Lesson 8 Islamic Faith Essentials – Revelation and the Quran Dr Omer Atilla Ergi

We had little break during the Ramadan. Inshallah, we are back. We will continue with our Islamic worldview five essentials and theology. Inshallah, we are up to the lecture eight, topic eight. And this topic is on revelation, why he, the Quran and the previous scriptures. So, let us begin. Bismillah Rahman Raheem. One of the oldest copies of the Quran is found, you know, through archaeology is in Birmingham Birmingham University. They discovered it, believe, in 2015. Carbon dating puts the copy at least, you know, around 1,400 years. So, it's very close or around the noble prophet Muhammad time, according to, you know, Birmingham University, but there are arguments that there are older copies right from the prophet's time, like Tubingen copies also. they're all little tiny pages and Sana copies as well. Actual archaeological, you know, Quran. You know how some some people argue that Quran was written written later on and all these arguments. Now, these are all sort of refuting those arguments as well because we are finding actual copies of the Quran written at that time. So, types of revelation will begin from there. According to the Quran, there are no limits to the words of God. in the Quran, chapter 31, verse 27 says, "If all the trees of the earth and the pen were pens, and the whole sea, all the oceans were ink, with seven more seas added to, the words of God would never be exhausted in writing. Surely, God is all glorious and all wise. So, it is not impossible to put down in writing all the words of God, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There is, of course, maybe little technical theological here issue here. Sometimes people confuse kalimatullah with kalamullah. So, they are both from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but when we say kalam, we are referring to Quranic revelation, you know, or the previous scriptures. And these originate from the eternal attribute of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which is kalam. It's sifat attribute. It's infinite and eternal. It doesn't have no time boundaries. but when we say kalimatullah, they are usually referring to things that are created with the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. With the command of kun fayakun. So, that's kalima. The other one is kalam. Although they both originate from the same place with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, in its broadest definition, revelation, which we call wahy, means Allah's communication with all his creation in the universe, including human beings because wahy has very broad explanation. You don't just squeeze it into prophetic wahy. And you will see that because the Quran says this itself. There are four types of wahy, revelation, in Islam. Four types. So, what are they? The first one is natural laws. Verses of creation. We call them verses of creation. They are wahy as well. If you look at the Quran itself, when we say verse, ayah, what what does ayah mean? Ayah means sign. So, it is both referring to the Quranic verses and things that Allah created in nature. They are ayah as well. Ayah of Allah. They are verses of Allah as well. So, everything in nature that is created, we call them verses of creation. Verses of creation. So, they are wahy as well. One very good example from the Quran, "And it is he who applied his design to the skies, which were yet but smoke. And he said to them, "Come into being, both of you, willingly or unwillingly." To which both responded, "We We do come in obedience." Very interesting verse. And it's in line with modern astronomy. That's the interesting thing. You know, when the verse says, you know, heavens and the earth, if you look at one stage, they were nothing but in state of gas and dust. That's what the Quran is saying. So, have look at what nebula is in Google. Google it and look at the picture images, you'll see exactly what the verse says, smoke. And then what does Allah say? He says to them, "Come together, willingly or unwillingly." You know what it's explaining this verse? It's explaining about the formation of galaxies, formation of the solar system. Because eventually those nebulas, those huge gas clouds and dust, they are spinning and then they start collapsing onto themselves because of gravity. And when they start collapsing, they spin faster. Imagine like ice skater. You know, they open their hands like this and they start spinning, those figure figure ice skaters. As they close their hands like this, they spin faster. So, as the collapse occurs because of gravity, they start spinning faster. And then once, for example, the star forms at the center like our solar system, and tinier bodies, which also collapse onto themselves, they form the planets. Because they had that angular momentum, the spin, everything continues to spin because of that. And as you know, there is no friction in space. That means there's nothing to slow them down down that angular. The only thing is gravity. You know, they do slow down eventually, but very very very tiny. It takes billions of years. So, look at the verse says, "Come together." And they came together willingly. What does that mean? They obeyed the command of Allah. And that is gravity. Allah created law there they