The Quran is a mizan (the scale that tells good from evil) and a furqan (the distinguisher between good and evil) on this earth and a muhaymin (guardian) over other divine scriptures:

اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ (17:42)

It is God who has revealed with truth the Book which is the scale. (42:17)

In this verse, the particle وَ (waw) is for explication, and thus the word al-mizan is actually used to connote al-kitab. The verse means that the Almighty has revealed the Quran which is a scale of justice meant to distinguish good from evil. People can judge good and evil through it. It is the only scale that weighs everything else, and there is no scale in which it can be weighed:

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْفُرْقَانَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَالَمِينَ نَذِيرًا (1:25)

Blessed be He who has revealed al-furqan to His servant so that it may warn the whole world. (25:1)

The Quran is also al-furqan in the same sense, ie a book which is the final and absolute verdict in distinguishing truth from falsehood. This word also connotes the fact that this Book is the standard on which everything needs to be judged and is a decisive word on matters which relate to religion. Everyone must turn to it only to resolve differences of opinion. Nothing can be a judge on it; it shall reign supreme in the dominion of religion and divine guidance, and every person is bound not to make it subservient to any other thing:

وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ فَاحْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءهُمْ عَمَّا جَاءكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ (5: 48)

And [O Prophet!] We have revealed to you this Book with truth in confirmation of the Book before it, and standing as a guardian over it. Therefore, give judgement among them according to the guidance revealed by God, and do not yield to their whims by swerving from the truth revealed to you. (5:48)

Here the word used to connote the above sense is muhaymin (guardian). It is an adjective formed from the words هَيْمَنَ فُلاَنٌ عَلَى كَذَا which means “a guardian” and “a protector”. In this verse, the Quran has been regarded as a muhaymin on the previous scriptures. It means that the Quran is the real authentic and trustworthy version of the Book of God. Thus, when the texts of other scriptures were lost to posterity and their translations were greatly tampered with, it was this Quran which was reposed with the status of judging between the right and wrong of those scriptures. Whatever it judges to be right is right and whatever it judges to be wrong is wrong and must necessarily be rejected.

This is the status of the Quran which it has asserted about itself. Consequently, on the basis of this status, the following principles need to be adhered to:

Firstly, no divine revelation extraneous to the Quran and not even the Prophet (sws), to whom this Quran was revealed, can specify a general directive of the Quran or alter any of its directives. Everything shall be accepted as religion or rejected that it is not on the basis of the Quran. Everything accepted in religion shall be rigorously scrutinized under the light of this Divine Guidance. All basis of belief and faith shall be directly derived from it. Every revelation, inspiration, research and opinion shall be subservient to the Quran, and it shall be acknowledged that even the works of great jurists like Abu Hanifah and al-Shafii, scholars of Hadith like al-Bukhari and Muslim, theologians like al-Ashari and al-Maturidi, sufis like Junayd and Shibli must be weighed in the scales of this mizan, and nothing can be accepted from them which is not in consonance with it.

Secondly, the text of the Quran is univocal. The meaning conveyed by each word of it is definitive. Whatever it intends to say, it says with full certainty and there is no ambiguity about it. In no issue is it unable to convey what it wants to. The meanings of its words perfectly match the words, and the meanings do not in any way contradict what the words say. The only way to approach the Quran in order to understand it is through its words. With full certainty these words convey what they stand for and there is no question of any doubt or ambiguity in this regard.

Both these things are a natural corollary of the fact that the Quran is mizan andfurqan. There can be no two opinions about it. However, there are certain questions, which might create doubts in the minds of certain people in this regard:

Firstly, there exist at some places differences of reading the Quran. These differences are not only due to a difference in pronouncing words but at times are also of the sort which effect the meanings they convey. Apparently, there is no decisive thing which on such instances is able to resolve the difference. For example, if the word أَرْجُلَكُمْ in 5:5 can be read both in the accusative and in the genitive, then how can it be said with certainty on the basis of the Quran whether in wudu feet need to be washed or just wiped.

Secondly, what we understand from the Quran is understood from its words and the way in which its sentences are constructed. The disciplines on which this understanding is dependent – syntax, morphology and lexicography etc – are not definitive (dhanni). How then can it be said that the meanings which words convey are absolutely certain? This question has been raised by Imam al-Razi in the following words:

دلالة الألفاظ على معانيها ظنية لأنها موقوفة على نقل اللغات ونقل الإعرابات والتصريفات مع أن أول أحوال تلك الناقلين أنهم كانوا آحادا ورواية الآحاد لا تفيد إلا الظن وأيضا فتلك الدلائل موقوفة على عدم الاشتراك وعدم المجاز وعدم النقل وعدم الإجمال وعدم التخصيص وعدم المعارض العقلي فإن بتقدير حصوله يجب صرف اللفظ إلى المجاز ولا شك أن اعتقاد هذه المقدمات ظن محض والموقوف على الظن أولى أن يكون ظنا

The intentionality of a text is speculative because it is dependent on the transmission of words with their meanings, declensions and inflections. Moreover, the transmitters were ahad and it is acknowledged about such transmitters that what they have transmitted cannot be taken to be totally preserved in its original form. Moreover, determining this intentionality of the text is dependent on the fact that the same word may stand for more than one entity, a word may be used figuratively, a word may have changed its meanings, a word may have been used concisely, a word may be used without limiting its meaning or used in contradiction to some logical premise because if there is a such a contradiction, then it is essential that a word be understood to be used figuratively. Undoubtedly, all these premises are accepted because of their speculative nature and what is based on speculation is all the more speculative. [1]

Thirdly, it has been mentioned in the Quran that some of its verses are muhkam and certain others are mutashabih, and the Quran itself has specified about the latter that only God knows their meaning. This strips the Quran of its status of the final judge. If we are not able to distinguish the muhkam from the mutashabih, and are also unable to understand what the mutashabih mean then how can we determine the purport of the Quran in these verses, and how can we regard it to be the final authority on the basis of this purport on other things?

Fourthly, there are certain Ahadith which seemingly alter the meaning of the Quran. Our scholars at some instances call it naskh(abrogation) and at others call it as tahdid, takhsis or taqyid. If this is accepted, then how can the Quran have the status of being the mizan and the furqan referred to above?

These are the questions which are generally posed in this regard. Following are the answers:

(a) Variant Readings:

Discussion 55754

(b) Intentionality of the Text:

Discussion 55762

(c) Muhkam and Mutashabih:

Discussion 55767

(d) Hadith and the Quran:

Discussion 55772

(Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)

(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)

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[1]. Fakhr al-Din Muhammad ibn ‘Umaral-Razi, Al-Tafsir al-kabir, 1st ed., vol.1(Beirut: Dar al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah, 1421 AH), 34.