Seventh Ramadan Lecture Presented by Al-Sayyid Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi, 1443 A. H.
On the Holy Quran and Its Broad Guidance
I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, the outcast.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. I believe that there is no god but Allah, the Sovereign and the Manifest Truth, and that Muhammad, our master, is His servant, Messenger, and Last Prophet.
O Allah, confer Your salat and blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad as You conferred Your salat and blessings upon Ibrahim and the Family of Ibrahim. You are Owner of Praise, Owner of Glory! And be pleased with Muhammad's good companions and all Your righteous servants and mujahidin.
Brothers and sisters, peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
O Allah, guide us and grant us acceptance, for You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing; accept our repentance, for You are the Relenting and the Merciful.
Among the aspects highlighted in Surat Al-Baqarah of the Holy Quran is the obligatory ritual of fasting and the selection of Ramadan for performing that ritual as one of the pillars of Islam and main obligatory tasks: Allah says, {‘Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed as guidance for mankind and as clear proofs of guidance and criterion’}. So the month of Ramadan is the month when the Holy Quran was first revealed to Last Messenger Muhammad (PBUH&F), and who knows it might be the month that saw the beginning of the mission of delivering the Message to people, even though some say it was the month of Rajab. However, it is surprising that those who consider Rajab to be the month of the mission are saying that the Quran was first revealed at the beginning of the mission (even as early as the first meeting Surat Iqra was revealed), but that does not make sense because it is agreed upon that the Holy Quran was first revealed in the month of Ramadan, on the night of Qadr: Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {‘We have sent it down in the night of Qadr’}. Therefore, if the mission was directly accompanied with revealing the Quran, it must be the holy month of Ramadan that saw the beginning of the mission. There are also some narrations by Imam Ali (PBUH) supporting this. In any case, there is no doubt that if the revelation of the Holy Quran coincided with the beginning of the mission of the Message, the mission definitely started in the blessed month of Ramadan.
The Holy Quran was sent down in the month of Ramadan, and Allah prescribed for us to fast this month and revealed to us the practical purpose (the main practical fruit) , which is Taqwa: {‘so that you may become muttaqin ’}. Therefore, there is no doubt about the integral relationship between obtaining Taqwa and benefiting from the guidance of the Holy Quran, because one of the first requirements of Taqwa is to obtain guidance in order to know what to do, what represents protection for us if we do it or adhere to it (actions, words, attitudes, and positions), and what can provide us with guidance that helps us purify ourselves. That is because one of the requirements of Taqwa is self-purification: We need to purify ourselves in order to be mindful of Allah (Glory be to Him).
When we come to the practical side, the practical side cannot be fulfilled without guidance, without instruction, and without knowledge. Indeed, one needs to know what to do in order to do, what to avoid in order to avoid it, what to guard against and keep away from, and what can reflect badly on him/her or lead to serious consequences. That is why Allah (Glory be to Him) says regarding Taqwa and muttaqin in their relationship with the Holy Quran, {‘This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for muttaqin ’}. He also says about them after introducing those characteristics mentioned at the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah,{‘Those are upon guidance from their Lord, and those are the successful’}. A key requirement for Taqwa is to follow the guidance of the Holy Quran and act according to it. This is how Taqwa is obtained: through the practical commitment to Allah's guidance in the Holy Quran and through the great educational impact of the Holy Quran in purifying the human soul. Indeed, it helps it to display adherence and makes it ready for paying effort, and it also has an educational impact that goes in harmony with fasting when it comes to encouraging the human soul to be patient and endurable and to providing a great faith-based motive for a person to walk in the right path body and soul with due care and a deep sense of responsibility. In addition, it also connects one with Allah (Glory be to Him) in a way that grants him/her help and success from Allah. Therefore, all these matters should be taken into consideration: their importance and the integral relationship between fasting and the Holy Quran in relation to Taqwa.
The way Allah (Glory be to Him) has adopted to guide His servants is to send messengers with books from Him. It is a typical way (to provide guidance for human society) that goes all the way back to the beginning of the existence of humanity, to Adam (Peace be upon him). Allah guided him, and that guidance was provided to him as soon as his succession begun on the earth. And this continued to be the case until the coming of the Seal of the Prophets. He continued to send prophets with holy books until the coming of the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (PBUH&F), who was sent with the Message to the worlds as a mercy to the worlds and accompanied with the Great Quran that was revealed to him.
