2.12 Al-Baqarah — The Qur’an Is Beyond Doubt

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته !

All praise is due to Allah, the Most High and Most Glorious. May endless blessings be upon our Seal of the Prophets, Muḥammad ﷺ, and may Allah be pleased with all of the noble Companions.

Today we will briefly analyze: “The Qur’an is beyond doubt.” In the verses, our Lord emphasizes three times that the Qur’an is beyond doubt. Scholars of tafsīr explained “beyond doubt” لاَ رَيْب (lā rayb) as meaning: the Qur’an is not to be doubted.

We will connect this with how our Lord mentions, three times in His verses, that His Book is beyond doubt, and analyze it concretely.

First Emphasis — Al-Baqarah, Verse 2

{ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِين}[البقرة:2]

2:2 This is the Book! There is no doubt about it1—a guide for those mindful ˹of Allah˺,

First, we immediately think that a person who possesses the qualities of the God-fearing (muttaqūn) will certainly not doubt that the Qur’an is the truth and the speech of the Lord. For a human being to become among the God-fearing, one must not only accept the Lord’s guidance, but also go through many trials—until the traits of God-consciousness become established.

Let us first analyze why a person may fail to become among the God-fearing. Anyone who lacks the traits of God-consciousness will doubt the Qur’an. All of humanity—the descendants of Ādam (peace be upon him)—has been granted a blessing: our Lord has given us an innate nature فطر (fiṭr, referring to one’s natural disposition). This natural disposition belongs to the original spiritual state and carries a testimony: it testifies that there is a Creator and Controller; that He is the true God; that He alone deserves worship; and that no partner is to be associated with Him. Being able to produce this testimony is itself a universal mercy from the Lord of the worlds to humankind. But once the spirit enters the physical body, human nature—the nafs نفس (nafs)—emerges. When this nafs is placed in this worldly life, the human being faces all kinds of trials.

Human beings, in order to survive, seek material wealth and spiritual satisfaction to fulfill what the human self requires. As for Ādam (peace be upon him), the first prophet and messenger, Allah taught him the names of all things so that humanity could seek worldly mercy and provision—because human beings must live, and human society must develop. By the time the Seal of the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent, human civilization had already reached a particularly brilliant stage. For example, China was approaching the Tang period, and the four ancient civilizations had already become evident. Humanity had, therefore, gained a broad understanding of the created world—and this is even more obvious today. So when the Qur’an was revealed to humanity, people already had substantial knowledge of the material world. Modern civilization has developed to this extent; the more it develops, the more it deepens humanity’s understanding of the created world. For example, the visible world that science confirms, and the development of the human social sciences, all testify to the Book revealed to the Prophet—the Book preserved by our Lord—and testify that what the Book explains is not something human beings can produce. Whatever humanity uncovers about the material world, it will find that it has already been clarified in the Book; human beings are only excavating and discovering what the Book has already stated. Thus one comes to realize that humanity is always behind that Book.

So the God-fearing discover that noble humanity—no matter how rapidly it develops—remains behind that Book. The more humanity displays its civilizational refinement, the more it discovers that, before that Book, it is only a latecomer. It can only bear witness: the Creator who created humankind and created the visible world already knew how far humanity would develop. All the knowledge embedded within the human social sciences is only part of His favor—allowing humans to seek it and produce civilization, so that they may witness His existence. A true God-fearing person will certainly bear witness that this Book is beyond doubt.

A Second Type of People — Seeking the Secrets of the Soul Through Ascetic Discipline

Let us continue to recognize a second type of person. Because the human being is a combination of soul and physical body, life comes into existence; and with life comes death. So there is a group of people who do not focus on uncovering the secrets of the material world. They do not focus on striving to become scientists or social scholars. Instead, they focus on uncovering and understanding the secrets of the soul within life. They want to unveil this. They firmly believe that the soul contained within the body is spiritual, but they seek how a person can personally experience and feel spiritual perception—so much so that one may even “witness” that the soul and the body can separate. So they delve deeply into research in this area—not only studying, but also seeking practical verification. They then conclude that it is the body that blocks the soul, so they work on the body: restraining bodily desires so they do not manifest. For example, regarding eating, even if one wants to eat, one chooses a poorer, more austere life; and in a monastic-style life, one restrains sexual desire through self-mortification and hardship, in order to suppress bodily cravings—hoping to find that felt spiritual perception. At the same time, they want to witness that the soul can leave the body.

