“And the Messenger has said: "O my
lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur’an as [a
thing] ignored (abandoned)."”
[QS. Al-Furqan: 30]
Indeed, Allah SWT has
honoured this ummah with a lot of privileges. One of
those privileges which in fact is the greatest of
them, is the revelation of the Qur’an. The Qur’an is
the one and only holy book in which its originality
could be accounted for. We should be proud of this as
the ‘holy’ books of other religions had been
contaminated by the human hands. All their ‘holy’
books have gone through changes in the forms of
additions or subtractions in them.
However, after Allah
SWT has honoured this ummah, the majority of the ummah
do not honour themselves. Whereas, Allah SWT has
facilitated them with the source of honours i.e. the
Qur’an. This ummah mostly ignores the Qur’an just like
what the mushrikeen had done in the past. The
Qur’an is getting more neglected and abandoned. Its
rules of halal and haram are no
longer followed.
The above verse was a
form of grievance by Rasul SAW to Allah SWT about the
treatments of the Makkan mushrikeen at that
time. How strong was the antagonism from his people.
How ferocious was their responses of rejection towards
the verses of the Qur’an which was recited. They
accused Rasul SAW as practicing witchcraft and those
verses were his mantras. They also claimed that Rasul
SAW was a poet who was expert in stringing up words to
make them very beautiful and pleasant to the ears.
Rasul SAW was so devastated by all the responses. His
complaint was eventually recorded by Allah Himself in
His Book.
Long after Rasul SAW
had gone, our conditions became more critical. The
Qur’an is more abandoned, not only by the kuffar
people but by the Muslims themselves. Imam Ibnu Katsir
in interpreting the above verse mentioned a few
phenomena that are happening to this ummah and which
could be categorized, including abandoning the Qur’an.
See Tafseer Ibnu Katsir QS. Al-Furqan: 30 (Maktabah
Shamilah)
First,
those who, when the Qur’an is recited, intensify their
chit-chats and useless talkings, so that they cannot
hear the Qur’an.
The manner or attitude
that must be observed when the Qur’an is recited is by
listening with full attentiveness.
"When the Qur'an is read, listen to it with attention,
and hold your peace: that ye may receive Mercy."
(Al-A’raf: 204)
The Qur’an is the great
Kalamullah. Rahmah from it will not
descend except by listening carefully while it is
recited. Therefore, for the sake of avoiding
inappropriate manners towards the Qur’an, it is best
that it is not recited in the majelis
(gathering) of amusement as it is most possible that
the Qur’an will be ignored in that kind of place. It
is only suitable to be recited in the majelis
of ‘ilm and zikr.
Second,
not doing at-tadabbur (to find the full
meaning of every word, Ayah and Surah)
and no effort to understand them.
The aim of reading the
Qur’an is to do tadabbur on its contents, and
at the same time to understand them. By doing
tadabbur we know when we need to smile, when to
shed the tears, when to offer supplications or when to
ask for protection. Without tadabbur, the
Qur’an is just like a thick book that is read but its
contents are not understood. Neglecting the effort to
do tadabbur on the Qur’an is a form of
ignorance towards the Qur’an or perhaps it could even
make us fall into the category of people whose inner
eyes are locked up. “Do they not then earnestly
seek to understand the Qur'an, or are their hearts
locked up by them?” (QS. Muhammad: 24)
Third,
not applying its teachings by practicing every command
and avoiding every prohibition.
This Great Book would
not show its beauties except when its contents are
applied into the reality of life. When a person adapts
his akhlaq according to the Qur’anic
akhlaq, he would be distinguished in the human
eyes. When a person holds tight the obligations of the
Qur’an, he would be elevated forever. When a person
restrains himself from every prohibition in the Qur’an,
his purity would always be protected. Having the nerve
to differ from the Qur’an is ignoring the Qur’an. A
person must assess how far has his personality been
consistent with the Qur’an?
"So hold thou fast to the Revelation sent down to
thee; verily thou art on a Straight Way." (QS.
Az-Zukhruf: 43)
Fourth,
turning away from it by occupying themselves with
poetries, songs, games and gossips.
The moments our tongues
become more fluent in singing songs or more melodious
when singing them, than in intoning the Qur’an, that
is a sign that something is not in order within us.
The moments our hearts are more touched by poetries or
more moved when declaiming them, then we need to ask
ourselves: At its height, we are apparently more
enthusiastic in listening to other besides the Qur’an.
What happens to us? Why are there more songs than
murattal in the contents of our hand phones? Why
is our DVD collection of the Qur’an not as varied as
our collection of songs? Why, in our houses, are the
voices of the singers more played than the tilawah
by the imams?
Fifth,
giving priority to other solutions besides the
Qur’anic solutions.
Indeed, the Qur’an
offers us a variety of solutions to life. But why are
there still a lot of people, including the Muslims
themselves, who are rejecting the Qur’an? The Qur’an
is accused as a classical book irrelevant to modern
times. Its rules are charged as not as advanced as the
positive rules created by the humans. Indeed, the
prioritization of the Qur'anic solutions is an effort
to honour the Qur’an. On the other hand, giving
priority to solutions outside of the Qur’an is seen as
ignoring the Qur’an.
"Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion:
so follow thou that (Way), and follow not the desires
of those who know not." (QS. Al-Jatsiyah: 18)
When, in the past,
Rasul SAW lamented about the negative responses
received from his people who were mostly still
mushrik, now it seems that the conditions of his
ummah are already almost similar to mushrikeen.
Would Rasul SAW now cry in his grave over our actions
of always ignoring the Qur’an?
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