The key to all blessings upon humanity
The Holy Quran is a great blessing that Allah has bestowed upon us. The blessing of guidance through the Messenger and the Book is the greatest of all blessings, and it is the key to all blessings: Without it, all blessings turn into a curse, into a means for acquiring sins and evil deeds, for committing injustice against ourselves and against human society, for inflicting misery, for spreading corruption on the earth, and for leading an evil life. People are in need of an approach drawn for them to follow in dealing with Allah's blessings, and of a good path presented to them to show them how they should carry out their responsibility on the earth, a path that combines between the divine principles and values and the noble humanitarian principles that are in harmony with human dignity. If people deviate from that or do not obtain and get this connection (this guidance), then his deviation will be a cause of their misery and a reason for their misbehaviour and rejection of Allah's blessings, as well as for inflicting injustice upon themselves.
The Holy Quran is a great blessing from Allah and is the main miracle of the Messenger of Allah Muhammad (PBUH&F). What makes this blessing even greater is the fact that Allah has preserved the Quranic text for all subsequent generations coming after the era and time of the Messenger's mission (PBUH&F). After the death of the Messenger (PBUH&F), if Allah hadn’t preserved the Quranic text through a great divine miracle, that would have led to a very serious issue: the distortion of the Quranic text. That is because the issue of distorting what is presented in the name of religion was a common place. Indeed, all Muslims know that truth: Religious teachings, concepts, and all that is presented in the name of religion were subject to serious distortion, even the narrations about the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&F). There are many false hadiths, which are not authenticated about the Prophet (PBUH&F).
In addition, many are the things that are presented in the name of religion in the name of Islam, and in the name of what looks like legitimate although they have nothing to do with religion. So among the well-known issues is the issue of distortion; however, the whole Ummah agrees that the Quranic text is preserved, because Allah (Glory be to Him) took upon Himself to preserve it: Allah says in the Holy Quran, {‘It is certainly We Who have revealed the reminder, and We will certainly preserve it’}. He emphasized that He will preserve it until the Day of Resurrection, and this is true: Over all these centuries that have passed and passed, the Quranic text has remained preserved, and it will remain preserved until the end of the days of life, until the Hour of Resurrection. This is a blessing, a very great blessing bestowed on us, because even if some try to distort its meanings and concepts, the Holy Quran still exposes them. So the integrity, the survival, and the preservation of the Quranic text is a great blessing that exposes those who attribute lies to the Quran. This is one of the great blessings upon us in this time and in every time that Allah preserved the Holy Quran from distortion of its text. Indeed, it is a very great blessing that was preserved for us until this time and that will remain preserved for others after us until the end of history, the end of human existence.
Some of what Allah attributed to the Holy Quran
The Holy Quran is of Allah's light, of His knowledge, of His wisdom, and of His mercy. So He names it the Wise, the Great, the Glorious, and the Light, and He describes it as mercy and guidance. When we come to any blessed Surah, the beginning of all of them—except one Surah—is {‘in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful’}. This shows us and makes us truly believe that all that contained in Holy Quran (its guidance, directions, instructions, commands, and prohibitions) is out of Allah's mercy because He is the Merciful and because He wants what is good for us and what brings us happiness, success, and salivation. He does not want us to suffer or to cause horrible loss to ourselves. The manifestation of His mercy shown in His materialistic provisions that He has blessed us with and the manifestation of His mercy in what He provided to honour us in this life as human society and in creating us, are known and clear. Also, He reminded us of them in the Holy Quran a lot. Moreover, we, as human society, need guidance, instructions, teachings, and a system for the march of our life, so He offered that for us out of His mercy. This is also true for all that contained in the Holy Quran. Therefore, this is how we should look at the Holy Quran and at what is in it: instructions, teachings, commands, and prohibitions. This ensures that we do never look at any of our responsibilities in the Quran or of what Allah has commanded us, directed us, or instructed us in the Quran as if it were a problem affecting the reality of our life, as if it were against mercy. This also ensures that we do not look at what Allah has forbidden us and prohibited us from as if it were to deprive us. We have to adopt the right view that that goes in line with this understanding that makes us see all what Allah has commanded us as mercy and to see all what He has made forbidden for us as mercy, so we take this to heart and be at ease. That is because a person need to trust this and rest assured about it: However hard, difficult, challengeable some issues are, these issues (difficulties, challenges, and hardships) are part of our life; and we should be aware of the fact that ease can be found in the Quran-presented way, in the path of truth. It is the easiest, of the least cost, the greatest, and of the best destiny for people, however hard hardships might be.
