Today, we (Muslim Ummah throughout the world) find ourselves in a pathetic and disastrous condition as we have neglected the Holy Qur’ān. Our indifferent attitude towards the last of Allah’s Revelations, along with our hypocritical lip-service, is as good as ridiculing it. Instead, we must clearly understand our responsibilities towards the Holy Qur’ān and try our very best in fulfilling them. We can get the best of both the worlds only when we get closer to the Qur’ān and Hadith and seek guidance in our daily affairs from them. We often find ourselves in trouble just because we only depend upon our own intellect and do not refer to the Qur’ān and (or) Hadith in such situations.
The first and foremost is to have faith (Iman) in the Divine origin of the Qur’ān. Iman not only refers to iqrar bil-lisan (verbal declaration) but at the same time tasdeeq bil-qalb (heart-felt conviction). To have faith in the Qur’ān means that we should verbally accept that the Qur’ān is the Allah’s Word that was revealed by Him through His angel Gabriel to the last of His messengers, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him). This is a legal requirement for the acceptance of a person as a member of the Muslim society. Having done that, it is only when we have real conviction in that verbal declaration that our hearts and minds would come under the spell of the Holy Qur’ān, leading us towards genuine devotion and adoration of the Holy Book.
Unfortunately, it seems that we lack strong faith in the Divine origin of the Qur’ān today and that seems to be the reason why we neither find any admiration for the Qur’ān in our hearts, nor feel inclined to study it, nor show any interest in pondering over its meanings, nor ever think of seeking its guidance in conducting our lives.
Note that faith is not something that is to be planted in us from outside. It is a personification of fundamental truths that already exist inside us; the practice of pondering over the ayaat of the Qur’ān serves to bring them to the surface of our consciousness.
Refer to what the Qur’ān says in Suratul Nahal Ayat 89:
وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ تِبْيَانًا لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَى لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ ﴿16:89﴾
Allah Says – and WE sent down the book (the Qur’ān), sent it down on O Muhammad, that this book might explain all things and in this book there is guidance and explanation. And guidance has come as rehmat (blessing) for those who submit to the book and follow it and search in this. Good news and glad tidings to them for they will understand what others can’t and they will succeed while others won’t.
This Book is guidance for those who surrender to it as a Divine Book and follow it in every aspect of life. Then it will bring Allah’s blessings upon them, and will give them the good news that they will come out successful in the court of Allah on the Day of Judgment. Or, the contrary, those people who reject it shall not only be deprived of guidance and blessing but will also find it as a testimony against themselves on the Day of Resurrection when Allah’s Messenger will stand up to testify against them. This Book will prove to be a strong argument against them. For Allah’s Messenger will say that he had conveyed its message which made manifest the distinction between truth and falsehood.
Now let me share two very recent observations from our daily life. The Quran and Hadith never forbid our daughters and sisters to go for education. Rather when we consult the Quran and Hadith in this context we even get guidance to choose the subjects. The end of all knowledge should be the building up of character and when we build a strong character we build a better family, society and nation as a whole. But what is happening in this materialistic world these days? We, especially our daughters and sisters, are seeking education for the purpose of getting into good profession – nothing doing with knowledge. Seeking knowledge should be our primary objective and profession the bye-product. Regarding profession too, we get guidance from the Qur’ān. There are certain professions which are Shari’ah-compliant. Women can do and earn a lot even sitting behind the curtains and certainly not only by dressing like men and going out to work in open.
Dressing like men for women is one of the most relevant signs of Qiyamat as mentioned in various hadith. But, unfortunately, when we look around, we find our daughters and sisters taking such courses and professions where they are required to dress like men shredding all their heya and sharm which not only do not conform to what the Quran and Hadith have guided us for but in a way go completely against them. And look around our families; such daughters and sisters do not make a good family and it is their children who suffer most. We don’t find time for our children, put them in crèche; so be mentally prepared when they will send us to old people’s home as then they won’t be having time for us.
The next example is a sort of recent survey I made through sms. I sent the following sms to around 30 persons in my circle in the age group of 20-80. The content of the sms was “ASAW! This is to request you for your Dua as today is my nikah with a young khandani widow from Lucknow after Maghrib inshaAllah”. Though it was just a joke – nothing serious in it. Just to get the reaction of the receivers of the sms. Let me tell you I was rather shocked to get the reaction from them (my wife and daughter included); it was simply astonishing and shocking. It was such that I am going to commit a great crime. I mean, people don’t have any idea what direction and guidance the Qur’ān and Hadith offer us in connection with widows and divorcees in our society. Just because of being distant to the Qur’ān and Hadith we find ourselves and our Ummah at this very juncture.
When I go deep into the above mentioned examples, I find myself responsible for this as the head of the family, a husband and parent and above all being a Muslim. None of the recipients of the sms or our daughters and sisters are to be blamed for such a state of affairs. We as a unit of our family, our Ulema, our organisations, so on and so forth are collectively responsible for such ignorance among our Ummah. In 50-plus years of my life I have never come across such a family/religious assembly where such topics are dealt with in the light of the Qur’ān and Hadith. This is the reason why we are unaware of Qur’ānic guidance in such situations. Rather I have seen parents of young divorcees/ widows that instead of trying for their re-marriage either the parents sit back or contrary to the Qur’ān and Hadith make them open some shop or encourage them to adopt some profession to keep them engaged and busy. Consider the gravity of the situation not only that we are not following the guidance of the Qur’ān and Hadith instead doing against it. Where do we stand?
This goes on to show how strongly we rely on our materialistic resources and our own selves (our intellect, education, health, wealth, planning, decisions, etc.). However, when we come closer to the Qur’ān, try to understand and adopt its hidayats in all the affairs of our life, inshaAllah, all our intellect, education, health, wealth, planning, decisions, etc. will transform into Allah’s rehmat in real spirit and sense which will ultimately make us successful in both the worlds.
It is high time we got closer to the Qur’ān and Hadith and started taking our first and foremost advice and guidance from them in whatever situations/ circumstances we might be in. Secondly, we must do away with hypocrisy and try to educate our Ummah by discussing such practical topics quite often.
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