The Story of the Qur'an

Its History and Place in Muslim Life

Ingrid Mattson

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781118257098
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

This popular introduction by a well-known Islamic scholar has been updated and expanded, offering a balanced portrayal of the Qur'an and its place in historic and contemporary Muslim society.

• Features new sections on the Qur'an and its relationship to democracy, science, human rights, and the role of women
• Contains expanded sections on the Qur'an in the life cycle of Muslims, and in Islamic ethics and law
• Incorporates additional images and student features, including a glossary.
• Supported by an accompanying website (available on publication) hosting a range of additional material, including student resources, links to important websites, news stories, and more
• This title is also available as an eTextbook on the CourseSmart platform, as a Wiley Desktop Edition, or via your preferred eTextbook vendor; eTextbooks offer convenience, enhanced electronic functionality, and flexible pricing options – learn more at www.wiley.com/college/wileyflex

1

GOD SPEAKS TO HUMANITY

God Hears and Responds

Before God mentioned her, Khawla bint Tha‘laba was apparently an ­ordinary woman living in seventh-century Medina in the Arabian Peninsula. For every person in this tribally organized sedentary community, dignity and honor were, to a large extent, commensurate with the status of his or her group. Descent (nasab) or affiliation (wala’) with a powerful clan was, for many people, a decisive factor in determining physical security and material success. Still, every individual had opportunities to prove the strength of his or her own character (hasab). For men, politics and war were arenas of particular distinction. Most women had little chance of significantly contributing to these areas of public life, although there were notable exceptions.¹ Rather, most women distinguished themselves by establishing and maintaining beneficial relationships with family, neighbors, and guests. Beauty, an energetic spirit, generosity, loyalty – these were the hallmarks of a noble woman. As the charms of youthful beauty faded, a woman could expect to earn increasing respect and gratitude for the relationships she had cultivated over the years.

It may have been anger that made Aws ibn Samit reject his wife with the vulgar expression, “To me, you are like the backside of my mother.”² Whatever the reason, after so many years of marriage, these words reduced Khawla to the status of his mother’s behind (devoid of sensual attraction and taboo). Moreover, according to Arab custom, there was no way to revoke the declaration of zihar. Henceforth, it was prohibited for Aws to touch Khawla, yet she was not free of the marital bond. Sympathetic family and friends had no power to override such norms and customs. Khawla’s only chance was to appeal to a power higher than social custom and patriarchal authority. And so, Khawla complained to God.

Complaining to God is not difficult; the challenge is eliciting a ­satisfactory response. In what Marshall Hodgson termed the “Irano-Semitic” tradition, the expected response from God entailed not only spiritual comforting but also social transformation.³ At the individual level, God could send a sign: a kind stranger with food and comforting words, the sun breaking free of the rain clouds, a heavenly vision appearing in a dream. Transforming society, on the other hand, required a different kind of intervention. It is for this purpose that God sent prophets with authority to speak on his behalf, empowered to overturn the existing social order.

When Khawla first went to the Arabian prophet to complain of the injustice done to her, she was disappointed. Muhammad⁴ indicated that existing customs remained normative unless God revealed a new ruling, and the Prophet had received no revelation about this issue. Khawla did not give up hope, for she knew that this custom was unjust; she continued to complain to God, and waited near his Messenger, expecting him to receive a revelation. Then the answer arrived:

God has heard the words of she who disputes with you regarding her husband and made her complaint to God. God hears your conversation. Verily God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.

Those of you who shun their wives by zihar – they are not their mothers. Their mothers are only those women who gave birth to them. Indeed they utter words that are unjust and false; but God is Absolving of Sins, All-Forgiving.

(Mujadila; 58:1–2)

With these verses God confirmed Khawla’s conviction that what had been done to her was unjust and was to be prohibited by law. Upon hearing this revelation, ‘A’isha, the Prophet’s wife who later would herself desperately need God to hear and respond to unjust claims made against her, declared, “Blessed is He whose hearing encompasses all things!”⁵

Defining the Qur’an

Khawla’s story shows the Messenger of God to be a man deeply involved in the lives of those around him. More importantly, Khawla’s story shows that God’s speech can be elicited by the concerns of ordinary people. The Qur’anic revelation, although transmitted through the Prophet, is not a response to his concerns alone. From an Islamic theological perspective, God created a community of men and women to whom he wanted to speak, in a manner that would have universal and eternal significance for people of other times and places.

This ruling on a form of divorce customary among pre-Islamic Arabs is one of a number of specific rulings that were revealed to Muhammad to rectify injustices present in his community. Other rulings deal with more general evils present in all societies, such as murder, theft, and betrayal of trust. Exhortations to strengthen the bonds of community are also found in abundance in the Qur’an. Honoring parents, sheltering orphans, giving charity, and fighting oppression are among the duties and hallmarks of the righteous. The foundation of all these legal and ethical pronouncements is faith in the one true God, the creator and sustainer of all creation.

Much of the Qur’anic revelation, however, is not, as is the case with Khawla’s story, obviously related to any historical event or legal dispute. The Qur’an is also infused with invocations, supplications, and doxologies:

Blessed is He in whose hand is the dominion, and He has power over all things.

He who created death and life to test which one of you is best in deeds, and He is the Eminent, the All-Forgiving.

