Treasures of the Qur'an by Abdur Rashid Siddiqui

Author:Abdur Rashid Siddiqui
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd

30. The personality of a Sūrah

We have discussed above that sūrahs are arranged in pairs. But each sūrah of course, has its own theme and subject matter that it conveys to its readers. It also supplements/complements the preceding and the following sūrahs. Sayyid Quṭb compared the sūrahs of the Qur’ān to the distinctiveness and individuality of human beings:

Every sūrah has a theme and a target that it carries forward as its subject throughout, conveying it to its readers. Sūrahs of the Qur’ān are like human beings. Just as all human beings are the same yet each one has his own individual features that separate him from others. Each one has specific physical characteristics and individual personality. Among human beings some may have only slight differences that separate them while in others except for basic and common human characteristics nothing is similar. Thus, people differ from each other despite all being humans.

I am in the habit of understanding the Qur’ān in the same way and my feelings for the Qur’ān are similar. Thus, this is how I treat it according to my feelings. I have a very long association with the Qur’ān, and a deep love and affection for it. Thus, after long reflection and deep thought I have ascertained a sense of the personality, tendency and features of each sūrah individually.

Thus, I perceive in the sūrahs of the Qur’ān different models. My personal relationship with each sūrah has created a specific flavour. I see each sūrah’s physical form, tendency and its inclination differently.

My relationship with sūrahs is similar to my relationship with my friends. Every one of my friends is a friend and I love and adore all of them. Everyone is precious to me, yet with each of them the human heart creates a different relationship. With each one finds a different joy. Each has a different influence and effect and one treats each one of them differently.

When a person enters a sūrah it is like beginning a journey. Each sūrah presents different scenes and perspectives. From each immersion in it one finds new treasures and new ideas. The journey of each sūrah is a journey to a New World and the goal of this journey and its signposts are all clearly marked.

(Introduction to Sūrah al-Ar‘āf : Fī Ẓilal āl-Qur’ān, vol. 2, pp. 1,122– 1,123; translated into Urdu by Sayyid Ma’ruf Shah Shirazi.)

This long excerpt conveys how we can ascertain the central themes of each sūrah and how we should perceive the whole sūrah as an entity. Its internal arrangement presents a cohesive unity rather than a disjointed collection of āyāt (verses).

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