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Ulm-ul-Qur’an An Introduction to the Science of the Qur’an
(How to Study and Understand the Quran) By:
Dr.
Hasanuddin Ahmed, I.A.S.
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CHAPTER - 5
ILMU TARTIBI NUZULIL QUR’AN Study
of the Chronological Order of the Qur`an
The Ayaat and the Surahs of the Qur`an
are not arranged in chronological order.
Various scholars from the early period to the present day have tried
to determine the chronological order of the Ayaat and the Surahs.
During the period of 23 years of revelation Prophet
Muhammad (S) used to dictate the Ayaat soon after they were revealed,
and used to show the exact placement of those Ayaat in a particular Surah.
Therefore, it is obvious that the serial order of Ayaat in the Qur`an
is not in chronological order of revelation. The Prophet did not mean to
retain the chronological order. When the Qur’an was written down and
memorised, it was in the order the Prophet wanted and not in the
chronological order of revelation. Chronological order of only few Surahs
and Ayaat can be determined. Even there the opinions differ. In short
the chronological order (of the Ayaat and Surahs) cannot be
determined with certainty. The divine claim: "We have, without doubt sent down the
Message: and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)” (Qur’an 15:9) is
applicable to the text and to the present order and not to the chronological
order: Allah has not taken the responsibility to safeguard the chronological
order. However, a rough knowledge of the occasion of revelation is available
through 'traditions'. Attempts have
also been made to differentiate between the Makkan and the Medinite Surahs,
but even then, opinions differ. It is believed that the
serial order of
the ayaat and surahs had
been shown by the Holy Prophet himself as per the divine guidance and
therefore accepted as revealed one.
There is no difference of opinion with regard to the serial order of
the ayaat, but with regard to the arrangement of Surahs there
is difference of opinion among the scholars. Some scholars are of the opinion that the existing
order of Surahs is based on Ijtehad
(Juristic exertion) of the companions.
Imam Malik, Qadi Abu Bakr and ibn Farith belonged to this school of
thought. Other scholars hold the view
that the holy Prophet himself had arranged certain Surahs and
remaining Surahs were arranged by the companions. It is possible to determine the period of revelation
of some ayaat according to various reports, but it is not easy to
determine the order of revelation of each and every ayah or every Surah
of the Qur`an; as it is obvious that
there would be differences in this matter. The
study of the chronological order of the Qur`an is very significant. Muslims
and non-muslims alike have lent their energies to this subject. We have as a
result arrangements that are remarkable both for their points of agreement as
well as difference. Some scholars tried to determine the chronological order
of revelation but without substantial or satisfactory results. A question
arises as to why such an effort should be made at all, and how it is
important to know the chronological order of the Qur`an ? It is not merely of academic interest but
it is important for the proper understanding of the Qur`an. Sometimes to
understand the meaning of an ayah clearly it is necessary to refer to
the context and the back-ground in which that ayah was revealed. The order of particular revelation and the
time and circumstance relating to it is helpful in its better
understanding. In the study of the
gradual development of obligatory prayers, legal injunctions (Shariat),
religious practices and similar matters it is important to know as to which
of the related ayah was revealed when. There
is a good deal of evidence in the teachings of Shah Waliullah that without
knowing the chronological order of revelation, the Qur`an cannot be fully
understood. It is a fact that by
studying the Qur`an according to the order of revelation it would be more
clear and one would realize the Prophet’s way of propagation and the method
of the prophetic teachings and its background. This way it would be easy to understand the real perspective of
the Qur`anic ayaat. But it
does not make it necessary that every ayah in the Surahs should
be arranged according to the order of revelation. Even so, the Surahs would not remain in their original
shape because the serial order of ayaat in the Surah is also
not in accordance with the order of their revelation. It is not even possible
to arrange the Surahs according to order of revelation. According
to one report, Akrama told Muhammad bin Sireen that arranging the Qur’an
according to its order of revelation is beyond the collective capacity of the
human beings and the Jin. During
the period of the companions nobody arranged the Qur`an according to its
order of revelation, although Ameer al Muminin Ali is reported to have
made an attempt, but no exact evidence is available. Ibn
Nadeem (d. 385/995) in his book Al-Fehrist
referred to the arrangements made by Ali in the following words:
"Following is the list of arrangement made by Ali" But no such list
is to be found in his book. Either ibn Nadeem could not procure such list or
somebody might have removed it from the book. It
is a fact that no two scholars can mutually agree as to what, in fact is the
order of revelation. For example, consider Surah Al-Fatiha, William
Muir placed it at serial number 6, Noeldeke at serial number 48, Rodwel at
serial number 8, Mohd. Ajmal Khan at serial number 82 and Hershfield at
serial number 75.[1] Same
is the case with other Surahs too.
