The Qur'an

An Introduction

Abdullah Saeed

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781134102938
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

There is much more to the Qur'an than the selective quotations favoured by Islamic fundamentalists. This book provides a student-friendly guide to the many ways in which the Qur'an can be read.

Designed for both Muslims and Western non-Muslim students, it examines the Qur'an in Western scholarship as well as giving an overview of the rich interpretive traditions from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day.

This guide is a concise introduction to all aspects of the Qur'an: history, understanding and interpretation, providing:

• coverage of both pre-modern and modern periods
• plenty of examples to illustrate key points and aid student understanding
• summaries, timelines and a glossary.

1 The Qur’an in its context

The world of the Prophet Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad’s life as part of the context

Socio-historical context and cultural language

Ethical language of the Qur’an: context and women

Intellectual currents that influenced Muslim engagement with the Qur’an

Summary

Recommended reading

Notes

THE REVELATION OF THE QUR’AN HAPPENED WITHIN the broad political, social, intellectual and religious context of Arabia in the seventh century CE, and in particular the context of the Hijaz region, where Mecca and Medina are situated. Understanding the key aspects of this context helps us to make connections between the Qur’anic text and the environment in which the text emerged. This includes the spiritual, social, economic, political and legal climate and the associated norms, customs, institutions and values of the region. Social norms, for instance, included those relating to family structure, social hierarchy, taboos and rites of passage, as well as issues of housing, gender relations, diet and distribution of wealth. The importance of all these aspects is supported by the frequency with which the Qur’an refers to them.

Understanding the context of the Qur’an also requires a detailed knowledge of the events of the Prophet’s life, both in Mecca and Medina. Many of the major events in the Prophet’s life, such as his Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem (which some Muslims consider to be a ‘spiritual’ journey), migration to Medina (hijra) in 622 CE, and the battles and skirmishes between the Muslims and their opponents, are mentioned in the Qur’an, but not in detail. Hence, an understanding of the background of the Prophet’s life and the developments taking place at the time are essential for understanding the significance of many verses. In the following, we will refer to this context as a ‘socio-historical’ one.

By the fourth/tenth century, the socio-historical context of the Qur’an played a less significant role in Islamic scholarship with the establishment of the discipline of Islamic law. Before then, the non-linguistic, historical context of revelation had been emphasized to a degree through the reports of asbab al-nuzul (occasions of revelation), which narrated the context surrounding the revelation of particular verses. While these reports purport to explain the immediate contexts of certain verses, we could argue that their ability to provide an understanding of the actual socio-historical context is limited. Many reports are contradictory and others are historically suspect, so they are often difficult to piece together into a coherent illustration of the context of a specific revelation.

Despite the importance of the socio-historical context for understanding the Qur’an, many Muslims today continue to be suspicious of this concept. For some Muslims, any discussion of the socio-historical context of revelation is perceived as a threat to their fundamental beliefs about the divine origins of the Qur’an. However, as far as a significant number of verses of the Qur’an are concerned, it is difficult to understand their meaning properly without having a basic understanding of the context in which they were revealed. Moreover, the more we know about the communities of Hijaz and Arabia in a cultural and historical sense, the clearer our understanding of the message of the Qur’an will be.

In this chapter we will discuss:

• the social, environmental and political context of Arabia during the time of the Prophet;
• how the message of the Qur’an was received within, and reflects, that context;
• how the Qur’an deals with the cultural practices and norms of seventh-century Arabia;
• the type of language used by the Qur’an to express ethical messages, and the way the interpretation of such messages is influenced by prevailing culture; and
• the early development of various currents of thought that influenced Muslim engagement with the Qur’an.

The world of the Prophet Muhammad

The Qur’an makes many references to the cultural and material world of Hijaz where Mecca and Medina are located, and Arabia in general. For instance, it refers to several important events that occurred there as well as prevailing attitudes and how the people of Arabia responded to the message of the Prophet Muhammad. It mentions several of the community’s institutions, norms and values.

