"Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)"
- The Qur'an describes itself as Kitabun aziz,
a mighty book that falsehood cannot approach from any angle.
The preservation and incorruptibility of the Qur'an
were boldly promised therein.
When Allah said in another verse,
"We have certainly sent down this reminder,
and We will certainly be its guardians."
And it is certainly fascinating
how a book of the Qur'an's length,
primarily committed to memory,
and documented- when documented- on bones,
on Palm leaves, on scraps of leather,
over the span of 23 years, could even survive.
(light music)
People would learn some Qur'an from the Prophet Muhammad
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and from his companions,
then travel back to their homelands
and teach it to their families, or to their children,
or to their students, or to their friends.
And then they would relay it yet another time to others.
These separate oral transmissions continued independently
for centuries and all across the earth.
Despite that, all 1.8 billion Muslims today still
recite the Qur'an in the same exact way
the Prophet Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
taught it to his companions.
As for the established variant readings of some verses,
these only add to the beauty of the Quran's
multilayered meanings and pose no contradiction to them.
To accept that such consistency is a mere coincidence,
or that a global collusion on a spoken version
of the Qur'an had taken place, or to even accept
that a conspiracy of this magnitude is even
logistically possible, is irrational.
Another manifestation of the might
of this book, is the might of its impact
on those who hear it and what imprint it leaves
on them for a lifetime or for generations to come.
The Qur'an continues to have a unique
and extraordinary impact on people wherever it goes.
A person is amazed once they study how impactful
and potent the Qur'an has been at reforming
people's souls and uprooting some of the most deeply
entrenched false convictions in people's lives.
Just during the prophet Muhammad's lifetime,
there were multiple accounts, of vengeful murderous Arabs
who sneak up to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
for no other reason than awaiting a moment
to catch him off guard and assassinate him.
And yet they would find themselves disarmed
by hearing his recitation of the Qur'an.
And find themselves transformed from his staunchest
enemies to his greatest allies.
And from stubborn rejecters of the faith,
to some of the sincerest devotees among the faithful.
It is difficult to identify any three people
who did more harm to the Prophet Muhammad
or showed him greater enmity than Abu Jahl,
and Umayyah ibn Khalaf,
and Al-Walid ibn Mughirah.
They spent their lives and died
fighting the Muslims for being Muslim.
And yet their sons, Ikrimah the son of Abu Jahl,
Safwan the son of Umayyah, and Khalid the son of Al-Walid,
all embraced the Qur'an and accepted it
and lived by it for the rest of their lives.
And these are about some early examples of how the potency
of the Qur'an transform the hearts of its listeners.
But until today, many of those who hear the Qur'an,
many of which don't even understand yet the meanings
of the message of the Qur'an find themselves mesmerized
by its charm and pulled by its magnetic allure.
A useful demonstration of this, is to scan
the best sellers list of English books
in our day and age.
You'll find that the Holy Bible is the most read
English book of all time, selling over 4 billion copies
just in the last 50 years.
Second place, the Quotations of Mao Tse-tung
the Chinese thinker and third place,
the Harry Potter series combined, only sold 25%
of the number of copies that the Bible did.
While this disparity between the Bible and other works
seems staggering, it is eclipsed by the amount of Muslims
who do not purchase or read the Qur'an, but memorize it
in its entirety by heart.
They not only recall all of its 600 plus verses,
all of its 114 chapters, all of its 6,236 verses,
down to the letter and the vowel sound,
but they do so in the original Arabic form
while observing the tajweed rules
which govern Qur'anic recitation.
And while the vast majority of them
are not Arabs to begin with.
After all, less than one fifth of the Muslim world
population are Arabs.
What can explain this other than the unique power
and might of this book from the Almighty?
As Allah himself said in the Qur'an, "We have indeed
made this book miraculously so easy to be remembered.
So is there anyone willing to take heed and remember?
So with regards to this aspect now of the Quran's
inimitability, that of its riveting allure,
does any other book in all of human history
even begin to compare?
And we have not even considered here
the thousands of volumes of intellectual sciences
and laws and ethics that were either extracted
from or sparked by this concise Qur'an.
No single work, manmade or divine has ever gotten people
and societies to thrive in such a holistic way.
On every level, be it spiritual, be it moral,
be it social, be it civilizational,
it breathes new life into the world
and illuminates it for centuries at a time.
It has done so and continues to do so,
and will continue to until the end of time.
As Allah the Mighty and Majestic says, "And in this way
O Muhammad, We have revealed to you a spirit
from Our command."
It breathes life, a soul for the world.
You did not know what the book was, O Muhammad,
or even what faith was, until We chose to make this a light.
A light by which We guide whomever We will, of Our servants.
May Allah make us and you of them,
fill us with conviction in His Oneness
and the finality of the Prophethood
of Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)