How to deal with difficult parts of the Qur'an
The Qur’an, speaking of The Creation:
Verily, We did offer the Trust to the heavens, and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it because they were afraid of it. Yet man took it up - for, verily, he has always been prone to be most wicked, most foolish. (33:72)
The “Trust” alluded to here is generally understood as the faculty of volition, or the ability to choose between right and wrong.
The parable illustrates how the wise choice was to refuse the burden of Free Will, and that humanity’s acceptance of it was a reflection of our foolishness. The easy lesson is that because we have the ability to refuse God’s Commands we are at risk for incurring His Punishment. But what I hope to suggest to you is that there is a deeper lesson here, one that relates to our role as the honored recipients of God’s Verses.
A believer accepts that everything is God’s Creation, and that He can affect change as He Wills; He simply says “Be!” and it is. But in a fundamentally different manner, God also puts forth Revelation, from which we are able to choose how to respond. Islam posits the idea that the author of the Qur’an is God, that the One who created us is actually speaking to us in a human language. What should it mean for us, as creatures of flesh and blood, that we accept this? The answer should be straightforward — “We hear and we obey” — yet the most important part, the area where the burden becomes the heaviest, is in what we choose to hear and how we choose to obey. Oftentimes one of the most crucial yet neglected parts of Revelation tends to be our own role in grappling with and responding to the verses beyond the simple decision to obey or disobey. And the uncomfortable fact is that human responsibility demands comprehensive possibilities and considerations in God’s Word, so much so that obeying the prohibitions, permissions, and prescriptions laid out in the Qur’an does not guarantee that an act will be ethical.
The Qur’an, like all Revelation, was not revealed in a vacuum but was put forth in response to human events. These events could be specific or long-term, but they always addressed the moral health of the community, to serve as a warning for the iniquitous and a glad tiding for the believers. In the Qur’an, God not only reveals His Commandments, but also details and addresses the human response to His Commandments. A lot of the time this is to counter the arguments put against the Prophets, such as those asking why God doesn’t reveal Himself, or why He doesn’t perform a miracle to prove His existence, or why doesn’t He just help the misfortunate instead of asking us to do it? The motivation behind these types of questions was always rooted in arrogance; God revealed his command that the people should improve themselves, that they use their moral faculties to bring about justice, yet the people always responded with questions intended to deflect this responsibility and ask the Prophets: “Who are you to tell us all this?” Note that it was irrelevant to them whether they actually believed that God commanded them to repent and establish justice. Most of them, in fact, believed in some kind of god and it would be reasonable to assume that they believed this god to be a source of benevolence. What was important to them in that moment, however, was to avoid moral responsibility for their actions by attempting to discredit the Prophet. Their logic was “since this person may be lying about being a Messenger, therefore his calls to justice can be dismissed. The Messenger is fallible, so the Message can’t be from God, so it must be worthless.”
It’s clear what the fallacy in this thinking is, but it would be a mistake to draw the conclusion that because of these incidents, God disapproves of all questioning of His Omnipotence and Authority. To the contrary, and what I suggest, is that our grappling with the question of God; our decision on how to apply His commands; and our spiritual struggles are not done in spite of God’s Will but are the whole point.
The twenty-eighth Surah of the Qur’an, Al-Qasas, is in large part devoted to the tale of Musa (Moses). When Musa was born, the Pharaoh of Egypt had a policy in place to kill the sons of the lowest caste of people under him. In the seventh verse, the Qur’an mentions Allah’s sign to Musa’s mother:
And so, [when he was born,] We inspired [thus] the mother of Moses: "Suckle him [for a time], and then, when you have cause to fear for him, cast him into the river, and have no fear and do not grieve - for We shall restore him to you, and shall make him one of Our message-bearers!" (28:7)
So God Himself gives Musa’s mother His reassurance that not only will Musa be fine, but that she’ll see him again and he will become a Prophet. And so she eventually obeys the command to cast him into the river, and what we might expect is that she’s at a peace of mind knowing that God is with her. But that’s not what happens – it’s obviously a horrible situation for her, she’s had to cast Musa into a river just to save him from being killed by soldiers, and later she finds out that Musa has been adopted by the Pharaoh’s household. So the Qur’an goes on to say:
"On the morrow, however, an aching void grew up in the heart of the mother of Moses, and she would indeed have disclosed all about him had We not endowed her heart with enough strength to keep alive her faith [in Our promise].” (28:10)
She’s scared, she wants to run to the Pharaoh and get Musa back, even if it means disclosing Musa’s identity and putting both of their lives in danger. It is only with God’s strength that she gets through this. And we only know all of this because God told us in the Qur’an. God explicitly states that Musa’s mother was not immediately put at ease just because she heard the Revelation, and that this was okay. In the same space that God’s Command is written, we also learn of the inner turmoil of the woman who was receiving it. This signals to us that God knows our interaction with His Decree is more than a matter of “we hear and we obey.”
