Guidance to Mankind

صَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَقَالَ. إِذَنْ وَقَالَ الرَّسُولُ: يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا.

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

The greatest bounty of Allah upon us is that he has chosen and selected us for إِيمَان (iman). الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَىٰ نِعْمَةِ الْإِيمَانِ وَالْإِسْلَامِ (Al-Hamdulillahi ala ni'mat al-iman wa al-islam). And Allah has chosen us to be from the ummah of Rasool Allah, and وَلِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَىٰ ذَلِكَ (wa lillahi al-hamdulillahi ala dhalik). And Allah has chosen us to be the recipients of his final revelation and his direct speech, وَكَلَامُ وَهُوَ الْقُرْآنُ الْكَرِيمُ (wa kalam wa huwa al-qur'an al-karim). And الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَىٰ نِعْمَةِ الْقُرْآنِ (al-hamdulillahi ala ni'mat al-qur'an).

The Unique Favor of the Quran

In the entire Quran, Allah does not boast upon any favor that he has done upon his servants except for one favor. And that is the favor that Allah has sent Rasool Allah amongst us. So from all of the favors that Allah could have rightfully boasted about in the Quran, Allah chose to boast about Rasool Allah being sent amongst us.

And in the Quran, Allah, when he wants to show his immense mercy to his servants and he wants to show a manifestation of his great mercy upon his servants, Allah gives an example of how Allah granted us the knowledge of the Quran regarding Allah sending Rasool Allah amongst us and boasting about this. Allah says that verily Allah conferred his favor upon the believers when he sent a prophet from amongst themselves reciting to them his verses and purifying them and teaching them the book and the wisdom. And surely before this they were in clear misguidance.

It is through the بَرَكَة (barakah) of the existence of Rasool Allah that we have been granted هِدَايَة (hidayah). That is why after Allah, our greatest مُحْسِن (muhsin) and benefactor is no other than Rasool Allah.

The Name of Al-Rahman and Its Significance

And then in Surah ar-Rahman, Allah wants to show how he is الرَّحْمَٰن (ar-Rahman) to his servants. الرَّحْمَٰن (ar-Rahman) is the only name of Allah which is not only his attribute but it is also an اسْمُ الدَّاعِي (ismul da'at), like the name Allah. Just like it is not permissible for us to use the word Allah for anyone other than Allah, it is not permissible for us to use the word الرَّحْمَٰن (ar-Rahman) for any other being besides Allah.

But the other names of Allah are not like this. We can use the word رَحِيم (rahim) and رَؤُوف (wa'uf) for غَيْرِ اللَّهِ (ghairullah), as Allah used these two names for Rasool Allah, reminding us that the رَأْفَة (ra'afa) and the رَحْمَة (rahma), the compassion and the mercy of Rasool Allah, is an extension of the رَأْفَة (ra'afa) and رَحْمَة (rahma), the compassion and the mercy of Allah himself.

A prophet has come to you from amongst yourselves. عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ (Azizun alayhima alittum) — he is so merciful and compassionate towards you that even the slightest difficulty that you go through, whether it be a dunyawi or dini difficulty, a physical or spiritual difficulty, it is very hard for Rasool Allah to bear. حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم (Harisun alaykum) — he is greedy and eager for you to succeed. And he is eager and he is greedy to see you achieve all of the خَيْر (khair) of the dunya and akhira. بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ (Bil mu'mineena wa'ufur rahim) — and he is all compassionate, all merciful with the believers.

But this is not the case with the usage of the word الرَّحْمَٰن (ar-Rahman). Regardless of how merciful Rasool Allah was upon the believers, you cannot use the word الرَّحْمَٰن (ar-Rahman) for Rasool Allah because the mercy of Allah is the only mercy that encompasses all of his creation: الْكُلِّيَّات وَالْجُزْئِيَّات وَمَا فِي الْكَوْن وَمَا سِوَى الْكَوْن وَمَا خَارِجِ الْكَوْن (al kulliyat wa'l juz'iyat wa maa fil kon, wa maa siwal kon, wa maa khaarijal kon). That is the رَحْمَة (rahma) of Allah himself.