The Quran is a blessed book of great blessings
In addition, Allah describes His Book as blessed: {‘This is a blessed Book We have revealed. So follow it and attain Taqwa so you may be shown mercy’}. This is of the most important virtues of the Quran: It is a blessed book. It is blessed in the extensive guidance it contains, the wonderful knowledge, the great deal of guidance, and the extensive knowledge. That is why whenever a person gets more linked to the Quran, his/her knowledge extends, and s/he gets wiser, more aware, and more knowledgeable. S/he will never get to the point where s/he might think s/he has comprehended all what this book contains of light, guidance, and knowledge, because it is very extensive and contains amazing blessings in the knowledge it provides.
It is also blessed in its educational effect. It has an amazing effect that is capable of rebuilding the soul, purifying the soul, and affecting the consciousness of the soul for good. There is no alternative or anything else can bring such a positive effect on the souls of people, the kind of effect that provides the soul with tranquility, helps purify the soul, increases its attraction to what Allah has created people upon of the high moral values, and keeps it away from all impurities that go counter to the genuine nature of the soul. Therefore, it is blessed in its educational fruit.
Moreover, it is blessed in what it leads to. It leads to what contains blessings and great goodness for us. When we move according to it, to its instructions and guidance, Allah blesses our efforts so that they become fruitful, blessed efforts: Their effects, results, and effectiveness become greater than what could be achieved by our own abilities and capabilities. That is because blessings are way greater than numbers, capabilities, and the realistic calculations due to Allah's generosity (Glory be to Him).
Its blessing is also in its results and effects, and this represents a great motivation to act according to the Quran, for anything else comes nowhere near what the Holy Quran presents in quality or quantity. Its blessing is amazing! When a nation pays efforts based on it, these efforts will be blessed by Allah, leading to great blessings in everything: in deeds, in results, and in effects—in all fields. The nation that moves according to the Holy Quran (takes its guidance, adheres to it, follows its insight, remains conscious to it, takes it as its reference, and adopts the positions the Quran calls for), Allah will also grant such a nation blessing in the goodness He provides, in its provisions, in the victory He gives to it, and in the goodness He keeps for it in all its life affairs!
The Quran is a light that illuminates the reality of life
Among other descriptions, Allah describes the Holy Quran as light, and this description is repeated many times in the Holy Quran. For example, Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {‘There certainly has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book’}. He also says, {‘A Book which We have revealed to you’}—this means to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&F)—{‘so that you may lead people out of darkness and into light’}.
A person who lacks divine guidance, lives a state of darkness. That is because s/he does not see the facts, does not indeed see goodness, and does not see the right way with which lies his/her success, salvation, and happiness. So s/he starts to have assumptions, imaginations, and wrong perceptions and misconceptions that act like darkness preventing him/her from seeing the truth as it is, the right as it is, and the good as it is. Matters often get inverted with him/her, so s/he has misunderstandings, misconceptions, wrong beliefs, and wrong ideas. These dark ideas represent an obstacle that blocks him/her from realizing truths and facts and the right direction, so s/he fumble around in his/her march of life, as well as in his/her deeds, decisions, behaviours, and attitudes at the personal level or the level of society that takes a direction other than the direction of the Holy Quran, depends on a system that is different from the Holy Quran, or builds its march of life on something other than the Holy Quran. Hence, that would cause deviation and a serious state of fumble.
Therefore, the Quran is light because it offers you what illuminates the reality of life for you: It illuminates your path, the path that leads to Allah (Glory be to Him), to the good of this life and the Hereafter, to the great success, to salvation from Allah's torment, to salvation from misery and losing, and to what makes you transcend. So it guides to the straight path in order for you to follow in your march of life the right direction that leads to the greatest aim and result, to the great success. Otherwise, the march of people will deviate: They go and fumble in this life without reaching the great result, the great aim, and the good outcome. And after the misery of this life, their destiny (May Allah forbid) will be the Fire in the Hereafter.
