Feasibility of the Sudden (Daf'ī) Revelation of the Entire Qur'an on Laylat al-Qadr and Determinism Doubt

Abstract

One of the important issues of the Qur’anic sciences is the quality of the Qur'an's revelation, which scholars consider to be two types including sudden and gradual. In spite of the sudden revelation of the Qur'an on the heart of the Prophet, it is suspected that all the events during the 23 years of the Prophet's lifetime have been deterministic, the events such as: emigration, wars and other matters mentioned in the narratives of the Asbab al-Nuzūl; therefore, the sudden revelation is unacceptable. So, in this descriptive-analytic study, this question has been answered and the incompatibility of the sudden revelation of the Holy Qur’an on Laylat al-Qadr was proved by the issue of human will with different arguments. Through this research, it was proved that the sudden revelation is a part of knowledge and, first, that knowledge is not the cause of occurrence until determinism is suspected. Secondly, the knowledge of God over the acts of servants is not absolute, but the knowledge of God has been belonged to the authoritative subject issued by the authoritative subject and the compulsory subject issued by the compulsory subject. Therefore, the sudden revelation of the Qur'an, which charts future events and issues, demands that the act of authoritative subject be issued by an authoritative subject and that the act of compulsory subject be issued by a compulsory subject, rather than requiring the authoritative subject be forced or a compulsory subject be authorized. In addition, determinism contradicts the spirit of the teachings of the Qur'an which imply responsibility and duty.