An essential and important part of living by the Qur'an is to
convey its message to people around you. Indeed the moment the Prophet, blessings
and peace be on him, received the first revelation he realized the immense task of
bringing it to his people. And the second revelation came with the summons:
'Stand up and warn' (al-Muddaththir 74: 2). Then at various places it was made
clear to the Prophet7 blessings and peace be on him, that to communicate the Qur'an,
to make it heard, to explain it was to be his primary duty, his life mission
(al-Anam 6: 19; al-Furqan 25: 1; al-Anam 6: 105; al-Mai'idah 5: 67; Maryam 19: 97;
al-A'raf 7: 157).
Now we, as his followers, as people possessing the Book of God,
are charged and entrusted with the same mission. To have the Qur'an obliges us to
convey it; to hear the Qur'an is to make it heard. We must make it clear and known
to mankind and not let it remain concealed: And when God took pledge from those
who had been given the Book: 'You shall make it known to mankind, and not conceal it.' But
they cast it behind their backs, and bartered it away for a small price how evil was their
bargain (Al 'Imran 3: 187).
If there is a lamp in your heart and hand, it must spread its light.
If there is fire inside you, it must radiate its warmth and glow.
Those who do not do so, for want of transient worldly gains, are
in fact filling their bellies with fire: Those who conceal of what the Book of God has
sent down on them, and barter it away for a little price they shall eat naught but the
Fire in their bellies, God shall not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, neither
purify them (al-Baqarah 2: 174).
And they deserve the curse of Allah: Those who conceal the clear
messages and the guidance that We have sent down, after We have made them clear for
mankind in the Book they shall be cursed by God and the cursers (al-Baqarah 2: 159).
Unless they discharge their duties: Save such as repent, and put
themselves right, and make [the Book] known towards them I shall turn . . . (al-Baqarah
2: 160).
But, if they die in this condition, they will be cursed by all and
everyone: But those who remain in [the state ofl disbelief, and die disbelieving upon
them shall be the curse of God, and the angels, and of all men . . . (al-Baqarah 2:
161).
God will not even look at them: Those who barter away their covenant
with God, and their pledges, for a little price, they shall not partake in the blessings
of the life to come; and God shall not speak to them, neither look at them on the Day of
Resurrection, neither will He purify them ... (Al 'Imran 3: 77).
Look at yourself! Look at Muslims today! Why, despite the fact
that the Qur'an is read by millions day and night, does it make no difference to
our situation? Either we read it and do not understand it; or, if we understand it,
we do not accept it nor act upon it; or, if we act upon it, we accept part
of it and reject part of it; or, while we are engrossed in reading it and acting by
only part of it, we are guilty of committing the worst crime and concealing it and
not bringing its light to the world.
And some among them are illiterate common people, who have no knowledge
of the Book, [believing] only wishful fancies, and they depend on nothing but conjecture.
Woe, also, unto those who write [the meanings of] the Book with their own hands, then say,
'This is from God', that they may acquire thereby a little price .
. . (al-Baqarah 2:
78-9).
What! Do you believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part? What,
then, shall be the reward of those of you who do that but ignominy in the life of
this-world and, on the Day of Resurrection to be returned unto the most grievous suffering
(al-Baqarah 2: 85).
Let there not be the slightest doubt in our minds that unless we
commit ourselves to the most important responsibility of being witnesses unto the Qur'an,
which devolves upon us by virtue of us having it and reading it, we shall never discharge
what we owe to the Qur'an. The ignominy, dishonour, humiliation, backwardness that
has become our lot is only because of the way we treat the Qur'an and the mission
it entrusts to us.
By this Book God makes some peoples to rise and others to decline
(Muslim).
Had they established the Tawrah, and the Injil, and what has been sent
down to them from their Lord, they would have eaten from above them and from beneath their
feet
(al-Ma'idah 5: 66).
Nor shall we succeed in discovering and understanding the full
and real meaning of the Qur'an, whatever Quranic scholarship we may attain, unless
we obey the Qur'an. The Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, said to his
Companions:
There will be such people among you that, when you will compare your
Prayers with theirs, your Fasts with theirs, your good deeds with theirs, you will
consider yours very inferior. They will read the Qur'an, yet it will not sink deeper than
their throats (Bukhari).
To surrender and obey is not only to fulfil the real mission of
the Qur'an, it is one of the surest keys to its understanding. You discover a
meaning by obeying that you never discover by mere thinking. You, then, begin to
'see' the Qur'an. Writes Syed Mawdudi in memorable words one can hardly forget:
. . . but all that you may do to understand the Qur'an is not
enough. If you want to identify with the spirit of the Qur'an, you must practically
involve yourself with the struggle to fulfil its mission. For the Qur'an is not a book of
abstract theories and cold ideas, which one can grasp while seated in a cosy armchair. Nor
is it merely a religious book like other religious books, whose meanings can be grasped in
seminaries and oratories.
On the contrary, it is a Book which contains a message, an invitation,
which generates a movement. The moment it began to be sent down, it impelled a quiet and
pious man to abandon his life of solitude and confront the world that was living in
rebellion against God. It inspired him to raise his voice against falsehood, and pitted
him in a grim struggle against the lords of disbelief, evil and iniquity. One after the
other, from every home, it drew every pure and noble soul, and gathered them under the
banner of truth. In every part of the country, it made all the mischievous and the corrupt
to rise and wage war against the bearers of the truth.
This is the Book which launched a glorious movement, with the voice of
a single individual, and continued to provide guidance to it for twenty-three years, till
the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. At every stage during this long and
heart-rending struggle between truth and falsehood, this Book showed its followers the
ways to eradicate the old order and usher in the new.
Is it, then, possible to reach the heart of the Qur'an merely by
reading its words, without ever stepping upon the battlefield of faith and disbelief, of
Islam and Ignorance, without passing through any stage of that struggle? No, you can
understand the Qur'an only when you take it up, begin to act upon it, and call mankind to
God, and when every step you take is in obedience to its guidance.
Then, and only then, you will go through all the events and experiences
which occurred during the course of its revelation. You will then pass through makka,
and habash, and ta'if; you will face badr, uhud, hunayn and tabuk.
You will encounter abd jahl and abd lahab; you will meet with hypocrites and
jews; you
will come face to face with those who instantly responded to this call as well as those
who were drawn into Islam seeking some gain. You will come across all of these human
models; you will deal with all of them. This is a path different from the so-called
'mystic path', which I name the 'Quranic path'. Such is this 'Quranic path' that, as you
pass through its various stations and stages, certain Surahs and Ayahs will disclose their
full message to you, and tell you that they were revealed precisely for this stage and
station that you are passing through. You may miss some linguistic and grammatical
subtleties, you may miss certain finer points in the rhetoric and semantics of the Qur'an,
yet it is impossible that the Qur'an will fail to reveal its full and true spirit to you.
In the same way, no person can ever understand the legal injunctions,
the moral teachings, and the political and economic directives of the Qur'an, unless and
until he puts them into practice. Neither the individual who lives independently of the
Qur'an nor the nation which runs its institutions in violation of its guidance can
discover the spirit of the Qur'an (Tafhimul Qur'an, Vol. I, Lahore 1979, pp. 334).
