Qurʾān — Abrogation in the Quran

(Pages 35–37 return to the jurisprudential discussion of naskh — abrogation — one of the key topics of uṣūl al-tafsīr. The author presents the classical Ḥanafī analysis.)

Naskh — Abrogation in the Quran

Definition of Naskh. Naskhahu yansakhuhu naskhan: literally means "to remove it" or "to replace it." The Arabs say: nasakhati l-shamsu l-ẓilla — the sun has removed the shadow; naskhat al-rīḥu āthāra l-dār — the wind has erased the traces of the house. As for the technical meaning: naskh is the removal of one Qurʾānic ruling and the replacement of it with another.

The Controversy over Naskh. There is scholarly disagreement about whether naskh occurs in the Quran at all, and if so, how extensively.

• Naẓẓām held that Allāh removed the possibility of response from people (ṣarafa) — no āya was actually abrogated.
• Ibn al-Ḥizbī counted approximately two hundred abrogated verses.
• Imām Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (may Allāh have mercy on him) reduced the number to twenty.
• Imām Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī (may Allāh have mercy on him) reduced it further to five (or around that number).

In the author's view, no ruling of the Quran is truly abrogated. Shāh Walī Allāh (may Allāh have mercy on him) listed twenty rulings as abrogated, and offered responses to them. This topic is treated in detail in a separate treatise written by the author. Here, only the causes of apparent abrogation (asbāb al-naskh) will be enumerated briefly, followed by the key disputed cases.

Causes of Apparent Abrogation (Asbāb al-Naskh):

(1) Rulings given in the Quran that were continuations of pre-Islamic customs or earlier revelations, now confirmed or modified — these give the appearance of abrogation but are in reality elaborations of divine guidance.

(2) A general ruling is given first, then followed by a specific ruling for particular circumstances. What appears to be "abrogation" is actually takhṣīṣ (specification) — the general ruling stands for its own domain, while the specific ruling applies to the particular case.

(3) A command given as an ethical norm (amr akhlāqī) is followed by a legal prohibition (amr qānūnī) — the moral command is not "abrogated" but rather the legal system now enforces what was previously only a moral exhortation.

(4) The purpose (maqṣūd) of a ruling remains the same, but the wording becomes more precise and explicit in the later text — so that what was formerly mujmal (unelaborated) is now mufassar (explained). This is bayān (clarification), not naskh.

(5) A ruling is given for temporary circumstances (waqtī) and remains in force for that period; when circumstances change, a new ruling is given. The first ruling was never meant to be permanent — it was waqtī (time-bound). This is not naskh properly speaking.

Continuation: Wujūd al-Majāz — Figurative Senses in the Quran

(Page 36 addresses further aspects of tafsīr methodology — including the reality of divine attributes (tajsīm and tashbīh), figurative senses in the Quran, and the proper approach to the mutashābihāt.)

On the Question of Attributing Human-Like Properties to Allāh. The scholars of ʿaqīda (theology) in the Ahl al-Sunna tradition are unanimous: any attribution to Allāh of physical form (jism), direction (jihāt), or human-like characteristics (tajsīm/tashbīh) is impermissible. The divine attributes are affirmed — but stripped of all resemblance to created beings, and without inquiry into their mode (bi-lā kayf).

Wahdāt al-Wujūd (Unity of Existence — a concept discussed in Sufi metaphysics). The term refers to an existence devoid of all specificities and limitations — a pure, absolute, and unqualified existence — that which is called wujūd mujarrad (stripped existence) or wujūd baḥt (sheer being). The author here notes: the divine rage (ghaḍab) attributable to Allāh — there is no "boiling of the blood" as in human anger; rather it is an attribute of the divine will whose effect is the implementation of justice upon the enemies of the faith. The expression "divine wrath" in the Quran is to be understood through its effects (āthār) — and when the face of the person experiencing worldly wrath turns red and the blood of the heart heats up — that is not what is meant when ghaḍab Allāh is mentioned. What is meant is that the attribute of justice (ʿadl) is operative — and He will implement punishment on those who deserve it.

Wujūd al-Khayāl (Visionary Existence): The experience of seeing something in a vision (kashf) in a particular form — such as: a scholar saw the knowledge of Allāh in the form of milk; a person saw light in the form of fire; one saw anger (ghaḍab) in the form of a lion; another saw mercy in the form of water; or the divine names and attributes manifesting in various forms. These are visions of the heart (wujūd khayālī) and should not be treated as literal realities. The Prophetﷺhimself, in a vision, saw the divine light in the form of fire — but this does not mean that fire is divine. The same applies to the Ḥajr al-Aswad (the Black Stone): to say that it is "the right hand of Allāh" (yamīn Allāh) is a metaphor indicating that kissing it is like pledging allegiance to Allāh — it is not to be taken literally. In the domain of kashf (mystical experience) there are frequently istimārāt (metaphorical expressions) whose interpretation requires a qualified spiritual guide (murshid).

Wujūd al-Majāzī (Metaphorical Existence): The attribution to something of a quality that properly belongs to something connected to it — e.g., "I saw the rain flowing over the rooftop" — where the rain is attributed to the roof because of its proximity (qurb). Example:﴿وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا مِنْكُمْ﴾— the negation of knowledge (ʿadm al-ʿilm) is attributed to Allāh — while Allāh's knowledge is infinite and eternal; what is meant is: the actualisation of that knowledge — i.e., its manifestation in the external world through the ḥadīth (khilāfa) of the Prophetﷺ. The detailed elaboration of this belongs elsewhere; the summary is: the amr al-sharīf (noble command) indicates obligation (wujūb) and compulsion (farḍiyya). Its opposite — a conditional exception — requires explicit evidence to establish permissibility (ibāḥa) rather than obligation.

Continuation: Naskh — Further Discussion and Examples

(Continuing the exposition of naskh and its types.)

Naskh in Detail — Further Clarification

The Terminology of Naskh. The word nasakha in Arabic has multiple senses: to remove (as the sun removes the shadow); to copy (as in manuscript copying); to transfer one thing to another; and to raise the position of something by placing another in its stead.