As against this, the existing serial order of the Qur`an is
collectively and universally accepted and is being followed throughout the
world without any interruption since the last fourteen hundred years and
enjoys consensus. The Makkan and Medinite Revelations.[2]
Scholars
felt that what was possible and easier was to divide the Surahs into
two parts, i.e., those which were revealed in Makkah and those revealed after
migration to Medina. In this regard, only authentic reports can
be relied upon. The eminent scholar Moulana Obaidullah Sindhi observes: "Regarding every Surah,
reports are available as to whether it was revealed in Makkah or in Medina,
but in respect of several Surahs reports are so conflicting that it is
not easy to accept or reject such reports.
Scholars and commentators on the basis of their own notions had
accepted or rejected such reports. Therefore, this conventional practice has
become unsatisfactory." Apart
from the differences of reports, other questions of terminology also arose as
to which Surahs should be considered as Makkan and which of them as
Medinite; because in certain Surahs Makkan and Medinite ayaat
are mixed. Going into details it would be known that during the period of
revelation Prophet Muhammad (S) had visited places other than Makkah and
Medina where some ayaat were revealed. After the conquest of Makkah,
the holy Prophet remained there for sometime, opinions differed regarding the
Ayaat revealed then. Some
give importance to the period of migration. Some scholars considered those Ayaat
as Makkan in which people of Makkah are addressed and those Ayaat as
Medinite in which people at Medina are addressed. But here also there is some difficulty as to how Ayaat
addressing “O you people!” are to be classified. The
most suitable definition is: “Makkan Surah or ayah is one which
was revealed before the migration, whether revealed in Makkah or elsewhere,
and Medinite Surah or ayah is one revealed after migration
although it might have been revealed in Makkah itself". This definition
of the division is unanimous. The above division would render the commentary
(tafsir) easy to understand. In
the light of this division, the purpose of revelation can also be
determined. According to this
division, Abul Qasim Hassan bin Muhammad bin Habeeb Naishapuri (d. 406/1015)
determined six periods of revelation of the Qur`an. 1. Those Surahs which were revealed in the early Makkan
period i.e., Surah Al-Alaq, Surah Al-Muddaththir, Surah
Al-Takwir, Surah Al-Ala, Surah Al-Layl, Surah
Al-Sharah, Surah Al-Adiyat, Surah Al-Takathur, Surah
An-Najm. 2. Those revealed during Middle of the Makkan period: i.e., Surah Abasa, Surah At-Teen,
Surah Al-Qariah, Surah Al-Qiyama, Surah Al-Mursilat, Surah
Al-Balad, Surah Al-Hijr. 3. Those revealed during
later Makkan period: i.e., Surah As-Safat, Surah Az-Zukhruf,
Surah Al-Dukhan, Surah Al-Dhariyat, Surah Al-Kahaf, Surah
Ibrahim, Surah As-Sajda. 4. Those which were revealed
in the beginning of the Medinite period i.e. Surah Al-Baqara, Surah
A'l-e-Imran, Surah Al-Ahdhab, Surah Al-Mumtahana, Surah
Al-Nisa, Surah Al-Hadeed. 5. Those revealed in Middle of the Medinite period i.e., Surah
Muhammad, Surah Al-Talaq, Surah Al-Hashr, Surah Al-Nur,
Surah Al-Munafiqun, Surah Al-Mujadala, Surah Al-Hujrath. 6. Those revealed in the later Medinite period i.e., Surah
At-Tahrim, Surah Al-Juma, Surah Al-Maida, Surah At-Tuba,
Surah Al-Nasr. The
Makkan revelation lasted for about 13 years (from the first revelation in 610
up to the migration in 622) According
to the eminent scholar Badruddin Zarkashi the following 85 Surahs are
of Makkan period: 6,
7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,
30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51, 52,
53, 54, 56, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83,
84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 100, 101, 102, 103.
