The Uncreated Quran’s Created Mother
Another Islamic Dilemma!
Sunni Islam teaches that the Quran is the uncreated speech of Allah that emanates from him. At the same time, the Quran teaches that there is a mother of the book from which it originates:
We verily, have made it a Qur'an in Arabic, that you may be able to understand (its meanings and its admonitions). And Verily, it (this Qur'an) is in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitab) (i.e. Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz), before Us, indeed Exalted, full of Wisdom. S. 43:3-4 Hilali-Khan
The umm al-kitab is supposed to be a heavenly tablet that exists alongside of Allah, which contains the entire Quran and everything that Allah has decreed to take place.
According to Sunni scholars, this tablet is created whereas the Quran is not.
Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat is asked about the meaning of the term “Umm al-Kitab” and how it relates to the speech of Allah.
Question:
I hope this finds you in the best health.
My question is about the Umm al-Kitab which is mentioned three times in the Holy Qur’an. What is the Umm al-Kitab? Is it the same as the Lawh al-Mahfuz? Is it true that the Holy Qur’an we posses is a portion of the Umm al-Kitab which is a part of the pre-eternal speech of Allah?
Thank You.
Answer:
Umm al-Kitab
The term Umm al-Kitab is mentioned a few times in the Qurʾan. The first time it is used, in Sura Aal Imran 3:7. It refers to the verses of the Qurʾan which are absolutely clear and decisive. It would be apt to translate this usage as “The Foundation of the Book.” This means that those verses – such as those which state that Allah is unlike anything else (Sura al-Ikhlas 112:4) – are the lens through which other verses are to be understood if one wants an accurate understanding of the meanings and message of the Qurʾan.
Other verses refer to the Protected Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mazfuz) as Umm al-Kitab, such as Sura al-Ra‘d 13:39. THIS IS A CREATION in which knowledge of all of the events from the beginning of time to the Day of Judgement are recorded.
The Qurʾan is written in the Protected Tablet, and it was from there that it descended to the heart of the Noble Prophet.
Allah’s attribute of Speech expresses the infinite knowledge He has in an unfathomable way. There is no beginning, no end, no letters, no words, etc. The Qur’an, which is written in the Preserved Tablet, points to some of what the attribute of Speech expresses, not all of it. (Alusi, Ruh al Maʿani; Sawi, Sharh Jawhara al-Tawhid; Fawda, al-Sharh al-Kabir ʿ ala Aqida al-Tahawiyya).
I hope this clarifies matters for you.
Abdul-Rahim
Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.
I want to know about the Loh-e-Mehfooz? What is this book all about? I am a little bit confused that In Loh-e-Mehfoz all the things that we will do in our whole life are pre-written??
Answer:
Allah has made the mention of al-Lawh al-Mahfuz in the Quran in surah al-Burooj:
In a Preserved Tablet. (Al-Buruj: 22)
(Inscribed) in the Lawh Mahfuz. (Quran 85:22)
The scholars have mentioned under the commentary of this ayah that Allah here is making mention of how He has secured the Quran in the al-Lawh al-Mahfuz. It is written in the al-Lawh al-Mahfuz where it is safe from any kind of change and defect. They also mention that there is no clear mention of how the al-Lawh al-Mahfuz is in appearance; however, we know it does in fact exist since Allah has made mention of it in the Quran. The exact appearance of al-Lawh al-Mahfuz is from among the things only known to Allah himself. What we do know about it is that indeed all things are pre-written in it and that the Quran is protected within it. To know how the al-Lawh al-Mahfuz is in appearance should not affect ones' iman in any way since there are many things we are made unaware of yet we still believe in their existence.
(Ma'arif ul-Quran, 6/ 712, Deoband)
Ibn Abi Hatim said: My father told us, Abu Salih told us, Muawiyah ibn Salih told us: Abu al-A’yas - who is Abd al-Rahman ibn Salman - said: There is nothing that God has decreed - the Qur’an and what came before it and what will come after it - except that it is in the Preserved Tablet. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 4/451, Al-Mufid.
It is inscribed in a Preserved Tablet. We do not comprehend its nature, for it is a matter of the unseen, the knowledge of which belongs solely to God. Rather, we benefit from the nuance cast by its expression and the suggestion it leaves in our hearts. This is that this Qur'an is preserved and immutable; its word is the final authority in all matters it addresses. Every other word fades away, and its word is the protected and preserved one... (In the Shade of the Qur'an, 6/3876, Al-Shuruq)
We believe in it, and we are not obligated to investigate its nature, how it is written, and so forth. Yes, we say that what some people claim—that it is an abstract substance not located in space, and that it is like a mirror for images—IS CONTRARY TO THE APPARENT MEANINGS OF ISLAMIC LAW AND HAS NO BASIS IN THE QURAN OR SUNNAH WHATSOEVER .
(Ruh al-Ma'ani, 15/304, Scientific)
The Preserved Tablet is that which contains all things.
(Al-Bahr Al-Muhit, 10/447, Al-Fikr)
Ml. Sajid bin Shabbir,
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah
This raises a major paradox. How can the Quran’s mother, e.g., the source from which it originates and comes from, being created when the Quran is supposed to be uncreated?
Note again what the verses say as I cite them in two different translations:
Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. And Lo! in the Source of Decrees, which We possess, it is indeed sublime, decisive. Pickthall
behold, We have made it an Arabic Koran; haply you will understand; and behold, it is in the Essence of the Book, with Us; sublime indeed, wise. Arberry
How can the mother of the book be the source and essence from which the Quran originates when it is supposedly created, whereas the Quran is uncreated? Can an uncreated thing spring forth from a created source?
Or does this mean that the mother of the book is also uncreated since nothing in the Quran says it is uncreated? If so then this means that an uncreated tablet exists besides Allah, one that obviously has spatial and material dimensions. Otherwise, how could be an actual tablet if it is immaterial and spaceless?
If this is the case then this means that there are certain spatial dimensions and material elements that Allah did not created since they have always been in existence. As such, Allah has no control over these uncreated dimensions and elements since they exist independently from him.
This is perhaps why the tablet is called the mother of the book. I.e., the tablet is an independent entity that has as much claims and rights over the Quran as Allah does, seeing that the Quran owes its origin from the mother of the book just as much as it does from Allah himself.
We will let the Muslims make sense out of this hot mess created by Muhammad and his followers.
Further Reading
Comments