-
How To Engage With The Quran
I was a Muslim by name only until recently I had a spiritual awakening. Now I am trying to connect with Islam more deeply and gain Iman, Inshallah. From the last two months I have been trying to read the Quran. I am reading Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English translation of the Quran (finished up to Surat Yusuf), and supplementing my reading with Javed Ghamidi’s Al Bayan lectures (up to surat Al Anfal) and Dr Khalid Zaheer’s Quran Summary in Urdu. I have also heard Javed Ghamidi’s and Dr Khalid Zaheer’s lectures on introduction to the Quran, and how to approach the Quran.
I am trying my best but I feel embarrassed to admit that I find it difficult to engage with the Quran. I can intellectually understand and accept what the Quran is saying, but it does not reach my heart (i.e. my heart does not feel moved). I have read many articles about how to soften the heart, but they do not seem to have helped. From about 3 months I am doing all the Islamic faraiz and not committing any major sins (of course I avoid but cannot say 100% free of minor sins because as humans we are forgetful and err often). I read the Quran daily and have heard dozens of Islamic lectures.
It is very depressing for me that I am not able to engage with the Quran despite trying my best. I find it very repetitive, the same stories have been repeated often, and the same information has been given over and over again (believe in Allah, if you do X then you’ll go to heaven, if you do Y then you’ll go to hell), and the rest of the content is related to laws and rules. I really want to reach out to Allah and connect with His word and follow His way, but when I read the Quran it mostly does not stir my heart (except very rarely).
In summary, my difficulty is not that I feel conflicted about what the Quran says. I just feel disengaged and unmoved, like I am a statue or a robot. What is the remedy for this situation? Is it because the particular translation I am reading is bland, or is it normal to feel this way and one has to read the Quran a few times before a connection develops, or something else?
-
2 Replies
-
How To Engage With The Quran
updated 3 years, 11 months ago
2 Members
·
2
Replies
-
it happens to many readers of Quran. Observation tells it is mostly because of the two reasons:
1. As you mentioned, the translation fails to convey the intrinsic nature of language of Quran, which is apparently does not connect one sentence to another and one passage to the other.
2. Intention of the reader: the reader wants to read in Quran what he or she wants to. They come with an ideal or impression, and found a different kind of narration in Quran.
To overcome these problem, we recommend to read Urdu translation of Ghamidi sahib’s Al-Bayan and al-Quran al-kareem (translation only) or its English version by Dr Shehzad Saleem (in parts it is available online, and soon the complete translation will be available).
Secondly, read the Quran as it is. Although it does not talk to you directly, tells you the stories of people bygone and about their behaviour, but the point is, these behaviour always exist, that is why the Quran is preserved for us to be read. Therefore, the stories gets never old, they are the stories of our present too, different modes of behaiour are not just theirs, they are ours and of the people around us too.
Once you get familiar with the style of Quran, you find how subtly and beautifully Quran develops one argument from the other, and one situation from the other, how it makes a specific thing a universal and vice versa. you will find what role its context plays with its statements. It is so very amazing.
if you come across different philosophies and theological problems, for example, and you come with questions in your mind, you find answer in Quran. you will find in Quran how misunderstandings about Islam in Muslims are solved in Quran.
you will find how aptly and how balanced is Quran while talking and dealing with human relations.
These are some of the points which i could compile just now.
Stick to the reading of Quran, you will find your way to touch its essence, and will explore a world of wonders of reason, then your heart gets soften and surrender itself to His glory.
-
Thank you, Jizakallah. I will follow your suggestions and pray that it helps.
Sponsor Ask Ghamidi
