Translation
Indeed, there is nothing on this Earth or in the universe that is hidden from God. He is the One who shapes you in your mother’s womb in whatever form He wishes!163 He is the One Who has revealed the book to you. Some of its verses are foundational and decisive (Mohkamat), forming the basis of the book while other verses are allegorical, given as examples (Mutashabihat).164 But those whose hearts are steeped in perversity and seek to misguide, attempt to give meanings to these verses according to their own interpretation. Only God and those who have developed deeper knowledge understand these meanings, who say, “We believe in it, and it is all from our Sustainer.” Only people of understanding will take note of such guidance.165
Interpretation
163. When one reads such verses from the Qur’an and notes the clarity and forcefulness of how these self-evident facts are stated, one has no alternative but to accept the fact that only God can make such statements—the fact that nothing in this universe escapes His surveillance and care and that each one of us is shaped in our mothers’ wombs in the way that He dictates and molds. Yet we continue to marginalize God in our lives and fail to respond to His call for servitude to God and mutual commitments to fellow human beings.
164. This is one of the most powerful verses of the Qur’an, whereby God gave guidance on how to read and understand the Qur’an and how to implement Qur’anic guidance in our human societies. The Prophet was a living example, and his contemporaries were a living experiment on how to translate Qur’anic guidance into transforming lives and societies—indeed, the whole world! There are verses in the Qur’an that are fundamental and foundational and are independent of time or place, such as belief in God, truth and justice, moral and ethical values, human rights and human obligations, and so forth. Yes, the form and shape of their expression and codification in our social constructs might be colored by geography, climate, social norm, ethnicity, and human conditions, but in essence they continue to exist as fundamental truths defining our existence and our relationships. It is like a light ray; when it moves through a prism, it shows up in different color spectrums to the visible eye. It is aesthetically beautiful, and this makes it more relevant to our daily experience, but the core of it stays true to the light that gets dispersed into a beautiful rainbow of colors or thoughts or expressions bound to a common and universal truth about God and His creation.
These verses also provide a basis and a boundary within which other sets of Qur’anic instructions and suggestions need to be framed and adjusted over time, over geographic differences, and over various human conditions. Family laws, inheritance, civil-society norms, clothing, eating habits, prayer times, civil defense, governance, religious and social celebrations, and so on can be adjusted based on prevailing norms, physical conditions, geographic locations, cultural nuances, level of education, mode of economic lives, and so forth, as long as they do not conflict or contradict the fundamental aspects of God’s creation and our common humanity.
165. Too often, we fail to live up to the foundational aspects of Qur’anic teachings and give too much importance to other aspects, such as what sect we belong to (e.g., Shia or Sunni), what school of thought we follow (e.g., Hanafi or Maliki), how to clothe ourselves, whether to have a beard or no beard, should we wear the hijab, and so on. These types of conflicts of priorities and trivialization of faith and practices create disunity among Muslims and disable them from unifying their lives and societies. Such disunity creates opportunities for competing ideologies and civilizations to overpower them and marginalize them while at the same time creating an atmosphere of mistrust and exclusion that prohibits people from coming together to create a pluralistic society where all forms of faith in God are practiced and valued. Our focus should be to unite humanity around a set of fundamental values of godhead and human rights and obligations as espoused by the great teachers like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad and their torchbearers in various religions, ideologies, and civilizations throughout human history—ancient as well as contemporary.
REFLECTION
These verses draw attention to two fundamental aspects of Qur’anic teachings: our lives are nurtured and controlled by God, and the Guidance of the Qur’an needs to be taken in proper perspective to fully benefit from God’s teachings.
ACTION
Individual Muslims and Muslim communities have a serious obligation to organize their lives and their societies in light of true understanding of the Qur’anic teachings where priorities are defined according to what is foundational and not what is peripheral, and unity of thought and unity of the purpose become the core priorities that can lead to the fullest human development.
Key Arabic Terms
56. Arham: Womb
57. Mohkamat and Mutashabihat: Foundational versus allegorical
58. Ar-Rasikhuna fil elm: Deeper foundation in knowledge and wisdom