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The Lahore Ahmadiyya
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7. Revealed Books Revealed books mentioned under three names Revealed books are mentioned in the Holy Quran under three names. The first name is kitāb (pl. kutub), meaning a Book. The word al-Kitāb has been used in the Holy Quran for the Quran itself, for its chapters, for any previous revelation, for all previous revelations taken together and for all revealed books including the Holy Quran.1 The word kitāb has, however, been used to speak of the revelation of God to prophets whether written or not, while it is also freely used regarding the Divine decrees or ordinances.2 Revealed books are also spoken of as ṣuḥuf (pl. of ṣaḥīfah, meaning ‘anything spread out’ or written pages). All previous books, particularly the books of Moses and Abraham, have been so called,3 and the Holy Quran itself has been spoken of as ṣuḥuf4 The third name under which revealed books are mentioned is zubur (pl. of zabūr).5 The singular form, zabūr, occurs only three times in the Holy Quran, twice in connection with the book of David,6 and on one occasion a quotation is given from al-Zabūr.7 The word zabūr means any writing or book, and particularly the Book of the Psalms of David is called al-Zabūr. Revelation to objects and beings other than man The Arabic word for revelation, waḥy, has, in its highest form, come to signify the Divine word which is communicated to prophets, and to saints or righteous servants of God (auliyā’) who have not been raised to the dignity of prophethood.8 According to the Holy Quran, revelation is a universal fact, so much so that it is even spoken of as being granted to inanimate objects: “Then He directed Himself to the heaven and it was a vapour, so He said to it and to the earth: Come both willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willingly. So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair.” — 411–12 On another occasion there is mention of revelation to the earth: “When the earth is shaken with her shaking, and the earth brings forth her burdens, and man says: What has happened to her? On that day she will tell her news, as if your Lord had revealed to her.” — 91–5 In the first instance, God’s speaking to the earth and the heavens and His revelation to the heavens shows that there is a kind of revelation through which the Divine laws are made to operate in the universe; in the second, a great revolution that is brought about upon earth — its “bringing forth its burdens”, explained as the laying open of its treasures9 in the form of minerals and other products — is spoken of as a kind of revelation. There is also a revelation to the lower animals: “And your Lord revealed to the bee: Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build, then eat of all the fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively.” — 1669 This is really an example of the Divine revelation being granted also to the lower creation, so that what they do by instinct is really a revelation. These two examples show that Divine revelation is intended for the development and perfection of everything within its ordained sphere. Here may also be mentioned the revelation to angels: “When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, so make firm those who believe.” — 12 As revelation itself is communicated through angels, it appears that there are various orders of angels; and it is for this reason that Gabriel, the angel who brings revelation to the prophets of God, is regarded as the greatest of them all. Much misconception prevails as to the sphere of revelation to man. It is generally thought that revelation is limited to the prophets of God. This is not true. On several occasions the Holy Quran speaks of revelation (waḥy) having been granted to such righteous servants of God as were not prophets, men as well as women. The mother of Moses is said to have received a revelation though she was undoubtedly not a prophet, and so are the disciples of Jesus who were not prophets: “And We revealed (auḥai-nā) to Moses’ mother, saying: Suckle him; then when you fear for him, cast him into the river, and do not fear, nor grieve; surely We shall bring him back to you and make him a messenger.” — 27 “And when I revealed (auḥai-tu) to the disciples [of Jesus], saying, Believe in Me and My messenger.” —111 These verses leave not the least doubt that revelation (waḥy) is granted to those who are not prophets as well as to prophets, and therefore the door to revelation is not closed, even though no prophet at all would come after Prophet Muhammad. It is only authoritative revelation, the form of revelation peculiar to prophets, the revelation through Gabriel as explained in the next paragraph, that has ceased after him. Revelation to man granted in three ways Revelation to inanimate objects, to