{‘There certainly has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book’}. {‘A Book which We have revealed to you so that you may lead people out of darkness and into light’}. That was clear in the movement of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&F) and in how he brought people out of darkness: They had many void beliefs, on which they based their practical affairs; they had many superstitious, ignorant, and false concepts and perceptions, which caused them to go astray at the practical level; and they stuck to many deviated, hideous behaviours and habits, which were not in harmony with human dignity and went counter to what Allah has wanted for humans and how He has honoured them with transcendence in morals, wisdom, and behaviour. So, with the endeavor of Allah's Messenger (PBUH&F), his conveyance of the Divine Message, his great efforts, and his great performance, in which the wisdom and blessing of the Holy Quran was embodied, he changed the reality of that time: the reality of ignorance in the true sense of the word. He made a great leap forward with that society, leading to positively change the reality of that society to a great extent. At that time, that society was the lowest among the other societies regarding its life reality and circumstances. The illiterate is how they were known, since they had no culture, and most of what they have was superstitions, tales, misguidance, and ignorance, as well as a state of division and disintegration (that had no similarity in other societies) and great backwardness in their life affairs. With the change that the Messenger (PBUH&F) made to bring them out of darkness to light, they got to the highest level a humanitarian society can get to in that time. As a result, they ruled over other societies on this earth. It was a big leap during a small period of time, and it moved them and totally changed their reality. If they had continued and moved in the same way, their reality would not be as it is today.
The Quran is an eternal miracle
{‘A Book which We have revealed to you so that you may lead people out of darkness and into light, by the Will of their Lord, to the Path of the Almighty, the Praiseworthy’}. This is also how Allah shows in the Holy Quran how great His book is: It is a great book; its verses are well perfected; it contains wisdom; and it is the miracle of the Messenger (PBUH&F). Allah says about it, {‘Say, “If humans and jinn were to come together to produce the equivalent of this Quran, they could not produce its equal, no matter how they supported each other”’}. This means that if they cooperate with each other and support each other, they cannot produce a book equivalent to the Holy Quran; they cannot produce anything similar to it in its perfection, eloquence, wisdom, or the amount of guidance it contains. Its guidance is amazingly wonderful, comprehensive, and extensive. It is the finest thing Allah has given people. They do not have anything that equals the Quran in their ideas, in their suggestions, in their imaginations, and in all they have produced intellectually, culturally, and scientifically. They have nothing that is equivalent to the Holy Quran in any field:
Political visions do not rise to the level of what is in the Holy Quran; no comparison can be made—they are nothing when compared with what the Holy Quran contains!
At the economic level, theories, suggestions, studies, and all their outcomes including visions and ideas do not equal anything of what is in the Holy Quran: its effect, reality, good result, and good impact on people.
And the same is true at the educational level, social level, and all other levels.
The Quran is full of wisdom in all aspects
There are different attributes and various tittles to the Holy Quran that demonstrate for us some aspects of its greatness and importance and help us understand how great the blessings Allah bestowed on us are. One of the Holy Quran's attributes is ‘full of wisdom,’ which comes as an oath in the Holy Quran. Swearing by the Holy Quran shows its significance and makes it clear that it is a blessing from Allah: {‘by the Quran, full of wisdom’}—swearing by the Holy Quran and its wisdom! So it is full of wisdom, and everything mentioned in it and its guidance provide wisdom in all the fields of life, such as the political, economic, social, security fields, and all other fields. That is because it guides us to Allah and His mercy, bounty, and generosity, as well as to the Hereafter. (It guides us in this life and the eternal one.) {‘Full of wisdom’}—one of the most essential things we are in need of is wisdom, for the opposite alternative is stupidity, haphazardness, wrong attitudes, and wrong perceptions and concepts, sticking to which direct the efforts into the wrong direction no matter how sincere these efforts might be.
This makes it clear for us how the terrible loss of Muslims was when they forsook the guidance of the Holy Quran in many of their affairs and in the main fields of this life. They have lost wisdom and accepted some alternatives to the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Quran, such alternatives that are no more than foolishness and stupidity, that have caused them nothing but misery and hardship, and that have reflected negatively on their lives.
The Glorious Quran
Another attribute of the Holy Quran is its glory, which comes as an oath again: {‘Qaf. By the Glorious Quran’}. Here He is swearing by the Quran and its glory: It is Glorious. If the Ummah adheres to it and it is guided with it in all life affairs, it will gain glory because all Allah's guidance in the Holy Quran makes us transcend and gain glory and honour. It has nothing that degrades human society, offends, humiliates, or demeans it.
