Why do you believe in The Qur’an?

I wish I knew why you were having a tough time believing in The Qur’an, so I could address those issues. I know this sounds difficult, and obvious, but, I want to take your parents’ pressure out of it. It seems clear that they are dealing with you in a way that is not working for you, and that’s actually pushing you away from The Qur’an, and you just have to understand their perspective.

Your parents are scared for you. Honestly, they might not show it, and maybe they’re yelling at you, taking things away from you, I’m not sure. The point is that, they really are just worried that you will not find value in The Qur’an like they do. That’s really what it comes down to. Now, here’s the important part, just because your parents read The Qur’an a certain way, think about it in certain ways, doesn’t mean you have to. 

The Qur’an has to make sense to you, on your terms. I think it’s important to really make sure you apply this. You’re going to read interpretations that aren’t going to make sense to you. Throw them out of your head, they’re not important, because they’re just interpretations. Nothing else, these are not the ideas of God, nor are they necessarily the opinions of The Prophet, they’re usually the opinion of just some guy. Yes, he’s called a Sheikh or an Imam or a Mufti, who cares? He’s just a dude, and even if his opinion is awesomesauce, if it doesn’t make sense to you than you can’t use it. So, then either try and understand their perspective, or look at other interpretations too, which might make more sense to you.

The central message here, though, is that you have to make sense of it. This isn’t just my touchy-feely, “aww, I’m a nice Muslim, let me make you feel better” view on The Qur’an, this is command of God. The first word revealed to Muhammad was iqra. Now this word can either be translated as “read” or “recite.” Some people like “recite,” and I don’t. Let me tell you why: First, recite hints that you’re just repeating things and not thinking them. Second, and more importantly, Muhammad, when commanded to iqra (lol, I know that sounds awk) and being squeezed by the angel, responds “I cannot read.” The miracle of Prophet Muhammad was that he was illiterate, not that he had a bad memory.

Reading, in my mind, shows that you are not just reading words, but processing them, thinking about them, understanding them, putting them into perspective. That’s why I prefer to translate iqra into “read,” and thus show how the commandment to both Muhammad and to all Muslims is to read, to understand, which is a theme that is constantly and explicitly stated in The Qur’an.

Furthermore, whether we look at Surah Ad-Dukhan (Smoke) [44] or Surah Maryam (Mary) [19], we see a very plain explanation: “We made this [divine writ] easy to understand, in thine own [human] tongue, so that men might take it to heart” [44:58] and “We made this [divine writ] easy to understand,” [19:97] both of which clearly illustrate that you, the believer, are supposed to understand The Qur’an on your own terms. Yes, go ahead and get some help, ask questions from people you trust, but the ultimate responsibility to understand and make sense of everything is you. 

I think the major issue when reading parts of The Qur’an, or when discussing parts of The Qur’an, what we do is we focus simply on that section. The Qur’an cannot be viewed as a compilation of individual commandments, but as one whole. So when you find something specific, make sure you’re checking it against the larger, general principle. Looking at The Qur’an this way shows that, in the words of Muhammad Abduh, The Qur’an is “its own best commentary.”

Also, while it is useful to look at The Qur’an from a historical perspective, it helps make sense of what The Prophet and the early Muslims were dealing with, it also means that sometimes you’ll lose sight of what the stories in The Qur’an are really teaching you. Looking at the story of Musa (Moses) and Pharaoh and compare it to recent events in the Arab world, do you see parallels between the pride of (insert dictator here) and Pharaoh?

As for why I believe in The Qur’an? That’s a massive question. I’m going to try and just give a few features that underline why I love It so much. First, it is the only religious scripture to explicitly refer to men and women equally (both in quantity and in respect); it is also the only religious scripture to explicitly acknowledge the existence of other religions as the will of God; it is unchanged from its original; in Arabic it is breath-taking; its logic is without weakness (especially important for my lawyer-brain); and it never asks me to “make leaps of faith,” it simply provides me the rationale for my faith.

I am always learning from The Qur’an, even when I speak to people who have spent their entire lives reading The Qur’an, they never stop learning. That is incredible to me.

I am in awe of The Qur’an, when I look at the book, I simply see infinity. It literally is the manifestation of the concept of infinity, and that is awe-inspiring to me.

The Qur’an is especially important to me, because, many times I don’t get the same sort of satisfaction from prayer or from zikr, or fasting, and that used to bother me. I used to think that meant I didn’t really believe or that I was praying wrong, or without enough passion, or that my praising God was just useless. When I read The Qur’an, as corny as this sounds, I feel like its God taking me aside, and calming me down, telling me not to worry that I’m not like the other kids, and showing me the path to Him in a way that makes sense for me.

For me, The Qur’an is the ultimate argument. All arguments have weaknesses, you try and compensate for them, try and ensure they are designed to take attention away from them (the weaknesses), but The Qur’an doesn’t need to. The Qur’an is a perfect argument for humanity, and as someone who loves the law, The Qur’an’s structure is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

I hope this helps you, and I urge you, if you have any other questions, on this, or another topic, that you message me. I promise I will answer, Insha Allah. I just want to remind you, please don’t lose faith and don’t let anyone discourage you.