پژوهشنامه معارف قرآنی
پیاپی 18 (پاییز 1393)

Praise for God is transcendence done with awareness as well as wisdom and is intentional. Praise for God suggests His perfection. Veneration also means a high praise which is an optional beautiful act. Commonality between Veneration and Praise in verses is that creatures praise God with properties confined to themselves and limited. But God transcends any limitations. Therefore, praise and veneration for God are used together to denote to the fact that God is away from venerations of venerator and does not need them. The scope of the study is limited to praise of God by only non-sentient creatures of the inanimate objects, plants, and animals. On the surface, it appears that these three categories of creatures lack knowledge and understanding due largely to the fact that the praise for God is limited to human beings, jinn, and angels, and it needs no explanation and is taken for granted by all people. Three main views on the praise are discussed in this study among which the third one is chosen as acceptable view believing that the praise of such creatures are also voluntary, conscious, and true. And several verses of the Quran provide main justification for this issue.

The role of Islamic Philosophy and Philosophers in flourishing Islamic civilization is unavoidable, and the role of the Quran in forming Muslims’ intellectual and philosophical thought is of the most important questions and issues. It seems comprehensiveness of the Quran in introducing universal teachings for setting the foundation of human’s real happiness gives the book the power to render and explain some philosophical teachings concerning theology, anthropology, ethics, politics and society which they have guided Muslim thinkers including preachers and philosophers. Hence, considering the philosophical system of the early Muslim philosophers, such as Farabi and Ibn Sina, provides ample evidence of the effects of the Quran on their philosophical system among which the most important ones are centrality of theistic ontology and special manifestations of epistemology. By paying special attention to universal virtues of the Quran and mentioning some of its philosophical teaching, the current paper aims to examine the effects of the Quran on such Islamic philosophers as Farabi and Ibn Sina in order to show the fact that Islamic philosophy, in spite of some its non-Islamic sources, has gotten its Islamic virtue only in the light of philosophical and intellectual teachings of the Quran.

Animosity in the form of friendship and trickery in the form of benevolence ensure more success for enemies at no financial and human cost. The devil was the first creature that used this method. His hatred is derived from the jealousy of the dignity of prophet Adam (AS). Although Satan has no dominion over man, but he has used tools such as carnal soul and man’s will, and methods of temptation, false promises, causing discord, deception, corruption, etc., to lead man into aberration and corruption. But if the faithful and pious man takes refuge in God and trust in him, he will be safe from evil of the Satan. The paper first introduced the devil and Satan, and then explained their objectives from the perspective of Quran. Afterwards, the methods and tools of Satan’s threats were introduced. Finally, the ways to get rid of this threat as presented by the Quran were enumerated.

Al Adiat is one of the Chapters of the holy Quran in which there exist differences in terms of being either a Mekki or Meddani chapter. It is thought that if the place of the Chapter’s Descent becomes clear, it is better interpreted and understood. Because of oaths to horses in war, some commentators linked the chapter to obligatory Jihad in Medina. Similarly, the narratives mentioning the Descent of this chapter after Zaat Alsalsal War regarded it as a Meddani chapter. However, by careful examinations of the style of the chapter written in the Mekki style and the accurate narratives stating its descent in Mecca, it is clarified that this chapter is Mekki, and its early verses on war, which are unrelated to jihad, descended in Medina. The content of the chapter in which issues such as Day of Resurrectionand the future life were argued and are features of Mekki Chapters is regarded as a reason for being Mekki. Also, in a reliable narrative, Imam Ali contended that Al Adiat is an account for camels in Haj. Therefore, if Al Adiat means a horse, it can be inferred that it is a warlike horse which is different from a jihadi horse in that a warlike horse was enjoying a high status among Mecca’s residents.

Holy Quran is full of stories and historical accounts of past nations and prophets for the purpose of transferring knowledge and guidance of human being. However, the Quran does not directly mention the history and historiography, and even the Quran is not based on historiography. The main research questions are: 1. What is the link between the Quran and the history? 2. What is the purpose of the use of stories and historical accounts in the Quran? The research aims to reveal the relationship between the Quran as a sacred source and history as a branch of the humanities. It is hypothesized that the stories are used for the purpose of teaching and following God’s messengers. As a result, it makes the Quran different from the historical text and nation's historical accounts. The findings of the current research indicated that accentuating the Quranic figures for modeling in order to train people, calling to choose the rational attitude, attending to the quality of historical events, and inviting the audience to dispel myths by utilizing Quranic words like "Naba", "Ghesas" and "Ebrat" have led to the choice of realism are among some of the characteristics of the Quranic historical narratives. The story telling and Narrative Features of Quranic stories due to the revelation and the truth of these propositions and the presence of real people within the stories make the Quran vastly superior to the other sacred books and historical books as well, and also make it a parahistorical text.

Religious innovation is a legal precedent to be added or reduced without any documentation from the Quran or tradition. God endowed people with a perfect religion leaving no way for addition or subtraction in it and said “pure religion is Only for God, and it is the only acceptable religion for Him" (Zomar / 3). However, there have been always people who consciously or unconsciously attributed some irrelevant issues to it, and such irrelevant issues led to the religious innovations. This article examines the semantics of innovation in all aspects of innovation such as the emergence of innovation and examples of innovation by using thematic interpretation and qualitative content analysis. Indeed, innovation is comprised of three things: 1. The manipulation of religious matters including the Principles and Parameters by addition and subtraction, 2. promoting it among the people, and 3. The absence of specific or general religious reasons for the innovation. It is clear from this statement that any activity in which these three elements are present can be regarded as innovation, and it is not innovation at all in the absence of one or all of these elements.The first step for dealing with innovations is to inform the truth of religion to the public. The second step is to avoid blind imitation. And the third step refers to extricate yourself from heretics. Establishment of a system to promote virtue and prevent vice will help prevent innovation from promotion and implementation in the society.

The Arabic words “Ommi” refers to the illiteracy of Prophet. Ommi or Illiteracy of Prophet Mohammad, which is even mentioned in the holy Quran, is one of the most controversial issues among Islamic Scientists and Orientalists. Most Islamic thinkers considered the Prophet Mohammad as an illiterate meaning that he was not able to read and write which this is by itself one of the Quran miraculous aspects. This fact is unanimously agreed by Islamic philosophers. However, orientalists have cast many doubts on this subject till now believing that Prophet was able to read as well as write, and he has read former divine books before being chosen as a prophet. Some Orientalists gave the word Ommi a different meaning and believed that the meaning of the word does not refer to illiteracy of the Prophet but refers to the Prophet of idol worshippers or non-Jewish people. The current inquiry made an attempt not only to criticize and examine Orientalists’ views on the issue but offer the precise meaning of being Ommi or illiteracy of Prophet Mohammad by using the Quranic narrative and historical accounts. It reached the conclusion that the Prophet Mohammad was unable to read and write before being chosen as prophet, and also was not able to do so even till the end of His life leaving no doubt on His Prophecy through which the miracle of the Quran and God is proven.