have to obey. There is no such thing as unwillingly. See? So, it is saying that you have no other option. put the law there, you have to obey. So, these are in way verses of creation. Another type of revelation. So, when we say the first type, verses of creation, when we say, we are talking about all the In English, we say natural laws, you know, but in our understanding in Islamic theology, they are divine laws. Because somebody had to establish them there. You can't say just natural laws. Somebody implements them as well. So, all the laws in the universe, physics, laws of physics, they are all types of revelation. The second type of revelation is animal instincts. So, again, in in in zoology or biology, you know, when animals act in very intelligent way, although they don't have, you know, like intellect like us, they do have limited intellect, we are amazed by the things they produce. That's very interesting. They are being inspired by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is revelation as well. That is type of wahy. And And in Surah Nahl, it's very obvious, isn't it? "And your Lord inspired the bee." It uses the term wahy. So, bee received the wahy. So, it has no other option to follow that. Otherwise, you know, say it always in humorous way, if we come to together as our, you know, chemists, biologists, and everyone, all the geniuses, can we actually, you know, they are working on it now. They're trying to do it. You know, extract pollen and nectar from flowers and actually turn it into real honey. We do copy honey, but with sugar and with other things. We can't really copy exactly what bee does. Maybe eventually we might, but imagine, the bee has been around for millions of years. They've been doing it. And we don't see anywhere on earth university for the bees, how to make honey. You know, they go and they learn and then they graduate and then allowed to make honey. It comes naturally to them because they are being inspired. They are And Quran says they are being in in inspired. So, Allah commands the bee to collect, that's what the thing verse says, "You know, take your habitants in mountains, trees, and what they erect. That's an interesting thing to what they erect. We make things. Homes, you know, combs for the thing as well. Honey bees. Then eat all the fruits and follow the way of your Lord, which is made easy for you. It's talking to bee, imagine. There comes forth again, miracle. There comes forth from their bellies drink of varying colors, honey. Healing for men, healing for human beings, very beneficial for human beings. It's the tastiest, beautiful thing. Verily, in this indeed sign for people who think. If you truly contemplating making, you know, tafakkur, then you would understand the the the great blessing there. One of the creation of Allah. And it's very interesting like honey is consumed food. So, honey bees consume food for their own nourishment, too. But that goes to another belly. Sorry, stomach. But where the other stomach that makes the honey is separate. And most people sometimes think that honey bees make honey from their backside, you know, that type of reaction. It's not. They actually vomit it out. It's different from their mouth. So, they process it in their tummy and then they vomit it out. It's miraculous, isn't it? There is the second type of revelation why he which is, you know, addressed at the animals. Allah makes why he to animals as well. So, we call that ilham. Inspiration. Not prophetic why he. And the third one is ilham to human hearts. Divine guidance through human conscience. You know, sometimes the people think, you know, human beings get why he as well. They they think it's part of prophetic why he and they say, why you say that? It's not like that. We do receive why he as well." But we call it ilham because it's not prophetic prophetic why he. Because, you know, sometimes we all feel that they're something we're going to do something wrong. Or, you know, not appropriate. Something comes to our our hearts, you know, you shouldn't be doing this and we change our minds. That is guidance. That's ilham. You know, Allah is helping us there. Or think about the people, you know, who write poems or make build things and or design things or paintings. Where is this knowledge coming from? Some people have that, you know, automatic talent, you know. They write poem that they were been written before, for example. It is ilham. So, our hearts and minds are open to ilham as well. And the Quran says this as well. It is not fitting for man that God, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, should speak to him except through inspiration. Ilham. So, unlike the prophetic why he, we do receive all human beings can receive this. It is called ilham. It's inspiration. So, the last one is prophetic inspiration, which we actually call revelation. That is why he. And this is only is sent to an appointed messenger of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. And this is the highest form of revelation. And the following the verse that recited before, or behind veil. You know, it is not fitting for God to speak to human except through inspiration and then or from behind veil as it happened to noble prophet was salam on the night of miraj. Or by sending of messenger, which is Jibril. So, prophets receive