A layman’s Observations on the Qur’an
When I send voice messages over WhatsApp, it’s not unusual for me to cancel them mid-way and then record all over until I’m satisfied. This is when I’m answering a question or giving a direction. Even at my fluent best, when I play back the audio, I can hear long pauses and some poor word choices. Ask me to read the Quran and in sha Allah I can recite tens of pages in one go with not even so much as a stutter in the entire reading. Granted that I am an expert reciter, I still find it remarkable. In my school days, I have tried to memorize poems and speeches without much success. The fluency and the flow during the Quran recitation is a one of a kind experience.
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For a long time I wondered why the Qur’an is repetitive and unstructured. Yasir Qadhi in one of his lectures said that the Quran is conversational. It’s a direct conversation between Man and his creator which is why it’s unstructured. I still thought that some structure would have been better. Over time Allah opened my eyes to the beauty behind the repetitive and apparently unstructured nature of the Quran.
The Quran is the spoken word of Allah. It was recited by Jibraeel on the messenger of Allah who then recited to the people of his time. Contemplate on the fact that the oral content was written down and then made into a book. Speakers who eventually write books understand the challenge while converting their lectures to book form. Stephen Covey in the forward of his best-selling book ‘the seven habits of highly effective people’ acknowledged this challenge and thanked his editor for making it easier for him.
When something is spoken, it’s not only the words but the body language and the tone of voice that contributes to the effectiveness of the message. Good writing has to compensate for the lack of body language and tone of voice. Yet the Qur’an uses the same words for both oral and text and still delivers the message home.
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In a book form, you can take the Quran and read it anytime, anywhere. But what about the time when it was revealed? Obviously you cannot recite the entire Qur’an on the listener. You have a very short window to make your point, communicate the consequences for disbelief and the reward for accepting the new faith. The repetitive nature of the Quran ensures that no matter which chapter of it is being recited, the key message along with the consequences of disbelief is communicated to the listener. Of course, there are smaller chapters which may not have the consequences of disbelief, but it’s hard to miss if you spend a decent amount of time.
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If I open a book of fiction and read a random passage, it may not make sense. For example a Harry Potter book or the novels by Stephen Kings may not make much sense if I read a random passage. Same goes for academic textbooks. In some of the non-fiction books, it’s possible that a random passage makes complete sense. Books like the ‘Monk who sold his Ferrari’, ‘Don’t Sweat the small stuff’ or any coffee table book for that matter. If you’re reading a book of quotes or poetry, the quotes in themselves would make sense but they may not have a logical flow with the next quote.
In the Qur’an we’re looking in the scale of verses. Some of the verses are self-sufficient. Some of the verses are self-explanatory and self-sufficient. Consider the verse:
O you who believe! If you obey and fear Allâh, He will grant you Furqân a criterion [(to judge between right and wrong), or (Makhraj, i.e. making a way for you to get out from every difficulty)], and will expiate for you your sins, and forgive you, and Allâh is the Owner of the Great Bounty.
And there are many verses in the Qur’an which are self-sufficient. You don’t need a context or to read further to understand what’s being told. Yet they also sit well with the verses succeeding or preceding it and the theme of the chapter. Imam Ash Shafi said that if the people were to ponder on Surah Asr (a chapter with three verses), it would be sufficient for them.
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Like the oral and the written, the Quran is the same for all people. There isn’t one version for beginners, one fundamental and one advanced version. Or one for each gender. Yet the same words speak to each person at his intellectual capacity.
Consider the verse:
Who has created the seven heavens one above another, you can see no fault in the creations of the Most Beneficent. Then look again: “Can you see any rifts?”
It’s obvious that there is no fault in the creation of the heaven. You can look casually and not see any. Somebody who’s acquainted with cosmology can take a deeper dive. Stephen Hawkins observed that if the rate of expansion one second after the big bang had been smaller by 1/1018, the universe would have re-collapsed before it ever reached its present size.
The following verse would take the knowledgeable reciter to a state of awe and reverence:
Then look again and yet again, your sight will return to you in a state of humiliation and worn out.
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In the Qur’an, only two things are mentioned connected to healing : Honey and the Qur’an itself. The scholars opined that Honey is the cure for the physical ailments while Qur’an is the cure for the spiritual ailments. There is always an Ayah in the Quran that cures whatever emotional issues you’re struggling with. Always.
If one were to repeat the particular verse when those thoughts or insinuations arises, he will witness the thoughts crumble and get obliterated. He will gain the strength necessary to face his challenges by repeating the verse again and again. And if a different aspect of the same issue arises, he will surely find a verse that will be a perfect match.
O Allah,
make the Qur’an the spring of our hearts,
and the light of our chests,
the banisher of our sadnesses,
and the reliever of our distresses.