As regards Qurʾānic rulings: the question of whether a ruling is truly mansūkh (abrogated) or merely mukhassas (specified) is one of great scholarly controversy. The scholars of jurisprudence have differed extensively — some counting many mansūkhāt and others very few. Among those holding extensive abrogation: Ibn al-Ḥizbī counted many. Among the reformers: Imām Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī counted twenty; Imām Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī counted five (or around that number).

In the author's view, no Qurʾānic command is permanently abrogated. Shāh Walī Allāh's responses to the apparent cases of naskh are correct. A detailed separate treatise (risāla) by the author exists on this topic. Here, only the causes are summarised:

Cases Disputed as Naskh:

(1) The commands of the Quran that were directed at removing the lingering customs of the jāhiliyya (pre-Islamic period) or at modifying practices from earlier revelations — these are not abrogation but the progressive completion of divine guidance.

(2) A general ruling (ʿāmm) is stated first; then, for a specific time or situation, a particular ruling is issued. After that time passes, the specific ruling lapses — and the general ruling reverts. This is not naskh; it is takhṣīṣ al-waqt (time-specific restriction).

(3) The Quran contains rulings that are framed as obligations (farḍ) — and alongside them, permissions (ibāḥa) are given. The obligation continues; the permission is merely an indication that the act is also permissible at another time. The permission does not negate the obligation and is not its "abrogation."

(4) Sometimes a single sentence contains two objectives: the first objective remains the same; but the second objective is later clarified more explicitly. This apparent re-statement is bayān, not naskh. The earlier and later rulings are in fact the same ruling — people's confusion arises from their failure to see the unity.

(5) Occasion-specific ruling: a ruling is issued for a specific event or person, with a condition (qayd) attached. When another ruling is issued without that condition, the condition-bound ruling is not superseded — it simply applies to its specific condition; the general ruling applies in general.

(6) Sometimes a general ruling is given for a specific group, but people try to extend it by analogy to other groups — yet the analogy fails because there are specific distinguishing features (khawāṣṣ) in the original group that do not apply elsewhere. The second ruling is thus not "abrogating" the first — it is establishing that the analogical extension was invalid.

(7) Example: The Qurʾānic verse﴿وَالْعَصْرِ إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾(al-ʿAṣr 103:1–3) — is the exception (istithnaʾ) abrogated? No: the استثناء is precisely the key to the ruling; the exception is permanent.

Continuation: Key Examples of Disputed Abrogation

(Examining specific Qurʾānic āyāt that have been said — incorrectly in the author's view — to be mansūkh (abrogated).)

Example 1: The Ruling on Wills and Inheritance

Some laws are temporary (mawqūt) and some are permanent (muʾabbad). When a ruling is given for a temporary period and that period passes, the ruling naturally lapses — it has not been abrogated (mansūkh), but completed (tamām al-waqt). This is like a temporary government order (karfew-ārdar) that was in force and then was lifted — it was not repealed; it simply expired.

Now consider the āya in question:﴿وَأَخَذْتُمْ عَلَى ذٰلِكُمْ إِصْرِي قَالُوا أَقْرَرْنَا﴾— "And you took upon yourselves My solemn pledge — they said: We acknowledge it." (Āl ʿImrān 3:81) From this āya it is clear that all the previous Prophets received the covenant regarding the coming of the final Messengerﷺ— and when he was sent, their religious law (sharīʿa) was completed. Thus the rulings of all previous Prophets were not "abrogated" — their mandate expired upon the arrival of the Seal of the Prophetsﷺ, whose law supersedes and completes them all.

On the Ruling of Ṣalāt and Intoxication

لَا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَى

Lā taqrabū l-ṣalāta wa-antum sukārā.

"Do not approach prayer while you are in a state of intoxication." (al-Nisāʾ 4:43)

Some say: the ruling against intoxication came later, and this verse is therefore mansūkh. The author disagrees: the command﴿لَا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ﴾(do not approach prayer [while drunk]) was not abrogated. Rather, this āya was the preamble and preparatory stage for the final prohibition of intoxicants: first came the partial restriction (do not drink before prayer times), then the full prohibition came. The initial ruling regarding prayer itself was not abrogated — the ruling on intoxicants was progressively strengthened. The scholars of Islām wisely inculcated the major principles first (tawḥīd, ṣalāt, imān), then attached other obligations — such that a new Muslim would accept Islām and then gradually take on the full burden of the sharīʿa.

Continuation: On the Permanence of Qurʾānic Rulings

(The author argues that apparent nasx cases are actually examples of context-specific or time-specific rulings, not true abrogation.)

(5) Rulings given at a specific time — such as the commandment:﴿انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا﴾"March forth, whether light or heavy" (al-Tawba 9:41) — some say this has been abrogated. The author: the addressees of this verse are specific; only those for whom jihād is obligatory (who have the required provisions, a mount, and the ability) are commanded. Not every Muslim is addressed universally — there are conditions (shurūṭ) that qualify the command, and these conditions are implicitly present.

A Key Principle. The author's central position: no ruling of the Quran has been permanently abrogated. Consider: the Messengerﷺis the last of the Prophets, and his dīn (religion) is for all time until the Last Day. Will Muslims always be triumphant (ghālib) or not? Will the condition of all Muslims in all times and places be one and the same? The situation of the Turks, the Afghans, the people of Iraq and Syria and Palestine, and now the condition of our own people — all are different. For each condition there is an appropriate āya and a relevant ruling from the Quran. When the condition changes, the appropriate ruling changes accordingly — but not by naskh; by the principle of applicable context (naẓar al-ḥāl).

The Preserved Completeness of the Quran. Consider:﴿قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ﴾— "Say: O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship, and you are not worshippers of what I worship." (al-Kāfirūn 109:1–2) — Is this āya abrogated? No. Islām is dīn al-fitrat — the religion that pervades all of humanity. It has been given as the permanent dīn for the whole world:﴿إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ﴾"Indeed, the religion before Allāh is Islām." (Āl ʿImrān 3:19) Islām was given as the religion of the entire human race — it is not abrogated and will never be abrogated.

