Bismillah, Al Hamdulillah!
Did you ever contemplate on the Quran?
I am sure you never have done it.
Do you wonder, how do I say it so confidently? It’s easy. Indeed, it is the truth. Let me prove it to you.
What does ‘Contemplating on the Quran’ mean to you?
What do you do to study the Quran? How do you study the Quran?
Isn’t study Quran means reading a Tafseer or listening to a lecture about the Quran to you?
Isn’t that what you know and what you do for understanding the Quran?
Then when do YOU contemplate on the Quran by YOURSELF?
Tell me, where is the term ‘Contemplating on the Quran’, as what is understood by it, fits in your method of understanding the Quran?
It doesn’t.
Now, do you also wonder of the fact and perspective I just put forward?
Then let me ask you a few more questions.
When you read a story of a Sahaba, do you contemplate on its words?
No, you don’t.
When you read a book, for an example, the famous book ‘In the beginning and in the end’ ‘Al-Bidaya An-Nihaya’, do you contemplate on its words?
No, you don’t.
You just keep reading and get what is being told, what has been thought, how things were viewed by Imam Ibne Katheer, Raheemullah. You just get some info coupled with his thoughts and understanding. You didn’t do any contemplation on those events he described except, of course, the usual act of the brain, which is, it receives info, it forms a view over it. And that’s a usual function of your brain that it does when you read anything.
Then when you read a Tafsir, do you not do the same?
Isn’t a Tafseer is all about a scholar’s understanding, views, thoughts and opinions apart from the information of revelation, the reason of revelation etc.? When do you then contemplate on Quran by YOURSELF while you read a Tafsir?
That’s not called contemplation. And I don’t want to bring the literal meaning from a dictionary as it defines the meaning of contemplation. You know what our scholars have meant by saying ‘Contemplation on the Quran’.
It is understanding the meaning of an Ayah,
It is thinking over an Ayah,
It is then reflecting on its meaning,
It is then gathering pertinent knowledge about it,
and then acting on it.
Does reading a Tafseer, reading other’s contemplation let you contemplate by yourself? No way!
Contemplating means, thinking about it by YOURSELF.
Contemplating on the Quran means, you think about the Ayah critically, You keep thinking about it before you get an explanation from other more intellectual minds.
And when you do it, do you know what happens?
Your brain feels the pressure to get a way out of it, that’s called brainstorming.
But the moment you turn to Tafsir, you actually stopped your brain to do further thinking about it. And the fact about the brain is, once your brain finds ease, it doesn’t want to take the hard work of thinking.
On the other hand, you do brainstorming, your brain loves it more. Did you not see some people love so much doing the puzzle/quiz solving? Why is that? It’s because their brain loves to take the pressure and it gets used to it. Brainstorming comes easy to them.
The result?
The Ayah that makes you think would last longer in your neuron, your mind will be attached with it for a long time and then whatever knowledge Allah, Al-Wahaab wishes for you, He will bestow on you. And that’s how you become more devoted in your Deen, through attachment.
We humans are the product of where we attach, how we attach.
Your mind will take you there wherever you put your mind on. And then wherever you put your mind on, life will pull you there.
That’s in Allah’s word, “I showed you both ways (90:10, 92:4), Now, whatever path you choose I will make that path easy for you (92:4-10)”
This is human being.
The benefits:
Isn’t that enough for you to take a path of EASE, to the ‘Contemplating of the Quran’?
Whoever Allah guides, a little is enough for him. But I would like to put a practical example for you so that you know the impact of contemplating on the Quran in your life.
A poor student, having difficulties understanding the maths, he needs a teacher to teach him the theories, he needs a little help to solve the problems. But his family cannot afford to have a tutor. So he struggles, in fact, the situation made him to struggle.
Then you know what happens, how many examples you knew that these types of poor students, whoever persisted, became the higher scorer in the exams, became achiever of higher grades and they are the ones that grabbed the higher positions in the professions? Do you not understand why they had excellence throughout their entire life?
Because they solved the problems themselves, they had to do the brainstorming, their situation forced them to build the confidence on their intellect, on their own understanding and that was the driving force of their excellence!
And what’s the greatest benefit of doing contemplation yourself?
Anything you read will impact you. And when something impacts you what happens? You will automatically take measure to act on it, acting on it will become easy for you.
And Allah knows best. May Allah guide you and me to contemplate on the Quran, to get the benefit of it. Ameen.
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