messenger Jibril is messenger of Allah as well. To reveal with the permission of Allah what he wills. For he is the most high, most wise. So, in way when we say why he, four types, not just one. There are four types of why he. So, holy books of revelation according to Islam, Allah has spoken to humanity through divine revelation. Compiled in holy books of various lengths throughout human history. Again, the Quran says in the chapter 4:163, verily, we have revealed to you as we have revealed to Noah Nuh was salam and prophets after him. So, Allah says to prophet Muhammad was salam, we have revealed why he to you as we revealed to prophets before you. Noah and prophets after him as well. So, Muslims must believe in all the books of revelation from Allah as mentioned in the Quran. The Quran mentions that Allah has revealed four major books as you all know. Taurat to Musa was salam. Zabur to Dawud was salam. Injil to Isa was salam and Quran to prophet Muhammad was salam. And also, of course, this is in the Quran, too. It is he who has sent down the book, the Quran, to you with truth. Haq. Confirming what came before it as well. And he sent down the Taurat, the Injil, and to Dawud we gave the Zabur. Quran mentions it all very clearly. So, the name Quran, where does it come from? From the Quran itself. Why do we say Quran to the book? Because it comes from the Quran itself. As you know, during Ramadan, you know, we recite that verse lot. Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Quran. Yeah, Shahru Ramadan alladhi unzila fihil Quran. As guide to mankind. Also clear sign for guidance and judgment. So, the Quran mentions not only the books, but also scrolls or pages, parchments, which are called suhuf. And and it is in the Quran as well. This is surely contained in the former scrolls. Suhuf. The scrolls of Ibrahim and Musa, it says. So, there are certain prophets who also received pages. Different lengths depending on the society that they were in, the size of the their community. Some of them receive less pages. Some of them are longer pages. So, it's not just the four books, but there are prophets who actually receive revelation from Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, which were pages. The Quran supersedes all previous revelations. Because like for example, we live in Australia. If the parliament and the high court, whatever, they you know, made up new legislation, which, you know, from now on they say you have to follow this new law. What does it do? It removes the previous laws. It updates it. And since Quran is the last book of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, last revelation, it supersedes all previous revelations. And the Quran says, this is very important. You know how people say in the Quran there are some verses which is naskh, you know, abrogated. According to some scholars about four, some say more than that. There's different views. But look what the Quran says. We do not abrogate any verse or omit it. We don't cancel it. But we do bring one better than it. Or the like of it. Do you not know that Allah has full power over everything, full knowledge of everything? So, in real sense, there is no abrogation. This is very interesting. like for example, if you look at, you know, how the alcohol was in process. Step by step it was eventually made haram, you know. You know, first there was verses which said it has benefits for you and it has harms for you. It's verse in the Quran. But its harms are much bigger than its benefits because it's preparing the society. That's the Quranic methodology. And then sometime later, do not approach the prayer while you are intoxicated. When you are drunk. It doesn't say don't drink. It says don't approach the prayer when you're intoxicated. Many Sahabas after they heard it, they started giving it up. Because they said there's message here, we shouldn't be drinking alcohol. But when the society was ready, you know, nobody went and hit people with the sticks like they do in some countries. Allah prepared the society first and then when they were ready, the last one came, you know, these are the tools, play things of the Shaitan. Aren't you going to give up yet? See? It is still like question. It can aren't you going to give up yet? So, scholars would say the previous verses to that is abrogated because with the last verse, the Quran established that drinking alcohol is haram, finished. And everything before it, it's abrogated. But in reality, nothing is abrogated because it's the Kalamullah. So, what does that mean? If you go to society, let us say, somewhere that has nothing to do with Islam, they never heard of it. And you're trying to teach Islam to them. And they're all drinking alcohol. You start with the first verse. See? You teach them look this is may it may have some benefits but it is very harmful to you. See, you do it step by step. And then you get to the haram bit. When you when you start preparing them. Otherwise, we see very ugly scenes and we have seen them in parts of the world. remember it was think Chechnya or something. saw this footage where soldiers were beating this man with sticks really hard because they catch caught him drinking. And the video said the guy didn't didn't even know why he was getting beaten up. He didn't even because for them it was normal. It was