On Sūrat al-Kāfirūn. Its meaning: "I do not worship the things you worship, and you do not worship what I worship — my way of worship is separate; your way of life is yours; mine is mine. You will have the recompense of your deeds, and I will have the recompense of mine." And those who say that Sūrat al-Kāfirūn has been abrogated by the āyat al-sayf (the Sword Verse) are mistaken — the āyat al-sayf concerns the general jihād obligation, not the theological declaration of barāʾa (dissociation from polytheism).

Continuation: Preservation of the Quran — Responding to Doubts

(Page 40 addresses the claim that some verses have been abrogated by other verses or by ḥadīth — refuting each claim in turn.)

The Quran's Abiding Integrity. The people of sound scholarship have always held firm to this: the Quran is protected, and Allāh Himself is its guardian. Let those who doubt consider: have these doubters presented a single version of the Quran that differs from the standard recension? No. The naṣṣ of the Quran —﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾— is itself the refutation of any claim that the Quran is deficient or altered.

A Companion's Statement. When ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allāh be pleased with him) once passed by a judge who was declaring certain āyāt to be mansūkh, ʿAlī said to him: "Do you know the Nāsikh (abrogating verses) and the Mansūkh?" The judge said: "Yes." Sayyidunā ʿAlī said: "Then you have led yourself astray and have misled others." He (the man) replied: "I do not understand." Sayyidunā ʿAlī responded: "Do you know those verses through which Allāh has specified certain rulings for certain communities, and which are therefore takhṣīṣ (specification) rather than naskh (abrogation)?" [reconstructed]

Example: Sūrat al-Kāfirūn. Its meaning is permanent and absolute: it declares the monotheist's complete dissociation (barāʾa) from polytheism and false worship. It has not been abrogated. Islām:﴿مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ﴾"What has been revealed to you from your Lord is the Truth." (al-Raʿd 13:1)

The Quran's Miraculous Signs Within History. Just as the Quran contains prophecies that have been fulfilled, it also contains Allāh's ongoing signs (āyāt Allāh) in the world:﴿سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ﴾(Fuṣṣilat 41:53) — "We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear that this is the Truth." Likewise:﴿إِنَّ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾"Surely in the heavens and the earth are signs for the believers." (al-Jāthiya 45:3) And:﴿وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِلْمُوقِنِينَ﴾"And in the earth are signs for those of certain faith." (al-Dhāriyāt 51:20)

The Quran challenges:﴿أَتُوا بِآيَةٍ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا﴾— "Bring a sign from Our signs!" — and the answer: the very continuation of Islām, the preservation of the Quran, and the light it has cast upon the world from the time of revelation to this day is itself the living sign.

Continuation: Examples of Claimed Naskh — Refutation Continued

(The author continues refuting specific claimed cases of nasx, drawing on the methodology of Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī.)

Example 2: The Ruling on Wills and Inheritance

Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī (may Allāh have mercy on him) declared the following verse abrogated:

﴿يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ﴾"Allāh instructs you concerning your children" (al-Nisāʾ 4:11)

And the ḥadīth:«لَا وَصِيَّةَ لِوَارِثٍ»lā waṣiyyata li-wārith — "There is no bequest for an heir" (Abū Dāwūd; al-Tirmidhī) — some say the verse on bequests has been abrogated by this ḥadīth.

The author disagrees: there is no naskh here. The original Qurʾānic verse﴿يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ﴾itself establishes the shares (ḥuṣaṣ) of heirs — thus the need to make a bequest for those whose shares are already fixed by Allāh is removed. The verse on bequest (waṣiyya) applied to relatives who had no fixed share; now that Allāh has fixed everyone's share, bequests for heirs become redundant — not because of naskh, but because the legal need is fulfilled. There is no contradiction between the two — there is clarification and completion.

Example 3: The Rule on Military Engagement (1:10 versus 1:2 ratio)

إِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صَابِرُونَ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ وَإِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ مِائَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفًا مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا

"If there are twenty patient warriors among you, they will overcome two hundred; and if there are a hundred of you, they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve." (al-Anfāl 8:65)

Then came the modifying verse:

الْآنَ خَفَّفَ اللَّهُ عَنْكُمْ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّ فِيكُمْ ضَعْفًا فَإِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ مِائَةٌ صَابِرَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ وَإِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أَلْفٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفَيْنِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ

"Now Allāh has lightened the burden for you, knowing that there is weakness among you. So if there are a hundred patient among you, they will overcome two hundred; and if there are a thousand, they will overcome two thousand by Allāh's permission — and Allāh is with the patient ones." (al-Anfāl 8:66)

The author: the first verse addressed the early Companions, who were hardened warriors, brilliant in military skill, and fired with certainty of faith. The second verse addressed later generations — whose faith and military expertise fell below the level of the early Companions. The ruling changed because the strength of the combatants changed — this is not naskh, but a contextual variation (tafāwut al-ḥāl). If today's Muslims are strong in faith, expert in military skill, and meet weak enemies — the first ratio applies; if weak against strong enemies — the second ratio applies. The ʿilla (operative cause) is the relative strength of the combatants, not the calendar date.

Continuation: Further Examples of Claimed Naskh

Example 4: Marriage with Polytheists

﴿وَلَا تَنكِحُوا الْمُشْرِكَاتِ حَتَّى يُؤْمِنَّ﴾"Do not marry polytheist women until they believe" (al-Baqara 2:221)

And:﴿وَأَنكِحُوا الْأَيَامَى مِنكُمْ﴾"And marry the unmarried among you" (al-Nūr 24:32)

Some say the second verse has been modified or abrogated by the first.

Shāh Walī Allāh (may Allāh have mercy on him) reports: Imām al-Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allāh have mercy on him) took the apparent (ẓāhir) sense of the prohibition — meaning: a free Muslim woman may not marry a polytheist or non-Muslim man. The ʿilla of the prohibition is: the man has authority over the woman in marriage, and a non-believer having authority over a believing woman is harmful to her faith. The author adds: the verse﴿وَأَنكِحُوا الْأَيَامَى﴾is general for Muslims — it simply means "marry the unmarried among you (i.e., Muslims)." There is no contradiction and no naskh.

