Chapter VIII: Excellence of the Quran
emperor in the deepest cover whose face is not visible but yet whose order is prevalent The word of God is like the sun of which the rays are open but its constitution is secret like radiant star By its help the paths of journey are seen. The word of God or the Quran is an invaluable treasure or an ever lasting drink of life which prevents death or it is such a medicine for a disease which leaves no ailment if it is taken.
(2) Honour the Quran containing divine word At the time of reciting the Quran, realise in a beautiful manner divine glory and think that what you recite is is not human words. God says : None shall touch it except the pure ones. As the external papers are preserved from touch of impure hands, so its secret meaning and wisdom are shut up from the internal mind if it is not free form all impurities and not illuminated by the light of honour and gravity. As the pages of the Quran cannot be touched by every body, so every tongue can not utter the words of the Quran and every heart cannot grasp its meaning. When Hazrat Akramah son of Abu Jahl opened the Quran, he fainted and said : This is the word of my Lord, To honour His word is to honour Him and He is not honoured till His attributed and the mysteries of His creation are not pondered over, till he knows that He is the Creator of all things in Heaven and earth, and that He gives them Provision.
(3) To recites the Quran attentively after giving up one's own ideas. God says : O Ihya, hold fast by God's Book. It means that he should follow the Book with industry and perseverance He who remains busy in an enjoyment does not think of any other thing.
(4) To think about the Quran. Thinking comes after attention.
For this reason it should be read slowly as slow reading makes thinking possible. Hazrat Ali said: There is no good in the divine service in which there is no knowledge of religion. It has been said that once the Prophet read 'In the name of the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful' twenty times thinking about its meaning. Hazrat Abu Zarr said : The Prophet prayed with us one night. He recited the same verse again and again. That is this :
If Thou punisheth them, they are merely Thy servants and if Thou forgiveth them, Thou art Forgiving, Merciful.
Sayeed-b-Jubair once read the following verse repeatedly standing in prayer : O the guilty, be separate to-day. Abu Solaiman Darani said : I stood in prayer in four or five night
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reciting only one verse. A certain sage of yore passed six months by reciting only the chapter Hud.
(5) To understand the Quran. Realise true and correct meaning of every verse. Therein there are the descriptions of God's attributes, His wonderful creations, the stories of Prophets, the fate of the liars and how they were destroyed and the descriptions of Paradise and Hell.