Preamble

With regard to its topic, the Qur’ān is a narrative of a messenger’s indhār. It is known that Muḥammad (sws) was not merely a nabī (prophet), he was also a rasūl (messenger). Prophets are personalities to whom the Almighty reveals divine guidance so that they can guide people. However, each prophet is not necessarily a messenger. Messengerhood is a position that was bestowed to some prophets only. According to its details furnished by the Qur’ān, a rasūl decides the fate of his addressees and departs after implementing the judgement of God on them in this very world. The Qur’ān informs us that this final phase in the preaching endeavour of a rasūl comes after it passes through the phases of indhār, indhār-i ‘ām, itmām al-ḥujjah and hijrah wa barā’ah. It is in this phase that the divine court of justice is set up on this earth. Punishment is meted out to the rejecters of the truth and those who have accepted it are rewarded, and, in this way, a miniature Day of Judgement is witnessed on the face of the earth. The history of the preaching endeavours of the rusul related in the Qur’ān shows that at this stage generally either of the following two situations arise:¹²³⁴

Firstly, a rasūl has a few companions only and there is no place available to him for migration.

Secondly, a rasūl’s companions are in substantial numbers and the Almighty also furnishes a place to them where they can migrate and be bestowed with freedom and political authority.

In both these situations, the established practice of the Almighty necessarily manifests itself – the practice which the Qur’ān refers to in the following words:

For each community, there is a messenger. Then when their messenger arrives, their fate is decided with fairness and no injustice is shown to them. (10:47)

In the first situation, once a rasūl leaves his people whether in the form of his death or in the form of migration from his people, this decision is implemented in the form of raging storms, cyclones and other calamities that descend upon all those who have rejected him and completely destroy them. However, this scenario arises in the case of only those people which the Qur’ān terms as mushrikūn (polytheists). As for those who primarily subscribe to monotheism, they are not dealt with in this way. For them, the principle is that instead of being destroyed they are subjected to the punishment of humiliation and subjugation. Thus it is known that the Israelites were dealt with in this way, while the people of Noah (sws), Lot (sws), Ṣāliḥ (sws) and Shu‘ayb (sws) besides others were wiped out from the face of the earth.⁵

In the second situation also, the law is the same but in this case this verdict of punishment is implemented by a rasūl and his companions. In this case, the addressees of the rasūl are given some more respite. During this period, he delivers the truth to the people of the place he has migrated to, until they too are left with no excuse to deny it. In other words, the truth is conclusively communicated to them. Also, during this time, a messenger instructs and purifies the beliefs and practices of his followers and, when the time comes, segregates them from his rejecters and organizes them for this conflict between truth and falsehood. He also consolidates his political authority in the place he has migrated to the extent that with its help he is able to destroy his rejecters and achieve victory for his followers.

In the case of Prophet Muḥammad (sws), this second situation arose. Consequently, the topic of the Qur’ān is the account of his indhār which passed through various phases referred to earlier and culminated in the worldly reward and retribution of his addressees. Each of its sūrahs has been revealed in this background, and each of its chapters has been arranged keeping it in view.

In a nutshell, according to this arrangement, the Qur’ān is divided into seven distinct chapters and the sūrahs within each chapter occur in pairs. This pairing of the sūrahs is on the basis of their topics, and either member of a pair has a complementary relation with the other. Some sūrahs are an exception to this scheme as Sūrah al-Fātiḥah, which is like an introduction to the whole Qur’ān. Some other sūrahs occur as a supplement or as a conclusion of a chapter. These sūrahs have been arranged in the Qur’ān in the form of seven units that we have called chapters. This scheme, with its seven sūrah-chapters and pairing of the sūrahs, is stated by the Qur’ān in the following words:

[O Prophet!] We have bestowed upon you seven mathānī which is the great Qur’ān. (15:87)⁶

In all these seven chapters of the Qur’ān, each chapter begins with one or more Makkan sūrah and ends with one or more Madīnan sūrah.

