Surah Al-Furqaan (25) — Ayah 30

(Ayah 30) {وَ قَالَ الرَّسُوْلُ يٰرَبِّ اِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوْا …:} This can have two meanings: one is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made this complaint to Allah Almighty in this world, because the disbelievers had said: «{ لَا تَسْمَعُوْا لِهٰذَا الْقُرْاٰنِ وَ الْغَوْا فِيْهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَغْلِبُوْنَ }» [ حٰمٓ السجدۃ : ۲۶ ] "Do not listen to this Qur'an and make noise in it, so that you may prevail." And the second is that on the Day of Resurrection he (peace and blessings be upon him) will make this complaint, because in the Noble Qur'an, the past tense is frequently used for the definite future. Here it is noteworthy that the words "my people have made this Qur'an abandoned" clearly indicate the meaning of deliberately ignoring it, which is not clear from the words "have abandoned it" alone. In {’’ هٰذَا الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘}, by the word {’’ هٰذَا ‘‘}, the greatness of the Qur'an is intended to be expressed, meaning they have treated such a great Qur'an as if it were something to be deliberately ignored. As for the question, what is meant by "my people" mentioned in the verse? The answer is that by the words "my people," first and foremost, those who did not believe in the Qur'an during his (peace and blessings be upon him) lifetime are meant, and after that, all those people from your (peace and blessings be upon him) advent until the Day of Resurrection who did not believe in him (peace and blessings be upon him) are meant, because they too are your (peace and blessings be upon him) Ummah of Da'wah and your people, just as the people of Nuh (peace be upon him) were his Ummah, who, despite not believing, were his Ummah and his people. By their abandoning the Qur'an is meant avoiding listening to it, reading it, reflecting upon it, and not believing in it. After that, in {’’ قَوْمِي ‘‘}, all those believers are also included who have abandoned the Qur'an in any way. Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) says: "To avoid listening to the Qur'an, to make noise in it, and not to believe in it, is to abandon it. Similarly, not acquiring its knowledge as needed and not memorizing it is also to abandon it. Not trying to understand its meaning, not acting upon its commands, and not refraining from what it forbids is also to abandon it. Abandoning it and adopting other things is also to abandon it, for example, preferring music, romantic poetry, people's sayings and opinions, and their invented ways over the Qur'an is to abandon it."

The reality is that the way the Muslim Ummah has deliberately thrown the Qur'an behind their backs at this time, perhaps it has never been done before. Most of them will make their children doctors, engineers, scientists, businessmen, and industrialists to earn the world, and will spend all their energies for this purpose, but they will not have them taught the Qur'an, and even if they do, it will only be the recitation or memorization of the Qur'an, from which they do not know what it means. How unfortunate it is that if any language of the world is learned, not a single word is read without understanding its meaning, whereas the entire Qur'an is recited, sometimes even memorized, and beyond that, its tajweed and beautiful recitation are also acquired, but no effort is made to understand its meaning. When its meaning is not understood, then when will the stage of reflection and acting upon it come? The entire Qur'an is a distant matter; even the five daily prayers they recite, they do not know their meaning, nor do they know what they are presenting to their Lord while conversing with Him. This is the reason that in all the Muslim countries ({إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّيْ}), the Qur'an has been practically removed from the lives of Muslims. Their politics is the democracy taken from the disbelievers, in which Allah and His Messenger have no role, or it is a despotic monarchy free from the restrictions of the commands of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Their trade and industry are based on interest, the laws of the disbelievers are enforced in their courts, and their appearance, civilization, and culture are like those of the Jews, Christians, and Hindus. For them, the Qur'an is only for blessing, or for the inauguration of gatherings, or for Ruqyah and self-made supplications in spiritual mentorship, or for the practices of love, enmity, and winning hearts, or to buy a copy with the best paper and binding to give in dowry, or to wrap it in a beautiful cover and place it in the highest place. They do not turn their backs to it, but do not accept a single thing it says. In their religious schools, for years, issues compiled by humans are taught, and when they become firmly rooted in the mind and heart, they are given a brief exposure to the Qur'an and Hadith for a year or two and then graduated. (Except those upon whom my Lord has mercy)

