One of the commandments of the Quran is given in chapter Al-Ahzab (The Confederates) in these words: “Believers, remember God with much remembrance. (33:41)
According to this Quranic verse believers must remember God very much, every day and every moment. This is the most important teaching of the Quran, and it is also the highest form of worship. One who does this will be blessed with the greatest reward by God Almighty of receiving divine inspiration from God-realization.
According to the Quran, believers are given a unique blessing, that is, they are able to add faith to their faith. (48:4) This is not a mysterious phenomenon; it is a direct result of the above kind of chain reaction. This chain reaction of zikr is very important for personality development. A believer increases his divine spirituality through this process.
Source: Quranic Wisdom
There is a verse in the Quran: “He has subjected whatever is in Heaven and on the earth to you; it is all from Him. In that are signs for those who ponder.” (45:13) From this verse of the Quran, we learn that the entire universe has been made for man.
Here the question arises as to what the purpose is of the whole universe being subjected to man. As we know, the vastness of the universe is limitless. Such a limitless universe cannot be man’s habitat. It is also impossible for man to draw spiritual provision from such a great universe. Then what does it mean, or what does it convey, when the Quran says that the entire universe is created for man?
From other verses of the Quran, for instance, the last verses of the third chapter, we learn that the universe was created so that man might reflect upon it. This reflection takes place by employing reason rather than by any physical exercise. From other verses of the Quran, we learn that God’s signs are so numerous that they cannot be counted. It is these innumerable universal signs upon which man may ponder and thus be able to worship his Lord at an elevated level.
It is man alone who has the capability to contemplate the signs scattered throughout the universe. This contemplation could be done earlier within a traditional framework. Now this process of contemplation has become possible within a scientific framework. In this way, man discovers the boundless greatness of God. He is able to establish a relationship of intense love for and intense fear of God. He is able to conceive of the eternal Paradise of the Hereafter. It is this contemplation that has been described as universal worship.
Source: Discovering the Quran
The formula for Quranic spirituality is expressed thus in a Quranic chapter: “Become men of God.” (The Quran, 3:79)
Becoming a man of God means adopting a God-oriented life. The God-oriented way of life is a complete way of life. It calls for the use of all human faculties. It means God-oriented thinking, God-oriented speech, God-oriented behaviour, God-oriented morality, etc.
God-oriented life is another term for spiritual life. In this verse, the Quran uses the word ‘al-rabbani’. It means a spiritual person or a rab-oriented person. In fact, Islam is a religion of spirituality. It is a discipline that can be explained in terms of reason. Islamic spirituality is based on thinking.
Islamic spirituality is based on contemplation rather than meditation. It is mind-based rather than heart-based: it arises from the awakening of the intellectual faculty. When you think about the truth and you discover it, then you become a spiritual person.
When you ponder over the world around you, when your thinking goes beyond your immediate surroundings; you discover the truth that is beyond you, beyond time and space. You become conscious of yourself as well as your Creator. This is the beginning of the spiritual process in your personality and this process will continue to evolve.
Islamic spirituality is, in essence, God-centred and not self-centred. When you discover your Creator, you instantly establish communication between yourself and your Creator. It is like establishing a connection between the electric bulb in your room and the powerhouse situated outside your room. Just as the electric connection illuminates your room, so also does the divine connection illuminate your whole personality. Then you become a ‘rabanni’, or a man of God.
Source: Quranic Wisdom
According to the Quran, man must be like a good tree. A good tree is a natural analogy for a good man. The translation of the relevant verses is as follows:
“Do you not see how God compares a good word to a good tree? Its root is firm and its branches are in the sky, it yields its fruit each season with its Lord’s permission—God makes such comparisons for people, in order that they may take heed.” (The Quran, 14:24-25)
The tree is a unique phenomenon of Nature; moreover, the tree sets an example for man. It is required of man that he translate this tree culture into human life. This culture implies being deep-rooted, vastly spread out, and at all times giving out benefits.
