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qul nazzalahū rūḥu l-qudusi min rabbika bi-l-ḥaqqi li-yuthabbita lladhīna ʾāmanū wa-hudan wa-bushrā li-l-muslimīna
Say, the Holy Spirit has brought it down duly from your Lord to fortify those who have faith and as guidance and good news for the Muslims.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah An-Nahl – Verse 102
102. “Say: ‘The Holy Spirit has brought it down (unto you) from your Lord with the truth, in order to confirm those who believe, and to be a guidance and good news for the Muslims’.”
This noble verse, following the course set by the previous issue, emphasizes on ordering the Prophet (S) to do as follows:
“Say: ‘The Holy Spirit has brought it down (unto you) from your Lord with the truth…”
The ‘Holy Spirit’ or ‘Rūh-ul-Ghudus’, mentioned here, is the same messenger of the Divine revelations or ‘Gabriel, the Confident’. It is he who upon the Divine command reveals the verses to the Prophet (S), whether they are abrogative or abrogated, they are verses which are all with the truth and are for the training of Man. It is for this reason that following it the Qur’an proclaims in implication that the aim is to enable the believers to stand on firmer grounds in their course of action and to provide guidance and good news for the general Muslims.
The verse continues saying:
“…in order to confirm those who believe, and to be a guidance and good news for the Muslims’.”
Anyway, in order to strengthen the people’s power of faith and to cover the road to guidance and good news, sometimes, there is no other means provided except short-term schedules and temporary programs which will later be replaced by final and constant procedures. Such is the way which constitutes the secret of the existence of the ‘abrogative’ and the ‘abrogated’ in the Divine verses. In the final analysis, the alterations introduced in the entire content of the Qur’an, as well as each of the rules, are authentic in their own particular circumstances are right, and the pre-condition for receiving guidance and good news is having a healthy spirit and being submitted.
Incidentally, concerning the revelation of the Qur’an both the Qur’anic phrase /’anzaln a/ has been employed in the course of the revelation as in
and
“We have sent it down gradually in portions.” 2
It is because the Qur’an has got two methods of revelation: one is when it has been instantly revealed to the Prophet (S) on the Night of ‘Qadr’. The other method is the one which has been gradually achieved and revealed in the course of 23 years.3 The difference between the Arabic term /tanzil/ and /’inzal/ is that the former implies ‘bring down gradually’ and the latter means ‘bringing down all at once’. This difference, which is seen in the verses of the Qur’an, can be taken as an indication to the above kinds of descent.
Footnotes