Tanzil
{{short description|Descent of God's message to Muhammad in Islam}}
{{Quran}}
{{Sufism}}
Tanzil ({{langx|ar|تنزيل| tanzīl| sending down}}), anzal ({{langx|ar|أنزال|'anzāl|bringing down|label=none}}), and nuzul ({{langx|ar|نزول| nuzūl|descending|label=none}}), and other words based on the Arabic triconsonantal root {{Transl|Ar|n-z-l}}{{cite book |last1=Wehr |first1=Hans |last2=Cowan |first2=J. Milton |title=Arabic-English Dictionary The Hans Wehr Dictionary Of Modern Written Arabic. |page=1122 |edition=4th |url=https://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=1135,ll=2850,ls=49,la=4313,sg=1111,ha=755,br=938,pr=152,vi=364,mgf=799,mr=700,mn=1374,aan=647,kz=2579,uqq=384,ulq=1635,uqa=409,uqw=1601,umr=1051,ums=886,umj=819,bdw=861,amr=620,asb=958,auh=1571,dhq=550,mht=878,msb=232,tla=94,amj=804,ens=458,mis=2189 |access-date=30 March 2019}} ({{lang|ar|ن ز ل}}, 'downward movement'),{{Cite book |last=Campo |first=Juan E. |url=https://hostnezt.com/cssfiles/islamiat/Encyclopedia%20of%20Islam.pdf |title=Encyclopedia of World Religions: Encyclopedia of Islam |date=2009 |publisher=Facts On File, Incorporated |others=Founder/Director J. Gordon Melton |isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1 |edition=1 |location=New York |format=PDF |access-date=2025-03-11}} refers to the Islamic belief in the descent of God's message from heaven to Earth as speech, and sometimes visual, revelations to the Islamic prophet Muhammad with Gabriel as the conveyor, and occasionally God himself.
In the Quran forms of these words are found in verse Q 17:105:
- "And with the truth We have sent it [i.e., the Qur’ān] down, and with the truth it has descended." (Arabic: وَبِالْحَقِّ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ وَبِالْحَقِّ نَزَلَ wa-bi-l-ẖaqqi `anzalnahu wa-bi-l-ẖaqqi nazal).{{qref|17|105|b=y}}
Process
The Quran refers to its original source as the “mother of the book” (umm al-kitab) which is located in the presence of Allah (God).{{qref|13|39|b=y}}{{qref|43|4|b=y}} The Quran itself also calls this a “well-guarded tablet” (lawh mahfuz){{qref|85|22|b=y}} a “concealed book” (kitab maknun).{{qref|56|78|b=y}}{{Cite journal |last=Abdul-Rahim |first=Roslan |date=2017-01-01 |title=Demythologizing the Qur’an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al-Qur’an |url=https://www.academia.edu/103416355/Demythologizing_the_Qur_an_Rethinking_Revelation_Through_Naskh_al_Qur_an |journal=Global Journal Al Thaqafah}} It describes the revelation to Muhammad as being dictated by the angel Jabril, not by Allah himself, and Muhammad as a messenger of Allah.See
- Corbin (1993), p.12
- Wild (1996), pp. 137, 138, 141 and 147
- {{qref|2|97|b=y}}
- {{qref|17|105|b=y}} While the Quran descends, in the Quran Allah himself is never described as coming down, but is sometimes mentioned in hadith as going from higher to lower heavens.{{cite book |last1=Wild |first1=Stephen |title=The Quʼran as Text |date=1996 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004103449 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsKzcNCoWvcC&dq=God+is+never+the+subject+of+coming+down+tanzil+in+islam&pg=PA141 |access-date=1 April 2019}}
It is thought that the basic units of revelation of the Quran were short passages or verses (ayat). Later these ayat were arranged into surahsWatt, William Montgomery, and Richard Bell. (1997). Introduction to the Qur’an. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.Merrill, John E. (1947). “Dr. Bell’s Critical Analysis of the Qur’an,” The Muslim World 37, 2: 134–48.Rippin, Andrew. (1992). “Reading the Qur’an with Richard Bell.” J.A.O.S. 112, 4: 639-47.Abdul-Rahim, "Demythologizing the Qur’an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al-Qur’an", GJAT, 7, 2017: p.64 under (Muslims believe) divine guidance.{{qref|25|32|b=y}}