الرَّحْمَٰن (Al-Rahman) is that being whose mercy encompasses every single being and every single thing in this universe. And that is why Allah chose to introduce himself in Surah ar-Rahman by saying:

Allah is the most merciful being, and as the greatest manifestation of his mercy, he taught you the Quran by sending Rasool Allah to you to teach you the Quran. So the greatest manifestation of the mercy of Allah upon this ummah is that Allah chose the ummah of Rasool Allah to be the direct recipients of the Quran.

The Inheritance of the Book

Allah says: From his servants he chooses whoever he makes the heirs and inheritors of his good. Then there are those who oppress themselves, whose sins are more than their good deeds. Then there are those who are moderate, that means their good deeds and their evil deeds are equal. And then there are those whose good deeds are greater than their evil. But to each group, the فَضْل (fadl) and the grace and the great mercy and the bounty of Allah extends nevertheless. All of them are from the heirs and the inheritors of the book of Allah.

So the first thing that Allah mentions is: and then he mentions, and as the manifestation of my mercy I created you as human beings. So Allah mentions, indicating towards us that Allah granting us the knowledge of the Quran is a greater bounty than us being human beings. Because if we were human beings and we did not have the knowledge of the Quran, then we would have been worse than animals. But it is through the Quran that Allah has given us honor, and Allah has made us the best of all nations.

Rights and Responsibilities

And with virtue comes responsibility. Because we are the ummah that has been chosen to directly communicate with Allah via the Quran, the Quran has many rights and responsibilities upon us. And it is because the Quran is the direct speech of Allah that we are commanded to recite only the Quran in صَلَاة (salah). We recite the Quran in صَلَاة (salah). In صَلَاة (salah) we are not allowed to do any form of ذِكْر (dhikr) or دُعَاء (dua), تَسْبِيح (tasbih), كَبِير (kahlil) or تَكْبِير (takbir) aside from reading the Quran because صَلَاة (salah) is a نِعْمَة (ni'mah) that was given to us so that we can be in direct communication with Allah. And the only way to do this is to read the direct speech of Allah.

That is why in every رَكْعَة (rakah) we communicate with Allah directly by reciting his direct speech. So since Allah has chosen to grant us the Quran and Allah has conferred his favor and his رَحْمَة (rahmah) upon us by making us the recipients of the Quran, we are to be thankful to Allah.

The Quran as Complainant and Intercessor

And that is why the Quran has many great rights upon us. A person who fails to fulfill the rights of the Quran, then there is no complainant that is greater in the state of Allah than the complainant of the Quran. Rasulullah says: The Quran is such a complainant whose complaint will be upheld and it will be believed. And at the same time, he is the intercessor whose intercession will be accepted.

So if the Quran is a مَاحِم (ma'him) for anyone, then there is utter destruction for him. And if the Quran is a شَافِع (shafia) for anyone, then this will be a means for his salvation and success in the dunya and akhira.

The Quran is either an evidence for you or against you. If you believe in the Quran and you practice the Quran and fulfill the rights of the Quran, the Quran will be an evidence for you. And if a person does not fulfill the rights of the Quran, then the Quran will be evidence against them.

The First Right: Belief in the Quran

The very first right of the Quran upon us is الْإِيمَانُ بِهِ (al-imanu bihi) — it is to bring إِيمَان (iman) in the Quran. What does it mean to bring إِيمَان (iman) in the Quran?

الْإِيمَانُ بِالْقُرْآنِ (Al-imanu bil quran) means that we believe with firm conviction that this is the direct speech of Allah, and we do not secretly hold any doubt regarding the Quran. And we completely submit ourselves to the words of Allah and the explanation of Rasulallah, whose words were a commentary of the words of Allah in the Quran. This is what it means to have إِيمَان (iman) in the Quran.

So we shouldn't have preconceived notions regarding what the verses of the Quran mean and then try to reinterpret the Quran in accordance to what we understood or in accordance to what is our wish and desire of how we want the Quran to be. And we should not try to reinterpret the verses of the Quran. And we should believe that all prosperity lies in following the words of Allah regardless of whether we understand it or not, regardless of whether it is in accordance to my desire or not. Because this is the test of the Quran by Allah.

