Etiquettes of the Quran: Engaging With Certainty | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Etiquettes of the Quran: Engaging With Certainty

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَنُصَلِّي عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ الْكَرِيمِ أَمَّا بَعْدُ

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, dear brothers and sisters. Welcome back to another evening with Miftaah Institute, where alhamdulillah throughout the week we have many live sessions and programs that we are hosting for the community.

This session, and every Tuesday night insha'Allah ta'ala, I will be going through some etiquettes that we have to connect with while engaging with the Qur'an. It is rather normal in our culture, within the human DNA, that when we are blessed with something at a high capacity, and it's given to us with such ease, that we sometimes lose the value of it. And it's something that we see in our daily lives, where a child, a son or a daughter, if they are constantly with their parents, and they're living with their parents, they may lose the value of the mother.

They may lose the value of the father, the siblings. But the moment they go ahead to study in a university, study abroad, or they're moving out for work, or due to marriage, then they recognize that value. That, wow, I had that with me my entire life. I had that for so long, and I didn't take the full advantage of it.

Similarly, it can be the case with the Qur'an. And may Allah protect us from being amongst those individuals. Since knowledge has become so accessible to us — we here at Miftaah, on a nightly basis, are speaking about the Qur'an, and different institutions and different scholars are giving lectures and wa'ad and advices on the Qur'an — we sometimes forget that this is something which is very valuable.

And in order to engage with it and connect with it at the correct level, it requires some etiquettes from me. And everything in life requires etiquettes. The way I eat, it requires etiquettes. The way I speak to my parents, that requires etiquettes. The way that I speak to my spouse, my children. Anything worth doing in a manner of excellence requires etiquettes. And this is no different from those examples.

What etiquettes are required from us — that is the subject that I will be hopefully speaking about in the upcoming sessions on Tuesday night, insha'Allah every Tuesday night. What are some etiquettes that we can implement into our life while engaging, listening, reading and benefiting from the Qur'an? What should I be doing? How should I be engaging with the Qur'an? How should I be listening to the Qur'an?

You know, when someone goes for an interview for the first time — for their work, or for med school, for law school, even for an undergraduate program or degree — the parents tell them, or their counselor tells them: make sure you dress this way, you sit this way, you speak this way. And all of that is so that you may benefit from this interview. You hopefully get the job. You hopefully secure your spot in the roster of that university or college. It has etiquettes. And it requires those etiquettes in order for an individual to take the full benefit from that.

The Virtue and Divinity of the Qur'an

Similarly, we are engaging with Allah. We are connecting with Allah. Allah says in a hadith qudsi:

The virtue of my words over all other types of speech is like my virtue over all of my creation.
(Ad-Darimi, Sunan al-Darimi, Hadith 3367)

In other words, there is no comparison. These are special words. Allah says in the Qur'an:

This is a divine revelation which came directly from Allah. And He says:

It descended upon your heart, O Muhammad ﷺ. Until today, the correct place to store the Qur'an is the heart. And Allah says:

All of this is a sign where Allah continues to tell us the Qur'an is very special. And there is absolutely no flaw within the Qur'an.

The First Etiquette: Certainty That the Qur'an Is Perfect

First, we have to understand that there are etiquettes for connecting and engaging with the Qur'an. And second is: what are those etiquettes? The first etiquette that I will speak about is how Allah begins the Qur'an, where He says:

The first etiquette of engaging with the Qur'an is understanding and coming to this conclusion: that there is absolutely no flaw in this Qur'an. There is no doubt in this Qur'an. There is no defect in this Qur'an. There can be nothing that can be brought which is similar to the Qur'an. Allah says:

If you have doubt in the Qur'an — أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِن ذَٰلِكَ — bring something similar to it. They were never able to do it, Allah says. And you will also never be able to complete such a task. You can never bring anything similar to the Qur'an.

So the first etiquette that we have to internalize into our life while engaging with the Qur'an — connecting, listening, reading, sitting in a halaqah of the Qur'an — is knowing that what I'm reading and what I'm listening to, there is no doubt in it. There is no flaw in it. And anything that's found in this Qur'an is perfect.

Just like how Allah is perfect, the words of Allah are perfect. Now when I come across a verse which perhaps I don't understand, I'm not able to connect to — it's okay, because I know it's perfect. I realize that there is no flaw in this. And that's how we should be engaging with the Qur'an. Not in a manner of, "I'm not sure if this ayah makes sense." How can I say that? I don't understand it — that doesn't mean that it's not perfect.

