Pondering upon the Quran-1

The month of Ramadan is a month in which the recitation of the holy Quran is recommended so much. There are some rituals for this recommended act. Among them is pondering upon the verses of the holy Quran. What does this pondering mean and how can we do it?

The holy Quran is the manifestation of the knowledge of Allah on the earth. This divine book contains many different subjects, like the oneness of Allah, theological discussions, morality, human creation, hereafter, rewards and punishments of there, the ways to be successful in this world and in the hereafter, the barriers of the human in the way toward perfection etc.

The concept of Tadabbor or deep pondering is mentioned in the holy Quran and in the Narrations of the infallibles. It means not to stop at the words of the holy Quran. It means to pass and move from the words to the reality behind them. It means to understand lessons from them. Imam Ali peace be upon him said:

“Ponder upon the verses of the Quran and take heed from it, indeed the Quran is the most expressive heeds.”

There are some differences between pondering upon the verses of the Quran and the exegesis of that. Pondering can be done by every individual, and even the simplest people can take lessons from this precious book. Of course there are different levels of understanding the holy Quran, but the Quran is the table of Allah that everyone due to his/her capacity can be benefited from it, but the exegesis only belongs to those who are deeply expert in the field of religious studies.

The exegesis of the holy Quran includes different aspects of this book like the meaning of the words, the situations in which the verses were descended, the grammatical points of the verses etc. But the pondering is almost done in order to take lessons and heeds from the verses.

Another difference is that the main element of pondering is attending by heart while reciting the verses, but the exegesis mostly is a theoretical discussion.

According to the Narrations, while pondering upon the Quran, the aim is not to just complete the chapter and reach to the end of that, but rather according to a Narration from Imam Sadiq peace be upon him it is not appropriate to recite the Quran quickly but it is recommended to recite it slowly and it is appropriate to stop at the verse in which the Paradise is mentioned and ask Allah for it and stop at the verse in which the Hell is mentioned and refuge to Allah from that.

So when we see that the Narrations define the Quran as the spring of the hearts and the fountain of the knowledge of the knowledgeable or the cause which makes the hearts of the people of insight to be alive etc. this shows that the perfect effects of the Quran are achieved when it is recited with pondering.

To be continued

Source: iec-md.org