Are You Following the Quran or Leading It?
Following the Quran as a Guide: Avoiding Preconceived Conclusions and Learning Quranic Meanings
Summary
This Islamic lecture from the Muslim Community Center of Tucson focuses on the proper approach to understanding and following the Quran. The speaker emphasizes that Muslims should not abandon the Quran, using Surah Al-Furqan 30 where the Prophet Muhammad reported that his people treated the Quran as something abandoned. The lecture uses the metaphor of a guide: just as one must follow behind a guide rather than walking in front, Muslims must let the Quran guide them rather than approaching it with preconceived conclusions. The speaker warns against the common mistake of forming beliefs first and then searching the Quran for supporting evidence, illustrating this with the historical example of Abdul Rahman ibn Muljim, a hafiz (Quran memorizer) who assassinated Ali ibn Abi Talib while believing he was serving Allah.
The second part of the lecture addresses how ordinary Muslims without scholarly training should engage with the Quran. Drawing from Ibn Abbas's framework, the speaker categorizes Quranic meanings into four types: universal meanings understandable to everyone, meanings accessible only to Arabic language specialists, meanings known only to Islamic scholars, and meanings known only to Allah. He advises non-scholars to focus solely on the first category of clear, apparent meanings while reading the Quran daily, rather than attempting to navigate complex scholarly interpretations that require years of dedicated study in classical Arabic and hadith sciences.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Chief, Chief Dive Ala Something's off, you know, but you can't put your finger on it. Alhamdulillah.
[Silence]
Allah subhanahuaa mentions to us a dua that our prophet sallall.aii wasallam made privately to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He he raised his concern to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this dua and Allah narrates that dua to us and makes it a fixed verse of the Quran to remind us of this very important thing and that is that the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam said as Allah tells us in surah and the messenger said the messenger here is Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the messenger said oh my lord indeed my people have taken this Quran this recitation as something abandoned notice the wording he didn't say they have abandoned abandoned this Quran. That's what you would expect the wording to be. He didn't say my people have abandoned the Quran. No, he said my people have designated the Quran for abandonment as a constant thing. Now obviously this is regarding the mushik and the kufur of his people they didn't believe in him and they designated the Quran as rejected and they abandoned it now why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make this a verse in the Quran to remind the Muslim of what it's it's we who recite ite the Quran. We are the ones who re read this verse and recite it. Why is it to remind us always never to abandon the Quran? Never to abandon the Quran, to turn our back to the Quran or to turn away from the Quran or even to walk in front of the Quran. What does that mean? So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to the Quran by many references, many many descriptions he gives the Quran. One of the descriptions that Allah gives it is huda. It is guidance. It is not just a guidance. It's not just the guidance. It is guidance incarnate. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to the Quran as it is a guide. Now what do we imagine a guide is? I need to go somewhere that I have no idea how to get there or maybe I have a general idea but I need someone to guide me through the specifics to get me to a certain destination. So I hire someone or I find someone that will act as my guide. This guide has to by default be in front of me and I follow the guide. Now what happens if I walk in front of the guide? So now the guide is behind me. I've given my back to the guide. Is it possible for me to be guided by a guide that is behind me? No. This is why the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam gives us this incredible statement, this incredible analogy. He says the Quran is an interceder whose intercession is always accepted by Allah and it is as well an undefeable opponent. Whoever places the Quran in front of him, the Quran will guide him to paradise. And whoever places the Quran behind his back, it will drive him to the hellfire. Listen to to this statement. It's an incredible statement of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam with such imagery. How can a person who believes in the Quran inadvertently maybe even unbeknownst to themselves put the Quran behind them? Fail to follow the Quran. This is how it works. This is how it happens. A person comes to a conclusion and then looks for that conclusion in the Quran. This is the recipe, the formula for damnation. If a person is reads the Quran looking for something, they will find