And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming. (Surah Baqarah – 2:78)
This ayah says among the people of book are people who are illiterates in terms of not understanding the book of ALLAH. They have the book with them, but they have no clue what the book is talking about, and all what they learn from the book is what fits their interests. Meaning they are selective in what they learn. The things which is going to benefit me in this dunia, I am going to learn and the rest I will leave.
So what does this ayah mean as per Ibn Tayimmiyah:
Ibn Tayyimiah says “ibn Abbas artatada they interpreted the term ummiyoon mean, “they do not understand the meaning of the book, they learn it, they memorize it and they recite it without understanding, and they don’t know what its talking about”
So ibn Tayimiah says, the meaning of ummiyoon doesn’t mean they are illiterate that can’t read. They read, memorize, they teach it but do not understand. And they are just satisfied by reciting it.
Imam Ahmad narrates : Prophet Muhammad SAAW said something and then he said, “and that thing will happen when knowledge is lost” a companion asked “Ya Rasulullah, how can knowledge be lost when we have studied Quran, we are teaching it to our children and our children are going to teach it to their children.?” Prophet replied “Woe to you, I thought that you were 1 of the most knowledgeable men in Madinah. Can’t you see, people of the book – Jews & Christians have their books with them, and they are not benefiting from them.
So in summary Rusoolullah SAAW is telling, “A time will come that we will have Quran with us and we are not going to benefit from it.”
Know that Quran is not meant to be kept in shelf or decorated.
Abu Darda said “whenever a time comes when you decorate the mosques and decorate the muhafs, this is the time you will be destroyed” because this is the indication you are favoring symbols over substance.
And now we see, mosques are built with such beautiful architecture and the mushafs written in gold, so much that we are lost in admiration of its beauty rather than focusing on the message inside the mushaf. We have lost track on how we should deal with the book of ALLAH.
ALLAH swt says “ (Here is) a Book which, We have sent down, Unto thee, full of blessings, That they may meditate, On its Signs, and that, Men of understanding may Receive admonition. (Sad: 29)
So the book was sent to us so that we do tadabbur.. ALLAH swt says: “Don’t they contemplate on the meanings of Quran or are their hearts blocked?”
Allah twla doesn’t want us to simply recite the Quran but he wants us to meditate with it, understand its meaning and contemplate on the message.
How did the sahaba in their times read the Quran?
Abdullah Ibn Omar (RZA) says “it took me 14 years to memorize the Surah Al Baqarah” and when he finished memorizing this chapter, he slaughtered a camel and invited other for the celebration.
It took almost 1 and half decade to memorizes surah Baqarah, while in our time we memorize the entire Quran in a year’s time. How could there be such a difference.
The reason is as narrated by a Tabieen “some of the sahabas told me, they would take 10 ayahs of the Quran and would study these. They would study the eemaan, Ilm, halal and haram in the ayah. Then would memorize it and then move to next ayahs. They would never move on to next ayah until they applied the previous one in their life till it becomes alive and become second nature”
Imam Ghazali said “I memorize the Quran at the age of 10y, without understanding anything in it. But When I grew up and attempted to understand the book of ALLAH, I found it very hard because I was programmed just to read the verses. It took me a lot of struggle, striving until I was able to break that cycle and start thinking and contemplating the ayahs of ALLAH swt.”
In order to have Tadabbur of Quran, you have to understand that the book of ALLAH doesn’t not throw the gems at you, rather you have to look & search for these gems / signs in the ayahs.
The book of ALLAH doesn’t offer you the benefit unless you are keen for learning and getting the guidance.
ALLAH said “We revealed in Quran what is healing and mercy of the believers, but it only adds to the loss of oppressors”.
So Quran draws some people closer and draws some people further. If you want to benefit from Quran, it will benefit you and if you don’t want to benefit then ALLAH swt will honour his book.
Summary of this discussion is “aim to finish memorizing the Quran as early as you can but once you have done so or still while in memorizing stage go to the next level of contemplation and application”.
Hadeeth: “there are people whose recitation of Quran doesn’t go past the throat” … Quran was the moving force in the Sahabas time, while in our current times it has become symbol of warding off evil, decoration of home. It is merely taken out on the occasion of marriage or at time of funeral and then returned back to he shelf.
What made the sahaba different? It was the Quran, and nothing else. It completely transformed them. People who were at the lowest became role models because of the Quran. And it will do the same to us if we do tadabbur-e- Quran.
This can be achieved by having Love for the book of ALLAH (if you don’t have attachment to it, then you may not get the benefit)
One of the Tabiyeen asked the servant of Abdullah ibn Umar Rza, what does he do in privacy when he isn’t involved in biz or any worldly affairs, the servant replied he would offer salah and read Quran in between ie. Between the 2 prayers he would spend time with Quran. So we need to have attachment with the Quran if we need to get benefit from it.
