A New Approach to the Manner of Teaching Tenets, Ethics, and Ordinances in the Revelation Course of the Qur’ān

علوم قرآن و حدیث

Article 2, Volume 42, Issue 2 - Serial Number 85, December 2010   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/naqhs.v42i2.11815

Authors

‘Abbās Ismā‘īlīzāda^* ; Muḥammad Mahdī Ājīliyān Māfowq

Abstract

This writing addresses the renowned and prevalent view of the way the Meccan and Medinan verses were revealed and maintains that among the main characteristics and particulars of the Meccan and Medinan verses and chapters is that the doctrinal and ethical verses were mostly revealed in Mecca and the verses of ordinances (āyāt al-aḥkām) were revealed in Medina. The writer has first surveyed this view per se since the time of al-Zarkashī until the later and contemporary works; and in the meantime he has recounted some of the negative consequences of this view in the statements of the orientalists and occident lists as well as others. Then, after clarifying two principles of the order of Revelation and the unity and conjunction of the revealed sūras of the Qur’ān as his main proclaimed principles, he has first proved that these three categories of verses have been included both in Meccan and Medinan sūras and then expounded the hypothesis that although all three categories of verses have been revealed in Mecca and Medina, the course of Revelation in Mecca has been from tenets to ethics and then to ordinances and in Medina, vise versa; from ordinances to ethics and then to tenets. He has also clarified that what is meant by different course is not difference in Revelation course; rather, it is either prevalence or priority.
The other major difference mentioned is that the content of each one of these three categories of verses are different from one another in Mecca and Medina; to the effect that in Mecca individual- and group-development has been more in mind and in Medina community-development and universal development. Several examples have also been provided concerning tenets, ethics, and ordinances in regard to the course of Revelation. Similarly, it is proved that the differences propounded do not mean separation between the Meccan and Medinan Revelations, as it is in itself subject to criticism in this article; rather, the Revelation of these doctrinal teachings has enjoyed a conjunctive and evolutional course.
Keywords: Meccan and Medinan, the characteristics of the Meccan and Medinan verses and chapters, Revelation, course of Revelation, order of Revelation, unity of Revelation.