Neglecting the Qur`aan

Archived under My Writings , Personal Ramblings .

Assalaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaah

Those of you who are members of the Muslimahs' Lounge and As-Saabireen Yahoo groups may have read this already and also those of you who visit Sabeelillaah. Anyhow, I wrote this a while ago and have decided to re-post it here.

I was digging through notes from past study groups etc and i found a tajweed notebook that i used when i was at uni [i was in the prayer room studying the deen more than i was in my lectures studying Law]. The sister who was teaching us made it a habit to provide us with a reminder before we began the class and here is the reminder that she provided us with on 24/02/03:

وَقَالَ الرَّسُولُ يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا

"And the Messenger (Muhammad ) will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'ân (neither listened to it, nor acted on its laws and orders)."

How can one neglect the Qur`aan?

>> Not listening to it (ie. playing other tapes/ CD's rather than the Qur`aan - or preferring them to the Qur`aan)

>> Not acting upon it

>> Not taking the Qur`aan as a judge (ie. when there are disputes, we must look to the Qur`aan for the right decision)

>> Not pondering upon the meaning of the Qur`aan

>> Not using it as a healer/ cure for the diseases of the heart.

and Allaah knows best.

From Ibn Katheer's tafseer we find:

Allah tells how His Messenger and Prophet Muhammad will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'an.'' The idolators would not listen to the Qur'an, as Allah says:

[وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لاَ تَسْمَعُواْ لِهَـذَا الْقُرْءَانِ وَالْغَوْاْ فِيهِ]

(And those who disbelieve say: "Listen not to this Qur'an, and make noise in the midst of it.'') (41:26).

When he would recite Qur'an to them, they would talk nonsense or speak about something else, so that they would not hear it. This is a form of forsaking it and rejecting it, and not believing in it is the same as forsaking it, and not pondering its meanings and trying to understand it is the same as forsaking it, and not acting upon it and following its commandments and heeding its prohibitions is the same as forsaking it, and turning away from it in favor of poetry or other words or songs or idle talk or some other way is the same as forsaking it.