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Draft:Mahjūriyyat al-Qurʾān

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This page is about the abandonment of the Qur'an. For the verse with the same name, see Qur'an 25:30.

Mahjūriyyat al-Qurʾān (Arabic: مهجوریت القرآن, lit. Abandonment of the Qur'an) is a concept derived from Qur'an 25:30, in which the Prophet (s) complains to God about the neglect of the Qur'an by his people. This concept is also emphasized in Shi'a narrations and refers to the abandonment of the Qur'an in various dimensions, including the lack of correct understanding, practical negligence, and sufficiency with its outward appearance.

Qur'anic exegetes have offered various analyses of this term, ranging from outward abandonment or disobedience to the Qur'an, to separating it from the Ahl al-Bayt (a), who are its primary interpreters. Imam Khomeini emphasized the political and social aspects of the Qur'an, considering "Mahjuriyyat" (abandonment) to be the ignoring of these teachings and identifying it as the cause of the problems in the Islamic world.

Abandonment is observed in numerous cases such as recitation, listening, memorization, reflection (tadabbur), interpretation, and acting upon the Qur'an. Using it merely for ceremonial purposes or interpreting it according to personal opinion are also considered instances of this abandonment. The causes of the abandonment of the Qur'an include separating the Qur'an from the Ahl al-Bayt (a), the prevalence of superficial attitudes, the suspension of Ijtihad, and the promotion of the separation of religion from politics.

Its consequences include sectarianism, backwardness, the spread of superstitions, poverty, tyranny, and distancing from spirituality. Some figures, such as 'Allama Tabataba'i, Imam Khomeini, and Sayyid Jamal al-Din Asadabadi, have made efforts to eliminate the abandonment of the Qur'an.

Concept and Status

"Mahjuriyyat al-Qur'an" is a term derived from Qur'an 25:30, in which Prophet Muhammad (s) complains to God about his community's neglect of the Qur'an.[1] In Shi'a narrations, there have also been warnings about the Qur'an remaining abandoned; for instance, al-Sayyid al-Radi in Nahj al-balagha[2] and al-Kulayni in al-Kafi[3] have narrated themes regarding this from the Shi'a Imams.

In a general view, the abandonment of the Qur'an is considered to mean the lack of correct understanding of the Qur'an's importance and status, the abandonment of its teachings, negligence towards it due to heedlessness, and sufficing with its ceremonial and formal aspects.[4] Sayyid Muhammad Ali Ayazi, a Shiʿa Qurʾanic scholar, understands the “abandonment of the Qurʾan” as a condition in which the Qurʾan remains unfamiliar and is effectively set aside from everyday life.[5]

Qur'anic researchers have presented several opinions regarding the meaning of the term "abandonment of the Qur'an" in verse 30 of Sura al-Furqan:

To Abandon: The result is not listening, turning away, and outward abandonment of the Qur'an[6] or not believing in it.[7]

To Take as Abandoned: Citing the word ittakhadhū (they took/adopted) in the verse, the meaning becomes: Muslims, despite reading the Qur'an, have in reality abandoned it and remained alienated from it due to a lack of correct understanding, abandoning its important issues, and acting contrary to its teachings.[8] Building on this premise, Hasan Mustafawi argues in al-Tahqiq fi kalimat al-Qur'an that abandoning the Qurʾan means effectively setting it aside, even while maintaining a superficial or outward connection to it.[9]

Separating the Qur'an from the Ahl al-Bayt: Considering narrations such as Hadith al-Thaqalayn and the prevalence of the phrase "Hasbuna Kitab Allah" (The Book of God is sufficient for us) by the Second Caliph, which caused a misunderstanding of the Qur'an.[10]

Imam Khomeini, one of the Shi'a marja's, adopts a political and social perspective distinct from that of many other scholars, arguing that the Qurʾan contains far more political and social teachings than purely ritual prescriptions.[11] For this reason, the abandonment of the Qur'an means ignoring the political-social rulings and sufficing with its ritualistic acts of worship. He considers the reason for the current problems of the Islamic society to be the failure to act upon these kinds of Qur'anic rulings.[12]

Dimensions

Qur'anic researchers have examined the abandonment of the Qur'an in various dimensions and approaches and have mentioned instances for it, including in recitation, in audition (listening), in memorization, in reflection (tadabbur), in interpretation (tafsir), and abandonment in action.[13]According to Nasir Makarim Shirazi, a Shiʿa exegete, abandoning the Qurʾan includes reducing it to merely ceremonial uses—such as displaying verses in the decoration of religious spaces or employing it for therapeutic purposes—prioritizing Western ideas over Qurʾanic foundations, and approaching the Qurʾan with prejudice through interpretation by opinion.[14]

