What Is the Quran about according to Fazlur Rahmans Book Major Themes of the Quran - Essay Example

What Is the Qur’an about according To Fazlur Rahman’s Book Major Themes of the Qur’an? Fazlur Rahman’s book Major Themes of the Qur’an adds to many list of Muslim and non-Muslim scholarly written commentaries on the Holy Book. Unlike the other produced commentaries which often take the form of verse to verse approach, or topical arrangement of the Qur’anic verses which basically can serve as a source or an index, they however are of no help to students who seek to acquit themselves with Qur’anic position on God, man, or society (Rahman 5). Rahman’s book has these major themes as its fundamental focus, emphasizing what the Holy Book say about God, Man, society, religious communities’, etc. This paper presents the major Qur’anic themes as Rahman presents theme as they are organized in chapter order. Rahman synthesizes the major themes logically rather than chronologically and the Quran has been allowed to speak for itself and interpretation has been used only as necessary for joining together ideas. In this classical work, Rahman unveils the Qur’an’s focuses on issues of God, society, revelation, and prophesy in such admirably logical manner (Rahman 6). In other words, Qur’an, which is referred to as the last, revealed Word of God the Book talks about God, His relationship with a man, man-to-man relationship and man relationship with nature. According to Rahman, the Qur’an must always be read with the spirit of wholeness and a sincere attempt to seek pure guidance (Rahman, 5). Additionally, the Holy Book is regarded as a complete code of life taking into account that Islam is but a complete way of human life and so Qur’an is its source of guidance on the mundane lives. Moreover, Rahman explains that the Qur’an’s teachings are not restricted to a particular nation or a specific era but for the global community. The Book provides comprehensive piece of legalization in addition to the moral principles as a way of ensuring cordial human relationship with one another. It also explains the afterlife concept of Eschatology, Satan, and Evil. The Book is organized based primarily on the major themes. The theme of God opens the first chapter of Rahman’s book discussing the necessity of God, His Unity and its implications. According to him, the Qur’an is a document aimed at man and so it is no treatise about God and His nature. However, the elaboration about God’s existence is strictly functional, in the sense that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe (Rahman 1). Additionally, God judges man either individually or collectively and He metes out to him merciful justice (Rahman 7). The Qur’an calls the belief in God and awareness of the unseen’. It is this concrete that makes the ‘unseen’ to be seen through Revelation for some people like the Prophets, though it cannot be fully comprehended. This belief can however be seen not as irrational and unreasonable by those who care to reflect but as the Master –Truth, and this is the task of the Qur’an. Therefore if the mandated task is accomplished, then everything would be considered accomplished but if not then nothing at all has been accomplished (Rahman 8). Rahman demonstrates in his work that everything is dependent upon God, who is All-Powerful yet Most Powerful, and this involves the relationship between God and man, inclusive of men to one another. It exposes the centrality of God for the existence of all creatures. Further, Rahman observed that the Qur’an is to speak to the heart of men but it does not necessarily provide man with proofs regarding the existence of God (Rahman 9). Contrary to the Greek, Christian and Hindu philosophies of body-mind dualism, for Rahman the Qur’an only view man as a fused entity, as an individual (Rahman 10). Man, has been endowed with the plenty of freedom, from which he creates a moral social order since man recognizes his mission on Earth as God’s vicegerent, upon which lies the purpose of man’s existence (Rahman, 11). Qur’an does not uphold absolute determinism of human actions under such human being is individually held responsible for their moral deeds. The presence of God gives meaning to an individual’s life both collectively and personal level, and so His absence means lack of meaning of human life (Rahman 17). Further, man unlike the whole cosmos which surrender to the Will of God by purely following its ingrained natural laws, man has been endowed with free choices that make a man uniquely different (Rahman 22). Man’s refusal to look beyond his actions indicates his mental formation as described by the Qur’an: man is hasty and petty and only remembers God when in dare need or is suffering. This explains the moral tension that exists in man and this