104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114. The
Medinite revelation lasted for about 10 years i.e. from the migration to the
demise of the Prophet. According to Badruddin Zarkashi the following 29 Surahs
are of Medinite period: 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 22, 24, 33, 47, 48, 49, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63,
64, 65, 66, 76, 98, 99, 110. Related
to the problem of textual order is the question of the chronological order of
whole Surahs or of Ayaat within Surahs. Since many Surahs
are admittedly composed of both Makkan and Medinite portions. As
has been mentioned earlier, as per the instruction of the Holy Prophet some Ayaat
revealed in Medina are included in Makkan Surahs and similarly some
Ayaat revealed in Makkah are included in Medinite Surahs, and
these are verified with reliable reports also. For example, Surah Al-Ankabut is Makkan but its ayah
33 was revealed in Medina. Surah An-Nisa is Medinite but its ayah
58 was revealed in Makkah. Surah
Muddaththir is Makkan but its ayah 31 is Medinite, Similarly Surah
Al-Muzzammil is Makkan but after 12 years of its revelation in the year
2/623 when armed resistance was permitted relevant ayah was revealed
which is included as ayah 20 in the last part of Surah Al-Muzzammil. Distinctive Features of The Makkan and Medinite RevelationsThe
Division between Makkan and Medinite Surahs was made by various
reports and when the reports were differing with each other, scholars looked
at the text of the Ayaat for internal evidence. The Surahs and Ayaat can
generally be differentiated by their respective themes. Moreover there are certain peculiarities
of Makkan and Medinite Surahs which are indicative of the period of
revelation. In the Makkan Surahs
usually: 1. The Ayaat are brief and short. 2. People are invited towards 'Belief' (Iman) and hell, heaven and Day of Judgment are referred to. 3. Previous prophets and
messengers are referred to, except Surah Al Baqarah which is Medinite. 4. Adam and Devil are referred to. 5. All the Surahs
containing the 14 Ayaat after recitation of which Sajdah
(prostration) is obligatory are Makkan. 6. Where the words
addressing the entire humanity are used they are also Makkan. 7. Of the 29 Surahs
which begin with Muqattaat 26 are Makkan (except Surah
Al-Baqara, Surah Aale Imran and Sura Al-Ra’ad, which are
Medinite). 8. The word Kalla (i.e., ever or never) is used in Makkan Surahs. 9. Where Oath is taken in Arabian tone. 10. Almost all the terms of the Qur`an are mentioned. 11. The addresses are
mostly: ‘O people’, or ‘O Mankind’. 12. All the ayaat beginning
with the word 'qala' are Makkan. 13. Most of the Surahs in the latter part of the Qur`an i.e.,
of the group 'mufassal'.[3] Similarly in Medinite Surahs usually: - 1. Ayaat are long. 2. Dos and Don'ts, rights, liabilities and law are discussed. 3. The hypocrites are referred to. 4. The Surah
beginning with address to the believers are Medinite (except Surah Al-Hijr
which is Makkan). 5. The Medinite topics are mostly of social and legal
implications. 6. Ayaat about warfare were revealed after Hijrah
when the Muslims were allowed to retaliate. 7. The addresses are 'O you who believe', 'O people of the Book’. Above peculiarities of Makkan and Medinite Surahs are of general
nature and there is no definite criteria to identify the Surahs. They express only a general trend.
Therefore, in addition to the above criteria reliable reports and meaning of
the ayaat are also taken into account to determine the surahs
as Makkan or Medinite. However, it is clear from the peculiarities as to how
discreetely the Message was propagated, step by step keeping in view the nature of the message and the mind
of the addressee. As far as the chronological order of the Surahs is
concerned no such information is available in the earlier works and it is a
fact that no considerable research was done by the Muslim scholars. The main
reason for this was that they neither thought it necessary to do so nor it
was easily possible. Nevertheless, whatever work is done in this regard can
be detailed as under: - 1. Arrangement of Abdullah bin Abbas The reports relating to the arrangement of the Qur`an according to the
chronological order are mostly referred to by Abdullah bin Abbas (d.
