The Statute book as Furqan. Commentary on Rashad Khalifa translation

 The Statute book as Furqan. Commentary on Rashad Khalifa

 

The Qur’an often uses the word “furqan” to describe itself. Dr. Rashad Khalifa has translated the Arabic word furqan as “statute book”  in his “Final Testament.”  Is this a good translation of term Furqan?  We will do our best to provide a pan-textual analysis of the Qur’an by looking at the word “furqan” to see how it is used by Dr. Rashad Khalifa.  We will also reflect on the general content of the Qur’an to critique Dr. Khalifa’s use of the term “statute book.”

 

The meaning of Furqan is the focal point of our discussion. Furqan is essentially a meaning of discernment. What is the distinction between good and evil, truth and falsehood?  Many translations use the word “standard” as an English term to show that the Qur’an is the standard for which we judge truth. (Asad, Kaskas)  Muhammad Pikthal and Muhammad Ali used the similar term” criterion.”   Furqan is also understood as proof precisely because it is used as the standard from which we derive the truth of something.  Dr. Khalifa’s understanding of “furqan” as statute book” is unique at best and strange but let us go through his translation to see if we can find gold in his claim.

Dr. Rashad Khalifa translates furqan as statute book six times (2:53, 185, 3:4,21:48 and 25:1.) How do we understand “statute book” based on the context?   In Surah Baqara we read that Moses was given something in addition to the Torah, “[2:53] Recall that we gave Moses scripture and the statute book, that you may be guided.” Later in Surah Baqara we read about Ramadan as the time when the qur’an was revealed. Rashad translates,” [2:185] Ramadan is the month during which the Quran was revealed, providing guidance for the people, clear teachings, and the statute book…”

  What was Moses given in addition to scripture (kitab) that is furqan?  According to Dr. Rashad Khalifa it was a “statute book” Moses was given alongside the Torah.  But what exactly is the “statute book” according to Dr. Khalifa?  Could it be a written book of laws given by God parallel with the Torah? Our Jewish friends would happily agree with Dr. Khalifa by identifying it as the Oral Torah. The only problem is that Dr. Khalifa outright all “oral” traditions and names the Mishna and Gemorah as culprits for his Quran-only ideology. 

 

But we are still left with the question, what is the “statute book” given to Moses  if it is not the Talmud.  Dr. Khalifa uses the same term again in 2:185 as a description of the Qur’an. We are told that during Ramadan God revealed the Quran to accomplish certain tasks. The Qur'an says it was given as (hudan) guidance for people with bayinatin (proofs) and also guidance with "furqan" (Rashad translates as Quran was “revealed, providing guidance for the people, clear teachings, and the statute book…”)  So we see that the Qur’an is a “statute book”(according to Rashad.)  But is the Qur’an a “statute book” in addition to the guidance? Or does the description of “statute book” part of the general guidance?  At least we know is that the Qur’an shares something with the Torah as a statute book was some way associated with both revelations.

Our enquiry into the meaning of Furqan continues into the next Surah. Dr. Khalifa translates,”[3:4] before that, to guide the people, and He sent down the statute book. ..”   We see that whatever Furqan means, there is a perennial quality with it. Not only was the “statute book” to Moses specifically, but it was given before time time of Muhammad as the Quran uses the phrase “min qabl” (from before.)

 The Furqan has a perennial quality according to the Qur’an We are reminded again in Surah Anbiya how Moses was blessed with the Furqan: [21:48] “We gave Moses and Aaron the Statute Book, a beacon, and a reminder for the righteous.” In Surah 2:53 we were informed only about the kitab and furqan but in Surah anbiya we are told that the Israelite prophets were given a “furqan”(statute book- RK), “hudan”(beacon RK) and “dhikr.”(reminder RK)  Dr. Khalifa does not tell us how to describe these three words. The many tafsirs out there have already offered us explanations. But we would not expect Dr. Khalifa to explain anything per his rule, only God explains the Qur’an!

We see Furqan translated as “Statute book” for the last time in Surah Furqan (The Statute Book- Rk). “[25:1] Most blessed is the One who revealed the Statute Book to His servant, so he can serve as a warner to the whole world.”    Just as Moses and people of the past were provided with a Furqan, so is Muhammad as 25:1  states. The Furqan serves a very important function as it helps the Prophet as a warner to the whole world.  So what exactly is the “statute book” and why is it called as such by Rashad Khalifa?

