Transcription
Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God and His blessings. We may read the Quran and sometimes feel like we are reading historical stories that have nothing to do with us. Events that happened and ended, nations that passed and perished. So why can't we connect all of that to our reality? What makes the Quran close to our feelings and far from our reality? Is the problem in the Quran or in the way we read it? And are there keys we are ignorant of, that if we possessed them, this book would open up to us, and we would see ourselves in it? What are the guidelines and rules that help us see our reality in the book of our Lord, correct it, and lead us to understand the Quran in a living, effective way, beyond mere recitation or fleeting emotion, and then a moment? Isn't this the task of scholars, or is each one of us concerned with having a share of contemplation and understanding? Even if the door is open, wouldn't we fear that it would produce those who tamper with the Quran and interpret its verses according to their desires, as we have seen in contemporary examples? And with the talk about the centrality of the Quran, does that mean marginalizing the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, or is the relationship between them deeper and stronger than we imagine? And with the approach of the month of Ramadan, how can it not be a repeated month in our relationship with the Quran? How can it be a different month, in which doors are opened, and not just the completions of the Quran are counted? These questions and others were the topics of discussion and dialogue with Dr. Nayef bin Nihar in this meeting, in which we try to approach one big question: When and how does the Quran open its doors to us? Welcome, Dr. Nayef. You are most welcome, Professor Fida. Welcome, you honor us and make us feel at home. May God protect and preserve you. How are you? I am fine, may God preserve and heal you. Once again, with the Quran, but from different angles. We may start with a question that crosses many people's minds, which is that we hear that the Quran is suitable for every time and place, but as soon as we open the Quran and read, we don't actually feel that it is related to our reality or that it addresses contemporary issues. How can we activate the Quran in our lives? Look, the issue of activating the Quran is a necessary issue and a religious obligation, of course, because God Almighty sent down the Quran so that we may be guided by it in our reality, not just in a specific reality. The Companions, may God be pleased with them, or the Successors, or so on, were the ones who were guided by the Quran, and we are not guided by the Quran. No, every time and place, we must be guided by the Quran. But as you mentioned, sometimes we read the Quran and feel the difficulty of activating it in the issues of our reality. Yes, and some people, for example, may see that there is a disconnect between the issues of reality and the Quran because they see different issues, the stories of the prophets, different people, and so on, and then they say, "We have different issues from the issues mentioned in the Quran." This is inaccurate, and the problem all goes back to perceptions of the Quran. That is, major problems always have their roots in perceptions. There are wrong perceptions that prevent the existence of correct awareness. Therefore, for example, in our dealings with the Quran, we also have wrong perceptions that prevent the utilization and activation of the Quran in the issues of our reality. So, one of the most important things I see, which is very important in dealing with the Quran and regulates your dealings with the Quran correctly and gives you the ability to activate it in the issues of your reality, is to see the Quran as a book of methodology, not a book of information. Excellent. If you look at the Quran as a book of methodology, meaning a book that shapes your thinking, shapes your awareness, and not a book that aims to inject information and provide you with information, no, it is about how it shapes the awareness of the recipient. Therefore, if you enter the Quran searching for information, you may not find what satisfies you, but if you enter the Quran seeking to shape a sound, mature awareness, you will certainly find what quenches your thirst in this matter. What do you mean by information? It doesn't scatter. For example, when you read about the many events that the Quran addressed, you don't find much information. You don't find, for example, information about people, information about places, information about times. For example, Pharaoh is repeated more than 60 times, but it is not mentioned to us in which era he lived. His father's name is not mentioned to us, not even his name, and Pharaoh is a title, his name is not mentioned. Do you understand? The number of his army is not mentioned, in which city he lived, how old he was, where he was born, when he was born, and so on. All this information that historians usually care about, the Quran does not pay attention to it. Why? Because it has no role in shaping your awareness, but rather it focuses on issues that aim to shape your awareness. Therefore, it does not mention information except to the extent necessary to shape the awareness of the recipient. Do you understand? I give you an example. Look, for example, the Battle of the Confederates. The Battle of the Confederates was a dangerous, decisive battle. The Islamic nation at that time was almost destroyed. The last stronghold of the Islamic state in Medina was besieged from all directions, and there was a project to exterminate it. So, the logical thing, or the expected thing, is that the Quran would shower us with details. In this pivotal battle, and indeed, if you go to the books of historians, you will find them full of details: When did the Battle of the Confederates take place? Who were the polytheists who participated in it? The names of the tribes, the number of polytheists, the number of Muslims, the names of the leaders here, the names of the leaders there, and even the number of horses and camels that participated. The Quran did not mention all this information. Why? Because it is not important in shaping your awareness. What is important? Imagine that when the Quran spoke about the Battle of the Confederates in Surah Al-Ahzab, it mentioned only about two pages about the Battle of the Confederates. Imagine an event of this magnitude taking hundreds of pages from historians, but only two pages from the Quran. Why only two pages? Because these two pages are sufficient to shape your awareness. Yes. For example, the Quran mentions, "And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is disease said, 'Allah and His Messenger promised us nothing but delusion.'" This is the first group, because now this is the first piece of information it gives you. It says that the hypocrites, when they saw the Confederates, do you know what they did? They began to doubt the principles. Oh, we discovered that this religion itself, which we belong to, is not a true religion, because now we are besieged, and we are on the verge of defeat. So, the principles we believe in are not correct. And this is repeated in our reality today, do you know? Who are the hypocrites? It doesn't mention to us who those in whose hearts is disease are. It doesn't mention to us what they want. So, it wants you to understand the logic, the logic of thinking of this group, because it will be repeated with you in every time and place. Glory be to God. Then it begins with another group. "And when a faction of them said, 'O people of Yathrib, there is no stability for you, so return.'" This is a group that wants to discourage. "There is no stability for you, return." Why? Because the other side is stronger than you. There is no possibility of resisting them. Let's surrender and give ourselves to them. "There is no stability for you, so return." So, this is a group that wants to discourage. Then comes a third group. "And a party of them sought permission from the Prophet." Notice, a moment ago it said "a faction," now it says "a party." Why? To draw your attention that it is a different group in its logic of thinking, so that it shapes your awareness in dealing with these different groups that will be repeated in every time and place. "And a party of them sought permission from the Prophet, saying, 'Indeed, our houses are exposed.'" "We have houses with women in them, we want to secure them. How can we leave them like this empty?" And they are not exposed. So, why did they lie here? The Quran says, "Their excuse was nothing but that they said, 'Indeed, our houses are exposed.'" But God knows that they wanted nothing but to flee. So, a group wants to withdraw. Glory be to God. A group wants to flee. So, you have now three groups: a doubting group, a discouraging group, and a fleeing group. And no time and no place is devoid of them. It also mentioned the fourth group, which is the group of believers. Here the context changed. "And when the believers saw the Confederates." Notice this scene. It did not say, "And when the believers saw the disbelievers." No, it wants to show you the multitude, that they are many and confederates. Do you see the scene now? Confederates surround them, and they see signs of defeat, and they see signs of victory. And more than that, what is devastating is that their own group, on whom they relied, began to withdraw, and another group discouraged them, and another group doubted their principles. Now, in this situation, only a small group remains, feeling betrayed and disappointed. Usually, when a person sees signs of defeat, they begin to feel the disappointment of their hopes and the disappointment of their principles that they adopted, because people usually associate truth with victory. I am right, so I must win. No, God Almighty may test you for other reasons. But this group, even though they saw all the signs of defeat, and when the believers saw the Confederates, they said, "This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us." And Allah and His Messenger spoke the truth. Allah is the greatest. Here, even though they saw the signs, they had a reverse reaction, opposite to the others. Notice that it is the same event, but different reactions. Why? Because of the difference in awareness. These people have an awareness that differs from this awareness. Therefore, "And it only increased them in faith and submission." It is supposed that a normal person, when they see such a siege and the multitude of Confederates against them, should begin to feel that the principles they believed in are not correct. But in this moment, the opposite happened to them, and it only increased them in faith and submission. That is, God Almighty wants to tell the believer that this event, this siege, and this shaking of principles that may occur, may be repeated with you, and what is required of you is to remain firm and follow the path of those who preceded you. This is what shapes our awareness now. Whoever reads Surah Al-Ahzab now has an awareness. They will see in every crisis, they will see in every battle between truth and falsehood that these groups are present before them, and they will not be surprised. They will have prepared themselves and their souls to see these groups. But people today are surprised. In the Algerian Revolution, we saw these four groups. In the Afghan War, we saw these four groups. In the Gaza War, we saw these four groups. In the Syrian Revolution, we saw these four groups. Always, in every battle between truth and falsehood, you will see these four groups. So do not be surprised. Some people, when, for example, the annihilation of Gaza happens, they say, "Oh, look, there are people who doubt the resistance against the occupier." They say, "There is no benefit from that." Or, for example, in the Algerian Revolution, they used to say, "France is a legitimate state, and this is its right." Religious scholars used to say this. So, why are you surprised? Why did the Quran focus only on this information? To shape your awareness towards it. So, why do you not have awareness today? This means that you have not read the Quran correctly. You asked me about activating the Quran in reality. This person has not activated the Quran in his reality because he did not pay attention to the ideas that the Quran wanted him to pay attention to in shaping his awareness. So, if we summarize this point, or the first guideline, or the first rule, is that the Holy Quran is a book for shaping awareness, not for providing us with information. Exactly. It is always in every incident, in every event, in every interaction with people, it does not care about numbers, names, times, and places. No, it cares about the events that shape your awareness. Therefore, it does not provide you with much information about the events, but it is important for it to shape your awareness so that if these events are repeated a thousand times, you have no problem because you have the awareness that enables you to deal with these events. You have the awareness that ensures the formation of the correct stance in dealing with the event. Do you understand? Like now, when someone wants to enter business, you come at the beginning and teach him, shape the mentality of a businessman. How to deal with money, how to deal with deals, how to deal with. After you finish shaping his awareness, you let him deal with business. He has business awareness. You don't go with him in every transaction and explain to him. And every sale and purchase, he returns to you. No, you shaped his awareness once. With this awareness, he will deal with everything. Do you understand? Therefore, whoever returns to the Quran and searches only for information without paying attention to the logic of thinking that the Quran wants to shape, will not understand the purpose of the Quran and will not be able to activate it in reality. Let me give you another example in the same context. Look at this