Because the soul is indeed real, those who undergo harsh bodily discipline, and those who restrain worldly interests—who do not pursue power, fame, profit, or glory, and who are detached from this world—share a common trait: they can feel the reality of the soul and experience spiritual perception. When a person restrains the body—controlling sexual desire, appetite, and even reaching a monastic state—such restraint is known to us: in dreams, the soul and the body can enter a state of separation. Especially for those who live monastically, it is easy in a half-sleep state to see the existence of spiritual forms and spirits. Those who restrain worldly interests stay away from sightseeing, listening to music, and other entertainments; they also do not participate in pursuits of power, fame, and glory. They prefer solitude and distance from social activities. At that time, such a person’s soul is indeed clear in a certain state, and they may often see clear dreams related to destiny. Because they frequently see clear dreams, they interpret these dreams—containing the meaning of destiny—through ordinary methods, and they strongly yearn to uncover the secrets of destiny.

Thus, there arises the notion that by restraining material desires and restraining mental desires, one can find spiritual perception, understand the world of the soul, and understand the mysteries of destiny. Many people thereby receive the Lord’s universal mercy: Allah allows them to experience spiritual perception, to see some phenomena of the soul-world, and to know something of the mysteries of destiny. What the “eyes” of the soul can see in part is a mercy. Because they have truly restrained excessive indulgence in bodily desire and worldly interests, and they have undergone hardship, Allah gives them their worldly reward—because He is the Most Merciful Lord.

But the curriculum and method defined by human experience and reason alone cannot lead to knowledge of the “life” within the soul. The spirit we possess comes from the spirit Allah has granted to human beings, and the “life” contained within it bears a testimony: everything will vanish, and only the Lord is Ever-Living and Self-Sustaining. After we are resurrected in the Hereafter, our Lord will give us an eternal, unending life as a phenomenon to witness. A person cannot, by reason alone, correctly understand life. Therefore, Allah sends messengers and prophets, and through His Book’s explanation, enables people to correctly understand the reality of life.

Those who, through their own reason and experience, practice austerity—restraining mental desires and material desires—may believe in the soul; but because they did not accept the Lord’s guidance on how to correctly understand the soul and thereby understand life, the doctrine of reincarnation appears. Because their souls cannot ascend to a purified, lofty state like the angels, they cannot truly believe in the real essence of life. This life that we humans possess must bear witness: only our Lord is Ever-Living and Self-Sustaining. When Allah destroys this world and everything vanishes, and then our Lord resurrects humankind, we will witness that it is the Ever-Living Lord who resurrected us. This is the correct understanding of life!

Who told us the news of resurrection and the Last Day? Only the Ever-Living, Self-Sustaining Lord knows this, so He sends messengers to convey it through His speech. Human beings cannot invent it. Instead, they think and think until they produce reincarnation: since the soul does not die, it is reborn again, taking on a new body, remaining within bodies—so conjectural doctrines appear. Such a person is not among the God-fearing. The God-fearing not only have knowledge of the soul and believe in it; they also accept guidance to correctly understand the true essence of life. The Qur’an is a guide for the God-fearing. Our Lord created our bodies and granted us our souls, so He will certainly guide us on how to correctly understand the soul and the life embedded within it. Therefore, He gives us a Sharīʿah—laws, paths, and structured guidance—to regulate our behavior and regulate our material and mental desires. He not only allows people to attain fulfillment, but also—without excessive self-torture—allows them to sense the reality of the soul, to see the unseen world of spiritual forms and spirits, and to uncover the mysteries of destiny. Doing so according to His design is more perfect: not only can one see the world of spirits, but even the mysteries of the angelic world can be unveiled. So in the second verse of Sūrat as-Sajdah, our Lord tells us:

Second Emphasis — As-Sajdah, Verse 2

{تَنزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ مِن رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِين}[السجدة:2]

32:2 The revelation of this Book is—beyond doubt—from the Lord of all worlds.

The Qur’an is beyond doubt—it is revealed by the Lord of the worlds. Sūrat as-Sajdah also speaks about those who worship at night and do not let their sides rest on their beds. Most of them, during the day, also have the traits of voluntary fasting. In the ḥadīth, it can be read that these people seek the Lord’s pleasure through obligations, and seek His pleasure through voluntary deeds. Once Allah accepts their worship and is pleased with them, He becomes the foot with which they walk, the hand with which they grasp, the ear with which they hear, and the eye with which they see. Allah supports them—so what hidden world, what destiny-filled mercy, would not be opened?