Let’s jump ahead to the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). Before the birth of Ishaq (Isaac), the Qur’an narrates that two guests arrived at Ibrahim’s household and informed him of the future birth of his son. Ibrahim was initially apprehensive of them, but they informed him that they were heavenly messengers being sent to the people of Lut (i.e. the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah) to carry out God’s punishment.
And when the fear had left Abraham, and the glad tiding had been conveyed to him, he began to plead with Us for Lot's people; for, behold, Abraham was most clement, most tender-hearted, intent upon turning to God again and again. [But God's messengers replied:] "O Abraham! Desist from this [pleading]! Behold, your Sustainer's judgment has already gone forth: and, verily, there shall fall upon them a chastisement which none can avert!" (11:74-76)
Ibrahim understands that these are God’s messengers, that God’s Will is always enacted, and that God knows better than him who is deserving of punishment. Yet he still pleads for Lot’s people to be spared. And what’s significant is how the Qur’an presents this – “he began to plead with Us for Lot’s people; for, behold, Abraham was most clement, most tender-hearted, intent upon turning to God again and again.” God is praising Ibrahim for praying against what God has already willed. This type of prayer is no small matter, but God, the Most Merciful, deems it laudable because it comes from a place of clemency in Ibrahim’s heart. Even though the messengers tell him to desist, this at least signals to us that a “less than enthusiastic” response to God’s Will can be a reflection of the goodness in our hearts and is not always from a place of arrogance.
So from the first story we learned that our inner anxiety, even in the presence of God’s promise, is understandable. And from the second story we learned that our discomfort with God’s Command could sometimes even be commendable.
Now we arrive at the Prophet Muhammad. The next ayahs come from Surah At-Tawbah, which was revealed in the Medina period, which is the period after the Muslims’ migration to Medina and their commencement of an open state of war with the Quraysh. As with many other surahs revealed in this period, At-Tawbah contains many verses that pertain to the particularly dangerous social and political environment of the Muslims at that time, and so are devoted to issues of war, drawing the lines of what constitutes hypocrisy, and dealing with those who might commit high treason against the fragile Muslim community. The eightieth verse speaks to Muhammad, regarding those who were called Al-Fasiqun, or those that were unrepentantly iniquitous.
[And] whether you do pray [unto God] that they be forgiven or do not pray for them - [it will all be the same: for even] if you were to pray seventy times that they be forgiven, God will not forgive them, seeing that they are bent on denying God and His Apostle. And God does not bestow His guidance upon such iniquitous folk. (9:80)
Now the verse says, “even if you were to pray seventy times,” and in Arabic the number seventy is often used to mean “arbitrarily many.” So what the verse is ostensibly suggesting to Muhammad is that praying for the Fasiqun was of no use.
The Qur’an goes on to criticize those who claimed to be with the Muslims but refused to fight for the community’s survival, specifically those like the infamous 'Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy, who was regarded as the leader of the hypocrites. It is reported in many hadith compilations that when 'Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy was dying, he sent his son to the Prophet with the request that the Prophet give him his shirt, so that ibn Ubayy might be buried in it, and that the Prophet should pray over him after his death. The Prophet took this request as a sign of Ibn Ubayy's repentance, and gave his son the shirt and later led the funeral prayers over Ibn Ubayy’s body. The Prophet’s Companion 'Umar ibn al-Khattab vehemently protested against this clemency towards the man whom all the believers had regarded as "God's enemy." To this, the Prophet referred to the aforementioned verse and responded, "God has granted me a choice in this matter, and so I shall pray [for him] more than seventy times."
