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Certain basic states and
attitudes of the heart and mind are necessary
prerequisites to any fruitful relationship
with the Qur'an. Develop them as much as you
can. Make them part of your consciousness,
keep them ever-alive and active. Integrate
them in your actions. Let them penetrate the
depth of your being. Without the help of these
inner resources you will not receive your full
measure of the Qur'an's blessings. They will
be your indispensable companions too,
throughout your journey.
These inner resources are
neither difficult nor impossible to find.
Through constant awareness and reflection,
through appropriate words and deeds, you can
acquire and develop them. The more you do so,
the closer you will be able to come to the
Qur'an. The closer you come to the Qur'an, the
greater your harvest will be.
1. Faith: The Word of God
Come to the Qur'an with a
strong and deep faith that it is the word of
Allah, your Creator and Lord.
Why should such a faith be a
necessary prerequisite? No doubt such is the
power and charm of the Qur'an that even if a
man takes it up and starts reading it as he
would an ordinary book, he will still benefit
from it, should he read it with an open mind.
But this book is no ordinary book, it opens
with the emphatic statement: (This is the
Book [of God], there is no doubt in it)
(Al-Baqarah 2:2). Your purpose in reading and
studying it is no ordinary purpose. You seek
from it the guidance that will transform your
whole being, bring you and keep you on the
Straight Path: (Guide us on the Straight
Path)
(Al-Fatihah 1:5) is the cry of your
heart to which the Qur'an is the response.
You may admire the Qur'an,
even be informed by it, but you cannot be
transformed by it unless its words soak in to
awaken you, to grip you, to heal, and to
change you. This cannot happen unless you take
them for what they truly are, the words of
God.
Without this faith you cannot
come to acquire all the other inner resources
you will need to reach the heart of the Qur'an
and absorb its message. Once it comes to
reside in your heart, you cannot but be filled
with the qualities and attitudes such as
sincerity of purpose, awe and reverence, love
and gratitude, trust and dependence,
willingness to labor hard, conviction of its
truth, surrender to its message, obedience to
its commands, and vigilance against dangers
which stalk to deprive you of its treasures.
Think of His majesty and glory
and power, and you will feel awe and reverence
and devotion for His words. Reflect on His
sustenance and mercy and compassion, and you
will be filled with gratitude and love and
longing for His message. Know His wisdom and
knowledge and kindness, and you will become
willing and eager and ready to obey His
commandments.
That is why the Qur'an reminds
you of this important truth again and again:
in the very beginning, in the opening verses
of many surahs, and frequently in between.
That is why even the Messenger
(peace and blessings be on him) is instructed
to proclaim his own faith, and all believers
must join him: (The Messenger believes in
what has been sent down to him by His Lord,
and all believers too)
(Al-Baqarah 2:285).
You must, therefore, always
remain conscious that each word that you are
reading, reciting, hearing, or trying to
understand has been sent for you by Allah.
Do you truly have this faith?
You do not have to look far for an answer.
Just examine your heart and behavior. If you
have it, then where is the desire and longing
for companionship with the Qur'an, where is
the labor and hard work to understand it and
where is the surrender and obedience to its
message?
How do we obtain this faith,
and how can it be kept alive? Although there
are many ways, I will mention only one here.
The most effective way is reciting the Qur'an
itself. This may look as if we are moving in a
circle, but this is not really the case. For,
as you read the Qur'an, you will surely
recognize it as being the word of God. Your
faith will then increase in intensity and
depth: (Believers are only those who,
whenever God is mentioned, their hearts
tremble with awe; and whenever His revelations
are recited to them, they increase them in
faith)
(Al-Anfal 8:2).
2. Purity of Intention and
Purpose
Read the Qur'an with no
purpose other than to receive guidance from
your Lord, to come nearer to Him, and to seek
His good pleasure.
What you get from the Qur'an
depends on what you come to it for. Your niyyah
(intention and purpose) is crucial.
Certainly the Qur'an has come to guide you,
but you may also go astray by reading it
should you approach it for impure purposes and
wrong motives.
(Thereby
He causes many to go astray, and thereby He
guides many; but thereby He causes none to go
astray save the iniquitous)
(Al-Baqarah
2:26).
The Qur'an is the word of
Allah, it therefore requires as much
exclusiveness of intention and purity of
purpose as does worshiping (in prayer) and
serving Him.
Do not read it merely for
intellectual pursuit and pleasure, even though
you must apply your intellect to its fullest
for the task of understanding the Qur'an. So
many people spend a lifetime in studying the
language, style, history, geography, law, and
ethics of the Qur'an, and yet their lives
remain untouched by its message. The Qur'an
frequently refers to people who have knowledge
but do not derive benefit from it.
Nor should you come to the
Qur'an with the fixed intention of finding
support for your own views, notions, and
doctrines. For if you do, you may then hear an
echo of your own voice in it, and not that of
God. It is this approach to the understanding
and interpreting of the Qur'an that the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has
condemned. (Whoever interprets the
Qur'an by his personal opinion shall take his
place in the Fire)
(At-Tirmidhi).
Nothing could be more
unfortunate than to use the Qur'an to secure,
for your own person, worldly things such as
name, esteem, status, fame, or money. You may
get them, but you will surely be bartering
away a priceless treasure for nothing, indeed
even incurring eternal loss and ruin. Indeed,
the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
said: (If anyone studies the Qur'an
seeking thereby a living from people, he will
rise on the Day of Resurrection with his face
as a fleshless bone)
(Al-Baihaqi). He
also said that one who learns, recites, and
teaches the Qur'an for worldly acclaim will be
thrown into the Fire (Muslim).
You may also derive other
lesser benefits from the words of the Qur'an,
such as the healing of bodily afflictions,
psychological peace, and deliverance from
poverty. There is no bar to having these, but
again, they should not become the be-all and
end-all that you seek from the Qur'an nor the
goal of your niyyah. For in achieving
these you may lose a whole ocean that could
have been yours.
Reading every single letter of
the Qur'an carries with it great rewards.
Remain conscious of all the rewards, and make
them an objective of your niyyah, for
they will provide you with those strong
incentives required to spend your life with
the Qur'an. But never forget that on
understanding, absorbing, and following the
Qur'an you have been promised much larger
rewards, in this world and in the Hereafter.
It is these which you must aim for.
Not only should your purpose
be pure, but you should also, once you have
the Qur'an with you—both the text and its
living embodiment in the Sunnah—never go to
any other source for guidance. For that would
be like running after mirages. It would mean a
lack of confidence, a denigration of the
Qur'an. It would amount to divided loyalties.
Nothing brings you nearer to
your Lord than the moments you spend with His
words. For it is only in the Qur'an that you
enjoy the unique blessing of hearing His
'voice' addressing you. So let an intense
desire to come nearer to Allah be your one
overwhelming motive while reading the Qur'an.
Finally, your niyyah
should be directed to seeking only your Lord's
pleasure, by devoting your heart, mind, and
time to the guidance that He has sent to you.
That is what you barter when you surrender
yourself to Allah: (There is such as would
sell his own self in order to please Allah)
(Al-Baqarah 2:207).
Purpose and intentions are
like the soul of a body, the inner capability
of a seed. Many seeds look alike, but as they
begin to grow and bear fruits, their
differences become manifest. The purer and
higher the motive, the greater the value and
yield of your efforts.
So always ask yourself: Why am
I reading the Qur'an? Tell yourself constantly
why you should. This may be the best way to
ensure the purity and exclusiveness of purpose
and intention.
(Part
2 | Part
3)
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