A good man is one who is like a good tree. What is a tree? A tree begins from a seed, then it turns into a plant, then a strong trunk, then branches and leaves, and then flowers and fruits. A stone cannot grow, but a tree continually grows till it becomes completely lush green with many fine attributes, as referred to in the above Quranic verse.
The same is required of men and women. All men and women must develop themselves like a tree. Where the tree develops itself in physical terms, men and women must develop the same qualities in terms of morality.
Every human being should firmly establish himself on his roots; he should be strong like a tree trunk, he should have a vibrant character like the leaves, he should prove himself fruitful for society, he should convey to people positive vibrations of life, just as a tree supplies fresh oxygen to man, and he should provide shelter to his fellow human beings.
A green tree makes our world beautiful. Without trees, our Earth would be barren. A tree is a giver member of our world. It gives everything but on a unilateral basis. For example, a tree continuously supplies fresh oxygen but it never sends the bill for it. Similar behaviour is required of both men and women.
Men and women must live in their society as giver persons. They must adopt this culture on a unilateral basis. They must live in their society in such a manner that society may always benefit from them. Like this, men and women can make their society like a beautiful garden.
Source: Quranic Wisdom
According to the Quran, wisdom is of the greatest value for a human being. There is a verse in Chapter al-Baqarah that states: “Whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted abundant wealth” (2: 269). This verse means that wisdom is summum bonum or the greatest good. Wisdom ensures success, while the lack of it signals failure. I have tried to understand what wisdom is from the Quran and Hadith, that is, what is the concept of wisdom, as defined in the Quran and the prophetic practice.
After a deep study, I have come to conclude that the definition of wisdom according to the Quran is the ability to discover the relevant by sorting out the irrelevant. After studying the life of the Prophet of Islam, I have realized that the best title for him is that he was a ‘Prophet of Wisdom’. In 1978 the American author Dr. Michael Hart wrote a book with the title, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In this book, he ranked the Prophet Muhammad as the greatest achiever in entire human history. But Dr. Hart does not explain in his book the reason for Prophet’s super achievement. I have discovered through my study that the reason for Prophet’s success was his application of Quranic wisdom to the situations he faced. The Prophet experienced various kinds of situations and in every situation, he adopted Quranic wisdom. I will give some examples to illustrate how the Prophet applied this wisdom.
Source: Quranic Wisdom
The Quran says, ‘Recite the Quran slowly and distinctly.’ (73:4) This means, read the Quran in slow, measured rhythmic tones. That is, read, paying full attention to the import of the content. When read like this, a two-way process between Quran and its reader comes into play. For him, the Quran is an address or speech by God and his heart starts answering this address at every verse. In the Quran where there is any mention of God’s majesty, the reader’s entire existence is strongly affected by the realisation of His greatness. When God’s blessings are enumerated in the Quran, the reader’s heart overflows with gratitude; when God’s retribution is described in the Quran, the reader trembles on reading it; when an order is laid down in the Quran, the feeling becomes intensified in the reader that he should become the obedient subject of his Lord by carrying out that order.
Source: The Quran (Introduction)
The Quran is the Book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety for all time to come. Although written originally in Arabic, it has been made accessible, thanks to translations, to those who have no knowledge of Arabic. While no substitute for the original, translations serve the signal purpose of spreading the word of God far beyond the Arabic-speaking peoples to a far broader spectrum of humanity.
The Quran is apparently in the Arabic language, but in reality, it is in the language of nature, that is, the language in which God directly addressed all human beings at the time of Creation. This divine invocation of humanity is ever-present in the consciousness of all human beings, that is why the Quran is universally understandable—to some on a conscious plane, and to others at the subconscious level. This reality has been described in the Quran as ‘clear revelations in the hearts of those who have been given knowledge.’ This verse goes on to say that ‘none deny Our revelations save the wrongdoers’ (29:49). In this way the translations of the Quran help people who do not know Arabic to understand its meaning.
