Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1english Why Understand Qur An
1english Why Understand Qur An
1english Why Understand Qur An
www.understandquran.com
I. Clarification
www.understandquran.com
Importance
www.understandquran.com
Revealed for pondering-1
َنزلَْن ُاه ِإَلْيَك ُمَب َارٌك ِّلَيَّدَّبُروا َآي ِاتِه َوِلَيَت َذَّكَر أُْوُلوا اأْلَ لَْب ِاب
أ اب
َ ٌَ ت ِ
ك
www.understandquran.com
Revealed for pondering-2
Will they then not meditate on the Quran, or are there locks on the hearts?
[Al-Qur’an, 47:24]
www.understandquran.com
What is “Tadabbur” or Pondering?
www.understandquran.com
A grave warning!
www.understandquran.com
The Rights Of Qur’an
Believe in it
Read it
Understand it
THE RIGHTS OF QUR’AN
Ponder its verses
Act upon it
Spread it
www.understandquran.com
Are we Excused?
How are we going to face Allah if we don’t learn the language of His
Book.
www.understandquran.com
Qur’an is easy to learn
“And We have indeed made the Qur’an easy for Zikr, then is
there any that will remember (and receive admonition)?” [Al-
Qur’an, 54:17].
Qur’an is easy for receiving admonition (not for other aspects
such as extracting rulings)
www.understandquran.com
Qur’an is easy to learn (cont’d)
www.understandquran.com
The Prophet’s (pbuh) eagerness to learn Qur’an
And hasten not (O Muhammad) with the Quran ere its revelation
hath been perfected unto thee, and say: My Lord! Increase me in
knowledge. Al-Qur’an [20:114]
www.understandquran.com
Greatness of Qur’an: The only non-creation
www.understandquran.com
The best of the Books the worst treatment from us
Allah has sent us the ‘best of the Books’ and our attitude towards
it is almost the worst in practical terms (even though we do pay a
lot of lip service).
www.understandquran.com
Every other book is understood
www.understandquran.com
I am busy!!!
Many among us are so ‘busy’ all day that we don’t have ANY
time to recite or study to understand it!
‘Busy’ does not mean that I am dead in those moments. It only
means that I am doing something which I think is more important
than Qur’an.
Practically speaking, I don’t think it to be of ‘worth.’ If it was of
any value to me, I would surely have spared time for its
recitation and understanding.
www.understandquran.com
Time for everything else
www.understandquran.com
Fixed slots for every other activity
Our lives have daily time slots for everything, i.e., for sleeping,
eating, reading newspapers, etc.
Do we have a fixed slot for the Qur’an (in addition to the five
prayers)?
If not, it only shows the importance that we attach to it.
www.understandquran.com
Disposable slot at slightest pretext
Even if such a daily slot or weekly slot exists for attending a dars
or a study circle of the Qur’an, we drop it at the slightest pretext
such as, “I am tired,” “I had some friends/relatives at my
house and I can not come,” etc.
By the way, none of these pretexts are used when it comes to
our job or other interests (such as social gatherings).
www.understandquran.com
Did I bother to think that…
www.understandquran.com
Examples to emphasize the
Importance of understanding the
Qur’an
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 1: The Prophet’s (pbuh) example [Uswah?]
Lo! thy Lord knoweth how thou keepest vigil sometimes nearly
two thirds of the night, or (sometimes) half or a third thereof, as
do a party of those with thee [Al-Qur’an, 73:20].
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 1…
Was the Prophet, pbuh, not busy during the day, doing
Dawah all day? Yes.
Was his understanding not OK? No.
Was his memorization poor? Not al all.
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 1…
The Prophet (pbuh) spent on the average approx. 4 hours every night.
And we don’t want to give even 10% (24 minutes) of what the Prophet
(pbuh) gave, THAT TOO during the day.
What level of his “Ittibaa” (following) do we have in our lives? How
strong is my connection with my Prophet (pbuh)? (I am talking about our
relationship with Qur’an and not Tahajjud).
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 2: The companions
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 3: Your son in 10th grade
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 3: …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 3 …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 4: Only one Book!
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 5: The Same Book as was given to the Prophet!
The Prophet (pbuh) was asked to recite the same Qur’an that we
have for almost 4 hours every night!
He was asked to recite it again and again.
Are we not lucky to have the same book for us too.
Don’t we always value the practice of great people in terms of
what they read and how they lived?
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 6: Night of Qadr versus the Book
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 6: …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 7: The King’s Anniversary
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 7: …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 7: …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 8: A software manual for a 6 digit salary
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 8 …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 9: A manual for converting metal to gold
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 10: Education for Aakhirah?
