In each of the early surahs, God spoke intimately to the individual, often preferring to pose many of his teachings in the form of a question – ‘Have you not heard?’ ‘Do you consider?’ ‘Have you not seen?’. Each listener was thus invited to interrogate him or herself. Any response to these queries was usually grammatically ambiguous or indefinite, leaving the audience with an image on which to meditate but with no decisive answer. This new religion was not about achieving metaphysical certainty; the Quran wanted people to develop a different kind of awarness.

In each of the early surahs, God spoke intimately to the individual, often preferring to pose many of his teachings in the form of a question – ‘Have you not heard?’ ‘Do you consider?’ ‘Have you not seen?’. Each listener was thus invited to interrogate him or herself. Any response to these queries was usually grammatically ambiguous or indefinite, leaving the audience with an image on which to meditate but with no decisive answer. This new religion was not about achieving metaphysical certainty; the Quran wanted people to develop a different kind of awarness.

– Karen Armstrong –

Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time

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