Book 6 Critical Thinking and the Chronological Quran in the Life of Prophet Muhammad

Description

The Year 6 of the Revelation Muharram 1-Dhu al-Hijja 29, 8 BH ca. October 11, 614 CE-September 29, 615 CE Each Lesson begins with a critical thinking (furqan) standard, strategy or Quranic moral trait. It is important to note that when learning HOW to think which the Quran teaches, there is no specifically correct answer. It is going through the process of Quranic understanding that we learn HOW to think. The Lessons in Book Year 1 through Book Year 24, including Book Year 6 presented here, are numbered consecutively in order of the revelation of a Quranic Chapter. Book Year 6 begins with Lesson 49 and Quranic Chapter 28 which is the 49th Chapter revealed, followed by Quranic Chapters 17, 10, 11, 12 and, finally, Chapter 15, the 54th Chapter revealed.. It is in this year that the second migration to Abyssinia occurs and the conversion of Umar al-Khattab which further strengthened the young community suffering under torture and oppression. The chronological order of the chapters of the Quran that follow throughout the series is based on the list accepted by al-Azhar University in Cairo1 and is considered to be the official order. It differs greatly from the chronological order developed by Western scholars over the centuries and is much more detailed. Quranic signs or verses (ayat) of each section (ruku) in a particular Quranic chapter are given in each lesson followed by a commentary, an analysis of the signs that answer three questions: Who is God?, How are the signs directed towards Prophet Muhammad? and How are the signs directed towards the Community? Following these questions, there is a section called Example of How Critical Thinking works. A short paragraph describes the Eight Elements of Reason and then a paragraph titled Example of How Quranic Critical Thinking Works. The paragraph that comes after this is for the student to determine which of the statements are one of the Eight Elements of Reasoning. Each Lesson ends with a Student Self-assessment. Appendix 1 correlates the original Quranic chapters with their chronological order.