A Ray of the Qur’an : Selected Essays of Sayyed Mahmoud Taleghani Volume VII

A Ray of the Qurʾān: Selected Essays of Sayyed Mahmoud Taleghani

Volume VII

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah the Gracious, the Merciful

Contents

1. Acknowledgments

2. Foreword by Abbas Mirakhor

3. Transliteration of Arabic Letters

4. Translator’s Introduction

5. Editor’s Introduction

6. Author’s Biography by Abdolali Bazargan

7. A Word by the Compiler

8. A Guide to Using the Glossary

9. Translator’s Notes on Entry Format

10. Glossary

11. Bibliography

12. Translator and Editor biographies

Acknowledgments

In the course of completing this translation for its publication and distribution, which has been a spiritual journey and a labor of love, there are numerous individuals and institutions to whom I have come to owe sincere thanks for their educational, intellectual, material, and spiritual help. A list of their names would fill several pages and, hence, while I am deeply thankful to everyone who has helped to make this work possible in one way or another, not being named here in no way lessens the degree of my appreciation for their support during any phase of completing this unique task.

First I express my thanks to our dear family friend of more than fifty years, Mr. Mehdi Tabeshian, for his trusting recommendation to the Alavi Foundation that, thankfully, sponsored the translation of all volumes of A Ray of the Qurʾān (ARQ), and then to its president, Hamid Yazdi, MD, who facilitated the transfer to me of all the rights of publication and distribution of ARQ.

Even the most sincere and profound gratitude would not be sufficient to ex- press my humble gratitude to Mariam Froelich Agah, my beloved wife, whose excellent command of the English language as well as her familiarity with Latin and French, and being conversant in Farsi, along with her extraordinary patience and immeasurable generosity in every step of the entire project, whether editing, reviewing, or preparing ARQ for publication, guaranteed the completion of this endeavor. Putting it simply, without her acceptance to edit the translation of ARQ while also taking loving, motherly care of our five children and teaching full time, I would not have committed myself to this translation.

My wife and I are very appreciative of our daughters, Sadiqeh, Aman, and Ayat, for their vital contributions in typing well over 3,000 pages of this text, which include English and Qurʾānic Arabic. Our gratitude also goes to Sadiqeh for designing the format of the original English manuscript, to Aman for her assistance with initial proofreading, and to Ayat for assuming the responsibility of communication and coordination with the publisher. We greatly appreciate all the advisory and editorial work undertaken by Dr. Ayat Agah and Dr. Randy Ramal on ARQ. Their care, scholarly knowledge, and editorial experience, as well as their encouragement and support, have been invaluable in getting this work ready for publication. We are also thankful to our son Bashir for his professional consultation and highly appreciate the cover design by our son Nazir.

No words can properly express our appreciation and sincere thanks to Abdolali Bazargan, scholar of Qurʾān and Islamic Studies, prominent lecturer in Farsi on various ethical, religious, societal, and spiritual topics, and prolific author of numerous publications, including the six volumes of Qurʾān-e Hakīm: Farsi Translation and Explanation, which is in the process of being translated into English, and In the Presence of the Sublime Qurʾān: A Commentary on Part 30, Chapters 78–114, which was translated into English in 2016. Bazargan’s perceptive advice and instructive guidance on publishing ARQ, beginning with Volume I, have been most valuable. Moreover, being a lifelong associate and closely familiar with the thought, work, and legacy of Sayyed Mahmoud Taleghani, Bazargan provided a firsthand authentic biography of the author of ARQ, which lends eminence and notability to the publication of the English translation of ARQ.

We have been spiritually guided for decades by our dearest and highly respected family friend, Dr. Abbas Mirakhor. This guidance has continued into this work from its very inception through his erudite and keen scholarly Qurʾānic knowledge, his actual encouragement and introduction of ARQ to Peter Lang by his friend and coauthor, Professor Hossein Askari, whom we also sincerely thank, and it has led to our great benefiting from his informative and eloquent foreword and endorsement of ARQ.

We thank Professor Mohammad H. Faghfoory, also a very dear and longtime family friend, for his endorsement of ARQ. This endorsement aids significantly in the introduction of ARQ and its eminent author to the English-speaking reader, especially his and other university students of Qurʾānic and religious studies across the academic world.

Foreword

Dr. Abbas Mirakhor

English-language scholarship in the field of Qurʾānic Studies owes a debt of gratitude to the translator, editor, and publisher for making available one of the most important contemporary commentaries of the Qurʾān. Coming four decades after the passing of the author—al-Sayyed Mahmoud Taleghani (RA)—the translation makes this authentic voice of human liberation accessible to a much wider audience across the world. It is not possible to overstate the importance of this long-awaited translation of the invaluable, awe-inspiring, and cogent contribution to understanding the causes of and solutions to the problems of human societies. The commentary represents a distinctive and eloquent voice of a consciousness that, enlightened by the Qurʾān, understood well the roots and nature of the social-political-economic malaise of Muslim societies and how to solve them.