the lower animals and to the angels is of a different nature from revelation to man, and it is the latter with which we are chiefly concerned. Divine revelation to man is stated to be of three kinds: “And it is not granted to a mortal that Allah should speak to him, except by revelation (waḥy) or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger and revealing by His permission what He pleases.” — 451 The first of these, which is called waḥy in the original, is the inspiring of an idea into the heart, for the word waḥy is used here in its primary significance of a hasty suggestion or infusing into the heart, as distinguished from a revelation in words. In spite of the fact that this kind of revelation is the “infusing of an idea into the heart,” it is called a form of God’s speaking to man. This is technically called waḥy khafiyy or inner revelation, and the sayings of the Holy Prophet touching on religious matters are in this class. Revelation in this form is common to both prophets and those who are not prophets. The second mode of God’s speaking to man is said to be “from behind a veil”, and this includes dream (ru’yā), vision (kas̲h̲f) and ilhām (when voices are heard or uttered in a state of trance, the recipient being neither quite asleep, nor fully awake). This form of revelation is also common both to prophets and those who are not prophets, and in its simplest form, the dream, it is a universal experience of the whole of humanity. The Holy Quran tells us of the vision of a king, who was apparently not a believer in God — a vision which had a deep underlying significance.10 This shows that, according to the Quran, revelation in its lower forms is the common experience of all mankind, of the unbeliever as well as the believer, of the sinner as well as of the saint. The third kind, which is peculiar to the prophets of God, is that in which the angel Gabriel, referred to as “messenger” in the above verse, brings the Divine message in words. This is the surest and clearest form of revelation, and such was the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet. This is called revelation that is recited in words (waḥy matluww). It is the highest and most developed form, and it was in this manner that revelation was granted to all the prophets of God in every nation. The revealed books are a record of this highest revelation, and technically the word revelation (waḥy) is applied to this form as distinguished from the lower forms. Object of God’s revelation to man Speaking of Adam, the Holy Quran has stated the reason why revelation from God was needed, and the purpose which it fulfilled. Man had two objects before him, to conquer nature and to conquer self, to bring under his control the powers of nature and his own desires. In the story of Adam as the prototype of man, as related in the Quran, we are told that Adam was given the knowledge of things, that is to say that man was endowed with the capacity to obtain knowledge of all things (31). He was also gifted with the power to conquer nature, for the angels, the beings controlling the powers of nature, were made to submit to him (34). But Iblīs, the inciter of lower desires in man, did not submit, and man fell a prey to his evil suggestions (336). Man was powerful against all, but weak against himself. He could attain perfection in one direction by his own exertions; he could conquer nature by his knowledge of things and the power granted to him; but the greater conquest and the greater perfection lay in the conquest of his inner self, and this conquest could only be brought about by a closer connection with the Divine Being. It was to make this perfection possible for him that revelation was needed. Thus, we are told, when man proved weak against his own desires and passions, Divine help came to him in the form of certain “words from his Lord” (37), that is to say, in the form of Divine revelation which was granted to Adam. And as for his posterity, the Divine law was given: “Surely a guidance from Me will come to you, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.” — 38 In these words man is told that, with the help of Divine revelation, he shall have no fear of the Devil’s temptings, and so the hindrance of his progress and the obstacle to the development of his faculties being removed, he will go on advancing on the road to perfection. Revelation is a universal fact It has already been pointed out that revelation in its lower forms, in the form of inspiration or that of dreams or visions, is the universal experience of humanity, but even in its highest form, it is not, according to the Holy Quran, limited to one particular man or to one particular nation. It is, on the other hand, most emphatically stated that just as God has given His physical sustenance to each and every nation, even so He has endowed it with His spiritual sustenance for its moral