Islam Rediscovered
13. The Shariah and Its Application
~ 236 ~
Thus people were not faced with any confusion in
understanding the injunctions as well as their
application. But later-day Muslims find out the
injunctions—of patience,
da’wah
and war—all
together in one single book. It was now left to
Muslims to find, on their own, which of the varied
injunctions is relevant to their particular sets of
circumstances. That is to say, earlier the
circumstances and the injunctions tallied with one
another, whereas now the injunctions are many and
varied, while the state of affairs in any one
particular given situation demands, (in practice),
the application of only one injunction.
As mentioned above, the present Quran does not
follow the order of revelation, that is, the
chronological order of revelations has not been
followed in the compilation of the Quran.
The arrangement of the present order of the Quran
not being based on the order of revelation is
probably a matter of testing the faithful. This test
requires Muslims to exercise their reason objectively
in order to find out which one of the commands it is
desirable for them to carry out in a particular