verse. God Almighty says, "And a man came from the farthest end of the city, hurrying. He said, 'O Moses, indeed the chiefs are plotting against you.'" Imagine this man played a very important and dangerous role. He saved a prophet of God. Yet, his name was not mentioned. Why? The Quran wants you to focus on the role he played, because this role is also required of you. It is required of you to always act with such a role. So, this man lives in a repressive system, a dangerous, tyrannical system of Pharaoh, yet he found a space through which he could act to save this reformer. Therefore, no matter how closed the horizon is, you must look for available spaces to act. Let me give you another example, and this is very common. The companions of the garden in Surah Al-Qalam. Their names were not mentioned, because the lesson is in the logic of their thinking. Look at the idea of the blind man. "He frowned and turned away." "When the blind man came to him." Why was his name not mentioned? "He frowned and turned away." The verse should have said, "He frowned and turned away, Abdullah bin Umm Maktoum." Right? This is his name. But why did it say "the blind man"? Because here the Quran wants to alert you to the characteristic for which he turned away, for which he neglected, for which he frowned in his face: he is blind. That is, outwardly, how do people deal with a blind person? They don't see him as an added value. They don't see him as someone who will change something significant. Therefore, the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to pay attention to the prominent people who came to him, because he believed that these people would change the equation. Here comes the Quranic lesson: you cannot judge people based on outward criteria. No, you don't know the inner readiness they have. And what would make you know? Perhaps he purifies himself. What do you know about him? Glory be to God. Therefore, you must look at people by the extent of their engagement with the idea, by the extent of their readiness. Because this is the criterion, and do not let outward, superficial criteria be what judges people. But if it said Abdullah bin Umm Maktoum here, all this meaning would be ruined. The story and the meaning would be over. Yes. Some people, for example, argue. Some atheists say, "Why was he described as blind? This is an insult to him." No, it is not an insult to him. It wants to alert you not to make such things a criterion for us in dealing with them. A blind person may be better than a hundred sighted people. Therefore, it is an advantage here, not a disadvantage. Do you understand? But if we look at the matter from the perspective of shaping awareness, not shaping information, and this is common. The more you look at it, the more you will understand the methodology of the Quran in many Quranic issues. You will understand this methodology. So, if you look at the Quran as a book that aims to shape your awareness, not to provide you with information and inject information like historians do, for example, if you look at the battles in the books of historians, you will find all the details. But if you look at them in the Quran, you will find them very few, and information is mentioned only a little. For example, look at the story of Joseph in the Quran and look at the story of Joseph in the Torah in the Book of Genesis. If you enter Genesis from chapter 37 onwards, you read informational details. How old was Joseph when he was there? What were the names of Joseph's brothers? When he went to the palace, how old was he? How old were Joseph's sons when he went and became a minister? All these details. The Quran mentions them. For example, the Quran says, "And they sold him for a low price." How much did they sell him for? It doesn't mention, because it only shows you that they undervalued this prophet. For example, in the Torah, they mention that it was for 20 pieces of silver, with a lie of blood. So, what is this blood? Where did they get it from? The Quran did not mention it, but in the Torah, they mention that it was from a goat, and so on. So, these details, even if you compare, not just compare the Quran with history books, even if you compare the Quran with books of other religions, you will find a clear difference. Why? Because the Quran wants the Muslim to shape his awareness so that he can deal with life with sound awareness. Dr., but there are details mentioned in the Quran, numbers and names. For example, Abu Lahab. In the story of Noah, peace be upon him, 1000 years minus 50 years. The companions of the cave, three, and their dog, four. These things. This is correct. I am not saying that it does not come with information, but I am saying that it does not focus on information. It mentions very little information. For example, what do you know about Noah, peace be upon him? Imagine that his son's name is not known. In which era did he live? We don't know. In which country did he live? We don't know. How much did he die? How old was he when he died? We don't know. So, a lot of information that is considered essential by historians is not mentioned. But when it mentioned this period of 1000 years minus 50 years, why? Because this came in Surah Al-Ankabut. And Surah Al-Ankabut came to console the Muslims who had begun to complain in Mecca in the last Meccan period. That for more than ten years, the people of Mecca had not responded, and we are a small group. So, a kind of complaint and frustration arose from the Meccan situation. So, it came to say, "You are now complaining for ten years and they have not responded to you. Come and see Noah, peace be upon him." God is the greatest. Noah, peace be upon him, spent about 1000 years calling them, yet they did not respond. And it was mentioned in other places that he called them night and day, secretly and openly, yet they did not respond. And this was a consolation for the Muslims. A consolation for the Muslims. So, here the number is very important for shaping awareness behind it and a message also for callers and reformers: that they may not be responded to. Yes. And it is not your duty that others respond, but your duty is to continue calling to God. If they respond, good. If they don't, you have fulfilled your duty. So, you have done your job. You are responsible for reminding. Then the reactions of people are not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to remind. Even Abu Lahab. Abu Lahab is the only name mentioned. Imagine. Of all the disbelievers in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, only Abu Lahab is mentioned. Abu Jahl is not mentioned. But you notice, and this is one of the strange things, the Surah in which Abu Lahab is mentioned is Surah Al-Masad. And the Surah before it is Surah An-Nasr. And this is strange. Surah An-Nasr is one of the last to be revealed, and Surah Al-Masad is one of the first to be revealed. So, they came one after another. Now, Abu Lahab was one of the most staunch opponents of the Islamic call. He was the most concerned with aborting the Islamic call. So, God Almighty sent down this Surah after Surah An-Nasr. Glory be to God. To say to everyone who opposes Islam, everyone who opposes the Islamic call, wealth is the victory for Islam. God knows. So, He brought this one who carried the banner of enmity towards Islam and linked it to victory, so that everyone who strives to undermine the Islamic call and believes that his vast wealth and enormous wealth and his wide powers will stop the spread of Islam and stop the light of God Almighty on this earth, will know that in the end, victory is with God Almighty. If the victory of Allah comes, not our victory, the victory of Allah and the conquest. Therefore, the matter is decided. "Indeed, We have granted you a clear conquest." So, the names, though few, and the numbers, though few, and the places, though few, always have an awareness behind them that the Quran wants to shape. May God grant you success, Dr. Nayef. May He bless you. What we deduce from the foregoing is one rule or one guideline: that the Holy Quran is a book that shapes your awareness, not a book that provides you with information that does not reflect on your reality. Yes. So, if you enter the Quran, enter it seeking what shapes your awareness, what corrects your thinking logic, do not search for other detailed information, and so on, as many people do. No, focus on each Surah, trying to shape your awareness towards a specific issue. For example, Surah Al-Ahzab, how to shape your awareness towards existential crises? In Surah At-Takathur, how to deal with material competition? In each Surah, you find a specific idea that the Quran wants to shape your awareness towards. And so on. Are there other guidelines or rules that help in activating the Quran in our reality? The rules are many. For example, and this may be an extension of the previous one, do not look at the characters mentioned in the Quran as individuals in themselves. Do you understand? Rather, you should look at them as models. How? For example, the Quran mentioned Qarun, and it mentioned Pharaoh, and it mentioned Haman, and it mentioned the nations of the prophets. These are not individuals who lived in history and ended. They are models that are repeated in every time. Look at them as models that are repeated in every time and place, and sometimes you may have some of their characteristics. You may see yourself in them. Yes. And you may see this in others without realizing it. Therefore, when we read the verses related to Qarun, Pharaoh, Haman, and so on, or the verses related to the Children of Israel and the nations of the prophets before, we feel that we are not concerned. Correct. It's as if we are just waiting for God Almighty to say, "O you who have believed," and the rest of the Quran, we are not concerned with it. And this is not correct. Correct. The Quran did not mention these things in vain. Rather, it wanted to draw our attention to important issues and angles in shaping our awareness towards reality. For example, Qarun is a model. A model with a clear thinking logic. The Quran explained him with specific characteristics. For example, Qarun says, "I have been given this only because of knowledge I possess." So, when his people asked him about the wealth and treasures he owned, he attributed the favor to himself. How many people think with the logic of self-entitlement? When they reach a position, I achieved it with my intelligence, I achieved it with my ability. When they achieve academic distinction, I achieved it, and so on. When life opens up to them and wealth expands, they attribute everything to themselves. This is a Qarunic tendency. This is a Qarunic tendency, meaning it must be addressed. Therefore, you must contemplate these characteristics. You see the Prophet, peace be upon him, in Musnad Ahmad, when he said about Abu Jahl, "Pharaoh of this nation." Here, the Prophet, peace be upon him, did not look at Pharaoh as an individual who lived in Egypt and ended. No, as a model that is repeated in every time and place. Therefore, he identified Abu Jahl as the Pharaoh of this nation. The characteristics of Pharaoh are present in him. The characteristics of Pharaoh's personality are present in him. Therefore, he applied them to him. The same applies to the issues of the Children of Israel, or even the scholars of the Children of Israel. You now, when the Quran speaks a lot about the scholars of the Children of Israel, this is not in vain, because we will also fall into what they fell into, and this is common. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "You will follow the ways of those who came before you, handspan by handspan, cubit by cubit." They said, "O Messenger of God, the Jews and Christians?" He said, "Then who?" So, we will greatly follow the ways of the nations before us, including the Jews and Christians. That is, even the Quran's mention of the Children of Israel can be seen in us as Muslims. Of course, the restriction of religion in the introduction of his book, "Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim," between the common characteristics of the scholars of the Children of Israel and some Muslim scholars. Yes, some Muslim scholars have fallen into the same crisis that the scholars of the Children of Israel fell into. I give you an example. This is dangerous talk. Yes. God Almighty said about the Children of Israel, "And do not exchange My verses for a small price." How many scholars sell God's verses for a small price? One of the specialists in Sharia comes and writes tweets or articles that distort Islamic issues, directing verses in a specific way to serve certain interests, whether partisan, governmental, or for the international system, or others. How much they have played with the verses of jihad and fighting. All of this is in the sense of selling God's verses for a small price. Glory be to God. Also, look, for example, at some sheikhs in Islamic banks. This is a wide area for trading in religion. I am not saying all of them. Many of them. In the end, it is feared that if they issue a fatwa contrary to what the bank administrations want, they will remove them, especially since we have a very bad system in banks, which is that the bank's administration is the one that can remove the Sharia board. The Sharia board in the bank. So, either the board agrees with me, or I will remove it. So, many sheikhs are overcome by worldly weakness. والله, even if we don't issue a fatwa that angers the administration, we appease them in this matter. Glory be to God. Dr., as you speak, I remembered the story of the Children of Israel and the cow, the issue of making excuses to evade the religious ruling. Yes, this is repeated. Therefore, it is the same events. There is no. Look, the incident of the cow is repeated in every time and place. If we contemplate the Quran in this way, we will see that the Quran is present in everything before us. In everything before us, you will see a Quranic interpretation of it. You will see a Quranic model that