Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Asbab al-Nuzul
left open and even accepted as legitimate. It was accepted as legitimate because the prophetic Companions
followed, in their understanding of the Qur’an, a clear and well-defined methodology which they
inherited from the Prophet as well as from their long acquaintance with the Qur’anic text whose revelation
in instalments they personally witnessed.
The necessity and extreme importance of codifying the knowledge and methodological tools
required for a proper understanding and interpretation of the Qur’an, and also of some other disciplines,
was greatly felt when the prophetic Companions dispersed in different parts of the Muslim world. Other
social, political and theological factors also played a major role in channelling the efforts of Muslim scholarship
to codify the knowledge inherited from the Prophet and his Companions. Less than three decades
after the death of the Prophet, different ethnic groups came under the fold of Islam. Muslims also came
into contact with the pre-Islamic religions of Byzantium and Persia. Political dissent and schisms among
Muslims impacted on how some Muslims approached their religion at the intellectual, theological and
practical levels. And matters were further complicated by the emergence of the Kharijites, the Shi‘ites
and the Mu‘tazilites within the House of Islam. Against this backdrop, the sciences of the Qur’an (‘Ulum
al-Qur’an) emerged as a separate discipline, just as Islamic law, theology, Hadith and other specialised
branches of knowledge did emerge as independent disciplines.
A quick glance at the contents of any major classical work on the sciences of the Qur’an 5 will
reveal that Muslim scholars have left nothing to chance and did exert a great deal of effort to cover every
possible aspect that the commentator of the Qur’an might need in his or her objective appreciation of the
Qur’an; aspects without which a comprehensive understanding and interpretation of the Book of Islam
is extremely difficult, and even impossible. These sciences deal, among others, with the knowledge of the
first and the last passages of the Qur’an to be revealed; the portions of the Qur’an revealed in Mecca and
those revealed in Medina; the passages of the Qur’an revealed while the Prophet was travelling; those
passages which were revealed at night and those which were revealed during the day; the sections of the
Qur’an which were revealed in summer and those which were revealed in winter; how the Qur’an was
sent down; the different names of the Qur’an and Surahs; the collection and ordering of the Qur’an; the
names of the prophetic Companions who memorised the Qur’an and the names of those who transmitted
it; the different types of recitation (al-Qira’at), those which are accepted and those which are not;
the proper pronunciation and recitation of the Qur’an; the different Arabic dialects used in the Qur’an;
the foreign vocabulary of the Qur’an; homonyms and key-words which the commentator of the Qur’an
needs to know; the clear and obscure verses (al-Ayat al-Muhkamat/al-Ayat al-Mutashabihat); the passages
of the Qur’an which are of general applicability and those which are of particular applicability; the
abrogating and abrogated passages of the Qur’an (al-Nasikh/al-Mansukh); the passages which require
details and explanation in order to be properly understood and those passages which do not require further
elaboration; the passages whose purport is applied without restriction and those which are applied
with restriction; the inimitability of the Qur’an, etc. It is not our intention here to give a detailed list of
all the topics covered in works on the sciences of the Qur’an. If we have listed quite a few of these topics
above, it is only in order to show the seriousness with which Muslim scholars have approached their
Holy Book and their thorough and comprehensive way of exploring it. 6
One of these sciences of the Qur’an is the Asbab al-Nuzul, i.e. the occasions, reasons or causes
of revelation. The Qur’an, as is well known, was revealed in instalments over a period of nearly twenty
three years. Muslim scholars agree that the revelations of the Qur’an can be divided into two broad
types. One type includes passages of the Qur’an which were revealed in response to specific events, incidents
or questions put forward to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. The second type
5
See, for example, the contents of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti’s al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an (Dar al-Nadwah al-Jadidah, Beirut, n.d.) which
is considered one of the best books on the sciences of the Qur’an; and for an English translation of these contents, see: Al-Tabari,
The Commentary on the Qur’an, volume 1, (tr. J. Cooper), Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. xxxvii-xxxix.
6
The importance and necessity of the different sciences of the Qur’an cannot be emphasised enough. However, from the point of
view of personal spiritual discipline alone, a Muslim does not need to know all the detailed knowledge that these sciences provide.
This is because from this particular point of view, all that matters is how to regain the sense of eternity — which is the aim of any
genuine spiritual discipline — and partake in the realm of the ‘eternal now’ which is the realm of the Qur’an. All that a Muslim
is required to do, in this regard, is to approach the Word of God with awe and utter indigence and make the Qur’an his point of
focus on the Divine.
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