Edip Yuksel vs. Ali Sina
Round III
Can The Quran Stand Alone?
The "Quran Only" Muslims have taken the position
to deny anything that has to do with Muhammad. They erroneously believe,
once Muhammad is out of the picture and his crimes are hidden from the
eyes of the critics they can win the day and prove that the Quran is a
miracle. This is absurd. The Quran is the word of Muhammad and cannot be
separate from him.
Unless you, dear Edip, respond to all
objections I presented, I declare this case is closed and move to
demonstrate that the Quran is a book of ignorance and terror.
But first I will discredit the Quran and will
prove that without the hadith this book is obtuse and utterly
incomprehensible.
The Quran cannot be
understood on its own. To understand the Quran we must understand its
context. In Arabic it is called “sha’ne nozool” or the circumstances
in which the verses were “revealed” and the states of affair that they
address. Without understanding the history behind each verse you can’t
understand the Quran. Take the example of Sura 111
"Perish the hands of the Father of
Flame! Perish he!
No profit to him from all his wealth, and all his gains!
Burnt soon will he be in a Fire of Blazing Flame!
His wife shall carry the (crackling) wood - As fuel!-
A twisted rope of palm-leaf fibre round her (own) neck!"
This is the entire sura. It is a small sura
consisting of five verses of cursing. If you do not know anything about
the story behind this sura you do not understand it.
Let us take another example:
Sura
38:41-44
"And remember Our servant Ayyub, when he called
upon his Lord: The Shaitan has afflicted me with toil and torment.
Urge with your foot; here is a cool washing-place and a drink.
And We gave him his family and the like of them with them, as a mercy from
Us, and as a reminder to those possessed of understanding.
And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with It and do not break
your oath; surely We found him patient; most excellent the servant! Surely
he was frequent m returning (to Allah)".
Do these verses make any sense on their
own?
Examples abound. In fact most of the Quran
cannot be understood without knowing its context.
How do we know the context of these verses?
They are mostly in tafseer. Tafseer means explanation,
clarification, interpretation, etc. The interpreters/commentators of the
Quran (mofasserin) base their interpretations on the hadith and the books
of history.
For example Sura 9 consists of two
parts. The first part is called Bara’at (redemption) and the second part
is called Tawbah (repentance). You
can’t understand this Sura unless you know what they refer to. The
Bara’at was written during the invasion of Mecca. It is called Bara’at because in this
part of the Sura allegedly God is telling
Muhammad that he is free to break his treaties with the pagans
unilaterally. All the verses refer to that occasion. The Tawbah was
written when Muhammad returned from the war of Tabuk and found a few
Muslims had stayed behind and had not gone to war. He ordered the population of
Medina
to not talk to these deserters and even ordered that their wives move out
of their homes. For forty days no one talked to these people and passed
them by as if they were invisible. After forty days Muhammad accepted
their repentance and in this Sura he laid the conditions of repentance.
These details are in the history and in
hadith. You cannot understand this sura and any sura, properly without
knowing the history behind it.
As you see the Quranonly people can’t
even understand the Quran without the hadith and sira. What interpretation
can they give us when they deny the background and the context of the
Quran?
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