explains human and social phenomena fully and completely. But our problem is that we are attached to individuals, attached to the words themselves that we see, without penetrating to the things behind them and the ideas behind them. So, this is also an important rule: modeling individuals, that we deal with individuals as models. Pay attention, and how do we turn individuals into models? By extracting the characteristics of these individuals. I read the character of Qarun, I extract his characteristics. I read the character of Pharaoh, I extract his characteristics. How does the Quran present him to us? I read, for example, the story of the Bedouins. The Bedouins, I extract their thinking characteristics. Do you understand? When I extract the characteristics, I look for these characteristics in myself first, before others. I see what I am afflicted with from this. Glory be to God. Do you understand? I may have many characteristics of these people, and I don't know. So, I start by correcting them, because the goal is not just to contemplate and extract. The goal is to be guided. Contemplation is a means, not an end. Glory be to God. Contemplation's function is to extract Quranic meanings. After we extract the Quranic meanings, we have another function, which is to be guided by these meanings in our reality to correct it. Because God Almighty sent down the Quran, why? The month of Ramadan, in which the Quran was revealed, is guidance for people. So, we must be guided by this book in dealing with the issues of our reality. And this stage comes after the stage of contemplation. Indeed, Dr. The point you mentioned, the issue of me searching for the characteristics and attributes of the models mentioned in the Quran, whether hypocrites, Bedouins, Children of Israel, or others, or Pharaoh, or Qarun, and then discussing with myself, what are the characteristics that apply to me, and not starting with others, so that this search or these characteristics are not used to take revenge on others. You classify your enemies. You are a hypocrite, and you are the Children of Israel. The issue of seeking guidance is of utmost importance. I see what applies of these characteristics to me, and then I seek guidance from them before applying them to others. That is correct. You must, when you extract these meanings, the first thing you must do is look at yourself. If you extract, for example, the characteristics of the Pharaoh personality, the characteristics of the Qarun personality, the characteristics of the people of Shu'ayb, the characteristics of the people of 'Ad, Thamud, Noah, the first thing you must ask is, what is my position regarding this? Where do I stand in relation to these people? What are the characteristics that these people have and that I also have? Do you understand? Before you look at others, because the goal is first to correct yourself, then you start correcting others. But it is important to start. And this point you mentioned is very important: that there are those who exploit these meanings to attack others. This is tampering with the Quran. May God grant you success, Dr. So, up to now, we can say that there are two rules. The first rule is that the Quran is a book that shapes awareness, a methodology. Not a book of information. Correct. And the second is that the Quran is concerned with modeling individuals. Correct. So, all the names you read in the Quran, and the groups and sects, are models that may be repeated in any time and place, not individuals and sects that have ended. Correct. Then, other guidelines that help in activating the Quran in our reality. Yes. There are many rules or guidelines. For example, and this may be an extension of the previous one, the Quran only interacts with those who interact. Take it as a rule: it only interacts with those who interact. Meaning, you will not be able to understand the purposes of the Quran unless you adopt the issues of the Quran. The Quran came to reform reality. If you are not interested in reforming reality, then trust that you will not understand the purposes of the Quran. The Quran came to establish justice. If you are not interested in seeing justice established in human societies, then trust that you will not understand the purposes of the Quran. For example, the Quran came to confront the hypocrites, and it confronted the hypocrites very clearly. This is one of the issues of the Quran: to confront the hypocrites. If you do not confront the hypocrites, then you will not be able to understand what the Quran said about hypocrisy and the phenomenon of hypocrisy. Because the arguments that hypocrites make in every era, the Quran mentioned them, discussed them, and refuted them. The challenges facing those who confront hypocrites are the same challenges mentioned by the Quran. So, when you confront hypocrites and then return to the Quran, you will discover the tremendous model through which the Quran dealt with the phenomenon of hypocrisy, just as you see in Surah Al-Fath, Surah Al-Munafiqun, Surah Al-Ahzab, and Surah At-Tawbah. It discusses the phenomenon of hypocrisy in an extraordinary way. But when do you begin to recognize what the Quran said about the phenomenon of hypocrisy and understand the depth of what the Quran said? When you engage with the hypocrites. And so on in any issue. For example, the Quran spoke about family reform. If you are not concerned with family reform and do not care about family issues, then you will not grasp the depth of what the Quran said about the family. But bring someone who is interested in family reform and let him read what the Quran said about the family. He will understand and say, "Oh, indeed, this is a point we need in many situations." He will see that the verses of the Quran are perfectly tailored to reality. This is a logical, natural thing. If you talk to someone who has no background in a certain subject, they will not interact with you. I mean, if I have a project to reform banks and I come to people who have no relation to banks at all, and I sit and talk for two hours, they will not understand anything, nor will they understand any table, right? But if I come to specialists in banking and explain my project for banking reform, they will understand completely. They will say, "Yes, indeed, this is what we need. We have a big challenge. We are involved in it now. This reform will address this point. This issue will address this obstacle. This plan is good for development." They will understand everything you say. Why? Because they have engaged with this issue. Glory be to God. So, the rule here is that unless you adopt the issues of the Quran, you will not understand the purposes of the Quran. And this, Dr., glory be to God, reminds us now. Sometimes, some verses, some people may commit a certain sin. When they come across the verses that discuss this sin, they are greatly affected. Yes. And they understand it among all the worshippers, for example. Or, for example, another point. You may find researchers and non-Muslim scholars who are interested in a certain aspect. So, as soon as they pick up a piece of information, read it incidentally in the Quran, and so on, they are greatly affected by it and convert to Islam. And there are many examples of this. They converted to Islam because of this. This is 100% correct. And this leads us to the idea that we call the entire nation to contemplate the Quran. Why? Because minds are different, abilities are different, and the Quran is a comprehensive book. There is no field of life that it has not spoken about. Therefore, you cannot contemplate all the verses of the Quran. For example, the cosmic verses. How can someone like me, who is not a specialist in cosmology and physics, contemplate them? But when a physicist comes, or a specialist in physics comes...
A chemist you find has wondrous contemplations. Truly, I read a book by one of our chemists here in Qatar, a scholar in chemistry, who explained the verses related to the sky. His explanation was, truly, dazzling and wondrous. By God, I have not seen such an explanation. He even elaborated on the issue of the sky's atmosphere, why he said "atmosphere of the sky" and not "things made subservient in the atmosphere of the sky," and did not say "in the sky." He spoke about the atmosphere in scientific detail. So, even when you call people to ponder the Quran, each according to their specialization, each from the angle that God Almighty has opened for them, you will see that the treasures of the Quran are revealed to the public, Subhan Allah. You see the treasures of the Quran, and the entire society sees them. And these are what dazzle people, because if you become acquainted with the contents of the Quran, your confidence in the Quran will increase. Therefore, Subhan Allah, God says, "A Book We have revealed to you, blessed, that they may ponder its verses." This is for all people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. This is because, in the first place, pondering the Quran is the true condition for seeing the Quranic coherence and harmony. "Then do they not ponder the Quran? And if it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction." So, whoever does not ponder the Quran will fall into seeing contradictions in the Quran and so on. Therefore, pondering is the safety valve for seeing Quranic coherence and harmony. If the Quran interacts with the interactant, and no one will understand the purposes of the Quran except one who adopts its causes. This is a trend, and there are also many other trends, including a very important rule in regulating your relationship with the Quran, or in our ability to activate the Quran in our reality, which is that the absence of a contemporary word does not mean the absence of a contemporary idea. Wonderful! Some people, when they enter the Quran, search for ideas through specific words. If they don't find them, they think that the ideas behind them are not present in the Quran. I believe this is the biggest problem. Yes, this is a big problem. For example, you ask him, "Did the Quran talk about patterns of interest in international relations?" He says, "No, it didn't talk about it." He didn't search for the idea, but rather it is linked to the word itself. Because the Quran did not use "patterns of interest," he believes that the Quran did not talk about patterns of interest. Or, for example, if you ask him, "Did the Quran talk about the balance of power, or the balance of terror, or the balance of response?" He says, "No, the Quran did not talk about these ideas." Why? Because he expects the Quran to use these words to realize that the Quran talked about these ideas. No, these are our contemporary words; the Quran does not necessarily use them. For example, did the Quran talk about wishful thinking? Yes, it talked about it. Did it talk about patterns of thinking? Yes. Did it talk about personality patterns? Yes. Many ideas that we think the Quran did not talk about because we expect it to use words we know, and we believe it will not express them except with these words. I recall the Iranian thinker Abdolkarim Soroush saying, "The Quran did not talk about authority." How? "The Quran did not talk about authority." If you mean the word, yes, it did not talk about authority. But its not talking about the word does not mean it did not talk about the idea, right? God Almighty, when He speaks of Prophet David, peace be upon him, "And We strengthened his kingdom and gave him wisdom and discernment in speech." "We strengthened his kingdom." What is this? It is an idea related to authority, right? And "their affair is [determined by] consultation among them." This is also related to authority. All the verses related to war and peace, the verses related to Prophet David, peace be upon him, the verses related to "And Pharaoh did not commit oppression." Here, he is talking about his authority, how he managed authority. So, the Quran talks about authority with different words. And here is another important point: the Quran sometimes talks about ideas with words we are not accustomed to. How? For example, we are accustomed to the word "tyrant," right? To express political oppression. But when you search the Quran, it did not mention the word "tyrant." So, it might seem to someone that it did not talk about tyranny. It did mention tyrannical phenomena, Pharaoh and others, etc., but what is the term that parallels "tyrant"? Perhaps someone searches and searches and does not find that the Quran mentioned "tyrant," so he says the Quran did not address this concept, even though it is one of the most dangerous social concepts, because many societies collapsed due to tyranny, right? So, how could the Quran, which came as guidance for people and came to guide to that which is most suitable, yet did not address the most dangerous social phenomena, which is political tyranny, with a specific term? But the truth is that the Quran spoke. It has a term that parallels the term "tyrant," and that is the term "Jabbār" (tyrant/compeller). "Indeed, in them were a people of great strength." You know, "And you are not over them a compeller." So, it was mentioned in the Quran. The "Jabbār" is the one who forces people to obey him, compels people to obey him. You know, or not? This parallels the term "tyrant." So, the point is, if you want to search or extract Quranic knowledge, wait a moment, Doctor. But "Jabbār" is one of the beautiful names of Allah. Yes, because Allah Almighty is "Jabbār." What does "Jabbār" mean? It means He compels all creation to obey Him. And Allah Almighty manages all creation according to His law. For example, the sun moves according to Allah's law, and the moon moves according to Allah's law, and the air, water, and all creatures move by Allah's law. Man does not die except by His permission, and when Allah Almighty wants you to die, you will die, right? And when He wants you to get sick, you will get sick, and when He wants you to live, you will live, and everything is by Allah's law. Therefore, He is "Jabbār" in the