The Phenomenon Of Ignoring The Qur’an

وَقَالَ الرّسُولُ يَرَبّ إِنّ قَوْمِي اتّخَذُواْ هَـَذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُوراً “And the Messenger has said: "O my lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur’an as [a thing] ignored (abandoned)."” [Al-Furqan: 30]

Indeed, Allah SWT has honoured this ummah with a lot of privileges. One of those privileges which in fact is the greatest of them, is the revelation of the Qur’an. The Qur’an is the one and only holy book in which its originality could be accounted for. We should be proud of this as the ‘holy’ books of other religions had been contaminated by the human hands. All their ‘holy’ books have gone through changes in the forms of additions or deletions in them. However, after Allah SWT has honoured this ummah, the majority of the ummah do not honour themselves. Whereas, Allah SWT has facilitated them with the source of honours i.e. the Qur’an. This ummah mostly ignores the Qur’an just like what the mushrikeen had done in the past. The Qur’an is getting more neglected and abandoned. Its rules of halal and haram are no longer followed.

The above verse was a form of grievance by Rasul SAW to Allah SWT about the treatments of the Makkan mushrikeen at that time. How strong was the antagonism from his people. How ferocious was their responses of rejection towards the verses of the Qur’an which was recited. They accused Rasul SAW as practicing witchcraft and those verses were his mantras. They also claimed that Rasul SAW was a poet who was expert in stringing up words to make them very beautiful and pleasant to the ears. Rasul SAW was so devastated by all the responses. His complaint was eventually recorded by Allah Himself in His Book. Long after Rasul SAW had gone, our conditions became more critical. The Qur’an is more abandoned, not only by the kuffar people but by the Muslims themselves. Imam Ibnu Katsir in interpreting the above verse mentioned a few phenomena that are happening to this ummah and which could be categorized, including abandoning the Qur’an. See Tafseer Ibnu Katsir Al-Furqan: 30 (Maktabah Shamilah) First, those who, when the Qur’an is recited, intensify their chit-chats and useless talkings, so that they cannot hear the Qur’an. The manner or attitude that must be observed when the Qur’an is recited is by listening with full attentiveness.

وَإِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْآَنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ وَأَنْصِتُوا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ "When the Qur'an is read, listen to it with attention, and hold your peace: that ye may receive Mercy." (Al-A’raf: 204)

The Qur’an is the great Kalamullah. Rahmah from it will not descend except by listening carefully while it is recited. Therefore, for the sake of avoiding inappropriate manners towards the Qur’an, it is best that it is not recited in the majelis (gathering) of amusement as it is most possible that the Qur’an will be ignored in that kind of place. It is only suitable to be recited in the majelis of ‘ilm and zikr. Second, not doing at-tadabbur (to find the full meaning of every word, Ayah and Surah) and no effort to understand them. The aim of reading the Qur’an is to do tadabbur on its contents, and at the same time to understand them. By doing tadabbur we know when we need to smile, when to shed the tears, when to offer supplications or when to ask for protection. Without tadabbur, the Qur’an is just like a thick book that is read but its contents are not understood. Neglecting the effort to do tadabbur on the Qur’an is a form of ignorance towards the Qur’an or perhaps it could even make us fall into the category of people whose inner eyes are locked up. “Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up by them?” (Muhammad: 24) Third, not applying its teachings by practicing every command and avoiding every prohibition. This Great Book would not show its beauties except when its contents are applied into the reality of life. When a person adapts his akhlaqakhlaq, he would be distinguished in the human eyes. When a person holds tight the obligations of the Qur’an, he would be elevated forever. When a person restrains himself from every prohibition in the Qur’an, his purity would always be protected. Having the nerve to differ from the Qur’an is ignoring the Qur’an. A person must assess how far has his personality been consistent with the Qur’an?

فَاسْتَمْسِكْ بِالَّذِي أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ إِنَّكَ عَلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ "So hold thou fast to the Revelation sent down to thee; verily thou art on a Straight Way." (Az-Zukhruf: 43)

Fourth, turning away from it by occupying themselves with poetries, songs, games and gossips. The moments our tongues become more fluent in singing songs or more melodious when singing them, than in intoning the Qur’an, that is a sign that something is not in order within us. The moments our hearts are more touched by poetries or more moved when declaiming them, then we need to ask ourselves: At its height, we are apparently more enthusiastic in listening to other besides the Qur’an. What happens to us? Why are there more songs than murattal in the contents of our hand phones? Why is our DVD collection of the Qur’an not as varied as our collection of songs? Why, in our houses, are the voices of the singers more played than the tilawah by the imams? Fifth, giving priority to other solutions besides the Qur’anic solutions. Indeed, the Qur’an offers us a variety of solutions to life. But why are there still a lot of people, including the Muslims themselves, who are rejecting the Qur’an? The Qur’an is accused as a classical book irrelevant to modern times. Its rules are charged as not as advanced as the positive rules created by the humans. Indeed, the prioritization of the Qur'anic solutions is an effort to honour the Qur’an. On the other hand, giving priority to solutions outside of the Qur’an is seen as ignoring the Qur’an.

إِنَّهُمْ لَنْ يُغْنُوا عَنْكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَإِنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ وَاللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ "Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion: so follow thou that (Way), and follow not the desires of those who know not." (Al-Jatsiyah: 18)

When, in the past, Rasul SAW lamented about the negative responses received from his people who were mostly still mushrik, now it seems that the conditions of his ummah are already almost similar to mushrikeen. Would Rasul SAW now cry in his grave over our actions of always ignoring the Qur’an?