Letting one’s heart be moved by the Quran

Letting one’s heart be moved by the Quran.

1989 5 May 7 Letting one’s heart be moved by the Quran. (87) Abu Hamzah once told Abdullah ibn Abbas that he was quick at recitation. “I have sometimes completed the whole Quran once or twice in a single night.” “I prefer to read just one chapter,” said Ibn Abbas. “When you recite, you should do so in such a way that your ear hears and your heart assimilates what you are reciting. You should pause at its places of wonderment to let your heart be moved by it. Your aim should not be just to reach the final chapter.

Light in the Darkness

1989 5 May 7 Light in the Darkness (263) For the Muslims of old the Quran had proved to be a conquering force. For the Muslims of today the Quran has ceased to be so, for the simple reason that the Muslims of today have failed to put it to its proper use.

In the 9th chapter of his well-known book, The Spirit of Islam, Syed Amir Ali (1849-1928) quotes Deutsch, a Gennan orientalist on the subject of the Quran: “.. a book by the aid of which the Arabs conquered a world greater than that of Alexander the Great, greater than that of Rome, and in as many tens of years as the latter had wanted hundreds to accomplish her conquests; by the aid of which they alone of all the Shemites came to Europe as kings, whither the Phoenicians had come as tradesmen, and the Jews as fugitives or captives; came to Europe to hold up, together with these fugitives, the light of humanity; – they alone, while darkness lay around, to raise up the wisdom and knowledge of Hellas from the dead, to teach philosophy, medicine, astronomy and the golden art of song to the West as to the East, to stand at the cradle of modern science, and to cause us late epigoni for ever to weep over the day when Granada fell (p. 394).”

For the Muslims of old the Quran had proved to be a conquering force. For the Muslims of today the Quran has ceased to be so, for the simple reason that the Muslims of today have failed to put it to its proper use.