لَوْ أَنْزَلْنَا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّعًا مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ
Had We sent down this Quran on a mountain, you would certainly have seen it falling down, splitting asunder because of the fear of Allah.
Sura al-Hashr, verse 21
The effect of the Holy Quran on the human heart can be amazingly powerful. To understand and be aware that the Almighty God, with all His Power and Might is actually talking to you, the lowly human being, should be overwhelming. It should at least create a tremor in the heart, a mixture of emotions ranging from excitement to apprehensiveness and trepidation.
What’s up with us that we don’t react like that to the words of God as He talks to us? Why is it that we are often cold and unresponsive to the Quran? In the above verse Allah says the mountain with all its hardness and strength would crumble under the weight of its message. But the human being remains unmoved!
To respond better to the Quran, we need to change our style of reciting it. We need to create an awe for it in our hearts, to linger over and savor verses of the Quran. Hadith tells us not to focus on ending the Surah, completing a particular part. Recite with Tarteel, with a beautiful voice that affects the recitor and the listener, with correct pronunciation, understanding and reflecting over the message. Absorb the verses into your heart and mind, and think of them often. Make the Quran alive for yourself. It is not just a book that you recite sometimes, but a message that is part of your being every day of your life. To do all that is to soften the heart for the Quran, and receive it as it should be received.
Remind yourself constantly of the need to humble the heart as a pre-requisite for correct recitation of the heart. Memorize the verse above and recite it every time you open the Quran to recite, and visualize the mountain crumbling under the weight of the Quran. Is your heart harder than the mountain?