My Quran Reflections

Bismillah. Sahih Muslim reports that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, “The Deen is naseehah.” The sahabah asked, “To whom?” He (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) replied, “To Allah and His Book, and His Messenger and to the leaders of the Muslims and to the common Muslims.” (Hadith no.7,  Nawawi’s Forty Hadith ) What is naseehah? Lane’s Lexicon (p. 2802) defines naseehah as, "Sincere, honest,  or  faithful, advice,  or  counsel, and conduct ...  which is for the good of the person  … " "Naseehah embodies every type of virtue and the desire for all forms of goodness." "Doing well by others." It is the most comprehensive word in the Arabic language. Naseehah to Allah means to fulfil your obligations to Him, like salah, zakah, fasting in Ramadan and hajj. The greatest obligation is salah. As well as, believing in tawhid and only saying about Allah what He has said about Himself and what the Prophet (sallallahu alay...

Bismillah. In Surah al-Baqarah (2:185) Allah says, The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent of) the month (of Ramadan), he must fast that month, and whoever is ill or on a journey, the same number (of days must be made up) from other days. Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allah for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him. "The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’an" A. We know from Hadith that the beginning of Surah al-Alaq [96] were the first verses that were revealed by Allah to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). B. We also know that it was in Ramadan that Jibril (alayhis salam) would come to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasall...

Bismillah. The existence of God The existence of the soul The existence of the Hereafter - including heaven, hell, Day of Judgement, etc. That God created the universe The existence of jinn The existence of angels The existence of miracles The existence of the above is unquestionable in the eyes of the Muslim because we believe these things to be true as told to us by Allah in the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Matters of spirituality cannot be proved by science. To look for spirituality in science is like looking for knowledge in an empty book. It is true that science has provided many answers to how the physical and material world functions and its purposes, however, we should not look for spiritual answers in science, like we should not look for scientific answers in the Qur’an. No doubt there are some scientific facts that can be found in the Qur’an and Hadith but this is incidental. The purpose of the Qur’an is to provide you with spir...

There is no doubt that every interpreter of the Qur'an has been affected by the geopolitical circumstances of his/her time. From Ibn Taiymiyyah and the Mongol hordes to Ibn Laden and the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia. Every age looks at the Qur'an as a text beyond time and space to make sense of their world. Violence is justified when people start to see parallels between what they are going through and how the early Muslims dealt with violence during their time. No one approach of hermeneutics will suffice in today's diverse and complex world. Muslims need to relook at the Qur'an in a literary, linguistic, contextual, historical and Sunnah as well as Sirah- oriented way, in order to get to the spirit of the meaning as intended by the Allah and taught by the Prophet. The Salafi interpretation of the Qur'an is very literal and they would prefer the letter of the law to the spirit. Salafi hermeneutics concentrates its interpretation on early scholarly ...

Mattson asserts that, “All those who embark upon the reading the Qur’an – Muslims and non-Muslims, religious and secular people – can learn something about the world and about themselves through engagement with it.” In a hadith, Prophet Muhammad says, “God says, ‘I am as My servant thinks I am.’” Which I believe is the same for the Qur’an, people who approach it looking for violence and hatred will find it, while those who look for love and tolerance will also find it. A person who feels God is wrathful and cruel will find his god, whereas a person approaching the Qur’an with an open and humble heart will find God’s mercy and beauty.   The main connection between God and Muslims has always been the Qur’an, the literal word of God, and the Prophet Muhammad, the divinely inspired messenger of God, through the hadith. Thus, the Muslim approaches these sources of guidance through reverence and reflection, on how the names and attributes of the Divine are connected to their lives i...

Ibn al-Qayyim says: There can be no doubt that assuming the best about Allah only comes as a result of righteous conduct. It is the righteous person who assumes the best about his Lord, since he knows that Allah will reward him for his good deeds and will never break His promise.  On the other hand, the sinner who persists in wrongdoing, injustice, and disobedience is prevented by his evil deeds from assuming the best about his Lord. We can see a similar situation in how people relate to each other. A runaway slave, for instance, is not going to assume the best of his master. Good assumptions never go hand in hand with the disturbed state of disobedience. A sinner is estranged from his Lord to the extent of his sinfulness. The person who has the best outlook on his Lord is invariably the one who is the most obedient to his Lord.  Al-Hasan al-Basrî said: "The believer assumes the best about his Lord so he does the best deeds. The sinner assumes the worst about his ...

“In the Quran He says,  I did not create jinn and mankind, save to worship Me  (51:56), the last phrase of which can also mean “to serve Me.” Fulfilling the proper human role as God’s vicegerent demands serving the Lord, and no service is greater than negating oneself and affirming God, annihilating blameworthy character traits and allowing the Divine character traits to subsist. But what does service/worship have to do with love? Here Sufi texts like to quote the  ḥ adīth qudsī,  “I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be recognized; so I created the creatures so that I would be recognized.” In other words, God created the universe because, as the verse of mutual love puts it,  He loves them;  that is, He loves human beings; so He gave them the capacity to recognize Him and to love Him in return. By recovering their  fi ṭ rah,  they recognize themselves as God’s servants, and they recognize their Lord as the possessor of the Most Beaut...