sense that He compels all creation to obey Him. But He says, "There is no compulsion in religion." Yes, this is the only space He left. The only space He left is that man has free human will so that he may believe based on conviction. Why? Because if man believes under compulsion, he will not fulfill the requirements of religion. Meaning, Allah Almighty wanted us to believe because this religion has a message for people to establish justice. How will people establish justice if they are not convinced of it? It is impossible. Therefore, anyone who believes under compulsion is of no benefit to his belief, right? Because, on the contrary, you increase the level of hypocrisy in society. But Allah Almighty wants you to believe in this religion and be convinced of it, and then begin the project of establishing justice. "Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear evidence and We sent down with them the Scripture and the balance that mankind may uphold justice." This project cannot be initiated and contributed to by man unless he is convinced of it, and conviction is in the heart. Therefore, there is no benefit in compulsion. That is why He said, "There is no compulsion in religion." "The right course has become clear from the wrong." People now realize what is right and what is wrong. The choice is theirs. Therefore, what did the Jinn say? They said, "Indeed, we have heard a wondrous Quran. It guides to right conduct, so we have believed in it." So, the first thing is conscious belief. They first knew that it guides to right conduct, then they believed in it, not blind belief as Christianity says, but rather conscious belief that guides to right conduct, so we have believed in it. So, the absence of a contemporary word does not necessarily mean the absence of a contemporary idea in the Quran. Yes, because people, as I told you, look at words sometimes like glasses. If you take them off, they don't see anything. You know? And this is a problem that deprives you of Quranic knowledge. You cannot see the political, economic, cognitive, educational, and social, and even administrative Quranic knowledge, because you are waiting for the Quran to use specific words, believing that it only deals with ideas through them. This rule, if it does not settle in your mind, the result is that you will not see Quranic knowledge. So far, we have the Quran as a book of awareness, a book of information. The Quran presents models of people. The Quran interacts with the interactant. Its purposes are understood by those who adopt its causes. And the absence of a contemporary idea does not mean the absence of a contemporary word. This is correct. These are rules that help us activate the Quran in our besieged reality. But here is an important point, which is that proper activation must be preceded by proper understanding. Because if the understanding is not proper, the activation will be flawed. And how is proper understanding of the Quran achieved? Proper understanding is achieved by following the rules that govern our understanding of the Quran. For example, Allah Almighty spoke of the divisive method. This divisive method, which most of us are subject to, whether we realize it or not. What does "divisive" mean? "As We revealed to the dividers, who made the Quran into fragments." They divide the Quran, they deal with it in fragments. So, they take a verse and leave another verse that does not serve them, or they take a verse and leave the context that clarifies it. Let me give you examples. Allah Almighty says, "And the decree of your Lord has been carried out against most of them, [for] they do not believe." An atheist comes here and says, "So, the matter is decided. Why does Allah Almighty demand that we believe? 'And the decree of your Lord has been carried out against most of them.' It's not necessary." You must read it in light of another verse. Allah Almighty says, "I will turn away from My verses those who are arrogant on earth without right." So, the category against whom the decree has been carried out are the arrogant ones towards the truth. So, the problem started with you, who were arrogant towards the truth, and as a result, Allah Almighty turned your hearts away from the truth. Or, for example, "O you who have believed, care for yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you are guided." How many people use this as evidence? Those who do not want anyone to disturb them. Let people be, let people be. Don't condemn anyone, don't talk about anyone. Care for yourselves. This is very widespread. Yes, but they do not look at other verses that clarify the intended meaning, such as: "You were the best nation produced [for mankind]." "You enjoin good and forbid evil and believe in Allah." "And if they had believed in Allah and the Messenger and what was revealed to him, they would not have taken them as allies." Yes, and the Quran did not only command us to forbid evil, but also not to tolerate the toleration of evil. "They used to not forbid one another from the wrong which they committed, how evil was that which they were doing." So, "O you who have believed, care for yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you are guided." This is understood to mean that after you have fulfilled the duty of calling to Allah, and then they did not respond, you are not responsible for them. You have exerted your effort and... Yes, you are done with yourself after that. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you are guided. Or, for example, someone comes and uses the verse, "And warn your closest relatives," as evidence that Islam is exclusively for Arabs, and that it is a religion directed specifically at Arabs, or even at the Quraysh in particular. But he leaves the other verses that clarify the universality of the Quran, to be a warner to the worlds. "He is but a reminder to the worlds." He ignores all of these, as if he does not see them, because he wants to magnify, for example, the role of the Arabs, or something like that. And sometimes a person does it unintentionally. But the point is, we often fall into the trap of division. And this is not the only pattern of division. You take a verse and leave another verse. In another form, sometimes it is related to context. You take the verse and leave the verses before and after it. What is called "preceding and succeeding" is important in clarifying the meaning of the verse. For example, "And kill them wherever you overtake them." He takes it as an independent text, not knowing what came before or after it. The verse before it says: "And fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors." He only knows "And kill them wherever you overtake them," to give the impression that the Quran calls for open warfare. Yes, and how much they have tampered with the consciousness of non-Muslims, and even some Muslims, through this division. So, "When the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them." It's like an open declaration. So, what about the verse before it? He doesn't know. Subhan Allah. What about the verses after it? He doesn't know. After that, you find verses clarifying, saying, "Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and conspired to expel the Messenger, while they had initiated [the attack on] you the first time?" All these verses, he does not know them, or he may know them and deliberately do so. Or, I have seen, yes, I have seen, especially, for example, the opponents of Islam and some Westerners. I have seen that even in translation, they excerpt verses from their context and promote them, because if they are excerpted, they indeed convey a problematic meaning. Correct. But when they are returned to their context, it will become clear. And this is one of the most common pitfalls we fall into. And sometimes it is not an excerpt from the context of the verse itself that they excerpt. They don't complete the verse. Like, "And the male is not like the female." They take only this part and look at it as an explicit declaration of contempt for women, and they themselves do not know who said this phrase. Is it attributed to Allah Almighty, or is it attributed to the mother of Mary, and what is the rest of the verse, and what is its context, and so on? Look, let me give you another example of excerpting from the verse itself without completing the verse. They take a part of the verse and leave the rest. Allah's saying: "Read, in the name of your Lord who created." The word "Read" has been taken out of its context in the modern era. They dealt with it as if it were an action related to contemporary reading that we see. And therefore, the expression "We are the nation of 'Read'" became widespread. We are not the nation of 'Read.' Other nations also read. In fact, some nations may read more than us. You know? But we are the nation of "Read, in the name of your Lord who created." Allah is the greatest. We are the nation of divine reading. We are a nation of reading that connects the Creator to the created, and does not look at matters in isolation from the Creator who brought creation into being. You know? Therefore, when we excerpted it under modern pressure and began to look at Quranic concepts with a materialistic view, we looked at reading as a materialistic act, a purely materialistic act, and we magnified and amplified the issue of reading without completing the verse: "Read, in the name of your Lord who created." No, reading alone is not enough and does not suffice. It must be linked to "in the name of your Lord who created." Therefore, for example, when I read cosmic phenomena, when I read human and social phenomena, my reading must be an extension of my reading of the revelation. Allah is the greatest. So, for example, I look at the phenomenon of hypocrites based on what the revelation has decreed, not based on common analytical models or interpretive models. Or, I read the phenomenon of material competition in human society, not through the capitalist interpretive model, nor through the Marxist interpretive model of the phenomenon of material competition, but rather through the Surah of "At-Takathur" (Competition). Because the Surah of "At-Takathur" provides me with the awareness that makes me understand this phenomenon and how to solve it. By the way, the Surah of "At-Takathur" addressed the problem of material competition and solved it in this small paragraph called the Surah of "At-Takathur." The problem and the solution are a complete, integrated model in treatment and solution. So, here I read, but "in the name of my Lord who created." So, my reading is always linked to the Creator who guides, as Prophet Abraham said, "He who created me, and He guides me." I am Allah Almighty. He created this universe, so He guides this universe. So, I look at everything from the perspective of revelation. This reading, now that we have torn it apart in the modern era and made it only related to "the nation of 'Read'" in isolation from the divine connection, we have interpreted it materially. And all of this brings us back to the problem of division. We divide the Quran and deal with it as fragmented parts, and we do not connect Allah's verses to each other, to the extent that we ourselves divide the verse. We are not the nation of 'Read.' We are the nation of 'Read, in the name of your Lord.' A beautiful phrase. May Allah bless you, Doctor, and reward you with goodness and place it in the balance of your good deeds. Doctor, are there other rules related to correct understanding? والله, I told you, Professor Fida', that the rules and guidelines in this matter are many. Among them is paying attention to the names of the Quranic Surahs, because these nourish your understanding of the Quran. Among them is paying attention to the themes of the Quran. And these themes, people usually follow the verses, trying to understand each verse on its own, but they do not look at the theme of the Surah. The theme of the Surah is important in understanding many phenomena found within the Surah. What does the theme of the Surah mean? For example, Surah Al-Hujurat has a theme, Surah Al-Baqarah has a theme, Surah Al-Imran has a theme. Each Surah has a basic theme, and the verses must be understood through this theme. And sometimes, let me give you an example, Allah Almighty repeats many stories. For example, the story of Iblis. Yes, correct. But this repetition is not in the form of similarity. Rather, each time it is repeated, there is another angle related to the theme of the Surah. There is a different awareness, of course. There is an angle that He wants to draw your attention to. This angle is related to the theme of the Surah. Wonderful! Look, for example, when the story of Iblis came in Al-Baqarah, it did not elaborate on Satan, only one verse. But it elaborated on the angels. The dialogue of the angels was not repeated. Correct. But Iblis was repeated. Correct? Yes or no? Why? Because Surah Al-Baqarah talks about obligation and talks about the most important issue in obligation, which is submission to Allah Almighty. Right from the beginning, the idea of submission is fundamental in Surah Al-Baqarah, when He said, "a guidance for those who fear Allah." The first characteristic is what? "Who believe in the unseen." We do not stop at this verse. Its meaning seems strange. It should be, for example, "who believe in Allah." You know? "Who believe in Allah." The idea of believing in Allah has not been repeated. There is no other verse that talks about believing in the unseen as a characteristic of the believer. It is only here because the unseen is what is unknown. "So that he may know that I did not betray him while he was not present." Meaning, from where he is not known. So, you are sometimes given an obligation, and you do not know its purpose, but you must submit. Therefore, Surah Al-Baqarah addresses this issue, the issue of submission, in the example of the fly. "As for those who believed, they know that it is the truth from their Lord." So, the matter is finished. "But as for those who disbelieved, they