In the Name of Allaah the Most Compassionate Most Merciful
The best friend never unexciting
its regular rendition increases it in beauty.
The world has many books but the Qur’aan stands out because it is the only Book from the Lord of Majesty that has remained immutable, unassailable and unconquered by known and unknown forces.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نزلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ
We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and we will assuredly guard it (from corruption). [Hijr: 9]
It is the only book that is most memorized. So wonderful that a kid of seven or thereabout will commit it its more than 90,000 lucid Arabic words into memory without much sweat. One needs not be of Arab origin before mastering it. No people, be they the Europeans, Africans, Asians, Americans, or the Arabs have laid claim to its indispensable mastery. All nations are under its service.
The Qur’aan is the greatest miracle the world has ever seen...
The piece is not about the honour of the Qur’aan; much has been written and said about that. Agreed, what has been written cannot be exhaustive; the praise of the Qur’aan will continue to be sung till the world will last. But the aim here is the soothing effect of the Qur’aan on the soul in thick and thin.
The nature Allaah has created the man is to toil. The toil may bring happiness or sadness as He the Mighty wishes:
وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَى
That it is He who granteth Laughter and Tears. [Najm: 43]
So, man may be in joy or sadness, everything is according to the Infinite Plan of Allaah.
In any state man may find himself, Qur’aan is his best comforter. A Muslim cannot do without the Qur’aan. If a person lays claim to Islam and is yet to discover the potency of the Qur’aan in his life, he is on the losing side.
Allaah the Mighty said about the Qur’aan:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَتْكُمْ مَوْعِظَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَشِفَاءٌ لِمَا فِي الصُّدُورِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
O mankind! There hath come to you a direction from your Lord and a healing for the (diseases) In your hearts,- and for those who believe, a guidance and a mercy. [Yunus: 57]
The people of knowledge categorize diseases into two: the one afflicting the physical body and the one afflicting the soul. While the cure for the former is the orthodox mediations such as herbs, roots and drugs; the cure for the latter is nothing but the Qur’aan.
The diseases of the souls include sins, hypocrisy, disbelieve, jealousy, keeping malice, avarice and many others. It is only the Qur’aan that can cure them.
Therefore, as man lives his daily life, he is exposed to many societal aliments most of which bring him worries and gloominess. The Qur’aan is no doubt his best guide and aid.
But a fact remains that to acquire the potency of the Qur’aan in curing worries, one need to know the Qur’aan. A Muslim, as earlier said, cannot do without the Qur’aan. To clear some doubts, not as a talisman of a sort, as many people have held the Qur’aan to be. The Qur’aan is not a book of talisman which you can use to solve the failings in your business or mundane affairs. Rather, the Qur’aan is the cure to that potent disease in your heart that makes you think the failings in your life is from some super natural beings while you have failed to see that you have failed your Lord in your duties towards Him. That is the message.
Interestingly however, the Qur’aan wards off evil and its forces. It is the best wordings you can say to cast out the devils in places and persons. The Messenger of Allaah has said reciting Soorah Baqarah in a house will ward off the jinns. Aayatul-Kursee [The Verse of the Footstool (Baqarah: 255)] is specially a big thorn in the flesh of the Shayâtin. But using the Qur’aan to cast out demons does not make it a talisman. Those who use the Qur’aan as talisman, like those in the Sufi bloc, do not actually use the Qur’aan rather they use the names of demons woven around some plain words of the Qur’aan as a desecration of the Qur’aan to effect super natural prowess on the behest of the demons. So in essence, it is not the Qur’aan they use rather they desecrate the Qur’aan to become powerful. Many people who do that with the Qur’aan are plain disbelievers in Allaah the Revealer of the Qur’aan.
The theme is that Qur’aan is the best companion you can have.
So go and learn it today as much as you can from good teachers. Not everyone can teach the Qur’aan. Many people in this part of the world have not really mastered the proper rendition of the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan is to be learnt and recited with obeisance to the rules and application of Tajweed.
Allaah commands:
وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلا
...and Recite the Qur'an In slow, measured rhythmic tones. [Muzammil: 4]
These common dialectical renditions in Adabi and Markazi intonations where the rules of Tajweed are mercilessly maimed and wounded are not advisable. Many who recite the Qur’aan with those local dialects often cheat and undermine the Qur’aan by either extending what need not being extended or refracting what need being extended. Articulation of letters in the proper manner is another bane to many of these local vocalizers. Many of them do not know the difference between ح خ ع ه on one side and ث ذ ظ س on another side. Please do not learn the Qur’aan from such people. Sadly though, they are the bulk of those who teach the Qur’aan in this part of Nigeria.