Notice how the Prophet works with the verse here. He says, “God has granted me a choice in this matter,” i.e. God did not say “you are not allowed to pray for them,” He said “whether you do pray or don’t pray, it is the same,” and so Muhammad makes the choice to pray. And the Prophet deliberately bypasses the common meaning of “seventy times” as “many times” and instead takes the literal number as a threshold, deciding to pray for Ibn Ubayy more than seventy times. Muhammad probably knew exactly what he was doing; that he was merely adjusting the semantics of the Revelation. What’s important is his motivation for doing so; not to defy God, but to be as forgiving as possible within the framework God had set up.
What’s also significant is that God knew Muhammad would do this. If God is All-Knowing and Willful, then the specific command and wording of the command is given with the knowledge of how it would be used and interpreted. Therefore, we have the idea that God’s Revelation is not simply limited to the words He reveals but everything in our world that those words must interact and negotiate with. Therein lies our moral responsibility – How do we choose to negotiate with the text? What is our motivation for going beyond what is simply on the page of the Qur’an?
The final story I wish to share, the one that ties the rest of these together, was also revealed to Muhammad, a bit before the verses of Surah At-Tawbah. It is found in An-Nisa, another Surah from the Medina period. It lays out many stipulations regarding peace and war, dealing with God’s enemies, and dealing with the hypocrites. And in the thirty-fourth verse it states, among other things, the steps by which a man would deal with a wife from whom he feared rebellion. These steps were to first admonish her, and if she persists refuse to share her bed, and if she persists hit her, and then stop if she thereupon pays heed. I understand that there are plenty of interpretive avenues and issues of definitions with this verse, which is why I’m avoiding using any one translation here. My objective is not to explore whatever theological or legal consequences may be derived from it. I only hope to, once again, glean a lesson from the Prophet who received it.
It is widely reported that Muhammad was disturbed by this verse when it was revealed to him, ordered that it be limited it to non-violent tapping, and did not act on it himself. He reportedly said: “I wanted one thing, but God has willed another thing — and what God has willed must be best.” At-Tabari also mentions that Muhammad was reluctant to even recite this verse. And there is well-authenticated hadith of the Prophet that states, “Never beat God’s handmaidens.”
Recall that Muhammad is the man that is held up by God Himself as the perfect example for all of humanity, and Muhammad preached and acted upon the Qur’an such that his wife A’isha said Muhammad’s character was the Qur’an itself. What does it mean for us that the Messenger and the Message seem to be tugging in opposite directions? The previous stories give us a few hints – namely, God knew exactly how Muhammad would react, He knew exactly how this verse would be received, He knew exactly what kind of impact it might have. And God’s Revelation goes beyond the page and manifests itself in those who read and act upon it. From this we conclude that the Qur’an tells us what to do and the Prophet shows us how to do it.
Muhammad’s example shows us in this circumstance that we must struggle with our conscience even in response to God; he also demonstrated the limited circumstances under which one can and should say “no” to what the Qur’an has ostensibly made permissible. Refusing a prescription or permission of God is no small matter. As the Prophet showed us, it should properly arise out of a sincere struggle of conscience rooted in our very humanity.
Revelation is ultimately a conversation with God, and we are half of that conversation. The Trust is a huge responsibility that we should not take lightly. The active engagement with our religion, the living out of our values, the act of treating the Revelations not as a package of laws descending from the heavens but as a set of tools for us to use for ourselves, this I believe is the most conducive to our growth and our connection with God. Our struggles with God’s commands are not in spite of His Will, they are the entire point of it, part of the same spiritual experience that inspires our awe, our love, our yearning for God’s presence.
Let us all reduce the time we spend passively consuming religion, and increase the time we spend taking a conscious, active role in how the faith is interpreted and played out. I encourage us all to converse with the Qur’an, to decide how we are going to walk the Path that God has laid out. Let us all pray for Allah’s Guidance, so that we may walk as the Messengers did, always commanding good and always forbidding evil.