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 10: …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 11: Our reverse logic when it comes to Qur’an
َنزلَْن ُاه ِإَلْيَك ُمَب َارٌك ِّلَيَّدَّبُروا َآي ِاتِه َوِلَيَت َذَّكَر أُْوُلوا اأْلَ لَْب ِاب
أ اب
َ ٌَ ت ِ
ك
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 11: …
Have you ever read a book on any topic (Maths, physics, social
sciences, commerce, etc.) in which the author has asked you to
understand its contents! Never!
However, we Muslims have reverse logic when it comes to
Qur’an. Even after clear statements by Allah subhanahu ta’ala
about the purpose of revelation, we just take it easy and never
bother seriously to understand it.
The tragedy is that no Muslim denies the importance of
understanding it yet at the same time does almost nothing
serious to understand it.
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 12: Common sense applied everywhere except..
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 12: …
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 13: Ever strict on kids for this Book?
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 14: Self made concessions
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 14: …
Let us look at ourselves. We are reading this book for the last
couple of decades of our life and still expect Allah to keep
ignoring our carelessness towards understanding this book!
And even after reminding, we don’t bother to seriously start
understanding it!!!
How much do we value Allah and His Book? Have we ever
thought of His opinion about our attitude of carelessness
towards His Book?
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 15: A generous Boss vs. the Author of Qur’an
www.understandquran.com
Ex. 15: …
The Most Merciful, our Creator, our Rabb has given us the
Qur’an for OUR OWN benefit. For how many years, will we
keep looking at translators for meanings?
Our brain contains 1000s of words of English. Is it too difficult to
add couple of 1000s of Arabic words to understand the book of
Allah.
If we learn 5 words/day, it will take only 2 years to understand
the whole Qur’an... Only if we care!
www.understandquran.com
Why understand Qur'an?
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah not complete without it!!!
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 2
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 3
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 4
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 5
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 6
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 7
www.understandquran.com
Daily Salah … 8
www.understandquran.com
Attention in the most important worship
www.understandquran.com
“O my God! ...”
www.understandquran.com
Purpose of Taraweeh
www.understandquran.com
KNOWLEDGE
www.understandquran.com
Rewards for learning
www.understandquran.com
Rewards for learning
www.understandquran.com
BE LIKE THOSE RECITERS
Say: Believe therein or believe not, lo! those who were given
knowledge before it, when it is read unto them, fall down
prostrate on their faces, adoring, Saying: Glory to our Lord!
Verily the promise of our Lord must be fulfilled. They fall down
on their faces, weeping, and it increaseth humility in them. [Al-
Qur’an 17:107-109]
www.understandquran.com
BE LIKE …
www.understandquran.com
Qur’an is not translatable
The beauty, the choice of words, the rhythm, and the message
in such compact simple words is almost impossible to be
translated.
If this is the case with human composition, can God’s
composition be translated?
www.understandquran.com
Translations are not Qur’an.
www.understandquran.com
Translations …
www.understandquran.com
Revealed in Arabic so that you understand
www.understandquran.com
Only through Arabic Qur’an
www.understandquran.com
Example
if you say, "Every human will die," it will not have as much
impact as "Kullu nafsin zaaiqatul maut".
In fact we do the same thing in our language too.
We keep quoting the poetic lines to strengthen our message
because it has the 'heat' to convey the emotions.
www.understandquran.com
Opportunities for 2 extra Awards for non-Arabs
www.understandquran.com
Real Learning (like Mathematics)
If you just read the solved problems and do not think yourselves
or work on it, you will never learn Maths.
If you don’t ponder over the verses of the Qur’an, you may not
get its real benefits.
www.understandquran.com
The Prophet’s morals
Once Aisha (pbuh) was asked about the morals of the Prophet
(pbuh). She replied that, “His (pbuh) morals were Qur’an.”
So, the theory is Qur’an and the practical model is the Prophet’s
(pbuh) life.
Without a complete and continuous study of the Qur’an, even
the Prophet’s life can not be properly understood in its true
sense.
www.understandquran.com
Live guidance for our lives?
www.understandquran.com
Do we want others to teach us the Qur’an?
Recently the print media (in the East or in the West) and anti-
Islamic leaders are quoting Qur’anic verses on Jihad or other
issues.
There are many Muslims who must have read this first time in
their life. Are we waiting for such moments?
We will be questioned left and right by our non-Muslim
neighbors/colleagues. Are we prepared? What are we going to
answer if we don’t know them?
www.understandquran.com
Can we let the East and the West to confuse Muslims?
www.understandquran.com
Most importantly, how will we convince our kids
www.understandquran.com
Maintain the heart
www.understandquran.com
Material vs. Spiritual food
www.understandquran.com
A blind man touring…
www.understandquran.com
Only a KG level course
www.understandquran.com
No intellectual involvement
www.understandquran.com
PRETEXTS
Why then did Allah ask us to recite from any part of the Qur’an in
Salah? One should come up with redundant verses/chapters
(na’oozubillah). Can anyone claim to do that?
