DISCOVERY OF THE QURAN

What is this triggering? It means you thought about the earth and the heavens, you pondered over God’s creations, and gradually your mind got triggered. You read, “Our Lord, You have not created all this without purpose.” It means, through the contemplation of the universe, your mind was triggered, and you discovered the glory of God. This triggering is the key concept for faith and of Islam. In a Hadith, it is mentioned about the Prophet Muhammad: “He used to remember God all the time.” (Sunan Ibn Majah) In today’s language, it would be said that every event would trigger the Prophet’s thinking. Every occasion would trigger his mind, and he would discover new things. In this way, the Prophet would continuously receive sustenance from God, and his faith would continuously increase. This is what every believer must do. I recall an incident of mine, probably from 1942, a long time ago, during the time of World War II. I went to Gorakhpur; there was a prominent Muslim officer with a spacious bungalow. I was there to meet him. Outside his bungalow, a Hafiz was reciting the Quran. When I met the Muslim officer, I asked who this person was and what he was doing. It was the month of Ramadan. The Muslim officer said, “We cannot read the Quran ourselves, we do not have the time, so we asked the Hafiz to read it for us, at least to complete one recitation during Ramadan. We will give him some money.” This is how people think. They believe the mere recitation of the Quran is enough to receive its blessings. The officer himself did not read the Quran for contemplation. He just asked the Hafiz to come and recite it. A few days ago, I met an educated man. During the conversation, he said, “Alhamdulillah, I never miss my Taraweeh.” Taraweeh is the night prayers offered during Ramadan. He thinks that the meaning of Taraweeh is standing in Taraweeh and listening to the recitation. There is no contemplation on the Quran in it. Completing the Quran in Taraweeh or asking the Hafiz to complete it or completing it yourself by reciting, this is not contemplation. From this, you cannot achieve the discovery of the Quran. Without discovery, you cannot achieve thrilling realization. Yesterday, I understood a new meaning of a verse from the Quran. My mind continually thinks about the Quran. I keep contemplating the verses of the Quran throughout the year, day and night. There is a verse in the Quran (41: 20-21), “When they come close to it, their ears, eyes and skins will testify against them for their misdeeds. And they will ask their skins, ‘Why did you bear witness against us?’ and