Understanding the Quran - Assignment Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................2 IMPORTANCE.................................................................................................3 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................9 WORKS CITED................................................................................................10 Name 21 January 2012 Assignment INTRODUCTION: The Islamic religion is one of the most widely recognised religions in the world. Every religion has a strong belief system upon which its followers fall back upon. Under the purview of Islam, a bond was created by God with the people, as the intent was to formulate a religion on the basis of spiritual and philosophical existence of mankind; the aim was for God to receive love and care in return for creating man and providing him with the Earth to survive on. Every religion has a religious text or idol for the purpose of worship; this physical object is said to be the sentiment of the people, for them to rely upon and understand why they believe in a religion the way that they do. Prophet Muhammad is said to have combined the messages of God and reject any kind of idolatry while simply establishing some required laws for the rest of humanity to follow. The holy Qur’an is glorious and holds immense importance in the life of a Muslim individual because it carries within it the verbatim message of Allah through Prophet Muhammad and thus has become the guiding light for each Muslim. “This is a Book full of Blessings that we have revealed unto you so people ponder upon its verses and men of intellect may reflect. (Quran 38:29)” The Qur’an is the most well known and well written piece of Arabic literature which is said to have been sent in the form of a message to Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel or Jibra’eel, through the verbatim of Allah. According to Allah, the message was sent to the Prophet in order to be spread among all the Muslims in the world and for them to know and understand that God is omnipresent and everywhere whenever one thinks of Him. The holy Qur’an holds immense importance in every Muslim’s life and needs to be memorized and recited by every Muslim so that he knows the word of God by heart; in this way it is important to each and every individual because it gives him the hope of knowing that God is right there, one simply needs to remember the words that He spoke and can feel his presence almost instantaneously. The Qur’an has had a very remarkable influence on almost all aspects of life for example, political, spiritual as well as geographical. Furthermore, it is said to be a combination of almost all the branches of knowledge like philosophy, literature, sciences as well as mathematics. That is why, it is important for any individual to study the Qur’an because it provides the highest source of knowledge that there is for a Muslim. People are supposed to teach their children the wordings of the Qur’an so that even at the mere age of ten children know the verses by heart. IMPORTANCE: It is the highest source of attaining knowledge in the Islamic world and those who know the Qur’anic verses by heart are said to be extremely learned because they know God’s words in their mind. It was Prophet Muhammad who said that, “Whoever reads the Qur’an before becoming Baaligh, has indeed been given wisdom as a child. The Qur’an is a wealth with which there is no poverty, and without which there is no wealth.” It is said that any Muslim who strays away from reading the Qur’an and understanding its importance will undergo a great loss or lack of knowledge. The Qur’an is said to have the truest meaning of Islam; according to Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an is actually the legacy that has been left behind by Allah Himself. It is written in the original language, which is Arabic because most people who were told about the message of God lived in Mecca and Medina at the time. Several Imams around the world say that to learn or read the Qur’an in another language brings about great loss because the true meaning of the Qur’an lies only in the Arabic language and once it is translated to another language, it tends to lose the lustre of the original meaning of the words. Thus, people who want to read and comprehend the Qur’an must understand the Arabic language from right to left in its pure form. The Qur’an is the most truthful speech that there is because it was sent as a message right from Allah Himself. Since the words came out from His mouth, they are considered to be the most important words in the Islamic religion. The Prophet Muhammad recited the verses to the people after hearing the angel’s message and helped the people carefully memorize and recite the verses with him. The Qur’an consists of 114 chapters and numerous verses within which the importance of life and how to live has been emphasized upon by Allah, for the people to follow. The book is extremely important for people to follow because it contains the best possible pieces of advice that Allah could give to the people and ensure that they live a proper lifestyle. The Qur’an is a true guiding light for people; it tells them how to act in front of others and how to conduct themselves in the presence of other people. It is basically a code of conduct for people to follow in order to live a proper lifestyle free of sins so that they may be able to enjoy a proper life after their death. The Qur’an is the verbatim message of God and thus teaches people how God would expect them to live their life and love other people around them. Allah’s message contains essential information for people to follow and above all it talks about the concept of a Heaven as well as a Hell. According to the Qur’an, Allah has prepared a Paradise or a Utopian world for people who indulge in the best of deeds during the course of their lifetime. Those who serve other people, help them as well as give to others in their times of need will be able to enjoy the life in Paradise that Allah has in store for them whereas those that commit sins and indulge in wrong doings will end up trying to absolve themselves of the wrong doings in Hell after they die. Thus, the Qur’an is important because it gives people an understanding of hope regarding the future that lies in front of them after their death and helps them believe in a life after death. The Qur’an is a very important medium of transporting happiness and peace to people all over the world; it is a sentiment spoken by God Himself to the people and through the message, God or Allah has tried to spread the message of peace and harmony among the people. It talks about living life in a positive manner and being able to influence others into understanding God’s words on a firsthand basis. The Prophet Muhammad stated that, “If you desire the life of the fortunate, the death of a martyr, the salvation on the Day of Regret and the shade on the Day of Extreme Heat, then you should study the Qur’aan because it is the word of the Merciful, a sanctuary from Shaytaan and a causes the tilting of the Balance.” According to this he meant to say that the wisdom of Allah is infinite however has been told to the people in order to help them ensure a balance within their lives. If a Muslim desires to live a comfortable and fortunate life as well as die an honourable death in the name of martyrdom for God and be remembered for the deeds that he did during the course