The Month of the Qur'an

Ramadan is the month of the Qur'an. Many Muslims therefore take it as an occasion to read the Qur'an. Some read after morning prayers instead of going back to sleep after the beginning of the day's fast. Some use the time that would otherwise be their lunch break. Some recite or listen to it at Tarawih prayers after the breaking of the fast in the evening and the last of the five regular prayers. After all, this is the meaning of the word Qur'an: reading, recitation, presentation.

There are different ways of reading the Qur'an. Some open the book at random and read what they find and as long as they like. Some follow a reading routine. Except for being arranged in surahs, the Qur'an is divided into thirty equal parts: if you read one part everyday - it might take something between an hour and an hour and a half if it is done without a rush - you can read all of it in one month. Many Muslims do this especially in Ramadan but also at other times and then often in smaller portions. Generally this is devotional reading, in the Arabic original, with the intention to perform an act of worship. Muslims who do not understand Arabic may listen to a recording, perhaps by a professional reciter, tasting the beauty of its sound that touches the heart, or spell themselves through the beautiful calligraphy the text, perhaps together with a translation, or read a translation instead.

Devotional reading sometimes merges into reflective reading: if you take your time and feel the impact of what you read and think about it in the light of your personal experience. This can be done even when reading a translation if you keep in mind that what you read is already an interpretation by the translator. I keep hearing critical remarks and know that they have a point: a translation can never go into the complete depth of the original text, especially not of a concentrated text like that of a holy scripture. But while the pessimist laments about what is missing, I prefer to be optimist enough to point out that this is at least a possibility to get something out of it at all. And besides, let us be sincere. Even if we read and understand the original, what we get out of it each time we read it is "only" the part that our selective consciousness and the current level of our understanding admits. A holy scripture is not like a novel or a newspaper article that we read and then know what it contains. It keeps revealing itself as we go along.

In fact, there is still another level, the level of studying. No, this is in no way left to the "experts". The word qara'a already implies not just reading or reciting but also understanding - there is also an element of naming or defining something contained in the word. Anyway, how would you present something that you do not understand? It would be a mere repetition of words. The Qur'an itself repeatedly keeps encouraging us to reflect and think about its message and explore its meaning. And it certainly does not just speak to "experts" - with all due respect to them and their useful knowledge - but to each individual in the Muslim community and beyond.

And it is not even necessary to become an expert to do that. After all, we do not study the Qur'an in order to become "authorities" or as an implement for ambitious ends but for its own sake and for our spiritual growth.

If you are able to do so, even with very basic knowledge, you could explore the language. Whether you struggle with the help of a dictionary or Arabic is your mother tongue, you will always discover shades of meaning in words and statements that you were not aware of before.

You could investigate history, both the history of revelation and the history pointed out in Qur'anic stories and allusions. No, this is not an "innovation" - the earliest commentators did research and developed a whole discipline of inquiring into the background and occasions of revelation. This definitely helps to avoid misunderstandings that are bound to arise when something that refers to a particular situation is understood as a general statement. But it also takes us nearer to the experience of the Prophet and the early Muslims and opens up new possibilities to see things in a context and come to new conclusions from it. Many commentators also had a special emphasis on investigating the historical experience presented in the stories with the tools that were available, that is, details given in accounts that were transmitted orally from generation to generation or that can be found - yes, in earlier holy scriptures. In fact, the Qur'anic text builds up on this knowledge, that is why the stories are not repeated in detail but, in most cases, just outlined or hinted at.

You could read with an eye on a specific question you have in mind. That might be any religious question, e.g. a practical one about food or marriage or fasting in Ramadan, or an acute one about a challenge you are struggling with, or a theological one about God's mercy or the concept of Man or the Day of Judgement. It might be a search for meditative passages or food for thought in general. The Qur'an is not a reference book. You might read it carefully from the beginning to the end and take notes of everything that, directly or indirectly, relates to your question and then think about it again in the light of what you found.

Or the other way round: you might read the Qur'an (or a translation) systematically and take notes of the questions it confronts you with: things that are difficult for you to understand or to accept that you might then ask some knowledgeable person about unless the answer comes with further reading and reflecting. Or statements that make you think about your life and your self-understanding or your relationship with your fellow human beings. Or passages that open your eyes to the miracles of creation, triggering an interest in knowing more about it both in a practical sense and for deeper insight.

You could finally share your questions and discoveries with other likeminded readers. Do not be afraid of differences of opinion - unless people stubbornly insist on having found the "only truth", there will be ways to either clarify apparent contradictions or accept them as different facets of the same thing contemplated from different directions. In doing this, you will gradually accumulate a treasure of insights that can both help you deal with your everyday matters and increase your joy of life and the hope for the future.

You might then find that the text becomes increasingly alive in our time and age, continuously revealing new aspects of itself. Far beyond keeping you away from the no-go areas of evil and encouraging to fulfil our responsibility, it provides inspiration to contribute to beauty of the world in which ultimately God's beauty is reflected. It may become a continuous dialogue with the book - and thereby with its author.

Have a Ramadan full of blessings and the joy of the Qur'an.

God, open my heart for Your revelation and make it sweet on my tongue and a comfort for my eyes and a joy for my ears and a discipline for my limbs and a guidance for my mind and a light for my insight and a companion in my life and an encouragement in my struggle and a friend in good and in bad days. Make it easy for me to study it and to keep it in mind and to understand it and to practice it and to follow its guidance until I meet You.

(c) Halima Krausen, 2006