"The Qur'an is the source of true knowledge and true worship of Allah, the only true God. Yet the cruel jokes which Muslims play with the Book of Allah are so inane that if we saw someone else doing such things in any other spheres of life, we would mock them and even brand them as lunatics!
"Tell me, what would you say if somebody got a doctor's prescription and hung it around his neck after wrapping it in a piece of cloth or washed it in water and drink it? Would you not laugh at him and call him a fool? Yet this is the very treatment being given before your eyes to the matchless prescription written by the greatest of all doctors to provide a cure for all your ailments and nobody laughs!
"Tell me, what would you think if someone who was ill picked up a book on medicine and began to read it, believing, thinking that this would cure? Would you not say that he was deranged? Yet this is how we treat the Book, which the Supreme Healer has sent for the cure of our diseases. We think that just by flicking through all its pages, our diseases will disappear without following the directions given in them or abstaining from the things, which they pronounce harmful. Are we not in the same situation, as the man who considers that reading a book on medicine will cure his illness?
"If you receive a business letter in a language you do not know, you would go to a man who knows the language to find out what it says. You remain anxious and restless until you have found out what the letter says, even though it will bring only some paltry worldly profit. But the letter sent to you by the Lord of the worlds, which can bring you all the benefits of this world, and the Eternal Life is carelessly set aside. You do not show any uneasiness at not understanding its contents. Is this not astonishing?
"Reflect for a while on these facts and your hearts will tell you that the greatest injustice is being done to the Book of Allah. Ironically the culprits are the very people who proclaim their readiness to sacrifice their lives for it. No doubt they have faith in it, but the pity is that it is they who treat it outrageously."
The above paragraphs are the beautiful words of Abul A'la Mawdudi (in his book Let Us Be Muslims). He has nothing against reciting the Qur'an as we are being encouraged to do in Ramadan. His point is that our failing as an Ummah (the best and balanced community) stems from the fact that we are far from the Qur'an. We do not understand it, nor do we live by it; whereas the purpose of the Qur'an is to be lived and followed so that we are guided because "Allah's guidance is the (only) guidance and we have been directed to submit ourselves to the Lord of the worlds." (Qur'an 6 verse 71)
When Aisha was asked about the character of the Prophet (peace be upon him) she said, he was the walking Qur'an. Mawdudi's opinion is that our mere practise of the Qur'an is enough da'wah to bring non-Muslims into Islam in droves. Therefore read the Qur'an (and in Ramadan, we are encouraged to attempt the whole of it) in a language you understand. Understand it and live by it. Your reward shall be immense. Read it also in Arabic (its pure form) sincerely. May Allah make our tasks easier for us. Amin.
Those to whom We have given the Book read it as it ought to be read. These believe in it; and whoever disbelieves in it, these it is that are the losers. Qur'an 2:121
ReplyDeleteThe essence here is those given the book and read it with meaning (= understanding, context and good actions) do it as Allah intended it and they are the true believers in His wonderous revelation