One of my sister asked me ...
The verse Rehman, alamal Quran, (55:1-2), is it past tense ayat or present tense ayat ?
First we need to know what is Quran and who is the recipient of the message of the Quran.
The recipient of the Quran (not the book) is the evolved man (Insaan) and not an ordinary man (Adam driven out from Jannah).
The book Quran is narrated with the help of personified examples (misaal).
We never question the tense of maths problem when the teacher teaches us with the help of examples. Same way we need to understand the examples (misaal) of the book Quran.
The statement that 1) the Rehman - 2) taught the Quran (not the book) - 3rd verse is - He evolved Insaan (not mankind).
Not everyone is evolved upto the level of Insaan. A very vast majority of men are at the stage of Adam (ordinary man). They have not reached or evolved to the position of Insaan.
Important is not whether the verse is past or present or future tense. Important is what message we are able to derive from it.
The moment we say it is an ayaat (signs) that means it is applicable, valid in the current scenario. The word ayaat (signs) is used when the happening is live. The signs are always valid in the current situations and are never used for past events.
The ayaats are addressed to those readers who are evolved or those who know the meaning in the signs.
The ayaah simply says that the Teacher of the Quran is Rehman. But we assume that the word Quran means 114 chapter Book in Arabic language.
In ayaat 2:31 the Quran says He taught Adam al-asmaa (characters, attributes, names, identification - this ayat is pointing or emphasizing the function of Allah, that is to teach, evolved Mankind from the level of Adam. We will not say that the event happened in the past and now this verse is defunct and of no use today.
The entire book Quran is written in theophany format (tamsili). There are lessons in the parables for us to understand and not see whether the events happened in the past or they are stories of the past.
Islam is against the glorifications of language, place, personalities, books, scholars, gurus.
The book Quran has life lessons for maintaining a peaceful mind which are molded in parables.
We just need to take lessons from it and not to consecrate it. We take lessons from many movies or fictional stories but we never ask whether the story happened in the past or is it relevant today. This is because we know it is just a story.
The book Quran says many times that the signs are qasas (lessons from which we can deduct lessons) and misaal (parables or examples).
Important is to take lessons from those parables and not to hate or sanctify the characters of the parables.
Debating on nuance of language of any story is useless nonetheless when the book Quran itself emphasis that the narratives are best parables.
The writings or the script of the book Quran are called ayaat (signs), that means those signs are valid and are applicable today also furthermore they are meant to instruct or influence (surah) us.
Hope I am able to explain my point