Alhamdulillah that in the past decade, many Qur’aan centers where the Qur’aan is perfectly leanrt have sprung up and consequently many good reciters, as Allaah would wish, have been produced. Though the gap between the north and the south of Nigeria is still very wide, as far as the Qur’aan is concerned, those who ethnocentrically think otherwise should take it cool. Alhamdulillah that some distance has been covered in the south no matter how small.
By Allaah, if you learn the Qur’aan, which is the simplest thing you can learn in this world, you will be glad you did. It is only book you will recite and it will go straight to your soul even when you have not grasped the meanings. And when you know the meanings and you recite it or it is recited to you, you will attain the peak of its beauty. No wonder that some non-Muslims listen to it and they start crying.
Allaah-u-akbar!
What the Qur’aan demands from every Muslim is: Recite, Ponder and Act. We can code that RPA of the Qur’aan.
To be a good Muslim, you must Recite the Qur’aan, not occasionally but always. You can allot as little as a page for a daily reading [and memorizing, as the case may be]. The more, the better, but never you abandon the Qur’aan, never! If you have not really grasped the meanings, you can read the meanings alongside. The Noble Qur’aan of Muhsin Khan and Taqiudeen has remained a masterpiece in this area. Yusuf Ali’s, Picktall’s and people like those have pitfalls in their translations. One, some of them have failings in their ‘Aqeedah, two, some of them did not really render it as normal. Qur’aan is best translated with attention to the accepted books of Tafseer such as Ibn Katheer’s, Tabari’s etc.
The second thing is Pondering over the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan is not meant to be recited robotically rather as humanly as possible. Read the Qur’aan and ponder over it. The Qur’aan remains a book that as much as you recite and ponder over it, you discover its beauty and hidden guidance. And in understanding the Qur’aan, you need to go with the Sunnah of the Prophet - sallaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam. The Sunnah is the explainer of the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan needs the Sunnah more than the latter needs the former. The best exegete of the Qur’aan has been the Messenger of Allaah - sallaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam, the Companions followed then we can talk of the Taabi’oon and those who came later.
The last demand which is the most difficult and which is the result of the first two which may make or mar our claim to the Qur’aan, the demand is Acting on the Qur’aan. Many people read the Qur’aan, many ponder over it such that they cry and cry but unfortunately just very few act with the Qur’aan.
If you hear that some people of Qur’aan will be the first to be punished on the Day of Resurrection, those are those who have failed to act with the Qur’aan.
If you hear that the Messenger of Allaah - sallaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam - said the bulk of the hypocrites would come from the people of Qur’aan, those are those who fail to act with the Qur’aan.
Allahumma sallim.
Many who recite the Qur’aan today have character at par with the Qur’aan.
Allahuma sallim.
What gain is there in someone mastering the Qur’aan yet he is the worst transgressor?
Allahuma sallim.
O Allaah, teach us the Qur’aan, make us ponder over it and enrich us with acting with it.
If you want the Qur’aan to be your solace in problem and worries, go and learn it; recite, ponder and most importantly, act with it.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي عَبْدُكَ وَابْنُ عَبْدِكَ وَابْنُ أَمَتِكَ نَاصِيَتِي بِيَدِكَ مَاضٍ فِيَّ حُكْمُكَ عَدْلٌ فِيَّ قَضَاؤُكَ أَسْأَلُكَ بِكُلِّ اسْمٍ هُوَ لَكَ سَمَّيْتَ بِهِ نَفْسَكَ أَوْ عَلَّمْتَهُ أَحَدًا مِنْ خَلْقِكَ أَوْ أَنْزَلْتَهُ فِي كِتَابِكَ أَوْ اسْتَأْثَرْتَ بِهِ فِي عِلْمِ الْغَيْبِ عِنْدَكَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ الْقُرْآنَ رَبِيعَ قَلْبِي وَنُورَ صَدْرِي وَجِلَاءَ حُزْنِي وَذَهَابَ هَمِّي
O Allaah I am Your slave the son of Your male and female slaves, my forelock is in Your Hand, Your Judgement is settled about me, Your Decree is just about me. I beseech You with every Name You have Named Yourself with, or You have taught any of Your creatures or which You revealed in Your Book, or which You preferred to be concealed in the Knowledge of Unseen with You, that You make the Qur’aan the delight of my heart, the light of my chest, the clearer of my sadness and the chaser of my worries.
That has been a powerful supplication taught us by the Messenger of Allaah - sallaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam - to be said in a state of worry and sadness.
Allaah-u-Akbar!