What the guidance of Allah (Glory be to Him) in the Holy Quran presents is nobility, honor, might, transcendence, strength, and everything that brings about glory for the Ummah. When the Ummah keeps to it, it will be glorious, lofty, strong, mighty and far away from deterioration, inferiority, humiliation, and failure. This is what the godly human soul yearns for; it always yearns for glory and rises above lowness. So when the Islamic Ummah follows the Holy Quran and takes it as its true source of guidance, it is sufficient to make the Ummah gain transcendence, dominate the rest of the nations, and lead human society for what is good and in a good way that goes in line with divine principles and values that make the world good and lead to the transcendence and purification of the soul, as well as to preserving human dignity. However, this is not limited to the Ummah as whole. No! Any nation within this Ummah that moves in this same direction can gain glory too.
The Mighty Quran
Another attribute of the Holy Quran is ‘mighty’: {‘And indeed, it is a mighty Book’}.The Holy Quran demonstrates Allah's mighty, and it is mighty in the sense that it accepts none of falsehood or any defect in its composition, eloquence, and wisdom. Its verses are perfected: There is no room for defect at all. It is also mighty in the sense that Allah has preserved its text from distortion and in the sense of its guidance as it has no ridiculous visions, nor false ideas. Rather, it exposes others' ideas, and it nullifies them. Indeed, the Holy Quran is mighty.
At the educational level, the Holy Quran gives might: It bestows might on the human soul and grants it transcendence; it raises society that follows its guidance on might. It also presents guidance that makes any society within the Islamic Ummah powerful as long as it is preserved and adhered to. In addition, the Holy Quran does not involve ideas, cultures, teachings, or instructions that cause humiliation and degradation to the Islamic Ummah. Rather, the reason behind the humiliation experienced by this Ummah is that it has turned away from the guidance of the Holy Quran, which would have granted it might, had it followed the Holy Quran and adhered to it. {‘And indeed, it is a mighty Book’}: It is mighty in itself, in its bounty, and in what it guides to–what it guides to grant might.
{‘It cannot be proven false from any angle. a revelation from the All-Wise, Praiseworthy’}. It is a revelation from Allah, Who is All-Wise in all that He presents, guides to, and calls for. He is Praiseworthy: All His commandments in the Holy Quran involve praise and great honour; they do not encompass what may cause shame for a person, degrade his/her human value and dignity, or offend his/her humanity—not like those many beliefs, cultures, and wrongful concepts that undermine human dignity, offend the human, and have a negative impact on him/her and on the reality of society.
The Quran guides to that which is most just and right
The Holy Quran is a book of guidance; its basic function is to guide. Allah says, as recited at the beginning of the lecture, {‘Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed as guidance for mankind and as clear proofs of guidance and criterion’}. It is the guidance about which Allah says, {‘With which Allah guides those who seek His pleasure to the ways of peace’}. He also says, {‘Verily, this Quran guides to that which is most just and right and gives glad tidings to the believers’}. Therefore, the guidance in the Holy Quran is guidance from Allah to the best thing, to the most successful aspect of life, and to the most elegant thing. The Holy Quran does not only offer us, for example, the correct vision, the right idea about a particular subject, or the right instructions concerning a particular situation or a specific issue; but it also offers us the best, the most sublime, and the loftiest thing that makes all matters in our life straight and right. All this is provided by the Holy Quran; it provides us something so remarkable and great that no human being can introduce a better, greater, more fruitful, effective, or successful thing: The Holy Quran always provides the best.
It is a serious loss that Muslims look for alternatives to the Holy Quran. They sometimes look to these alternatives with pride and admiration, even though these alternatives are not only unequal to what the Quran guides to but they are also nothing: They are not beneficial, useful, or good for life; rather, they are of negative consequences.
When we want to take a position in the march of life, we have to look for what the Holy Quran guides to so that we can take the position that it directs us to with full confidence and tranquility. We have to rely on the Holy Quran in our attitudes and loyalties. We need to follow the Holy Quran in arranging our economic affairs. Why do not we do that? Why do we turn away from the Holy Quran? What are our justifications to look for other alternatives that are in contrast to the Holy Quran?
Understanding that the Holy Quran is a book of guidance, we should rely on it in the march of our lives, starting with the faith aspect that we need to keep improving and that depends on our knowledge of Allah (Glory be to Him) in the first place. We, the Islamic Ummah, suffer from a shortage in our knowledge of Allah, which has led to a negative impact on our trust in and reliance on Allah and even our relationship with the Quran. However, the Holy Quran helps us tackle this problem and is of great importance and impact when it comes to our knowledge of Allah, Who says, {‘Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have certainly seen it humbled and torn apart in awe of Allah. We set forth such comparisons for people, perhaps they may reflect’}. If the Holy Quran was sent down on a mountain and that mountain comprehended it, it would be extremely humble out of fear of Allah and would have known and feared Allah to the extent that it cracks and appears humble. {‘You would have certainly seen’}—its fear of Allah is clearly manifested in the state of cracking.
