Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 4
4 deficiencies. Early Muslim commentators were ignorant of what these religions and ideologies taught and stood for. They were, therefore, unable to appreciate completely what the Quran had to teach about them. Now all the most obscure teachings have come to light so that the teaching of the Quran relating to other teachings has become evident to its devotees. To compensate for this shortcoming in the older commentaries, also, we needed a new commentary of the Quran. For these reasons we feel that our translation and commentary not only does not call for apology but meets a genuine and important need. In presenting it we discharge a duty. We hope that those who read our translation and commentary with care and without prejudice will feel constrained to view Islam from a new angle. We hope that they will become convinced that true Islam is not full of faults, as Western writers imagine it to be, but that it is rather a well laid out garden of the spirit where a visitor may dwell with every kind of fragrance and beauty and which affords a vision of the Paradise promised by all Teachers of religion. Other Revealed Books When the Quran was revealed about 1325 years ago there were in the world, many religions and many religious books. In and near Arabia there were people who believed in the Old and the New Testaments. Many Arabs had become Christian or had developed a leaning towards Christianity. Arabs were being converted to the Jewish religion. Among converts were Ka‘b bin Ashraf, a Medinite chief and a notorious enemy of Islam, and his father. Ka‘b’s father belonged to the Banu Ta’iyy tribe. He became so enamoured of the Jewish faith that the Jew, Abu Rafi‘ bin Abi Huqayq, gave his daughter in marriage to him and Ka‘b was born of this marriage. 1 In Mecca itself, apart from Christian slaves, there were Meccans who leaned towards Christianity. Waraqah bin Nawfal, cousin of Khadijah, the first wife of the Holy Prophet, entertained the Christian belief. He also had some knowledge of Hebrew and translated the Hebrew Gospels into Arabic. We have in Bukhari : Waraqah bin Nawfal had accepted Christianity in the period of darkness; and used to translate the Gospels from Hebrew into Arabic. 2 At the other end of Arabia lived the Iranians, and they also believed in a Prophet and a book. Though the Zend-Avesta had suffered changes at human hands, it was yet held in reverence by many hundreds of thousands of believers and a powerful State was at its back. In India the Vedas had been adored for thousands of years. There was also the Gita of Sri Krishna and the teaching of the Buddha. Confucianism held sway in China but the influence of the Buddha was increasing.