In his tafsīr, Ibn Kathīr cited a hadith from Abd Allah ibn Abbas:
Ibn ʿAbbās and others have said, "Allāh sent the Qurʾān down all at one time (jumlah wāḥidah) from the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ) to the House of Might (Bayt al-ʿIzzah), which is in the heaven of this world. Then it came down in parts to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ based upon the incidents that occurred over a period of twenty-three years."Ibn Kaṯīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, vol. 8, p. 425, tafsīr surah al-Qadr:
قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ وَغَيْرُهُ: اللَّهُ الْقُرْآنَ جُمْلَةً وَاحِدَةً مِنَ اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ إِلَى بَيْتِ الْعِزَّةِ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا، ثُمَّ نَزَلَ مُفَصَّلًا بِحَسْبِ الْوَقَائِعِ فِي ثَلَاثٍ وَعِشْرِينَ سَنَةً عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
Therefore, the Quran descended in two stages. Firstly, the Qurʾān descended (inzāl) from the Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ (Preserved Tablet) to the Bayt al-ʿIzzah in the lowest heaven (al-samāʾ al-dunyā). It happened in the Night of Destiny (Laylat al-qadr). Secondly, the Qurʾān descended (tanzīl) from Bayt al-ʿIzzah to the worldly realm to be revealed to Muhammad by Gabriel piecemeal in stages (mufarriqan or tafsilan) over 23 years until the whole Quran was completely revealed.Tafsir Muqatil, v.1, 161Jami‘ al-Bayan, v.2, 196-198
According to Ṭabāṭabāʾī inzāl is "a sudden act of sending down at once" and tanzīl is "a gradual act of sending."See Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Tafsīr al-mīzān, [https://almizan.org/vol/40/301-308 tafsīr sūrah al-Qadr], p. 283:
[T]he pronounce "it" refers to the Qurʾān. Apparently what is meant is the entire Qurʾān, not just some verses of it. This can be confirmed by the usage of the verb inzāl (to send down, to reveal), which implies as sudden act of sending at once as opposed to tanzīl, which implies a gradual act of sending. [...]"
Muhammad's first encounter with the archangel Gabriel produced the first five verses of the ninety-sixth chapter of the present Quran, the chapter of The Clot (Surat al-‘Alaq)Alfred Guillaume, Sirat Ibn Ishaq, 1995: 105-6Tarikh al-Tabari, v.2, 49Abdul-Rahim, "Demythologizing the Qur’an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al-Qur’an", GJAT, 7, 2017: p.62-3
One quranic verse replies to those who ask why the Quran was revealed over time and not all at once:
{{bq|And those who disbelieve say, "Why was the Qur’an not revealed to him all at once?" Thus [it is] that We may strengthen thereby your heart. And We have spaced it distinctly.|{{Qref|25|32|b=y}}}}
Some commentators believe that the Quran was revealed to Muhammad twice. In addition to the gradual 23 year revelation until his death, there was an 'immediate revelation' that happened on the Laylat al-Qadr.{{cite web|url=http://atu.ac.ir/fa/news/All/bodyView/5574/index.html|title=Qadr night from the view point of Allamah Tabtabaei |website=Allamah Tabtabaei University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703182159/http://atu.ac.ir/fa/news/All/bodyView/5574/index.html|archive-date=3 July 2016 |last1=Staff|access-date=12 June 2016}} This is based on an understanding of sura Al-Qadr:1 as referring to descent of the Quran in its entirety. `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas reports that, "… descended in Ramadan, on the Laylat al-Qadr in one lay down (jumlah, Ar. جملة), …"
Asbab al-nuzul