The commentary—penned by one of the most important Muslim scholar-activists of the twentieth century who was intimately familiar with the sufferings of ordinary human beings living under conditions of massive inequalities and political oppression—analyzes critical issues of governance, human rights, dignity, freedom, and equality. This is done within a framework informed by the author’s deep understanding of the Qurʾān and within the context of the reality of contemporary society. For his views, he was shunned by religious establishment, persecuted by political authority, but adored by ordinary people, especially the young that bestowed upon him the honored title of “the great teacher,” among other titles of endearment mentioned in the introduction to the translation. The fact that Sayyed Mahmoud’s social and political activism earned him repeated arrests, torture and exile, not to mention his status as a religious authority, gave him the credibility and the platform to address—within the context of the teachings of the Qurʾān—political, social, and economic problems that his people were facing. His charisma, eloquence, and practical knowledge of the Qurʾān captivated the imagination of the young and old. They found Taleghani’s teachings and arguments that the Qurʾān ordains human rights, dignity, freedom, and justice while giving its unequivocal support to struggle against oppression, tyranny, and injustice quite profound and compelling. This grassroot support gave him the opportunity to organize social movements aimed at achieving personal and collective liberation from internal and external oppression. Based on his commentary alone, if not his personal struggles and sacrifices, a persuasive case can be made that Taleghani could well be considered among the first Muslim liberation theologians of the twentieth century.

With simplicity, eloquence, and accessibility, the commentary envisions the praxis of the Qurʾān in what its author refers to as “the dynamic Islam” (Islam mutaḥarrik), that is, an ideology of action on behalf of human liberation. He taught that the Qurʾān is not a static and outdated document that was to be studied theoretically and in the abstract by elites while only for the rest its importance and relevance was the blessings that accompanied its presence in weddings and funerals. Taleghani argued that the Qurʾān is instead a living, vibrating source of light and guidance, a moral/ethical compass, and a call to action for all humans inclusively. It calls for action not only against external tyranny but also for the struggle to liberate the “self” from internal bondage to instinctual desires and passions. Without efforts to effectuate internal liberation, the struggle for external liberation becomes vacuous and ineffective. He warned that those who struggle for freedom from external sources of tyranny, without exerting an effort at achieving internal liberation, develop a penchant for authoritarianism and oppression once the external revolt they lead against tyranny succeeds.

Taleghani was convinced that the unfamiliarity of the masses with practical, day-to-day behavioral aspects of the teachings of the Qurʾān and the support of the religious elite as well as lay intellectuals for the status quo were the main reasons for emergence and persistence of tyranny and its associated social problems. He taught that the Qurʾān is imbued with a dynamic force that motivates deep and critical thinking, leading to individual and collective action toward the goal of raising human consciousness to the high level intended by the Creator. Those who achieve this level of consciousness realize that humans form a unity reflecting the Oneness of their One and Only Creator. Hence, no one could legitimately claim superiority over another human being, much less use such claims to dominate others of his or her kind.

As reflected comprehensively in his commentary, Taleghani taught that the Qurʾān must be understood by every generation in light of the existing realities being experienced by that generation. Each generation must utilize the wealth of accumulated human knowledge to form its own understanding of the teachings of the Qurʾān, and to search them in order to find not only explanations for the problems it faces but also for their solutions. His own commentary illustrates this conviction amply. It brings contemporary philosophical, scientific, technical, educational, social, political, and economic knowledge of the time accessible to him to bear on his explications of the verses of the Qurʾān and their implications for analysis of the problems and challenges facing the generation of his time. His book on property and property relations in Islam, translated into English decades ago as Islam and Property, demonstrates this approach. The book is still quite popular with researchers of the vision of Islam for the economy.

Taleghani was firmly convinced that the dynamic Islam put to practice is quite capable of establishing a prosperous and justly balanced society without generating massive inequality, poverty, and deprivation, while fully acknowledging and serving human rights, dignity, and freedom. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the emergence and preservation of such an economy, and the society that gives rise to it, require compliance with the behavioral rules prescribed by the Qurʾān. This Islam, he strenuously emphasized in his debates with advocates of Marxism and capitalism, provides a more powerful, efficient, and effective solution to social, political, and economic problems than other ideologies. The praxis of the dynamic Islam means intense activism on behalf of human rights, freedom, and dignity, unequivocally supported by the teaching of the Qurʾān, especially in societies dominated by tyranny and its resultant phenomena of poverty, deprivation, and oppression.

To establish a justly balanced and prosperous society, the commentary teaches, the Qurʾān prescribes rules that govern the behavior of individuals and their collectivity, along with a detailed incentive structure, composed of positive and negative elements, to induce rule compliance and avoid rule violation. Noncompliance with, or violation of, these rules lead to a social, political, and economic malaise the likes of which have plagued Muslim societies for over a millennium.