The Shariah and Its Application

Later on, as circumstances warranted, the command to migrate was revealed (16:41). Subsequently, when circumstances further changed, the command to do battle was revealed (2:190), etc. This shows that in the initial stage of Islam when the Quran was being revealed, the order of revelation tallied with the order of events. For this reason people did not find any difficulty in understanding their role as soon as a command was revealed. But afterwards, all the verses revealed over a period of 23 years, relating to different sets of circumstances, were collected together in the form of a bound volume. It is this complete book, which has remained in the hands of later Muslim generations till today. By the very law of nature, circumstances keep changing, and this fact must be borne in mind that the divine book we possess comprised of revelations made at different times and collected together in the form of the Quran. These scriptures contain various commands, injunctions pertaining to all kinds of situations — all collected together in one book. Then how are Muslims of later times supposed to receive guidance from the Quran? The answer is that the study of Quranic verses should be done in the light of the causes of revelation (asbabal-nuzul). That is, first of all, those in search