Did you upgrade your Tahajjud Salat App from Google Play and Apple Store?
إِنَّ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ يَهْدِي لِلَّتِي هِيَ أَقْوَمُ وَيُبَشِّرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا كَبِيرًا
Inna hādhal-qur’āna yahdī lillatī hiya aqwamu wayubashshirul-mu’minīnal-ladhīna ya‘malūnas-swālihāti anna lahum ajran kabīrā
Indeed, this Quran guides to what is most upright, and gives the good news to the faithful who do righteous deeds that there is a great reward for them.
(Sūrah al-Isrāʾ No 17, Āyat 9)
In this blessed verse, Allah ‘azza wajall introduces the Quran as being a guide towards what is most upright. In other verses the Quran is also mentioned as being a cure (Q10:57), or a light (Q 5:15). Such verses are a reminder that we must benefit from this noble book and allow it to be our guide in life and our cure. Amidst the day-to-day material struggles that naturally envelop our lives, and between the never-ending commitments we are beset with, we must keep aside time to read and ponder on the Noble Quran. Repeatedly and regularly doing so refreshens and softens one’s heart. In addition to the educational aspect of benefiting from the Quran’s lofty teachings, we want to benefit from its light and allow this to enter our hearts. We must ensure we do not approach the Qur’an as we would any other book. Rather with love and awe, we want to allow it to enter our heart. As Amīrul Mu’minīn (a) says: Clearly enunciate it, and do not quickly read it like poetry, nor disperse it like sand [when reading]. Rather, frighten your hard hearts by [reading] it, and let not your worry be [reaching] the end of the chapter. (Al-Kāfī, v. 2, p. 614)
One of the eminent jurists in the last century was a scholar by the name of Āyatullāh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Hāʾirī al-Yazdī, may Allah elevate his position. He played an important role in reviving the Islamic seminary of Qum, and training students such as Imam Khomeini and Āyatullāh Sayyid Muhammad Ridā Gulpaygānī. It is narrated that he said, “The ʿāmmah (the non-Shī‘ah) have left aside the ʿitrah (the family of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family), while the khāssah (the Shīʿah) have left aside the Qur’an.” This unfortunate reality means that both parties have done an injustice, they have both neglected the advice given to them by the Noble Prophet of Islam. The two weighty items bequeathed to the Muslim nation were intended to be held on to, together!
Just as how believers must remember, supplicate to, and connect with the living Imam (may Allah hasten his reappearance), similarly they must also work to connect to and benefit from the Qur’an. The Imam and Qur’an are both alive and ready to help those who hold out their hand. In the words of the Persian poet Hafiz, they are doctors of love whose help we must seek out.
طبیب عشق مسیحادم است و مشفق لیک
چو درد در تو نبیند که را دوا بکند
The doctor of love is like the Messiah, kind and loving,
But alas if you do not sense the pain within yourself, who will cure you?!
In the words of Imam al-Bāqir (a), the Qur’an is alive: Indeed, the Qur’an is living and does not die. And the verses are living and do not die. For if a verse that had been revealed about a community died with their death, then the Qur’an would have also died. But rather, it flows amongst those who remain just as how it flowed amongst those who passed. (Bihar al–Anwār, v. 35, p. 403)
A key condition for someone to benefit from the Quran is that they must be striving to obey Allah and implement the teachings of the Quran and the sharī‘ah in their life. From the time of the Imams until today, there have been individuals who read, understood, and even memorized the Quran but did not care to implement it in the least! Readers who are interested can further investigate the life of the fourteenth century conqueror Timur, as an example of such an individual. However, on the other hand, history is full of illuminous personalities who used the Quran positively and benefitted from it, purifying themselves and attaining higher and higher levels of servitude. One such individual was the female Iranian scholar, Bānū Amīn Isfahānī, who passed away approximately forty years ago. Bānū Amīn was an outstanding scholar who was given permission to officially narrate ahādīth and practice ijtihād by various other jurists. She wrote a fifteen-volume work on tafsīr, entitled Makhzan al-ʿIrfān. In one instance she narrated various spiritual realities that were shown to her. She explained how she was aware when the Angel of Death came to her neighbourhood and even which house, he was going to. When asked how it was that she reached such a level, she replied, ‘As a result of my intimacy with the Quran, I reached this level. The more I engage with the Quran and am drowned in its Divine verses, the more I attain these states and the more veils are lifted aside from me.’ (Az No Bā Tū, Shaykh Muhsin ʿAbbasī Waladī, v. 2, p. 168)
We implore Allah to give us the opportunity to benefit from the Quran, to allow it to guide, inspire and enlighten our lives in this world and the hereafter.
Source: Zam zam e Erfan, Āyatullāh Muhammadī Rayshahrī