Inculcating Awe Of The Qur'an - Inculcating Desire To Read The Qur'an

Time bears witness to the advent of thousands of Prophets AS, each being sent with the message of Allah's oneness and divinity. These guides were sent to rear the lost sheep of mankind aided by Allah in their task with miracles as a sign of their authority.

These miracles would be in line with the expertise of that specific nation. The Prophet Musa AS was in a period when magic and sorcery was prevalent. Thus one of his miracles was a staff that turned into a serpent. Likewise, the Prophet Isa AS was able to cure the blind and heal the sick with Allah's permission at a time when medicine was common. However these miracles only lasted during the lifetime of that Prophet and would be lifted when that Prophet passed away.

Time once again bears witness that during the finest of eras, the highest of angels brought down onto the greatest of Prophets the best of words for the best of nations. This ultimate of miracles is - The Holy Qur'an.

Such a miracle that it has remained even after the passing away of the Prophet SAW whom it was revealed to. Time will also witness this great book maintain its presence in the world till Qiyamah! Revealed in such an era when eloquence of speech and literature and poetry was widespread. It followed the above pattern that a literary miracle be revealed in accordance with the people's interests.

Such a time when satirical lyrics were used to cause wounds that were deeper and more painful than the external injuries inflicted during battle. At a time when the Arabs would pride themselves over their command of such a language and they would hold competitions. The best piece of work would have the honour of being hung on the wall of the Holy Ka'abah for that year for all to see. This miracle came down and left these show pieces of speech and literature dumbstruck!

The eloquence was unsurpassable and its composition was of a standard unreachable. Its verses had deep meanings and underlying messages when it was recited, its raw power would enter the people. Many a time, the hearing of a single verse would be the cause for someone to enter the fold of Islam. We are also informed of many cases even in our own time when people who do not understand the meaning of the Qur'an are overcome by a mesmerising sensation upon listening to the words of Allah being recited so much so that it causes them to submit themselves and accept Islam!

People knew that Prophet Muhammed SAW was illiterate and that he could not have produced such a masterpiece, and so it had to be from a Divine entity, as all other possibilities were exhausted. As for those who out of stubbornness and arrogance still denied it to be Allah's word and insisted that it must be man-made, the Qur'an set them a challenge of producing a chapter like that in the Qur'an, or at least ten verses. It then simplified the challenge from ten verses to at least a single verse. This challenge is still standing today, such a miracle that has been standing for over 1,400 years. This challenge has remained unmet. It is also a miracle of the Qur'an, that compared to the other previous revelations, it has remained unchanged in its originate condition and is free of alterations. This is because Allah Ta'ala himself has taken the responsibility of preserving the Qur'an and has done so in various ways. It is the most widely read book around the world.

Allah Ta'ala has preserved its verses through the Huffaz, the millions of Hafiz who specialise in memorising the whole Qur'an of and checking its recital. Allah Ta'ala has preserved its meaning through the Mufasireen, the people who specialise in writing the commentaries of the verses. The correct recitation of the Qur'an is maintained through the Qurraa, who teach its correct pronunciation. We must bear in mind that the true Arabic recitation is an obligation and the Qur'an must be recited in the manner that it was revealed. Just as teaching the Qur'an, preaching words of wisdom and cleansing the hearts of the people were prophetic objectives; the Qur'an tells us that the primary duty of Prophethood is to recite the Qur'an in the manner it was acquired, any other way is not called the Kalam (words) of Allah.

Pronunciation is paramount because without it - listeners would hear different words and thus different messages. An English example would be the words Quill and Kill, if the letter Q is pronounced like the letter K then the meaning is very different. Likewise the words Coat and Quote. Some simple Arabic examples, the word 'Qaala' which means 'he said', if the 'Qaaf' was not pronounced properly and were to be read 'Kaala', the meaning would totally change and translate as 'he weighed'. If someone were to mispronounce the word 'Qul' and say 'Kul', it would change the command of 'Say' into 'Eat'. Mistakes like these can nullify a person’s prayer. Another example is the word 'Allahu-Akbar' which means 'Allah is the Greatest'. However, if the first letter were to be prolonged into 'Aallahu', it would not remain a statement but becomes a question, i.e. 'Is Allah the greatest?' May Allah protect us from such mistakes.

