When we talk about understanding the Qurʾān, we usually address it from a technical angle. We list the pre-requisites, from the knowledge of Arabic, to knowledge of tafsīr and other sciences.
What we often fail to address is that the Qurʾān is ʿAzīz, Mighty, it doesn’t penetrate the arrogant and the stern heart. It doesn’t open to the hasty and the careless heart. Nor the heedless heart that is occupied with everything worldly but Allāh.
There is a ḥadīth which gives us invaluable guidance on how to study the Qurʾān, this ḥadīth gives us the key to successfully studying and contemplating the Qurʾān.
Rasūl Allāh ﷺ says, ❝No people get together in a house of the houses of Allāh (i.e. a masjid), reciting the Book of Allāh, learning it and teaching it, except that calmness (sakīnah) descends upon them, [Divine] mercy engulfs them, and the angels surround them, and Allāh makes a mention of them to those in His proximity (i.e. the angels).❞ [Muslim]
I want to zoom in on one aspect of this ḥadīth, ‘reciting it amongst themselves’.
The Moroccan exegete, Farīd al-Anṣārī, describes this recitation that is a prelude to a Qurʾān study session as knocking on the door—with this recitation you are knocking on the door of Raḥmah.
The significance of reciting the āyāt prior to studying them cannot be belittled. While many people want to jump in and start analysing and studying the Qurʾānic text immediately, we have to acknowledge that that is not the way through which the process of understanding takes place. Knowledge and understanding is from Allāh, so before all else, one must stand at the door of Allāh, display his need and beg Him for a fatḥ (an opening).
Reciting the āyāt you are meant to study enables you to do just that. With this recitation you are begging Allāh to open His doors upon you and upon those in your gathering. You are displaying (to Allāh!) your eagerness and longing to understand the words of Allāh.
This recitation is what makes the heart malleable to the Qurʾān.
With this recitation you are displaying your absolute need for Him and for His Book, just as an ailing person would display need for medicine. The one without a need will not find fulfillment of that need. You display your need for what lies within the verses of this Book—from the guidance, to the light, to the knowledge, to the healing (!).
You acknowledge that there is no way out from the tribulations that befall you as an individual and the ummah as a whole than through holding tightly to the teachings of this Book. You acknowledge that your only relief and salvation is in understanding these verses.
So you stand desperate and ailing at the door of Allāh and you beg Him for it—through this recitation.
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