{{main|Asbab al-nuzul}}
According to hadith, the circumstances that verses were sent down in, and the study of why and how a particular verses was revealed is known as Asbab al-nuzul (‘occasions of revelation’).Abdul-Rahim, "Demythologizing the Qur’an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al-Qur’an", GJAT, 7, 2017: p.65-6 Abu al-Hassan Ali bin Ahmad al-Wahidi an-Naisaburi (d. 1075), has been called the father of the field of asbab al-nuzul, he argued that understanding the reasons/circumstances for a given revelation was crucial to resolve apparent inconsistencies in the Quran.Abu al-Hassan Ali Ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi al-Naisaburi, Kitab Asbab nuzul al-Qur'an (Cairo : Dar al-Kitab al-Jadid, 1969), p. 4. cited in {{cite journal |last1=Bukay |first1=David |title=Peace or Jihad? Abrogation in Islam |journal=Middle East Quarterly |date=Fall 2007 |pages=3–11 |url=https://www.meforum.org/1754/peace-or-jihad-abrogation-in-islam#_ftn30 |access-date=4 April 2019}}
According to the scholar al-Suyuti who wrote a book on Asbab al-nuzul, revelations came down for two basic reasons:
- "divine initiative", i.e. because God decided to send and reveal something. Examples being the first revelation to Muhammad at Hira’,{{Qref|96|1-5|b=y}} or the ayat calling for the Fast of Ramadan{{Qref|2|183|b=y}}
- To address some situation "directly and immediately", or to respond and answer a question someone had raised.Al-Suyuti, ‘Abd al-Rahman Jalal al-Din. (1963). Asbab al-Nuzul, volume 1 of 4 vols. Cairo: Dar al-Tahrir, page28 An example being the sura ‘The Spoils’ (al-Anfal) that came down concerning the situations in the aftermath of the Battle of Badr.Ibn Ishaq, 321ffSahih al-Bukhari, h. 4278
According to a number of scholars the asbab (occasion) of revelation can only properly be determined through "direct transmission from those who actually witnessed the event of revelation" (Abu al-Hassan Ali bin Ahmad al-Wahidi an-Naisaburi), and cannot be left to independent reasoning (ijtihad), nor legal consensus (ijma‘) (al-Zarkashi).al-Zarkashi, 1968, 4; al-Itqan, v.1,
31) which means in effect hadith reports coming from the canons of hadith or available in works of Islamic historiography, or works of tafsir. Unfortunately "very frequently" ahadith on asbab contradict each other and this "calls into question the reliability of the asbab
genre".Abdul-Rahim, "Demythologizing the Qur’an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al-Qur’an", GJAT, 7, 2017: p.67
See also
References
=Citations=
{{Reflist}}
= Books, articles, etc.=
- {{cite journal |author=Roslan Abdul-Rahim |title=Demythologizing the Qur'an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al-Qur'an |url=http://www.gjat.my/gjat122017/GJAT122017-2.pdf |journal=Global Journal Al-Thaqafah|date=December 2017 |volume=7 |issue=2 |access-date=26 February 2019 |issn=2232-0474 |pages=51–78 |doi=10.7187/GJAT122017-2 |ref=RARDtQ2017 }}
- {{cite book|last = Corbin|first = Henry|author-link = Henry Corbin|title = History of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain Sherrard, Philip Sherrard|publisher = London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies |year = 1993 |orig-year=1964 |version=Translation from the original French |isbn = 0-7103-0416-1}}
- {{cite book | last = Wild | first = Stefan | title = The Quʼran as Text | publisher = Brill| year = 1996| isbn =90-04-09300-1}}
- {{cite journal |title=Peace or Jihad? Abrogation in Islam |first1=David |last1=Bukay |journal=Middle East Quarterly
|issue=Fall |year=2007 |pages=3–11 |url=https://www.meforum.org/1754/peace-or-jihad-abrogation-in-islam |access-date=1 April 2019 }}
{{Quranic qira'ates}}