About THE HOLY QURAN

The Quran

It is beyond man's power to comprehend, or to describe, the greatness and importance of what the Quran holds for him. Yet, to begin with, you must have some idea of what it is and what it means to you , and such that you are inspired to immerse the whole of yourself in the Quran, in total commitment, complete dedication and ceaseless pursuit, as it demands. The Quran is Allah's greatest blessing or you . It is the fulfillment of His promise to Adam and his descendants: 'there shall come to you guidance from Me, and whatsoever follows My Guidance no fear shall e on them, neither shall they sorrow' (al Baqarah 2:38). It is the only weapon your frail existence as you struggle against the forces of evil and temptation in this world. It is the only means to overpower your fear and anxiety. It is the only 'light' (nur) , as you grope in the darkness, with which to find your way to success and salvation. It is the only healing (shifa) for your inner sickness, as well as the social ills that may surround you. It is the constant reminder (dhikr) of your true nature and destiny, of your station, your duties, your rew. It was brought down by one who is powerful and trustworthy in the heavens the heart of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him. to your Creator. It tells you of Him, of His attributes, of how He rules o to you, and how you should relate to Him, to yourself, to your fellow men other existence. The rewards that await you here are surely many, increasing manifold and the hereafter, but what awaits you at the end of the road promises Allah in the Hadith qudsi, the eye has seen not, nor the ear heard, nor the heart of man ever conceived and, adds Abu Hurayra 'no human being can imagine what joys are being kept hidden for them in d or all that they did'(Bukhari, Muslim)

Quran As Living Constitution

Can the Quran again, be living, relevant force, as powerful for us now 1400 years away, as it was then? This is the most crucial question that we must answer if we wish to shape our destiny afresh under the guidance of the Quran. There appear, however, to be some difficulties. Not least of which has to do with the fact that Quran was revealed at a certain point in time. Since then we have traveled a long way, made gigantic leaps in technological know-how, and seen considerable social changes take place in human society. Moreover, most of the followers of the Quran today do not know Arabic, and many who do have little idea of the 'living' language of the Quran. They cannot be expected to absorbs its idioms and metaphor, so essential to exploring and absorbing the depths of the Quranic meaning. Yet its guidance, by its own claim, has an eternal relevance for all people, being the word of the Eternal God. For the truth of its claim, it seems to me, it must be possible for us to receive, experience, and understand the Quran as it's first recipients did, at least in some measure and to some degree. We seem to almost have a right to this possibility of receiving God's guidance in its fullness and with all its riches and joys. In other words despite historical incidence of the revelation in a particular language at that particular time and place, we should be capable of receiving the Quran now (because its message is eternal), capable of making its message as much a real part of our lives as it was for the first believers and with the same urgent and profound relevance for all our present concerns and experiences. But how do we do this? To put it very forthrightly, only by entering the world of the Quran as if Allah were speaking to us through it now and today, and by fulfilling the necessary conditions for such an encounter. Firstly, then, we must realize what Quran as the word of God is and means to us, and bring all the reverence, love, longing and will to act that this realization demands. Secondly, we must read it as it asks to be read, as Allah's Messenger instructed us, as his Companions read it. Thirdly, we must bring each word of the Quran to bear upon our own realities and concerns by transcending the barriers of time, culture and change. For the first addressees, the Quran was a contemporary event. Its language and style, its eloquence and a rationale, its idiom and metaphor, its symbols and parables, its moments and events were all rooted in their own setting. These people were both witnesses to and in a sense, participants in the whole act of revelation as it unfolded over a period of their own time. We do not have the same privilege; yet, in some measures, the same ought to be true for us. By understanding and obeying the Quran in our own setting, we will find it, as far as possible, as much a contemporary event for ourselves as it was then. For the essence of man has not changed; it is immutable. Only man's externalities- the forms, the modes, the technologies - have changed. The pagans of Makka may be no more, nor the Jews of Yathrib, nor the Christians of Najran, nor even the 'faithful' and the 'unfaithful' of the community of Madina; but the same characters exist all around us. We are humans being exactly as the first recipients were, even though may find it extremely difficult to grapple with the deep implications of this very simple truth. Once you realize the truths and follow them, once you come to the Quran as first believers did, it may reveal to you as it did to them, make partners of you as it did of them. And only then, instead of being a mere revered book, a sacred fossil, or a source of magic-like blessing, it will change into a mighty force, impinging, stirring, moving and guiding us deeper and higher achievements, just as it did before.In this Book, the Holy Prophet's life, the history of the Arabs and the events which occurred during the period of the revelation of the Quran have not been mingled with the Divine Verses, as is the case with the Bible. The Quran is the pure word of God. Not one word therein is not divine. Not a single word has been deleted from its text. The Book has been handed down to our age in its complete and original form since the time of Prophet Muhammad. From the time the Book began to be revealed, the Holy Prophet had dictated its text to the scribes. Whenever some Divine Message was revealed, the Holy Prophet would call a scribe and dictate its words to him. The written text was then read out to the Holy Prophet, who, having satisfied himself that the scribe has committed no error of recording, would put the manuscript in safe custody.The Holy Prophet used to instruct the scribe about the sequence in which a revealed message was to be placed in a particular Surah (chapter). In this manner, the Holy Prophet continued to arrange the text of the Quran in systematic order till the end of the chain of revelations. Again, it was ordained from the beginning of Islam that a recitation of the Holy Quran must be an integral part of worship. Hence the illustrious Companions would commit the Divine verses to memory as soon as they were revealed. Many of them learned the whole text and a far larger number had memorized different portions of it.