The Intellectual Growth of the Qur'an | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Summer Immersion

The Intellectual Growth of the Qur'an

The Qur'an is not simply there for spiritual growth. The Qur'an is also there for intellectual growth. The Qur'an also allows us to grow intellectually.

The Qur'an also allows our mind to grow the same way — or rather, in a much more superior way — just like how a person knows and understands when they sit in a class of physics, or whatever it may be that we're learning. It allows us to grow, it allows our mind to blossom, it gives us more knowledge, it gives us the know-how of whatever that subject is. The reality is that the Qur'an does the same, not for a specific niche subject of life that we rarely ever come across, but rather the Qur'an does that for life itself. It gives us the ability to understand how to live life.

It allows our mind to connect with the realities of life, and of course, it allows our heart to be given light. But that light is not without reason, that light is not just for the heart to grow, that light is not only for the heart to feel comfortable — that light is also for us to grow within our minds and to know how to go about life.

The Prophet's ﷺ Knowledge Was Not Classroom Knowledge

The Prophet ﷺ never sat in a classroom, he never sat in a college campus, he never sat with a professor, he never sat with the monks and priests of the previous generations and the previous religions.

And that was one of the attempts that the people of Mecca and the mushrikun of Mecca would claim — that you probably learned all of this from the priests and the monks. And whenever they would say that, Allah would defy that by explaining how their opinion was wrong, like in Ashab al-Kahf, like in Surah Yusuf. And then they would understand that this is not from those people.

So where was the Prophet ﷺ able to learn — not how to pray, not how to give charity, not how to fast — but how to live life, how to deal with people? Even the non-believers would be envious of his kindness. They would never be able to deny his truthfulness, his honesty — الصَّادِقُ الْأَمِينُ.

Every aspect of his life was such that we could look at it, not subjectively but objectively, and say: there is no person who could have done this better. Where did he learn it from? This is not a worship that we're referring to. We're referring to living life.

The Qur'an Teaches Us How to Live Life

Knowing how to do the things in life that we do — at times we say, why am I not looking at the Qur'an? Because the Qur'an will tell me how to be a Muslim. The Qur'an will explain to me what I need to do in the masjid. The Qur'an will give me the know-how of worship. That's not true. We don't limit the Qur'an to those things, though it obviously does that as well. The Qur'an came to allow us to understand how to live life in the best way.

To give us the details of how our mind should think. To teach us the mentality and the mindset of life. The most bought and purchased books are books that talk about mentality. How to have a mindset of a millionaire — I mean, that's great. It would be nice to know, how do you become it? Don't talk about that, because there's no way. SubhanAllah.

But the mindset — because everyone knows that everything starts from a mentality, it starts from a mindset. So when he would start sessions of tafsir, it's very important for us. He would preface it by saying that we're not learning this to simply know how to do the things that we need to know how to do within our worship. But this is actually teaching us how to live life. This allows us to become better humans — not just better Muslims. And obviously being a good Muslim means we're good human beings. One does not defy the other.

So therefore, as we begin this beautiful surah, we interact with it understanding that it is also helping us grow — not just helping us become more spiritual. That is definitely a goal. The orientalist and others will study the Qur'an to simply grow their mind. The difference is that we study the Qur'an to grow our hearts and grow our mind. We want our heart to be united with the light of Allah. And we also want to be able to grow in the way that we make decisions in life within the paradigm of the Qur'an.

The Heart, the Mind, and the Role of Shaytan

Decisions come from here. The thoughts come from the heart. But the mind — Imam al-Ghazali argues: what is the difference between a mind and a heart when it comes to decision making? He says that initially, the thought of that deed or the thought of that action comes in the heart. That is the heart. And the heart flutters with the idea. It thinks of it. It contemplates it.

And if the heart accepts it — and that's why Shaytan's goal is not to affect us intellectually — no, Shaytan's goal is:

He wants to get into our heart. Because if the heart accepts it, it will start trying to convince the mind. And therefore, it is very difficult to convince someone whose heart has become attached to something through a reason to become detached from it — if you understand, you understand. Even though there is a reason why you shouldn't marry this person, why you shouldn't purchase this car, why you shouldn't take this job. But when the heart becomes attached to it, it's very difficult to undo it. And we respond by saying, yes, I know it doesn't make sense, but what can I do? My heart is connected. It's attached to it.

So Shaytan works on the heart. The primary beneficiary of the Qur'an is the heart. Allah refers to:

It comes to your heart. But then it also grows the mind. There is no book you can read that will allow us to grow spiritually and intellectually — with reason and rationality — more so than the Qur'an.