and spiritual advancement. Two quotations from the Quran will suffice to show that revelation in its highest form has been granted to every nation: “There is not a people but a warner has gone among them.” — 324 “And for every nation there is a messenger.” — 147 And thus the idea of revelation in Islam is as broad as humanity itself. Belief in all sacred scriptures is an article of Muslim faith The religion of Islam, therefore, requires a belief, not in the Holy Quran alone but in all the books of God, granted to all the nations of the world. At its very commencement the Quran lays down in clear words that Muslims must: “…believe in what has been revealed to you [O Muhammad] and what was revealed before you…” — 4 And again: “The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. They all believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His messengers.” — 285 A book was granted to every prophet of God: “Mankind is a single nation. So Allah raised prophets as bearers of good news and as warners, and He revealed with them the book with truth…” — 213 “But if they reject you, so indeed were rejected before you messengers who came with clear arguments and scriptures and the illuminating Book.” — 184 Only two books are mentioned by their special names, the Taurāt (Torah, or book of Moses) and the Injīl (Gospel, or book of Jesus). The giving of a scripture (zabūr) to David is also mentioned,11 and the scriptures (ṣuḥuf) of Abraham and Moses are mentioned together.12 But, as stated above, a Muslim is required to believe, not only in the particular books named but in all the books of all the prophets of God; in other words, in the sacred scriptures of every nation, because every nation had a prophet and every prophet had a book. Revelation brought to perfection According to the Holy Quran, revelation is not only universal but also progressive, attaining perfection in the last of the prophets, the Holy Prophet Muhammad. A revelation was granted to each nation according to its requirements, and in each age in accordance with the capacity of the people of that age. And as the human brain became more and more developed, more and yet more light was cast by revelation on matters relating to the unseen, on the existence and attributes of the Divine Being, on the nature of revelation from Him, on the requital of good and evil, on life after death, on Paradise and Hell. The Quran is called a book “that makes manifest”,13 because it shed complete light on the essentials of religion, and made manifest what had hitherto remained, of necessity, obscure. It is on account of this full resplendence of light which it casts on all religious problems that the Quran claims to have brought religion to perfection: “This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favour to you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.” — 3 Six hundred years before this revelation, Jesus Christ said: “I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth”.14 This is clearly a reference to the coming of a revelation with which religion will come to perfection, and, among the sacred books of the world, the Holy Quran alone advances the claim that it has brought religion to perfection; and, in keeping with that claim, it has cast the fullest light on all religious questions. The Quran as guardian and judge of previous revelation Besides bringing revelation to perfection and making plain what was obscure in the previous scriptures, the Holy Quran claims to be a guardian over those scriptures, guarding the original teachings of the prophets of God, and a judge deciding the differences between them. Thus after speaking of the Torah and the Gospel,15 it says: “And We have revealed to you [O Prophet] the Book with the truth, verifying what is before it of the book and a guardian over it…” — 48 It is elsewhere pointed out in the Quran that the teachings of the earlier scriptures had undergone alterations, and therefore only a revelation from God could separate the pure Divine teaching from the mass of error which had grown around it. This the Quran did, and hence it is called a guardian over the earlier scriptures. As for its authority as a judge, we are told: “We certainly sent messengers to nations before you [O Prophet]… And We have not revealed to you the Book except that you may make clear to them what they differ about.” — 1664 Religious differences had grown to such an extent that religion itself would have lost its hold on humanity had not a revelation from God guided humanity aright. All religions were from God, yet each denounced all others as leading man to perdition; and their basic doctrines had come to differ from one another to such an extent that it had become simply unthinkable that they could have proceeded from the same Divine source; till the Quran pointed out the common ground, namely, the Unity of God, and the universality