Dr Adekunle Mikail
Reading The Glorious Qur’an With Deliberation And Understanding
The Glorious Quran is a book of
Life! In it there lies the stories of people before this generation and the stories of the people after this generation.
In it, there are also the narrations about this generation! He who talks with it will be called a siddiqi i.e a truthful person.While he who judges by it will be just!
It is(the Qur’an) the strong rope of Allah; whosoever holds on to it will never be cut-off from God’s mercy!But whosoever abandons it out of sheer arrogant, will be dealt with .
He who works with it will be rewarded while He who makes it the focus of his judgement will judge right. And finally, it is the miracle of God that will last long. Nothing in term of knowledge, wisdom and erudition will outshine it.
In another prophetic nugget, the glorious Qur’an is described as the essential God’s words while the one who reads it is said to read God in actuality.
In the reverse, he who abandons its reading, has invariably, abandoned God! In another Quranic reference, Qur’an 38: 67-68, the Quranic message is depicted as ” a tremendous tidings” ,which despite its power to guide right and uplift its readers , many are still turning their faces away from it ! We read this as follows:
” Say: ” That is a Tremendous Tidings.
From which you do turn away !”
The Quranic message, which is of supreme imports to mankind, instead of man profiting from it, he is turning away from it to side issues, or unprofitable speculation, such as:
what is the origin of evil; what is the colour of clothes of the people of paradise and when will judgement come? . And to say the obvious, none of these probings can benefit him for all the tea in China!
It is on the above and many things the glorious Qur’an is, that its Revealer wants man to just not read it alone but to accompany his reading with ease and meditation.
For if a knowledge or reading is accomplished with thinking and meditation, its inner dimensions are gained while its lessons are ingrained in the readers’ consciousness.
Thinking Alongside The Glorious Qur’an And reading It with understanding.
It is no more a news that everyday, majority of the Muslims across the globe read the glorious Quran.It is also no more a new information that large numbers of the Muslims in the world listen to the Qur’an daily either by reading it, playing its records or listening to the imams reading it in their public recitals ,during the daily canonical Salat, sermons, funeral rites , house warming celebrations and naming ceremonies.
Alas! The large population of the Muslims reading the Qur’an are not doing it with ease and accompanied deliberation.
This has ,in turn made many of them inaccessible to the wisdoms underlined in its meanings and understanding.
While we are enjoined in both the primary and secondary sources of Islamic law to read the Quran constantly, it is the reading with thinking we are encouraged to do most times , in as much as reading alone cannot bring out the intention behind Allah’s admonition to the believers to recite the Quran, in the first place.
It is therefore, recitation plus thinking of the meanings , which is ” al-qiraatu-ma’a tadabur” ,in the science and methodology of the Qur’an ; that can ensure the purported benefits ingrained in the recitation of the last testament from God of the Creation , christened Al-Kitab( the Book), Al-Furqan ( The Criterion; The Separator Of lies from the Truth), Al-Didhik ( The Remembrance ) and Al- Mubaraq ( The Blessed Book) , among many of its names and attributes.
In Surat Muhammad verse 17, the revealer of the Quran, Allah, is asking the human and spirit races their reason for not minutely and carefully seeking the understanding of the Quran or is it that their hearts and minds are padlocked or blocked against understanding?.
The verse reads:
“Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Quran,or is that there are locks upon their hearts?”
In another Surah, precisely, Surat Qamaru,
a refrain occurs 4times as to who will receive admonition after reading the Quran which has been made simple by its revealer_for no doubt the Quran has been made easy to understand and remember compared to any other heavenly revealed books.One of these verses reads:
“And we have indeed made the Qur’an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition? ”
One can now deduct from the above Quranic verses on the reading with understanding of the Quran that while the Qur’an sums up the highest philosophy of the inner and outer life, its simple directions for conduct are plain and easy to understand and act upon if men will read with understanding and earnest thinking.
It is even glaring from the above verse that it is in itself a part of the Grace of Allah for man to come to the understanding of the Allah’s book by merely thinking and deliberating on it!
It is on the the basis of the above too, that the prophet is reported in an Hadith narrated by Abdullah bn Amr that :
“The prophet (peace and blessing of Allah on him) said: “He who recites the Qur’an (the whole of it) in a period less than three days does not understand it”.
The above Hadith is an instructive message against reading the whole 6666 verses of the Qur’an in just three days for it will be devoid of clear understanding of the messages lie therein, as there are many claimants that testified to reading the Quran for a day and a night, two or three days as in the Hadith above.
A reader of the glorious Qur’an based on the aforestated speech of the prophet ,(Salla-llahu alehi wasalam), above, shall henceforth, endeavor to read it for at least three days for proper deliberation and meditation of its meanings.
Since the beauty of gold and silver lies in polishing, the beauty of the book of Allah comes with a deep deliberation on its reading.