Example 5: Private Consultation with the Prophetﷺ— the Ṣadaqa Rule

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَجِدُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

"O believers, when you wish to consult the Prophet privately, offer a charitable gift before your private consultation — that is better for you and purer. But if you cannot find the means, then Allāh is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (al-Mujādala 58:12)

Some say this verse was abrogated by the following verse that lifted the obligation when the financial burden proved too great.

The author: this is not naskh but a contextual ruling. The original āya addressed a specific situation — wealthy Companions who were monopolising the Prophetﷺ's time for private consultations; the ṣadaqa was to be given so that the poor could also benefit from the Prophetﷺ's attention. The subsequent verse did not "abrogate" this but clarified that the poor are exempt — and both provisions remain in force as applicable to their respective situations.

As Imām Mūsā (upon him be peace) was enjoined:﴿فَقُولَا لَهُ قَوْلًا لَيِّنًا﴾"And speak to him (Fīrʿawn) a gentle word" (Ṭāhā 20:44) — so the Prophetﷺwas instructed:﴿وَجَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ﴾"Dispute with them in the best manner" (al-Naḥl 16:125). These rulings of gentle persuasion have not been abrogated — they apply whenever dialogue and persuasion are the appropriate method. The obligation of jihād applies in its appropriate context; the two are not in contradiction.

Continuation: On the Stoning Verse and the Preservation of the Quran

The Alleged "Āyat al-Rajm" (Stoning Verse). Among the cases cited as an example of a missing verse is: "Al-shaykhu wa-l-shaykha idhā zanayā fa-rjumūhumā" — "The old man and the old woman, if they commit adultery, stone them both." Some scholars cite this as evidence that certain verses of the Quran have been lost.

The author's response: this is entirely false. The matn (text) of the Quran as we have it today is complete and preserved — not a single letter has been added or removed from the beginning of revelation until today. The preservation of the Quran is established by tawātur (mass transmission) — and the masāḥif of Sayyidunā ʿUthmān, Sayyidunā ʿAlī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, Zayd ibn Thābit, and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allāh be pleased with them all) were uniform in their naṣṣ. The very verse﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾guarantees this preservation.

As for the ḥukm al-rajm (ruling of stoning for the adulterer): this is established in the fiqh of Islām through the Sunnā (ḥadīth and ijmāʿ) — not through any lost Qurʾānic verse. The Quran's ruling in﴿الزَّانِيَةُ وَالزَّانِي فَاجْلِدُوا كُلَّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا مِائَةَ جَلْدَةٍ﴾(al-Nūr 24:2) concerns the ghayr muḥṣan (the unmarried person guilty of adultery) — the ruling for the muḥṣan (the married adulterer) is established through the Sunnā. Those who use the alleged āyat al-rajm against the Quran should consider: a single non-mutawātir report cannot stand against the mass-transmitted (mutawātir) text of the Quran. Those who try to show that the Quran is incomplete are in fact fighting against:﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾. Allāh preserve us from such errors.

Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth kā Āpsī Talluq — The Relationship Between the Quran and Ḥadīth

The Mutual Relationship. The Quran has come down to us by tawātur (unbroken mass transmission) —﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾— and it is obligatory for every Muslim to preserve it. No Muslim should be content to merely hold the Quran in his hand without understanding it. The Quran is the fundamental reference point; the Ḥadīth is the explanation and living implementation of the Quran.

As the ḥadīth states: «كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْآنَ» — kāna khuluquhu l-Qurʾān — "His character was the Quran." (Muslim — reported from Sayyidatunā ʿĀʾisha, may Allāh be pleased with her, about the Prophetﷺ) — meaning the Prophetﷺwas the living embodiment of the Quran. Those who reject the Ḥadīth in order to undermine the Quran are mistaken in their claim. Rather, a few weak or forged (ḍaʿīf/mawḍūʿ) ḥadīths do not justify rejecting the entire corpus of Ḥadīth — for the scholars have invested an enormous effort in distinguishing the sound from the weak.

Classification of Ḥadīth. Aḥādīth are of three categories:

(1) Mutawātir (Mass-Transmitted). A ḥadīth transmitted by such a large number of narrators in every generation that it is rationally inconceivable they could all have conspired to fabricate it. The mutawātir ḥadīth yields yaqīn (certainty); any report that contradicts it is rejected.

The mutawātir has two sub-types:

• (a) Mutawātir bi-l-lafẓ: Transmitted with the identical wording by all chains. Example:«إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ»— Innamā l-aʿmālu bi-l-niyyāt — "Actions are by intentions." (al-Bukhārī; Muslim)
• (b) Mutawātir bi-l-maʿnā: Different chains use different words but all converge on the same meaning. This also yields certainty — and to deny it is kufr (disbelief), just as denying a Qurʾānic ruling is kufr.

(2) Mashhūr (Well-Known). A ḥadīth narrated by multiple but fewer transmitters in each generation, not reaching the level of tawātur. If it yields yaqīn (certainty), denying it would be kufr; if it yields ẓann ghālib (strong probability), it is obligatory (wājib) to act upon it.

(3) Khabar Āḥād (Solitary Report). A ḥadīth that does not meet the threshold of tawātur or shuhrat — reported by one or a few narrators.

Regarding the Ḥanafī principle on khabar āḥād: Imām al-Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allāh have mercy on him) was once asked about a khabar āḥād; he said: "I do not accept it." A narrator said one thing; the chain broke. Sayyidunā Ibrāhīm (upon him be peace) noted that what is narrated repeatedly is more reliable than what is narrated once — but the khabar āḥād, when genuine, must still be acted upon; to reject all khabar āḥād would be to abandon the farāʾiḍ (obligations) of prayer, fasting, ḥajj, and zakāt.

Conclusion of the Muqaddima: The Quran's Preservation and the Authority of Ḥadīth

(The final page of this section, p. 45, concludes the muqaddima with a powerful statement on the Quran's inviolable preservation and the correct relationship between Quran and Ḥadīth.)