it. people murder in in the in our history. Men who memorized the Quran through and through, recited it day and night, have recited it so intensely that even while they were asleep, their lips were still moving with its recitation. And they used that same Quran as an evidence to kill and murder the companions of the prophet sallall.aii Wasam, the killer of Ali Ali, the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam's cousin and son-in-law and the father, the only father of his lasting of his lasting offspring, the father of Al Hassan Hussein. Ali the great scholar who was with the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam in every battle even when he wasn't there physically he was counted as being there that is how steadfast ali was and ali was the great khalifa who concluded the 30 years of guidance and successorship of prophethood that Ali came out one day at the break of dawn. Just before the break of dawn, before he came to wake up the people for a man came out of the shadows and struck Ali with his sword in his face. He was trying to hit him in the face and he caught him in the edge of his head. and he was then taken into custody by the other Muslim and they brought this man to see who he was. They find that it is Abdul Rahman ib Muljim. Who is Abdul Rahman ib Muljim? You might say Abdul Rahman Mulim is a man that was hired and designated by Omar himself al Far and sent with a delegation to Iraq to teach the Quran. This is not just any man. Can you imagine being qualified in the eyes of Omarab and sent on his behalf on behalf of the great Khalifa al Far to teach an entire country of people the Quran the words of Allah that's who Abdahmanb was ali told his companions as he lay on his deathbed for three consecutive days in agony because of this incredible injury that he had sustained which would later prove fatal. Ali tried to reason with his companions not to kill Abdman Muljim. And we will talk about why that is. But they took Abdul Rahman Muljim and he was ultimately put to death. And Abdul Rahman ib Muljim said, "Cut me limb from limb, piece by piece, except for my tongue. do not interfere with my tongue because I don't want to be on this earth for the blink of an eye for a moment without the ability to remember Allah. He said this as he was being taken apart and put to death and ultimately he was for killing not just any man but and he died remembering and praising Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. Those who were there witnessed this incredible dichotomy where you have a man who is killing Ali, murdering the greatest man of his gener of his time at that moment and he is doing it out of service for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said this situation, this is a disease that has no cure. How can you address a disease that? A man who is using the Quran as an evidence to kill. Now, here's the question. What was his fatal mistake? What led Abdul Rahman Muljim to this end? The answer, he walked in front of the of the guide. He wasn't behind the guide. He was in front of the guide. How was he in front of the guide? He had conclusions prior to reading the Quran. So when he read the Quran, it said what he had already concluded in his mind. That is one story of many where men and women use the book of Allah, the Quran throughout history as an evidence for the most atrocious and most terrible of crimes and most heinous of acts. How does this happen? Because they have a conclusion and then they look for it in the Quran. Imagine a detective who comes upon a crime scene and in his mind he has already determined that so and so is the perpetrator. Everything that he sees in that crime scene is going to seem to point towards his already preconceived notion and conclusion. And any evidence that disproves that will be ignored. This is not a detective. That's not how we learn. So when a person approaches the Quran trying to teach it rather than learn from it, this person will invariably go astray. Even if they have committed the Quran to memory, even if they recite it day and night, even if they had passed the scrutiny of Omarab himself, even if they were commissioned by Omarab himself, there is no cure for a person who believes something before receiving the evidence. This is precisely the root of disbelief. What did the people of Pharaoh say to Moses? They said, "Whatever," they said to Moses, "whatever you show us of miracles to try and trick us with your magic, no matter what it is, we will never believe you." So, they had already decided they wouldn't believe before they received the evidence. How could they ever be benefited by this evidence? And so this is a way that a person a Muslim may abandon the Quran under the guise and appear to himself and delude himself that he is following the Quran when really he has placed it behind him. So usually we just give these few minutes to kind of get the juices flowing. So people if they have any questions went a little bit extra today but inshallah we will take any questions now if there are any questions. If there are not any questions then I'll keep talking.