Allah begins the second chapter of the Qur'an, Surah Al-Baqarah, with letters that no one can ever fully understand or translate. No one can ever unravel them. Allah starts the Qur'an off with letters and words that we can never fully learn. Which is a sign of our ignorance and our inability to completely understand the words of Allah. Allah is saying: you've only been given a small portion of knowledge. The ocean of knowledge belongs to Me.

The Story of Musa and Khidr: The Limits of Our Knowledge

When Khidr and Musa ﷺ were traveling on their journey, and Khidr was sharing with Musa ﷺ the knowledge that Allah had given him — as they were on a ship, they saw a bird peck its beak into the water. And while it drank from the ocean, when it lifted its beak out, a few droplets fell back into the ocean. And Khidr said to Musa ﷺ: O Musa, do you want to know what our knowledge is in comparison to Allah's? How perfect Allah's knowledge is in comparison to how insufficient and flawed our knowledge is? It is like those few droplets that fell from the bird's beak. That's all we have. And the entire ocean is the knowledge of Allah.

If someone is Al-'Alim Al-Hakim, Al-Khabir, how can there ever be a flaw in His speech? And that's how we connect with the Qur'an — knowing that this is something special. Identifying that this is coming directly from Allah.

The Analogy of a Farewell Letter

You know, when a father, a mother, or someone that we love may be leaving the world and they write a letter for their son, their daughter, a spouse — we read that with a different attachment. That this is a special letter. It was written by my father. It was sent by my grandmother. And we take care of it. We recognize how special it is, because of who gave it to us, and when it was given to us. How special that letter becomes to us is based upon where it came from.

When we connect with the Qur'an, we realize: my mother can never lie to me. She can never hurt me. Her advice to me as she's leaving the world — it's something that I should really act upon, because she wants the best for me. Similarly should be the way our outlook towards reading the Qur'an, at a much higher level.

Statements of the Scholars on Conviction in the Qur'an

Imam Al-Bukhari's Statement

Imam Al-Bukhari rahimahullah has a beautiful statement. The great legendary Muhammad ibn Ismail Al-Bukhari rahimahullah says:

It is not possible for a person to completely benefit from the fruits of the Qur'an until and unless they have complete conviction that whatever is in this Qur'an is better for them, and that whatever solution Allah has given in the Qur'an is for their own benefit. And no one can truly carry it as it deserves to be carried except the one who has certainty.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

O people — not just believers; it's for everyone — we have sent you an advice that came directly from Allah. Of course, for those that are muttaqeen, we are able to benefit from it most fully. قَدْ جَاءَتْكُم مَّوْعِظَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ — this is an advice that came from Allah, directly from Allah.

Allah in Surah Al-Haqqah speaks about this concept — that no one else can infiltrate and intervene in the speech of Allah. Not even the Prophet ﷺ:

And then Allah says:

This is directly from Allah. Even the Prophet ﷺ cannot intervene in this speech. So he says that the only way a person can truly benefit from the Qur'an is to have complete conviction that whatever is here is beneficial for me.

Going back to that ayah — وَشِفَاءٌ لِّمَا فِي الصُّدُورِ — there is a cure for everything, for every disease, every hardship that is in our hearts.

'Uthman ibn 'Affan on the Insatiability of the Qur'an

Another beautiful statement by 'Uthman ibn 'Affan radiyaAllahu anhu, where he speaks about connecting with the Qur'an while having complete conviction in it. He says:

Whosoever has conviction in their heart for the Qur'an will never be full — they will never be satisfied with how much Qur'an they've read or how much Qur'an they've listened to.

And 'Uthman ibn 'Affan was one of those companions who would recite the entire Qur'an in one day and one night. Ibn 'Abbas radiyaAllahu anhuma says that the ayah:

— that there are people who would recite the Qur'an throughout the night and throughout the day — this ayah was actually revealed for 'Uthman radiyaAllahu anhu, because he was a living display of it.

So connecting with it, knowing that it's completely true, allows us to continue benefiting from it. You know, when someone wants to eat food — it doesn't matter how good the food is, they'll get full at some time. That's what happens at iftar for us. We put everything on our plate, and then finally when we start eating, we're like, wow, I really can't eat all of this. But 'Uthman is saying that we'll never get full and satisfied from the Qur'an, as long as we know that there is nothing better for us than this — as long as we have complete conviction in the words of Allah.

