Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 136
136 arrangement. In fact, during the Prophet’s lifetime the Quran was committed to memory and was recited in the order in which we find it. Each fresh revelation found its place in that order as indicated by the Prophet. His opponents sometimes made objection to the manner in which the Quran was being revealed, that is to say, in portions spread over a long period, and they asked: “Why is it not revealed all at once?” The revelation itself pointed out the reason and the wisdom underlying its manner and arrangement (25:33; 17:107). One reason why the present arrangement does not adhere to the chronological order is that the revelation came as it was needed in the contemporaneous state of the people to whom it was immediately addressed ⎯ the purpose being, first, to create faith in the Existence and Unity of God; then, to lay the foundations of a beneficent society in accordance with the principles of Islam; then, to reconstruct society on those principles and to train it in their exercise so that the people could become the bearers of the Divine message and illustrate it in practice in daily living. This necessitated that revelation be vouchsafed stage by stage over a period of years, reinforcing the cardinal, central doctrine of the Existence and Unity of God throughout, but working out the pattern of a beneficent society gradually, adding new features after those revealed