Sunday, November 15, 2020

Sam Shamoun "The Incomplete Quran: Whom Did Muhammad See?" (1)


The moment during which the Quran started descending to the heart of the prophet wasnt a random point in time. It was in the night, as darkness symbolically stands for a time of spiritual obscurity. A prophet's advent is always preceded by such darkness. And neither was it a random night. It was during the month of Ramadan 2:185, during the specific night of qadr/destiny 97:1, a most blessed night 44:3. It is blessed because in it the world received the greatest manifestation of Divine light. The exact date when the night occurs hasnt been specified by the prophet. He purposefully said it is on one of the last 5 odd nights of Ramadan. The prophet could have specified a day but chose not to. The Quran itself does not prescribe the believers to seek that night as a means of getting a "shortcut" to salvation. This creates a yearning in the believers in seeking it, given its spiritual, metaphysical importance. Each one seeks it according to his desire for it, thereby testing his level of spiritual thirst. It is in this test that the blessings of this night are concealed
 "Whoever establishes the prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards (not to show off) then all his past sins will be forgiven".

Linguistically, the Quran descending in one night does not necessarily imply it entirely descended on that specific night. The Quran is a composite entity spoken of as "Quran" even while it wasnt yet entirely revealed 43:2-4 just as it is said to be the book before it was a complete book. Even in everyday speak, a portion of it is said to be "Quran". So it is perfectly accurate to say of the Quran that it has descended on a specific moment in time, even though it was just the beginning of this glorious process. Finally, even those that argue that the Quran did entirely descend on that night, still say that this descent was partial, remaining suspended somewhere in the heavens from where it was sent on occasions unto the prophet's heart.

Further readings answering Sam Shamoun "The Incomplete Quran: Whom Did Muhammad See?"

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