I found an excellent Q & A on Kamil Mufti’s mailing list regarding contemplation of Qur’anic verses. Before i paste it, i want to link to an important post by Dr Maxtor which reflects my own feelings about a strange trend on the Muslim blogosphere: OTT apologies. Click here to read it.
Here is the Q & A
Question: Realizing that the whole Quraan is guidance, I was wondering if you can recommend some surahs or aiyath that are better at increasing one’s eemaan that you’ve used or heard from hadeeth and your teachers.
Bismillah wal-Hamdulillah.
Excellent question. May Allah reward you profusely for asking it.
Contemplating upon the Magnificent Qur’an which Allah has revealed to
explain every matter and as a Light to guide whichever of His servants
He wishes. There is no doubt that in it is a great cure and medicine
as Allah has said,
“And We send down from the Qur’an that which is a healing and a mercy
to those who have Eemaan.” (17:82)
The cure is contemplation and reflection.
“And We have send to you (O Muhammad) Ruhan of Our command.” (42: 52)
One of the scholars explained,
‘What is meant by Ruh over here is the Qur’an which Allah inspired to
His Messenger. It is the Ruh for the hearts. The Ruh of the hearts is
more special than the soul of the bodies. Allah has called it Ruh
because it gives life to the hearts. So when this Qur’an mixes with
the heart it enlivens it and enlightens it, it learns about its
Sustainer, worships Allah upon sure knowledge, fears it and stands in
awe of Him, loves Him, glorifies Him, and magnifies Him. This is
because this Quran is the Ruh that motivates the heart just like the
Ruh motivates the body.’
The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to contemplate upon the Book of
Allah and used to repeat certain verses when he stood up in prayer at
night. Once, he repeated a single verse for the whole night and did
not go beyond that till morning:
“If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them,
verily, You, only You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” (4: 118.
Musnad Ahmad)
Ibn Hibban narrates in his collection of authentic hadith with a
reliable chain of narrators on the authority of ‘Ataa who said:
I and Ubaid-ullah bin ‘Umair came to ‘Aisha. He said: ‘Narrate to us
something that greatly impressed you about the Prophet that you saw’.
She started to weep and said: ‘He stood up one of the nights, meaning
to offer the night prayer, and said: “O ‘Aisha, let me be alone so I
may worship my Sustainer.” I said: ‘By Allah, I love your
companionship, and I love what is easy for you.’ So, he stood up,
purified himself, and stood up to pray and wept till his stone became
wet. He continued to weep till the earth became wet. Bilal came and
the call to prayer was made. When he saw the Prophet (peace be upon
him) weep, he said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you weep while Allah has
forgiven your past and future sins. He said:
Should I not be a thankful slave? These verses were revealed to me at
night, so woe be to him who recites them but does not think about them:
“Verily, In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the
succession of night and day, there are indeed messages for all who are
endowed with insight. Those who remember Allah standing, sitting, and
lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the
heavens and the earth, (saying): ‘O our Sustainer, You have not
created this without meaning and purpose, Limitless are You in Your
glory! Keep us safe, then, from suffering of the Fire!’” (3: 190, 191)
This is a proof of the obligation to contemplate upon these verses.
The Qur’an has Tauheed, promises, threats, rulings, news, stories,
manners, morals, and narration’s of different kinds. Also there are
some Surahs which are more frightening and terrifying than others as
the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“(Surah) Hud and its sisters have made my hair turn white before old
age.’
In another narration he mentioned Surahs Hud, Waqia, Mursalat, Naba,
and Takweer (Tirmidhi).
The Prophet’s hair turned white from them because these Surahs of the
Qur’an embrace the realities of Eemaan and the burden of great
responsibilities which filled the heart of the Prophet (peace be upon
him) so its effects became apparent on his hair and body.
“So stand you (Muhammad) firm and straight.” (11: 112)
The noble Companions of the Prophet used to read and contemplate and
were greatly affected by it. Abu Bakr used to be sad and softhearted
when he used to pray with people and recited the Words of Allah and
could not hold himself from weeping. Umar fell sick from the impact of:
“Verily, the torment of your Lord will surely come to pass,- there is
none that can avert it.” (52:8)
His sobbing was heard in the back rows when he recited the aayat in
which Allah quotes Jacob,
“It is only to Allah that I complain of my deep grief and my sorrow:
for I know, from Allah, something that you do not know.” (12: 86)
Uthman said, ‘If our hearts were pure, you would not have enough of
the Words of Allah.’ He was killed unjustly and his blood spilt over
his copy of the Qur’an as has been narrated by many Companions. Ayyub
says that he heard Sa’eed Ibn Jubair repeat this aayat in prayer some
twenty times,
“And be conscious of the Day on which you shall be brought back to Allah.”
this being the last verse to be revealed in the Quran, bringing it to
completion,
“whereupon every human being shall be repaid in full for what he has
earned, and none shall be wronged.” (2:281)
Ibrahim bin Bashhar said that Ali bin Fudayl died while reciting the
aayat:
“Oh, would that we were but sent back (to the world)! then we would
not deny the messages of our Lord, and we would be among the
believers!” (6: 27)
‘At this point he died and I was among those who prayed his funeral
prayer, may Allah have mercy upon him.’ (Reported by Imam Dahabi in
Seer ‘Aalaam Al-Nubalaa 8/446)
Consider how they viewed the verses of prostration. There is the story
of a man, may Allah have mercy upon him, when he recited the saying of
Allah:
“And they fall down upon their faces, weeping, and it adds to their
humility.” (17: 109)
he fell down prostrate because it is one of those aayats where
prostration is recommended. Condemning himself, he said,
‘This was the prostration, where is the weeping?’ (11: 21)
One of the greatest ways of contemplation is thinking about the
parables in the Qur’an:
“Are they equal when compared?” (11: 21)
“Allah propounds parables unto men, in order that they may remember.”
(14: 25)
One of our Pious Predecessors was once reflecting upon one of the
parables in the Qur’an. Its meaning did not become clear to him
immediately, so he began weeping. When he was asked as to why he wept,
he answered:
‘Truly, Allah has said,
“And these similitudes We put forward for mankind, but none will grasp
their meaning except those who have knowledge.” (29: 43)
Since I did not understand the parable, I am not knowledgeable, so I
weep for the knowledge that has departed from me!’
Allah sets forth diverse parables: the parable of kindling a fire,
the one who shouts but hears nothing, the corn that grows into seven
ears, a dog that pants, a donkey that is carrying books, the housefly,
the spider, the deaf and the blind, the one who hears and sees, the
ashes on which the wind blows furiously, the good tree, the bad tree,
the water that comes from the sky, the niche within it a lamp, a slave
who has no ability to do anything, and others.
May Allah open our hearts to His speech. May Allah make the Quran the
spring of our hearts and a comfort to our worries.