Following is a brief description of the seven Qur’ānic chapters:

Chapter I {Sūrah al-Fātiḥah (1) - Sūrah al-Mā’idah (5)}

Makkan: (1)

Madīnan: (2)-(5)

Chapter II {Sūrah al-An‘ām (6) - Sūrah al-Tawbah (9)}

Makkan: (6)-(7)

Madīnan: (8)-(9)

Chapter 3 {Sūrah Yūnus (10) - Sūrah al-Nūr (24)}

Makkan: (10)-(23)

Madīnan: (24)

Chapter IV {Sūrah al-Furqān (25) - Sūrah al-Aḥzāb (33)}

Makkan: (25)-(32)

Madīnan: (33)

Chapter V {Sūrah Sabā (34) - Sūrah al-Ḥujurāt (49)}

Makkan: (34)-(46)

Madīnan: (47)-(49)

Chapter VI {Sūrah Qāf (50) - Sūrah al-Taḥrīm (66)}

Makkan: (50)-(56)

Madīnan: (57)-(66)

Chapter VII {Sūrah al-Mulk (67) - Sūrah al-Nās (114)}

Makkan: (67)-(112)

Madīnan: (113)-(114)

Each of these chapters has a theme.

The theme of the first chapter is to communicate the truth to the Jews and Christians in a conclusive manner, to institute a new ummah in their place, its tazkiyah and taṭhīr and a description of its final covenant with the Almighty.⁷

The theme of the second chapter is to communicate the truth to the polytheists of Arabia in a conclusive manner, tazkiyah and taṭhīr of the believers and a description of the last miniature Day of Judgement witnessed in this world.

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth chapters have the same theme: delivering warning and glad tidings and tazkiyah and taṭhīr.

The theme of the seventh chapter is to warn the leadership of the Quraysh of the consequences of the Hereafter, to communicate the truth to them in a conclusive manner, and, as a result, to warn them of a severe punishment, and to give glad tidings to Muḥammad (sws) of the dominance of his religion in the Arabian peninsula. Briefly, this can be stated as delivering warning and glad tidings.

If the first chapter is not taken into consideration, the sequence of the chapters is from the end to the beginning (the seventh to the second chapter). Consequently, the seventh chapter ends on delivering warning and glad tidings. After that, in the sixth, fifth, fourth and third chapters, besides the theme of delivering warning and glad tidings, the theme of tazkiyah and taṭhīr is also added. The second chapter is the culmination of the chapters. It is here that the indhār of Muḥammad (sws) reaches its culmination too. Thus besides the themes of delivering warning and glad tidings, and tazkiyah and taṭhīr, the worldly Judgement of God is also depicted which is actually a miniature Day of Judgement that will take place before the actual Day of Judgement.

The first chapter specifically addresses the People of the Book instead of the polytheists of Arabia and in this respect differs from the rest. However, when viewed from the beginning of the Qur’ān, it too relates to the worldly judgement pronounced in the second chapter in Sūrah al-Tawbah after conclusive communication of the truth to them and tazkiyah and taṭhīr of the believers is discussed in the earlier sūrahs of the chapter in the very manner the rest of the chapters starting from the end to the beginning in an ascending order sequence relate to the worldly judgement pronounced in the second chapter in Sūrah al-Tawbah. Thus the second chapter is the culmination of all the chapters. The topic of indhār after passing through various phases reaches its peak of worldly judgement in this chapter from both sides. The only difference is the addressees.

It is evident from this that from the second to the seventh chapter a descending order arrangement has been adopted in order to relate this arrangement with the first chapter.

The first chapter has been placed the foremost because the recipients of the Qur’ān are its addresses the foremost. Except for the first chapter, the Makkan sūrahs of each chapter discuss delivering of warning and glad tidings and of communicating the truth to the addresses in a conclusive manner, while the Madīnan sūrahs discuss tazkiyah and taṭhīr of the believers. However, both the Makkan and Madīnan sūrahs are in harmony and consonance with one another in each chapter and relate to one another in a manner a root and stem are related to the branches.

The narrative of the miniature day of judgement that was set up in the land of Arabia as a consequence of Muḥammad’s (sws) advent has been preserved forever in the Qur’ān in this beautiful sequence. Viewed thus, the Qur’ān validates to the ultimate extent this premise of religion that one day a greater day of judgement will be set up for all the people of this world.