like water for them. So, if you don't teach people that something is, you know, not allowed, it's wrong, it's harmful, why why are you beating the person? And people in that situations, always say this, you know, if you try to bring these sort of things from top down with political pressure from above, you don't produce society of believers, you produce society of munafiq. They will only follow because they are afraid. And that's what that's not what Allah wants. Because we are in imtihan, we are being tested here. We are supposed to follow the commandments of Allah with our free will. That's what makes humanity so unique. So, that was little parenthesis, should say. So, the Quran says we don't abrogate any verses or omit it, cancel them out, but we bring better one. The next one we bring is better than the other. And this happened with the books as well. So, you have the Torah, the Zabur, Injil and then the Quran. Quran is the better one. Because it's the final one. Muslim scholars are also in general agreement that the existence versions of the previous revelation may have been altered over time. You know, like the Torah and Injil. the they say losing sections or all the text. Generally, it's most of the sections. That is why we don't completely deny or reject neither the Torah or the Injil. Because they may have they may be verses which were authentic verses in there. If you reject them, it's very dangerous because they are Kalam. And when it says, well, I'm just giving an example. When it says in the Bible God created the universe, well, that's verse, it's very obvious. So, we need to be careful with that as well. Number two, scribal errors. People wrote wrote wrote them down mistakenly. Or they tried to interpret it way after those prophets passed away. That happened lot, too. Translation errors. Changes interest interested to support sectarian positions and that happened lot, too. You know, there there there've been incidents in Christian history, for for example, verse didn't suit what the king wanted, his needs. He actually changed verses in the Bible to suit his needs. So, that has happened to we know. One of them famous one is Church of England, you know. So, when we go back to the Quran, the Quran is book made up of equal 30 parts, juice, some information. 604 pages, Suhuf. Suhuf means pages. Sahifa, one page. 114 chapters which we call Surah. And interestingly, verse people think that Quran has 6,666 Ayats. No, that's wrong. There are different ways of counting it but the general view is 6,238 verses. 6,238 verses in the Quran. So, it changes according to scholars because it depends on where the stops are. You know, some people stop here, some people will say no, this is the verse continues until here. So, it depends on which written thing you read. Depending on the stops, the number of verses change. Even with Fatiha, you know, when you look you know at the end, you know, when you say Siratal Lazina an'amta alaihim, do you stop there and then continue or is it one verse? So, people have different views on that. But, you know, the general view is this, yeah. So, process of revelation, there was no standard way of the Quranic texts were revealed. That is why Quran is so unique. Sometimes single verse would come down and sometimes collection of verses, whole Surah, would come down. And and and another times the entire chapter will be revealed to the prophet. And it didn't follow certain, you know, how do you call chronology, chronological order. So, the the Quran's we read today, the the verses, Surahs were not revealed according to that thing. Different parts were revealed. Maybe maybe there's verse towards the end revealed at the beginning. So, the when nuzul happened like it came in different order. Or sometimes, let us say, you know, from Suratul Baqarah, one verse revealed. From the same chapter, maybe two years later another So, it's very interesting. Then how did we get this, you know, sequence today? It's actually again the prophet instructed the Katibs who wrote the Quran through wahy the way where the verses go, sorry, the way where the Surahs go. So, with the prophetic instruction, it was written in this order. So, that is interesting, too. And another thing is of course 23 years. It didn't reveal as book, entire book. It took 23 years. And sometimes there were things like, you know, asbab un-nuzul, reason for revelation. which means they think there are about 160 or 63 verses which came down with asbab un-nuzul. meaning that it it was revealed because of certain instant incident, occurrence or question. And the verse was revealed. But the rest of it is not because of asbab un-nuzul. There were verses that were revealed like that, too. Although revelation revelation did not come in the current order of the book, it followed the trajectory of the evolving Muslim community. See how the Quran's methodologies? As the society evolves and develops, verses come down according to that. The current order, as said, of the chapters was set by the prophet through revelation. Revelation usually came either to prepare the prophet and the Muslims for an important event, milestone, or sometimes respond to an incident or question. And this way of revelation, very interestingly, had very important benefits because revealed verses would be memorized much