68/688). He was only 13 years old at
the time of the demise of the holy Prophet.
According to his report 27 Surahs were revealed in Medina and
remaining 87 in Makkah.1
According to the reports of ibn Abbas the list is prepared. 2. Arrangement of Husain bin Ali and Akrama Regarding
the order or revelation Baihaqi in his 'Dala'il Nabuwat' referred to a
report which is attributed to Husain bin Ali (d. 61/680) and Akrama. Husain was only a child at the time of the
demise of the Holy Prophet. Akrama was the slave of ibn Abbas. Therefore, the
origin of his reports are most probably the reports of ibn Abbas. According to these reports also a list was
prepared which is in accordance with the order of ibn Abbas. A few differences found therein are as
under: - A) Surah 1,7 and 19 are
not found in the list of Husain and Akrama.
Ibn Abbas had shown Surah 7, and 19 as Makkan and the first
three Ayaat of Surah Al-Fateha are shown as Makkan. B) Certain names of the Surahs
in the list of Husain and Akrama are those which are not found in the reports
of ibn Abbas. For example, Surah 73 has been named by ibn Abbas as 'Ya-ayehul
Muzzammil' whereas in the report of Husain and Akrama it is referred to
as 'Al Muzzammil'. Surah
28 is referred to by ibn Abbas as 'Al Qasas' while in reports of
Husain and Akrama it is named Ta-sin-mim. C) Ibn Abbas has shown Surah
Al-Tatfeef in the last of Makkan Surahs whereas Husain and
Akrama included it in the beginning of Medinite Surahs. 3. Arrangement of Muhammad bin N'uman bin
Basheer Ibn
Nadeem has given in ‘Al Fehrist’ a list ascribed to Muhammad bin
N'uman bin Basheer, prepared according to the chronological order. Ibn
Nadeem stated that "the first - Surah that was revealed to
Prophet Muhammad (S) was Surah Al-Iqra (Al alaq) upto fifth Ayah,
then Surah Al-Noon, and then Surah Al-Muzzammil was
revealed (the last part of which was revealed when the holy Prophet was on
his way to Medina), then Surah Al Muddaththir, but Mujahid said that
this Surah was not Surah Al-Muddaththir, but it was Surah
Tabbat Yada (111). Thereafter the
complete list is given therein Surah Al-Naas (114) is shown as
Medinite and the last parts of Surah Al-Tatfeef (83) is shown as
Medinite. It is also shown therein that Surah Al-Falaq (113)
and Surah Al- Naas (114) were first revealed in Medina and then
the remaining Qur`an was revealed. It
appears that N'uman Muhammad bin Basheer had only shown the order of Makkan Surahs
although ibn Nadeem had given another list prepared according to the reports
of ibn Jarir which shows the order of Medinite Surahs also. It is stated therein that 85 Surahs
were revealed in Makkah and 29 in Medina.
