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the sunna of the prophet 77the benefit of humankind or foolishly and even to the detriment ofsociety and the environment. 5No one, we repeat, is able, nor should be allowed, to claim totalknowledge of the Book in its entirety or its single parts, even if he isa prophet or messenger. If someone claimed to have such totalknowledge he would commit the crime of shirk, as he would becomea partner of God in His knowledge and His ‘being’ in-and-for-itself.If MuÈammad (ß) had total knowledge of the Book, in its entirety orits single parts, and his interpretations and ijtih§ds had all the flavourof absolute truth, it would make him a partner of Allah in divineknowledge and, even more ridiculously, the author of the Book. ByGod, we cannot accuse MuÈammad (ß) of shirk regarding Allah sincehe never claimed to possess absolute knowledge of Allah’s Book. Butbecause our honourable scholars overrated the sunna to such anextent that they began treating Allah’s Book as if MuÈammad (ß) hadbeen able to write it himself, Muslim believers were given the impressionthat MuÈammad (ß) possessed superhuman knowledge.How does the Book constitute its ‘being’ in-and-for-itself? Webelieve it is because of the stability or firmness of the text, or better:the stable nature of al-dhikr, which is the linguistic, that is, phonetic/lexical, format of the Book. The text’s dhikr, which we have in frontof us today, is exactly the same dhikr that existed in the seventhcentury.And it is the same text that Allah revealed into MuÈammad’sbrain from where it was then transmitted ad verbum ipsissimus to hisfellow men. The text of al-dhikr does not possess ‘becoming’ or ‘progressing’,hence its textual format is fixed forever. On that wehear:It is truly We who have revealed [ al-dhikr], 6 and we are truly its guardians.7 ( Al-\ijr 15:9)5In a footnote, MS explains that regulations against the irresponsible use of naturalresources should come through the implementation of the ethical rules as discussedin chapter 1. Since God’s religion, al-isl§m, can be broadly defined as ethicsand moral principles, the implementation of al-isl§m would secure a balance betweenhumans and nature, and a responsible use of human and natural resources.6Notice that the text uses the term al-dhikr, and not al-kit§b, al-qur"§n, or al-furq§n;on the nonsynonymous use of all these terms against conventional tafsÊr, see chapter3.7Most translators render al-dhikr literally as: ‘the Reminder’ (MF, AB, MP) or‘the Remembrance"(AA); AhA says: ‘this exposition’; only AH thinks it is synonymousto: ‘the Qur"an’. MS believes that al-dhikr refers only to the actual textual for-