Revising Traditional Assumptions on God's Guidance and Revelation
By: Farhad Shafti
June 2017
This is an extract from the second edition of my article on The True Meaning of Universality of the Qur'an which I thought could be used as a stand alone short article:
I. The Guidance of God is Not Limited to Revelation:
- God’s guidance is not just in the form of sending prophets and messengers. Rationality is a God given gift that is the main source of guidance for the human beings.
- It is rationality that convinces a community that a prophet has been sent to them, and after the demise of that prophet, it is again rationality that is used to interpret, utilise and apply the teachings of that prophet. When people misinterpret and misuse religious guidance that is because they have interpreted it in an irrational way.
- Rationality therefore is not a ‘competitor’ to God’s revelation. Rationality itself is a revealed resource for the human beings (some say it is the Amanah , trust, that verse 33:72 refers to while some say it closely links to it).
- It seems to be a false understanding that every nation must have a divinely appointed guide. The Qur’an only says that every community (ummah) has a messenger (10:47). In the terminology of the Qur’an ummah normally refers to a chosen nation, not all nations. Also, history does not seem to show the emergence of messengers among other than Abrahamic nations. The Qur’an however says in 13:7 that every nation has a guide. If the word ‘Kull’ (every) in this verse can be interpreted literally (that is each and every nation), then my current understanding is that Imam Tabari is correct in explaining this word in the verse. He argues that this guide does not need to be divinely appointed (i.e. prophet in its technical sense), and that it can simply be a normal religious leader or preacher (Tabari: vol. 13, p.72).
- It is incorrect to think that if God does not send a prophet to a nation that nation is left out from the guidance of the Almighty. Rationality is that guidance that the Almighty has provided to all nations. The history shows us that without a guided prophet, nations can still show signs of piety, but without rationality, even nations with a guided prophet can show signs of evil.
II. The Judgement of God is Not Based on Who Got It Right:
- At the time of a messenger, as the result of the preaching of the messenger under the guidance of the Almighty, the evidence for the truth (hujjah) will become crystal clear for the immediate addressees of the messenger (itmam al-hujjah). This is why this particular community will have their messenger as their witness in this world and the hereafter.
- At ‘normal’ times, due to the evidence for the truth not necessarily being crystal clear, people may by honest mistake hold false beliefs.
- In the hereafter God does not judge people based on whether they got it right or not. He will judge them based on whether they followed their honest conviction (5:119, 2:286).
- This (submitting to what is found to be the hujjah) is the core concept of islam. Submission to honest understanding (even if it is wrong) is islam in its abstract form. When this hujjah is found correctly and accurately, then submitting to it means submitting to God.
III. The Pragmatic Sunnah of God’s Guidance:
- Much of the criticism of the Qur’an on false beliefs is emphasising on the practical consequences of such beliefs (e.g. Trinity: be Christian and you will be safe; Shirk: evil acts in the name of gods, etc.).
- When it comes to criteria for success, the Qur’an emphasises on practical outcomes of beliefs rather than theoretical framework of beliefs (e.g. acknowledging Jews, Nasara and Sabi’in as religious groups).
- In the absence of a prophet of God, it is perfectly possible that a person holds a false belief while honesty thinking that it is the correct belief. Based on the concept of itmam al-hujjah, as derived from the Qur’an, it can be argued that as long as this false belief does not lead to evil deeds such person will be religiously forgiven.
- Unlike false beliefs, in normal circumstances it is less likely that a person commits evil deed while honestly believing that what he/she is doing is a righteous deed.
- Accordingly, at our time while an opportunity for correcting a false belief should definitely be taken, the main emphasis of a religious person should be on correcting evil deeds.
IV. Revelation is a Humanised Reflection of Divine:
- As soon as a revelation reaches the human being (prophets) it needs to be formed in a way that the human being can understand it. Human being is not capable of fully understanding the divine. Therefore the revelation has to formulate itself in a form that is understandable by the human being.
- Every revelation/inspiration therefore is a reflection of the truth, and not the exact (pure) or the whole truth. This reflection is tailored to suit the cultural and cognitive profile of its local addressees.
- Similarly religious rules that relate to the social sphere of life were revealed in a way that they were suited for the time and location. Therefore:
• A religious concept may be an authentic reflection of the truth but it is never the exact or the whole truth.
• Not all religious laws can be considered to be permanent.