Three Sources of Knowledge

Because Allah has given us three means of acquiring knowledge of what is beneficial for us and what is harmful for us. The first tool of knowledge are the five senses. But the function of the five senses is very limited. So where the function of the five senses stops is where the function of the intellect and the intuition starts, which is the عَقْل (aql). That is why human beings are known as intellectual beings, because Allah has given us the intellect and intuition to understand things that are beyond the function of the five senses.

But the intellect itself is not sufficient for us to know what is harmful for us, what is beneficial for us. That is why Allah, through his infinite mercy, he did not leave that knowledge to us. Because Allah knows that the human being, due to his deficient knowledge, he will not be able to understand what is harmful for him and what is beneficial for him. So Allah, being the creator, being the خَالِق (khaliq), he well knows what is harmful and what is beneficial for us.

That is why Allah gave us a third source of knowledge which is عِلْمُ الْوَحْي (ilmul wahy), which is the Quran, the divine knowledge. So that is why in this divine knowledge we get access to the knowledge of those things that we cannot perceive with our five senses and with the intellect, which is الْإِيمَانُ بِالْمَغِيبَات (al imanu bil maghibat) — to have belief in the unseen.

Belief in the Unseen

So we cannot see Allah, yet we believe in him because Allah introduces himself in the Quran. We did not see any of the prophets, but we believe in them because it is mentioned in the Quran. We did not see a single angel, but we believe in all of the angels. Why? Because it came in the Quran.

We believe in all of the holy scriptures revealed by Allah, not because we have seen them in their actual form, but because Allah speaks about them in the Quran. We believe in the hereafter, not because we have seen a single person being resurrected from the grave, but because Allah mentions the day of judgement and he mentions the existence of جَنَّة (jannah) and جَهَنَّم (jahannam) in the Quran. And he mentions the condition of the grave in the Quran.

And we believe in fate and destiny, that all خَيْر (khair) and شَرّ (sharr) is from Allah, because Allah mentions this in the Quran. And if it was not for the belief of قَدْر (qadr) that the Muslims have, then the suicide rate in Muslims would not have been the most least in all of the religious denominations.

Why? Because we as Muslims believe that whatever afflicts us, whether it is good or bad, is from Allah. If it is good, we are grateful to Allah. If it is a difficulty, even if it may be a difficulty like losing our parents and our loved ones, we believe that it is from Allah, so we are patient. And there is a lot of wisdom behind having belief in قَدْر (qadr).

If a person did not believe in قَدْر (qadr), then he will live his entire life in depression. That is why Allah says in the Quran, while explaining the reason behind الْإِيمَانُ بِالْقَدْرِ (al iman bil qadr) and the benefit of it:

No difficulty afflicts you in the earth or in the land or in the sky but that it has been already recorded in your book for it to happen even before we bring it into existence. This is the benefit of إِيمَان بِالْقَدْرِ (iman bil qadr): so that you do not grieve over something that escapes you. You wanted something but you did not get what you wanted and it escaped you, so do not be depressed over it because it was not meant for you.

And so that you are not arrogant over the نِعَم (ni'mahs) and the bounties that Allah granted you. So do not become arrogant over your knowledge or over your wealth or over your understanding and your intellect. Do not become arrogant over your skills and your profession because Allah decreed for you to have all this. That is why you have it. If Allah did not decree for you to have all of these bounties, then you could have exerted yourself to the ultimate extent. You would not have been able to attain any of these skills and any of these bounties.

So this is the reason why we believe in قَدْر (qadr).

The Second Right: Reciting the Quran with Tajweed

So the very first right of the Quran is to believe in the Quran, is to have إِيمَان (iman) in the Quran, to believe in all of the teachings of the Quran, whether we understand it or not. Because our intellect is deficient. Our knowledge in front of the knowledge of Allah is like a small drop of water in front of the vast water of the ocean, even less than this. And this example that was given in the hadith was just for us to understand. But in reality, our knowledge is not even close to that.

So after believing in the Quran, the second right of the Quran is to recite the Quran as it was revealed upon Rasulallah. So the verse that I recited in the khutbah, one of the dictates of the Quran is to recite the Quran as it was revealed, as it ought to be recited. And the Quran was revealed upon Rasulallah with تَجْوِيد (tajweed).