In this list Medinite Surahs are referred to according to the
reports of ibn Abbas and it is almost same as is given in 'Itqan' with
reference to ibn Abbas. Differences
are as follows: 1. Ibn Abbas had shown Surah Al Ahdhab as Medinite
and Surah Al-A'raf as Makkan, while in Fehrist Surah
Al Ahdhab is shown as Makkan and Surah Al-A'raf as Medinite. 2. Ibn Abbas describes Surah Al Rehman as Medinite
while it is shown as Makkan in Al-Fehrist in the report of
Baihaqi. However it is obvious from
both the reports that order of Makkan Surahs (except partial
differences) is one and the same. Surah
Al-Fateha is included in both the lists, but in the list of ibn Abbas Surah
Al-Fateha is mentioned in the last. He is of the opinion that half of
the ayaat of this Surah was revealed in Makkah and the other
half in Medina. There is no other work in the field of chronological order of the
Qur`an beyond this done by the Muslim scholars, till the last century when
the western scholars did considerable work. 4. Sir William Muir Sir
William Muir was the first western scholar who prepared a list according to
the order of revelation. He had published this list in his book, 'Life of
Muhammad'. He had extensively used
his imaginary arrangement and took help from the weak and fabricated reports
to substantiate his chronological order. His statement is not true that the
earlier Surahs were not preserved, nor his opinion is correct that the
earlier scribes of the revelation were Warqa, Ali and Ummul Muminin
Khadija. Warqah was blind, Ali was a
little over twelve years old at the time of early revelations while Ummul
Muminin Khadija never worked as a scribe. In
his book, William Muir determined six periods relating to the Qur`an and
included 18 Surahs in the first period. He showed that these Surahs were in the nature of songs
or unrelated portions of prose, which the Prophet might have written before
thinking of prophecy. There is no portion in it which is in the form of God's
message. On the basis of his argument Sir William Muir held that the 18 Surahs
were out of the Qur`anic Text. Same
is the case with other periods he described. He did not show the
chronological order of 21 Surahs. 5. Dr. Gustaf Weil Dr.
Gustaf Weil was the second western scholar to have prepared the list
according to chronological order. He started his work in 1844 and completed
it after twenty-eight years in 1872.
In his book ‘Mohammed der Prophet’ he had arranged the Qur`anic
Surahs according to the order of their revelation, however, he had
confessed that the arrangement of certain Surahs was not satisfactory.
From his book ‘Tamheedul Qur`an’ (Second edition 1878) Noeldeke had
taken help and agreed with the opinion of Dr. Weil. Dr.
Weil first tried to study the language Prophet Muhammad (S) used in his daily
life and the language of the Qur`an. He said "We can determine the
periods of those portions of the Qur`an which consists of historical
incidents with the help of the Arabian writers of the seerat of the
Prophet. If this was not available
then the meaning and ‘shape of the revelation’ could be taken help of”.
Therefore he divided the life of the holy Prophet into three periods. By ‘shape of revelation’, Dr. Weil meant
the length of the Surahs and by 'meaning of revelation' he meant the
message given in those Surahs.
Dr. Weil was of the opinion that the longer Surahs are kept in
the beginning and shorter Surahs thereafter. 6. Theodore Noeldeke Two
years after the publication of ‘Life of Muhammad written by Sir. William
Muir, Theodore Noeldeke published his book in the year 1860 ‘Tariq-ul-Qur`an’
i.e., History of the Qur’an, in French 'Geshchichta des Qur’an'. The Academy of Inscription, Paris
conferred honours on this writing in 1859.
In this book ayaat of the Qur`an are arranged according to the
order of their revelation after careful research. To a greater extent this book can be regarded as standard and
without reasonable arguments this order cannot be differed with. Noeldeke
was of the opinion that the historical arrangement of the Qur`an could be
determined only with the help of external concept and to certain extent, it
was impossible to know the real order of revelation. He said that Sir William Muir attempted to
know the order of revelation but he was not successful, as details were not
known to him. Noeldeke
published second edition of ‘Tariq-ul-Qur`an’ in coordination with
Fredrich Schwally and made some additions.
He says "There is only one report which claimed to have shown the
chronological order of all the Surahs. Even there it is not mentioned that in the present formation of
the Surahs, portions of different dates are not included. There are so many doubts in this report
that it cannot be given any importance." He
further observed that it was also impossible that any contemporary of the
holy Prophet might have prepared such list as it was impossible for him (the
contemporary) also to collect reliable information about the early Makkan Surahs.
He also says that there is no such Hadith in existence on the basis of
which it could be said that the existing arrangement of the Surahs in
the Qur`an was determined by the holy Prophet. The
information of Noeldeke was based on the research made by Muir and Weil. He followed Weil but made obvious
mistakes in certain places. He even
did not know in which year the holy Prophet announced prophecy and he also,
like Muir, is of the biased opinion that many of the early revelations were
lost. The arrangement of Qur`anic Surahs he had determined was only
imaginary and there is no sound basis for it. All the efforts Noeldeke had made are summed up in his own
words, thus, "It would be better if we are content with arranging three
groups of Makkan Surahs in a particular order." 7. H. Grimme H.