[Arabic recitation]
So she you mentioned there's a lot of ways Subhan Allah could walk as you call it in in front of the Quran and one of them nowadays you hear a lot of without the prior knowledge of dean or even or Quran they would say I would I think this way I feel this way you know and if you ask him for a simple meaning of the Quran they don't really have any the tools or maybe the the sources. So what is a road map for a the someone who doesn't have a knowledge of dean to be guided from Quran and you would give good advice should we who should we listen to what books we need to read and things that if you want to give a road map for someone who's really not really knowledgeable in terms of of of dean in general. Very very good question and un unexpectedly or you wouldn't expect that this question it seems so simple and straightforward but you'd be surprised how this question how rarely I am asked this question and that is how do I start how do I learn from the Quran how do I make the Quran a part of my life in a healthy way and be safe from misguidance. I want to start with one thing and that is categorizing the meanings of the Quran. Notice what I'm saying. The meanings plural of the Quran Abbas, the great muess of the companions, the designated muess of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. He said the Quran has four types of meanings. Notice this every verse these are four categories of meanings. The first one is a meanings that no person has an excuse to not know. Okay. The second type of meanings is a meaning of the text of the verse that the Arabs know from their natural tongue, from their native tongue. We'll explain what this means. Number three, a category of meanings that only the scholars know. And number four, a category of meanings that only Allah knows. These are four. Memorize them. Put them in your mind in order to understand how to approach the Quran. Number one, meanings that everyone can understand. When a person reads the Quran in any language, in any translation, any Muslim, Arab, non-Arab reads it in Arabic, reads it in English, even a non-Muslim can pick up the text of the Quran and read it and understand those meanings zena is haram, alcohol is haram, water is halal, right? Allah is one and only. Worship Allah alone without any partners. Follow the messengers. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, etc., etc. These are meanings that are evident in any language to any person who hears or reads the Quran. Number two are meanings that only a person proficient in the Arabic language may see or understand. And these are meanings regarding the intricacies and the nuance of the text. Right? Why the why the words certain words are chosen? What's the difference between what's the difference between and what are the differences? These are things that are reserved for the Arabic language. Arab linguists and grimarians, they are the ones who see these meanings. Okay. Number three are meanings that only the scholars know. When we say scholars, we're not talking about engineers or physicists or medical doctors. We are speaking about scholars of the Quran and Sunnah. They are proficient in the revelation of Allah. for instance the statement of Allah subhanahua what does this mean? The male and female thief cut and sever their hands. What's that mean? The hand in the Arabic language is all the way to the shoulder. And which hand is it? right or left. And here so it means cut both of their arms off up until the shoulder. That's what the Arabic language says. Is that what that means? No. Only a person who knows the sunnah of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam is able to understand that verse as Allah intended. Right? And the examples of this are many. Those who believe and do not mix in their belief any oppression or wrongdoing. Does that mean that those who believe and never sin? That's what it means in the Arabic language. But the prophet explained that wrongdoing here is a shik meaning those who believe in it. And the examples of this are many, numerous, all through the Quran. You will only be able to understand the Quran as Allah intended, no matter how proficient in Arabic a person is, if they are proficient in the prophet's sai. That's the third type. The fourth type is meanings or knowledge that is reserved for Allah alone. What does that mean? for instance, the reality of paradise. How many descriptions do we get of paradise in the Quran? Vivid descriptions. Descriptions so vivid it makes you feel you are sitting in paradise in real time. However, Allah says, "In spite of this, I have prepared for my righteous servants a place no eye has ever seen the likes of, no ear has ever heard the likes of, and has never crossed the mind or imagination of any human being." So no matter how much we imagine, we have never imagined the reality of paradise. Allah tells us that he is the one who is above. He rose above his throne. We know what that means in the Arabic language. It doesn't have more than one meaning. But how did he rise above his throne? This is something that is unfathomable to the human being. Even if it were explained, we could never understand such such a thing. Allah sees everything. How does Allah see everything? Only Allah knows that. That is a meaning that is reserved for Allah. So these are four types of meanings in every verse in every chapter of the Quran. One that is apparent to everyone. One that is only picked up by linguists. One that is only known to those proficient those scholars of Islam. and one reserved a meaning that is reserved only for Allah. Every single verse. Now back to the question which was how does a person read the Quran and maintain being guided by the Quran and not stepping in front of it? If a person wishes to read the Quran, whether in Arabic or English, and is not a scholar, a student of knowledge, the everyday Muslim, which one of those four meanings are they going to learn every time they read the Quran? Which one?