say, 'What did Allah intend by this?'" They are not convinced. They need to be convinced. Here is the problem of submission. When it comes to the topic of creation, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." The angels submitted. Iblis did not submit. So, he just discussed this issue from the angle of submission. When he went to Surah Sad, he did not elaborate on Satan's arguments. Why? Because Surah Sad deals with the arguments of the disbelievers. That is its main theme. So, at the beginning, "But those who disbelieve are in arrogance and opposition." Stubbornness. They have arguments, yes, but all false arguments. So, in this context, it was appropriate to elaborate on Satan. It was not appropriate to elaborate on Satan in Surah Al-Baqarah. Therefore, when you go through Surah Al-Baqarah, later on, Bani Israel came with the issue of submission and naming. In Al-Baqarah, because it is also related to submission. He did not submit to them from the beginning when he ordered them to slaughter a cow. Then all matters are found to return to the idea of submission. When Allah said to Saul, "Indeed, Allah will test you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is mine, except for one who takes [a sip] in his hand." Why? What is the wisdom? Submission. You learn to submit. Meaning, He could have allowed you two or three or four sips, but here He wants to train you in submission to the obligation, which is the theme of Surah Al-Baqarah. Therefore, when you understand this theme, you know why the story of Iblis was addressed at this level, and why the story of Bani Israel was addressed in this way, and why the cow was mentioned. You understand these data. The same thing when you come to Surah Ar-Ra'd. Surah Ar-Ra'd has a theme that revolves around the idea of why there is no tangible miracle. This question the polytheists tried to disrupt the Prophet, peace be upon him, with and repeated this idea to him: "You want to convince us that you are a prophet. Be like the previous prophets. Moses had his staff, Jesus could raise the dead, etc. Where are your tangible miracles?" And it seems that the Prophet, peace be upon him, was eager for such tangible miracles. But Allah Almighty said, "And for every people is a messenger." Some commentators and scholars said it should be "And for every appointed time is a Book." Meaning, the Book, for example, the Torah has an appointed time until the coming of the Gospel, then it ends. And the Gospel until the coming of the Quran, then it ends. And the Quran continues until the Day of Judgment, then it ends. No, but Allah Almighty said, "And for every appointed time is a Book." Meaning, for every time, there is a different ruling. "Book" sometimes means a timed ruling. So, here He says, if I bring you a tangible miracle, you may be convinced and dazzled, but what about the subsequent generations? Who will convince them? And it must be a final miracle. And for it to be a final miracle that continues until the Day of Judgment, it must continue in a state of astonishment and dazzlement. And this can only be a rational miracle. Therefore, what is the name of the Surah? Surah Ar-Ra'd. What is the idea of thunder? A loud sound that calls for astonishment, but it lasts only a few seconds. Subhan Allah. Then it ends. It does not last. It has no effect. So, the tangible miracle, yes, it will dazzle you, and its sound will be loud, but it will have no effect. As for the Quran, to this day, we live in a state of accumulating marvels that one cannot imagine. There is no god but Allah. And this is from when you understand the theme of the Surah. The same thing when you come to Surah Al-Hujurat. Surah Al-Hujurat has a complete theme. I mentioned it earlier, but perhaps we did not elaborate on the theme of the Surah's name. Its name is Surah Al-Hujurat, right? What does "Al-Hujurat" mean? "Al-Hujurat" is the plural of "Hujrah," which means rooms. Yes, a walled area. And this wall aims to protect you in your room, right? Or in your chamber. Now, the entire Surah Al-Hujurat talks about the rules that form walls protecting society. Wonderful! Yes, from the beginning, "Do not advance [your] opinions before Allah and His Messenger." The most important thing is the reference. "Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet." Respecting privacy. "Indeed, those who call you, [O Muhammad], from beyond the chambers - most of them do not reason." "If an impudent fellow comes to you with news, investigate." "And if two factions of believers fight, then make settlement between the two." Do not leave any problem in society without taking the initiative to resolve it, even if it is small. You must take the initiative to resolve it so that the problem ends at its inception. Then, "The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers." "Make settlement between your brothers." The concept is that if we imagine that we are brothers, then surely we will reconcile. He did not say, "The believers are but brothers, so do not disagree." No, because brothers do disagree. Correct? Yes. But brothers do not persist in disagreement. I am angry with you today, and tomorrow I am angry with you, but I will meet you tomorrow on an occasion of my brother, or my nephew, or something like that. We will meet, and in the end, we will reconcile. Correct? As they say, "Your path is on me, and my path is on you. We will not part." So, the brotherhood leads to reconciliation. Therefore, brotherhood does not negate disagreement, but it negates persisting in disagreement. Yes. So, the Quranic expression was wonderful. He said, "The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers." Then he mentioned offenses: mockery, backbiting, and calling each other by offensive nicknames. Then he mentioned indirect offenses: suspicion, backbiting, and spying. Then he mentioned the rule that protects human society, which is "mutual recognition." And for every problem of these, he provides its solution. And sometimes, look, for example, "And do not insult one another." Two words contain the problem and the solution. Yes, backbiting is a problem, right? You backbite yourself, you backbite your brother. He says to you, because backbiting is indirect offense, which we call today "pokes." You know? Or today. So, he tells you this is baseness that indicates your own baseness. You cannot face people, so you backbite with words. This harms you before it harms others. So, he corrected the action for you with just two words with this Quranic expression. You see, now, when you understand the Surah and understand its theme, in the end, you will understand the story of the Bedouins at the end. But if you do not understand this theme, perhaps you will not be able to adapt the story of the Bedouins at the end. Therefore, paying attention to the theme of the Surah helps us to understand. Let me give you another example. And if I am taking too long, tell me. I have no problem. Let's move to another topic. Look, for example, definitions. You are sometimes surprised that the Quran comes with definitions in a way different from traditional logical industry. In logic, when they define a concept, they bring all its elements and call it a comprehensive and exclusive definition. In the Quran, it does not care about mentioning all the elements of the concept, but rather mentions the elements related to the theme of the Surah, related to the context. For example, when it defines believers, it does not mention all the elements of faith, but rather mentions only the elements related to the theme of the Surah and that suit the context. How? For example, when it came to the Bedouins in Surah Al-Hujurat, it said, "The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger." Then they did not have doubts. Why? Because the problem of the Bedouins is certainty. They always have doubt. They are people of spoils. Therefore, Allah Almighty says, "The Arabs say, 'We have believed.' Say, 'You have not believed; but say [instead], "We have submitted," and when faith has not entered your hearts.'" You are still in doubt. Yes. But when it came to Surah Al-Mu'minun, it said, "Successful indeed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers." Then what did it say? It spoke of the evaders, "And they who turn away from the senseless." Now, why did it say "And they who turn away from the senseless" as a second characteristic? Imagine, it mentioned it as the second characteristic. Today, if you ask any person to list the first ten characteristics of a believer, you will likely not find the characteristic of turning away from the senseless among these characteristics. Correct. So, why did it mention it here as second? Because it suits the theme of the Surah. Surah Al-Mu'minun talks about the challenges that a believer faces when he belongs to faith. So, Allah Almighty, and turning away from the senseless is one of the most important tools that protect you from challenges. Because if you face every challenge, even a trivial one, and exhaust yourself with it, you will not be able to continue. Therefore, turning away from the senseless is a safety valve for you in dealing with the challenges you face in your life as a believer. Therefore, it was appropriate to present it here. But how did we know that its presentation here was appropriate? If we had not previously known the theme of Surah Al-Mu'minun. And so on. Always knowing the theme of the Surah contributes to our understanding of some phenomena found in the Quran. May Allah be pleased with you, Doctor, and reward you with goodness and place it in the balance of your good deeds. Well, we have now talked about guidelines and rules for activating the Quran in our reality, then we moved on to preceding guidelines for proper understanding of the Quran and dealing with it. And these rules are sufficient for the Quran to open its doors to us, and for us to realize its meanings and purposes. This is correct. But in principle, you may have these rules and other than these rules, and you may not benefit from the Quran, and the Quran may not open its doors to you. Wonderful, because the issue is not only knowledge, but also the heart. Sometimes we have problems that we must address in our dealings with the Quran. For example, we have a crisis of confidence, a problem of confidence in dealing with the Quran. Do we truly have absolute confidence in the Quran? Because we say the most beautiful words about the Quran and the best words about the Quran, but when we look at our reality, we see something different. We see that Muslims are rushing to acquire knowledge and answers to their questions from outside the Quran. For example, when a pedagogical question, a cognitive question, a social question, a question related to... they search for their answers outside the Quran. This is the principle, this is what I see in the research and scientific field. They always resort to outside the Quran. Then you hear the most beautiful words about the Quran. This is a kind of contradiction. Imagine you are an employee in a ministry, and the minister tells you, "My dear, you are the most trusted employee. I trust your intellect, and I am impressed by your genius." Yet, whenever a matter comes up, he presents it to all employees except you, or at least if he presents it to you, someone else comes and says, "I trust you absolutely." It is natural that you will see him as contradictory. This is our situation with the Quran. We say we trust it absolutely, then we develop our cognitive models, we build all our institutions based on non-Quranic values, based on non-Quranic knowledge. Why? Sometimes someone comes and says, "And a pedagogical researcher says, 'How do I develop a pedagogical model for children?' Where do I start? Give me books." Refer to Surah Luqman. It presents a wonderful pedagogical model for dealing with children. It starts with correcting perceptions, then correcting practices, then linking them together. He says, "Okay, good. Give me other books, other names." He is not convinced. And by the way, people, when you talk to them about the Quran having cognitive models, they feel that you are exaggerating. Some of them explicitly say, "You are exaggerating." Why? Because their ceiling is low in dealing with the Quran. You know, their confidence is not high in the Quran. They believe that the Quran came only with what is permissible and what is forbidden, and stories of the prophets, and a few topics, and that's it. But at the level of knowledge creation, they do not believe that the Quran has offered much in this regard. So, how do we regain our confidence in the Quran? First, you must trust the sender, the source. Do you not have absolute confidence in Allah Almighty? Well, is not Allah Almighty All-Wise, All-Willing, and All-Knowing? So, this Book came from the Creator of all this universe, so He knows everything, big and small, and He wants nothing but good for us. So, All-Knowing and All-Good. Therefore, we know that this Book came to guide us to that which is most suitable. So, all life is established by the Quran. So, when I want to establish political life, I must establish it based on the Quran. When I want to establish educational life, I must establish it based on the Quran. When I want to establish social life, I establish it based on the Quran. Allah Almighty says, "Indeed, this Quran guides to that which is most suitable." Do we truly trust this verse and apply it practically? Because if we trust it, we must see it embodied. Therefore, what is the project of Quranic centrality? The project of Quranic centrality aims to transform the belief in this verse into practical reality. How do we make all areas of life established by the Quran? Because the Quran spoke about all areas. Surah At-Tawbah and Al-Anfal, for example, spoke of a complete political model for the political system and international relations. Surah An-Nahl speaks of a cognitive model. Surah Al-Hujurat speaks of a social model, and so on. You find the Quran speaking of all models. But the problem