Grimme also tried to arrange various Surahs according to chronological
order determined on the basis of their mode of statements. Fleitcher in his article ‘Mohammadan
Religion’ published in the Encyclopaedia Britannica produced the list made by
H. Grimme. It is clear from this list
also that he had tried to arrange Surahs according to their subject
matter. But Grimme had arranged
Medinite Surahs on the basis of the historical references which, to a
great extent, is correct. Grimme, too mostly followed Noeldeke. He relied on reports relating to the
arrangements of the Qur`anic Surahs but did not distinguish between a
reliable and an unreliable report. 8. J. M. Rodwel Rodwel
published translation of the Qur`an and followed the arrangement of Weil to
the extent of Makkan Surahs and the arrangement of Noeldeke relating
to the Medinite Surahs. 9. Regis Blachere Blachere
was a professor in the school of Eastern Languages, Paris and had a good
command over the Arabic language. He
had also done some research on the chronological order. He had also translated the Qur`an in the
French language, which is regarded as one of its kind. The existing
arrangement of Ayaat was retained intact but for the arrangement of Surahs
he followed Noeldeke. He presented an
arrangement in his book entitled 'Le Probleme de Mahomet' and claimed
it on his own strength to be in accordance with the mental development of the
Messenger of Allah. 10. Hart Wigg Hershfield Hershfield's
book on ‘Modern Research regarding the Qur`an’ is a collection of his
articles.1 He
had attempted not only arrangement of the Surahs but the Ayaat
also according to the chronological order, but observed: " Why should I not confess in the
beginning itself that there is less hope of getting any reliable results of
this arrangement, although by the subject wise arrangement of the Qur`an it
may be possible to know the meaning of the important intents of the
Qur`an." At another place he wrote, thus: "We
should say good bye to the arrangement of Surahs according to their
historical order. But this can be
possible to arrange the Qur`an according to its subject matter in order to
know the meaning of the message of which 'Qur`an is made of”. Hershfield
determined five periods of the Qur`anic revelations. 11. Dr. Richard Bell Dr.
Richard Bell was Reader in Arabic in the Edinborough University. After several years of hard work, he
completed his English translation of the Qur`an in the year 1939 according to
the chronological order. Probably Dr. Richard is the last European scholar who
attempted to arrange the Qur`an according to chronological order. Bell
attempted in vain to arrange each and every ayah of every ruku,
according to the chronological order.
As had been confessed by several scholars, it was impossible to
arrange the Qur`an in that manner. The
efforts made by various European scholars are praise worthy in the sense that
they wanted to know the facts, but the unfortunate aspect of their efforts
was that they based their research on certain biased presumptions. Their basic purpose was to create doubts
regarding the authenticity of the Qur`an. Therefore, their conclusions were
baseless and wrong. For example, in
favour of the arrangement of the Qur`an according to chronological order they
made it a basis of their opinion that the Qur`an was written by the holy
Prophet himself and that it was a creation of his mind. As his mind
progressed the mode of expression of the Qur`an also changed. According to them by studying the Qur`an
in chronological order one can study the mental progress of the holy Prophet. The
very basis of research of the Oriental scholars was unreliable, as they
mostly relied on the translations and writings of prejudiced Christians. The
inferences drawn by them were also wrong.
