Allah gave the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) only divine knowledge in the form of the Qur'an. Therefore, the "wisdom(hikmah)" given to the Prophet in the verses refers to the Qur'an. Is the claim that "Allah gave His last messenger no knowledge other than the revelation of the Qur'an" therefore true?
The Qur'an states that Allah granted prophethood (nubuwwat), messengership, a book, and in particular wisdom to the prophets. Indeed, in Surah Ali 'Imran, it is stated, "Allah took the covenant of the prophets, [saying], 'Whatever I give you of the Scripture and wisdom and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you [must] believe in him and support him.'" (Ali 'Imran, 3:81), indicating that wisdom was given to the prophets alongside the Book. Furthermore, it is stated, "We had already given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom." (An-Nisa, 4:54) This matter is also indicated in the following verses: "He will teach him(Jesus) writing and wisdom…" (Ali 'Imran, 3:48; al-Ma'idah, 5:110) "And Allah gave David sovereignty and wisdom" (al-Baqarah, 2:251; Sad, 38:20), "We had certainly given Luqman wisdom" (Luqman, 31:12). These verses generally emphasize that prophets, particularly Abraham and his descendants, as well as David, Luqman, and Jesus, were given the Book and wisdom.
The Qur'an specifically emphasizes that Prophet Muhammad was given not only the Book but also wisdom. For instance, in the verses, "Allah has revealed to you the Book and wisdom" (An-Nisa, 4:113) and "(O wives of the Prophet!) And remember what is recited in your houses of the verses of Allah and wisdom." (Al-Ahzab, 33:34). It is also stated in other verses.
Notably, in all these verses, Allah uses different words to mention, that He gave the Book and wisdom to other prophets as well as Prophet Muhammad. Indeed, the word wisdom appears in the verses of the Qur'an as follows: ءَاتَيۡتُكُم/I gave you (Ali 'Imran, 3:81), ءَاتَىٰهُ ٱللَّهُ/Allah gave (al-Baqarah, 2:251), ءَاتَيۡنَآ/We gave (an-Nisa, 4:54; Luqman 31:12; Sad 38:20), وَيُعَلِّمُهُ/He taught him (Ali 'Imran, 3:48), عَلَّمۡتُك/I taught you (al-Ma'idah, 5:110). It has been presented in various expressions such as "And Allah revealed it to you" (An-Nisa, 4:113). These expressions demonstrate that, like the Book, wisdom is something given, taught, and even revealed by Allah. The fact that the verb "revealed/sent down" (An-Nisa, 4:113), which is used specifically for the Qur'an in relation to the Prophet, is also used for wisdom, clearly reveals that wisdom also comes from Allah.
It is important to note that the Prophets were entrusted with the responsibility of teaching not only the Book but also wisdom itself. Indeed, in the verses, "Certainly Allah conferred a [great] favor upon the believers when He sent a Messenger among them, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom" (Ali 'Imran, 3:164) and "It is He who has sent among the unlettered [Arabs] a Messenger reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom." (Jumu'ah, 62:2) Indeed, the Prophet is described as "a messenger who teaches them the Book and wisdom" in the aforementioned verses. Thus, it is evident that the Prophet taught two different kinds of knowledge: the Book and wisdom. The fact that the words "Book" and "wisdom" are mentioned together in these verses suggests that the Prophet’s teachings extend beyond the contents of the Qur’an. As everything that originated from the Messenger of Allah outside of the Qur'anic message is considered within the scope of sunnah, it is clear that wisdom can be learned from the sunnah of the Prophet.
A question might arise here: Could be argued that in the verses where the words "Book" and "wisdom" appear together, "wisdom" refers to the Qur'an and that it is meant to say "the Book in which there is wisdom"? The letter "waw" is a conjunction in the expression ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةِ, which means "and" in English. It indicates that the book and wisdom are two separate types of knowledge. Therefore, translating the word "wisdom" as "the Book in which there is wisdom," thus claiming that what was given to the prophets was only "the Book of wisdom," is not noteworthy from the Arabic language perspective, because the letter "waw" between the words "Book" and "wisdom" prevents them from being determiner (adjective) and determined (mawsuf). This rule prevents the word "wisdom" from being an adjective of the book. In fact, it indicates that these two words are independent of each other.