Those who attack the great Ḥadīth scholars — such persons have failed to study the commentaries (shurūḥ) of the Ṣaḥīḥ works: for example, Fatḥ al-Bārī by Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, ʿUmdat al-Qārī by al-ʿAynī, Irshād al-Sārī by al-Qasṭallānī, al-Nawawī's commentary on Muslim, and Badhl al-Majhūd — if they had read these, their doubts would be answered. What has been done by these slanderers? They fabricated doubts against the Quran and the Ḥadīth together — seeking to render both invalid. But the Quran has stood firm, and the Ḥadīth has proven itself.

Let it be known: the Quran is absolutely, without doubt, tanzīl (divine revelation) regarding its specific rulings (tajziyāt) — and the Ḥadīth is like a ḍābiṭ fī jawhar al-qāḍī (a standard within the core of the judge's ruling): it gives the juzʾiyyāt (the specific details and cases) of the Quran's kulliyyāt (universal principles). Therefore the Quran is known through the Ḥadīth — the Quran tells us the universals; the Ḥadīth gives us the specifics.

The Prophetﷺand the Quran are inseparable. The Prophet Muḥammadﷺis the Quran itself —﴿مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ﴾— and «كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْآنَ» (his character was the Quran). Those who deny the Ḥadīth after admitting the Quran have split what cannot be split. Allāh has charged the Ḥadīth scholars with the task of preserving and authenticating the Ḥadīth — and they have fulfilled this trust with extraordinary dedication.

A Ḥadīth on the Mercy of Allāh. The Prophetﷺdeclared: «إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْغَضُ الْكَافِرَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُؤْمِنَ» — Inna Allāha yabghaḍu l-kāfira wa-yuḥibbu l-muʾmin — "Indeed Allāh detests the disbeliever and loves the believer." And when a certain Companion pressed the Prophetﷺon a matter of ḥadīth, he tested him:

«زِدْ»(add more) — "Increase" — the man said one thing. The Prophetﷺsaid «زِدْ» again — he added more. Again «زِدْ» — he replied: "That was two; you owed me two." The Prophetﷺlaughed and said: "Go away; a guest has made his host laugh." — I ask: why did you doubt that ḥadīth? — That was a genuine ḥadīth. [A ḥadīth of direct dialogue demonstrating the authentic mujāwaba (repartee) tradition.]

Let it be known: the miracles (muʿjizāt) are of three kinds — those visible to the eye, those apprehended by the mind, and those perceived by the heart. The Quran encompasses all three. The Quran and the Ḥadīth together are the guides for every age, resolving the changes and challenges of every era — by Allāh's grace.

The Quran and Ḥadīth as Living Guides. Allāh blessed the Messengerﷺwith jawāmiʿ al-kalim (comprehensive words of wisdom) — and the living expression of the Quran's teaching in speech and action is preserved for us in the Ḥadīth. Together they remain the source from which every generation — no matter what changes and difficulties it faces — can draw guidance. May Allāh preserve this guidance for us forever.

[End of Pages 1–45. The Muqaddima concludes here. The commentary on Sūrat al-Fātiḥa begins on page 46 onwards.]

The Muqaddima (Preface) — continued

The Path of Knowledge and Sound Method

Allah Most High declares:

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا

Wa-lladhīna jāhadū fīnā la-nahdiyanna-hum subulanā.

"And those who strive for Our sake — We will surely guide them to Our paths." (al-ʿAnkabūt 29:69)

These paths lead to guidance and the Lord's own care.

And as He commands concerning knowledge received: do not speak of what you have no knowledge, for hearing, sight, and heart — each of these will be questioned. (al-Isrāʾ 17:36)

فَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ

Fa-ʿtabirū yā ulī l-abṣār.

"So take heed, O you who possess insight!" (al-Ḥashr 59:2)

Those possessed of wisdom and discernment — take the path toward truth; from the source, draw benefit from the days allotted; and do not sever yourselves from true guidance.

وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَى أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَنبِطُونَهُ مِنْهُمْ

Wa-law raddūhu ilā al-Rasūli wa-ilā ulī al-amri min-hum la-ʿalimahu lladhīna yastanbiṭūnahu min-hum.

"Had they but referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, those who can draw proper inferences from it would have arrived at the right conclusion." (al-Nisāʾ 4:83)

Those who possess the faculty of istinbāṭ (legal deduction) would have arrived at its proper meaning.

إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا

In jāʾakum fāsiqun bi-nabaʾin fa-tabayyinū.

"If a morally corrupt person brings you any news, verify it carefully." (al-Ḥujurāt 49:6)

The Prophet Muḥammadﷺsaid:«إِنَّ اللهَ يَرْضَى لَكُمْ ثَلَاثًا»— "Indeed Allah is pleased for you on account of three things." (Abū Dāwūd; Ibn Māja, p. 55)

Act; do not accept every report without verification.

Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: the Messenger of Allahﷺwas travelling, and the time of prayer came. He had no water for ablution (wuḍūʾ). The difficulty of the situation weighed upon them, yet he performed dry ablution (tayammum) and led the prayer. It was only after the prayer had been completed that water arrived.

One of those present performed fresh ablution and repeated the prayer, while another did not. Both later presented themselves before the Prophetﷺ. To the one who had repeated the prayer he said:«لَكَ الْأَجْرُ مَرَّتَيْنِ»— "For you is the reward twice over — for you acted in accordance with the Sunna, having renewed your ablution." (Abū Dāwūd; al-Dārimī)

"Your first prayer has been accepted," he said, "and to the one who re-performed: 'You have received a double reward.'"

From ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with him): he narrated that he heard the Messenger of Allahﷺsay:«إِذَا حَكَمَ الْحَاكِمُ فَاجْتَهَدَ فَأَصَابَ فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ»— "When a judge renders a judgment and strives in his effort (ijtihād) and arrives at the right conclusion, he receives two rewards; and if he strives and errs, he receives one reward." (al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, vol. 2, p. 1006)

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) relates: the Prophetﷺ, returning from the Battle of the Trench, instructed:«لَا يُصَلِّيَنَّ أَحَدٌ الْعَصْرَ إِلَّا فِي بَنِي قُرَيْظَةَ»— "Let none of you pray ʿAṣr except at Banī Qurayẓa." Among the Companions, some interpreted this literally and did not pray until they arrived; others prayed on the way, reasoning that the intent was urgency of travel, not delay of the prayer. When the matter was reported to the Prophetﷺ, he did not rebuke either group. (al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, p. 223)

From ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him): the Messenger of Allahﷺsaid:«خَيْرُ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ الْقَرْنُ الَّذِي بُعِثْتُ فِيهِمْ»— "The best of this community is the generation into which I was sent — the generation that follows next, then the one after." (al-Tirmidhī)

And from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophetﷺsaid:«أَهَا صَحُّ فِقْهًا فِي الدِّينِ»— "He is most sound in the understanding of religion who, when he is needed, benefits those around him; and if he is not sought out, enriches them with his independence." (al-Tirmidhī, Sunan, p. 63) "When people come to him, he benefits them; when they neglect him, he suffices in himself, proceeding in accordance with knowledge."

From Muʿāwiya (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophetﷺsaid:«مَنْ يُرِدِ اللهُ بِهِ خَيْرًا يُفَقِّهْهُ فِي الدِّينِ»— "Whomsoever Allah desires good for, He grants him deep understanding (fiqh) in the religion. And I am only a distributor; it is Allah who gives." (Fiqh ʿalā.)

Now consider these verses and aḥādīth: what principles do they contain? How does legal difference of opinion (ikhtilāf) arise from a single ḥadīth? The reality is that the learned and the ignorant are not equal. The scholar has a higher station. The ignorant person's task is to ask; the scholar's task is to guide him. One should rely on those who are learned, follow their guidance, and never make heedless pronouncements.

The right of the scholar is that one should follow his word — whether it accords with the positions of one's own family, one's ancestors, or one's habitual teachers — without blind partisanship. The ignorant who oppose scholars and take matters into their own hands, adopting one opinion here and another there, and then condemn everyone else, have gone astray. For a single truth (ḥaqq) cannot be contradicted by another truth; and if two opposing views are simultaneously held, one or both must be false.

Cases whose source is the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth are sound; cases whose source is neither the Qurʾān nor the Ḥadīth are not sound — even if some scholars derive them from Qurʾān and Ḥadīth. For sometimes a scholar is so deep in knowledge that others cannot perceive the connection — and this is precisely the nature of ijtihād. A person is most well-acquainted with those closest to him: his teachers, his family, and the scholars of his own land.

Consider this further: one narrator (rāwī) may have a sharper memory; another may be more reliable in precision. The imāms of the Ḥanafī school well understood the Qurʾān — its general (ʿāmm) and restricted (khāṣṣ) meanings — and they applied this knowledge to individual cases.

Some scholars hold that the particular (khāṣṣ) of the Ḥadīth qualifies the general (ʿāmm) of the Qurʾān; others hold that the Qurʾān's generality prevails. Each has his evidence, and each sees the other's position as contradicting the Qurʾān. But in truth, both are working within their own principles.

It should be noted: from the mass of Companions and Followers (Tābiʿīn), many narrated aḥādīth. Some aḥādīth reached all the Companions; others reached only certain cities. The scholars of one city might know a particular ḥadīth that those of another city did not, and vice versa. Some learned scholars required two witnesses for reports of legal weight (khabar al-wāḥid); others accepted single reliable narrators.

When ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) heard a solitary report, he required an oath from the narrator alongside the testimony. This was not denial of the ḥadīth, but caution. In general, when scholars would pose questions to the public, they would hear many reports — and they would weigh them. One imam would record a partial ḥadīth in one place, and the complete chain (sanad) elsewhere. The meeting of teacher and student is necessary; the mere contemporaneity of two scholars is not sufficient. Some scholars accept weak (ḍaʿīf) aḥādīth in matters of virtue (faḍāʾil al-aʿmāl).

The principles of the scholars differ. Each upholds the aḥādīth that align with his methodology. This does not mean they act contrary to ḥadīth. The true state of affairs is: the Messenger of Allahﷺis not present among us to resolve disputes personally; the diversity of transmission routes is what has caused this multiplicity. Whoever opposes a ḥadīth merely with his tongue is simply rationalizing.

The six canonical collections (Ṣiḥāḥ Sitta), along with the other books of ḥadīth — Ḥākim, Ṭabarānī, Kalbī, Kullābī — all preserve their material. To criticize the imāms while having studied the aḥādīth, yet then to abandon the school (madhhab) of the imāms, is a serious error.

There are four gradations of legal scholars:

First: The mujtahid muṭlaq, the master who has laid down his own principles (uṣūl). His method of istinbāṭ (legal derivation) and argumentation is original. Examples include Imām Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him).

Second: The mujtahid fī l-madhhab. His principles of derivation are those established by the founding imām, but in particular questions he may differ. These are what people ordinarily call the disciples of the imāms.

Third: The mujtahid fī l-masʾala. He is an authority in specific questions, or when a new issue arises he provides a ruling. He gives answers within the school's framework.

Fourth: The muqallid (follower). He selects from among the earlier scholars' conflicting positions. He cannot exercise the authority of a muftī independently. He extracts a scholar's opinion from the books. Scholars of this rank are the most commonly encountered.

An additional level exists — one who calls himself Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Mālikī, or Ḥanbalī, yet freely mixes positions. This is entirely wrong.

These scholars each have their own branch of understanding. They are nuqqāl (transmitters) of the original learning. Their knowledge extends only as far as looking up the answer in a book. In reality, they lack genuine istinbāṭ (juristic deduction). Whatever they pronounce as permissible or impermissible — they make the same pronouncement in Shāfiʿī, in Ḥanafī, in Mālikī, and in Ḥanbalī alike.

In the days of the Salaf (pious predecessors), there was scholarly difference of opinion, but scholars did not call each other impious or irreligious. They respected one another despite their disagreements.

