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The noble Qur'an is the word
of Almighty Allah, which started to be
revealed to humanity in the blessed month of
Ramadan through His Messenger Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him).
The major themes of the noble
Qur'an are
-
Allah's transcendent
sovereignty,
-
our mission as Allah's
vicegerents on earth, and
-
the guidance offered to
humans out of Allah's infinite mercy.
Knowledge can be divided into
two broad categories: knowledge of the
perceptible world (Ash-Shahadah), and that of
the imperceptible world (Al-Ghayb).
All our sciences give us
knowledge of their world, nature, history, and
arts; such a knowledge is called the knowledge
of Ash-Shahadah. But humans can never acquire
the knowledge of spiritual realities beyond
the world of our senses unless Almighty Allah
Himself reveals such knowledge. These belong
to the world of Al-Ghayb,
We should always remember that
Allah is not only the Creator, but He is also
the Sustainer and the Disposer of all the
affairs of the whole creation:
[Allah
is the Creator of all things, and He is the
Guardian and Disposer of all affairs. To Him
belong the keys of the heavens and the
earth, and those who reject the Signs of
Allah, it is they who will be in loss.]
(Az-Zumar 39:62-63)
This means that the whole of
human progress through history, which humanity
proudly claims as its achievement, would not
have been possible if Allah had not helped and
guided it at every step. Allah says,
[But
Allah has created you and your handiwork]
(As-Saffat 37:96)
While we, for all practical
purposes, have been given the ability to make
decisions and to work in our own ways toward
attaining freely chosen objectives, Almighty
Allah is in control, and humans, as well as
all other creatures, are never free from
Allah's overriding power and sovereignty:
[And
you shall not will, unless (it be) that
Allah, the Lord of the worlds, wills]
(At-Takwir 81:29)
From this we should realize
that Allah guides us in our affairs in ways
that are mysterious, and we are utterly
helpless without His guidance , even in those
things where we presume to be self-sufficient.
Sadly, most people are unaware. This is
Allah's guidance acting, at one level, upon
the affairs of the human race and controlling
the course of history.
At another level, we have the
noble Qur'an before us, and we (as individuals
as well as communities) are asked to choose
the divine guidance in the Qur'an to manage
our day-to-day affairs. It is up to us to
accept or reject this divine guidance, as
there is no coercion in religion. But most of
us are unaware, and this unawareness is a
deficiency that can be rectified by means of
humility, because this latter is the first
step toward knowledge and wisdom. Also
unawareness is often coupled with arrogance,
which is a trait of Satan, and we are easy
victims of the guiles of Satan. Thus the
dangerous combination of unawareness and
arrogance leads people to ignore divine
guidance and to adopt whatever expedient
courses available to them for the
gratification of their immediate desires and
for the attainment of their short-term goals.
Toward a Proper Approach to
the Qur'an
The first step.
We should earnestly pray to Allah for
protection from Satan. Allah gives in the
noble Qur'an repeated and emphatic warnings to
humans about the risk of following the dark
suggestions of Satan:
[O
you who believe, enter into Islam
wholeheartedly and follow not the footsteps
of the evil one [Satan], for he is to you an
avowed enemy.]
(Al-Baqarah 2:208)
And because Satan is out there
with his minions to mislead us, Almighty Allah
particularly admonishes us to ask for His
protection from Satan when seeking guidance
from the Qur'an:
[When
you do read the Qur'an, seek Allah's
protection from Satan, the rejected one.]
(An-Nahl 16:98)
Beseeching Almighty Allah for
protection from the guiles of Satan means that
humans must have full faith in Allah, the
All-Merciful, as the Creator and Guardian Who
can protect us from every harm.
The second step.
We must sincerely believe that every word of
the Qur'an is Allah's speech and that Allah
will guide those who seek His guidance to the
truth. We should read the Qur'an with an
earnest desire to increase faith so that we
may belong to those who are described in the
Qur'an by the following words:
[Believers
are those who, whenever Allah is mentioned,
feel a tremor in their hearts, and whenever
His revelations are recited to them increase
their faith .]
(Al-Anfal 8:2)
The third step.
We should remember Allah with gratitude for He
guided us them to the Qur'an. Only Allah —
not any one else — could guide us to His
noble book of guidance. For this reason, we
should praise the One Who deserves praise, for
He created and blessed us with all the
bounties they enjoy, and — what is more —
He guided us to the truth.
The fourth step.
We must show readiness and determination to
follow the teachings of the Qur'an. This
should be an expression of an unquestioning
resolve to surrender to the will of Allah as
expressed in His book. This also indicates
that we are prepared to do without all selfish
interests, lust, greed, foolish pride, and
arrogance — in short, any love for the
fleeting pleasures of life. In other words,
this is a changeover to a new life dedicated
to Allah's pleasure.
The fifth step.
The Qur'an should be read with full awareness
that now we are with Allah, listening to His
words, which are meant to guide us along the
straight path. So, when reading the Qur'an, we
must take enough time for the verses to get a
grip on our hearts and minds, so that the
teachings contained therein can be imbibed to
the greatest possible extent.
Levels of Reading the
Qur'an
One may say that there are
three levels of reading the Qur'an.
The first level: visual
reading of the Qur'an. That is to read
the Qur'an with eyes fixed on the words, and
with thevoice raised to such a level that
makes it audible only to oneself.
The second level:
pondering over the meanings of the verses.
That is to contemplate the explanation of the
verses and their interpretations, which is
required to fully understand the ideas
therein.
The third level:
willingly opening hearts and minds to the
verses. This is necessary for paving
the way for an effective impact of the
teachings in the Qur'an on our lives, to the
extent of bringing about a change in attitudes
and styles of behavior.
Once this is attained, a
truthful prayer to Almighty Allah can be
[Praise be to Allah,
Who has guided us to this! We would not have
been guided, had not Allah guided us.]
(Al-A`raf 7:43)
Indeed, the praise for Allah
must be intense and most sincere, as it is
Allah Who has bestowed upon us the noble
Qur'an.
Gratitude and joy lead to
trust, hope, and greater gifts. The One Who
has bestowed the Qur'an upon us will surely
help us in reading, understanding, and
following it.
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