KHUTAB III - 17. THE UNRESTRICTED REVELATION
17.
THE UNRESTRICTED REVELATION
There are two kinds of revelation:
a. الْوَحْيُ الْمَتْلُوّ, the recited revelation,
namely, that can be recited in the prayers, e.g., the verses of the Qur’ān
b. الْوَحْيُ غُيْرُ الْمتلُوِّ , the unrecited revelation,
namely, that which is received by the Prophet (s.a.w.) from time to time
to let him know the pleasure of Allah in day-to-day affairs and details of the
principles laid down in the Qur’ān with their correct interpretation.
Some examples of the
existence of this type of revelation are as follows:
1. After the Prophet’s and his
followers’ migration from Makkah to Medinah, the Prophet ordered them to pray
in the direction of Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem.
As some non-believers criticized him for his shifting the qiblah from
Makkah the revelation came as Allah’s response. Allah said,
وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ
الَّتِي كُنْتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يَتَّبِعُ الرَّسُولَ
مِمَّنْ يَنْقَلِبُ عَلَى
عَقِبَيْهِ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِينَ هَدَى
اللَّهُ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ
لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَانَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ
لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ
(البقرة : ١٤٣)
And We made the Qiblah (prayer direction towards
Jerusalem) which you
used to face, only to test those who
followed the
Messenger (Muhammad s.a.w.) from those who
would turn on their
heels (i.e., disobey the Messenger). Indeed,
it was great (heavy)
except for those whom Allah guided. And
Allah would never make
your faith (prayers) to be lost (i.e.,
Your prayers offered
towards Jerusalem). Truly, Allah
is full of kindness, the Most Merciful
towards mankind.” (Q. 2:143)
Then the verse continued with
... فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ...(البقرة , ١٤٤)
…So
turn thy head towards the Holy
Mosque (at Makkah)… (Q. 2:144)
Several interpretations of this expression
among which are as follows: (1) turning the qiblah from the Ka‘bah in
Makkah to Baytl al-Maqdis in Jerusalem
is a great and hard thing to do (the view of Mujāhid, Qatādah, al-H.asan, among the Qur’ānic commentators).
Some people became apostates after the revelation of this verse. (2) the Ka‘bah
has a great position among them
(Abū ’l-‘Āliyah).. (3) Prayer is great, meaning it is not easy to
establish (Abū Zayd); (4) There is great wisdom in shifting the qibah
to Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem.
Did the Prophet make Bayt al-Maqdis
the qiblah for the early Muslims in Medinah as he wished it, or by
Allah’s order? It was by Allah’s order, because in the above verse, He
appointed it to be so, the command had to be executed by the Prophet and his
followers. The order to turn the qiblah is clearly mentioned in the
Qur’ān in the above verse, but do we find any verse in the Qur’ān where Allah
ordered the Prophet to turn the qiblah to Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem? No, it was
through unrecited revelation.
From this verse
we learn that: (a) The Prophet used to receive revelations which are not contained
in the Qur’ān; (b) These revelations were from Allah, that the orders based on
such revelations were attributed to Allah (c) Like the verses of the Qur’ān,
they are also binding. (d) These orders are sometimes given as tests whether or
not the Muslims follow the Prophet irrespective of whether or not his orders
are contained in the Qur’ān.
2. During the siege of Banī ’l-Nad.īr[1] in
Medinah in 4 AH, some Muslims, by the Prophet’s order, cut down the date-trees
around the fort to compel the enemy to surrender. After the siege was over some
Jews objected the cutting of their date trees. To this, Allah said
مَا قَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ
لِينَةٍ أَوْ تَرَكْتُمُوهَا قَائِمَةً عَلَى أُصُولِهَا فَبِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ... (الحشر
: ٥)
Whatever date-trees you cut down or
left standing upon
their roots, that was by the leave of Allah… (Q. 59:5).
That permission to cut down the
date-trees was given by Allah through unrecited revelation. There was no
mention of it in the Qur’ān.
3. Allah ordered the Muslims to establish prayers. In
the state of war Allah gives them a special concession. He says,
حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَى
وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَ. فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ فَرِجَالًا
أَوْ رُكْبَانًا فَإِذَا أَمِنْتُمْ فَاذْكُرُوا
اللَّهَ كَمَا عَلَّمَكُمْ ... (البقرة : ٢٣٩-٢٤٠)
Take
due care of all the prayers and the middle prayer, and stand before Allah in
total devotion. But if you are in fear, then (pray) on
foot or riding, but when you are in peace,
then recite the name
of Allah in the
way He taught you. (Q. 2: 239-240).
In
this verse the exact number of obligatory prayers has not been given in the
Qur’ān, but by the Prophet who said that they are five in number. The
expression recite the name of Allah means “establish prayers”. In what
way? In the way Allah taught the Prophet, not through recited revelation, as
there is no comprehensive explanation in the Qur’ān how to pray; it was through
unrecited revelation.