O people! What age has come? The learned are silent; and those who ought to be calling others together have fallen to fighting among themselves. Rival congregations refuse to pray behind each other's imāms. People take their disputes to non-Muslim courts and accept their rulings.

Once, in Khaydarābād, the author (faqīr) himself prayed the ʿAṣr prayer in a single mosque where Ḥanafīs and Ḥanbalīs were praying simultaneously, their rows interleaved — to the point that it was difficult to know whose takbīr one was following. Eventually a just authority assigned separate imāms for each school, so that worshippers from all four schools could pray behind the imām appropriate to them.

It is a self-evident truth that the learned know, and the ignorant must ask and rely upon them. Thus:

فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

Fa-sʾalū ahla l-dhikri in kuntum lā taʿlamūn.

"Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know." (al-Naḥl 16:43)

The Prophetﷺ's Companion said:«أَلَا سَأَلُوا إِذْ لَمْ يَعْلَمُوا فَإِنَّمَا شِفَاءُ الْعَيِّ السُّؤَالُ»— "Why did they not ask when they did not know? For the remedy of ignorance is the question." This is how the learned of every worldly discipline operate — specialists are trusted. When a carpenter does not know masonry, he consults a mason. Self-sufficiency and arrogance lead to ruin.

In this domain, false conclusions abound. Can no capable authority be found? Where are they? Such gifted scholars are rare in our times. Think for a moment upon the levels and degrees of ijtihād:

First — the absolute mujtahid, master of original principles, whose method of derivation and argumentation is independent of any predecessor. Such was Imām al-Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him).

Second — the mujtahid fī l-madhhab, whose principles of derivation are those inherited from his imām, though he may differ in individual questions. Such were Imām Abū Yūsuf and Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (may Allah have mercy on them).

Third — the mujtahid fī l-masʾala, who is a recognized authority in particular questions, or who rules on newly arising issues within the school.

Fourth — the muqallid, who selects from among established earlier positions; the muftī at this level cannot make an independent ruling that contradicts the school.

A further category exists — the person who considers himself Ḥanafī yet treats mubāḥ (neutral acts) as forbidden. This is unlawful innovation (tashrīʿ fī al-dīn).

Now consider: those who derive legal rulings (masāʾil sharʿiyya) — what qualification do they possess? For fiqh one requires: Arabic language and rhetoric; familiarity with Qurʾān and its exegetical principles; knowledge of ḥadīth and rijāl (narrator-criticism); uṣūl al-fiqh; and awareness of prevalent custom, local usage, and the objectives and secrets of religion (asrār wa-maqāṣid al-dīn). Only after all this can one reliably pronounce on a legal question.

On Taṣawwuf and the Divine Names and Attributes

What, now, is taṣawwuf (Sufism)? It is the science by which one comes to know the Divine Essence (dhāt) and Attributes (ṣifāt), and the relationship of the Lord with His servants. ʿIlm al-kalām (scholastic theology) addresses these matters through rational demonstration. The Sufi (ṣūfī) also engages with them, but through the power of spiritual unveiling (kashf). The Divine Essence and the Names and Attributes are all eternal (qadīm). Scholars and Sufis together elucidate them, formulate technical terms for discussion, and express the realities in appropriate terminology.

God's Essence is One; His Attributes are eternal. The Sufi says: al-wujūd al-muṭlaq (Absolute Being) is what they call the pure Essence in respect of Its oneness (aḥadiyya), and the Essence in respect of Attributes is wāḥidiyya, and in respect of the Attributes as manifest is maʿiyya.

According to the Sufis, the Essential Attributes are seven: Life (ḥayāt), Knowledge (ʿilm), Hearing (samāʿ), Sight (baṣar), Power (qudra), Will (irāda), Speech (kalām). The Sufi says: the Divine Essence is inherently self-subsisting (bāldhāt), while all else exists through Him (bilʿarḍ). The Essence is pure in itself; no accident can attach to It.

He quotes the verse:﴿هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ﴾— "He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden" — and explains: in respect of eternity (qidam), He is First; in respect of Essence, He is Last; in respect of Attributes, He is Manifest; in respect of depth and subtlety, He is Hidden; in respect of self-evidence (shuhūd), He is again Manifest.

The Sufi means by fanāʾ (annihilation) the dissolution of the ego-self; what remains is the pure dhāt al-wāḥid (One Essence). All the asmāʾ (Names) and ṣifāt (Attributes) are manifestations of that singular Existence.

Is there genuine overlap between the Sufi understanding and that of the theologian (mutakallim)? Both ultimately affirm that the Divine Essence and Attributes are eternal. Their terminological differences should not be mistaken for substantive disagreement. When one understands what each means, the differences dissolve.

The claim that Muslims borrowed the knowledge of God and His Attributes from other peoples is entirely false. God and those who know Him have always been present; the knowledge of divine unity (tawḥīd) is original to Islām and to the revelation. Those who assert that the concepts of divine transcendence and immanence in Islamic learning derive from Greeks, Persians, or Israelites are wrong. The knowledge of God in Islām is derived directly from the Qurʾān and the Sunna.

To know the Divine Essence, Names, and Attributes is not unique to Sufism — it is the duty of every Muslim. The verse declares:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَتِمُّوا نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكُمْ

"O you who believe, fulfil My favour upon you." (al-Māʾida 5:3)

No people love God more fervently than the Muslims. They know God — through reason, and through heart, and through fervent love (istiʿdād).

For those who wish further inquiry, the author refers to the following works: (1) ʿUrwa al-Wuthqā, (2) ʿĀlam al-Islāmī, (3) Sharḥ-e-Uṣūl fī ʿIlm al-Kalām, (4) Maqām-e-Ghaybīyya.

On the Language of the Qurʾān

There is scholarly disagreement even regarding the words of the Qurʾān and their meanings. The author's approach in this tafsīr (Tafsīr-e-Ṣiddīqī) is: when explaining each word, to consider both its technical/classical meaning and the meaning it carries in general usage. For each word, he examines both the specific Qurʾānic nuance and the common usage, so that the reader who already knows the Arabic word will also understand what related Urdu synonyms carry the same sense.