We are therefore, advise to approach its reading by reflecting on the messages in the verses reading; the objects used as metaphors in the verses and similes employed in passing the messages; the stories in the verses; the styles used in passing the stories, the righteousness wrought and sins committed by the personalities in the stories; and the kinds of rewards and punishments melted out to characters in the passages etc.
If this is done,man will come to understand that if he is righteous, the good that came the way of the righteous will eventually come his way but if he decided to be a transgressor of Allah’s limits,what befell those before him will eventually be his lots!
He who does not accompany his reading of the glorious Qur’an with meditation has thereby, lost a huge reward, high benefit , though he will have the reward of reading the Qur’an alone minus recitation with deep thinking. Ibn Qayum ( may the good Lord be pleased with him) has come up with the difference among the scholars of the Qur’an on which is the best between reading the Qur’an faster by reading many of its verses in few days and reading it slowly with meditation for many days?
To which he had answered that both are allowed but reading it slowly with accompanied deliberation is the best!
Ways To Ensure Reading The Glorious Qur’an With Deliberation And Understanding
If the glorious Qur’an is as its Revealer Has deemed it ,i.e as ” a Book which is sent down to the prophet (salla-llahu alehi wasalam) ,full of blessings, that they ( man/ jinn) may meditate on its signs, and that men of understanding may receive admonition”, one can now say that the revelation of the Qur’an is not a mere chance or haphazard thing.
It is a real blessing among the greatest that Allah Has bestowed on mankind and the jinn- kind! By meditation on it in an earnest spirit man and the jinn may learn of themselves, and their relations to nature around them and to Allah the Author of all. Men and Jinn of understanding may, by its help , resolve all genuine doubts that there may be in their minds, and learn the true lessons of spiritual life.
It is on this accord that the scholars of the science and methodology of the glorious Qur’an have come with ways that can ensure and prompt reading the Qur’an with meditation. Some of these ways are :
_ Preparation of the mind for its reading. There are many readers of the Qur’an who just come to its reading without preparing their minds for it! They are just reading it for reading sake.
Most times, when they are reading it, their bodies will just be on Earth while their minds, the bodies’ consciousness, will be elsewhere, roaming !
These types of Quran readers cannot attain its meditation not to talk of attaining its understanding.
_ Facing God with prayer and squarely while reading the Qur’an are a sure way to reading it with deliberation upon its verses.
In many references of the Qur’an itself, man is commanded to pray to God so as to seek refuge against Satan and his likes, when he is about to read the Qur’an. For instance, Qur’an 16 vs 98-100, read as follows:
” So, when you recite the Qur’an seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaitan. Surely, he has no authority over those who believe and rely on their Lord. His authority is only over those who befriend him and those who associate others with Him( Allah)”
_ Avoid rushing when reading it. The Qur’an should be read properly in ” slow , measured rhythmic tones.” – Qur’an 73: 4. Its words, according to Yusuf Aliy, ” must not be read hastily, merely to get through so much reading. They must be studied , and their deep meaning pondered over.
The verses of the noble Qur’an themselves are so beautiful that they must be lovingly pronounced in rhythmic tones”
_ All what can predispose man to inattentiveness while reading the Qur’an must be shunned. Reading the Qur’an while watching films, Facebook, listening to music and other activities in these lines must be abandoned.
The readers should remember that when reading the Qur’an, you are reading Allah, for Allah is the owner of the Qur’an, and He must be treated with utmost respect one can think of!
_ While the Qur’an can be reading at anytime of the day and night, it is the view of the scholars of the science and methodology of the Qur’an that , it be read early in the morning and at night in order for the reader to attain reading with deliberation as preached by God and His apostle. Besides, it should be read in a noiseless and clean environment.
_ As part of ways to attain reading the Qur’an with meditation, the reader should approach it with humility and piety of the body and mind.
Performance of ablution, though not compulsory; wearing of clean attire and cleansing of one’s body, if one has involved in acts that warrant it; are all steps towards showing humility while reading the Qur’an.
_ A reader who is wholly enmeshed in sins upon sins may find it difficult at deliberating when reading the Qur’an. This is the rationale, behind seeking forgiveness from one’s sins while wanting to read the Qur’an.
Since it is the work of sins to cover the light in the souls , they debar souls from tapping from the light of the Qur’an.
_ The reader ,if he has difficulty in understanding the Quranic language ( Arabic) , or the languages of the meanings of the Qur’an are rendered, must strive to breach this gap by learning them.
This will go along way in helping him reading the Qur’an with meditation. Also, books of exegesis of the Qur’an are to be contacted for more elucidation and understanding on verses which meanings are a bit difficult to glean from mere deliberation.
Moreover, reading the Qur’an with meditation on the verses being read has as parts of its benefits, healing of the souls of the readers from both the physical and spiritual diseases; illumination of the minds of the readers , peace of minds here in this life, and paradise, in the hereafter.
May we be blessed with minds that read the Qur’an and deliberate upon its meanings.