Does the Qur'an Contain Explanation of all Things?
Last Updated on Sunday, 25 July 2010 12:58
Question:
Every Muslim including me believes that Qur'an is the complete and perfect Holy Book of Allah and it contains complete guidance for mankind. It is known as the code of life and contains solutions of all the problems. But I would like to know that in which sense is Qur'an complete and perfect since it is silent on some issues like music, appointment of Imam (leadership), and doesn't contain the names of all the 124000 Prophets who were sent by Allah?
I will appreciate if you elaborately explain the answer to this question and eliminate my confusion.
I'll wait for your reply
Syed Fahad
Pakistan
Answer:
Before making an assessment regarding the comprehensiveness or otherwise of a book, we must first be clear about some aspects of that book. From a broad perspective, these aspects would include:
- The basic topic and theme of that book; and
- The level of knowledge and awareness of the addressees of the book on the particular topic.
As for the Qur'an, its basic topic and theme include:
- Provide man the guidance necessary for his success in his ultimate life in the hereafter;
- Preserve the record of the manifestation of God's justice on earth, as a result of the advent of the last Messenger of God - as evidence of the Day of Judgment - for the times to come;
As for the existing knowledge and awareness of the addressees of the Qur'an, the following points must be kept in mind:
- God has given every normal human being a basic knowledge regarding the moral values and truths, using which man can generally distinguish between the right and the wrong set of actions for a given situation;
- Qur'an is neither the only nor the first book revealed by God. On the contrary, Qur'an is the last book revealed for man's guidance. Thus, at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, man was not completely unaware of the religious teachings revealed through the Prophets of God.
In the light of the foregoing points, it should be clear that the exclusion of any information:
- which is not directly related to the basic topic and theme of a book; or
- which its addressees are already correctly aware of through any of the sources available to them should not be taken as a measure of the lack of comprehensiveness of that book. The book, on the contrary, should be considered as comprehensive, if it provides the necessary information that is directly related to its topic about which its addressees were either not aware of or not correctly aware of.
Keeping in mind the foregoing clarifications, it should be clear that if the Qur'an has left out any information, it was either not considered pertinent to its topic and theme by its Author or it was not considered necessary for its addressees.
The foregoing clarification should also clarify that when the Qur'an says that it contains explanation of all things, it actually implies that it contains the required explanation of all things that were a) relevant to its topic and theme and b) were not known or not correctly known to its addressees.
I hope this helps.
Fond regards,
Moiz Amjad
Taken with thanks from www.understanding-islam.org
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