Take, for instance, the chapter Tabba yadā Abī Lahab — people misunderstand the phrase by missing the precision of yad in Arabic usage.

The Urdu speaker must be aware: wherever ellipsis (ḥadhf) occurs in the Qurʾān, supplying the omitted element makes the sentence complete, but the omission itself preserves the beauty and eloquence — the natural style of Arabic speech at its most exalted. The Qurʾān's omissions are of a purposeful, artistic kind, familiar to anyone who understands Arabic usage.

The Qurʾān frequently returns to the story of Ādam (upon him be peace) and Iblīs — because it is through understanding the nature of human vulnerability, and Shayṭān's pride and deception, that humanity gains its most vital moral lesson. The story of Maryam (upon her be peace) demonstrates that even a woman devoted entirely to God can be a recipient of divine ilhām (inspiration). Similarly, the story of Mūsā (upon him be peace) — his being placed as an infant in a chest and cast upon the river, his being found and raised by Firʿawn's wife — is a profound lesson: those whom a tyrant seeks to destroy, God takes under His own protection and causes their cause to flourish through the very instrument of the oppressor.

The repetition of certain Qurʾānic verses across many places serves the purpose of embedding their meaning deeply in the heart — just as a gem catches light differently from every angle, and each new view is a fresh illumination.

The Qurʾān contains condensed wisdom: no single verse is without inexhaustible benefit. Those who look merely at the physical properties of figs or olives when reading﴿وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ﴾have entirely missed the point. The sūra is not a botanical text. The oath-by-place — al-Tīn and al-Zaytūn and Ṭūr Sīnīn and al-Balad al-Amīn — draws together the greatest sacred sites of human history: Shām (Syria-Palestine), where numerous prophets rested and are buried; the environs of Jerusalem and the Zaytūn (Olive) Mount; Ṭūr Sīnā, the blessed mountain of Mūsā (upon him be peace) where the divine tajallī (theophany) descended; and Makka, the blessed city, site of Ādam (upon him be peace), Ismāʿīl (upon him be peace), and the seal of the prophets, Muḥammadﷺ.

The entire sequence culminates in the declaration:

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

La-qad khalaqnā al-insāna fī aḥsani taqwīm, thumma radadnāhu asfala sāfilīn, illā alladhīna āmanū.

"We have indeed created the human being in the best constitution; then We returned him to the lowest of the low — except those who believe and do righteous deeds." (al-Tīn 95:4–6)

The sacred sites are the framework; the ultimate message is the spiritual elevation or degradation of the human soul.

Special Features of Tafsīr-e-Ṣiddīqī

The distinguishing features of this tafsīr include the following:

(1) Observance of principles of recitation (tajwīd) and the honour (iḥtirām) of the Qurʾānic text: rules of proper reading are observed throughout, alongside their exegetical significance.

(2) A rendering accessible to a general Urdu readership: the Arabic text is made accessible while preserving the full depth of the original; the author guards against the translator's temptation of excessive paraphrase. He has taken care that the reader not feel that he needs to know Arabic to benefit from the translation — the Qurʾān is its own key, fa-innahu yufassiru baʿḍuhu baʿḍ (parts of it explain other parts).

(3) Treatment of metaphor and figurative usage (majāz and istiʿāra): where attribution is figurative — as in the attribution of "curing" (riy) to Jesus (upon him be peace) — this tafsīr explains that it is a nisbat majāzī (figurative attribution), while the true agent is Allah Most High. When Jibrīl (upon him be peace) said to Maryam:«أَنَا رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكَ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا»— "I am a Messenger of your Lord, to bestow upon you a pure boy" — the attribution of "giving" to Jibrīl is figurative; the real Giver is Allah.

(4) Treatment of mushākala (analogical parallelism): where the Qurʾān employs a term in an unusual or paradoxical sense to mirror the opponent's own language, as in﴿وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللهُ وَاللهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ﴾— "They schemed, and Allah also 'schemed', and Allah is the best of schemers" — this tafsīr explains that the apparent similarity in terms is literary, not ontological: the verse means that Allah responded to their plotting with overwhelming divine counter-planning. Similarly:﴿يَخْدَعُونَ اللهَ وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ﴾— "They seek to deceive Allah, while He is responding to their deception."

(5) Technical clarity on grammar and syntax: when a student of Arabic finds a grammatical difficulty, it is resolved clearly.

(6) The tafsīr establishes that the legal schools (madhāhib) of all the imāms are derived from the Qurʾān. The imāms accepted what they learnt from the Companions and their students in sincerity; hence every Muslim's true source is the Qurʾān itself.

(7) This tafsīr addresses the principal objections raised by opponents of Islam — on matters such as jizyah, the rulings on warfare (jihād), slavery, and women's status — providing clear and documented responses.

(8) In the discussion of any contentious question, an approach is taken whereby those with doubts about the school's position will find their doubts addressed without the objection even being explicitly named.

(9) Further, the objections of critics are presented in such a manner that no specific adversary is named or shamed, and the response is given calmly and with fairness.

(10) Taṣawwuf (Sufism) and moral and ethical principles are woven into the Qurʾānic exegesis, making clear — within a framework accessible to every reader — that all such questions are ultimately addressed within the Qurʾān itself.

(11) Special attention is paid to the connections between verses (munāsabāt al-āyāt) — how one verse's meaning illuminates another, and how each must be read in relation to the broader siyāq (context).

(12) This tafsīr proves that the Qurʾān contains no taḍādd (internal contradiction), and that every verse's clarity is self-evident.

(13) The style of this tafsīr has been made elegant, accessible, and deeply engaging — of benefit not only to those with advanced Arabic, but to educated Urdu readers; and it opens before them the objectives and principles of Islamic law, so that the truths of Islām become apparent.

The author concludes the Muqaddima with this prayer: he beseeches Allah Most High for the acceptance of this work, that it may guide people, and that it may bring blessing to all who read it.

— The humble author (faqīr) ʿAbd al-Qādir Ṣiddīqī al-Qādirī