al-Makki wa al-Madani

al-Makki wa al-Madani (The Meccan and Medinan Revelations) is a treatise on Quranic sciences by Muhammad Shafaat Rabbani, dedicated to defining, contextualizing, and classifying the Meccan and Medinan portions of the Quran.al-Makki wa al-Madani

Scope and Background

The work outlines the emergence and evolution of the discipline of Meccan and Medinan revelation. Rabbani notes that the Quran was revealed gradually over approximately twenty-three years according to historical circumstances, with portions descending in Mecca, Medina, and during journeys.al-Makki wa al-Madani Knowledge of this division originated through oral transmission among the Companions and Successors rather than explicit pronouncements from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who did not need to state it explicitly because the early Muslims directly witnessed the revelation and its contexts.al-Makki wa al-Madani

Definitions and Scholarly Criteria

The book reviews the three scholarly definitions for classifying Meccan and Medinan revelation:

1. Temporal definition: What was revealed before the Hijra is Meccan, even if revealed outside Mecca, while what was revealed after the Hijra is Medinan, even if revealed in Mecca.al-Makki wa al-Madani
2. Spatial definition: What was revealed in Mecca and its surrounding areas (such as Mina, Arafat, and al-Hudaybiyya) is Meccan, while what was revealed in Medina and its environs (such as Badr and Uhud) is Medinan.al-Makki wa al-Madani Rabbani points out that this definition is not comprehensive, as it fails to encompass verses revealed in locations such as Tabuk or Jerusalem during the Night Journey.al-Makki wa al-Madani
3. Addressee-based definition: What is addressed to the people of Mecca is Meccan, and what addresses the people of Medina is Medinan.al-Makki wa al-Madani This criterion is critiqued as inconsistent because many verses lack such vocatives, while some Medinan chapters contain the Meccan-style address يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ("O mankind") and some Meccan chapters contain يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ("O you who have believed").al-Makki wa al-Madani

Rabbani adopts the temporal definition as the soundest, stating that it is comprehensive and consistent, resolves the majority of scholarly disputes, and aligns most closely with the understanding of the Companions, who classified chapters such as al-Tawbah, al-Fath, and al-Munafiqun as Medinan despite their revelation occurring during travels outside Medina.al-Makki wa al-Madani

Causes of Disagreement and Benefits

The text identifies five primary causes for scholarly disagreements over the classification of certain surahs and verses: the absence of direct textual designation from the Prophet ﷺ, differences in defining the terminology, confusion among narrators between explicit causes of revelation and general contextual commentary, treating predominant characteristics as absolute rules, and reliance on weak reports despite the presence of authentic narrations.al-Makki wa al-Madani

Rabbani enumerates seven main benefits of this science: identifying abrogation (as later Medinan rulings abrogate earlier Meccan ones), assisting in Quranic exegesis (Tafsir), tracing the historical progression of Islamic legislation, reconstructing the prophetic biography (Sirah) and the stages of preaching, demonstrating the meticulousness of Muslim scholars in preserving the circumstances of revelation, determining occasions of revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul), and reinforcing confidence in the sound preservation of the Quranic text.al-Makki wa al-Madani

Sources and Literature Survey

The treatise surveys classical and modern literature addressing the Meccan and Medinan revelations. It lists independent early monographs, beginning in the generation of the Successors with works attributed to al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim, Ikrima, and al-Hasan al-Basri, through later medieval treatises by scholars such as Ibn al-Durays, Makki ibn Abi Talib, and al-Ja'bari.al-Makki wa al-Madani+1 It also highlights general works that dedicated standalone chapters to the subject, such as those by Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, Abu Amr al-Dani, Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, alongside contemporary academic studies such as Muhammad Abd al-Azim al-Zarqani's Manahil al-Irfan.al-Makki wa al-Madani+1

The work examines early reports that categorize the surahs, such as the narrations transmitted from Abdullah ibn Abbas through multiple transmission chains—including the authentic chain recorded by Abu Ubayd via Ali ibn Abi Talha and the narration of Ibn al-Durays—evaluating their authenticity and identifying the chapters subject to consensus or scholarly disagreement.al-Makki wa al-Madani+1