is that many Muslims do not trust. They give much more of their time, for example, to the writings of philosophers and Western literature, then when they come to the Quran, they give it a quick flip, and then they say, "I didn't find anything in the Quran." So, how did you not find anything? You gave the Quran the same time you gave to other books. For example, some of them sit with some writings and some symbols for a year or two, even in dealing with well-known thinkers or names of past scholars, they sit with them for a year or two, and some of them spend their entire lives specializing in them. So, did you give even 10% of this time to Surah Ar-Ra'd, Surah Hud, Surah Yusuf? No. Or even 10% of this time? So, how are you convinced that you will not understand Ibn Taymiyyah unless you sit for five or ten years reading the literary works of Ibn Taymiyyah, or Al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid, or Ibn Rushd, or others, or even Western philosophers? You sit, I myself, for example, sat with Baruch Spinoza for six months because I felt that the cognitive material was immense, and I started working on dismantling my perceptions of religion, politics, etc. We give our time to thinkers. When we talk to them, but when we come to the Quran, we read it quickly, and then you come up with the great claims: "The Quran has no political theory. The Quran has no cognitive model." Why? Because we read it hastily, and then in the end, we judge the Quran based on this reading. Some people say, "It is impossible to understand Al-Shatibi's Al-Muwafaqat unless you read it six or seven times." So, you are now Al-Shatibi, huge volumes, and he talked about heavy topics. Meaning, when you read the first volumes, they are heavy. And yet, there is a volume in reading it. So, the same topic, when it moves to the Quran, this seriousness disappears. Therefore, we have a problem that we do not give the Quran its due in research and extraction. These treasures do not come incidentally in quick and hasty readings. It must be given its due consideration. This point is that you trust the source. When you know Allah Almighty, as Prophet Abraham said, "He who created me, and He guides me." This Book is from the One who created me. So, He is the One who contains my guidance in this life. This is how absolute trust in Allah's Book is. Also, among the things that create confidence in the Quran is to become acquainted with its contents. There is confidence derived from the content of the Quran. When you become acquainted with the contents of the Quran, you are amazed and reach a level of absolute certainty in the Quran, and reach a level of certainty that you definitively know that this Book could only be from Allah Almighty. Allah is the greatest. Of course, the state of integration in addressing issues is dazzling. It cannot be that a human wrote it. Imagine, if you told anyone to give you a vision for regulating social relations, how much would he write? Volumes, or hundreds of pages. The Quran, in Surah Al-Hujurat alone, two and a half pages, gave you what regulates this society from the beginning of the reference to the end of the practices. Subhan Allah. Yes, it regulated everything related to this matter. It started with, "O you who have believed, do not advance [your] opinions before Allah and His Messenger." The most important thing is the reference. "Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet." The reference is important. See, it regulated the compass for you, because it will mention in Surah Al-Hujurat, as we mentioned earlier, social rules, but what is the benefit of social rules without a social reference? What is the reference for these social rules? There must be a righteous reference. You cannot build a righteous society without a righteous reference. Therefore, if the reference is flawed, the rules are flawed. So, now we will hold a symposium on the family, with the title: "A Righteous Family with a Righteous Reference." You cannot create a righteous family and righteous family policies if we are living in a conflict of references. Wonderful! Therefore, whoever prioritizes Allah and His Messenger, the Quran and the Sunnah, over another reference, his compass will not be set for establishing rules and laws governing society. The first step is to set the reference. See, this great methodology regulated the compass for you first, and then moved on to the subsequent rules. Allah. This is an integrated methodology. Look, for example, in the theory of knowledge. When you read Western literature, you find them greatly elaborating on the theory of knowledge, starting from Francis Bacon, David Hume, Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, the great philosophers, Montesquieu, and others, etc. But when you move from these fields, even if you move to past Islamic scholars like Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, and others, if you read these, then you move to Surah An-Nahl, you will find a different logic, a different methodology. These writings related to the theory of knowledge open many files for you, correct, and expand your horizons and expand your mind in looking at different angles, but they do not provide you with comfortable answers, they do not provide you with satisfactory answers, but rather they are open horizons, but you do not know where they end. When you go to Surah An-Nahl, it clarifies for you clearly what are the sources of knowledge, what is the nature of knowledge, what are the limits of knowledge, what are the obstacles to knowledge, what are the means of knowledge, what are the goals of knowledge. But see, the topic of obstacles to knowledge. This subject does not receive great importance from philosophers, but it is fundamental in the Quran, because sometimes knowledge is clear, but the problem is in the obstacles. Therefore, the Quran elaborates on the obstacles. The Quran presents knowledge in a slightly different way than philosophers. Why? Because the Quran tells us that the movement of knowledge is consistent with the movement of the soul. You cannot separate them. If you want to understand how knowledge moves in the human mind, you must understand how the movement of the soul moves. Therefore, it combines them. It talks about knowledge and reminds you of the psychological obstacles related to it. Therefore, separating psychological knowledge from other social, educational, etc., knowledge is an artificial separation that we live in universities today. It says psychology is a science, sociology is a science, education is a science. These cannot be separated because they must all stem from understanding the human being. The unit of analysis, the unit of research and study, is the human being, and the human being's basis is in the psychological aspect. Meaning, all the behaviors you see in humans are due to their psychological aspect, whether in politics, economics, sociology, or other fields. These are reflections of human psychological biases and psychological convictions. Even in politics, for example, you see Trump in his dealings with... he relies on the psychological aspect. The whole issue depends on the psychological aspect. He comes with a high threat, looks at the reaction of the other decision-maker. Did his psyche get disturbed? Did he, for example, go to the Europeans and say, "I will impose 200% tariffs on you"? Then he looks later and says, "Okay, 100%." Maybe now it's easier. So, he always gives high threats to disturb the psyche of the decision-maker, and then he comes down with him. But the one with psychological fortitude is not affected. Then Trump aligns with him in that regard. But he relies heavily on this. And the same thing, they deal with merchants. When you enter, first, he gives you a high price for the commodity. For example, the commodity is actually 20 riyals. You enter, he says 100 riyals. No, how 100 riyals? He says, "Okay, okay, 70." Then he says, "Okay, 60." And it's 20 riyals. But he played with your psyche a little. The Quran always starts with the idea it focuses on most is the psychological aspect, because if it ensures that you have psychological fortitude, whether you are a political decision-maker in international relations.
Your behavior will differ whether you are an ordinary person dealing in buying and selling. Your behavior will differ whether you are a head of a household. Your behavior will differ. The whole matter is related to the human soul. Therefore, you must have a clear compass. This is in addition to the fact that when we say the Quran focuses on the psychological aspect, it does not mean that it does not also focus on building cognitive and intellectual awareness. It has laid down many rules to regulate the industry of cognitive awareness. For example, what does the Quran say? And they said, "No one will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian." Look at the statement, a big claim: "No one will enter Paradise except if he is a Jew or a Christian." What did the Quran say? "These are their wishes." These are desires, not facts. Why did the verse continue? "Say, 'Bring your proof, if you are truthful.'" Do you want these desires to turn into facts? There is a simple criterion. Achieve it. "Say, 'Bring your proof, if you are truthful.'" This now distinguishes between wishful thinking and real thinking. The Quran teaches me this matter now. If your convictions are based on desires, then you have wishful thinking that has no value. Wishes. If you want to move to real thinking, you must build it on real data, on evidence and proofs. This is evident thinking, in Quranic terms. Therefore, this benefits us, for example, even in what benefits us most in political analysis. You find people telling you, " والله, this country will collapse, and this country will be defeated, and this country will be victorious." You say, "Do you have data? Do you have evidence? Are you following the arms race between these countries?" They say, "No, just their desires." "This country is already collapsing, collapsing." And analyses spread among people that align with their desires and wishes. Wishful analyses. Analyses that depend on human desires. But now, when you start from the Quran, you will realize that these are not sound because they are wishful thinking, and the Quran wants you to build evident thinking. Look, for example, at the verse: "Rather, they have denied what they do not encompass of knowledge." This is a cognitive rule: man tends to deny what he is not accustomed to. "I haven't seen this before, so it's not true." Therefore, look at some people who denied many narrations and hadiths because, in their belief, they did not know them. Al-Hasan Al-Basri talks about the gates of Paradise, saying that if you tell them to open, they will open. Whoever reads this will say, "My brother, how is this possible? Impossible. How can the door open when you tell it to?" Today, you say your device can write a book for you. You know, with the development of technology, it doesn't just open the door, right? So, many verses related to Paradise and Hell, they used to deny them, saying, "Impossible." When technology developed, we discovered that communication is very easy. You know, for example, they say, "How will the people of Hell address the people of Paradise?" "Where are they, and where are these?" Now it turns out that the communication problem is not a problem at all. Connection. You can be at the other end of the world, and I can be at the beginning, and yet we communicate, right? Visually, not just by voice. So, many things they used to deny because they did not know them. Glory be to God. So, the Quran guides you to build your awareness. Look, for example, at the verse: "And those who disbelieved said to those who believed, 'If it had been good, they would not have preceded us to it.'" And when they are not guided by it, they will say, "This is an ancient falsehood." That is, because they did not believe in it, they went and criticized it. Man tends to criticize what he cannot do, and this is a failure and widespread among people in general. Thomas Kuhn spoke about this idea in his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." He said, for example, you are a specialist in chemistry, and you come up with a new theory. The first to deny you will be your colleagues because they have reached it. You know, so they start denying you. But the lesson is for the second generation because they do not feel this competition. So, the Quran expresses this reality: do not be deceived by the denial of these people, because these people, since they saw the poor and others who preceded them in faith, said, "Enough." So, when they are not guided by it, they will say, "This is an ancient falsehood." The point is, when you follow the Quran's contents, you find astonishing things. I challenge you to bring me a book that analyzes the character of the hypocrite like the Quran. I don't know of any book in all of history that analyzed the character of the hypocrite and dissected the motives of the hypocrite, the material and psychological motives, like the Quran. And that's why sometimes when you hear the arguments of the hypocrites, when you see their actions and behavior, they are the same as what the Quran indicated. There is nothing new. You know, or not? So, when you learn these things, you learn the content and depths of the Quran, and you become closer to it and enter the world of the Quran. You will develop a very broad and absolute trust in the Great Quran. So, we regain trust first, trust in the Lord, in God Almighty, and then in the content. Correct. The contents of the Book are correct. But, Doctor, perhaps in another aspect related to trust, sometimes it may not really be a crisis of trust as much as intellectual laziness. For example, if you tell someone that he has a problem or wants an educational or economic model in a certain area, and you give him the Quran, he might find it easier to take a specific book that compiles information from several references. So, it's