Usually the knowledge of these oriental scholars in Arabic literature
was defective and so was the case with their knowledge about Islam. They did not distinguish between a
reliable and an unreliable hadith or report because of which their research
could not be given credence. Hence all such efforts to arrange Qur`an
according to chronological order were defective and mostly unreliable. In particular the efforts of the oriental
scholars to arrange Makkan Surahs according to historical order left
them in confusion. Prima facie, the
efforts made by Weil and Muir appear to be academic but their writing
contained all such doubts which they wanted to spread systematically in the
minds of general readers. After
this, a new era of research on the chronological order of the Qur’an
commenced by the Muslim scholars taking interest in this field. 12. Dr. Mirza Abul Fazl (d. 1375/1956) Among
the contemporary Muslim scholars, Dr. Mirza Abul Fazl was a pioneer who took
interest in the study of the chronological order of the Qur`an and invited
the attention of Muslim scholars towards its importance. When he published the English translation
of the Qur`an in 1911, he arranged the Surahs according to their
chronological order.1 In
this regard he conducted his own research but mostly followed the
chronological order determined by Noeldeke, except that in the placement of
two Surahs he differed from Noeldeke and because of changing the order
of these two Surahs, the arrangement of eight Surahs had to be
changed. 13. Sait Yaqub Hasan (d. 1359/1940) Sait
Yaqub Hasan belonged to the Kutchi Memon community. He was arrested in
connection with the first Indian freedom movement and was imprisoned for 26
months during 1921 and 1923 by the British Government. He made a deep study
of the Qur`an during his imprisonment in Malabar, Coimbatore, Trichurapalli
and Cuddalore jails. He published his
book, ‘Kitabul Huda’ in 1924 and then the other one called ‘Kashshaful
Huda’. He instead of giving his commentary according to the
existing serial order of the Qur`an, collected the subject matter and context
of various Surahs and explained them according to the historical order
of the Qur`anic injunctions. This way
he made an indepth study of the Qur`an both in the matter of its commentary
as well as the chronological order. 14. Muhammad Ajmal Khan Muhammad
Ajmal Khan was the secretary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He did considerable work and presented his
research in 1941 in the form of an Urdu Book on chronological arrangement of
the Qur`an called ‘Tarteeb-e-Nuzul-e-Qur`an-e-Majeed’. He divided
every Surah and classified the subject matter under various headings.
Then he determined the chronological order by applying the literary,
evolutionary and historical principles. He followed gradual evolution of the
moral principles for the purpose of Makkan revelations. For Medinite Surahs he followed the
history of the battles imposed on the Prophet . The
period of 23 years during which the Qur`an was revealed is marked by the differences
of words and modes of communication. This was considered by Muhammad Ajmal
khan for determination of the chronological order. The Qur`an too has placed before mankind its basic principles
in a particular order which Ajmal Khan attempted to follow for determining
the chronological order in the light of this development. The research of Muhammad Ajmal Khan,
therefore, deserves attention. 15. Dr.
Hashim Amir Ali (d. 1903-1987) Dr.
Hashim Amir Ali was a disciple of Dr. Mirza Abul Fazl. He was deeply interested in the study of
the Qur`an and was aware of the significance of the chronological order, of
the Qur`an. He translated the Qur`an into English and arranged it according
to chronological order.[4]
He divided the Qur`an into four parts: 1. Al-Ruh --- Very First 18 Makkan Surahs
2. Al-Huda --- 36
Makkan Surahs 3. Al-Kitab --- 36 Makkan Surahs 4. Al-Mizan --- 24 Medinite Surahs Dr.
Hashim Amir Ali adopted a method of arranging the Surahs according to
chronological order without affecting the present arrangement of the ayaat
therein and making changes in the existing arrangement of the Qur`an to the
minimum possible extent. He succeeded
in this effort to a considerable extent. His
most important argument for arranging the Qur`an according to chronological
order is that in the light of the history and the events it would be easy to
understand the real message. In other
words, from this point of view chronological order of the Qur`an has got so
much importance that without it the Qur`an cannot be fully understood. This aspect is discussed in the next
chapter: ‘The Occasion of Revelations’. The
reports relating to the chronological order of the Qur`an are from the
Companions who were present during the period of revelation, or by the
companions of the Companions (tabi'een) who obtained such details from
the Companions. No report that can be
attributed to the holy Prophet is however, available. About
the chronological order, Qadi Abu Bakr Baqillani wrote in his book, 'Al-Intesar':
"Prophet Muhammad was not deputed for this work, nor Allah made it
obligatory for the Ummah." If
the purpose of chronological order is to understand the Qur`an then it would
not be wrong since earlier Muslim scholars, too performed this work. On the other hand, if the purpose of doing
so is only to disturb the existing arrangement then such efforts deserve to
be condemned and such efforts, would not be successful since it is impossible
to exactly determine the chronological order of all the Surahs of the
Qur`an.
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