When Allah supports a person and is with him, how evident would that person’s spiritual perception be? He supplicates to Allah and Allah answers him—so how opened are the mercies of destiny! Because Allah supports him, the evil beings of the unseen—evil devils and Iblīs—will flee far away, driven off; and those who draw near to them are the angels. They keep the company of angels—how blessed such people are. The Qur’an can guide a person to become like this—so why seek other paths? Those who reach such blessing are certainly God-fearing, because our Lord says in His Book that He is with the God-fearing.

Third Type of People — The People of the Book and Where Deviation Appears

Now we read about a third type of people—the People of the Book. Because messengers and prophets existed among them, Allah sent prophets and revealed scripture to them, conveying the news of resurrection, Paradise, and Hellfire—and they believed. But the deviating People of the Book lacked an important understanding: the reckoning after resurrection—crossing over the bridge. Whoever associates partners with Allah, or has the traits of association, will fall into Hellfire. Whoever does not associate partners with Allah—even if he has faith equal to the weight of an atom—will ultimately become a citizen of Paradise.

The deviating ones among the People of the Book do not have this understanding. They believe their savior is ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), and believe their savior is ʿUzayr (peace be upon him). They even deify the favor Allah granted to His servants, thinking that these people have divine traits and the right to be worshipped. As long as one follows them, testifies to such traits for them, and testifies that they have the quality of saving humanity, then one can enter Paradise directly. With this mistaken understanding, they have neither a correct understanding of the unseen nor even of human beings. They do not distinguish what belongs to Allah from what belongs to human attributes; rather, they mix it all together. For example, Allah’s spirit and Allah’s speech belong to Him—these are not to be associated with partners. But Allah uses them to guide human beings to know Him and worship Him: He guides us by His speech, and He grants us spirit so we may witness that Allah is Ever-Living and Self-Sustaining, and so that we may become His servants. Many people mix this together.

How should this be understood? For example: Allah’s speech is spoken through a human tongue, and enacted through human actions. This is only a sign, yet many people confuse it and think: since his tongue speaks Allah’s speech, and his actions display Allah’s speech, then he must be noble and possess divinity. He cannot recognize that what a human displays and speaks is only a sign testifying that Allah possesses the essence and meaning of speech—serving as a witness. Allah says in His words: He says “Be” and it is; He creates existence from nothing; then He can destroy the worlds. The most basic is that Allah created the heavens and the earth, and created humankind. Can a human create from nothing into existence? Can he do it? This is Allah’s speech: He says “Be” and it is. Can a human possess that ability? Allah lets humans speak His words so that we remember Him, worship Him, and become His signs.

As for spirit, the spirit of the Creator of the worlds—the spirit of the true God—is pure, transcendent, and eternally self-sustaining. These attributes belong to Him alone and cannot be associated with partners. Within His spirit are His qualities of universal mercy and special mercy, and His virtues. For example, He says:

كَتَبَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ

Kataba ʿalā nafsihi ar-raḥmah

Meaning: He has decreed mercy upon Himself.

This belongs to His spirit. His spirit contains His virtuous attributes. But how much mercy can a human possess? How much struggle against the self is needed to show even a little good? How much restraint of desires is needed to do good? How much inner struggle is required—humans themselves know best. Especially since humans have needs: they hope for reward and satisfaction for any good deed. Even the greatest prophets and messengers seek reward—if not from creation, then they seek reward from the Creator. Otherwise, humans cannot bear it; doing good needs recompense. The only difference is that they do not associate partners with Allah; they seek reward from Him. But humans do have desires, whereas within Allah’s spirit He is truly free of need.

Within the spirit there is “life.” The worlds will be destroyed, and the People of the Book also believe this: the worlds will perish; humans and all living beings will vanish; even noble spirits can return; only Allah remains. This shows that human life also has a time when it ends—humans cannot control it. When Allah wills to take your life, and when He wills to resurrect you—can a human control it? So only the One who is uniquely Ever-Living and Self-Sustaining is the Controller, and He is not controlled. With this understanding, we know His spirit cannot be associated with partners. He gives us spirit so we have life, and so that after we are resurrected we witness that He is Ever-Living—because we died, returned to Him, and were resurrected. We then discover that we truly lived in this world; our records were written well; what we did is remembered; so we bear witness: it is the One who is completely Ever-Living and Self-Sustaining who resurrected you. And we bear witness that life and spirit contain such meaning, and cannot be elevated to equality with Allah’s spirit.

For example, ʿUzayr experienced that he could not control his life: Allah caused him to die for one hundred years and then resurrected him. This was a miracle, and he could bear witness that only Allah is Ever-Living. But his followers saw only the miracle; because of the miracle they thought his life was extraordinary, raised it too high, and finally claimed he was the son of Allah—thus falling into mistaken thinking.