There
are some interpretation of “the middle prayer” in this verse, as follows: (1)
the zuhur (early afternoon) prayer, according to Zayd ibn Thābit, Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, Abū Sa‘īd
al-Khud.rī, ‘Ā’ishah, and the view
of Abū H.anīfah and his disciples, because it
is the first prayer enjoined to the Muslims and it is performed in the midst of
the day; (2) ‘as.r
(late aternoon ) prayer, according to Ibn ‘Abbās, al-H.asan, ‘Alī, Ibn Mas‘ūd,
Qatādah, and al-D.ah.h.āk, because
it is the time where people are busy with their work, and the Prophet said that
whoever misses the ‘as.r prayer his deeds will become void; (3)
the maghrib (evening) prayer, according to Qubays.ah
ibn Dhuwayb, as the Prophet said that the best prayer according to Allah is the
maghrib prayer which He does not reduce for either a traveller or a
settler; (4) the ‘ishā’ (night) prayer, as it is between two
unshortened prayers (maghrib and fajr) prayers; (5) the fajr
(dawn) prayer, according Mucādh, Ibn cAbbās (in another
report from him), Jābir, ‘At.ā’, Mujāhid, ‘Ikrimah
and al-Shāfi‘ī, because it is between two night prayers (maghrib
and ‘ishā’ prayers) and two day prayers (z.uhr and ‘as.r prayers), and because it is the
only prayer which cannot be combined with any other prayer; and (6) any of the five daily prayers; it is kept
secret like the secrecy of the Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Power) in
the month of Ramadan.
4. Allah says in the Qur’ān,
وَأَنْزَلَ
اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَكَ مَا لَمْ تَكُنْ تَعْلَمُ
وَكَانَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكَ عَظِيمًا (النساء
: ١١٣)
“…and Allah has revealed upon you the
Book and the
wisdom, and has
taught you what you did not know, and
the grace of Allah upon you has been great.” (Q. 4:113)
In
this verse Allah said that Allah revealed not only the Book but also the wisdom
in addition to teaching him. The way of teaching is either through recited or
unrecited revelation. According to Qur’ānic commentators, the word h.ikmah in the above verse means the
Sunnah of the Prophet.[2]
5.
Certain hypocrites who had not joined the Prophet in the expedition of H.udaybiyyah, wanted to join him in the
campaign of Khaybar, as according to their anticipation Muslims would gain
sizeable spoils which they wanted to share, but the Prophet did not allow them.
He allowed only those who had joined in the expedition of H.udaybiyyah. Allah said,
سَيَقُولُ الْمُخَلَّفُونَ إِذَا انْطَلَقْتُمْ
إِلَى مَغَانِمَ لِتَأْخُذُوهَا ذَرُونَا نَتَّبِعْكُمْ يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ
يُبَدِّلُوا كَلَامَ اللَّهِ قُلْ لَنْ تَتَّبِعُونَا
كَذَلِكُمْ قَالَ اللَّهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ...
(الفتح : ١٥)
“Those remaining behind will say, when
you set forth after
Spoils to acquire them, ‘Let us follow you’ desiring
to change to words of Allah. Say, ‘You shall not
follow us’; so
Allah has said earlier…” (Q. 48:15).
According
to this verse Allah has said earlier that the hypocrites will not be allowed to
join the Prophet in the campaign of Khaybar. Joining him would mean changing
the words of Allah. There is no mention in the Qur’ān of barring the
non-participants of the campaign of H.udaybiyyah
from joining the campaign of Khaybar, but rather in the hadīth through
unrecited revelation.
The wisdom behind these two kinds of
revelations: (1) to protect the originality of the sharī‘ah (2) to make
it easy for the Muslim to memorize. The originality and the purity of the
Qur’ān has been maintained and preserved in a book throughout ages up to the
present day, and memorized by many Muslims. The unrecited revelation in the
form of traditions and sayings and practice of the prophet are also recorded in
the books of Islamic knowledge.
When the Prophet suggested to defend Medinah from
inside the city against the attack of the combined forces of the Quraysh tribe
from Makkah in the battle of the Trench (5/627) Salmān al-Fārisī who came from
Persia asked him whether this idea was from Allah or from his own. When the
Prophet said that it was from his own, Salmān suggested to dig a trench around
the city. Salmān apparently knew that Allah might have revealed to the Prophet
the unrecited revelation. When he knew that the idea came from the Prophet
himself, he made the suggestion which was later successful in preventing the
enemy from attacking Medinah.
Conclusion:
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.), besides the recited
revelation, namely the Qur’ān, also received the unrecited revelation as
direction, and explanation of the details of principles. This unrecited
revelation came to the Prophet from time to time throughout his life. Muslims
have to obey the Prophet in the Sunnah beside obeying Allah in the
Qur’ān.
[1]Banī al-Nad.īr
was the Jewish tribe who was a client of the Aws tribe against the Khazraj
tribe in Medinah. Their fortress was half-day march from Medinah. Their most important chief was H.uyay ibn Akht.ab,
whose daughter S.afiyyah
married later to the Prophet. H.uyay had good
relations with Abū Sufyān before the battle of Uh.ud,
and was suspected of intending to kill the Prophet. In 4 A.H. the Prophet sent
Muhammad ibn Maslamah al-Awsī to warn this tribe that they had to leave within
ten days under penalty of death, allowing them to take with them all movable
goods and to return each year to gather the produce of their palms half of
which they gave to the Muslims. They expected help from another Jewish tribe
Banī Qurayz.ah, as well as from Abdullah
ibn Ubayy of Khazraj tribe, the leader of the hypocrites, who promised to send
two thousand men to their aid. None of them came to help. The Banī ’l-Nad.īr surrendered after about a fortnight
siege and within two days bargaining with very hard conditions: they can take with them all movable goods
only what they could take away on camels except arms (50 armours and 340
swords). They departed with a caravan of six hundred fully loaded camels. Their
immovable property was forfeited and given to the muhājirīn.
Some of the Jewish of Banī ’l-Nad.īr tribe
moved to Syria
and others to Khaybar, about 15 km from Medinah.
[2]See Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Wujūh wa ’l-Nazā’ir (Beirut:
Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 1405/1958), p. 262.
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