Whom does the Qur'an guarantee being understood?

The Creator, possessed of infinite knowledge and power, speaking in the language of mortal human beings, limited to their worlds, is regarded as the most asymmetrical form of communication possible. For that reason, there must be, in between, a Hermes, perhaps Gabriel, perhaps a prophet, who will make this speech intelligible. Nevertheless, however much he tries to make it intelligible, it is impossible to eliminate this gap in between, and this problematic has been the most vital subject of the hermeneutics of sacred texts.

The desire to understand the background of the commands communicated to mortal man through revelation, or, in the phrase of hermeneutics, "the intention of the author (God)," is of course extremely natural, but it is also a fact that this domain is ontologically not very open to mortal humans. Nevertheless, the address of the Quran expresses this limit in many places, stating that however much he may wish, man cannot understand many realms of being, and that his knowledge is only with God: the matter of the soul, the matter of the Hour, the matter of the ambiguous verses (müteşabih), some matters concerning the hereafter, for example. On these subjects, however much man strives, he will not be able to get fully out of the matter and will do nothing but flounder.

It is also mentioned that in only some parts of these matters, which the limits of mortal human reason cannot take in, differences in levels of knowledge and God's grace can be decisive. In Surah Kahf, for example, it is shown very strikingly, in the narrative of the journey together of Moses and the person endowed with special knowledge, that there are matters that even the reason of God's prophet cannot take in. Part of what is told there says that, however great one's knowledge, even if given knowledge and wisdom like a prophet, there can be other fields of knowledge that man does not know at all and cannot take in, and persons who are versed in those fields.

On the other hand, man's mortality does not mean that he will not understand anything that concerns him before revelation. Again in the Quran, in many places, it is also promised to those who approach with thought, sincerity and faith that they will understand what they need to understand from this message. The Quran was sent down in the language of people so that it would be understood; that is, without the reader and listener needing to interpret it, the great step of explaining was taken by the Revealer Himself. As a clear exposition, in clear language, with verse, with proof, with evidence, with concision (icaz), everything that needs to be understood has been explained. Moreover, it does so by setting out both the possibilities and the conditions of not being understood. What man cannot understand is also explained in the Quran in the most intelligible way. In the person who listens to this, awareness of his own mortality and of the infinite knowledge of the One who sent the message reaches its peak, and he lends an ear to the message with a sensitivity different from any other message.

However, the fact that the Quran is clear and has explained everything does not show that people could understand everything in the most objective way even though they make no sincere effort and do not fulfill the condition of "good faith." In other words, the Quran is not a text that leaves its method or initiative on how it is to be read entirely to the reader. It also stipulates a certain way of reading, a way of approaching. With sincerity, good faith, faith that it comes from God, belief that it will guide him, with thought, reflection (tefekkür), remembrance (tezekkür) and contemplation (tedebbür), and submission. A Quran read by fulfilling these conditions conveys a meaning-effect of its own to the reader's mind and heart.

By this, of course, we are not saying that the Quran cannot be the subject of any academic study. In the Quranic sciences this too has a place of its own, for otherwise the verification and cross-checking of faith could not be done at all. Indeed, it cannot be said that one should refrain from pushing the limits of reason, research and thought to the utmost even on matters it is stated cannot be understood. On the contrary, even the limits expressed on this occasion have throughout history constituted the most important subjects of Islamic thought, as fields in which knowledge (marifet) concerning man and God is constantly tested.

That this poses a problem lies rather in the trivialization of the text of the Quran and in the positivist readings put forward about its incomprehensible aspects. From the standpoint of positivist self-sufficiency (istiğna), the failure to understand something is not easily accepted. Man has the competence to decipher all the secrets, and the codes if there are any, of a text that exists at hand, and the Quran cannot be exempt from this. The positivist attitude, which has fallen into the delusion that it can squeeze nature and take all its secrets, acts under the delusion that if it squeezes the Quran a little it will make it tell all the secrets it knows.

The historicist approach to the Quran, largely sharing this positivist attitude, expresses the desire to make all its difficulties intelligible and exhaust its meaning-content by disregarding the mystery of the Quran or its intimacy with the believer. Going further still, with the claim of knowing some states of God of which even God is unaware, it also enters into a psychoanalysis of God.

To believe that, in the horizon of meaning that the Quran opens to us, approached in our mortal state but with sincerity, the initiative lies largely in the hands of the One who bestows the revelation. Does this belief come across as too naive, too fideist?

However it comes across, the Creator, who possesses the source of infinite knowledge, is in the end the One who knows best what He has created and what it will and will not understand. It is possible to read the Quran without believing this, and no one can say anything about it. After all, the Quran was sent down not only to Muslims but to all people, and not even Muslims can interfere in who will understand it how, or by what method they will approach the Quran. That is right indeed, but even this does not justify disregarding the Quran's special communication and states with its believing reader.