Tweet
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the most noble of the prophets and messengers. Thereafter:
One of the ayaat that was talking about Ahlul Kitaab, Allaah (swt) says:
“And there are among them (Jews) unlettered people, who know not the Book, but they trust upon
false desires and they but guess.”(2:78)
This ayah says that among the people of the book, there are illiterates (in terms of not understanding the
book of Allaah), they have the book with them but they have no a clue what the book is talking about. All
that they learn from the book is what fits their worldly interests. They were selective in what they would
learn. If something would benefit them in their dunya then they would learn otherwise they would leave it
aside.
What does this ayah mean? Ibn Taymiyyah says, ‘Ibn Abbas and Qatadah interpreted the meaning of the
ayah ‘ummiyyoon’ (illiterate) as meaning, ‘they do not understand the meaning of the book. They learn it, they memorize it, and they recite it without understanding it. The meaning of ‘illiterate’ in this verse does not mean that they cannot read or write. They read it, memorize it and teach it yet they don’t understand what the book is talking about. They are satisfied by only reciting it.’
In our current times, you would find that television stations and radio stations broadcast Quran. They do
this because they know that the people will not follow the Quran- they will merely listen to it without any
understanding. Even in the state of Israel they broadcast Quran! This is a problem that exists among us
now. SubHanAllaah, it is as though the verse is referring to us.
Imaam Ahmed narrates that the Rasul (saws) said something and then he (saws) said, ‘That would happen
when knowledge is lost. One of the Sahabah (Ibn Lubaid) said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah (saws), how can knowledge be lost? When we have studied Quran, we are teaching it to our children and our children will teach it to theirs.’ The Rasul (saws) said, ‘Woe to you! I thought you were one of the most learned men of Medinah. Can’t you see the Jews and Christians are not benefiting even though they have their from scriptures (Torah and Injeel) right with them.’
Quran is not to be put on the shelf and decorated and covered. Abu Darda (radiAllaahu anhu) said,
‘Whenever the time comes when you will decorate your mosques and your mushafs, that is the time when
you will be destroyed because that is an indication you are favoring symbols over substance.’
At the time of Abu Darda Quran was written on bones, leaves and pieces of leather. These days the Quran
is decorated so much that people don’t even want to touch it and read it because it looks so good! If
people were to see the Quran written on bones or other pieces, they would be quick to say that such a
thing is disrespect to the Quran. Yet people do not think that not following the Quran is disrespect to it.
We have lost track of what Quran should do for us and how we should study the Book of Allah (swt).
Allaah says:
‘(This is) a Book (the Qur'an) which We have sent down to you, full of blessings that they may
ponder over its Verses, and that men of understanding may remember.’ [Surah Saad: Verse 29]
‘Do they not then think deeply in the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up (from understanding it)?’
[Surah Muhammad: Verse 24]
Allaah (swt) is not only asking us to recite the Quran, rather He is asking us to meditate and contemplate
over the Quran. We have to have ‘tatabbur’ (deep contemplation).
How did the Sahabah study the Quran? If we take the example of Abdullah ibn Umar (radiAllahu anhu), he
says: ‘It took me 14 years to finish memorizing Surah Baqarah.’ He (radiAllahu anhu) was so happy after
memorizing it, he said ‘and then I slaughtered a camel and I invited all the people to come.’ It was such an important
event for him that he made a day of celebration of behalf of it. We can memorize Quran now within a
year- how come it took Abdullah ibn Umar 14 years? The reason is, as narrated by one of the Tabieen, who
said, ‘I met with some of the Sahabah of the Rasul (saws) and they told me that the way they would study
Quran is that they would take ten verses and they would study these ten verses, they would study the
eemaan, the ilm, and the halal and haram in the verses, then memorize the verses and then move onto the
next ten verses. They would never move onto the next ten verses until they applied it. Not until it became
alive and a second nature to them. I was told this by many of the Sahabah, not just one.’
Imam Ahmed al Ghazali said, ‘I memorized Quran when I was 10 years old. Because of the mode I was in (of just reciting without learning and understanding), when I grew up and was attempting to understand the Book of Allaah, I was finding it very hard because I was programmed to just repeat the verses It took me a lot of effort and struggle until I was able to break that cycle and start thinking and contemplating over the ayaat of Allaah (swt).’ He was talking about a problem that we have in the modern education of teaching the whole Quran without any understanding.
He was talking about the common memorization that takes place amongst kids without any understanding.
We have to go through struggle in order to understand the Book of Allaah. One key that might help us is
that the Book of Allaah does not throw upon us gems; it does not offer us the benefit unless we are keen
for learning and receiving the guidance. This is something that is interesting about the Quran.