not necessarily that he has a crisis of trust in the contents of this Quran or in the Lord. Yes, the excuse of laziness is a valid excuse. It cannot be denied. But this excuse might apply to people, to the general public, to ordinary people who are busy with their livelihoods and seeking a living, and do not have time to acquire knowledge. It is natural for them to say, "I want a concise book; I don't have time to search." If we understand this as an excuse for them, then we cannot understand this excuse for researchers. You are a researcher, and this is your field. What is your excuse for not researching the Quran? You are a researcher specializing in education, and the Quran has hundreds of verses that talk about educational issues and their psychological and other dimensions, and so on. What is your excuse for not reading these verses, and what is your excuse for not investing and seeking guidance from these verses in building educational knowledge? You don't tell me, " والله, these are sciences and have no relation." That's incorrect. These sciences, what are called social and human sciences, all contain values. There are studies that express an objective aspect of social realities, but they also contain values. As Max Weber said, no science is devoid of values. Who creates these values? Usually, ideologies create them, the dominant and prevailing ideology is the liberal ideology. So, why do you resent the existence of other ideologies, but you resent the existence of Islam? When you describe a phenomenon, how do you describe it? You also describe it with certain values. You cannot describe or explain a phenomenon except based on certain values. And this does not negate the objective aspect of studies. But now, for example, when you talk about an educational model for resolving family disputes, the Quran has spoken extensively about this issue. Why didn't you refer to it? Or, for example, when you talk about interests, treaties, and so on, the Quran has spoken extensively about these political issues. The point is, every researcher is interested in topics related to his specialization, and the Quran has touched upon these topics. The lack of researchers referring to the Quran indicates an existential crisis, a crisis in their perception of the Quran. What prevented them from doing so? You know. But it's your field, that's what I mean by this idea. Correct. So, it's a crisis of trust and a crisis of laziness. Correct. There are those who have a problem of trust, and there are those who have a problem of laziness. And as I told you, not everyone, but a segment of people. But the more dangerous issue than this, and the bigger problem in this matter, is the problem of sincerity with the Quran, before the issue of trust and before the issue of such. Are you sincere when you approach the Quran? Because we assume that we are sincere when we approach the Quran. What is the difference between sincerity and trust? Trust is that he is sincere with the Quran, but he does not trust that he will find what he wants. Sincerity is that you approach the Quran with preconceived biases and previous convictions, and you want to search in the Quran for what supports these convictions. And we do this sometimes without realizing it. To be free from bias. Yes. We search in the Quran for what we want, not for what the Quran wants. So, I have a certain political stance, and I want to search in the Quran for what supports this stance, or I am involved in sectarian conflicts and ideological disputes, so I want what supports me from the Quran. The other verses that do not serve me, I do not address them. It will not help you, and it will not open any door for you. Or, someone comes with racial biases. Some people, for example, have a nationalist bias, so they search for verses that support their ideological direction. You understand? Or, someone has a contemptuous view of women, or vice versa, a contemptuous view of men and their roles. You know, each one tries to search for what he wants in the Quran. So, no matter what, no matter how much you present, in the end, you cannot benefit from the Quran if you do not approach it with a sound heart. If you do not approach it with the intention of seeking guidance from this Quran, with the firm conviction that you are living in darkness and that the only way out of this darkness to the light is this Book. Therefore, there is no excuse for you not to be sincere with it. You must be sincere so that you can emerge from this darkness. Therefore, this foundational ground, if it exists, then we can talk about how we interact with the Quran, how we understand the Quran. If this fundamental ground is lost, it is as if you are writing on water. No matter how much you write, it will have no effect, or you will be like someone who wants to plant on the pavement. You know, you bring a pavement and put the seed on it and water it. Even if you water it until the day of watering, you know, it will not benefit anything, and this tree will not grow. Why? Because the foundation is wrong. So, no matter how vast your knowledge and how extensive your understanding, in the end, you will not benefit from the Quran unless you approach it with a sincere heart. The verse perfectly summarizes the matter, the issue of sincerity with the Quran. Allah Almighty says: "And if Allah had known any good in them, He would have made them hear." Therefore, if Allah knew any good in you, He would open the doors of the Quran to you. And if goodness is firmly established in your heart, and you approach the Quran wanting to know what Allah Almighty wants from you, then you will find the doors of the Quran opening to you. Otherwise, you will find them closed, as Allah Almighty says: "Do they not ponder the Quran, or are there locks on their hearts?" So, the problem is with the locks on our hearts. But, Doctor, lest I forget, we are now on the eve of Ramadan, the month of the Quran, the month in which we all turn to the Book of Allah. We want practical advice for dealing with the Quran in this blessed month so that our interaction with it is different and special from previous months. Look, Imam Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that he said: "The latter part of this Ummah will not be rectified except by what rectified its first part." So, if we think about what rectified the first part, here we remember the words of Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, when he said: "We used to learn ten verses, and we would not go beyond them until we knew what they contained and acted upon them." See, they would not go beyond ten verses until they knew what they contained and acted upon them. They learned and acted. Today, we don't think about learning, we don't think about acting. The idea is how to finish, how to memorize, and so on, without following the methodology of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, in dealing with the Quran. This is the methodology from which we should not deviate, because it is what makes our relationship with the Quran a relationship of awareness, a relationship of understanding, a relationship of embodiment and application, and seeking guidance. So, you find a Muslim who finishes the Quran for 20 years. You ask him, "Has there been a single Quranic word in all 20 years that you didn't know its meaning? Did you learn its meaning?" "No." "Is there a Surah whose subject you didn't know? Did you learn its subject?" "No." "So, for 20 years, while you were finishing, you haven't added a single word to your Quranic vocabulary?" This is a problem. You know. Therefore, it is important that the coming Ramadan be different and witness a pivotal transformation in our relationship with the Quran. How? Set your mind that in this month, the coming Ramadan, you will learn at least ten Quranic words. That is, when you finish the Quran, you will come across words that you may not understand well. Set your mind that you will learn ten of them. That is, you came across a verse, for example, "Indeed, the postponement [of a sacred month] is an increase in disbelief." What does "al-Nasi'" mean? You don't know. Learn it. "Indeed, We have given you Al-Kawthar." What does "Al-Kawthar" mean? You don't know. Learn it. This way, you collect, for example, ten words this year. Next year, ten more words. After ten years, you will have 100 Quranic words. This is a huge treasure. After 20 years, 200 Quranic words. This is also a huge treasure. Therefore, imagine all Muslims doing this. Their Quranic awareness will be high. Wow. Their Quranic culture will be high. In addition to that, if they learn about the subjects of the Surahs. Meaning, this coming Ramadan, choose at least one Surah, for example, Surah Al-Ankabut. Say, "I want to know its subject." Try to learn the subject of this Surah. That is, for each group of verses, give it a title. Give it a title, then try to see the connection between these titles. Your relationship with Surah Al-Ankabut will become organic. Glory be to God. A relationship of awareness and knowledge. And choose from the short Surahs, at least in the last part. For example, a specific Surah. Extract benefits from it. The first benefit is such and such. The second benefit is such and such. And express these benefits in words other than the words of the Surah, so that you force yourself to engage intellectually with the Surah. Because some people take the same words of the Surah and present them. No, they haven't gained anything. You express it in your own style, in your own words, so that I know if you understand or not. Your own understanding. Yes. So, for example, this year you have a relationship with Surah Al-Ankabut. Next year, with Surah An-Nur. The year after, with Surah Ar-Ra'd, Surah Hud. And so on. Each year, you don't just finish the Quran, but you advance in your knowledge and relationship with the Quran and increase your Quranic vocabulary. So, this completion will be different. Among the things you can do is to collect Quranic themes. For example, the Quran talks about the characteristics of the hypocritical personality. Make it one of your duties this month to collect the characteristics of the hypocritical personality. Go to Surah Al-Munafiqun. See what the Quran says about hypocrites. List the first characteristic, the second characteristic, the third characteristic. Go to Surah Al-Fath. You will find some characteristics. Go to Surah At-Tawbah, from verse 42 onwards, you will find that it begins to talk about some characteristics of the hypocritical personality. So, here you have collected, for example, 20 characteristics of a hypocrite. What do you do after that? Here is seeking guidance. Think, what is the characteristic among these that you are afflicted with? Wow. Or someone from your family, or your relatives, or your friends, is afflicted with this characteristic of the hypocritical personality, and you work on yourself to get rid of it. Or vice versa, search for the characteristics of the believer's personality. For example, in Surah Al-Mu'minun, some characteristics are mentioned. In Surah Al-Furqan, at the end, some characteristics of the believer's personality are mentioned. Collect these characteristics. You know. Then look at what these characteristics are that are not present in you. There are characteristics of the believer's personality that are not present in you. You must work to have this characteristic present in you. And if the ignorant address them, they say, "Peace." So, if the ignorant address you, what do you say? Peace? Do you fight with them? Do you enter every door they open? So, if you have a problem with a characteristic of the believer that is not applied in you, you start working to have this characteristic present in you, so that by the next Ramadan, you are sure that these characteristics have been fulfilled in you. Wow. If we do this, our relationship with the Quran will completely change, and the Islamic Ummah will begin to transition from a formal relationship with the Quran to a relationship of knowledge and awareness of the Quran, not just finishing it without awareness of its meanings. I am not asking for anything big. This is something small that everyone can do. The common person and the scholar, all segments of society can connect with the Quran. This intellectual connection is very beautiful. Doctor, may Allah bless you. I hope it will be a different month and a different starting point in dealing with the Quran, God willing. Okay. Doctor, this call to all people, to all people towards the Quran, will it also be a call to those who tamper with the Quran, like Shahrour and his ilk? What is the criterion for this matter? Here is an important issue: opening the door of contemplation or closing the door of contemplation is not within anyone's authority. These are illusions we live in. We believe that if we close the door of contemplation, everything will stop. No, these falsifiers who want to tamper with the Quran, they did not wait for a door to be opened or a door to be closed. They entered into the contemplation of the Quran and tampered with it and left. But who contributed to the presence of these people and their spread is that we scared people away from contemplating the Quran. If contemplation were a general culture in the Islamic Ummah, and there was Quranic awareness, these tamperers would not remain, because even the least contemplator of the Quran could resolve their issues and doubts, because these people truly tamper with the Quran. Someone, for example, relies on incomplete induction. He comes to a word in two verses and says, "Look, it means this, but he leaves the third verse because it spoils his meaning." So they tamper with obvious fallacies. But because the Islamic Ummah was scared of the Quran and told not to approach the Quran, and not to contemplate the Quran, and that the Quran is only for scholars, these falsifiers found a wide space to tamper and manipulate in the Ummah. Otherwise, if we were approaching the Quran and had Quranic awareness, these