Source: The Quran (Introduction)
The Quran is a book of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. It did not come to him in the form of a complete book but in parts over a period of 23 years. The first part was revealed in 610 AD when the Prophet Muhammad was in Makkah. Subsequently, different parts continued to be revealed regularly, the final part being revealed in 632 AD when the Prophet was in Madinah.
There are 114 chapters in the Quran, both long and short. The verses number about 6600. To meet the needs of recitation, the Quran was divided into 30 parts. These parts were finally set in order under the guidance of the Angel Gabriel, through whom God had revealed the Quran.
When the Quran was revealed in the first quarter of the 7th century, paper had already been invented. This paper, known as papyrus, was made by hand from the fibres of certain trees. Whenever any part of the Quran was revealed, it was written down on papyrus, or in Arabic, qirtas (6:7). During this process, people committed the verses to memory, the Quran being the only Islamic literature which was recited in prayer, as well as being read out for the purposes of da‘wah. In this way, the Quran continued to be simultaneously memorized as well as written down. This method of preservation continued during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad. In this way, the Quran was preserved during the lifetime of the Prophet.
The third caliph, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, had several copies prepared. He sent these to different cities, where they were kept in the great mosques. People not only recited from these copies, but also prepared more copies from them.
The writing of the Quran by hand continued till the printing press was invented and paper began to be manufactured on a large scale, thanks to the industrial revolution. Then, the Quran began to be printed. Printing methods went on improving and so the printing of the Quran also improved. Now printed copies of the Quran have become so common that they can be found in every home, mosque, library, and bookstore. Today anyone can find a beautiful copy of the Quran, wherever he might be, in any part of the globe.
Source: The Quran (Introduction)
The Quran, relatively speaking, is a modest book and its language is also very simple. To appreciate the Quran, you don’t need to understand it from A to Z. Although there is a comprehensive theme that covers all the chapters of the Quran, at the same time every single verse of the Quran has an independent meaning.
The verses of the Quran total approximately six thousand three hundred. These are arranged in the form of one hundred and fourteen chapters, some long, some very short. Every chapter, except one, begins with the words: “In the name of God, Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.” All the statements of the Quran relate to God Almighty, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. In the Quran, God Almighty directly addresses man saying: ‘O man! This is your God addressing you. Listen to Me and follow it. This is the path of success for you.’
One special aspect of the Quran is that at any moment its reader can consult its Writer, put his questions, and receive answers, for the Writer of the Quran is God Himself. He is a living God. As man’s Creator, He directly hears and answers man’s call. The Quran stresses the importance of man’s discovery of God at the level of realization, maarifah (5:83).
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
It is important to understand that the Quranic teachings are not system-based: they focus on the individual. They cover his thinking, his speech, his behaviour, his everyday dealings and his spirituality. The study of the Quran tells us that the actual target of the Quran is to change the thinking of the individual. The Quran aims at bringing about an intellectual revolution in every human being. All its teachings are therefore spiritual in nature. All its verses address the human mind, their main thrust being to promote contemplation, for which the Quranic word is al-taffakur. The Quran, in effect, strives to promote spiritual behaviour and peaceful conduct in national as well as international life.
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
When you read the Quran, you will repeatedly find it stated that it is the word of God, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over 23 years from 610 till 632 AD. The Quran is no new heavenly scripture. It is only an authentic edition of the previous heavenly scriptures. The Quran, the Book of God, enshrines the teachings which were basically the same as were to be found in previously revealed scriptures. But these ancient scriptures are no longer preserved in their original state. Later additions and deletions have rendered them unreliable, whereas the Quran, preserved in its original state, is totally reliable. When a believer in the previously revealed scripture turns to the Quran, it does not mean that he is rejecting his own belief, but rather amounts to his having re-discovered his own faith in an authentic form. This is because the original text is preserved in Arabic and its translation is available in all the major languages, including English.
The Quran is the preserved version of the book sent by the Lord of all creation. It is a book for all human beings because it has been sent by that Divine Being who is the God of all of us. In this respect, the Quran is a book for all human beings, of all nations. It is the expression of God’s mercy for one and for all. It is a complete message sent by God for every one of us. The Quran is a light of guidance for all the world just as the sun is the source of light and heat for all the world.