of revelation. Defects of earlier scriptures removed There is much that is common to the Holy Quran and the previous scriptures, especially the Bible. The Quran has repeatedly declared that the basic principles of all religions were the same, only the details differing according to the time and the stage of a people’s development. All these principles in a more developed form are taught by the Quran, and occasionally lessons have been drawn from previous history. But it is remarkable that, both in its discussion of religious principles and in its references to history, the Quran has done away with the defects of the earlier books. Take, for example, the Bible. It mentions many incidents which, so far from conveying any ennobling lesson, are derogatory to the dignity of prophethood and, sometimes, even of an obscene nature. An educated Jew or Christian would prefer that his sacred book did not contain such statements as that Abraham, that great and revered patriarch of all nations, was a liar, that Lot committed incest with his own daughters, that Aaron made the image of a calf and led the Israelites to its worship, that David, whose beautiful Psalms are the texts of sermons in churches and synagogues, committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, and that Solomon with all his wisdom worshipped idols to please his wives! The Holy Quran speaks of all these great men but it accepts none of these statements and rejects most of them in unmistakable words. Again, it speaks of the Devil tempting Adam, but in a language which makes it clear that it is the story of man’s everyday experience: there is no image of dust into whose nostrils the breath of life is breathed;16 no rib of Adam is taken out to make the woman;17 there is no Divine interdiction against the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;18 there is no serpent to beguile the woman, nor does the woman tempt the man;19 the Lord God does not walk in the garden in the cool of the day;20 no punishment is meted out to the serpent that he shall go on his belly and eat dust, the bringing forth of children is not a punishment for the woman, nor is labouring in the fields a punishment for the man.21 Similarly, the Quran relates the history of Noah several times, but not once does it state that there was a deluge which covered the whole earth and destroyed all living creatures on the face of the earth.22 It only speaks of a flood that destroyed Noah’s people.23 There are many other examples24 which show that, though the Quran relates the histories of some of the prophets of yore in order to draw lessons therefrom, yet it does not borrow from the Bible. It is from the Divine source that its knowledge is drawn, and hence it is that when referring to those histories, it removes all their defects. Alterations of the text of previous scriptures The examples given above show that the old scriptures, though revealed by God, have undergone considerable changes; and this is not only true of the Bible but applies with equal truth to all the ancient revealed books. Modern criticism of the Bible, together with the accessibility of ancient manuscripts, has now established the fact that many alterations were made in it. It was in the seventh century C.E. that the Quran charged the followers of the Bible with altering its text, and that at a time when nobody knew that such alterations had been made in its text. Only one quotation may be given in this connection: “Do you then hope that they would believe in you, and a party from among them indeed used to hear the word of Allah, then altered it after they had understood it, and they know [this]… Woe, then, to those who write the book with their hands and then say, This is from Allah; so that they may take for it a small price!” — 75, 79 Hence it should be borne in mind that though the Holy Quran speaks again and again of “verifying” what is before it, yet it does not and cannot mean that there have been no alterations in them. On the other hand, it condemns many of the doctrines taught by the followers of the earlier scriptures, and this shows that while their origin is admitted to be Divine, it is at the same time pointed out that these books have not come down to us in their original purity, and that the truth revealed in them has been mixed up with errors due to alterations effected by human hands. Door to revelation is not closed In almost every great religion, Divine revelation is considered to be the peculiar experience of a particular race or nation, and even in that nation the door to revelation is looked upon as having been closed after some great personage or after a certain time. But Islam, while making revelation the universal experience of humanity, also considers its door as standing open for all time. There is an erroneous idea in some minds that, in Islam, the door to revelation was closed with Prophet