Finding Yourself in the Holy Quran

A Reminder in Every Verse

One of the earlier scholars of the Quran, the taba'ee Al-Ahnaf bin Qays, was reading and came across this ayah. He was shocked, and wanted to find out who he was — which type of people mentioned in the Quran did he resemble? He spent several nights reading the Quran with deep concentration.

لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا إِلَیْكُمْ كِتَابًا فِیهِ ذِكْرُ كُمْ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

“Now We have revealed unto you a Scripture wherein is your Reminder. Have ye then no sense?”

Al-Anbiya 21:10

Those Who Spend Their Nights in Worship

"Are we among those people?" he asked himself. He then found more such descriptions: those who rise from their beds at night to call out to their Lord in fear and hope, and spend on others out of what they are provided (As-Sajdah 32:16); and those who remember their Lord far into the night, prostrating themselves and standing (Al-Furqan 25:64).

كَانُوا قَلِیلًا مِّنَ اللَّیْلِ مَا یَهْجَعُونَ وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ یَسْتَغْفِرُ ونَ وَفِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ لِّلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُ ومِ

“They used to sleep a little at night. And at dawn, they would pray for pardon. And in their wealth, there was a share for the beggar and the deprived.”

Az-Zariyat 51:17-19

Those Who Spend, Forgive, and Pardon

الَّذِینَ یُنفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّ اء وَالضَّرَّ اء وَالْكَاظِمِینَ الْغَیْظَ وَالْعَافِینَ عَنِ النَّاسِ وَاللهَّ ُ یُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِینَ

“Who spend [in His way] in time of plenty and in time of hardship, and hold in check their anger, and pardon their fellow-men, because Allah loves the doers of good.”

Al-Imran 3:134

• Al-Hashr 59:9 — Give others preference over themselves, even though poverty be their own lot; and those who are saved from the greed of their own hearts are the ones who attain to a happy state.
• Ash-Shura 42:37-38 — Those who shun the sins and disgraceful acts, and who, whenever they are moved to anger, forgive; and who respond to their Lord and are constant in prayer, and whose rule in all matters of common concern is consultation among themselves.

A Sobering Realization

He stopped there, shocked. "Oh Allah, I am not among any of these people," he said. He was from the early generation of the salaf, a taba'ee very close to the time of the Prophet SAWS, who had learned his deen from the Sahaba. If he did not think he was among these people, where does that leave us?

At this point, he took another approach and looked at the ayahs describing people whom Allah does not like.

Those Allah Does Not Like

Astaghfirullah. At this point he stopped and waited a while, then stood and said, "Oh my Lord, I seek refuge from being one of such people," for he was sure he was not among them either.

إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا إِذَا قِیلَ لَهُمْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ یَسْتَكْبِرُ ونَ وَیَقُولُونَ أَئِنَّا لَتَارِ كُوا آلِهَتِنَا لِشَاعِرٍ مَّجْنُونٍ

“For, behold, whenever they were told, 'There is no deity save Allah,' they would become more arrogant, and would say, 'Shall we, then, give up our deities at the bidding of a mad poet?'”

As-Saffat 37:35-36

• Az-Zumar 39:45 — Whenever Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who will not believe in the life to come become filled with bitter aversion, whereas when those besides Him are mentioned, they rejoice.
• Al-Muddaththir 74:42-47 — 'What has brought you into hell-fire?' They will answer: 'We were not among those who prayed, and neither did we feed the needy, and we would indulge in sinning together with all who indulged in it, and we used to deny the Day of Judgment, until certainty came upon us in death.'

The Group That Mixes Good with Bad

At that point, he said, "Of course, I am among those people." He was a righteous man who feared Allah and was steadfast in worship, yet he acknowledged he was not perfect and had sins — but he was optimistic and hopeful for Allah's mercy and forgiveness.

Isn't this where we are too? We do lots of amal saliha (good deeds) and then mix them with some questionable acts — in food, investment, entertainment. Which verses of the Holy Quran best describe you?

وَآخَرُونَ اعْتَرَ فُواْ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ خَلَطُواْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَیِّئًا عَسَى اللهَّ ُ أَن یَتُوبَ عَلَیْهِمْ إِنَّ اللهَّ َ غَفُورٌ رَّحِیمٌ

“And [there are] others — people who have become conscious of their sinning after having done righteous deeds side by side with evil ones; it may well be that Allah will accept their repentance: for, verily, Allah is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.”

At-Tauba 9:102

Using Ramadan for This Reflection

Ramadan is the month of fasting, praying, charity, reading Quran, and reflecting — the reason for telling this story is so we can use this time to do this sort of reflection. When reading the Quran we should try to be attuned to the message from Allah, with our hearts and minds present. We have been commanded to think, reflect, and ponder on what we read — reading with contemplation is far more fruitful than mindless reading.

Humans are naturally predisposed towards contemplation, but we need a guide to steer our minds out of the narrow straits of the ego towards truth and good. The most dependable guide is the Holy Quran, the Almighty's word, embodied and clarified by the Blessed Prophet. Humanity is required to first learn the Quran, then bring it to life through actions and behavior, and finally strive to communicate it to the rest of humankind in the most effective manner.

Thousands of books written in the Islamic world over the past 1400 years have aimed at understanding and plumbing the depths of this one Book. If all the trees in the world were pens and the seas were ink, it would still be impossible to enumerate the wisdoms and truths contained in the Holy Quran — within it are the codes of all knowledge and wisdom, and the keys to happiness in this life and the Hereafter (Tirmidhi, Fada'ilu'l-Quran 14; Darimi, Fada'ilu'l-Quran 1).

How the Prophet Read the Quran

Muslim scholars have defined the purpose of reciting the Holy Quran as contemplating its meaning and inner wisdom, then acting in accordance with what it demands. Since each word of the Quran comprises immeasurable secrets, a contemplative read of a single verse is preferable to a careless read of the entire Quran.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to recite the Holy Quran slowly, with depth of feeling, contemplating the meaning of each verse and immediately putting its commands into practice: upon reciting a verse commanding tasbih he would say subhan'Allah; upon a verse suggesting prayer, he would pray; upon a verse about seeking refuge, he would seek refuge (Muslim, Musafirin 203; Nasa'i, Qiyamu'l-Layl 25/1662). At times he would focus so intently on a single verse that he prayed and contemplated it until daybreak.

Omar (RA) said, "I completed chapter al-Baqara in twelve years and sacrificed a camel in gratitude" (Qurtubi I, 40). Abdullah, the son of Omar, is reported to have studied chapter al-Baqara for eight years in order to put its commands into practice (Muwatta', Quran 11).

A man asked Zayd ibn Thabit (RA) his opinion of completing the Quran in a single week. "It would be good," he replied, adding: "But I take greater enjoyment from completing the Quran in fifteen days, or even twenty — because that way I can thoroughly reflect on it and better understand its meanings" (Muwatta', Quran 4). Abdullah ibn Masud (RA) said: "Whoever seeks knowledge should contemplate on the meanings of the Quran, focus on its interpretation and recital, for the Quran contains the knowledge of both past and future" (Haythami VII, 165; Bayhaki, Shuab II, 331).