In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I sincerely advise every Muslim to start understanding the Holy Quraan on his/her own by choosing a good tafseer as soon as possible.
Allah’s Promises are very true. You will find the Holy Quraan very easy for admonition because Allah Ta’alaa repeated the verse in surah Al-Qamar. Its translation is:
(54:17) We have made this Qur'an easy as a reminder.15 Is there, then, any who will take heed?
Exp. note 15;
15. Some people have misconstrued the words yassarnal- Quran to mean that the Quran is an easy Book; no knowledge is required to understand it so much so that a person even without the knowledge of the Arabic language, can write a commentary on it, and can deduce any injunctions he likes from its verses independent of the Hadith and Islamic Law, whereas the context in which these words occur, indicates that they are meant to make the people realize this: One means of the admonition are the dreadful torments that descended upon the rebellious nations, and the other means is this Quran, which guides you to the right path by argument and instruction. Obviously, this means of admonition is by far the easier one; then, why don’t you take advantage of it and insist on meeting with the torment instead? It is indeed Allah’s bounty that He has sent this Book through His Prophet and is warning you that the ways you are following lead only to destruction and your well-being lies only in following this way. This method of admonition has been adopted so that you are rescued even before you fall into the pit of destruction. Now, who could be more foolish than the one who does not believe in the admonition and realizes his error only after he has fallen into the pit.
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Now you understand that you, as a starter will like to get admonition, and to purify your heart and mind. You don’t have to write Commentary or to take laws from the Qur’aan for judging cases etc. So Allah said that Allah made the Holy Qur’aan easy to get admonition. Thus you should start it for getting admonition.
According to Ibn Abbaas rAa, the verses of Quraan regarding their tafseer (commentary/explanation) are of 4 types:
1. Those understood by the native Arabic speakers,2
2.
Those verses for which no body has excuse for not understanding,
3. Those understood and explained by scholars,
4. Those which none understands except Allah (these verses are the Mutashaabihaat).
I believe that common admonition will surely be in the 2
nd type of verses so that no one has excuse for not understanding them.
You don’t have to worry about all these types because you are not responsible for all of them.
But surely you are responsible for No. 2 which is:
“Those verses for which no body has excuse for not understanding”.
There are many verses which can be understood by every reader even if he / she reads only the translation of those verses. Therefore, you must;
1. Recite at least a page of the Holy Quraan daily to get reward for the Hereafter as well as to purify your heart/mind,
2. Try to read the meaning (if you don’t know Arabic) and understand at least 3 verses daily.
Let us now take a few verses and try to understand them:
الٓمّٓۚ
ذٰ لِكَ الۡڪِتٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛۚۖ فِيۡهِۛۚ هُدًى لِّلۡمُتَّقِيۡنَۙ
الَّذِيۡنَ يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِالۡغَيۡبِ وَ يُقِيۡمُوۡنَ الصَّلٰوةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقۡنٰهُمۡ يُنۡفِقُوۡنَۙ
وَالَّذِيۡنَ يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِمَۤا اُنۡزِلَ اِلَيۡكَ وَمَاۤ اُنۡزِلَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِكَۚ وَبِالۡاٰخِرَةِ هُمۡ يُوۡقِنُوۡنَؕ
اُولٰٓٮِٕكَ عَلٰى هُدًى مِّنۡ رَّبِّهِمۡ وأولئك هم المفلحونَۡ
These are the first 5 verses of the surah al-Baqarah. Their translation is:
(2:1) Alif, Laam, Meem.1
(2:2) This is the Book of Allah, there is no doubt in it;2 it is a guidance for the pious,3
(2:3) for those who believe in the existence of that which is beyond the reach of perception,4 who establish Prayer5 and spend out
of what We have provided them,6
(2:4) who believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you,7 and have firm faith in the Hereafter.8
(2:5) Such are on true guidance from their Lord; such are the truly successful.
After reading the translation, you will go to a short commentary. It will tell you that:
Verse No. 1 is only three letters. These are called the muqatti-‘aat letters. Their meaning is known to Allah only. So we just recite them as they are. For reciting each letter we will get 10 degrees of reward i.e. total reward for their recitation will be 30 degrees.
Verse No.2 tells us about the Book of Allah, the Holy Qur’aan that it has no doubt in it. It is a very true Book and also it is Guidance /admonition for the muttaqeen (the God-fearing people).
The verses 2 & 3 tell us about the qualities of the Muttaqeen (the God-fearing Muslims). Some of their qualities as mentioned here are:
a. They are those (Muslims) who believe in the unseen. So they believe in the Existence and Oneness of God (Allah), in the existence of angels, Hell and Paradise etc.
b. They establish salaah (Obligatory daily prayers). That means they not only pray salaah 5 times every day but they also manage adhaan (call) for every prayer, iqaamah and congregational prayers,
c. They spend for the pleasure of Allah from the provision that Allah Ta’aala gave them,
d. They believe in all that was sent down to Muhammad salla Allaho alaihi wa sallam (i.e. The Holy quraan and the Sunnah) and that which was sent down before Muhammad salla Allaho alaihi wa sallam (i.e. the Heavenly Books revealed to the Prophets of the past.
e. They also believe in the coming of the Day of Judgment.
The verse 5 informs us about the status of such Muttaqeen. So Allah Ta’ala informed us that such Muttaqeen are rightly guided by their Lord and also they are the ones that shall prosper.
Now you can see that in these 5 verses there is nothing hard to understand. Similarly, when you go on reading and understanding the verses of the Holy Qur’aan, your knowledge will insha-Allah go on increasing without facing any difficulty. And along with that your heart will get purified as well as you will get 10 degrees reward for reciting every letter. This reward will be useful for your prosperity in the Hereafter.