(Mulk; 67:1–2)

Perhaps these were the words God spoke to the Prophet in his solitary moments, as he stood praying deep into the night. Other passages in the Qur’an are clearly directed to the Prophet individually, commanding him to rise and warn his people or to listen carefully to the revelation (74:1–7). Many passages of the Qur’an narrate incidents in the lives of pre-Islamic Hebrew and Arabian prophets and show how the resistance and hardship Muhammad faced in his mission to guide others to God is mirrored in the righteous struggles of his ancestors in faith:

We sent messengers before you to the communities of old; and we never sent a messenger but that they mocked him.

(Hijr; 15:10–11)

Together, these legal judgments, prayers, and narrative passages form a unity by virtue of their status as God’s words, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

In later chapters, we will explore these themes in more depth and we will describe how the Qur’an became a textual unity that encompassed numerous discrete revelations addressing diverse issues. In this chapter, we will describe the historical context of the revelation, show how Muhammad received God’s message, and consider how the Qur’an describes itself in relation to other forms of God’s speech and guidance to humanity.

Ancient Origins of the Meccan Sanctuary

The story of the Qur’anic revelation begins in Mecca, a desert town located in the Hijaz, the northwestern region of the Arabian Peninsula. In the sixth century CE, Mecca was poor in natural resources and comforts; it was not a pleasant oasis, rich in date palm groves, like Yathrib, a city almost 300 miles to the north where Muhammad would eventually establish his community of believers. Mecca was sparse and dry, made habitable only because mountain springs provided enough water to sustain a town of merchants and tradespeople.

According to the history of the pre-Islamic Arabs, Mecca was founded as a settlement by Abraham, his concubine-wife Hajar, and their son Isma‘il. It was Abraham and his son who built a simple structure, the Ka‘ba (literally, “the cube”), as a center for the worship of God. Other traditions traced the founding of Mecca as the primordial and most holy of sacred sites to Adam, the father of humanity, but credited Abraham and his family with establishing a permanent settlement there.

In an early Islamic report, rich in symbolism and detail, the Prophet Muhammad tells the story of how the unwavering faith and determined effort of Abraham and Hajar opened the way for divine intervention to secure the establishment of this sacred site:

The first woman to use a belt was the mother of Isma‘il. She used a belt so that she might hide her tracks from Sarah. Abraham brought her and her son Isma‘il while she was suckling him, to a place near the Ka‘ba under a tree on the spot of Zamzam, at the highest place in the mosque. During those days there was nobody in Mecca, nor was there any water. So he made them sit over there and placed near them a leather bag containing some dates, and a small skin containing some water, and set out homeward. Isma‘il’s mother followed him saying, “O Abraham! Where are you going, leaving us in this valley where there is no person whose company we may enjoy, nor is there anything here?” She repeated that to him many times, but he did not look back at her. Then she asked him, “Has God ordered you to do so?” He said, “Yes.” She said, “Then He will not neglect us,” and returned while Abraham proceeded onwards, and on reaching the Thaniya where they could not see him, he faced the Ka‘ba, and raising both hands, invoked God saying the ­following prayers: “O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Your Sacred House in order, O our Lord, that they may offer prayer perfectly. So fill the hearts of people with love towards them, and provide them with fruits, so that they may give thanks.” (Ibrahim; 14:37)⁶
Isma‘il’s mother went on suckling Isma‘il and drinking from the water she had. When the water in the water skin had all been used up, she became thirsty and her child also became thirsty. She watched him tossing in agony and she left him, for she could not endure looking at him, and found that the mountain of Safa was the nearest mountain to her on that land. She stood on it and started looking at the valley keenly so that she might see somebody, but she could not see anybody. Then she descended from Safa and when she reached the valley, she tucked up her robe and ran in the valley like a person making a great effort (majhud),⁷ until she crossed the valley and reached the Marwa mountain where she stood and kept looking, expecting to see somebody, but she could not see anybody. She repeated that (running between Safa and Marwa) seven times.
The Prophet Muhammad said: This is the source of the tradition of the running of people between (the mountains of Safa and Marwa). When she reached Marwa (for the last time) she heard a voice and she said “Shush” to herself and listened attentively. She heard the voice again and said, “O, (whoever you may be)! You have made me hear your voice; have you got something to help me?” And behold! She saw an angel at the place of Zamzam, digging the earth with his heel (or his wing), till water flowed from that place. She started to make something like a basin around it, using her hand in this way, and started filling her water skin with water with her hands, and the water was flowing out after she had scooped some of it.
The Prophet added: May God bestow Mercy on Isma‘il’s mother! Had she left Zamzam (to flow freely), Zamzam would have been a stream flowing on the surface of the earth. The Prophet further added: Then she drank and suckled her child. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid of being neglected, for this is the house of God which will be built by this boy and his father, and God never neglects His people.” The house at that time was on a high place resembling a hillock, and when torrents came, they flowed to its right and left.
She lived in that way till some people from the tribe of Jurhum or a family from Jurhum passed by her and her child, as they were coming through the way of Kada’. They landed in the lower part of Mecca where they saw a bird that had the habit of flying around water and not leaving it. They said, “This bird must be flying around water, though we know that there is no water in this valley.” They sent one or two messengers who discovered the source of water, and returned to inform them of the water. So, they all approached. The Prophet added: Isma‘il’s mother was sitting near the water. They asked her, “Do you allow us to stay with you?” She replied, “Yes, but you will have no right to possess the water.” They agreed to that. The Prophet further said: Isma‘il’s mother was pleased with the situation as she used to love to share the company of the people. So, they settled there, and later on they sent for their families who came and settled wit...