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
The Quranic description of certain stages in the development of the embryo corresponds exactly to what we know about it today, and the Quran does not contain a single statement that is open to criticism from modern science. That is why we can say that the Quran is the Book of God.
After ‘the thing which clings’ (an expression which is well-founded, as we have seen) the Quran informs us that the embryo passes through the stage of ‘chewed-flesh,’ then osseous tissue appears and is clad in flesh (defined by a different word from the preceding which signifies ‘intact flesh’). (23: 14)
“We fashioned the thing which clings into a chewed lump of flesh and We fashioned the chewed flesh into bones and We clothed the bones with intact flesh.”
‘Chewed flesh’ is the translation of the word mudgha; ‘intact flesh’ is lahm. This distinction needs to be stressed. The embryo is initially a small mass. At a certain stage in its development, it looks to the naked eye like chewed flesh. The bone structure develops inside this mass in what is called the mesenchyma. The bones that are formed are covered in muscle; the word lahm applies to them.
It is known how certain parts appear to be completely out of proportion during embryonic development with what is later to become the individual, while others remain in proportion.
This is surely the meaning of the word mukhallaq, which signifies ‘shaped in proportion’ as used in verse 5, surah 22 to describe this phenomenon.
“We fashioned ... into something which clings ... into a lump of flesh fashioned and unfashioned.”
More than a thousand years before our time, at a period when whimsical doctrines still prevailed, those who were privileged to have a knowledge of the Quran were fortunate, for the statements it contains express in simple terms truths of primordial importance which man has taken centuries to discover.
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
One of the most intriguing predictions made by the Quran concerns a Pharaoh of Egypt, called Merneptah, who was the son of Rameses II. According to historical records, this king was drowned in pursuit of Prophet Moses in the Red Sea. When the Quran was revealed, the only other mention of Pharaoh was in the Bible, the sole reference to his having drowned being in the book of Exodus; ‘And the waters returned, and covered the ‘chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.’
Amazingly, when this was all the world knew about the drowning of Pharaoh, the Quran produced this astounding revelation: ‘We shall save you in your body this day, so that you may become a sign to all posterity.
How extraordinary this verse must have appeared when it was revealed. At that time no one knew that the Pharaoh’s body was really intact, and it was nearly 1400 hundred years before this fact came to light. It was a Professor Loret who, in 1898, was the first to find the mummified remains of the Pharaoh who lived in Moses’ day. For 3000 years the corpse had remained wrapped in a sheet in the Tomb of the Necropolis at Thebes where Loret had found it, until July 8, 1907, when Elliot Smith uncovered it and subjected it to proper scientific examination. In 1912 he published a book entitled The Royal Mummies. His research had proved that the mummy discovered by Loret was indeed that of the Pharaoh who ‘knew Moses, resisted his pleas, pursued him as he took flight, and lost his life in the process.’ His earthly remains were saved by the will of God from destruction to become a sign to man, as is written in the Quran.
In 1975, Dr. Bucaille made a detailed examination of the Pharaoh’s mummy which by then had been taken to Cairo. His findings led him to write in astonishment and acclaim:
Those who seek among modern data for proof of the Holy Scriptures will find a magnificent illustration of the verses of the Quran dealing with the Pharaoh’s body by visiting the Royal Mummies Room of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo!
As early as the seventh century A.D., the Quran had asserted that the Pharaoh’s body was preserved as a sign for man, but it was only in the 19th century that the body’s discovery gave concrete proof of this prediction. What further proof is needed that the Quran is the Book of God? There is no book like it, among the works of men.
