Shia Islam 12

Through this study, one will not only come to know the Quran, but also Islam, the angels, the Prophet Muhammad (s), his successors (the Ahl-ul-Bait), other people and of course oneself - as a “reader of the Word”. It also makes the Muslim aware of the meaning of the Quran and gives guidance on how to understand and use the Quranic revelation in life. The human being of Islam is not - as Western philosophy defines him - a speaking and reasoning animal           (الحیوان الناطق), but it is a “living reader” (الحی القاري) who has been created to enable itself to regain its lost position in paradise by reading the word. This connection takes place in a “dialogue of salvation” between God and man, and man - as the “reader of the Word” - enters into a living dialogue with the Creator through reading.

The theologian Karl Rahner says that listening and questioning are the expressions of being human. Only in listening does a person become a human being. Man listens to what corresponds to him. This opinion is only valid in Christian theology of revelation, but it is too little for Islamic theology of revelation:

In Islamic theology of revelation, it is mainly not listening and questioning that are the determinants of being human, but “reading”, perceiving, questioning and criticizing.
For Christianity, the Word is fundamental, as is the identity of message and messenger, Gospel and Jesus Christ (s).
But for Islam, the Word is fundamental, as is the Message, the Messengers, the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (s).
In Christian word theology, man - as a listener to revelation - opens himself to the word because he himself is imperfect. He is therefore dependent on something that is outside of him.
In Islamic word theology, man - as a “reader of the word” - opens himself to the word that is in the Quran because he himself is imperfect.
In Christianity, one deals passively with the word, but in Islam actively. Here one is not only a listener, but also a “reader” in an active form. Here, one must empower oneself to read the Word, to understand its content and to put its teachings into practice in one’s life.