falsifiers would not have been able to tamper. Therefore, these people did not come because of the call to contemplate the Quran, but rather they came because of the warning against the Quran. So, they are the ones who committed crimes against the Ummah by scaring them away from the Quran, and these falsifiers now have tens of thousands of young Muslims following them. How did they follow them, even though their fallacies are superficial and naive? But because we have made the Ummah forget its Quranic awareness, these people have been able to manipulate the minds of the Ummah. Therefore, we must realize that opening the door of contemplation, or the call to the door of contemplation, is the safety valve for the awareness of the Ummah, and through it, the level of tampering with the Quran will decrease. Because Allah Almighty indicated the phenomenon of tampering with the Quran from the beginning, from the time of its revelation, when Allah Almighty said: "And those who disbelieved said, 'Do not listen to this Quran and fall into confusion.'" So, the phenomenon of confusion exists. "It is He who has revealed to you the Book; among them are verses that are clear - they are the mother of the Book - and others are ambiguous. But as for those in whose hearts is deviation, they will follow what is ambiguous of it." So, if there are people who want to tamper and they follow what is ambiguous of it, what did the Quran do? Did it say, "Let's close the door of contemplation, and no one should contemplate the Quran"? No. It said, "Do they not ponder the Quran, or are there locks on their hearts?" And this was a call to the polytheists to come and contemplate the Quran, because if they truly contemplated the Quran, they would find it harmonious and consistent. But they do not contemplate the Quran. Now, someone might say, "This divine address was directed to the polytheists because they had a certain level of Arabic language, so it was possible for them to contemplate." This justification is incorrect. Incorrect. Because Arabs now also understand the Quran, but they understand it to a lesser extent, naturally. You know, if you come to any Arab, even if he hasn't studied, read, or grieved, and you recite to him Surah Al-Asr, will he understand it or not? If you recite to him Surah Al-Nasr, or Surah Al-Hujurat, or even Surah Al-Baqarah, he will understand much of it. Correct. Why? Because he is an Arab. Now, what is the difference between him and the previous Arab? The previous Arab had more knowledge. But my not reaching the level of the first Arab does not mean that I do not understand the Quran, right? Therefore, you find people being affected by the Quran today and crying behind the imams in mosques when, for example, during Qiyam, and so on. Why? Because they understand the Quran. So, how can we say that only Arabs understood the Quran? This is inaccurate. Secondly, Arabic alone is not sufficient for a complete understanding of the Quran. For example, the polytheists had Arabic, but did they know the contexts of the Quran? Did they know Al-Mathani? Did they know the clear and ambiguous verses? Did they know its linguistic and situational contexts? No, they did not know that. You know, if you come to Abu Jahl and say, "Come, Abu Jahl, I tell you, 'Indeed, We have given you Al-Kawthar.' What does Al-Kawthar mean?" He would be confused because it is a Quranic word. You know. Therefore, you find some Companions, some Companions were puzzled by some Quranic verses. "Those who believed and did not mix their faith with injustice." Some Companions understood injustice in its general linguistic sense. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, came and returned them to the Quranic convention, saying, "No, injustice here means associating partners with Allah, for associating partners with Allah is a great injustice." See, they are Arabs, yet they needed to understand the Quranic convention. Therefore, when it is said, "Do they not ponder the Quran?" you tell me, "This address was to the polytheists, and they knew Arabic." Correct, they knew Arabic, but they did not know the other conditions. Yet, the Quran called them to contemplate the Quran, because merely entering the world of the Quran and starting to contemplate the Quran will increase their knowledge of the Quran, and thus they will develop. But you are outside the Quran and tell me, " والله, I must learn." No, you enter the Quran. Arabic is the first condition, the essential condition through which you must enter the Quran, because without Arabic, you will not understand the Quran. Therefore, "in clear Arabic." After you start with the Quran, you will begin and learn. So, contemplation is a condition for acquiring Quranic knowledge, not just a result of it. No, it is also a condition. Meaning, you want to learn the Quran, you must contemplate. And you learn, not in isolation from contemplation. And when we contemplate the Quran, we have two pillars: revolution and correction. Revolution means we revolutionize and explore the meanings of the Quran. Then, after extracting the meanings, we correct this revolution and these meanings that we have reached. Who corrects this? The scholars of the Quran correct it. Meaning, when we say scholars in the religious context, they are the ones who have knowledge of the Quran, and then have other sciences. But a person who does not have knowledge of the Quran is not called a scholar of the Sharia, even if he is a scholar in other fields, for example, he is a scholar of Usul al-Fiqh, or a scholar of Fiqh, or a scholar of Maqasid, or Hadith, and so on. He is a scholar in these sciences, but he is not called a scholar of the Sharia unless he adds knowledge of the Quran to these sciences, because it is impossible to be a scholar of the Sharia while ignoring the Quran, the basis of the Sharia. Then, "Indeed, We have made you upon a law of the command." You know, Al-Shatibi says the Quran is the spring of the Sharia. So, if you neglect this spring, how can I call you a scholar of Sharia? Yes, you remain a jurist, an Usuli, a Hadith scholar, but to call you a scholar of Sharia, you must add knowledge of the Quran to it. Otherwise, you are ignorant of the Quranic words, the Quranic themes, the Quranic contexts, and then you call me a scholar of Sharia. Therefore, these scholars who have devoted themselves to the Quran and spent their lives researching the Quran, we must return to them to correct our understanding of the Quran. This is the domain of scholars. We return to scholars in the area that needs clarification and explanation, the interpretation of the Quran. Yes. Therefore, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, when he spoke about the types of interpretation, mentioned the first type, which is that its ignorance is not possible. That is, all people know it. Like what I mentioned earlier. "When the victory of Allah and the conquest comes, and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in crowds, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He was ever accepting of repentance." A normal person, who does not have all the conditions you mentioned for approaching the Quran, comes and says, " والله, this Surah teaches us humility upon victory." Now we have won, so instead of feeling pride and arrogance, how do we learn humility? Therefore, any value, any blessing in this world that I encounter, I must remember my need for Allah Almighty. If I get a position, if I get a distinction, if I get anything like that, how do I need Allah Almighty? This is contemplation that any Muslim can do. But when the victory of Allah and the conquest comes in the same Surah, what is the difference between victory and conquest? Here, people may not realize it. You need to refer to scholars to distinguish between victory and conquest. Why? Because he will use the tools of the established Quranic interpreter and look at the usage of the Quran, refer to dictionaries, and so on, refer to the poetry of the Arabs to know these matters. So, as Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, there are categories of dealing with Quranic verses. Not all of them are at the same level. There is a clear level that everyone understands, and a higher level that requires the intervention of scholars. And here it is important to point out that interpretation is not one pattern. There are several types, or there are several ways to interpret the Quran. There is interpretation of the Quran by the Quran, and there is interpretation of the Quran by the Sunnah, and there is interpretation of the Quran by the context of revelation, and there is interpretation of the Quran by the words of the Arabs, and there is interpretation of the Quran by the words of the Companions, because they witnessed the revelation and understood the meanings of the Quranic words and their contexts. Therefore, it is not one level. But what is the greatest of these methods, and what is the best of these methods? By consensus, interpretation of the Quran by the Quran. By consensus. This method, as Al-Suyuti said, "The scholars said: Whoever wants to interpret the Book of the Mighty One, let him refer to the Quran." The scholars said, "Yes." Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah, in the introduction to Usul al-Tafsir, mentioned that the best way to interpret the Quran is to interpret the Quran by the Quran. Then he said, "If it becomes difficult for you," meaning if you cannot find the solution by searching the Quran in all ways, then he said, "then refer to the Sunnah." You know. And this is what the Quran necessitates. Allah Almighty says: "Indeed, this Quran guides to that which is most suitable." So, if we ask, what is the most suitable way to reach the Quran? It is the Quran. You know. And this is the methodology of prophethood. Like the example I gave you earlier, when the Companions were frightened and went to the Prophet, peace be upon him, they said, "O Messenger of Allah, which of us has not wronged?" Allah Almighty says: "Those who believed and did not mix their faith with injustice." What did he do? He interpreted the Quran by the Quran. He returned to the fact that associating partners with Allah is a great injustice. So, it is the methodology of prophethood. Therefore, for example, but unfortunately, today we have a condescending view of interpreting the Quran by the Quran. This interpretation was the cornerstone of scholars in the first era, and it was the methodology of prophethood, and it is the methodology agreed upon by scholars. But now, it has been abandoned in our era. So, as soon as they hear you talking about the Quran, they say, "This denies the Sunnah. This has a negative stance towards it." So, they have a phobia of the Quran. So, we are afflicted with two groups: a group that wants to limit itself to the Quran only, you know, and deny the Sunnah, and a group that, without realizing it, wants to limit itself to the Sunnah and neglect the Quran. You know. Therefore, anyone who approaches the Quran, they say, "This is a Quranist. No, this is the best way to interpret the Quran, to refer to the Quran itself." But we make, for example, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Amin Al-Shinqiti, 60 years ago, wrote his book "Adwa' Al-Bayan fi Idah Al-Quran bil-Quran." Does he deny the Sunnah? No, he does not deny the Sunnah, but he relied on the greatest method of interpreting the Quran, which is interpreting the Quran by the Quran. Exactly. Therefore, interpreting the Quran by the Quran is the best way, but it is not the only way. We also have interpretation of the Quran by the Sunnah, and this is of two types: interpretation of the Quran by the verbal Sunnah, interpretation of the Quran by the practical Sunnah. For example, the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the two Sahihs, interpreted: "And We have certainly given you seven of the oft-repeated [verses]." What does "seven of the oft-repeated" mean? He said in the two Sahihs that it is Al-Fatihah. Or, for example, it came in Sahih Ibn Hibban, the meaning of "Allah's rope." "And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together." What is "Allah's rope"? The Prophet, peace be upon him, interpreted "Allah's rope" as the Quran. You know. And there is, of course, the practical Sunnah that interprets. Many, the point is that these are different methods, and they have their contexts and areas of research. But in general, the methods of interpreting the Quran are diverse. The greatest method of interpreting the Quran is to interpret the Quran by the Quran. And not to deal with the Quran as just a source of questions. We read the Quran. If a question or ambiguity arises, we jump outside the Quran. No, we must give the Quran its due and search in the Quran for the answers. Then, if we are unable, we move to something else. You know. For example, Allah Almighty says: "And We rained upon them a rain. Then see how was the end of the criminals." Here, a question might arise in your mind: Allah Almighty rained upon them a rain, and rain is water, and water is good. How did it become a punishment for the criminals? No, here some people jump outside the Quran. But in another place, it clarifies: "And We rained upon them stones of baked clay." So, it was not rain of water, but stones. Or, for example, look at the verse: "Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is in your oaths by mistake, but He will impose blame upon you for what your hearts have earned." What does "what your hearts have earned" mean? Wait, you will find other verses that clarify it. Is there another verse that says: "Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is in your oaths by mistake, but He will impose blame upon you for what your hearts have earned"? You know, or not? So, "what your hearts have earned" means what you intended. May Allah reward you, Doctor. May Allah bless you. A very rich episode. I hope we will have other returns and other episodes, God willing. May Allah grant you success. May Allah bless you.