Other exegetes also consider negligence in recitation, listening, memorization, reflection, and not acting upon the commands of the Qur'an as signs of the Qur'an's abandonment.[15] Imam Khomeini considers the abandonment of the Qur'an to be in the negligence of the fundamental teachings of the Qur'an and not acting upon them.[16] In his view, merely addressing the outward aspects of the Qur'an such as Tajwid, lexical and literary discussions, or the aspects of its miraculous nature does not lead to the removal of its abandonment.[17]

Factors

Regarding the factors and reasons for the abandonment of the Qur'an, several cases have been mentioned; including the attempt to separate the Qur'an from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) as the primary interpreters of the Qur'an,[18] the engagement of exegetes with the outward issues of the Qur'an and the prevalence of tasteful interpretations, stagnation (jumūd) and distancing from reason (ʿaql), the suspension of Ijtihad and the prevalence of Akhbarism, the worldliness of a group of Muslims, portraying the Qur'an as inefficient, and confronting the political and social teachings of the Qur'an.[19]

Imam Khomeini considered the monopolization of the understanding of the Qur'an to exegetes and the prohibition of public reflection on the verses under the pretext of interpretation by opinion as factors of the Qur'an's abandonment.[20] He also introduces the promotion of the idea of separation of religion from politics as one of the important factors of the Qur'an's abandonment; because by limiting the view on the verses, they portray it as lacking political and social rulings in order to preserve the domination of superpowers in Islamic countries.[21]

Rasul Ja'fariyan, a history researcher, believes that since the time of the Safavids, the Shi'a approach to the epistemological sources of religion has heavily inclined towards Hadith and narrative exegesis, and this has caused a distancing from the Qur'an.[22]

The triple domination of Akhbari thought, the school of Sufism, and government policies has been considered another factor in the abandonment of the Qur'an; based on this, it has been said that it has often happened that governments influenced by specific school and religious thoughts were not very agreeable with the open presence of the Qur'an in the social arena and rather felt threatened; for this reason, they tried to push the Qur'an aside.[23]

Consequences

Effects and consequences have been mentioned for the abandonment of the Qur'an in Islamic society, among which the following can be mentioned:

  • Sectarianism and separation among people.[24]
  • Prevalence of superstitious Islam and fabricated hadiths.[25]
  • Loss of power, greatness, and dignity of Muslims[26] and their backwardness.
  • Distancing of society from spirituality and the spread of anti-moral issues and values contrary to humanity.[27]
  • Empowerment of incompetent and inefficient individuals in society and the spread of poverty and destitution.[28]
  • Tyranny of rulers and the distancing of people from political and social affairs.[29]
  • Incurring divine punishment.[30]