easier. Because you are connecting them to an incident. You know, somebody asked question to prophet, what is ruh, you know? And then the verse comes, Qul ir ruhu min amri Rabbi. Tell them it is command from your Lord. See? Someone asked question, the Quran responded, you don't forget that. It's slowly teaching you. Verses could be understood better because of the context in the real time and place. Teachings could be applied gradually step by step. You don't put whole responsibility on the shoulders of the society straight away. You're teaching them step by step. And in real time, imagine. Then application of permanent use eventually. So, methodology is very interesting. However, when the Quran is read today this is another miraculousness of the Quran. It has timeless feel rather than addressing specific issue of its time. So, verse reveals because of an incident at the time of the noble prophet, but when you look at the verse and read it, you say this is applicable for all times. That's the miraculousness of it. And there are some parchments of the Quran as well. There's one have picture of it here as well. It's an original copy of chapter Humazah. Original parchment written at that time. This is located at Topkapi Palace Museum in Turkey. One of the oldest surviving surviving complete copies of the Quran goes back to the 7th century. There are two copies. One of them is in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. There's picture of it. It's this big. And this copy is copy of the eight copies which was produced by Uthman radiyallahu anhu. which were produced from the original copy written at the time of Abu Bakr. Because all the Quranic verses were written at the time of noble prophet, but in different pages. They weren't compiled into book format at the time of Abu Bakr with the advice of Umar ibn al-Khattab. They compiled it. They made book. And they gave it to who? Hafsa. Umar's daughter radiyallahu anha, who was the prophet's wife. For safekeeping. And at the time of Uthman he asked for the original copy and they reproduced more copies and they sent it to different locations of the world and this copy is from that. And it's still around. So, what are the main themes in the Quran? Themes. According to tafsir scholars people like Professor Suat Yıldırım the Quran revolves around central axis that permeates through the whole book like spirit. It's like the ruh of the Quran. It goes around the entire Quran. The calling of all human beings to iman and worship of one Allah creator using their reason and free will. Although Allah has created people as servants to Allah without asking them first he is still inviting humans to accept the honorable role of servanthood, being abd willingly while at the same time informing them that the permanence of life after death and the transience of this worldly life. It's fleeting. It passes very quickly this world this life. With its happiness and tribulations. That's the world that's how the world is, you know. Very quick. So, what are the four themes in the Quran? Major themes which everything is based on. And this is put forward by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi in 1919. So, 1919. He said there are four major themes in the Quran. Tawhid, risalah, hashir, ibadah or adala. Ada ibadah goes under adala. Means the first one is oneness of Allah. Number two, prophethood, risalah. The third, resurrection and afterlife. And the last is adala, justice. And as said, ibadah goes under adala. So, if you open any part of the Quran, you will see one of these same themes. And you know, challenge you. Open any page of the Quran. Read through that page, you will definitely come across like, for example, tawhid. It will be on that page. So, it it goes throughout. There are other scholars who added some other things to it. You know, they said sub themes. They said personal conduct social and economic economic conduct and religious practice. People like Farid Esack. Farid Esack. Esack, sorry. But it first this concurs with Bediüzzaman Said because they those sub themes goes underneath adala. They're all to do with justice. So, there are scholars who subdivided the Quran in many different themes, but these are the four major themes. Tawhid, of course, is monotheism. The Quran describes Allah, his existence and his unity. The concept of Allah and Allah's attributes are mentioned in many places in the Quran. Attributes, names, asma al-husna what tawhid means, the Quran explains it explicitly and very clearly. And unlike any other religion no other religion explains tawhid as Islam, the Quran. They don't have those definitions. Because Quranic definition is very interesting in Islamic theology. Like we don't assign space-time to Allah. We don't say Allah is in such and such place. We don't assign direction to Allah. We don't say Allah is up there somewhere. Hasha. We say he's exalted. When the term above is used, it's not direction. It's exalted. Otherwise, it would not make sense. Because if you're in Australia, you technically, if you look at north and south, you're upside down then. So, where is up? So, technically, it's not direction. We're saying he's exalted above all, not in direction. We don't assign substance to Allah. We don't assign body physical body to Allah. We say he's unlike his creation. Mukhalafatun