WJEC eduqas A level Religious Studies
Essay on: The Quran is a complete and final guide for Muslims (30)
The Quran is a complete and final guide for Muslims (30)
The central foundations of the Quran in framing a Muslims life cannot be underestimated or
limited to explaining its nature just through a historical lens. For Muslims, the Quran is the
eternal truth and divine guidance revealed through the Prophet Muhammad. Colin Turner says
that the ‘nature of the book is nothing like history, philosophy, cosmology and science, but like
all of these at once’. The Quran was revealed to Muhammad in Makkah, and acts as a source of
guidance for all the components in one's life. The Quran’s divine nature is still a source of
wisdom for the 1.8 billion followers worldwide, which means that it is a complete and final guide
for Muslims. This essay will conclude that the Quran is highly esteemed, divine, infallible and a
complete and final guide, including references from the Quran and Turner and Mattson.
Firstly, it could be argued that the Quran is not a complete and final guide for Muslims due to
the fact that there may be translation issues. The Quran was a revelation specifically to the
Arabian people who spoke Arabic. After the death of Prophet Muhammad, Abu Bakr decided
that Zaid should become the overseer of the huffaz who collectively memorised and preserved
the mushaf, also known as the pages of the Quran. It has now been distributed to lots of
different countries in many different languages. The Quran is kept in its true nature as the
undistorted word of Allah was preserved, however, this is almost impossible as there is no
language that is constructed in the same way. The root words and synonyms can differ
depending on the language. This means that Muslims who may never learn Arabic but still want
to be close to their faith may find it difficult to understand the Quran. For example, Carlyle who
is a western reader of the Quran has not been able to fully understand its nature, which
indicates that translations and interpretations result in the Quran losing its complete and final
status. Therefore, this would suggest that the Quran cannot be considered a complete and final
guide for Muslims.
However, the Quran is the complete and final guide for humanity as Muslims believe that it is
divinely revealed as an infallible source of wisdom. This implies that the message was directly
sent from Allah. In the Quran, it says: “We have given the book, know that it is revealed from
your Lord with the truth, so, never be one of those in suspicion” (Surah 6:114). This suggests
that it is considered to be the absolute word of God. The words were revealed to humanity in
Arabic to the Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Jibrail, on Laylat al Qadr over a period of
23 years. Additionally, the Quran is described as a warning for humanity as it says: “We have
revealed to you an Arabic Quran that you may warn the Mother of Cities and those around it
and warn of the Day of Assembly” (Surah 42:7). This shows that the status of the Quran is
highly esteemed and holy. Therefore, the Quran is a complete and final guide for Muslims..
Another reason why some may argue that the Quran is not the complete and final guide for
Muslims is because there are some aspects found within the Quran that needs interpretation