The reality is that until we abandon this practice of neglecting the Qur'an and, like the Companions and the Followers, return to the Qur'an, make it the fabric of our lives, we will remain deprived of Allah's help and an honorable life. Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) truly said: {’’ لَنْ يَّصْلُحَ آخِرُ هٰذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ إِلَّا بِمَا صَلُحَ بِهِ أَوَّلُهَا‘‘} [ شرح سنن أبي داوٗد لعبد المحسن العباد : 334/2 ] "The latter part of this Ummah will not be corrected except by that which corrected its first part."

30-1. The polytheists would make a lot of noise when the Quran was being recited so that the Quran could not be heard; this too is abandonment. Not believing in it and not acting upon it is also abandonment. Not reflecting upon it and not acting upon its commands and not avoiding its prohibitions is also abandonment. Similarly, to leave it and give preference to another book is also abandonment, meaning the forsaking and leaving of the Quran, against which, on the Day of Judgment, Allah’s Messenger will file a complaint in the court of Allah.

30. And the Messenger will say: "O my Lord! Indeed, my people have taken this Qur’an as a target of mockery [40]."

[40]
Different Aspects of Muslims Abandoning the Quran:

The root of the word "mahjura" is "h-j-r". Now, if this word is considered as the object of "hijr (hijran)", then "mahjura" means such meaningless talk that a person utters in a state of illness, sleep, semi-consciousness, or unconsciousness, i.e., babbling or delirium. Then, since such talk becomes a cause for laughter and mockery, its meaning would be to mock, ridicule, and make fun of the verses of the Quran, and to make the Quran a target of derision, as was the habit of the disbelievers of Makkah. And if this word is considered as the object of "hajr (hijran)", then its meaning would be to consider the Quran as abandoned in practice and to put it behind one's back. Just as nowadays, whether common people or scholars, all Muslims are guilty of this crime. The neglect of the Quran by the scholars is such that in our religious seminaries, the Dars-e-Nizami curriculum that is prevalent, the translation and tafsir of the Noble Quran only comes in the final year, and sometimes not even then. In some madrasas, the course is six years, in some seven, in some eight, and in some the curriculum lasts up to nine years. And most of this long period is spent on teaching and learning auxiliary sciences to understand the Quran. The first three or four years are spent on sarf and nahw (Arabic grammar), logic, or ethics, etc. Later, fiqh and hadith, and in the final year, the Quran—meaning all attention and effort is spent on the basics, and if students get time to read the Quran, it is their good fortune; otherwise, in most cases, they do not get it. And the reason for this is that the scholars have ingrained in the minds of the public that the Noble Quran is an extremely difficult book. That is why its teaching is kept for the very last year. Whereas the claim of the Quran is completely contrary to this notion, and experience and observation show that an ordinary literate person, by studying a translated Quran, attains a simple and straightforward understanding that is far better than the understanding that sectarian and blind-following individuals want to instill in a student by first teaching him the fiqh of their own school of thought. This is the injustice of the scholars towards the Quran, and the injustice of the public is that they have assumed that the Quran is merely a book of spiritual practices and that it contains solutions to all our religious and worldly problems, but they only need it to remove their worldly difficulties. For this purpose, they have even devised some experiments, for example, reciting certain tasbihat from certain verses removes certain difficulties, and extracting the zakat of certain surahs achieves certain objectives. Then, out of reverence, the Quran is wrapped in silk covers and placed on a high shelf in the house. Or Surah Yaseen is recited over the deceased. Besides this, sometimes it is used for taking oaths. The real purpose of the revelation of the Quran was that mankind should obtain guidance from it, so in view of this fundamental objective, in reality, the Quran has become abandoned in practice today. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ will complain about this before Allah.