Religious Studies Talk

arah · Guest

Thinking Over the Verses of the Qur'an *

By Harun Yahya
Muslim Thinker — Turkey

The Qur'an is the final book Allah sent to all people. Every person
living on the earth is responsible for learning the Qur'an and
fulfilling the commands communicated in it. Most people, however, do
not learn it and fulfil what Allah commands in the Qur'an, although
they accept it as a divine book. This is a consequence of their not
thinking about the Qur'an, but knowing it by information gained here
and there. For a person who reflects, on the other hand, the
importance of the Qur'an and its place in man's life is very great.

First of all, those who reflect want to know their Creator Who created
them and the universe in which they live, gave them life when they
were nothing, and bestowed countless blessings and beautiful things on
them. Someone like that wants to learn what kind of conduct He would
be pleased with. The Qur'an, which Allah sent through His Messenger,
is a guide answering the questions above. For this reason, people need
to know the book Allah revealed to people as a guide and in which He
distinguished good from evil. They need to ponder over each verse and
fulfil what Allah orders in the most proper and pleasing way.

Allah states the purpose for which the Qur'an was revealed to people:

[It (the Qur'an) is a Book We have sent down to you, full of blessing,
that they may ponder over its versesand that people of intelligence
take heed.] (Saad 38:29)

[No indeed! It (the Qur'an) is a reminder to which anyone who wills
may pay heed.] (Al-Muddaththir 74:54)

Many people read the Qur'an, but the important thing is, just as Allah
states in His verses, to ponder on each verse of the Qur'an, to draw a
lesson from that verse, and to improve one's conducts in compliance
with these lessons. Those who read the verse [For truly with hardship
comes ease; truly with hardship comes ease] (Al-Inshirah 94:5-6), for
example, reflect upon it. They understand that Allah creates ease with
each hardship, and therefore, the only thing they have to do when they
meet a hardship is to put their trust in Allah and find the ease that
is with it. Allah's promise being so, we see that giving up hope or
being stricken with panic in moments of difficulty is a sign of a
weakness in our faith. After reading this verse and reflecting upon
it, our conduct will go in line with the verse throughout our lives.

In the Qur'an, Allah relates stories from the lives of the prophets
and messengers who lived in the past, so that people can see how are
the conduct, conversation, and life of a person with whom Allah is
pleased, and take them as examples. Allah states in some of His verses
that people must think over the stories of the messengers and draw
lessons from them:

[There is a lesson in their stories for people of intelligence.]
(Yusuf 12:111)

(And (We left a Sign) also in Musa when We sent him to Pharaoh with
clear authority.) (Adh-Dhariyat 51:38)

(We rescued him (Nuh) and the occupants of the Ark and made it a Sign
for all the worlds.) (Al-`Ankabut 29:15)

In the Qur'an, some of the attributes of past nations, their manners,
and the disasters that befell them are mentioned. It would be a great
misconception to read these verses merely as the narration of
historical events and an account of what has befallen past nations.
This is because, just as in all other verses, Allah has revealed the
verses about past nations for us to think over, and for us to amend
our conduct by deriving lessons from the events that befell these
nations:

(We destroyed those of your kind in the past. But is there any
rememberer there?) (Al-Qamar 54:51)

Allah has revealed the Qur'an as a guide to all people. Therefore,
reflecting upon every verse of the Qur'an, and living according to it
by deriving lessons and warnings from every verse is the only way to
gain the approval, the mercy, and the Paradise of Allah.

* Excerpted with kind permission and with some modification from the
author's website.

Harun Yahya was born in Ankara in 1956. He studied fine arts at
Istanbul's Mimar Sinan University and philosophy at Istanbul
University. Since the 1980s, he has published many books on political,
faith-related, and scientific issues.

bob young · Guest

arah wrote:

bob young · Guest

Exposer wrote:

bob young · Guest

John Fraser wrote:

bob young · Guest

Raymond wrote:

bob young · Guest

John Fraser wrote:

bob young · Guest

ARAH wrote:

John Fraser · Guest

Good morning Arah;

"ARAH" <arah1958@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:501457fe-be27-4362-a30b-afcb5b24057a@f36g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...

Raymond,

I will believe if you can provide your proof that the Quran was
revised many time.

Why you waste your time believing the bible which has 50 different
English versions

Why Are There Different Versions Of The Bible?

When people hear there are over 50 different versions of the Bible in
English alone, they often think to themselves, "No wonder there are
many denominations each teaching different things, there are many
different versions of the Bible." This view, however, is wrong. Yes
there are many denominations, but don't blame that on the fact there
are many versions of the Bible. There is one Bible.

First we need to understand what we mean by a "version". A better word
than "version" is "translation". The Old Testament was originally
written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. If every man could
read Hebrew and Greek, then we would have no need for an "English
version". Most people can't read Greek, "It's all Greek to me"! We
must rely, therefore, upon men who are fully fluent in English and
Greek.

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Of course, for the Qu'ran to have avoided such problems, everyone would
have to know the Arabic dialect of Muhammad. Sadly, most do not.

Cheers,
John

bob young · Guest

John Fraser wrote: