The Qur'an and Shari'ah

Overview

Recall questions on the Qur'an's status and compilation, the opening surah and al-Baqarah, the sources of Shari'ah and fiqh, the five categories of the Ahkam, alcohol, modesty, gambling and slaughter, and Nasr and Malik on reading the tradition.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What status do Muslims give the Qur'an?

   Model answer

   Muslims hold it to be Allah's own speech, conveyed in Arabic to Muhammad through Jibril across roughly twenty-three years. It is not regarded as the Prophet's composition, nor as an inspired human record of his experience. Wording as well as meaning is held to be divine, which is why translations are treated as interpretations and the Arabic text is what is recited in worship.

2. 2

   How was the Qur'an gathered into the book Muslims use today?

   Model answer

   It was memorised and written down on whatever came to hand during the Prophet's lifetime. Tradition records that after many memorisers died in battle the first caliph had the material collected, and that the third caliph then issued a single authoritative written version and had variant copies withdrawn, to stop disputes over recitation as Islam spread far beyond Arabia.

3. 3

   What does the opening surah establish?

   Model answer

   In seven short verses it names Allah as Lord of all the worlds, as the Merciful and Compassionate, and as master of the day of reckoning; it then turns to direct address, declaring that worship and help alike are sought from Allah alone; and it asks to be kept on the straight path rather than the paths of those who go astray. The whole relationship of submission is set out in miniature.

4. 4

   Why is the second surah treated as a summary of the Qur'an's messages?

   Model answer

   It is the longest chapter and touches almost everything the rest develops: guidance for the God-conscious and the three responses of belief, rejection and hypocrisy; the creation of Adam and his appointment as steward; a long treatment of the earlier community of Israel and of covenant kept and broken; the turning of the direction of prayer towards Makkah; and rules for fasting, pilgrimage, marriage, divorce and debt.

5. 5

   What does the second surah, al-Baqarah, convey about submission to Allah's will?

   Model answer

   That submission is not an inward attitude only but the ordering of a whole life, since worship, money, marriage, food, warfare and dispute all fall under it. It also presents guidance as something offered and capable of being refused, which is why so much of the chapter concerns those who received revelation and then failed to keep faith with it.

6. 6

   How do Muslims treat the physical text and its recitation?

   Model answer

   Copies are handled in a state of ritual purity, kept above other books and never placed on the floor. Recitation is a discipline with its own rules of pronunciation and pacing, and a person who memorises the whole text is called a hafiz. Public recitation is a major art form with celebrated performers. The oral dimension comes first, since the name itself means recitation.

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