Al-Bayan: Muqaddama

With regard to its subject-matter, the Qur'ān is a narrative of a messenger's indhār.^[1] It is known that Muḥammad (sws) was not merely a nabī (prophet), he was also a rasūl (messenger). Prophets are personalities to whom the Almighty reveals divine guidance so that they can guide people. However, not every prophet is a messenger. Messengerhood is a position bestowed to only some prophets. According to its details furnished by the Qur'ān, a rasūl decides the fate of his addressees and implements the judgement of God on them in this very world. The Qur'ān informs us that this final phase in the preaching endeavour of a rasūl comes after it passes through the phases of indhār, indhār-i 'ām,^[2] itmām al-ḥujjah^[3] and hijrah wa barā'ah.^[4] It is in this phase that the divine court of justice is set up on this earth. Punishment is meted out to the rejecters of the truth and those who have accepted it are rewarded, and, in this way, a miniature Day of Judgement is witnessed on the face of the earth. The history of the preaching endeavours of the rusul related in the Qur'ān shows that at this stage generally either of the following two situations arise.

Firstly, a rasūl has a few companions only and there is no place available to him for migration.

Secondly, a rasūl's companions are in substantial numbers and the Almighty also furnishes a place to them where they can migrate and be bestowed with political authority.

In both these situations, the established practice of the Almighty manifests itself – the practice which the Qur'ān refers to in the following words:

وَ لِکُلِّ اُمَّۃٍ رَّسُوۡلٌ ۚ فَاِذَا جَآءَ رَسُوۡلُہُمۡ قُضِیَ بَیۡنَہُمۡ بِالۡقِسۡطِ وَ ہُمۡ لَا یُظۡلَمُوۡنَ

For each community, there is a messenger. Then when their messenger comes, their fate is decided with fairness and no injustice is shown to them. (10:47)

In the first situation, once a rasūl leaves his people, divine punishment in the form of raging storms, cyclones and other calamities descends upon those who have rejected him and completely destroys them. It is evident from the Qur'ān that the people of Noah (sws), Lot (sws), Ṣāliḥ (sws) and Shu'ayb (sws) besides others met with this dreadful fate. The only exception to this case was the Israelites. Since they primarily adhered to monotheism, instead of annihilation, the punishment of subjugation was meted out to them once the Prophet Jesus (sws) left them.^*

In the second situation, a rasūl and his companions subdue their nation by force. In this case, the addressees of the rasūl are given some more respite for he delivers the truth to the people of the place he has migrated to, until they too are left with no excuse to deny it. In other words, the truth is conclusively communicated to them. Also, during this time a messenger instructs and purifies his followers and segregates them from his rejecters and organizes them to fight the enemy. He also consolidates his political authority in the place he has migrated to the extent that with its help he is able to destroy his rejecters and achieve victory for his followers.

In the case of the Prophet Muḥammad (sws), this second situation arose. Consequently, the subject-matter of the Qur'ān is the account of his indhār which passed through various phases referred to above and culminated in the worldly reward and retribution of his addressees. Each of its sūrahs has been revealed in this background, and each of its groups has been arranged keeping it in view.

The general pattern of this arrangement is that all the sūrahs of the Qur'ān have been arranged in pairs and in seven distinct groups. In other words, each sūrah has a counterpart with regard to its subject-matter, and both are related to one another the way twins are. There are some exceptions to this pattern in which Sūrah Fātiḥah is an introduction to the whole Qur'ān, and the remaining ones are either a conclusion or an epilogue to a group. These sūrahs have then been arranged in seven groups which we have termed as sections. This reality about the Qur'ān is stated in Sūrah al-Ḥijr in the following words:

وَلَقَدْ اٰتَیْنٰکَ سَبْعًا مِّنَ الْمَثَانِیْ وَالْقُرْاٰنَ الْعَظِیْمَ

[O Prophet!] We have bestowed upon you seven oft-repeated verses^* and this great Qur'ān. (15:87)

Each of these seven groups begins with one or more Makkan sūrahs and ends with one or more Madīnan sūrahs.

The first group begins with Sūrah Fātiḥah and ends with Sūrah Mā'idah. In this group, Sūrah Fātiḥah is Makkan and the remaining four are Madīnan.

The second group begins with two Makkan sūrahs, An'ām and A'rāf, and ends with two Madīnan sūrahs, Anfāl and Tawbah.

In the third group, the first fourteen sūrahs from Yūnus to Mu'minūn are Makkan and the last one, Sūrah Nūr, is Madīnan.

The fourth group begins with Sūrah Furqān and ends with Sūrah Aḥzāb. In this group, the first eight sūrahs are Makkan and the last one, Aḥzāb, is Madīnan.

The fifth group begins with Sūrah Sabā and ends with Sūrah Ḥujurāt. In this group, thirteen sūrahs are Makkan and the last three are Madīnan.

The sixth group begins with Sūrah Qāf and ends with Sūrah Taḥrīm. In this group, seven sūrahs are Makkan and the next ten are Madīnan.

The seventh group begins with Sūrah Mulk and ends with Sūrah Nās. In this group, the last two sūrahs, the Mu'awwidhatān, are Madīnan and all the rest are Makkan.

Each of these groups has a distinct theme.

The theme of the first group is the conclusive communication of the truth to the People of the Book, the establishment of a new ummah in their place, its moral training and the covenant taken from it by the Almighty.

The theme of the second group is the conclusive communication of the truth to the Idolaters of Arabia, the moral training of the Muslims and the declaration of the final judgement of God.

The theme of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth groups is the same: warning and glad tidings and moral training.

The theme of the seventh and last group is warning the leaders of the Quraysh of the Day of Judgement, conclusively communicating the truth to them, threatening them with punishment as a result and glad tidings to the Prophet (sws) of the domination of the truth in Arabia. In short, we can say that its theme is merely warning and glad tidings.

If we leave aside the first group, the arrangement of these groups in the Qur'ān is from the end to the beginning. Thus the seventh group ends merely at warning and glad tidings. After this, in the sixth, fifth, fourth and third groups the subject of moral training is also incorporated with warning and glad tidings. Then comes the second and last group of this sequence in which the warning of the Prophet (sws) reaches its culmination. Consequently, besides conclusive communication of the truth and moral training, the final judgement of God is also delivered in it for the addressees – a judgement which we term as the last Day of Judgement before the actual Day of Judgement.

The first group is distinct in the sense that instead of the Idolaters of Arabia, it is specific to the People of the Book. However, if we look at it from the beginning of the Qur'ān, it too is related to the subject of the Day of Judgement in Sūrah Tawbah after conclusive communication of the truth and moral training in exactly the same manner as the above mentioned groups are related in ascending order if we come from the end to the beginning. Thus the second group is like a zenith where the same subject reaches its culmination from both sides with the only difference that the addressees have changed.

It is evident from this that the descending order of revelation has been adopted from the second group onwards for the first group precisely because of this need of coherence.

The first group has been placed first in this arrangement because the bearers of the Qur'ān are primarily its addressees now. The subject of warning and glad tidings and conclusive communication of the truth is generally stated in the Makkan sūrahs, except the first group, and the subject of moral training is stated in the Madīnan sūrahs. However, both these subjects are so harmonious and concordant in each group as if branches are sprouting from the roots and the trunk.

The account of the court of justice set up by God in Arabia as a result of the preaching mission of the Prophet Muḥammad (sws) has been preserved forever in this Book with this arrangement. If viewed from this aspect, the Qur'ān substantiates in the ultimate degree this basic premise of religion that the court of justice of God shall also be set up one day for the whole world in a similar manner.