Here are some notes from the Saturday Halaqa on May 8, 2010.
4 Purposes of Sending Rasulullah (S):
- Tilawat of the ayahs of the Qur’an
- Teaching the meanings of the Qur’an
- Teaching the Hikmah (AKA the Sunnah way of life)
- Tazkiyah (AKA purification of the hearts)
These 4 Purposes are mentioned 4 times in the Qur’an:
Surah Baqarah – 2:129 – (The du’a of Ibrahim (A))
"Our Lord, and send among them a messenger from themselves who will recite to them Your verses and teach them the Book and wisdom and purify them. Indeed, You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise."
Surah Ali’ Imran – 3:164
"Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error."
Note: Rasulullah (S) was sent as a human being because the world is filled with human beings. This is why Allah (SWT) mentions that “He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves” in this ayah.
Surah Al-Jumu’ah – 62:2
"It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error -"
When Rasulullah (S) was asked to tell about his history he (S) mentioned the following:
- Rasulullah (S) was decreed to be a prophet at the time of Adam (A)’s creation
- Rasulullah (S) was the answer to the aforementioned du’a of Ibrahim (A)
- Rasulullah (S) was the one that Isa (A) brought glad tidings of
- Rasulullah (S) was the reality of the dreams of his mother
Side Note – The 2 Reasons the Isa (A) was sent were to reaffirm the teachings of the Torah & to bring glad tidings of Ahmad (S) (AKA Rasulullah (S))
These first 2 purposes were fulfilled as such,
When the Revelation would come the Sahabha would write [30 Sahabah were designated as the Katibin-al-Wahi (the Scribes of the Revelation) ] and memorize the Qur’an right away and then via Q&A Rasulullah (S) would immediately teach the meanings of the Qur’an.
And Rasulullah (S)’s life and actions served to fulfill the last 2 purposes.
Ultimately, this shows that Rasulullah (S) was a comprehensive individual, but the Sahabah and those who came after them were not so they had to specialize in these 4 different fields.
For example, there were a select few Sahabah that were considered to be Qurra’ as mentioned in the ahadith:
- Ubayy ibn Kaab (R) – the greatest Qari according to the hadith – Imam of the Tarawih at the time of Umar (R)
- Abdullah ibn Masud (R) – recited It in the same way that It was revealed to Rasulullah (S)
- Abu Musa Al-Ashari (R) – had a beautiful voice – as beautiful as the voice of Dawud (A)
- Hufsah (R)
- Aisha (R)
- Umm Salamah (R)
Additionally there were the 7 Imams of Qirah:
- Imam Nafi of Madinah
- Imam Ibn Kathir of Makkah
- Imam Abu Omar of Basra
- Imam Ibn Amir of Shaam
- Imam Hamazah Ziyat of Kufah
- Imam Asim of Kufah
- (not mentioned in the halaqa)
All aspects of the Qur’an are preserved (e.g. the language, the spelling, the grammar, the puncuation, etc.)
One of the reasons that Allah (SWT) specifically mentioned Tilawat of the ayahs of the Qur’an & Teaching the meanings of the Qur’an as two separate items is because:
In the Qur’an, as opposed to any other text, the words themselves are an objective in and of themselves alongside the message of the text.
In order for the Qur’an to be complete BOTH the words and the meanings must be preserved. Neither of these two aspects can be left out.