Those remote familiar with the Arabic language understand that it is based on root words and that derivative words both as nouns and verbs for example can share in meaning.  The Word Furqan is no exception to this rule.  If Dr. Khalifa is correct in translating “furqan” as “statute book” we would expect to see “furqan” meaning something similar in other places. Statute is another word for law or rule.  A “book” as understood by Dr. Khalifa per his understanding of the Quran, has to do with a compilation of writings of some sort (divine or secular.) We would expect to see the two essences of Furqan (law and book) in other morphology uses of the word fuqan in other words. 

So far we saw furqan used as a noun translated as statute book. But in Surah Anfal Dr. Khalifa translates ,” [8:29] O you who believe, if you reverence GOD, He will enlighten you, remit your sins, and forgive you. GOD possesses infinite grace.” Dr. Khalifa used the English verb “enlighten” to translate the Arabic noun Furqan.  Dr. Khalifa almost consistently translated the noun  furqan as “statute book” before. So why is he now translating the same noun as the verb enlighten? 

We do not need to pick on translating nouns as verbs (or vice versa) if it helps elucidate the meaning.  But Dr. Khalifa’s transformation  appears unjustified here.  The Arabic of 8:29 says about furqan that Allah “yaja lakum furqanan” that God grants the furqan.  Why did not Dr. Khalifa write that “God grants the statute book” ? This would be consistent with the rest of the translation.  Dr. Khalifa must have pondered over 8:29 and realized the translation would have sounded horrible. Just imagine : O you who believe, if you reverence GOD, He will grant  you a statute book, remit your sins, and forgive you. GOD possesses infinite grace.”Why would God grant a legal book to us as a response to our approved worship? How would obtaining a legal book benefit us? Dr. Khalifa saw how problematic that was so he decided to use the word “enlighten” instead. The sentence makes more sense. But Dr. Khalifa is forced to translate at the pain of inconsistency.

Unfortunately there is still another problem with Dr. Khalifa’s 8:29, outside of it’s inconsistency.  How does the word “enlighten” have to do with a “statute book”?  Remember that in arabic we would usually only expect minor divergences in meaning. But “enlighten” and “Statute book” are major divergences in both meaning and grammar!  How is such a divergence justified by the translator?  The answer is forced into inconsistency.

The word “enlighten” sounds better than “statute book” and is not necessary wrong as a translation.  It is actually closer to “Furqan” than “statute book.”  The problem though is that Dr. Khalifa is not translating the word specifically for its intended purpose. What is God “enlightening” people about?  We are not told.  But if we knew the actual meaning of Furqan the answer would be obvious!  The meaning of course has to do with being enlightened with the criterion between truth and falsehood.

Now we can look at the last use of “furqan” as a noun from Dr. Khalifa to attempt to figure out the meaning.  In Surah Anfal we are informed about the Yoama furqan which Rashad translates as “the day of decision.”  This comes during a discussion about the spoils of war. Interestingly there are a handful of translators that share “decision” in the meaning.  However most English translations use the day of “discrimination” or “testing” which is better in my view. Asad writes, “the day when the true was distinguished from the false..”  The distinguishment between truth and falsehood is the essence of the meaning of furqan. But we would not necessarily know that from Dr. Khalifa’s translation as he fails to note this fact in ALL Cases of the use of Furqan.     Moreover, the problem for Khalifa remains what does “decision” have to do with “statute book”?

If one consults the Quran corpus website, it will be noticed that furqan has to do with distinctions, parts, being divided. Separation between things is important.  We never see anything that hints at “law book.” There is one other noun derivative in the form of “Farqan”  that is similar to “Furqan.” Dr. Khalifa translates 77:4 as ”Distribute” the provisions.” Every other translation however says something like “thus separating [right and wrong] with all clarity”(Asad.)  How did Rashad get “distribute” from Fariqati”? How did he get “provisions” from” farqan”?  We will not try to solve  the meaning of 77:4 but only point out for now that  Dr. Khalifa continues to be inconsistent and diverge from the actual meaning at the same time.

 

Does Dr. Khalifa not understand the essence of “furqan”? When the trilateral root is used as a verb he translates thus ,”26:63] We then inspired Moses: "Strike the sea with your staff," whereupon it parted. Each part was like a great hill.”   The word “parted” is essential to what is happening when Moses splits to sea. “Parted” is essential to other forms of the tri-lateral root as we see when translators use “The distinguisher between good or evil” ,”The Standard of right and wrong”” and so far. Truth becomes clear from falsehood.  Dr. Khalifa apparently has some understanding of the word furqan, but why does he use a term like “statute book?