Hijaz itself encapsulated the cultures that existed in much of Arabia and surrounding areas. These ranged from Mediterranean cultures, including Jewish and Christian, to southern Arabic, Ethiopian and Egyptian; all these influenced Hijaz and its people to varying degrees. Consequently, the socio-cultural life of Hijaz at the time of the Qur’an was highly diverse. Understanding this will help today’s reader of the Qur’an to make connections between the Qur’anic text and the environment that gave rise to the revelation.

Hijaz and Bedouin life

Much of the Hijaz and the surrounding region had a harsh climate, with little rainfall. There were a few agricultural settlements, such as the oasis of Yathrib, later known as Medina, and that of Ta’if, near Mecca. However, many of the region’s inhabitants were Bedouin nomads, rather than town dwellers. Both the Bedouin and the town dwellers adhered to ancient tribal codes of conduct that upheld values such as courage, patience in the face of adversity, generosity, hospitality, defending the honour of the clan or tribe, and avenging wrongs. On the negative side, there was no concept of universal care for other human beings. Instead, courage and selflessness were valued only in the service of one’s tribe.¹ It was always noble to help your kinsman, whether he was in the right or in the wrong. It was not considered courageous or manly to wait until one was attacked to retaliate, for example; the brave Bedouin would attack others before he himself was attacked.²

The tribal raid was a common feature of life in the region. These raids were essential to the economy of the region, as resources were extremely scarce. Most Bedouin lived in extreme conditions, with a small amount of food and income coming from herding sheep and goats. In difficult times, there was often no choice but to raid settlements for livestock or slaves. Care was taken not to kill anyone, because this would lead to a blood feud that would last for generations and be extremely costly to the tribe. Such raids and skirmishes were an accepted part of the harsh environment in the sixth century CE. In the religious sphere, each tribe often had its own deity. Each year, at the end of the cycle of markets around the peninsula, merchants and pilgrims would gather in Mecca to perform the ancient rites of pilgrimage.

Cities of the Prophet: Mecca and Medina

Mecca itself was a relatively small town in the early seventh century CE. As it was situated on rocky land, it was almost entirely dependent on the nearby oasis of Ta’if for its food supply. However, it also had an apparently miraculous source of water, the well of Zamzam, which made settlement possible.

The people of Mecca mostly belonged to several clans which made up the larger tribe of Quraysh. Some clans were rich and powerful and dominated societal affairs, while others were less wealthy and were becoming increasingly marginalized. Mecca also had the Ka‘ba, which was believed to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. As it attracted pilgrims every year, Mecca had become a significant trading town, strategically situated on several of the major caravan trade routes by the sixth century. Thus, many Meccans had become involved in the caravan trade.

Meccan affairs were managed by a collective of influential elders and leaders of the rich clans, through an informal consultative process. There was no ruler or formal state; instead, as in the desert, the clans provided safety and security for their members. Custom dictated that when a person from a tribe or a clan was threatened, it was the duty of the entire tribe or clan to defend that person, if necessary by force.³

Although Mecca was a settled town, many nomads, mostly herders of camels and sheep, lived around Mecca. The nomads and their herds were often raided by competing nomadic clans, and trade caravans also came under attack. This meant that settled communities had to enter into understandings and agreements with nomadic tribes to protect their caravan trade from raids. As a result of this harsh and uncertain environment, many Meccans held a fatalistic outlook on life.

Settled life had also diluted many of the traditional values of the desert. The Meccans still held courage and self-sufficiency in high regard, but many were becoming increasingly elitist and arrogant. With growing wealth through trade and power, many apparently had lost some of the positive qualities, such as care for the weak and needy.