In certain verses of the Qur'an where the word "al-Hakim," which comes from the same root as "wisdom,"(hikmah) is used as an attribute to the Qur'an. However, in these verses, "al-Hakim/containing wisdom" is mentioned, not "wisdom." Indeed, in the verses الٓرۚ تِلۡكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ ٱلۡحَكِيمِ (Yunus, 10:1), تِلۡكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ ٱلۡحَكِيمِ (Luqman, 31:2), وَٱلۡقُرۡءَانِ ٱلۡحَكِيمِ (Ya-Sin, 36:2), the Qur'an states, The word "al-Hakim" is mentioned when it is described as "the Book in which there is wisdom".[1] It should also be noted that there is no "waw" between the words "Book" and "Hakim" in these verses, which would prevent them from being determiner and determined. وَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيۡكَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ and ٱلۡحِكۡمَةِ in the aforementioned verses are not referring to the Book, but rather to the knowledge bestowed upon the Prophet outside of the Book.
The argument that the word "wisdom" may be used to describe the Book is also supported by the fact that the pronoun "bihî" in the verse (وَمَآ أَنزَلَ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةِ يَعِظُكُم بِهِ) "And remember the favor of Allah upon you and what has been revealed to you of the Book and wisdom by which He instructs you." (Al-Baqarah, 2:231) is masculine. In Arabic, words are categorised as masculine or feminine. Furthermore, pronouns referring to any word must be used in the same gender and form as that word. Regarding the claim that the word "wisdom" is mentioned as a description of the book, it is argued that the masculine pronoun "bihî" in the phrase يَعِظُكُم بِهِۦ / "to advise you by it" is appropriate for the masculine noun "Book", while the feminine noun "wisdom" is only suitable as an attribute of the book. However, this claim is also incorrect from the Arabic language perspective, because the relevant part in the verse begins with the relative pronoun "mâ," and the part up to the phrase يَعِظُكُم بِهِۦ is the relative clause. In other words, the pronoun "bihî" in the phrase يَعِظُكُم بِهِۦ, meaning "to advise you," refers not only to the word "Book" but to the entire phrase "that which He sent down to you from the Book and wisdom." And in such phrases, it is essential for the pronoun to be masculine. Therefore, the reason for the masculine pronoun is that it relates to the relative pronoun "mâ," not the word "Book." Furthermore, as in some above-mentioned verses, the letter "waw" is present between the words "Book" and "wisdom," and this letter prevents the two words from functioning as determinative and determined. All in all, it is not possible to use this argument to support the idea that wisdom is an attribute of the Qur'an.
As can be seen, while some verses describe the Holy Qur'an as a book "containing wisdom," other verses state that wisdom was also given to Prophet Muhammad. This indicates that Prophet Muhammad received knowledge of "wisdom" separately from the Qur'an. Therefore, among the sources of knowledge for Prophet Muhammad, there is also the knowledge of wisdom revealed to him by Allah besides the Holy Qur'an. The Messenger of Allah was also tasked with teaching this knowledge to people. The information conveyed by Prophet Muhammad with expressions such as, "Someone from Allah came to me" (Bukhari, "Janaa'iz," 1), "Gabriel just informed me" (Bukhari, "Janaa'iz," 1), and "I saw it in a dream" (Bukhari, "Ta'bir", 39; Muslim, "Ru'ya", 20), and similar statements are of this kind. Based on this information, it can be concluded that Prophet Muhammad was given wisdom. The view that the wisdom given to the Prophet refers to the Qur'an appears to be a forced interpretation.
Footnotes:
1- For instance, in Surah Al-Isra, after topics such as not approaching adultery, murder, not stealing the property of orphans, keeping promises, honest measurements, not acting ignorantly, and modesty are mentioned, it is stated that these are wisdoms revealed by Allah (Al-Isra 17:32-39), thus indicating that the Qur'an contains wisdom.
Note: This article constitutes a component of a broad-perspective study conducted by the Meridyen Association, for the benefit of Muslims, particularly in the context of hadith, sunnah and related subjects. The issues addressed were discussed in detail by a group of experts in their respective fields, and each article was written independently by the relevant author. The following researchers were consulted for this study: Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yücel, Prof. Dr. Ayşe Esra Şahyar, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatma Kızıl, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rahile Kızılkaya Yılmaz, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilek Tekin, and Dr. Betül Yılmazörnek.
Translated by Merve Tosun.
