Wednesday, February 06, 2019

The Quran and the Islamic Revolution (6)

The exegesis of Quran is one of the Islamic sciences that reveals the profound and salvific concepts of the Holy Quran and reveals the beauties and secrets of the divine ayahs. Since revelation is a divine word, it needs to be explicated and interpreted. The Quran has the highest number of exegeses and exegetes among the celestial scriptures.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God's mercy upon him) began to interpret "Surah al-Hamd" which was broadcast on IRIB for a short time. Imam Khomeini said on the meaning of "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim" (In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful), "What does Bismillah mean?". Then he continued that every being and object is the name of God. According to Imam Khomeini, there is a reality in the name of the Exalted God and other beings are in fact the manifestations of His name, His manifestation.
Ayatollah Taleqani, in 1980, with the Program "Quran on the Scene" presented the teachings of revelation with the aim of making people acquainted with the Quran. He intended to use the public enthusiasm to learn the Quran in the spiritual climate after the revolution and bring the Quran into a personal and social life. Hojjatul Eslam Mohsen Qaraati was another cleric who started working on the Quran, in 1980 at the proposal of martyr Morteza Motahhari. He started his activity on the TV for with the program "Lessons from the Quran". This hardworking cleric embarked on the easy and fluent explanation of the Quranic verses. The program was warmly welcomed by people to the extent that it has continued to broadcast ceaselessly ever since. Mohsen Qaraatih has also published an interpretation of the whole Quran in 10 volumes under the title of "Exegesis of Light."
According to the Prophet of Islam, the Quran has an exterior and an interior. The depth of the Quranic concepts requires continuous examination to find new topics in it. Moreover, as the requirements alter over time, the Quran should be considered with different approaches. Contemplating the historical vision of the Quran and raising some basic issues are also desirable. After the Islamic Revolution, Dar-al-Quran al-Karim (Noble Quran Center), has been organizing the national Quranic competitions titled "Nur ul-Hoda" since 2008. This center held seven rounds of these competitions during the years 2008 to 2014 and the interpretation of 23 parts of the noble Quran were studied and explained during these sessions. In 2015, the 8thround of competitions of exegesis of the noble Quran was held under the title of "Nur ul-Hoda 8."
The member of the scientific board of Quranic Research Group Mr. Abedi says: "The occurrence of the Islamic Revolution and its practical challenges with political issues required us to have the views of the Quran on political affairs. This led researchers and exegetes to gradually look at political issues in the Quran and try to address major political issues on the basis of the Quran and get the response from the Quran. This approach was a step towards the independence of political interpretation from general interpretation and led to presentation of thematic interpretation on political issues. Specific topics such as the right of governance, elections, the role of people in governance, democracy, the issues of jihad were among scores of topics that could attract interpreters around specific political issues and produce thematic political works in the field of exegesis of the Quran. The works of Martyr Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Martyr Ayatollah Mohammad Husseini Beheshti and dozens of writers who were affected by them can be categorized in this group.
The organizing of the Quranic circles throughout the country, along with the development and promotion of Quranic studies by Dar ul-Quran Karim, was another project which was planned and implemented. The project was put into effect in 2016 on the basis of the book "Quranic Lifestyle" by Professor Abulfazl Bahrampur. Within the framework of this project, more than 700 circles of exegesis of the Qur'an were held throughout the country. In each circle, some 20 to 30 people participate in a debate-like conversation with a research approach and an educational look at the Quran. Participants in this project, in addition to being engaged in the interpretation of the Quran and becoming familiar with interpretive discussions, try to apply Quranic teachings in their lives.
The researcher and scholar of the Quran, Mohammad Mehdi Ja'fari says that one of the characteristics of the post-revolutionary interpretations is that they are more documentary than the interpretations before. Traditional interpretations quoted the predecessors but they were less documented. New interpretations, however, especially after the revolution, were written with more documentations. According to him, nowadays, circles of exegesis are held in different fields of Quranic sciences while the seminary in the city of Qom is very brilliant in this regard. The Qom seminary has 400 classes of exegesis which is unique. One of the classes is the class of Ayatollah Abdullah Javadi Amoli, who has been interpreting and explaining the noble Book for more than 40 years.
Hussein Assadi, secretary of the council for expansion of Quranic activities of seminaries, says: "The fields of study and exegesis, with more than 50 Quranic research institutes and many branches, are the achievements of the seminaries. Several research institutes have been active in the field of the noble Quran, one of which is the Institute of the Culture and Teachings of the Noble Quran in Qom, which was founded in 2008. The institute is one of the centers of reference which provides research publications and books with valuable contents. In the field of media and software, 103 works have been produced and presented in various languages.
 Referring to the activities of over 450 Quranic centers affiliated to the seminaries both inside and outside the country, he said: "We give good tidings to all that in this center clerics are trained who will create a wave of effective human power in the propaganda and interpretation of the Quran in the next few years."

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