In the field of our knowledge of Allah, the Holy Quran is sufficient to increase your knowledge of Allah and accordingly your faith in Him, trust in Him, and fear of Him to a great extent. Nothing else can do that. Therefore, we need to return to the Holy Quran to obtain that and pay attention to it.
The Quran heals and purifies the soul
As we mentioned before about the effect of the Quran at the educational level, Allah (the Almighty) said, {‘And We send down of the Quran that which is healing and mercy for the believers’}. {‘Which is healing’} means that it heals the human soul of what it has been polluted and defiled by, of what contradicts its rational human nature, and of what has negative effects on that nature, as well as on good values, excellent qualities, noble morals, all sources of goodness and virtue, and different sorts of virtues that Allah has created within the human soul. Hence, people admit this fact and adopt it greatly throughout the march of their life. They also agree on noble titles, but such titles are not taken sincerely by a lot of people.
A person needs the Holy Quran at the educational level. It educates the soul with a great, elegant discipline, with which s/he exalts. It revives and develops in the soul what Allah has placed in it of noble morals, of virtues, and of great meanings that have made humans special, have granted them dignity, have enhanced their role, and have prepared them to rush in the march of their lives to do good deeds, to take good positions, and to take the right direction with great desire and complete conviction. That is because great values and self-purification help the soul to achieve that, so it moves according to that, abhorring bad morals, hating vices, and enjoying the might of the soul and generosity that make it refrain from bad, degraded, vile things and from humiliation, weakness, and shame and seek what is good and what preserves its human dignity. Of the main tasks of the Quran through the Messenger is to {‘purify them’}. He (PBUH&F) used to purify people with the Quran, its guidance, and Allah's instructions in the Quran.
Of the most important things the Quran guides us to:
Identifying responsibilities
Of the most important things that we must seek in the Holy Quran and through its guidance is to identify our responsibilities as Muslim Ummah: first, our responsibilities as human society (what our role is, why Allah has made us successors on the earth, the way of this succession, what makes us succeed in it both in this worldly life and in the Hereafter, and what its consequences in the Hereafter are), then the level of our responsibilities as well as our commitments (moral commitments, religious commitments, and commitments of faith) which have been set for us in the Holy Quran. That is because some seek to establish among people the idea that our Ummah has no responsibilities: This Ummah has no commitments nor responsibilities; it should remain subordinate to and led by other nations and have no problem seeing other nations interfering in its affairs and imposing their control; it should have no purpose, no message, no international or even domestic role. Instead, stay as it is in this era. This is a disaster. Allah (Glory be to Him) says {‘You are the best nation ever raised for mankind: you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah’}. Even if the interpretation of this verse refers to those who are the best among the Ummah and represent its elite, still what is meant is that they are supposed to guide the Ummah and lead it to carry out its responsibilities. That is, their responsibility is mainly this responsibility even if those who carry out this role of getting the Ummah to move should be the best of this Ummah, its elite, and the good doers in it. {‘You are the best nation ever raised for mankind’}; therefore, you have a great global responsibility to be fulfilled. {‘You enjoin what is right’}, and this is your message in this life: the right that is being fought, the right in all fields that is being ignored in a way that is setting the stage for falsehood and its people to prevail. {‘And forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah.’}
It is a march of faith with a great global responsibility, starting from within the Ummah: {‘Let there be a group among you who call to goodness, enjoin what is good, and forbid what is wrong—it is they who will be successful’}; {‘O believers! Whoever among you abandons their religion, Allah will replace them with others who are loved by Him and love Him. They will be humble with the believers but firm towards the disbelievers, and they fight in the cause of Allah, fearing no blame from anyone. This is the favour of Allah. He grants it to whoever He wills. And Allah is All-Bountiful, All-Knowing’}. Therefore, our Ummah has responsibilities, and it is not true that we should stay in our villages, mosques, and homes, doing nothing but moving from homes to mosques without caring about anything and isolating yourself from the reality of this life, from what is happening in this life, and from what is going on in this life. As a Muslim, you are committed to be among the Ummah that fights injustice, corruption, and tyranny; to stand up to the wrong, evil, and wicked people; and to do what is good for the earth of Allah and His servants. It is an important collective responsibility, and the Holy Quran guides us to our responsibilities, makes us know them, and emphasizes them, their consequences, and the danger of disobeying them. It also guides us to what builds us to be capable of carrying out these responsibilities, what builds us cognitively, culturally, and educationally, and what builds us at the practical level. It builds us practically in terms of how we should move to carry out this responsibility and how to follow the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&F) in his way, in his march, in his movement with the Divine Message, and in building the Ummah.
