Author: redmondmont

For the wondering soul was the world designed
(While the soul was no more than a word in a book)
So that what we need most is not hard to find,
But is thoughtfully where we are not wont to look.

PROLOGUE

Of the many paths to God available to us today, Islam is likely to prompt the most questions and the least agreement. This is partly due to the attention of the mass media, and partly due to the extreme emotions, for and against, that such attention both reveals and promotes. As a result, it is extremely difficult to stay calm, clear, and impartial on this topic.

When I entered Islam in December 1978, I had no idea that this is what I was getting into. Islam, for myself and nearly all Canadians back then, was utterly strange and exotic, characterized by old-fashioned lifestyles and stereotyped images of Arabs. And that was about it. Then, a month later, the ‘Islamic Revolution’ in Iran rocked the world, excited the imagination of millions of Muslims, and sparked a series of events and reactions that continue to cause alarm, fury, disgust, delight, and a thousand other shades of feeling. It may be too much to ask the reader to put all that aside, but that is exactly what I will be asking anyway.

The past 40 years have not really proved or changed anything about Islam, in my opinion. Recent events have shown us what some Muslims are, or have become, and what the character of the world is, perhaps, but Islam, especially as a timeless reality, is still very much a closed book to most of us, Muslims included. And now, having said that, I shall try not to mention Islam and Muslims again, unless the Qur’an itself leads me to do so. That will not be very often, as AL-LAH usually prefers to address us as “O mankind . . .” or “O you who have believed . . . .”

The reason I am taking this approach is that when words with an initially rich variety of meanings become reduced to labels and slogans, they become hard and degraded, like soil that has been exposed too long to only sun and wind. The beauty of words lies in their fertility of conceptual associations, the poetry implicit in their symbolic power and misty boundaries. This is particularly true, as I hope to show, in the Arabic of the Qur’an. The very structure of the language and the formation of its words are two potent ways by which an endless range of ideas can be seen developing out of its crystalline depths.

You do not need to be an expert in Arabic, however, to appreciate the real purpose of this book, which is to guide myself and the reader through the theology of the Qur’an. I intend to examine its verses, with the help of the traditions of the Messenger of AL-LAH (GOD bless him and give him peace) and reputable commentaries such as that of Ibni Kathir, in order to elucidate or correct what I have come to believe, and to make them the foundation of ideas that have been debated by mankind for millennia.

Indeed, the very reason we debate these ideas is to explore possible answers, and at some point in our lives we would like to have those answers. Debate and discussion are excellent tools, but they are not ends in themselves. And even having the answers is not the ultimate goal; we still are obliged to put them into practice, which may require a lifetime of spiritual work and reflection on oneself and one’s capacity or lack thereof to ‘handle the truth’.

Early in my life, I realized that topics the wisest men of the world had been and were still debating after thousands of years would not be decided once and for all by anyone in this age, including myself. I saw that mere human intelligence would never be enough to resolve these insoluble philosophical riddles. I had to get on with living, or at least learning how to live, with definite answers, for without them definite action is impossible. And so I made my leap of faith, and submitted my destiny to the One, the Encompassing, the Beginning and the End.

It was the right decision in my case, and the Qur’an has since been better for me than a hundred university degrees or a thousand field trips. It is a journey far from over, especially since now I feel compelled to slow down and share that experience and adventure with others, such as you the reader. This particular path of mine may not be right for you, but if it helps even one person on his or her own way (and perhaps just myself), then this encounter of ours will have been a happy one.

I thank AL-LAH for letting me live long enough to write these words, and entreat His Favour to conclude them successfully by His Mercy and Inspiration. May He guide and forgive us all.

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