Hasan Al-Basri and His Love for the Qur'an

A student of Hasan Al-Basri rahimahullah would say — and I'll share a few more narrations and insha'Allah I will conclude the episode — he says: many times in my life I saw Hasan Al-Basri open the mushaf.

That I would see Hasan Al-Basri open the mushaf, his eyes would be tearing, his lips would be moving, but he's not even reading. So I asked him, O imam, O shaykh, what's going on? And he would reply: I just can't put into words how fortunate I feel that I am able to read the words of Allah. How special, how fortunate I am to be amongst those that can open up the Qur'an and recite it.

Conclusion: The Lens Through Which We Engage the Qur'an

So dear brothers and sisters, for us, it's extremely vital that despite the array of opportunities that we have to learn the Qur'an, we not forget the etiquettes that are required to truly benefit from it. Allah says:

Verily in this is a reminder. For who? Is it for everyone? No. لِمَن كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ — for those that have hearts that are alive, hearts that are engaged with it. No one likes a passive listener. No one likes a passive person that is conversing with us. We find that to be disrespectful. Similarly, when we are engaging with the Qur'an, let's have complete conviction that these are the words of Allah, that He has sent down for me as a continual guide.

This is the book that will continue to take people out of darkness towards light. And where the Prophet ﷺ says:

I have not been given any miracle except for wahi (revelation).
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4981)

Of course, he was given other miracles as well, but in comparison, wahi is the greatest miracle — because the miracle is used to allow people to see the greatness of Allah and to believe in Allah. And all the miracles of 'Isa ﷺ finished when he was raised up to meet Allah. The miracles of Musa ﷺ finished when he left the world. But the miracle of the Qur'an is still alive and at work until today, where hundreds and thousands of people, when they open up the Qur'an, are guided towards Allah.

I connect with the Qur'an knowing that. Allah says:

We reveal this so it can continue to guide you. So it can continue to be a source of mercy for you. And this will only happen when we realize that this Qur'an is perfect. There are no mistakes. There are no flaws.

And for people like us who perhaps live in a society where we are information rich — not knowledge rich, because there are technical differences between information and knowledge — but we are an information-rich society. And we feel like we are a superior society because of the access that we have to information. But that does not mean that we can water down and compromise how we look at the Qur'an. Our outlook towards the Qur'an should not be an outlook of criticism.

Of course we can always look at it in a critical manner — I need to understand this better. Let me ask a shaykh if I don't understand an ayah. Let me ask my imam. Let me ask someone that knows more than me. That's what Allah says:

If I don't know, just ask someone that does know. Because there is always someone — وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ — there is always someone that knows more than me. And don't just stop at the ayah and start questioning it. Rather, ask someone that perhaps knows more than us, so we can open up and remove any doubts. Because the first thing that Allah tells us about the Qur'an is we can benefit from it as long as لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ — we know that there are no mistakes, we have no doubts, there are no flaws.

It's perfect like how Allah is perfect, like how Allah's attributes and His qualities are perfect. The Qur'an is also perfect. And if I connect with the Qur'an knowing that it's perfect, it will change the way that I read the Qur'an. It will change the way that I listen to lectures about the Qur'an. It will change the way that I listen to the recitation of the Qur'an. Because it's perfect. There's nothing wrong with it. And it will always continue to guide me as long as I look at the Qur'an through those lenses.

The lens that I look at the Qur'an with allows me to benefit from it. And the first lens that we are wearing, the first etiquette that we are learning and discussing in our live sessions, is that we know the Qur'an is perfect and free from all flaws. And that's how we look at it.

May Allah bless you all and bless us all for listening and being a part of this first session that we had about the etiquette of the Qur'an. I will be going through this every Tuesday night, and hopefully you can continue to benefit from all of our live sessions throughout the week, including this one. Please remember us in your du'as. Share the lecture with your family and friends if you think they can benefit from it. And continue to join us insha'Allah ta'ala.

May Allah bless you all. We are humbled to have you as part of our family and part of our sessions. We would not be able to do this if it was not for your du'as, support, and all the well wishes that we have across the country and across the world. JazakAllah khair.

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ، وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ، وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. Al-Fatihah.