We recited the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed). We revealed the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed). Oh Rasulallah, recite the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed). Allah loves that the Quran is recited as it was revealed. That is why Ibn Jazari said that if someone had to take an oath, "Wallahi, this person who is reading the Quran without تَجْوِيد (tajweed), he is not reading the Quran," then he will not become حَالِف (halef) and he will not break his oath. He does not have to be تَفَارَة يَمِين (tafara of yameen).

Why? Because Quran that is recited without تَجْوِيد (tajweed) is not Quran. That is why we have to give more importance to كَيْفِيَّة (kayfiyah) over كَمِّيَّة (kammiyah). We have to give more importance to quality over quantity. We should give more importance to reciting the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed) as opposed to just making خَتْم (khatm) to the Quran over and over again without reading the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed), without giving any importance to reading the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed).

In a statement of Uthman, he says: There are many who recite the Quran, yet the Quran it sends its curse upon him. Why? Because he is completely distorting the Quran when he is reading the Quran. Instead of reading, he is reading, which has no meaning. So he is not fulfilling the right of the Quran.

That is why it is very important that we give importance to reading the Quran with تَجْوِيد (tajweed). Even if we read a small amount of Quran, we should read it with punctuality and we should read it with تَجْوِيد (tajweed), then we will be fulfilling the right of the Quran, insha'Allah.

The Third Right: Understanding the Quran

The third right of the Quran is to understand the Quran, to understand what Allah is telling us. And we have to do this in the correct method. The correct method of understanding the Quran is to humble ourselves and go to the scholars of Quran and the scholars of تَفْسِير (tafsir) and understand the Quran in light of how the scholars of the past understood.

We should not take a translation of the Quran from the masjid and just start reading the translation and start deriving rules on our own. Yes, Allah says in the Quran:

One explanation of this verse is: We have made the Quran easy for memorization, so will there be anyone who will memorize the Quran? We have made the Quran easy for you to take heed and to take advice from the Quran. Will anyone take advice from the Quran?

This ayah does not mean that we have made the Quran easy for you to understand, so every طَابِع (tablick) and حَرّي (harry) can just take a translation of the Quran and become a مُفَسِّر (mufassir) of the Quran.

We do not try to become doctoral engineers on our own. How do we have the audacity to try to understand the Quran and give explanation of the verses of the Quran without having the necessary tool and knowledge, and without having the ability within ourselves to humble ourselves before scholars and attain the knowledge as it was attained by all of the عُلَمَاء (ulema) in the past?

May Allah give us the understanding and the ability to understand the Quran. There are two extremes in this regard. One extreme is that we do not give any focus to understanding the Quran — that is also incorrect. And the other extreme is that we try to understand the Quran on our own.

At least we should try to understand those verses in the Quran when Allah is addressing us directly by saying: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu) — O you who believe. Imagine Allah is speaking to us in many verses in the Quran addressing us يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (ya ayyuha alladhina amanu). But me being a believer, a مُؤْمِن (mu'min) in Allah, I do not know what my Allah is saying to me. Or I do not know the meaning of سُوْرَة الْفَاتِحَة (Surah al-Fatihah), that I am reciting in every رَكْعَة (rakah) of every صَلَاة (salah).

I do not know the meaning of the small verses that I am reciting every day in my صَلَاة (salah). How unfortunate and how sad would this be? That we are communicating directly with Allah, the greatest being, our creator, our lover and our عِزّ (azzat) and our beloved. But yet we do not know what we are saying to Allah.

The Fourth Right: Contemplation and Reflection

The fourth way of the Quran is to contemplate and ponder over the meaning of the Quran. And this stage comes after understanding the Quran. Allah says:

Why do they not contemplate and ponder over the Quran? Or is it that their hearts have been locked, that do not give them the ability to understand the Quran, which does not give them the ability to contemplate and ponder over the Quran?

The Fifth Right: Practicing and Spreading the Quran

And finally, the last way of the Quran is to practice upon the Quran and to spread the teaching of the Quran. Wasulullah says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

The best amongst you are those who teach and learn the Quran. And if jealousy was permitted regarding anyone, then it would have been permissible regarding that person who spends his day and night in trying to understand the Quran and read the Quran and in trying to spread the teaching of the Quran.

We make دُعَاء (dua) to Allah that he accepts all of us to spread the teaching of the Quran and that Allah makes all of us from the people of the Quran. آمِين (Ameen).