Was the Quran Revealed All at Once?

[Arabic recitation]

[Silence]

Continuing with the descriptions of the hellfire as related to us by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the middle verses of surah mud the second chapter of the Quran to be revealed to our prophet Sam when we say and when we read and hear from our scholars that this is the second chapter revealed or for instance this is the first chapter of the Quran to be revealed. Does it necessarily mean that every verse was revealed all at once that is part of that chapter? The answer is no. The chapters of the Quran were not all revealed together as a chapter. some of them were, some of the longer ones were, but that's very rare. And many of the shorter chapters were revealed all together all at once as a unit. However, a huge portion of the chapters of the Quran were revealed in pieces in parts over a 23year span. As many of us know is no different. The opening verses were the were the second thing to be revealed to him of the Quran. However, the remaining verses of surah mud, it is very clear from the tone, from the topics discussed, from the things that are mentioned and the people that are mentioned that these verses were revealed perhaps even years after the opening verses were revealed. So this is something good to keep in mind because the chapters when they are mentioned to be revealed in a certain order it doesn't necessarily mean that they were all that the chapter was revealed as a whole. Some of them were but not all of them. Right? And so when you're reading this for instance a person says I would like to read the most vivid seal the most vivid book on the prophet Muhammad's saiam what book is that what book do we start with and learning about his s the Quran number one it seems a trick question right but Yeah, a lot of times this is overlooked. he mentioned the sealed nectar. This book is incredibly important. It's very important for us specifically for us. Why for us? Because he's not mentioning something new. There's no new cutting edge discoveries being made on the prophet's seal. As a matter of fact, the further away in time we become from his time, the more we have to go through in order to reach the more literature and research we have to go through in order to reach what and discern his silo. But why do scholars then keep writing books on the same topics? Because the sealer didn't change but the readers do change. the reader has changed. our languages change, our cultures change, our environments change. And so as a result of this, it becomes much more difficult for us to understand what the earlier scholars are writing about. So the scholars of Islam and every time constantly are writing the same thing over but in a more relatable language and trying to close that chasm that is between us and that time period which was 1,500 years ago. I might I mean we might as well have been from a different planet. I mean everything has changed since then especially in the last hundred years. Our entire world has changed. So for instance an example of this this is a little bit off topic but an example of this for those of us here who speak Arabic and those of us who even don't speak Arabic you probably know this word when I say the word hammen. Ham what what does that mean? we had a little kid say yes a young upand cominging he says a bathroom right what what pops into your mind when I say the word him or bathroom in in in English which bathroom by the way that particular word is an exact translation almost exact translation of the word h what pops into your mind the bathroom that you've all, you know, unless you're 200 years old or you grew up overseas, the bathroom that's in your house, in my house, in the masjid, everywhere you go in, there's a shower, there's a a toilet, there's a sink. Pretty standard stuff. That's not what the word ham means in the Sunnah. That's not what the word ham means in the narrations of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. The prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam prohibited the attendance of al ham. It's per it's prohibited to attend the ham in in some narrations. What does that mean? What what is that? Even the word bathroom in English doesn't mean what it used to mean. the word bathroom. It's a place where it was a public space where people would all get naked together and they would collectively heat water there and people would go to bathe. There's no place to relieve yourself in a right and so just that one word changes so entirely what we are accustomed to these changes if you multiply them by hundreds of changes right it becomes almost unintelligible to the average person when they read the old books of hadith the ancient books of that's why the scholars keep writing books on keep writing books on keep writing books on explaining hadith they're not saying anything new our religion is not a religion of innovation it's a religion of tradition we don't say new things but what we're doing is we are the scholars they are merging that what is written with what we are living and existing in today. That's their job. That's one of the biggest jobs that they have and one of their biggest challenges. There's no such thing as a person discovering new discoveries of the Quran. Right? The entirety of the meanings of the Quran was known in its entirety to the prophet and his companions sallall.aii wasallam. and the entirety of the Quran's meanings are known to the ummah as a whole at any given time throughout history. However, there may be new things that change with regards to our existence that may coincide with things that are mentioned in the Quran. Generalities that are gestured to in the Quran. This is not you know the the you know an innovative cuttingedge you know advancement in the sciences of Islam. Alhamdulillah our religion is preserved and our religion is complete. there's nothing left to discover about it, but there is a lot left to to uncover with regards to the masses at any given time. And so the best book and the book that is often overlooked when it comes to the s is the Quran. It is the most detailed account and the Quran only mentions the most important and critical points of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. However, it's not mentioned in chronological order. It's not mentioned in order of revelation. It's mentioned with regards to what is appropriate for a bigger picture that is the Quran. You move on to another book that will help you understand the Quran very well is a book the sealed nectar. It doesn't have a lot of weak or fabricated narrations in it many books on the topic. it doesn't have a lot of conjecture and presupposition in it and extrapolating meanings that aren't there. mafi it's a very good book and one of the you know one of the evidences that a book is good that a book is in general as a whole acceptable is when a book becomes common place and household wherever you go you find that book if I say for instance taps what taps do you find in every library everywhere everywhere in the world in every masid. Huh?Bes everybody. That's the first that came to mind. Even though there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of te if you were to spend your entire life only reading books of tea properly, you would die long before you get to the end of them. So how is it that this one book made it to become a household name? It's because Allah subh Allah chooses from his creation and the offerings of his slaves. What he chooses if I were to say a book on what is a book that is good for that comes to mind. Well, that would be more in hadith like just specifically what to say when you go in the bathroom, what to say when you come out, what to say when you wake up, what to say when you go to sleep.