of his lifetime, then he must listen to the words of God and live his life according to those words so that he can rule out the path of the devil from his life and instead believe in the goodness and focus on optimism. Since the time that it was born, the Qur’an has remained unchanged among the people; it is the only piece of literature in the Arabic language that has retained its authenticity or originality since it was first spoken by God to the people. The message was sent via the angel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad and then told to the people; however the records of the verses and the chapters have remained unchanged since they were first spoken. This helps people understand that the Qur’an is thus the single most powerful piece of writing or religious text in the Islamic religion because no mortal or human being has the power to change its wordings and bring about any kind of alteration within the text. According to Allah, every situation befitting various kinds of periods and changes within life has been paid heed to within the holy Qur’an and thus it is applicable to every circumstance that a person goes through within life. Unlike other codes of law that require changing from time to time, the Qur’an has remained unaltered because when Allah delivered the message, he delivered it for all eternity; in His eyes, every aspect of life is the same no matter what the situations might be or how advanced the world might have become. That is why, the Qur’an holds great vitality within the Islamic religion because it has never undergone any amendments and neither will it in the future. It is a permanent form of God and since God cannot be changed and his presence is one, the Qur’an cannot be changed and is one for all of life. It is thus known as a divine or a holy book because it truly contains words of gloriousness. The book contains the exact same message that was delivered to the Prophet Muhammad by Allah all those years ago, even today. Imams around the world place a great amount of importance on people memorizing and reciting the Qur’an because they say that a person’s supplications are answered if they are able to read the Qur’an and believe in what it says. Reading it and knowing it by heart helps people to instil within themselves a sense of faith that they need to live with. Every human being needs a certain object or person to have faith in, who will assure him of a better day to come. The same way, the Qur’an acts as a subordinate of God Himself and assures people of having their questions answered and not leave them hanging in life. According to the Prophet Muhammad, “One who starts the Qur’an and finishes it, Allah will grant him one answered supplication.” Most Muslims devote a great amount of their time to reading and understanding the Qur’an. This holy book can thus act as a great companion for people when they are in times of trouble or looking for something to do. It helps people understand their purpose in life and keep them from feeling emotions of boredom and helplessness. The Qur’an is thus a wonderful companion to have because it keeps people from feeling lonely and desolated. Many people have been known to spend their time in mosques, reading the Qur’an and devoting their time to interpreting and understanding the meaning of God’s words. Not many people are able to teach themselves what God wants them to know and thus the religion helps people to challenge themselves to comprehending God’s message to them. The Qur’an has been known to cure people of their mental and spiritual ailments as well. It helps people to put themselves within a positive frame work and thus understand the true meaning of life. Reading the Qur’an can help a person believe in God and in turn, in the creation and destruction of life. If a person is feeling low, he may read the Qur’an, understanding the in depth meaning and gain knowledge and wisdom which will help to pull him out of the dark place that he is placed within. Many people say that they have had physical as well as mental issues however reading the Qur’an and spending time with it has helped them miraculously to uncover themselves from that state of mind. They say that everything that happens to a human being is all in his or her mind and thus having the Qur’an to fall back upon and believe in helps people bring positive energy within themselves. A learned Imam Hasan al-‘Askaree stated, “The Messenger of Allah (s) said: I advise you to the Qur’aan since it is the beneficial cure, the blessed medicine, the protection (‘Isma) for he who holds fast to it, and the salvation for he who follows it. Neither does it cause crookedness so that it departs (from the truth) nor does it deviate so that it causes trouble. Its marvels do not come to end and the vastness of refutations does not wear it.” In many situations when people are ill, they are told to believe in God and since the Qur’an is another form of God Himself, people seek solace while reading it and are able to calm themselves down. They are able to understand the true meaning of life and decipher the best of interests from within the Qur’an. The book has many teachings that are impossible to understand within a single lifetime and that is why people are encouraged to begin teaching themselves the word of God from a very early age indeed. CONCLUSION: Reading and reciting the Qur’an is also said to bless people and give them hope for a better tomorrow. Therefore, the Qur’an holds a great level of importance in the life of every Muslim individual because it gives them a sense of hope and pride for something to believe in. Every person is able to fear and love the Qur’an, a holy and supernatural aspect of their life, delivered right from God’s mouth and actions. People are supposed to act in a certain manner because God has asked them to and since He has created human beings and placed them on the earth, it is His duty to assure them a lifestyle full of joy and comfort with hard work and love in order to help them live a substantial life. the Qur’an is truly a glorious piece of work because it has helped people to differentiate between right and wrong and helped so many people get out of the worst possible situations that they have been caught up within. Like in every other religion there is always some or the other mean to fall back upon, the Qur’an in Islam is the one aspect of life that connects an individual directly to Allah; reciting the Qur’an is like having a personal conversation with God and having Him speak through a mortal. It is thus not only comforting to know God is right there with a person but also important for people to have confidence and motivation in order to lead a healthy and excellent lifestyle for themselves, their families as well as the rest of the community. Thus, it is the best possible influence a man could hope for within his life. Works Cited "Understanding the Quran." Omeriqbal.com. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. . "IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLY QUR’AAN." Al-Islam.org by the Ahlul Bayt DILP - Home. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. . "EtratU: IMPORTANCE OF HOLY QURAN." Quran and Etrat Internet University - Online Islamic Studies. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. Bint, Rafai Jamal-un-Nisa. Quran. Ta-Ha Publrs. Print. . "The Religion Of Islam - The Quran." Executable Outlines - Free Sermon Outlines and Bible Studies! Web. 21 Jan. 2012. . Read More