Significance of the Sequence of Revelations of the Quran
Salam, Today;s post is a continuation of yesterday's post and i strongly advice you read that before reading this post. A link is provided: Initial Revelations of The Quran. Please take the time to read that. Thank you.
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The sequence of revelations is very significant. If we read the verses carefully, understand the message from Allah (SWT) to our beloved Prophet (SAW) through each of the revelation, and correlate them, we will come to a procedure described by Allah (SWT) to us, as to how shall a Muslim proceed in his/her life. It is as follows:
Message 1: The first word is “Read”, and then comes the discussion of pen (Surah Al-Alaq, Chapter No. 96 & Surah Al-Qalam, Chapter No. 68). The first thing Allah asks us to do is to Read. We can see what importance does ‘Reading’ & ‘Writing’ holds for Allah (SWT). This is a clear message to all of us (all Muslims) that the first step for a Muslim is to learn to read & write and acquire knowledge. Don’t just sit and keep following whatever is being told by others. It is a responsibility of each and every Muslim (man or woman) to get education; open up our minds; acquire knowledge.
Message 2: After the discussion of Read & Pen, Allah (SWT) tells Rasulullah (SAW) to wake up from sleep and pray at night (Surah Al-Muzzammil, Chapter No. 73). Here comes the message for us to pray and recite Qur’an. So, the next step for a Muslim is to pray to Allah and recite Qur’an.
Message 3: The last of the first three messages comes from Surah Al-Muddaththir (Chapter No. 74)
“Arise and warn!”
Here Allah (SWT) tells us to get up and preach His Word to others; to warn others of the Day of Judgement; to warn others about the life Hereafter; to warn others about the Hell. Here comes the message for Daawah.
Now, we correlate the three messages with each other and try to reach an inference. The inference derived can be looked in two different perspectives, both distinct (yet same) and correct.
Inference 1. We come up with a sequence chosen by Allah for us: First learn and acquire knowledge; then adopt the do’s and don’ts of the knowledge yourself first; then go out to preach to others.
So, it is OBLIGATORY on part of every Muslim to educate himself / herself and his / her children, both in terms of Islamic knowledge and other knowledge, with priority to knowledge of the religion i.e. Qur’an, Ahadith and other scriptures. Give utmost importance to education of your near & dear ones. And this importance should not be just limited to worldly knowledge (like becoming Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and the likes), instead priority should be given to the knowledge of Qur’an. Then, it is also OBLIGATORY to adopt the knowledge in our own lives and lead our lives accordingly. And, it is also OBLIGATORY to then (after acquiring knowledge and practising in our own lives) preach the knowledge of Islam to others (i.e. Daawah).
I repeat: All this (mentioned above) is OBLIGATORY.
Inference 2. The way to seek solution to any thing in our lives should be as follows:
Step 1. Acquire knowledge. First source should be Qur’an, then Ahadith, then sayings etc. of other verified scholars. If we are unable to get the required information by our study, then we should go to step 2.
Step 2. Consult the scholars, alfas. There are several issues which are a bit difficult to get direct references about, from Holy Scriptures. In such cases, scholars reach to a consensus about a certain ruling. This is called Ijma’a.
Step 3. If we do not reach to any satisfactory inference from Step 2, then we should do Istekhara to seek Allah’s guidance in the matter. In case, we do not get any solution even after doing Istekhara, then we should use our own wisdom (Qiyas), praying to Allah for guidance and making the decision better for us.
This is the way we have to do the things in our lives. But unfortunately, most of us are very far from this important fact. In fact, there is an irony too associated with the strategy we adopt: The first thing we do is to use our brains (Qiyas). Then if we are confused on some thing, we go and consult some scholars. Reading Qur’an and then Ahadith, in order to acquire knowledge, is the last thing we do.
Exactly in reverse order and opposite to what Allah says!!! What a pity!
Think. Let all of us think seriously. Dear brothers & sisters, please do not ignore Qur’an. Please do not take it for granted. Please do not make Qur’an just a pious Book being kept on top of the shelves only. Instead, let us understand Qur’an; let us start using Qur’an as our source of guidance. Let us not depend on the sources which have been told as last resorts. Instead, let us adopt the sequence told to us by Allah.
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