As for ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), he was born in a state of tranquility of the soul; the human nafs was subdued. Allah protected him so his nafs would not incline to evil; he remained in a tranquil spiritual state, possessing a spirit that inclined him toward good.

A person with the traits of a pure spirit will do good completely and stay away from sins. ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) indeed did not commit sins throughout his life. But regarding good deeds, if we compare among humanity: so many prophets and messengers did good deeds—did he complete all of them? And the good deeds done by the Seal of the Prophets and his followers after him—did he complete all of those? The goodness of all humans is only a sign of the One, the uniquely Most Good. And ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), in order to do good, did not even complete married life. So how do we recognize the goodness contained within his spirit? The good he possessed was certainly not perfect. But the Creator—the true God of the worlds—His spirit (rūḥ) contains His all-knowledge and wisdom, His omnipotence and might, His perfect goodness and complete goodness—perfect, faultless virtues. Which created being can match that? Even if it is called “spirit,” even if we can read some goodness from it—human goodness cannot exhaust all good, and it is relative. How could it be matched with the Lord of perfect, absolute goodness?!

The Creator and Lord knew that among the People of the Book there would be those who fall into such deviating ideas. The reason is that they did not act according to their scriptures—for example, associating partners with the one who had his “veil” lifted, ʿUzayr (peace be upon him). Allah gave us life so we pursue the eternal, everlasting good end of the Hereafter—everlasting life. Scripture explains: if a person is greedy for this world, he cannot worship the Lord perfectly; then his “veil” cannot be lifted. So he develops mysterious thoughts about the signs of ʿUzayr (peace be upon him), and may even associate partners with him—this is a phenomenon among the People of the Book.

There is also another type of person who knows the unseen and the spiritual; they believe in the unseen world and also believe in Paradise and Hellfire, but they do not know that this pure spirit must be attained through worship—through restraining desires according to what is explained explicitly in scripture. If the selfish desires of the nafs are restrained, and a person reaches the tranquil soul state النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّة (an-nafsu al-muṭmaʾinnah, meaning: the tranquil soul), then one can possess spiritual traits like those of ʿĪsā (peace be upon him). Yet if the People of the Book, who received scripture, do not worship according to the explicit scriptural requirements, their nafs will never reach tranquility, and they cannot witness the reality of spirit, nor understand spirit perfectly. If they try to understand through the portion of spiritual traits that a human possesses—because it contains various forms of good—this good is pure good; where there is pure good, there is no selfish, evil attribute of the nafs. Because they cannot fully understand these matters, they speculate about ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), the one who possessed spirit, and cannot perfectly recognize the spiritual traits of creation; thus speculative thinking appears, and even mistaken recognition of associating partners.

Concerning these People of the Book, our Lord emphasizes in the Qur’an that the Qur’an is beyond doubt. In verse 37 of Sūrat Yūnus, Allah—Most High and Most Great—tells us:

Third Emphasis — Yūnus, Verse 37

{وَمَا كَانَ هَـذَا الْقُرْآنُ أَن يُفْتَرَى مِن دُونِ اللّهِ وَلَـكِن تَصْدِيقَ الَّذِي بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَتَفْصِيلَ الْكِتَابِ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ مِن رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِين}[يونس:37] 10:37 It is not ˹possible˺ for this Quran to have been produced by anyone other than Allah. In fact, it is a confirmation of what came before, and an explanation of the Scripture. It is, without a doubt, from the Lord of all worlds.

Our Lord emphasizes with strong wording that the Qur’an is beyond doubt. And He tells the People of the Book that if they act according to the laws of the Qur’an, they will certainly come to truly understand the meanings of life and spirit, and they will never associate partners with Allah.

Conclusion

Therefore, we reach this conclusion: only through this Qur’an—the Qur’an preserved by our Lord—can we use it to know the created world, and to know the world of souls and the unseen realm that our eyes cannot see, so that these mysteries are unveiled for us. By acting upon what the Qur’an clearly sets out, and by worshipping our Lord, we come to know the One who created us—the true God—and we bear witness, seeking the blessings of both worlds. Thus, the Qur’an is beyond doubt. When we attain these understandings, we also pursue the qualities of becoming among the God-fearing.

That is all for today’s sharing. If there were slips of the tongue or unclear explanations, we ask the Most High and Most Great Allah to forgive, and we ask the readers for understanding. Thank you all for sharing.

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته !

Qur’an translation source: The Clear Qur’an — Dr. Mustafa Khattab.

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