This book is an expansive and detailed treatment of the topic of guidance from the Qur’an. Not the details of guidance, rather the details about guidance.
To illustrate:
This book is designed to answer:
What constitutes guidance and what are its attributes?
This book is not designed to answer:
This book is highly segmented to allow the coverage of many details and to allow for precise referencing of evidence for any argument or statement. This comes into frequent use as I add my commentary and elaboration of various ayaat and justify my analysis with reference to specific sections.The flow of this book is as follows:
Throughout, the argument that the Qur’an alone is a valid source of guidance is presented and justified.This book is a tool for you to learn about the Qur’an and its role in guidance. To perhaps see things from a perspective you had not considered. You will learn:
In relation to the messenger, Muhammad, this book will:
To properly understand the role of Allah/Qur’an and the messenger in guidance we must first analyse the Qur’an.
A key reason for you to care about this book lies in (5:44-50), where Allah states:
… And whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down/revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers …
… And whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down/revealed - then it is those who are the wrongdoers …
… And whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down/revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient …
… Then is it the judgement of ignorance they desire? But who is better than Allah in judgement for a people who are certain?(5:44-50)
What was revealed to the messenger was the Qur’an, nothing else. So what happens when people judge by the hadith and sunnah and unjustified scholarly derivations from them? The previous peoples effectively altered and/or destroyed the revelation and were able to add other sources of ‘guidance’ to support the doctrines and beliefs they wanted.
The tendency to add other sources to Islam [outside the Qur’an], I believe, served the same function as in previous religions. Namely, to change the religion in accordance with the desires of the religious leaders and scholars. This happened for the previous generations, and you, the reader, should at least be open to this tendency also existing in historical and present Muslim leadership and scholarship.
To illustrate:
This book is designed to answer:
What constitutes guidance and what are its attributes?
This book is not designed to answer:
- What is the Qur’anic guidance on the topic of charity?
- What is the Qur’anic guidance on the topic of salaah?
This book is highly segmented to allow the coverage of many details and to allow for precise referencing of evidence for any argument or statement. This comes into frequent use as I add my commentary and elaboration of various ayaat and justify my analysis with reference to specific sections.The flow of this book is as follows:
- Allah: The source of guidance.
- Qur’an: The medium of guidance.
- The messenger: The means of delivery for the medium of guidance.
- Muslims: The audience/recipients for guidance.
- Previous Muslim communities: The previous audience/recipients for guidance and their deviation from it.
- Hadith: A claimed source of guidance.
- Arguments for Hadith: A presentation and response to the key arguments for hadith.
Throughout, the argument that the Qur’an alone is a valid source of guidance is presented and justified.This book is a tool for you to learn about the Qur’an and its role in guidance. To perhaps see things from a perspective you had not considered. You will learn:
- What Allah has given us as guidance.
- How Allah makes sure we benefit from the guidance.
- About the characteristics/attributes of the Qur’an.
- About the messenger, his obligation and responsibilities.
- About how Muslims should treat the Qur’an.
- About previous communities, their messengers and how they treated their revelations.
- About the hadith, its effects and clear problems.
In relation to the messenger, Muhammad, this book will:
- Show us the obligation Allah gave him, not the role(s) and obligation(s) scholars gave to him.
- Free him of the falsehoods associated with him.
- Present him as the slave of Allah who lived only by what was revealed to him.
- Remove him from the position of lawmaker that belongs to Allah alone.
- Show us how he was supposed to communicate, live and judge by the Qur’an.
To properly understand the role of Allah/Qur’an and the messenger in guidance we must first analyse the Qur’an.
A key reason for you to care about this book lies in (5:44-50), where Allah states:
… And whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down/revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers …
… And whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down/revealed - then it is those who are the wrongdoers …
… And whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down/revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient …
… Then is it the judgement of ignorance they desire? But who is better than Allah in judgement for a people who are certain?(5:44-50)
What was revealed to the messenger was the Qur’an, nothing else. So what happens when people judge by the hadith and sunnah and unjustified scholarly derivations from them? The previous peoples effectively altered and/or destroyed the revelation and were able to add other sources of ‘guidance’ to support the doctrines and beliefs they wanted.
The tendency to add other sources to Islam [outside the Qur’an], I believe, served the same function as in previous religions. Namely, to change the religion in accordance with the desires of the religious leaders and scholars. This happened for the previous generations, and you, the reader, should at least be open to this tendency also existing in historical and present Muslim leadership and scholarship.
