Al-Furqan: The Essential Purpose of All Divine Revelations

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 8 May 2025 Every revelation, from Adam (AS) to Muhammad (SAS), serves to provide humanity with al-Furqan, the divine criterion of right and wrong. The very essence of divine revelation is to provide humanity with al-Furqan — the ultimate criterion by which right and wrong, truth and falsehood, are distinguished. Everything else — whether theological assertions, devotional rituals, or sacred narratives — only serves to help us live by al-Furqan, and therefore complements this purpose. In the Quran, al-Furqan is a term of immense significance, symbolising the moral compass meant to guide humanity toward righteousness and away from sin. It is the defining feature of divine guidance sent to all Messengers of God. From the Torah to the Psalms, the Gospel to the Quran, every divinely inspired message served to provide al-Furqan for its respective community and the Quran for all mankind. Whether through scrolls revealed to prophets or unwritten inspiration granted to those unnamed in scripture, every messenger was charged with delivering this divine moral compass. What sets al-Furqan apart from all humanly devised systems of ethics is its divine origin. Human beings have never succeeded in creating a stable or universal standard of moral right and wrong independently of divine revelation, nor have they demonstrated any real capacity to do so. Philosophers and ethicists have constructed intricate frameworks for moral reasoning, but these are invariably extrapolations or reorganisations of principles already established through revelation. The inimitability of al-Furqan, therefore, extends not only to the Quran but to the entire phenomenon of divinely revealed moral guidance throughout history. The Quran’s challenge remains: “And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a surah like it, and call your witnesses besides Allah, if you are truthful.” (2:23, in response to Quraysh’s challenge) “Say: If all mankind and jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce it’s like, even if they backed one another with help and support.” (17:88) The challenge is not limited to literary eloquence but to the unrivalled moral clarity and comprehensiveness of al-Furqan — a standard beyond human invention. This understanding is reinforced by major classical scholars of Islam. Al-Raghib al-Isfahani, in his Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur’an, defines al-Furqan as that which separates truth from falsehood, deriving from the root f-r-q (to separate, distinguish). He emphasizes that al-Furqan is the divine standard through which good is distinguished from evil. Al-Qurtubi, in his Tafsir, affirms that al-Furqan in Surah Al-Furqan (25:1) refers to the Quran as the criterion by which truth and falsehood are judged — highlighting its moral and judicial clarity. Both scholars support the notion that al-Furqan is the essential and distinguishing function of revelation. Atheistic moral theories do exist, but they remain speculative, lacking any objective or universal grounding. While philosophy has helped articulate and systematise moral teachings — translating descriptive ethics into normative systems — it has added nothing fundamentally new to humanity’s moral repertoire. Even those philosophers who aspired to break new ground ultimately affirmed the necessity of divine morality. Kant sought to base ethics purely on reason, yet his “categorical imperative” was essentially a restatement of the Golden Rule. More crucially, he admitted that obedience to it would be irrational unless grounded in the belief that justice is ultimately fulfilled in the Hereafter — implicitly conceding that theological belief is indispensable. Nietzsche, on the other hand, declared war on religious morality, branding it “slave morality” for favouring the weak over the strong. Yet this critique only reinforces the point: had morality been a human construct, it would have favoured the powerful. That it does the opposite suggests a transcendent source, not a human invention. Indeed, the Quranic moral vision inverts worldly power structures. It elevates the weak, the oppressed, the downtrodden — the orphans, the poor, the enslaved. The early Muslim community itself was composed largely of such marginalised figures: Bilal the Abyssinian slave, Sumayyah the persecuted woman, and Yasir the tortured elder. The Quraysh elite dismissed them, but the Quran affirmed and elevated their moral worth. In the economy of al-Furqan, dignity is not based on wealth, lineage, or strength, but on faith, justice, and perseverance in adversity. This inversion is not rhetorical; it is the divine hallmark of revealed morality. Classical scholars often emphasised that the purpose of humanity’s creation is to worship and glorify Allah (cf. 51:56). But the Quran itself illustrates how this glorification is to be manifested: not in abstract ritual alone, but in ethical action that embodies divine values. Surah Al-Balad (90) exemplifies this beautifully: "Have We not made for him a pair of eyes? — And a tongue, and a pair of lips? — And shown him the two highways? But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. And what will explain to thee the path that is steep? (It is:) freeing the bondman; Or the giving of food in a day of privation to the orphan with claims of relationship, or to the indigent (down) in the dust. Then will he be of those who believe, and enjoin patience (Sabr), and enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion (Marḥamah). Such are the Companions of the Right Hand…" (Qur’an 90:8–18) Here, true glorification of Allah is shown to lie in moral courage: in freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, and living with faith, patience, and compassion. This is al-Furqan in practice. History, therefore, confirms what scripture proclaims: that true moral discernment — al-Furqan — has never been of human invention. It is, and has always been, a divine endowment. The essence of all revelation is to provide humanity with al-Furqan. Everything else is secondary. The Essence of Revelation: Moral Development and the Role of Al-Furqan Modern developmental psychology affirms what the Quran says categorically: that human beings are not born with a developed moral sense. Moral understanding must be cultivated, especially during the early years of life. Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg showed that moral reasoning evolves through identifiable stages — from obedience based on fear of punishment to mature ethical principles based on justice and rights. But in every stage, the child is shaped by exposure to external moral norms, received not through personal invention but through interaction with others: parents, caregivers, teachers, and religious teachings. Noam Chomsky’s most powerful idea — that there is a universal human capacity for language, narrowed through early exposure — applies equally to moral development. Every child is born capable of learning any of the world’s languages, but synaptic pruning during early development limits this potential to the languages the child hears. A songbird that does not hear the song of its species during a critical period will never sing. Morality works similarly. While the human brain is predisposed to moral learning, the actual content must be supplied through early immersion in a moral framework. Without this guidance, the capacity for moral judgment remains undeveloped or misdirected. Animals may display instinctive pro-social behaviors, but humans must learn raḥmah (compassion), iḥsān (kindness), karam (generosity), tawāḍuʿ (humility), and ḥayā’ (modesty). These virtues do not emerge spontaneously; they must be modelled, reinforced, and internalised during the critical early years of development. Children who do not experience moral reinforcement — who are not taught to care, to share, to feel for others — fail to develop the emotional substrate for morality. The result is sometimes emotional detachment or even psychopathy: an absence of conscience, remorse, or moral emotion. The earliest moral learning, like language acquisition, is informal and relational. Before age three, children absorb messages about right and wrong without reflection. Approval, affection, praise, and disapproval act as reinforcers, shaping behaviour and building emotional associations with moral conduct. After the age of three, new information is filtered through what has already been internalised. The earlier a child is exposed to moral norms, the more deeply they are embedded in the personality. Revelation meets this developmental need perfectly. It offers a coherent and comprehensive moral structure, one that parents and caregivers can transmit through both word and deed. Al-Furqan provides not just a set of rules but a narrative framework, a vision of life in which good and evil have meaning, and moral choices have consequences. While the content comes from revelation, it is through lived social interaction, especially within the family, that the child internalises these principles. Thus, while revelation is the original source of moral guidance, the absorption of al-Furqan occurs primarily through human interaction. The child learns morality not through formal study but through imitation, reinforcement, and relationship. The smiles and approval that follow acts of kindness, and the frowns and correction that follow selfishness, are how al-Furqan becomes written into the human heart. Conclusion: The Universal Nature of Al-Furqan and Its Role in Moral Formation The very purpose of divine revelation is to provide humanity with al-Furqan — the moral criterion by which truth and falsehood, right and wrong, are distinguished. The rest — descriptions of God’s attributes, stories of past nations, laws of ritual and worship — serve to support and contextualise this core function. They are not extraneous but essential: we must know who the Lawgiver is, why He deserves obedience, and what consequences follow from moral choices. Even secular psychologists recognise the need for consequence—reward and punishment as essential to reinforcing moral behaviour. Just as language must be learned during a sensitive period, so too must moral understanding. And just as language learning requires immersion, so moral learning requires a social and emotional environment rooted in moral meaning. Revelation provides the structure, and human interaction provides the transmission. In short, al-Furqan is not merely a label for the Quran or the Torah — it is the essence of all divine revelation. It is the singular, unchanging purpose behind every scripture and every prophetic message: to provide a moral compass grounded in divine justice, capable of being absorbed by the human soul. Al-Furqan is not just the light of revelation — it is the mirror of our humanity. Without it, we would be adrift, unable to distinguish right from wrong, unable to live meaningfully, and unable to fulfil the very purpose for which we were created. -------- Further Reading: • Quran 2:2, 2:23, 17:88, 25:1 • Surah Luqman (31), especially verses 12–19 • Surah Al-Ma’un (107) • Surah Al-Balad (90) • Tafsir of Al-Qurtubi and Al-Raghib al-Isfahani on al-Furqan • Works on moral development by Piaget, Kohlberg, and Jonathan Haidt ---- A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He has spent years studying Quran in-depth and made seminal contributions to its interpretation. 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