وصلی اللہ تعالی علی خیر خلقہ محمد وآلہ وصحبہ أجمعین
One of the ayaat that was talking about Ahlul Kitaab, Allaah (swt) says:
“And there are among them (Jews) unlettered people, who know not the Book, but they trust upon
false desires and they but guess.”(2:78)
This ayah says that among the people of the book, there are illiterates (in terms of not understanding the
book of Allaah), they have the book with them but they have no a clue what the book is talking about. All
that they learn from the book is what fits their worldly interests. They were selective in what they would
learn. If something would benefit them in their dunya then they would learn otherwise they would leave it
aside.
What does this ayah mean? Ibn Taymiyyah says, ‘Ibn Abbas and Qatadah interpreted the meaning of the
ayah ‘ummiyyoon’ (illiterate) as meaning, ‘they do not understand the meaning of the book. They learn it, they memorize it, and they recite it without understanding it. The meaning of ‘illiterate’ in this verse does not mean that they cannot read or write. They read it, memorize it and teach it yet they don’t understand what the book is talking about. They are satisfied by only reciting it.’
In our current times, you would find that television stations and radio stations broadcast Quran. They do
this because they know that the people will not follow the Quran- they will merely listen to it without any
understanding. Even in the state of Israel they broadcast Quran! This is a problem that exists among us
now. SubHanAllaah, it is as though the verse is referring to us.
Imaam Ahmed narrates that the Rasul (saws) said something and then he (saws) said, ‘That would happen
when knowledge is lost. One of the Sahabah (Ibn Lubaid) said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah (saws), how can knowledge be lost? When we have studied Quran, we are teaching it to our children and our children will teach it to theirs.’ The Rasul (saws) said, ‘Woe to you! I thought you were one of the most learned men of Medinah. Can’t you see the Jews and Christians are not benefiting even though they have their from scriptures (Torah and Injeel) right with them.’
Quran is not to be put on the shelf and decorated and covered. Abu Darda (radiAllaahu anhu) said,
‘Whenever the time comes when you will decorate your mosques and your mushafs, that is the time when
you will be destroyed because that is an indication you are favoring symbols over substance.’
At the time of Abu Darda Quran was written on bones, leaves and pieces of leather. These days the Quran
is decorated so much that people don’t even want to touch it and read it because it looks so good! If
people were to see the Quran written on bones or other pieces, they would be quick to say that such a
thing is disrespect to the Quran. Yet people do not think that not following the Quran is disrespect to it.
We have lost track of what Quran should do for us and how we should study the Book of Allah (swt).
Allaah says:
‘(This is) a Book (the Qur'an) which We have sent down to you, full of blessings that they may
ponder over its Verses, and that men of understanding may remember.’ [Surah Saad: Verse 29]
‘Do they not then think deeply in the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up (from understanding it)?’
[Surah Muhammad: Verse 24]
Allaah (swt) is not only asking us to recite the Quran, rather He is asking us to meditate and contemplate
over the Quran. We have to have ‘tatabbur’ (deep contemplation).
How did the Sahabah study the Quran? If we take the example of Abdullah ibn Umar (radiAllahu anhu), he
says: ‘It took me 14 years to finish memorizing Surah Baqarah.’ He (radiAllahu anhu) was so happy after
memorizing it, he said ‘and then I slaughtered a camel and I invited all the people to come.’ It was such an important
event for him that he made a day of celebration of behalf of it. We can memorize Quran now within a
year- how come it took Abdullah ibn Umar 14 years? The reason is, as narrated by one of the Tabieen, who
said, ‘I met with some of the Sahabah of the Rasul (saws) and they told me that the way they would study
Quran is that they would take ten verses and they would study these ten verses, they would study the
eemaan, the ilm, and the halal and haram in the verses, then memorize the verses and then move onto the
next ten verses. They would never move onto the next ten verses until they applied it. Not until it became
alive and a second nature to them. I was told this by many of the Sahabah, not just one.’
Imam Ahmed al Ghazali said, ‘I memorized Quran when I was 10 years old. Because of the mode I was in (of just reciting without learning and understanding), when I grew up and was attempting to understand the Book of Allaah, I was finding it very hard because I was programmed to just repeat the verses It took me a lot of effort and struggle until I was able to break that cycle and start thinking and contemplating over the ayaat of Allaah (swt).’ He was talking about a problem that we have in the modern education of teaching the whole Quran without any understanding.
He was talking about the common memorization that takes place amongst kids without any understanding.
We have to go through struggle in order to understand the Book of Allaah. One key that might help us is
that the Book of Allaah does not throw upon us gems; it does not offer us the benefit unless we are keen
for learning and receiving the guidance. This is something that is interesting about the Quran.
وصلی اللہ تعالی علی خیر خلقہ محمد وآلہ وصحبہ أجمعین
Comment