Muhammad, because it is stated in the Holy Quran that he is the last of the prophets. Why there shall be no prophet after him will be discussed in the next chapter, but it is an error to confuse the discontinuance of prophethood with the discontinuation of revelation. It has been shown that, of the three kinds of revelation, two are common to both prophets and those who are not prophets, while only one form of revelation, the highest, in which the angel Gabriel is sent with a message in words, is peculiar to the prophets. Therefore, when it is said that no prophet shall appear after Prophet Muhammad, the only conclusion that can be drawn from it is that the door has been closed on that highest form of revelation, but by no stretch of words can revelation itself be said to have come to an end. The granting of revelation to those who are not prophets being an admitted fact, as shown before on the basis of clear Quranic verses, revelation remains, and humanity will always have access to this great Divine blessing, though prophethood, having reached its perfection, has naturally come to an end. The doctrine of the continuance of revelation is clearly upheld in the Quran and the Hadith. The former says: “Those who believe and keep their duty, for them is good news (bushrā) in this world’s life and in the Hereafter.” — 1664 The bushrā granted in this world’s life are “good visions which the Muslim sees or which are shown to him,” according to a saying of the Holy Prophet.25 And according to one of the most reliable hadith, bushrā or mubashshirāt — both words having the same significance — are a part of prophethood. Thus the Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “Nothing remains of prophethood but mubashshirāt”. Being asked what was meant by mubashshirāt, he replied, “good (or true) visions”.26 According to another hadith, he is reported to have said: “The vision of the believer is one of the forty-six parts of prophethood.” 27 In another version of the same report, instead of the “vision of the believer”, the words are “good (or true) visions” — ru’yā ṣāliḥah.28 The word vision is used here in a wide sense, and includes the inspiration which is granted to the righteous. For we are told in yet another hadith: “There used to be among those who were before you persons who were spoken to [by God] though they were not prophets; if there is such a one among my people, it is Umar.” 29 The Holy Quran also says: “Those who say, Our Lord is Allah, then continue in the right way, the angels descend upon them saying: Do not fear, nor grieve, and receive good news of the Garden which you were promised.” — 430 All these Hadith reports and the Quranic verses quoted above afford proof enough that revelation in some of its lower forms is continued after the Holy Prophet, and it is only the highest form of revelation — that brought by Gabriel — which has been discontinued with the termination of prophethood. Kalām (speaking) is an attribute of the Divine Being It is thus one of the basic principles of Islam that God speaks as He hears and sees. The attribute kalām of the Divine Being is mentioned frequently in the Holy Quran. God “spoke to” (kallama) Moses,30 He “spoke to” (kallama) other prophets,31 He speaks to those who are not prophets.32 This leaves no doubt that speaking is an attribute of God according to the Holy Quran, just as seeing and hearing are His attributes. Hence, though no prophet will come after the Holy Prophet Muhammad, yet God still speaks to His righteous servants, because it is one of His attributes, and because His attributes cannot cease to function. Go to: List of Contents • Previous / Next (8. Prophets)
Notes to Chapter 7
1. The Quran, 2, 143, 93, 119. 2. See the Quran, 68, 36, 138, etc. 3. The Quran, 818–19. 4. The Quran, 813 and 92. 5. The Quran, 184, 144, 2196, 325, 543. 6. The Quran, 163, 155. 7. “My righteous servants will inherit the land” — the Quran, 2105. 8. Raghib’s Mufradāt. 9. Ibid. 10. The Quran, 143. 11. The Quran, 155. 12. The Quran, 53–37 and 819. 13. The word for “makes manifest” is mubīn; see 12:1 etc. 14. John, 112–13. 15. The Quran, 44, 47. 16. Genesis, 7. 17. Ibid., 22. 18. Ibid., 17. 19. Ibid., 6. 20. Ibid., 8. 21. Ibid., 119. 22. Ibid., 123. 23. The Quran, 64. 24. Editor’s Note: Maulana Muhammad Ali has noted these and other differences between the Quran and the Bible in the notes to his Translation of the Quran, to which the reader should refer for further information on this point. 25. Razi, Fakhr-ud-Din, Al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr. 26. Bukhari, book 91: ‘Interpretation of Dreams’, ch. 5, h. 6990. 27. Ibid.,ch. 4, h. 6987. 28. Ibid.,ch. 4, h. 6989. 29. Bukhari, book 62: ‘Virtues of the Companions of the Prophet’, ch. 6, h. 3689. See also Bukhari, book 60: ‘Prophets’, ch. 54, h. 3469. 30. The Quran, 164, 143. 31. The Quran, 253. 32. The Quran, 451. |