[Arabic recitation]
The second and third. This is what scholars are for. You go and you spend years of your life and dedicate yourself entirely to learning ancient Arabic in order to be able to understand those things. You go and dedicate years of your life and travel and leave where you're from and put yourself in discomfort and possibly poverty in order to learn the sunnah of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. There's no other way. And so when you go to read the Quran, that is the meaning you are looking for. The meaning that is apparent to everyone. a person who is an Arab, they speak Arabic, they pick up the Quran and they take the you know there is a u there is a hash which is printed in most by you read the meanings of those words that you don't know and you read the Quran every single single day. You do not allow yourself to get confused with the right. What do I mean by confused with the you go to open the Quran? You see, what does that mean? Let me look in let me look in and then you find inbin 25 different opinions and and and 20 different narrations etc. Let me look in let me look in places that men have to men have to study for decades in order to be able to in order to be able to sail those waters. Those are not just for everybody, right? And so you start getting confused by all these things and you still haven't passed al this is not a way to learn the Quran. The Quran speaks for itself. You open the Quran, you know what each word means and you read it every single day. You read a portion as if you have never heard the verse before and it will change your life. It is a light that will change your life. It will penetrate to the deepest parts of your heart and it will enlighten your mind if you allow it to. But if you are stubborn and insist on the Quran saying what you already know, you'll never learn anything. Number number two, if a person is a non-Arab, they don't speak the Arabic language. They take a translation like Sahib International. I have read dozens if not more than dozens of translations of the Quran. I've worked with them for many years. The best one that I have seen is Sah International. It's very concise, written in modern English, very easy to understand. It's eloquently written, right? You take this translation which is essentially a and you read it every single day. you want to know more then you take a book on the prophet like or when the moon split by in Arabic or English now you have a context for this Quran this book okay sheh I want to learn more than that you take a book like or a book the a bridged and you read it as well a portion of it every day you do the Quran sheh I want more details than that now you have to travel now you're speaking about becoming a student of knowledge and you can't do that sitting down in the air conditioning feet up drinking sipping your lemonade and not being uncomfortable the Quran Our Mashiah used to tell us the Quran and knowledge in general and it is a statement that is Zari said many many centuries ago. He said if you give it all of yourself it will give you some of itself and if you give it some of yourself it will give you none of itself. It is not something that you will learn through an electronic device. Not serious knowledge. You will not learn it on YouTube. You will not learn it on FaceTime. You will not learn it on Facebook. If you want to learn the religion of Allah and the inheritance of Muhammad sallall.aii alaihi wasallam you have to be prepared to sacrifice Omar said Omar said tell the student of knowledge to put on a pair of iron shoes for his path cuz his path is long and unfortunately knowledge has become we are consumers we live we live in a disposable day don't We This is the era of the disposable. This is the epic of the dispos disposable. Disposable silverware, disposable appliances. You find a job, you find another with slightly better perks. You move over. You're just a number amongst numbers, right? Disposable everything. Personal everything. You don't your car. It's got a scratch, don't worry about repairing it. Just trade it in for a new one. Right? If you want a new car, you just go get a new one. You don't work on the one that you have. If you want some clothes, you don't patch your clothes up anymore. You don't take it to a seamstress or put a patch in it anymore unless you want it to look stylish. Otherwise, just buy buy new pants, buy new shirts. There's people that don't even wash their clothes. They just wear them and buy new clothes every single month. We live in the era of the disposable. And so now as consumers, we've been taught this through years of brainwashing. We start to do this with human beings, with each other. I don't my husband. I want a new one. I don't my wife. I want a new one. I can get a new one. I don't my imam. Let's get a new one. And so we start to I don't this teacher. I want to get a new one. And we think that knowledge is the same. It is not. The the students of hadith they would give every day before they went to see their and make dua. Oh Allah conceal his faults from us. It's so they would go to a to study and every day before they go to see him they would give charity and make dua that Allah conceal his faults why they don't want to shan to get a foothold in them to turn them from knowledge and mash used to do something similar with their students there were some scholars of the that were known to be very very harsh with their students when new students would come in order to drive away the emotional and the weak so that only the strongest remain. Who did this? Didn't do this? Remember the story of Jalut and Talut? Jal did that he came across a river and he said just before they went into battle, "Whoever drinks from this river is not in my mil in my army." It was said he had four 4,000. It started as 80,000. It went down to 4,000. He said, "Whoever drinks from this river is not of me. And whoever does not drink from it can continue with me to the front lines." And he made an exception for one hand of water. Right? So we have the best, the good, and the rejected. And so the companions mention Ib Abbass mentions and others of the companions and Sah Bkari that of 4,000 every one of them drank except for 315 or so the exact amount of companions who were with the prophet in the battle of B. And they are the ones who continued to battle. He sent everyone back. I don't want you. Why? This doesn't make sense. Explain it to us. This is your leader. You listen or you don't. And these were the men that continued to battle and defeated the great jalut and became the king of ban after this event. And so the point here is that this is what seeking knowledge is. It's not what a lot of us imagine. It's not going to Yale or Harvard where you have to get your projects ready and take your laptop and you have to, you know, go to these fancy places and sit down and you have a counselor and you have no you're on your own. You want to study, you could spend 20 years and never earn your sheh's respect or never earn his his recommendation, etc. The point is is that knowledge is a different thing for the everyday Muslim. You stick with the Quran the a book of and a book of hadith that is concise. That is more than enough for you to contemplate the Quran every day and All.
[Silence]
For.
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Allah.
[Silence]
Apologies for the way that our question and answer went today. Inshallah, next week there will be no intro. We will just go straight into the questions. Inshallah try to make up Low thing.