The neglected manual

Assalamu alaikum. Indeed! Whoever allows himself to be carried away by the glittering of this worldly life is a great looser and a man of short-sightedness. Every day we are constantly being bombarded by super temptations from all corners of our lives, our spiritual immune system is under attack and the corresponding vaccination is not very effective. The spiritual viruses in the words of my Sheikh (Sulaiman Moola) are ever on the increase and we need strong spiritual immune boosters to curtail the effect of these viruses. 

Man is a social being and hence cannot live in isolation. We have to interact with our Creator as well as our fellow beings and even animals for us to appreciate the very core of our existence. Allah, our Creator, has attached a manual to us which contains the most detailed and comprehensive guide for our life in this world and the hereafter. The moment we deviate even an inch from implementing the guidelines enshrined therein or even abandon the manual, we will surely head to a point of no return, the abyss of unachievable hopes and eternal destruction. 

For every gadget or electronic is attached a manual and Allah who is the Creator of the manufacturer of all gadgets and electronics is never oblivious of our apparent complex nature. So out of His infinite mercy, He gave us a manual that is unequaled, full of eloquence and brightened with the description of the minutest detail of our existence on earth for us to live a comfortable life in this world and hopeful of a favorable decision in the hereafter. This greatest manual is the Holy Qur’an you and I have in possession.

What a manual! But sadly we have not really taken our time to know how to recite it, understand it and even teach it to others. How can I claim to be a Muslim when I cannot recite from my Holy Book? With which manual then will I serve my Allah or even invite others on to the path of salvation? Even when I know how to recite it I’m not able to act on its orders and I asked; where do I fit in? 

Allah is narrating to us how His Messenger and Prophet Muhammad will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'an.'' Q: 25:30. In the Tafseer of Ibn Katheer in explaining the above verse, he related it first with the verse of Fussilat where Allah says: “And those who disbelieve say: "Listen not to this Qur'an, and make noise in the midst of it.'' (41:26). When the Prophet (saw) would recite Qur'an to them; they would talk nonsense or speak about something else, so that they would not hear it. He further enumerates the different ways on which the Qur’an is forsaken and rejected;

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. Let us pause for a moment and dissect what this great Mufassir (commentator of the Qur’an) said about our negligence towards the obedience of the Qur’an. I’m I not guilty of the sin, are you not also as guilty as I am? Don’t we think that this is the very reason why the whole Muslim nation is in crisis and you and I are constantly living in an atmosphere of spiritual uncertainty?  

Wallah! This is the reason of our present predicament and a billion people that would have been naturally stronger are now a billion times weaker. Ibn Mas'ud (RA) said; "True knowledge is not measured in relationship to how much you memorized and then narrate, but rather, true knowledge is an expression of piety (protecting oneself from what Allah has prohibited by acting upon what He mandated)" Related by Abu Na'eem.

How can we complete a 24 hour cycle without relating to the Qur’an either through recitation, practicing or even listening to it?  yet we still find time out of  our ”tight schedules” to listen to music, watch movies and soccer, go on a shopping spree, discuss business and politics and spend hours on the phone with our loved ones. Subhanallah! Who are we hoodwinking? A lot of us are comfortable when music is playing but are uncomfortable when Qur’an is playing and we keep telling people ‘please reduce the volume of the Qira’a, I want to sleep or I’m having a headache’ Subhanallah! Can’t we see that already we need to practice the purification of our souls because this is pure hypocrisy cropping up in our minds?

In Qurtubi on the strength of Anas (RA) the Prophet (saw) said: “He who loves Allah must love me, and he who loves me must love my Sahaba (companions), and he who loves my Sahaba must love the Qur’an, and if you love the Qur’an you must love the house of Allah (Masjid)”

I implore one and all to go back to the Qur’an, recite and understand it, practice and teach it before it becomes too late for us. Ali (RA) said it so beautifully that “People are sleep they will wake up when they die”.  Let us make it a priority in our lives to relate to the Qur’an every day and promise our eeman to abandon those filthy magazines and wasted hours on electronic media and embrace the real pleasure kept in Qur’an. Verily, negligence is the gate of all misfortunes.