Allah knows best and He gave us this Book. To say that it is not
necessary to understand the whole Book is to question His
wisdom.
(I am talking about the basic understanding only. Not of
mutashaabihaat etc.)
“Is it a must …”
There are some who say, “Just focus on practice. Practice what
you know and don’t worry about learning more!!!”
Learning to understand the Qur’an is not part of ‘more’. It is the
most basic Book that is given to us by Allah as guidance. If we
neglect the basic Book of guidance, where else will we find it?
According to scholars: Obtaining extra (nafil) knowledge is more
rewarding that performing extra (nafil) worhsip.
“Qur’an is only for Scholars?”
If so, then why are we (the masses, the general public) asked to
listen to it in our daily prayers and in Ramadaan? Is that only a
ritual?
There is no Brahmin class in Islam (where the books are
restricted to them only) nor the rest are untouchables, who
should not even open the holy books.
Allah has asked each one of us to understand, think, and ponder
over its verses. Can any one show that he (if capable) is
excluded from this command?
“Still we have time!”
Perhaps almost ‘half’ the life is gone (in the sense of average
human age).
We don’t know when we will die. If we learn it at snails’ pace or
wait for a time to learn, when are going to live our everyday life
in full Qur’anic light?
“Are all Arabs good Muslims?”
This is what is said about the others (whoever they are from
west or east) that they read to learn and we Muslims, when it
comes to Qur’an, learn to read only and stop there.
Don’t Muslims ‘claim’ that it is the dearest Book to them!!!
Joy or grief?
Most of us read the Qur’an only when we face tough times! The
reciting of Qur’an has almost been associated with gloomy
situations.
According to an authentic hadith, we should remember Allah in
good times, He will remember us in hard times.
Let us remember Allah (and recite His Book too) in all times.
Correcting Tajweed Only!
If you visit those who have some religious awareness, you will
be corrected multiple times if you recite the Qur’ran wrongly
(violating Tajweed rules). However, nobody will fault you if
you don’t know the meaning of the Qur’an!
It is a must to learn Tajweed but let us not stop there.
Holders of big degrees but
In the following slides, it is urged that you should try to hold/attend daily
classes on Qur’an for effective learning.
Why weekly sessions are not effective
1. We, in general, don't open the book after the class for another
3 days!!! The week passes so fast that on the day of Class, we
say, “Is it Friday/…? O! I forgot that we have class today!”.
2. Teaching experts say that retention in learning for a weekly
class (especially with our heedless attitude towards Qur’an) is
only 20 to 25%. Consequently, the learning process is very
ineffective.
Why …
8. Our excitement will increase with time because we will get the
sense of achievement that we have covered so many paras. In
fact, this is what happens. Completion of 10, 15 paras will
inspire us to complete the Quran as early as possible.
9. We will develop a habit of daily recitation of the Qur'an.
Benefits of daily program (cont’d)
10. We will be in contact with each other everyday. That way, (as
Da'ees) we will have an opportunity to invite our colleagues to
regular Islamic work.
11. One of the important benefits of this approach is that a
participant will see the demands of Qur'an with his own eyes.
Benefits of daily program (cont’d)
12. What will we gain if we don’t come for those 40 min. What will
we spare?
13. Make use of blessings before they are gone – they may run out
very quickly!!!
Five blessings: Life; youth; time; health; prosperity;
Additional blessings:
availability of the daily program (if it is not there, you can start
it with your friends);
the friends who are arranging this program; you may soon go
to an area where you may not find such a program;
the availability of translations (there was a time when there
was no translation available);
From Next year under full Qur’anic light
If you start daily study, then from the next year onwards, you will
live under full Qur’anic light and guidance.
You will inshaAllah understand every verse recited or heard.
Consequently, your relationship with Allah will increase with time.
The worth of Qur’an?
We are ready for for the infinite fraction of this dunya which is
not worth even the wing of a mosquito; and that too in a situation
when we don’t really need that extra money.
If we are ready for that and not for a Qur’anic class (that too for
10 months only), we say with our actions that the worth of
Qur’an in practical terms is not even 60!
Last Appeal
Even if you can’t start with daily class of 40 minutes after Fajr
(or after Maghrib/Isha),
go for 20 minutes daily after Fajr;
go for 20 minutes daily after Isha;
If not daily, go for 5 days a week or at least 3 days a week.
But there is nothing like daily class (after Fajr, till Ishraq). It
will be the most effective, as outlined earlier.
A Reminder Again
Will they then not meditate on the Quran, or are there locks on
the hearts? [Al-Qur’an, 47:24]
Let us not be deaf
As for those who strive in Us, We surely guide them to Our paths
… [Al-Qur’an, 29:69]
Allah is there to help us!