Iqra’a – Read!

Audhu Bismi Nahmadhahu Assalamu Alaikum

Dear Respected Listeners,

In Surah Saad (Surah No 38) Aayath No 29, Allah Ta’ala advises us as follows;

(38:29) ThisBookWehaverevealedtoyou, sothat

theymayponder initsverses, andsothat themen
‫روا آَياِتِه‬
ُ ‫ك ّلَيّدّب‬
ٌ‫ر‬
َ ‫ك ُمَبا‬ َ ‫زْلَناهُ ِإَلْي‬
َ ‫ب َأن‬ ٌ ‫ِكَتا‬
of understandingmayreflect. ﴾٢٩﴿ ‫ب‬ ِ ‫لْلَبا‬
َْ ‫ر ُأوُلو ا‬ َ ‫وِلَيَتَذّك‬
َ

Kithaabun Anzalnaahu Ilaika Mubaarakun La Yadabbaru Aayathihi Wa Li

Yathazakkara Ulul Albaab

La Yadabbaru Aayathihi Ponder on its Aayath

Li Yathazakkara Ulul Albaab Men of understanding may reflect (do
Zikr)

So, we must ponder on the Aayath of the Holy Quran, and do ‘Zikr’ – ‘reflect’
on its meanings and pray that Allah Ta’ala makes us of the ‘Ulul Albaab’ –
men of understanding!

So let us ponder and reflect on some of the Aayaths of the Holy Quran.

What better Aayath to begin with, than the first Aayath revealed to our
beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sal);

(96:1)Readw iththenameofyourLordwhocreated
(everything), ﴾١﴿ ‫ق‬
َ ‫خَل‬
َ ‫ذي‬
ِ‫اّل‬ َ ‫رّب‬
‫ك‬ َ ‫م‬
ِ‫س‬
ْ ‫رْأ ِبا‬
َ ‫اْق‬

We all know the story. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sal) was meditating in
a cave on top of Mt Hira, and then suddenly this Angel (Jibreel AS) appeared
and commanded him with the word ‘Iqra’ meaning ‘Read’ or ‘Recite’

Muhammad (Sal) was confused and replied that he could not read, the Angel
repeated the command ‘Iqra’ and Muhammad (Sal) again replied that he could not
read and in the third instance Muhammad (Sal) began to recite the Aayaths of the
Holy Quran as Allah Ta’ala was revealing, to him, through Jibreel AS.

All of us understand this command ‘Iqra’ to mean ‘Read’ especially to read or to

recite the Holy Quran.

When Muhammad (Sal) began to convey this message, he was speaking to people,
most of whom were illiterate – they could not read or write – as we understand
reading and writing.

So, here is something for us to ponder about.

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When we hear the word ‘Read’ we immediately think of reading a book. This is
because all of us are literate. We live in a literate world where everyone knows how
to read and write. But during the time of the early revelations, hardly any Arab could
read, and books or even any reading material (as we know it) were just not freely
available as they are now.

So, we ask the question, “At that time, what would the word “Iqra” or “Read” have
meant to the Arabs especially of Mecca and its surroundings?”

For them their reading was the reading of the world, the reading of nature. The
reading of the weather patterns, the reading of the health of their cattle and their
crops and the reading of the business climate. These were the readings that they
were skilled in and practiced all the time. This was what was ‘Reading’ for them.
Reading of books would have been furthest from their minds because they were not
literate and books were not available.

To ponder further, we should look into what Muhammad (Sal) was doing in the Cave
on Mt Hira, so we have to first go back in time and look at some of the changes that
was gradually shaping the life of Muhammad (Sal)

Muhammad (Sal) was an orphan, his Father, Abdullah, had died before he was born
and his Mother, Aaminah, had died when he was just 6 years old!

Muhammad (Sal) grew up under his Grandfathers care and was well liked and had a
special reputation for honesty.

The wealthy widow, Lady Khadija made use of his services to be in charge of her
trading when her merchandise joined a caravan. The Caravan returned after a few
months with a handsome profit for Lady Khadija. Obviously Lady Khadija was
impressed.

Due to his honesty and pleasant demeanor, a proposal was arranged, and
Muhammad (Sal) married Lady Khadija. According to many narrators, after marriage
Muhammad (Sal) did not engage in any business and Lady Khadija gave away all her
wealth in charity.

Before his Prophet Hood, Muhammad (Sal) and Lady Khadija had 3 daughters and at
the time of the event on Mt Hira these 3 girls would have been in their early teens.

Muhammad (Sal) had become a very thoughtful person, his business and other social
experiences rather than opening up more opportunities to earn, made him meditate
on the meaning of the world and life itself. He found the city of Mecca too distracting
and began to walk a few miles out of Mecca in harsh lonely conditions and take on a
strenuous climb to top Mt Hira to meditate on these ‘truths’. Lady Khadija (RA) gave
him admirable support and had been a great comfort to him.

All of us would agree that the behavior of Muhammad (Sal) in the period preceding
Nubuwwath or the first revelation had been very unusual.

Why???

Because, he had been ‘reading’ the world, and what he read about the world worried
him, it created a great thirst a great worry for him to meditate and unravel that

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‘something’ that frighteningly obvious ‘truth’ that bore very, very heavily on his
mind.

He was using his sight, his hearing, his thinking and his conscience to read the world
and he had to use these same faculties to reason out the truth or the Haqeeqath of
this world and of ‘life’ itself!

So, does it not make sense when Allah through Jibreel (AS) revealed to him the first
Aayath;

(96:1)Readw iththenameofyourLordwhocreated
(everything
), ﴾١﴿ ‫ق‬
َ ‫خَل‬
َ ‫ذي‬
ِ ‫اّل‬ َ ‫رّب‬
‫ك‬ َ ‫م‬
ِ‫س‬
ْ ‫رْأ ِبا‬
َ ‫اْق‬

(96:2) Hecreatedmanfromaclot of blood. ﴾٢﴿ ٍ‫عَلق‬

َ ‫ن‬ْ ‫ن ِم‬ َ ‫سا‬
َ ‫لن‬ِْ ‫خَلقَ ا‬
َ
(96:3) Read, andyour Lordisthemost gracious, ﴾٣﴿ ‫رُم‬َ ‫لْك‬َْ ‫ك ا‬ َ ‫رّب‬َ‫و‬َ ‫رْأ‬
َ ْ‫اق‬

That a possible meaning would be for all of us to read the world, ponder on the signs
that are obvious in the workings of this world and accept that there is a very mighty
but benevolent power that is controlling and managing this world. These are the
signs of Allah Ta’ala that we see all around us in this world and when we say Read
the Aayath of Allah Ta’ala we also mean Read the Signs of Allah Ta’ala, because the
Arabic word Aayath also means ‘Signs’

So, dear listeners, we must all learn to read the Signs and the Aayaths of Allah, both
from the world around us as well as from the Holy Quran and our hearts must accept
that this great power, this creator, this nourisher and this sustainer are all one and
that it is Allah Ta’ala.

This is Imaan. So it is by reading the Aayath and the Signs of Allah that we can get
Imaan as well as strengthen our Imaan.

May Allah Ta’ala guide us all and accept us all.