Editorial

The Miraculous Words We Are Blessed With

The month we’re in, the month of Ramadan, is the most distinguished time of the year for us Muslims. Through divine decree, we are informed that Ramadan is a month of blessings, opportunities, healing, and purification. The esteemed standing this month has in the sight of Allah is due to having the first revelation of the Qur’an in it. As the corpus of the words of Allah revealed to mankind, the Qur’an is no ordinary text. To realize this, one only needs to consider the striking distinction between everything we can observe in the universe, which can be categorized as part of the creation, and the Qur’an—the words that were spoken without a voice, sound, or letters by Allah Himself as a manifestation of His attribute of speech and not as His creation. This is truly miraculous as we are blessed with reading His words simplified to a level we can understand, albeit partially.

The miracle of the Qur’an is unfathomably extensive in that, in those who read it with the hope of having its blessing touch reach their hearts, it brings healing, an effusion of faith, and a divinely-inspired serenity in them. Its words are so sublime that their effects are felt in the readers’ hearts and souls even if they lack the linguistic ability to understand them. The soothing stream of mercy that pours forth from it may elude the eye but it washes over the essence that every believer holds within regardless. In other words, just as the words of the Qur’an transcend this material existence, so do its blessings. However, these blessings have very real, observable reflections in us as an astute observer can appreciate that those who read the Qur’an profusely and faithfully are changed by it into kinder, humbler, more caring, compassionate, forgiving, and gracious versions of themselves.

Understanding this miracle bestowed upon Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is no small task either. We can be highly proficient in Arabic but no matter how much we read the Qur’an, manifested as it is by the infinite wisdom it belongs to, it will continue to contain deeper meanings that will forever be out of our reach. Of course, reading such a sacrosanct text requires a solemn, sensitive approach filled with reverence and utmost adab. The adabs of reading the Qur’an are highly elaborate since reading the words contained within is tantamount to speaking with Allah. To convey these all-important adabs to our readers, we have tried to provide a summarized adaptation of the related section from the distinguished work titled “Ihyau Ulumi’d-Din” by Imam Ghazali (rahmatullahi alayh), who detailed the adabs of reading the Qur’an exceptionally well in his celebrated compendium.

We hope this issue provides a beneficial understanding in this regard and helps us to read the divine words of Allah with greater enthusiasm in this blessed month. We wish a blessed Eid al-Fitr to all our Muslim brothers and sisters.

M. Galip Dönmez