lil-hawadith. That's one of his sifat. So understanding of tawhid monotheism in Islam is very unique. And even the littlest things that may indicate some sort of anthropomorphism meaning tashbih in Arabic. You know, resembling Allah to something else. Whether it's human being whether it's some other creature or whether it's some type of energy, whether it's the universe itself, which is called pantheism. All regarded as shirk. You cannot resemble Allah to anything else. The other theme is risalah. The Quran describes the need for prophets their responsibilities and their struggles in the way of Allah. It does not tell stories of the prophets the Quran in great length. It's all like short explanations because they are for us to take lessons out of. There have been many prophets in history. According to one hadith, 124,000. But we only know of 25 very clear. There are three that we are not sure it's in the Quran. They may have been prophet. You know, they may have not been prophet. But you know, the I'll tell you something interesting. If you look at the 25 prophets list of 25 prophets, you Google it and you have you have look. There is prophet in there whose name is not mentioned. But we know he's prophet. Uzair. It is not in there. So some scholars said they were many other prophets around but because the Quran did not mention them directly maybe their stories were not significant as the others. You know? That is why that doesn't mean they were not prophets, that they were there. So, that is why the Quran not does not explain their stories in great lengths. It highlights the essential aspects of their stories that point to the essential principles of life in humanity. Life and humanity. Sometimes particular stories examined from more than one different angle in the Quran. Because you you might have the story of Nuh in one place and then in another. Musa Alayhis Salam in one chapter and in another chapter. It is looking at different aspect of his life. Teaching us lesson and principles as well. The other day was on program and was explaining something about Abu Lahab. Because some atheists, some disbelievers, you know, office is They were arguing, why would Allah the almighty God they say, you know, you know, address an atheist and curse him in the Quran with his name, you know, like like Abu Lahab Abi Lahab wa tab. You know, why would he do that, you know? Allah is going to pick pick on normal human being. And said, what they don't understand this. It is not Abu Lahab that Allah is cursing there. It is his ideology. So, he is warning everyone who thinks like him. Don't fall into this trap. So, sometimes people misunderstand that as well, which is very important thing. And then the third thing is resurrection, third theme. The Quran proves the existence of life after death, Hashir, resurrection. By directing our attention to the continued resurrection that happens around us in nature. It is continuous thing anyway. We see it all the time. Even the simplest thing, you know, when winter comes, we see all these, you know, trees, fruit, you know, trees especially, they dry up, they become like dried logs. There's nothing on them anymore, like grape trees over there. It's like piece of log there. And when the spring time summer comes, straight away you see flourishing again. Beautiful, you know, colorful, tasty things start appearing. So, he is showing us resurrection on this earth. Small examples of them anyway. So, he's taking our attention to these things. Look around, learn, educate yourself. So, the Quran also explains and describes the details of life after death. What's going to happen to us? How are we going to be judged? All the small details. And the last one as said, justice and balance. Every commandment of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala contained in the Quran directs humanity to find and discover Sirat al-Mustaqim. The straight and balanced path. So, Islam also enjoins an endeavor to reach wholesome balance in one's emotions, thoughts, beliefs, devotional and social practices. You know how they say in like sloganic sloganic way, should say. Islam is way of life. It is way of life. It is not about just beliefs, it's whole system. Because it is concerned with everything, every part of our lives, whether family lives, individual life, the circle keeps on growing. It starts within our hearts, bigger circle, our physical bodies, bigger circle, our families, our neighbors, our community, our society. Entire humanity. And then entire other living creatures as well. They all concern us as human beings, individuals, and we have all responsibility towards all of these things. But the biggest responsibility is the inner circle. That is why people have lot of psychological and problems and they're going to all these politics and things like that. They forget about the most important circle, which is in there, your heart. Day and night they're busy with the bigger circle. What's happening there? What's happening there in the world? Things that you can't change, things that you can't correct. You know, you your power is as far as your hand can reach. So, sometimes we forget about these sort of things. How are we doing for time? Are we done? Okay. Maybe inshallah we will stop there. and then we will continue next week with the next topic. Thank you. Like