Great attention has to be paid to the correct recital because this type of distortion is unacceptable. As earlier mentioned, Allah Ta'ala has also preserved the very script it was written in at the time of revelation; for over 1,400 years, Allah Ta'ala has kept it preserved and protected it in the hearts of His servants.

From the very young to the very old - men, women, and children, have memorised all 114 Surahs of the Qur'an. They have committed to memory a grand total of 6236 Verses in Arabic which is not necessarily their native language. Indeed a huge proportion of Huffaz recite like natives-speakers but are not fluent basic Arabic (i.e. they pronounce the words correctly but do not speak/converse in Arabic). The same cannot be said about any other book in the world. This is the Miracle that was seen at the time of the Holy Prophet SAW, and every day since; for there has always been Huffaz of the Qur'an since its revelation. The numbers of Huffaz have increased so that today you can count millions walking about the Earth protecting the whole Qur'an in their hearts and publicly reciting in Arabic the entire Qur'an in Tarawih prayers in the month of Ramadhan. In this public manner the recital is reviewed by all present and memorisation and protection of the Quran is maintained. In private Huffaz routinely review their memorisation by iterating its recital in front of dedicated listeners.

Allah Almighty has protected the Qur’an and will therefore protect a person who recites it and memorises it. The Holy Prophet SAW has stated in a Hadith that if the Qur'an is placed in a skin and then put in the fire, it will not get burnt. The Muhaditheen (the Scholars of Hadith) have interpreted this Prophetic saying in two ways. One is where the words 'skin' and 'fire' are taken in the literal sense where it is referring to a miracle that had taken place at the time of Prophet SAW.

The second interpretation takes the word 'skin' to mean human skin and 'fire' to mean the fire of Hell. This is a general application which means that a Hafiz of the Qur'an will not be affected by the fire of Hell should he be thrown in due to any crime on his part. This is also backed up by another Hadith which states:

"Learn the Qur'an by heart, because Almighty Allah does not punish the heart which contains the Qur'an."

This merit is enough to prompt us to memorise and dedicate our lives for the Qur'an. The Qur'an is not a poetry book, nor does it contain prose, rather it has a style of its own, a certain style that is unmatched. Its challenge is still unanswered and will remain so. The Qur’an is not a storybook, yet it contains historic events and incidents of nations that existed in the past.

These stories are not there to entertain, but to contemplate over and derive lessons from. The Holy Qur'an is not a science book, yet so many of its simple statements are confirmed in our age by scientific discoveries or rather confirmations. Such information which could not have been attainable 1,400 years ago !

It made statements which referred to things that could not have been known then, but the miracle is that these have stood the test of time and have not been wrong as their truth are now being unfolded.

Amongst other subjects, the Qur’an talks about embryology, water, the weather, cosmology, geology etc. A very interesting aspect of the miraculous nature of the Qur'an is its finely balanced structure where we discover some of its mathematical miracles.

The Importance of Tajwid

An Arabic adage proclaims:

"The speech of the kings is the king of all speech."

So, can the excellency of the speech of the kings of all kings – Allah Ta'ala – even be equated with man-made speech?

One of the many miracles of the Noble Qu'ran is that - regardless of the number of times it is recited, one never gets tired nor bored with its recitation. Allah SWT says in the Noble Qur'aan:

"Indeed the believers are those who tremble with fear when Allah is remembered and when the verses of the Qur'an are recited before them, it increases their belief and upon Allah they have complete trust." (Surah 8: Ayat 2)

One of the salient points mentioned in this verse is that when a believer recites the Qur'an in the correct manner, it increases his faith and belief in Allah. Reciting the Noble Qur'an in the correct manner means - to recite it with Tajwid.


WHAT IS TAJWID

Allah Ta'ala says in the Noble Qur'an:

"And recite the Qur'an with Tarteel." (Surah 73: Ayat 4)

When asked about the meaning of Tarteel, Saiyidina Ali RA replied:

"It means that the Qur'an should be recited with Tajwid and with due observance to the rules of Waqf (pausing or stopping at the end of the verse)."

Tajwid means to recite every letter correctly, i.e. from its proper origin of pronunciation coupled with its stipulated attributes.

According to Imam Jawzi RA, the verse, "Verily my people have renounced the Qur'an"- has two interpretations. Firstly, it could mean that they had renounced the Qur'an by not believing in it and practicing upon it. And secondly, it could mean that they used to recite the Qur'an in such a disgusting manner that it sounded like senseless and meaningless jabbering. Reading the Qur'an without Tajwid could also be included in the second interpretation.


