An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an

This book is an abridged English rendition of Āyatullāh Muḥammad Hādī Ma‘rifat’s magnum opus, Al-Tamhīd fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān (Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an) which can be considered a significant contemporary contribution to ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān.

‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān is a branch of science which deals with such subjects as revelation and the sending down of the Qur’an, the duration and order of revelation, circumstances surrounding the revelation, the collection and recording of the Qur’an, scribers of the revelation, standardization of the manuscripts, the emergence of different readings (qirā’āt) and the origin of differences in Qur’an reading, the Qur’an’s authority and immunity from distortion (taḥrīf), the issue of abrogation (naskh) in the Qur’an, the emergence of its allegorical verses, the Qur’an’s inimitability (i‘jāz), etc. And since each of these issues has its own framework and is considered distinct from each other, this science is in plural form (‘ulūm which literally means ‘sciences’).

As the author argues, it is essential to deal with the subjects of ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān because unless the Qur’an is completely known and proved to be the Word of God, there is no point in dealing with its contents. From those examples he cited, he demonstrates that each of the issues dealt with in ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān independently plays a pivotal role in benefitting from the contents of the revealed scripture.