The Inquisitive Strangers

The creative mind finds inspiration in those things that others see as normal. 

As the management guru John Adair states, creativity is about “finding” the strange in the normal, and making the “strange” normal.

In S. Baqara God teaches Adam (as) the words and proceeds to ask him to name them. In the exchange we have there between the angels and the Most Gracious it’s clear that something special is being imparted to Adam. 

Something that will make him stand apart. 

From the first fire, to the first wheel, it’s clear that man has a burst of creative energy, and an innate curiosity, that caused Adam (as) to be sent down. 

In Christian theology this is The Fall, but in the Muslim text it reads as “anzala” - sent down- which is also used for the descent of revelation from on high, and for life giving pure water from the rain clouds above. 

As Adam (as) argued when Musa (as) [Moses of the Old Testament] confronted him, all had been written from before. (Please search for the Hadith). 

Aisha (as), the mother of the believers, when asked about the Messenger (saw) said that he was the living Quran.  

Indeed the Quran as a book of instruction takes on another life when we consider it in the light of the Seerah of the Messenger (saw) [his biography, life, actions, methods and sayings]. 

Whilst the scholars argued in the past about whether the Sunnah (the way of the Messenger) could abrogate the Mushaf (scriptures) that question becomes a moot point when you consider the revelation of the latter part of v3 of S Maida (chapter 5). 

Imam Shafee (rm) was of the considered opinion that it could. 

But another way of looking at the link between the Messenger (saw) and the Mushaf is in the words that they each used. 

A big part of Tafseer of the Quran (seeking to understand it) is with the Quranic text itself- not just the linguistic aspects of each part of text, but what another part of text can tell us in the light of the first part. It is as if the Most Gracious has spread knowledge throughout it as a means of making us search through it. And the very act of flicking through the pages and searching our memory is generative of understanding. 

If we consider as we should that the Mushaff framed the words of the Messenger (saw) then our search should extend beyond the Mushaff and into his Seerah (biography), the Sunnah (his way and method) and his Hadith (sayings and words). 

The Messenger (saw) famously said 

“Islam came as a Stranger, and will return as a Stranger, so give good tidings to the Strangers” (narrated by Abu Hurayrah). 

Traditionally this has been taken to mean that when Islam first appeared there were few who followed it, and it will return back to that state of a few following it.  

But when we read S Qaf (50) we see a different use of the word Ajeeb- strange. And the Quran affirms that it is a strange thing that the Most Gracious should send a Messenger, and that we should believe that when our bones and flesh have become dust that they should be reformed and made anew. 

But no less strange and wonderful are the skies and heavens, the earth and our place within it. And the Quran and it’s manifest unusualness. 

Indeed our religion is one that needs to be constantly rediscovered by each of us. Contemplated on, and found to be both wonderful and strange. 

Then give good tidings to those strangers, who contemplate the Qur’an, the life of the Messenger (saw) and what he brought and their own lives, as they unfold, in the light of that knowledge. 

For it is for them that Islam constantly returns with answers. 

What I have said here is my considered opinion, and it may be wrong; may we all be guided. 

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation, not through lectures, nor speeches nor this above.