The oasis of Yathrib, later known as Madinat al-Nabiy (‘City of the Prophet’) or simply Medina, was different to Mecca in many ways. Yathrib was populated by a number of different tribes that were making a transition from nomadic life to settled agriculture. Each tribe lived in its own part of the oasis in heavily fortified strongholds. The old values of desert life were stronger than they were at Mecca, but this also meant that most of the tribes were intensely hostile to one another.⁴ Although the oasis was fertile, land for crop-yielding fields was scarce.

The two largest ‘Arab’ groups in Medina were the tribes of Aws and Khazraj. By the early seventh century, these two tribes were caught up in a cycle of hostile competition over resources, which had degenerated into open warfare. Medina was also home to a number of Jewish tribes. Although they shared a Jewish religious identity, they too were divided and often fought each other. Many Jewish tribes were also allied with either the Aws or Khazraj tribes or one of their sub-clans, and had become caught up in the conflict.⁵

Religious context of the Hijaz

At the time of the Prophet, there were already several different religious traditions existing in Arabia. Christian and Jewish communities were scattered throughout the region. Mecca itself, however, was largely ‘pagan’, its people worshipping the many tribal deities housed in and around the Ka‘ba. Even in Medina the non-Jewish tribes were largely pagan. However, this tribal religion was not highly developed and most of the pagan Arabs were not greatly spiritual. Belief in an afterlife was not common, and the deities they worshipped were not given great respect. Religion seems to have been used mainly for striking bargains with a deity, that is, making offerings in return for favours. Although many believed in a supreme deity, ‘Allah’ or ‘the God’, and a very few, known as hanifs, sought to serve Him only, His presence added little to the tribe-oriented life of the pagan Arabs.⁶

Allah

Allah is the Arabic word for the Supreme Being, God; it simply means ‘the God’. It was used during the time of the Prophet Muhammad by pre-Islamic Arabs in Mecca to refer to a high God, above the idols that many Arabs worshipped. In Islam, this name came to be used for the one and only God. Muslims believe this God is the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

Many Christian communities existed in the north of Arabia and in parts of southern Arabia, though Christianity was less significant in the Hijaz. However, Judaism had a strong presence in Medina and Yemen. The Jewish influence in Medina had been strengthened through intermarriage, adoption and conversion. Although the concept of monotheism was slowly becoming better known, it was still viewed by many as foreign to and incompatible with Bedouin tribal society.

By the late sixth century CE, there was substantial interaction between the people of Hijaz and those in other parts of Arabia. This generally occurred through trade, especially with the towns and cities of the Byzantine and Persian empires, and through visits to Mecca by other Arabs wishing to pay their respects at the Ka‘ba. This interaction gave rise to a rich resource of legends, myths, ideas, figures, images and rituals that the Qur’an would later use to relate its narratives, norms and values to the context of Hijaz. The stories it would choose to narrate were those that were relevant to the region, whether they referred to people and narratives in biblical sources or local, Arabian legends.

Prophet Muhammad’s life as part of the context

Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final prophet of God. His life story is essential for understanding the development of Islamic ideals as well as the context of the Qur’anic revelation.

Muslim tradition holds that Muhammad was orphaned at a very young age and was cared for by his relatives. As a young man, he began a career as a merchant, as was the norm in Mecca. At the age of 25, he accepted a proposal of marriage from Khadija, his employer, a wealthy Meccan woman who was somewhat older than Muhammad. He was devoted to her until her death. Together, they had four daughters and two sons, although their sons died in infancy. Muhammad was known as an honest man, who spent time in meditation and solitude; he lived an otherwise unremarkable life until he reached middle age.

When Muhammad was 40 years old, he received a ‘revelation’ while meditating in a cave near Mecca. At the time, he was unable to comprehend fully what was happening to him and what the implications of the revelation actually were. It was some time before he was fully convinced that he was a prophet of God, entrusted with communicating God’s Word to his people. Once he had accepted this responsibility, Muhammad’s first step was to communicate the message to his own family, close relatives and very close friends. Slowly, he began to attract converts to his teachings; the first of these came fr...