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
“Do not those who deny the truth see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (ratq) and that We then split them asunder (fatq)? (The Quran, 21:30)
Ratq means wholesomeness and compactness; while fatq is the opposite, that is, disintegration. Modern studies in astronomy have confirmed the truth of this concept, various observations have led scientists to postulate that the universe was formed by an explosion from a state of high density and temperature (the ‘big-bang’ theory) and that the cosmos evolved from the original, highly compressed, extremely hot gas, taking the form of galaxies of stars, cosmic dust, meteorites, and asteroids. The present outward motion of the galaxies is a result of this explosion.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1984), this is ‘the theory now favoured by most cosmologists.’ Once the process of expansion had set in – about six billion years ago – it had to continue, because the more the celestial bodies moved away from the centre, the less attraction they exerted over one another. Estimates of the circumference of the original matter place it at about one thousand million light years and now, according to Professor Eddington’s calculations, the present circumference is ten times what it was originally. This process of expansion is still going on. Professor Eddington explains that the stars and galaxies are like marks on the surface of a balloon that is continuously expanding and that all the celestial spheres are getting further and further apart.
Ancient man supposed quite wrongly that the stars were as close to one another as they appeared to be. How significant that the Quran should state: “We built the universe with Our might, giving it its vast expanse.” (The Quran 51:47)
Now science has revealed that since the universe came into existence 90 thousand million years B.C., its circumference has stretched from 6 thousand to sixty thousand million light years. This means that there are inconceivably vast distances between the celestial bodies.
Only the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, God Almighty could have known these facts. This proves beyond doubt that the Quran is the Word of God.
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
The Quran is a divine book, revealed specifically for the purpose of conveying glad tidings to humankind. This good news is that if man treads the path of good and of right action in the limited life of this world, he will find a place in eternal Paradise in the life Hereafter. The Quran makes it clear that these glad tidings of Paradise are meant only for the righteous:
“We have made it (the Quran) easy, in your own language, so that you may convey good news to the righteous.” (The Quran, 19: 97)
This good news is for those who adopt a God-oriented or righteous life in this world. Paradise is not to be the destiny of all and sundry, for it is only for the God-fearing (The Quran, 3: 133). It is to be given on a selective basis only to those who are deserving of it. To find a place in the ideal world of Paradise there is only one condition, and that is, being God-fearing or righteous.
Source: Spirit of Islam February 2017
The very language in which it is written—Arabic—is a kind of miracle, being an astonishing exception to the historical rule that a language cannot survive in the same form for more than 500 years. In the course of five centuries, a language changes so radically that the coming generations find it increasingly difficult to understand the works of their distant predecessors. For instance, the works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400), the father of English poetry, and the plays and poetry Of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), one of the greatest writers of the English language, have become almost unintelligible to twentieth-century readers, and are now read almost exclusively as part of college curricula with the help of glossaries, dictionaries and ‘translations.’
But the history of the Arabic language is strikingly different, having withstood the test of time for no less than 1500 years. Wording and style have, of course, undergone some development, but not to such an extent that words should lose their original meaning. Supposing someone belonging to the Quranic times of ancient Arabia could be reborn today, the form of language in which he would express himself would be as understandable to modern Arabs as it was to his own contemporaries.
It is as if the Quran had placed a divine imprint upon Arabic, arresting it in its course so that it should remain understandable right up to the last day. This being so, the Quran is never just going to collect dust on some obscure ‘Classical Literature’ shelf, but will be read by, and give inspiration to people for all time to come.
In the field of science, despite the great and rapid advances in knowledge in recent years, we come back to what was asserted in the Quran, so many centuries ago, as having arrived at the quintessence of the matter. Just as the Arabic language seems to have been crystallized at a particular point in time—in fact, at the moment of divine revelation, so also does science seem to have been arrested in its course, the Quran having the final say on matters which for centuries lay beyond man’s knowledge and which still, in many important cases, elude man’s intellectual grasp. The most significant of these is the origin of the universe.
Source: Quran: An Abiding Wonder
The Quran is a book of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. It did not come to him in the form of a complete book but in parts over a period of 23 years. The first part was revealed in 610 AD when the Prophet Muhammad was in Makkah. Subsequently, different parts continued to be revealed regularly, the final part being revealed in 632 AD when the Prophet was in Madinah.