Can the Qur’an be considered a statute book or a “Book of law”? The definition of the Qur’an as essentially a book of “law” is wrong though. The Qur’an is not essentially about law.  There are different estimates on how much of the qur’an even talks about law. At most less than 10 percent of the Qur’an deals with legal topics.  To say that the Qur’an is a book whose essence is statutes is not factually correct and a big exaggeration at best. The qur’an is filled with history of the past peoples, moral lessons, warnings of punishment and promises of prosperity and some legal issues.  The Qur’an is primarily a book of guidance to all aspects of our lives and that is why different things are being addressed. Why someone would want to limit the Qura’n to law is beyond me.   The problem still remains what does law have to do with the word Furqan?

The other problem with “statute book” as the Qur’an is that the Qur’an is not a “book” in the first place, at least as we understand it from Dr. Khalifa. We tried to elaborate on this point elsewhere. Know that academics challenge the view that the Qur’an is supposed to be a self contained document.  The Qur’an is really many Qurans (recitations) revealed over 23 year period of time.  For the moment ,Dr. Khalil Andani provided a pan textual analysis of the term kitab to show how it has to do with revelation and authority, which was based on the work of other scholars.  But knowing this we can see how God gave “injeel” to Jesus despite knowing he did not actually receive any book from heaven.  There is the kitab in heaven identified as the Heavenly book , law al Mawfuz ,which serves as the architype from which the specific revelations to humanity derive.  Moreover, the Qur’an does not limit God’s words to the Quran itself even, “[31:27] If all the trees on earth were made into pens, and the ocean supplied the ink, augmented by seven more oceans, the words of GOD would not run out. GOD is Almighty, Most Wise. (RK translation.) Yet, what does   “book” have to do with Furqan in any way?It could be argued that the Qur’an is a “statute book” in a secondary sense based on the academics research by Andani and others. If we refer to the Law al Mawfuz, that heavenly “book” from which the Divine will expounds, as the “statute book” this could be okay. But still it has nothing to do with furqan.

Just as Jesus was not given an “injeel” in the form of a book, neither Muhammad or Moses were given a “Furqan” in a form of a law book. We gave the basic meaning of Furqan at the beginning of our study.  But how can we understand the furqan given to the different nations during their respective prophetic dispensations?  Those who understand the spirit know that God blesses people with means to “discern” the truth.  Christians often remember to “discern the spirit” when they talk about the reception of the Holy spirit. They believe this gives them the power to know what is good in an intuitive way. The blessings of discernment are available for all people who come to Allah swt through the Qur’an. All of the past dispensations such as the Torah, injeel and Qur’an came with “Furqan”, that means of discernment.  When Prophet Moses received the revelation of the Torah he did not just dictate a book to his scribes, but showed ways to implement the actions of the Torah. The means of discernment (furqan) is gifted to the prophets and made available to people based on their sincerity and mercy from God.

The late Dr. Khalifa is not here to tell us why “Furqan” was translated as “ statute book.”  The translation however served a clear purpose for Dr. Khalifa’s ideology.  Dr. Khalifa wanted to deny all authority other than the Qur’an and he needed to translate the Qur’an in such a way to  write out hadith, sunnah and anything else that was “not Quran.”  If Muslims believe that hadith and sunnah for example are sources of law, they are told by Dr Khalifa “the only law book is the Quran.”    However, it is not possible to write out hadith and sunnah the way Dr. Khalifa tries to do it (note: I definitely believe specific hadiths can be disparaged with for contradicting Qur’an and reality.)  Unfortunately, it was not just throwing out hadith books that resulted from Dr. Khalifa’s stance.  By engaging in that line of thinking Dr. Khalifa also threw away the blessings of the spirit such as divine guidance in the form of spiritual discernment and other things as well.

 Translators of texts that have been previously translated are tasked with avoiding plagiarism( by copying other translations) while being innovative with language. Yet the level of innovation is limited to the  possibility of meaning of a term.  If a literal meaning is not chosen then a translator can use what she thinks is the plain meaning or use language that is metaphorical as an example. The danger of using metaphorical language is that often the language is not congruent with the plain meaning of the text. Often the implications of translation do not follow from the original language. Dr. Rashad Khalifa’ translation of Furqan as “statute book” has succumbed to the danger when the plain meaning of a text is sacrificed. While the term is not altogether wrong  as a description of the Qur’an it is not suitable for the specific word analyzed.  Understanding the Qur’an as Furqan is important for understanding the essential role of the Qur’an as guidance. While Dr. Khalifa’s translation of the Qur’an does have some merits, the understanding of Furqan is an important element that hinders my personal recommendation to new students of the Quran.