By Dr. Saleh as-Saleh [d.1429H]

The Qur’aan is a proof for the believer who establishes what is required of him/her regarding this Noble Book. The requirement is stated in the great hadeeth in which the Prophet [sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] declared that:

“Religion is advice…”

He [sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] clarified that part of this advice is:

“To Allaah, His Book…” [Muslim]

Advice to the Book of Allaah has many aspects to it, including:

1. Defending the Qur’aan against all kinds of tahreef [alteration].
2. Believing in all of the reports mentioned in the Qur’aan without any kind of doubt.
3. Pondering over the Qur’aan and its meaning and complying with its commands.
4. Keeping away from the prohibitions found in the Qur’aan.
5. Believing that the legislations in the Qur’aan are the best and the most perfected laws.
6. Believing that the Qur’aan, letters and meanings, is the Speech of Allaah, and that He [subhaanahu wa ta’aala] spoke it to Jibreel [‘alayhi-salaam] who brought it down to Prophet Muhammad [sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam].

The Qur’aan is a proof against the one who does not establish the advice it demands. The one who knows ponders over and abides by the Qur’aan and his life is in constant attachment to it, whereas the one who abandons the Qur’aan in one way or another is like a person whose chest is in a state of confinement.

The types of abandonment of the Qur’aan were summarised by Imaam ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah [rahimahullaah] as:

1. Abandoning the Qur’aan by not listening to its recitation, believing in it or giving attention to it.
2. Abandoning of the Qur’aan by not acting by it and abiding by what it has prescribed of halaal or haraam even if the one who does so still believes in it or recites it, meaning, it is not sufficient to believe in it and recite it to then abandon acting by it.
3. Abandoning the Qur’aan by not ruling by it or taking it as judge in all matters of religion, believing that it does not warrant certainty of conviction and that its evidences are merely literal in the sense that it does not result in knowledge.
4. Abandoning the Qur’aan by not reflecting upon its meanings, understanding them and knowing what Allaah [the One who spoke it] desires from the one who recites it.
5. Abandoning the Qur’aan by not using it as a cure for all of the diseases and ailments of the heart, such that one seeks the cure for his/her illness in other than the Qur’aan thus abandoning its use as a medicine.

All of this is signified in the saying of Allaah:

“And the Messenger [Muhammad] will say: ‘O My Lord! Verily, My people deserted This Qur’aan [neither listened to it, nor acted on its laws and Orders]’.” [Al-Furqan 25:30]

Even though some types of abandonment are lesser than others in magnitude one of the Salaf said: “Nobody sits with the Qur’aan and leaves mutual, he will either win or he will loose.” He then recited the following verse:

“And we send down from the Qur’aan that which is a healing and a Mercy to those who believe [in Islamic Monotheism and act on it], and it increases the Zaalimoon [polytheists and wrong-doers] nothing but loss.” [Al-Isra 17:82]

Ibn Mas’ood [radee Allaahu ‘anhu] said: “The Qur’aan is an intercessor whose intercession will be accepted and a disputant and credible adversary. So whoever places it [the Qur’aan] as its leader it will lead him to Paradise and whoever places it behind his back it will lead him to the Fire of Hell.” [‘Abdur-Razzaak in his Mushanaf, its chain is “saheeh”]

Aboo Moosaa al-Ash’aree [radee Allaahu ‘anhu] said: “Verily, this Qur’aan is either a reward for you or a burden upon you, thus follow the Qur’aan and not let the Qur’aan follow you. Whoever follows the Qur’aan, it will make him to light upon the Gardens of Paradise and whosoever the Qur’aan follows it will push or thrust him from behind until it casts him into the Fire of Hell.”

Imaam ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah [rahimahullaah] pointed out the statement of Imaam al-Bukhaaree [rahimahullaah]: “Nobody enjoys it [the Qur’aan] and benefits from it except the one who believes in it.” Then said: “Nobody will enjoy the Qur’aan, its recitation and its understanding except the one who testifies that it is the Words of Allaah that He really Spoke and revealed to His Messenger [sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam].”

Anyone who does not believe that the Qur’aan is the a True Book from Allaah that He Truly Spoke to Jibreel [‘alayhi-sallam] and revealed to Muhammad [sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] and that it is not part of His creation, then his heart is constrained by difficulty there from.

Anyone who says that the Qur’aan has an inward meaning that opposes its outward meaning or says that it has a figurative interpretation that opposes its apparently understood meaning then his heart is tried by difficulty there from.

Anyone who says that the Qur’aan has a meaning that we can’t understand or apply and that we worship Allaah by the mere recitation of it, then such a person’s heart is confined by difficulty there from.

Nobody subjects the Qur’aan to baseless opinions, the irrationality of the people of scholastic theology and the sophistry and the superstitions of the Sufi’s except that his heart is constrained by difficulty there from.

Anyone who makes the Qur’aan subservient to his fiqh, madhhab or to the far stretched ideas of whom he blindly follows then his heart is confined by difficulty there from.

Anyone who does not take the Qur’aan as a judge in open or in secret and in all matters of deen and does not submit to its rules, no matter what they are, then his heart is constrained by difficulty there from.

Anyone who does not comply with the commandments found in the Qur’aan or refrains from what it forbids and its restraining statements and does not believe in all of its reports, then his heart is restricted by difficulty there from.

All of those people, their hearts are not affected by the meanings of the Noble Qur’aan, nor do they understand it as it should be understood, so they do not find the joy of its sweetness and taste which the companions and their successors found.

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