The Qur’an: From a Talisman to a Book for Life

There comes a time when we each have to look back at our set of beliefs and the values we are living by and assess their effectiveness, versus the possibility of a new discovery that might shatter our old paradigms. I experienced such phenomena several months after I finished translating the Qur’an. I had to go back to a conscious effort to ponder what God is trying to tell me/us through His book.

The Qur’an, the words of God given through revelations to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), has a very special place in the life of any Muslim today, regardless of who this Muslim is, where he lives or whether he is young, old, educated or not. The Book, as most Muslims refer to it, can be found in every home and is always placed higher than all other books in the room. It’s handled with great respect, read with reverence and treated as a source of blessing for the entire family. Too much reverence for the book, however, is counterproductive. This book is not a talisman for people to touch in order to be blessed, although it has been treated like this by many Muslims for centuries. It’s intended to be consulted in daily life. It is to be read and understood in order to be implemented according to the societal needs in various times and places. “We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance and mercy and good news to all who would surrender themselves to God [Muslims]” (16:89). It’s a unique book because it has a fixed text that provides answers to people according to their ability to understand. Muslims believe it’s suitable for all times and all places. It has a meaning that changes based on the tools of knowledge available to the reader. The more advanced the tools used, the deeper the meaning.

We Muslims pride ourselves that we have thousands of people who are always memorizing the Qur’an. One who memorizes the Qur’an is known as a Hafiz, which is a very prestigious title among Muslims. This process usually starts at a very young age. Parents brag about a son or daughter who is memorizing The Qur’an. Yet no one ever said that their son memorized the Qur’an and he now understands even ten verses.

So memorizing is understood to be for everyone while understanding the Qur’an is usually left to scholars, those whose job it is to interpret what Allah is telling us. So in the mind of an average Muslim, trying to understand on his own is risky, because he isn’t a scholar. This culture is one of the most deadly if Muslims want to try to move forward and to compete with others in the fields of knowledge. I was one of these Muslims. I felt inadequate to understand the Qur’an on my own, and I didn’t dare try. This is why the project of translating the meaning of the Qur’an was such a mind-expanding experience for me. It forced me to understand what I was reading. This is where I came face to face with the verse “Hence, We made it easy to understand this Qur’an and to remember it. Who, then, is willing to remember this?” (54:17) This order to try to understand was repeated in various chapters of the Qur’an twenty-five times.

Later, I encountered other verses ordering me not just to try to understand but also to reflect on what I read. This call to reflect is repeated seventeen times. If all this was not enough, God asks each one of us to stop and ponder the meaning of every word and to try to understand it using various tools that are available to each of us at the time we’re reading the Book. “Will they not ponder the Qur’an? Or are there locks upon their hearts?” (47:24).

At the end of the translation process, I was a different person. I became one who is engaged intellectually with the Qur’an and engaging others about the Qur’an in a learning journey that led me and others to understand Islam in a unique way rooted in the Qur’an.

In the Qur’an, Allah directs Muslims to always recite it, but the reason for such directive is to enable Muslims to understand God’s guidance such as His Oneness, His promise to us for an eternal life after a Day of Resurrection and Judgment, and to teach us how to establish a relationship with Him, with our environment, and with our neighbors. ‏”Truly, this Qur’an shows the way of righteousness, and it brings good news to the believers who do good works that they will have great reward” (17:09).

Today, when most Muslims are curious to know the meaning of a verse, they ask the Imam at their local mosque. His answer stays with them and influences their life either positively or negatively, based on his own understanding. His understanding might be based on antiquated commentaries such as Ibn Katheer, which is several hundred years old. It’s good as a reference for further contemplation to bring the meaning into a more contemporary setting. This can be done if we revive and practice the institution of open discussions based on critical thinking that once existed in the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries and enabled Muslims to be thought leaders in every field of knowledge. This institution is missing now, and, unless we revive it, we Muslims will remain less than a footnote in modern history.

Asking a scholar is not, however, the only method whereby today’s Muslims can acquire knowledge about the Qur’an’s meaning. The small percentage of educated Muslims can access Qur’an exegesis online and read commentaries written by old and new commentators any time they need it. It’s all online and available to all. Yet an alarming number of Muslims still don’t even understand the meaning of a single verse of the Qur’an, but they continue to recite the Book without any understanding, especially during Ramadan. This is contrary to God’s message to us. God wants us to understand, to reflect, and to ponder upon what we’re reading. Reading without understanding is one of our traits of ignorance that we need to shed light on in order to move forward toward enlightenment.

Therefore, if you aren’t an Arab and you do not understand the meaning of what you are reciting in Arabic, which is the original language of the Qur’an, stop focusing on memorizing and start focusing on understanding. Reciting the Qur’an over and over again might be a great blessing, but it adds little or no value to your understanding of Islam. Until you learn to read and understand Arabic, get yourself a good translation of the Quran in your native language and try to understand the message.

Read it, comprehend it, reflect on it and apply its teachings in your daily life. I am sure that this is the only way to start appreciating what Allah is telling you. This is God’s desire for you. He wants you to know your religion by directly understanding its basic foundation, the Qur’an. God gave each one of us a mind to use and a free will. He doesn’t want anyone to be misguided by others or told what God wants us to believe when His words are clear enough to each one of us. Education is the only solution for the Muslim world; that education is mandatory for every Muslim, male and female, as we were taught by Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).

If every Muslim learns that the primary objective of reading the Qur’an is to understand, to reflect and to ponder upon what he or she is reading, rather than to simply memorize, we might eventually regain our constructive role among the inhabitants of this planet.