I hope to write in detail about each of the above four points in future.
June 2017
This is an extract from the second edition of my article on The True Meaning of Universality of the Qur'an which I thought could be used as a stand alone short article:
I. The Guidance of God is Not Limited to Revelation:
- God’s guidance is not just in the form of sending prophets and messengers. Rationality is a God given gift that is the main source of guidance for the human beings.
- It is rationality that convinces a community that a prophet has been sent to them, and after the demise of that prophet, it is again rationality that is used to interpret, utilise and apply the teachings of that prophet. When people misinterpret and misuse religious guidance that is because they have interpreted it in an irrational way.
- Rationality therefore is not a ‘competitor’ to God’s revelation. Rationality itself is a revealed resource for the human beings (some say it is the Amanah , trust, that verse 33:72 refers to while some say it closely links to it).
- It seems to be a false understanding that every nation must have a divinely appointed guide. The Qur’an only says that every community (ummah) has a messenger (10:47). In the terminology of the Qur’an ummah normally refers to a chosen nation, not all nations. Also, history does not seem to show the emergence of messengers among other than Abrahamic nations. The Qur’an however says in 13:7 that every nation has a guide. If the word ‘Kull’ (every) in this verse can be interpreted literally (that is each and every nation), then my current understanding is that Imam Tabari is correct in explaining this word in the verse. He argues that this guide does not need to be divinely appointed (i.e. prophet in its technical sense), and that it can simply be a normal religious leader or preacher (Tabari: vol. 13, p.72).
- It is incorrect to think that if God does not send a prophet to a nation that nation is left out from the guidance of the Almighty. Rationality is that guidance that the Almighty has provided to all nations. The history shows us that without a guided prophet, nations can still show signs of piety, but without rationality, even nations with a guided prophet can show signs of evil.
II. The Judgement of God is Not Based on Who Got It Right:
- At the time of a messenger, as the result of the preaching of the messenger under the guidance of the Almighty, the evidence for the truth (hujjah) will become crystal clear for the immediate addressees of the messenger (itmam al-hujjah). This is why this particular community will have their messenger as their witness in this world and the hereafter.
- At ‘normal’ times, due to the evidence for the truth not necessarily being crystal clear, people may by honest mistake hold false beliefs.
- In the hereafter God does not judge people based on whether they got it right or not. He will judge them based on whether they followed their honest conviction (5:119, 2:286).
- This (submitting to what is found to be the hujjah) is the core concept of islam. Submission to honest understanding (even if it is wrong) is islam in its abstract form. When this hujjah is found correctly and accurately, then submitting to it means submitting to God.
III. The Pragmatic Sunnah of God’s Guidance:
- Much of the criticism of the Qur’an on false beliefs is emphasising on the practical consequences of such beliefs (e.g. Trinity: be Christian and you will be safe; Shirk: evil acts in the name of gods, etc.).
- When it comes to criteria for success, the Qur’an emphasises on practical outcomes of beliefs rather than theoretical framework of beliefs (e.g. acknowledging Jews, Nasara and Sabi’in as religious groups).
- In the absence of a prophet of God, it is perfectly possible that a person holds a false belief while honesty thinking that it is the correct belief. Based on the concept of itmam al-hujjah, as derived from the Qur’an, it can be argued that as long as this false belief does not lead to evil deeds such person will be religiously forgiven.
- Unlike false beliefs, in normal circumstances it is less likely that a person commits evil deed while honestly believing that what he/she is doing is a righteous deed.
- Accordingly, at our time while an opportunity for correcting a false belief should definitely be taken, the main emphasis of a religious person should be on correcting evil deeds.
IV. Revelation is a Humanised Reflection of Divine:
- As soon as a revelation reaches the human being (prophets) it needs to be formed in a way that the human being can understand it. Human being is not capable of fully understanding the divine. Therefore the revelation has to formulate itself in a form that is understandable by the human being.
- Every revelation/inspiration therefore is a reflection of the truth, and not the exact (pure) or the whole truth. This reflection is tailored to suit the cultural and cognitive profile of its local addressees.
- Similarly religious rules that relate to the social sphere of life were revealed in a way that they were suited for the time and location. Therefore:
• A religious concept may be an authentic reflection of the truth but it is never the exact or the whole truth.
• Not all religious laws can be considered to be permanent.
I hope to write in detail about each of the above four points in future.
