Question 528 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 6

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, and grant them peace. Concerning the arrangement of the Quran into surahs and verses, no one but an ignorant person says that it is as it was sent down. As for the different arrangements of the surahs, it is established among all Muslims that there was more than one arrangement, at least according to the codices of the Companions. You can consult the books that discuss the history of the Quran and what has been related concerning it. As for the arrangement of the verses and the fact that it is not as it was sent down, reflect upon these two verses. They are the words of the Exalted: ‘Those among you who die and leave wives behind-the wives shall wait by themselves for four months and ten days. When they have reached their term, there is no blame upon you for what they do with themselves in an appropriate manner. Allah is All-Aware of what you do’ (^[40]). And the words of the Exalted: ‘Those among you who die and leave wives behind shall make a bequest for their wives: maintenance for one year without expulsion. But if they leave, there is no blame upon you for what they appropriately do with themselves. Allah is Mighty, Wise’ (^[41]). The two preceding verses are abrogating and abrogated, and they concern the waiting period of a woman whose husband has died. At first, the ruling was that the waiting period was one year, as in the Abrahamic Hanif religion. The ruling was then abrogated and the waiting period became four months and ten days. The result is that verse 234 abrogates verse 240. That is, the abrogating verse in Surah al-Baqara precedes the abrogated verse. Yet if you reflect upon the matter, you will know that the abrogated verse must have preceded the abrogating verse in revelation. It will therefore become clear to you that the two verses in Surah al-Baqara are not arranged according to the order of revelation. This suffices to show that one cannot assert that all the verses in the codex before us are arranged according to their revelation. I have given this introduction so that the following will become clear: The verse you asked about-‘Allah only desires to remove impurity from you, O People of the House, and to purify you completely’-is not, in reality, placed according to the order in which it was sent down, and this is not its place. Moreover, it is a verse that the Prophet (s) specified for the house of Ali and Fatima (a). He used to recite it at their door. There is therefore no reason to generalize it after the Prophet (s) specified it, except obstinacy and arrogance. As for the words of the Exalted, ‘They said, “Do you marvel at Allah’s command? The mercy of Allah and His blessings are upon you, O People of the House. Indeed, He is Praiseworthy, Glorious”’ (^[42]), Abraham (a) and his wife Sarah (a) were both from one house, for she was Abraham’s paternal cousin. Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. Ahmed Alhasan Muharram al-Haram, 1432 AH