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A Book that Teaches Moderation And Challenges Humanity to Rational Thought

Pray tell me Muslims!

How did we manage to abandon a book that not only preaches moderation and balance in everything, but also outlines practical ways of achieving them – as no other book in the world does (1:6,7; 2:143; 7:31; 17:29; 17:110; 25:68)?

A book that is a bulwark against dogmatism, fanaticism, extremism, fundamentalism, lawlessness, anarchy and terrorism of all kinds (4:171; 5:77; 2:217; 7:56; 7:85; 13:25; 28:77; 28:83).

A book that challenges humanity to rationality and critical thought.

And invites it to negotiation and compromise.

And to a pragmatic approach to life and its problems.

And to mutual accommodation and adjustment in matters of dispute and disagreement.

And to a culture of inquiry, rationality and critical thought.

A-Falaa Ta’qiloon? (2:44).

Inna Fee Dhaalika La-Aayaatin Li-Qawmin
Yatafakkaroon (13:3; 16:11; 16:69; 30:21; 39:42; 45:13).

A book that is most beautiful to read.

A book that is also the easiest to read.

And to learn.

And to understand (54:17; 54:22; 54:32; 54:40).

A book that has all the wisdom of the ages.

And whose wisdom and teachings are for all ages.

And for all races, peoples and cultures – for males as well as for females.

A book that has all the answers for all the questions anyone can ask.

At any time or in any place.

With regard to any subject.

A book that is the most wonderful to practice.

A book that is the source of such unspeakable joy and blessing to read and to recite and to ponder.

Pray tell me then, Muslims!

Just how did we Muslims manage to abandon such a book?

As the Qur’an itself puts it:

“And the Rasool said:
My Rabb! – My master!
My people have indeed abandoned this Qur’an!” (25:30).

Yaa Rabbi Inna Qawmit-Ta-khadhoo
Haadhal Qur’ana Mahjoora (25:30).

Muslims Read Everything except the Qur’an

Tell me then, Muslims!

How is it that we Muslims read everything except the Qur’an?

How did it happen that we Muslims manage to do everything in the world except to read the Qur’an?

Except to learn to read the Qur’an correctly?

Except to learn the meaning of the words and passages of the Qur’an?

Except to understand the teachings of the Qur’an?

And do so directly from the Qur’an, using the wonderful explanation and example provided by God’s beloved Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam?

And to practice the Qur’an?

To turn the wisdom and precepts of this book into models of everyday human behavior?

For individuals as well as for groups?

For organizations as well as for cultures and societies?

And for the entire world?

Just how did we manage to do that, Muslims?

How did we manage to abandon the great and timeless culture of education and knowledge that God Almighty himself gave us?

How did we manage to accomplish this great feat of turning our back on the Qur’an?

This most amazing and glorious of all books.

That book.

For this book is that book!

From that master of ours.

That indeed it is.

That is why the Muslims are the way they are today!

Because Muslims abandoned the book of Allah.

They abandoned the Qur’an.

They abandoned knowledge and education.

They abandoned the very foundation of their faith.

And the secret of their success in this and the next world.

And the secret of every individual and nation’s success in this world.

They threw the book of Allah behind their back.

They put the Qur’an on the backburner.

They made other things their priority.

They put their time, effort, resources and energies in everything except the Qur’an.

They substituted human words and wisdom for the divine words and wisdom that are in the Qur’an.

Muslims thus chose earth over heaven.

Wa Laakinnahoo Akhlada Ilal Ard (7:176).

They chose darkness over light.

They opted for the mundane over the sublime and for the human over the divine.

Qur’an: The Great Muslim Disconnect

As a result, we have among us a strange mix of people today who go about calling themselves Muslims and yet who have nothing to do with the Qur’an.

And therefore with Allah or with Islam.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have not set eyes on the Qur’an – who knows for how long!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have not touched the Qur’an or held a copy of the Qur’an in their hands – who knows for how long!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have not turned the pages of the Qur’an – who knows for how long!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have not read an Aayat or a passage or a Soorah from the Qur’an – who knows for how long!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims who read practically everything else except the Qur’an.

Books.

Newspapers.

Magazines.

Office documents and reports.

But not the Qur’an.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims but who have not made any serious attempt – who knows for how long! – to learn to read the Qur’an correctly!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and who wait for a death to occur in the family before they would read the Qur’an!

Or, in most cases, get someone else to read the Qur’an for them.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims who never once in their entire life tried to finish reading the Qur’an from cover to cover.

From Al-Faatihah to Annaas.

Not on ordinary, regular days.

Not in the month of Ramadan, the glorious month of the Qur’an.

Shahru Ramadan Alladhee Unzila Feehil
Qur’an (2:185).

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims who never made any serious attempt to memorize an Aayat, a passage or a chapter from the Qur’an.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims but who understand not a word of the Qur’an!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims, and who perform their daily prayers, but who barely understand the Qur’an they read in their Salaah or Namaaz!

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who never pondered the meaning or connotation of the Aayats of the Qur’an.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who never asked themselves how they must put the Qur’an into practice.

In their individual and personal lives.

As well as in the context of their communities, cultures and societies.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet to whom the Qur’an is little more than dogma and theology -”religious” book like so many other religious books in the world.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet for whom the Qur’an is little more than a book for individual use – like all the other books of the world.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet for whom the Qur’an has no social use, purpose, relevance, implication or meaning.

Or wider cultural use, purpose, relevance, implication or meaning.

Or deeper political or economic use, purpose, relevance, implication or meaning.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have not done a thing to correct or change or improve any of this.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have not lifted a finger to teach anyone the Qur’an.

We have among us those who call themselves Muslims and yet who have done not a thing to help ensure that the Qur’an is practiced.

That the Qur’an is understood.

That the Qur’an is memorized.

That the Qur’an is read and recited.

And that it is read and recited correctly and properly.

In our homes.

In our schools.

In our mosques.

And everywhere else.

We all go about calling ourselves Muslims, regardless of what type, level or stripe of Muslims we are, and we all have one thing in common: We all have abandoned the Qur’an!

In one way or another.

To one degree or another.

In short, we Muslims today are guilty of forgetting the Qur’an.

And of playing games with the Qur’an.

We have thus committed a most heinous and reprehensible crime.

Either out of ignorance and negligence, or through ego and arrogance – Nafs and Hawaa – we have turned our back on the Qur’an.

We have turned our back on Allah’s book.

We have thus turned our back on Allah.

And thus we have turned criminals and felons (45:31).

We have become fugitives from Allah’s justice – rejected and disowned by everyone and yet pursued by everyone of Allah’s creation.

Which earth would want to carry a burden such as this on its back? And which sky would want to shelter a criminal gang like this?

The curse of the Qur’an is upon us. As we pass the Qur’an everyday:

• Without so much as looking at it;
• without picking it up;
• without opening it and turning its pages;
• without reading it;
• without learning to read it correctly;
• without attempting to memorize any part of it;
• without understanding it;
• And without giving any serious thought to put it in practice.