There are 114 chapters in the Quran, both long and short. The verses number about 6600. To meet the needs of recitation, the Quran was divided into 30 parts. These parts were finally set in order under the guidance of the Angel Gabriel, through whom God had revealed the Quran.
When the Quran was revealed in the first quarter of the 7th century, paper had already been invented. This paper, known as papyrus, was made by hand from the fibres of certain trees. Whenever any part of the Quran was revealed, it was written down on papyrus, or in Arabic, qirtas (6:7). During this process, people committed the verses to memory, the Quran being the only Islamic literature, which was recited in prayer, as well as being read out for the purposes of da‘wah. In this way, the Quran continued to be simultaneously memorized as well as written down. This method of preservation continued during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad. In this way, the Quran was preserved during the lifetime of the Prophet.
The third caliph, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, had several copies prepared. He sent these to different cities, where they were kept in the great mosques. People not only recited from these copies, but also prepared more copies from them.
The writing of the Quran by hand continued till the printing press was invented and paper began to be manufactured on a large scale, thanks to the industrial revolution. Then, the Quran began to be printed. Printing methods went on improving and so the printing of the Quran also improved. Now printed copies of the Quran have become so common that they can be found in every home, mosque, library and bookstore. Today anyone can find a beautiful copy of the Quran, wherever he might be, in any part of the globe.
Source: Quran Pocket Guide
A study of the Quran shows that it aims to produce a universal approach in human beings. The Quran (1:2) introduces God as the ‘Lord of the worlds’ and not just the Lord of the Muslims or the Arabs. You will find that the Quran defines God as “rabb al-alamin”, or the Lord of Mankind. This shows that the God of Islam is one God: all divinity is invested in His Being.
The basic message of the Quran is that God is one. When you read the Quran, you will find such statements repeatedly in the Quran: ‘O man, it is your Lord, who is addressing you. Listen to His words and follow Him.’ Even this style of address is quite exceptional. This kind of direct divine invocation leaves a lasting impression on man. He feels his Lord is directly addressing him. This feeling compels man to take the assertions of the Quran with extreme seriousness, rather than treat them like everyday statements in an ordinary book.
Islam is a universal religion. The Quran fosters a universal outlook among its followers. One who adopts the Quranic way will start thinking at the universal level. His personality will be linked simultaneously to the Creator of the World and with the entire human brotherhood. Despite being located in a particular region, he becomes a citizen of the universe as far as his thinking is concerned. In this respect, it can rightly be said that Islam or the Quran promotes universal citizenship.
Source: Quranic Wisdom
The Quran is the preserved version of God’s guidebook revealed to Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet, over a period of 23 years from 610 till 632 AD. As the Word of God, the Lord of all humanity, the Quran is a guidebook for all humanity. The main themes of the Quran are enlightenment, closeness to God, peace, and spirituality. The message of the Quran, in a nutshell, is the belief in One God considering oneself answerable to Him, and a firm belief that the guidance sent by God through Prophet Muhammad is the truth and leads to man’s salvation.
When you read the Quran, you will repeatedly find it stated that it is the Word of God. A unique feature of the Quran is that it does not have any inconsistency: “Do they not ponder over the Quran? If it had not come from God, they would have found in it many contradictions (ikhtilaf).” (4:82)
A Book with such a rare quality can only be from God and God alone. Only God’s Word will remain perennially free of all inconsistency. The work of anyone other than God will be always marred by imperfection. This shows that the Quran is the Word of God.
Source: Quran for All Humanity
The Quran is no new heavenly scripture. It is only an original edition of the previous heavenly scriptures. The Quran enshrines the same teachings as found in previously revealed scriptures. However, these ancient scriptures are no longer preserved in their original state. Later additions and deletions have rendered them unreliable, whereas the Quran, preserved in its original state, is reliable. When a believer in the previously revealed scripture turns to the Quran, it does not mean that he rejects his own belief but instead amounts to his having rediscovered his faith in an original form. In this way, the Quran is the Guidebook for all humanity.
Source: Quran for All Humanity
