Random thoughts
We all know that the Holy Quran is full of secret wisdom. One of my dear friends, Professor Dr Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi – the older brother of my equally close friend, Professor Dr Muhammad Al-Ghazali – was a towering personality and a religious scholar par excellence.
He left us for the divine more than 17 years ago at the age of 60. In his book Muhazirate Quran, he mentioned an interesting, eye-opening event. Before discussing this, I would like to shed some more light on his life.
Professor Ghazi was born in 1950 and died in 2010. He was fluent in Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Arabic, English and French and was a great scholar of literature, the Holy Quran, Ahadis, history, education, Fiqh and the law. He wrote more than two dozen books and delivered hundreds of speeches and lectures. Many of his books have been translated into Persian, Sindhi, Pashto, Chinese and Arabic. He was an active member of a large number of local and foreign forums and organisations. His services for the Islamisation of the constitution are highly commendable. He did not accept any government portfolio until the time of Musharraf, when he became a federal minister and a member of the National Security Council. However, he soon resigned when he realised that his reputation was at stake.
He was highly regarded in the Islamic world and represented Pakistan at numerous seminars. When he was in Kazakhstan, a Jew started accusing Muslims of all the evils in the world. The Muslim delegates elected Professor Ghazi to respond to his accusations. He did this very efficiently and countered the man’s claims with historical facts and logical arguments. The delegates later hugged him and kissed his forehead. He was also instrumental in establishing the International Islamic University in Islamabad. He wrote Muhazirate Quran in six volumes. These volumes deal with Islam and the West, Islamic banking and the Ummah.
Now back to the event mentioned above: Dr Hamidullah was a Muslim religious scholar in Paris. He personally told me the following story. In 1957-58, a Frenchman came to him to embrace Islam. He asked the man to recite the Kalima and then gave him a brief introduction to Islam. He also gave the man some books to read. As expected, he asked the Frenchman what had prompted him to convert. There was an average of two converts per day. The reason for their accepting Islam was noted down. However, this gentleman gave a different reason to the usual explanations given by people. It was a reason which seemed rather strange and I struggled to understand it.
He said his name was Jacques Xelbier (I’m not sure of the exact spelling of his name) and that he was a celebrated musician in the French-speaking countries. He told me that a few days earlier he had gone to a dinner at the embassy of an Arab diplomat. On reaching, all the guests were already seated and listening to some strange, unique music which appeared to be of high calibre – much superior to the work he had composed. He wondered who had composed it. When he asked, he was told to be quiet.
During our conversation, Dr Hamidullah said that he used musical terms with which I was not familiar. After the performance, he was told what he had heard was not music but a recitation of the Holy Quran. “But who was the composer,” he asked. The guests, who were invariably Muslims, told him that it was not a composition. This was simply the art of reciting the Holy Quran and it was unique. When asked when this art of reciting had been invented, he was told that it had been in practice for more than 1,400 years, ever since our Holy Prophet (pbuh) received the Holy Quran from Allah through the Angel Jibrael. If that is so, the Frenchman said, then it is definitely a divine book.
Modern music has not been able to achieve the perfection that is inherent in the recitation of the Holy Quran. The Frenchman went to many mosques to hear the recitation of the Holy Quran and was convinced that it was a divine book. As a result, he decided to convert to Islam.
Dr Hamidullah subsequently asked an Algerian scholar to teach the Frenchman the Holy Quran with Tafseer. After about six weeks, both the scholar and the Frenchman returned looking rather worried. The Algerian scholar said that the Frenchman was expressing doubts about a Quranic verse and he was unable to clarify it.
Dr Hamidullah asked him about his doubts. He replied that he had been told that the Holy Quran was like the original one that had been passed on by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to his companions. After reading the Holy Quran, he had found that there was something incorrect or missing in Surah Nasr, between the second and the third ayat (110: 2-3). There is a pause between Ayat 2 (Afwaja) and Ayat 3 (Fasabbeh) that should not exist as it is not in conformity with the composition of the rest of the Holy Quran.
Dr Hamidullah was shocked. But the Almighty came to his rescue. He remembered that as a child he had been taught not to pause after Ayat 2 and instead connect it to Ayat 3. He was told that it should be read jointly with a nasal noon. The Frenchman jumped for joy. “Yes,” he said, “It should be like that”. He picked Dr Hamidullah up and danced around the room like a happy child.
Dr Hamidullah then sent him to another religious scholar, who taught him the entire Holy Quran. He used to come and see me sometimes and used to say that, no doubt, it was a divine book. The Frenchman died around 1970. He was a fine, enlightened Muslim. This episode reminds me that the recitation technique of the Holy Quran has not yet been fully understood by any scholar or researcher.
Email: dr.a.quadeer.khangmail.com