help maintain the balance since such actions rest with a man while effective judgment rests with God (Rahman 23). The central aim of Qur’an is to establish a viable social order on earth that will be just and ethically based (Rahman 25). There is no societiless individual, and so human actions such as Taqwa are only meaningful within a social context. Accordingly, whenever there is more than one human being, God would enter among them to form a third party but most often the human being tends to ignore Him (Rahman 41). Rahman observed that the Qur’an addresses man as part of a community and so social order should be maintained as well as equitable wealth or resource distribution. Again, for the proper existence of society, justice must be a prerequisite in every man’s action. Man, therefore, must be just to all members of a society inclusive of one’s enemies as this brings him/her closer to Taqwa (Rahman 42). The Muslim community (umma muslima) is constituted by its ideology, Islam, and the Qur’an requires a collective leadership and responsibility (Rahman 43). It also advocates equality of all human beings, distinction arising due to the quality of man’s deeds. For Rahman, the cosmogony is described to be at the very minimum level since God simply gave a command ‘Be’ and so it was. Thus, nature cannot disobey God’s command and so it is Muslim. The entire nature or cosmos is but a sign (ayah) of God and because of man’s myopic nature they cannot realize God’s presence in the cosmos but always think of nature as autonomous (Rahman 49). According to the book, man has a responsibility to discover himself and so serve the Creator while nature is mandated to serve a man. In other words, nature exists that a man can exploit it for his end (Rahman 54). Rahman, in his book also emphasizes the universality of the message of the prophets, and that should thus be followed by the entire human race (Rahman 63). Thus, it is the duty of God’s prophets to pass the message across the world’s population under all circumstances. Mohammad is considered the ‘Seal of the Prophets’ and through him the evolutionary process has come to an end in the form of Islam, which is regarded as the most perfect and adequate religion. In Rahman (69), Revelation came upon Prophet’s heart through a Spirit infused in the mind of the prophet on the Night of Power (al-qadr). The theme of life after death is quite recurrent in the Qur’an, and the Day of Judgment is referred to as al-akhirah, the end of time. Al-akhira is a great moment of truth when all preoccupations of man will be lifted to enable him sees himself as he was, and he would be presented before God for judgment (Rahman, 80). In Rahman (81), the Qur’an emphasizes that man particular organs would be witnesses to man’s deeds on earth and presents them during judgment. The book asserts that in the Qur’an the Day of Judgment holds imperative thematic significance since reality is composed of moral and just conducts and so the quality of conduct have to be evaluated and judged (Rahman, 84). Satan is depicted a jinn who disobeyed the command of his Lord and personified evil. Satan is an anti-man rather than anti-God that is to say he is man’s rival and continually trying to deceive man into disobeying God (Rahman 91). The activities of the Satan rest in the human sphere and so its the responsibility that the Qur’an always has to remind man to stay on guard. The success of Satan is due to man’s weakness and lack of moral courage. The Qur’an condemns hopelessness and utter despair which are Satan’s symbolic natures (Rahman 93. Muhammad’s message was to be a guide to those who believed irrespective of whether they were Arabs or not. Since God is one, His Message, therefore, is one and so should the human race and so the distinction and difference in mankind should be promptly illuminated (Rahman 98). For this arose the Quranic concept of a Muslim ummah, a common existence of mankind with guidance from the Qur’an. Islam is the religion of pure monotheism and so the Muslim community remains ideal. The Qur’an invites everybody upon a formula that is common to all, to be of service to no one but God (Rahman 117). In conclusion, Fazlur Rahman’s book, Major Themes of the Qur’an emphasizes that the Holy Book is a unique book with a supreme authorship. This book unveils the very underlying thematic issues of the Qur’an- a unitary perspective in all aspects of human life under the govern-ship of one supreme authority, the absoluteness of God. Man has been assigned the moral, social order of this world as a trustee as well as a beneficiary of the fruits of the faithful discharge of his responsibilities as mandated by the Qur’an.   Work Cited Rahman, Fazlur. “Major Themes of the.” (USA: University of Chicago Press, 2009): 1- 180 Read More