[Arabic recitation]

Well, maybe this one. There's a little There's a little book. Have you guys thinking of it? , Fortress of the Muslim. Yeah. Muslim. It used to be printed for years and years. It was orange, bright orange, right? And it was given out in mass to anyone who went to Haj or Omar. Anyone who passed by Saudi just casually would end up with one of those books. It's in every single house. After all these years of studying, it's still one of the best books I've ever come across and it is so common place and so accessible. There's hundreds of books that have been written on that topic. That's not the only one. Everyone, any scholar who is worth his salt will want to write two things before he dies. A book on and a book on. Those are the two most desirable things to to write on as a scholar. Why? Because there's nothing more better. There's nothing better than knowledge of the Quran, right? And there is nothing more rewarding than having millions of people read from your book every morning and every night throughout the entirety of their day. Right? However, this book was chosen. If I were to say a book of hadith, what book comes to mind? by every you know it is the most printed book after the mus in the entire Muslim library in the entire Islamic library. It is the most printed book out of any other books after the the mus the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Is that the only book that's in its vein? Hundreds of books have been written on hadith compilations. Some more clever, more clear than a Noah's book. Some more authentic, some more accessible, but that was the one that was chosen. And this articulates something about the author, and that is that the author has reached a level that he is as a whole, doesn't mean everything, but as a whole, this book has been accepted by Allah. This is an evidence of intentions that he had pure intentions when he wrote this book. Likewise, is that the only book written in as a as a type of book? Of course not. Hundreds of books have been written on that. Right? You have Muslim. There are, you know, if we were to say a book on a compilation of hadith, a book that is a beginner's book on hadith, you would think of the 40 narrations of if I were to say a book on prophetic medicine. There are books written on prophetic medicine. most that comes to mind is for which is actually just the fifth volume or the fourth volume of his book. Right? If I were to say a book on the stories of the prophets, what book comes to mind? Huh?

[Arabic recitation]

It's Ib Kir. Yeah, it's Ib Kir. That's actually just the first volume from Niha, a bigger book on on history written by Ib Kad, but it's everywhere. I could stand up right now and pull all of those books out of this shelf behind me right now without even knowing that they're there because this is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses things. When I went to write his book al was groundbreaking in its time because this is before and one of the most prolific students of Alam Malik he said He said there is no book under the canopy of our sky that is more authentic under under the sky under the heavens that is more authentic than mik. There were many other books written as a ma. A ma is a type of book just a sah is a type of book in the science of hadith. It's a category of book right and he was asked and Imam Malik was asked why are you writing this when others who are more well-known than yourself have written more expansive before you this is something that's already been done why are you reinventing the wheel basically he said he said whatever is truly for Allah's sake will remain and whatever is not for fame or notoriety or even even for for vanity right knowledge is vanity just just money is vanity or vanity it will dissipate. How many of us have ever heard of a written by other than Imam Malik? Never. You have to specialize in the science of hadith to even read about those books. And most of them are lost. Meaning we don't have their copies anymore. They're gone. All we have is the name that this was once written. These are books that are considered to be. Right? This is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses of his creation. Now this doesn't mean that just because something is popular that means it's automatically correct. No, this follows it being adopted or deemed acceptable by the scholars of Islam. We always follow the scholars. We never say something the scholars don't say before us. This is important. They come to the conclusions we follow them. Right? But if the scholars from amongst all the books that the scholars accept, these are the most ubiquitous and the most well-known and the most common place. This articulates a level of sincerity that the author would have. And this articulates that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has accepted and it's not just books as well. When we look at the issue of a med what is a med? It's a school of thought. Is there only four schools of thought? Is that something that is written in the sunnah? Did the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam say there will only be four schools of thought? No. There's dozens of schools of thought. Mo every major scholar had a school of thought. What is his school of thought? The conclusions that he arrived at and more specifically the formulas he used in order to arrive at those conclusions. how we understand evidence is and what the and what the byproduct of that understanding is or the conclusions of those evidences are in that understanding is that's what a med is. There are dozens of med but only four of them are truly preserved today. There there is a fifth the med of the which has some contributions but overall it it is it is not considered to be on par with the other four and then there is always the mh ofith which choose from those four but many many many major scholars had a mhab im Muslim was known to have a medi Abu Dani they weren't orfi or hali or right they they were on the level of these scholars to where they can arrive at their own opinions but they didn't have the students and they didn't have the acceptance in that field to where their med was documented as meticulously as those four that we have today. Alazi. He was shafer but due to his his you know his excellence in the field of he was viewed to have his own med in the sense working around the med of however these four they are the ones that stuck because this is when we look through the history of Islam there's certain scholars there's certain books There are certain mad certain opinions that Allah preserves and the rest retreat into the bowels of history. having said that, we didn't say anything about because it's your fault. You're the one that you said Ali went off on some tangent. for subhanahu forchech.

[Silence]

Just a reminder, tonight is Thursday night. as we usually remind everyone the best salah of the week to attend and the most virtuous one of all the five daily prayers of the entirety of the week is in the masid on the morning of as the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam mentioned if you don't usually come to fud in the masid you know a lot of people don't but if you wanted to choose one to come to that would be the perfect place to start.