Of the most important things the Quran guides us to: Raising our awareness of the enemies and threats
Of the most important things the Holy Quran guides us to—ignoring which has caused the Ummah to lose a lot—is guidance in the field of being aware of the enemies, challenges, and threats. However, this matter received no attention and met with terrible ignorance, stupidity, deviation, and wrong policies that have led the Ummah to end up in a deadlock, in the bottom, have enabled its enemies to have the upper hand, and have incurred very terrible losses due to that . The Ummah has lost its awareness of its enemies and who its enemies are. The Holy Quran identifies the enemy for you, and this is what the Ummah needs because there are great misleading efforts within the Ummah to falsely identify who is the enemy and who is the friend is. So who is the enemy? The Holy Quran identifies to you (as a Muslim) who your enemies are, why they are your enemies, on what basis , what the reality of your problem with them is, and what the reality of their problem with you is. Great is the attention devoted to this matter, to what can build the Ummah to face those risks imposed by the enemies, to the nature of the enemies’ activity, to their method in targeting the Ummah, to the right approach to face them, and the areas of confrontation with them. This matter received so great attention that has what the Ummah needs to face any threats and to obtain might and power in the face of its enemies, based on a solid base that Allah (Glory be to Him) has mentioned in the Holy Quran when He said, {‘Allah knows best who your enemies are’}. Allah knows who they are, knows how they are, and knows what they do, and what their policies and methods are. Allah knows how dangerous they are, what their weakness points are, what the right approach to face them is, and what the wise, fruitful, and useful policies against them are, etc. {‘Allah knows best who your enemies are’}: A wide circle that contains everything about the enemy, including everything we have to do against them.
Of the most important things that is related to the Holy Quran—it has already been mentioned—is wisdom. It is a wise book to the degree that it is described as wise: {‘This is part of the wisdom which your Lord has revealed to you’}. All that Allah guides us to of acts are wise acts, and of behaviours are wise behaviours, of manners, of attitudes, etc. All it contains makes us a wise ummah: sensible in its thoughts and straight and balanced in its actions, attitudes, and policies. Every person needs this at the individual level, and so does the Ummah as a nation and as society.
For the one with an attentive ear, the Quran is made easy
for remembrance
In addition to all its great attributes—this is just a part of which, as its attributes are wider and greater—Allah has made it easy for remembrance. When we recite the Holy Quran with comprehension and meditation, we benefit of what it presents very clearly, intuitively, and quickly from the first moment and with minimal meditation. {‘Surely, We have made this Quran easy as a reminder. So is there any who will take heed?’}. However, how we turn to our reality as we reflect on the Holy Quran and evaluate our reality based on that. Its guidance is extensive: {‘We have certainly set forth every lesson for people in this Quran’}.
The Ummah can never change its reality for the better unless it holds tight to the Quran and seeks to follow its guidance and acts according to it: {‘As for those who firmly abide by the Scripture and establish prayer—surely We never discount the reward of those acting righteously’}. The way to get things right in relation to the soul, the reality of society, the reality of the Ummah, and all that is destroyed in the Ummah is through the Holy Quran and through holding tight to it and taking it as a source of guidance.
Speaking about the Holy Quran can go greatly longer, but through reciting the Holy Quran and taking care of its culture, a person benefits more and more and strengthens his/her relationship with it more and more. What is more important than all of this is what Allah bestows on you when we turn to the Quran: He guides you by it, makes it a source of comfort to you, and makes you realize (even to some extent) how great and important this book is.
That is enough for today.
We ask Allah (Glory be to Him) to grant us success in seeking what pleases Him. O Allah (Glory be to You), have mercy on our martyrs, heal the wounded among us, set free our captives, and grant us victory. O Allah, accept our fasting, night prayers, and good deeds. You are All-Hearing!
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.