TAJWID FROM THE HADITH

Rasulullah SAW has said:

"Indeed Allah desires that the Qur'an be recited in the manner it was revealed."

This Hadith is clarified by the following verse of the Qur'an:

"We revealed the Qur’an with Tartil." (Surah 2: Ayat 32)

The definition of Tartil has been explained above. Since the Qur'an emphatically commands us to recite the Qur'an with Tajwid, it is Fardh i.e. compulsary to recite the Qur'an with Tajwid.

It is narrated in Ahadith that Rasulullah SAW said:

"The Qur'an will either testify in your favour or against you."

Hence, if we fail to observe the requirements of the Noble Qur'an during our recitation, the Qur'an will testify against us. If we are unacquainted with these pre-requisites, we are compelled to acquire the laws of Tajwid.

Due to the vastness of the Arabic language, any small mistake in pronunciation of a letter or word may change the meaning of that word. For example, the word ‘Qalb’ (with q) means heart, if read ‘Kalb’ (with k), it will mean a dog’. So just as how in any other language we learn pronunciation of letters and words, for example, in English we learn that ‘ph’ stands for ‘f’ (as in phone) and not pone. Similarly, in the Arabic language, we also have to learn pronunciation of letters and words, which we term as ‘Tajwid’. Tajwid is not like all other subjects which we are able to separate from the Qur'an, but instead - Tajwid and Qur'an work hand in hand.

If there is no Tajwid with Qur'an, there is no Qur'an. Simple.

The question may arise that, how can such a statement be made that if a person reads Qur'an without Tajwid, he is not reading Qur'an? Yes, such a statement is 100% correct.

Our beloved Rasulullah SAW states in one Hadith:

"There are a lot of readers that read the Qur'an but the Qur'an curses them instead of making Du'aa for them."

We get some people nowadays who spend hours and hours reciting the Qur'an thinking that they are getting and attaining great rewards. But because their pronunciation of letters is incorrect, a very big problem arise. It sounds very small when we say, ‘I am only pronouncing a letter incorrectly...’ But did this thought ever cross our minds that when a letter changes in a word, the word changes and if a word changes in a sentence then the whole sentence changes and eventually the meaning also changes?

So from this, we understand the Hadith of our Rasulullah SAW that some people read so much of the Qur'an but because they do not know the correct pronunciation of the letters, they change the letters which then changes the words which eventually leads to the changing of the sentence and meaning of the Qur'an. So, the Qur'an in turn, instead of making du'a for such people it curses them.


THOSE WHO ARE WEAK IN TAJWID SHOULD NOT FEEL DEMOTIVATED

The wife of Nabi SAW, Aishah RA narrrates that Rasulullah SAW once said:

"One who is well versed in the Qur'an will be in the company of those angels who are scribes, noble and righteous; and one who falters in reading the Qur'an, and has to exert hard for learning, gets double the reward."

"One who is well versed in the Qur'an" - means one who is proficient in memorising as well as in reciting it. It is highly praiseworthy if one masters its meaning and significance as well. "To be with the angels" - means that, like the angels who transferred the Qur'an from the, Lawhul Mahfuz (Protected Tablet in Heaven), he also conveys it to others through its recitation and, therefore, both have the same occupation; or that he will join the company of such angels on the Day of Judgement. On the other hand - one who falters will get double reward—one for his reading and the other for his effort in reading the Qur'an, in spite of faltering again and again.

It does not mean that his / her reward will exceed that of a well-versed person. The reward that is mentioned for a well-versed person is far greater, so much so that he /she will be in the company of special angels. The explanation to this is that - the labour involved in faltering and the difficulties in the reading of the Qur'an carry an independent reward. As such, reading of the Qur'an should not be given up, even though faltering is evident.

To add on, it is related from Tabrani and Baihaqi that - one who cannot memorise the Qur'an well and yet persists in learning it by heart gets double reward. Similarly, one who cherishes a longing for memorising it and does not possess the ability to do so, but does not give up his efforts, will be reckoned by Almighty Allah among the huffaaz (Plural of hafiz—one who has learnt the whole Qur'an by heart) on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah is Most Merciful, and recognises our intentions and efforts. MashaAllah.