Pioneers of De-abandonment

Sayyid Muhammad Ali Ayazi, a Qur'anic researcher, believes that 'Allama Tabataba'i by writing the exegesis al-Mizan, and Imam Khomeini by raising the issues of governance in Islam, played an important role in eliminating the abandonment of the Qur'an and reviving Qur'anic concepts.[31] Also, Sayyid Jamal al-Din Asadabadi (d. 1314/1897) was one of the pioneers of the "Movement of Return to the Qur'an" and the inspirer of reformist movements with this slogan in the fifteenth lunar century.[32]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 15, p. 205; Mudarrisī, Min hudā al-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 8, p. 423.
  2. ↑ Nahj al-balāgha, ed. Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ, Sermon 147, p. 204; Letter 47, p. 422.
  3. ↑ Kulaynī, Al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 2, p. 613, vol. 8, p. 28.
  4. ↑ Ashrafī Amīn, "Mahjūriyyat-i āmūzahā-yi dīnī...", p. 281; Fiqhīzāda & Ashrafī Amīn, "ʿAvāmil va zamīnahā-yi mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān...", p. 58.
  5. ↑ Ayāzī, "Dar jāmiʿa-ī ki Qurʾān mahjūr ast...", Website of Majmaʿ-i Mudarrisīn va Muḥaqqiqīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya-yi Qom.
  6. ↑ Ṭūsī, Al-Tibyān, vol. 7, p. 486; Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 7, p. 263; Zamakhsharī, Al-Kashshāf, vol. 3, p. 277.
  7. ↑ Fayḍ Kāshānī, Al-Ṣāfī, 1415 AH, vol. 4, p. 11; Fakhr Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, 1420 AH, vol. 24, p. 455.
  8. ↑ Ghaffārī, "Mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān", pp. 89–90; Muʾminī, "Darāmadī bar mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān-i Karīm", pp. 60–61.
  9. ↑ Muṣṭafavī, Al-Taḥqīq fī kalimāt al-Qurʾān, 1369 Sh, vol. 11, p. 240.
  10. ↑ Akhavān Muqaddam, "Nigāhī naw bi maʿnā-yi mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān...", pp. 23–28.
  11. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, 1385 Sh, vol. 2, p. 255, vol. 5, p. 188.
  12. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, 1385 Sh, vol. 16, p. 34; Fiqhīzāda & Ashrafī Amīn, "ʿAvāmil va zamīnahā-yi mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān...", pp. 58–59.
  13. ↑ Muʾminī, "Darāmadī bar mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān-i Karīm", pp. 61–73.
  14. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 15, p. 77.
  15. ↑ Mūsavī, "Mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān, asbāb va nishānahā", pp. 14–16.
  16. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, 1378 Sh, vol. 16, p. 34.
  17. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ādāb al-ṣalāt, 1378 Sh, p. 198.
  18. ↑ Muʾminī, "Rābiṭa-yi mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān va mahjūriyyat-i Ahl al-Bayt (a)".
  19. ↑ Ashrafī Amīn, "Mahjūriyyat-i āmūzahā-yi dīnī...", pp. 282–283; Fiqhīzāda & Ashrafī Amīn, "ʿAvāmil va zamīnahā-yi mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān...", p. 60.
  20. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ādāb al-ṣalāt, 1378 Sh, p. 199.
  21. ↑ Fiqhīzāda & Ashrafī Amīn, "ʿAvāmil va zamīnahā-yi mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān...", pp. 65–67.
  22. ↑ Jaʿfariyān, "Nahḍat-i bāzgasht bi Qurʾān barā-yi iḥyā-yi ʿaẓamat-i az dast rafta būd".
  23. ↑ Nabātī, "Tathlīth-i mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān dar jāmiʿa-yi Īrānī".
  24. ↑ Nahj al-balāgha, ed. Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ, Sermon 147, p. 205; Ashrafī Amīn, "Vaḥdat-i musalmānān va rābiṭa-yi ān bā mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān...", p. 6.
  25. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 5, p. 274.
  26. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, 1385 Sh, vol. 16, pp. 38–39.
  27. ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, 1385 Sh, vol. 10, pp. 530–533.
  28. ↑ Ayāzī, "Dar jāmiʿa-ī ki Qurʾān mahjūr ast...", Website of Majmaʿ-i Mudarrisīn va Muḥaqqiqīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya-yi Qom.
  29. ↑ Ashrafī Amīn, "Mahjūriyyat-i āmūzahā-yi dīnī...", p. 284.
  30. ↑ Ṣadūq, Thawāb al-aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-aʿmāl, 1406 AH, p. 286.
  31. ↑ Ayāzī, "Mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān", p. 634.
  32. ↑ Ayāzī, "Mahjūriyyat-i Qurʾān", p. 633.

References

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  • Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 3rd ed., 1420 AH.
  • Fayḍ Kāshānī, Muḥsin al-. Al-Ṣāfī. Mashhad: Dār al-Murtaḍā, 1st ed., 1415 AH.
  • Imām Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥullāh. Ādāb al-ṣalāt. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeinī, 1378 Sh.
  • Imām Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥullāh. Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeinī, 1378 Sh.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 4th ed., 1407 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1371 Sh.
  • Mudarrisī, Muḥammad Taqī al-. Min hudā al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Dār Muḥibbī al-Ḥusayn, 1st ed., 1419 AH.
  • Muṣṭafavī, Ḥasan. Al-Taḥqīq fī kalimāt al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Vizārat-i Farhang wa Irshād-i Islāmī, 1369 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Thawāb al-aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-aʿmāl. Qom: Dār al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, 1406 AH.
  • Sayyid al-Raḍī, Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn al-. Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ. Qom: Hijrat, 1st ed., 1414 AH.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassasa al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 2nd ed., 1390 AH.
  • Ṭabarsī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusraw, 3rd ed., 1372 Sh.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by Aḥmad Ḥabīb ʿĀmilī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.
  • Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 3rd ed., 1407 AH.


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