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  • Principles Understanding Quran:(4)The Final Authority[(c)Muhkam And Mutashabih]

    Posted by Umer on August 19, 2021 at 7:06 am

    The answer to the third question is that it is not correct that we cannot with certainty distinguish the muhkam verses of the Quran from the mutashabih or that we are unable to determine the meaning of the mutashabihat. All verses of the Quran on which its guidance is based are muhkam, and mutashabih are only those verses which mention certain blessings and torments a person may encounter in the Hereafter, and these are stated through parables or similes. Similarly, such verses state the attributes and actions of God or mention something which is beyond the grasp of our knowledge and observation like God blowing His spirit into Adam, birth of Jesus (sws) without a father or the various places and circumstances one may encounter in Paradise and Hell. All things for which words have not yet been invented can only be stated through parables and similes. The facts of an unknown world are stated through these very means in the literature of all languages of the world. For example, two hundred years ago, if a person had foreknowledge of electricity bulbs but at that time they had not been invented, he would perhaps have said: Lanterns which would neither require oil nor fire will one day light up the world. The nature of mutashabih verses is no different. Neither are they unascertainable nor is there any ambiguity in their meaning. They are set in eloquent Arabic, and we are able to understand their meaning without any difficulty. The only thing is that we are not able to understand what they imply in real life. However, since this lack of understanding has nothing to do with understanding the Quran, a believer should not get after determining what they imply. While explaining this, Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes:

    the reality to which these [mutashabihat] point is itself very clear and obvious. Human intellect can understand that part of it which is essential for it to understand. However, since it belongs to an unseen world, the Qur’an mentions it through parables and similes so that students of the Qur’an can understand it as per their capabilities and consider that only God knows what their real form and shape is. These [mutashabihat] relate to attributes and works of God or to the reward and punishment of the Hereafter. We are able to understand them to the extent we need to understand them, and this increases our knowledge and faith but if we go beyond this and start to seek their real form and shape, then this will only lead us astray. The result of this is that while wanting to clear one doubt from the mind, a person ends up gathering many more; so much so, in this quest to know more he loses what he had gained and refutes very clear facts just because he is not able to ascertain their form and shape. [14]

    In the verse of the Quran from which people have deduced the fact that no one can understand the meaning of the mutashabihatverses, the Almighty does not say that no one except Him knows the meaning of the mutashabihat verses; on the contrary, He says that no one knows the form and manifestation of what is conveyed by these verses. The Quranic word used is tawil and it is used in the same meaning here as it is in the following verse:وَقَالَ يَا أَبَتِ هَـذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُؤْيَايَ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّي حَقًّا (100:12) (And [Joseph] said: “Father, this is the meaning of my dream I saw earlier; my Lord has made it a reality,” (12:100)).

    Everyone knows the meanings in which this dream is stated in the Quran. Even an ordinary student of this Book understands without any difficulty the meaning of the verse (12:4) in which this dream is mentioned. However, the true manifestation of the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowing before Joseph (sws) could only have been ascertained by a person once these words manifested themselves in reality. These are the things which the Quran calls mutashabih, and as people contend, they do not mean something which is ambiguous and vague. Thus the mutashabihat in no way undermine the status of the Quran as the furqan and the mizan.

    The verse under discussion is:

    هُوَ الَّذِيَ أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُّحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ في قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاء الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاء تَأْوِيلِهِ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلاَّ أُوْلُواْ الألْبَابِ (7:3)

    It is He who has revealed to you the Book. Some of its verses are muhkam – they are the foundation of the Book – and others mutashabih. [15] Then those whose hearts are warped go after the mutashabih among them in order to create dissension and in order to know their reality even though no one except God knows their reality. And those who are well-grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in them: all this has come from our Lord.” And only men of understanding take heed from them. (3:7)

    (Meezan: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)

    (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)

    _______________________________

    [14]. Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, vol. 2, 25-26.

    [15]. The words muhkam and mutashabih are used as terms in this verse having the meaning alluded. At certain places in the Quran, these words have been used in a different meaning too. For example, the word muhkam has been used in 11:1 to connote concise and comprehensive verses, and in 39:23, the word mutashabih means verses which are similar to and in harmony with one another.

    Umer replied 3 years, 1 month ago 1 Member · 4 Replies
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