The Glorious Qur’aan – It Is a Proof For You or Against You
Dr. Saleh As-Saleh (rahimahullah)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv-DmU8U3wM [19 min)
Listen / Download Mp3 (Time 19:10)
Based upon lecture of Shaykh Ibn Baaz rahimahullaah
This sermon discusses the significance of the Qur’an as a decisive proof for or against an individual on the Day of Judgment. The speaker elaborates on the concept of giving “advice” (Nasiha) to the Book of Allah, which includes defending it, believing in it, pondering its meanings, obeying its commands, and avoiding its prohibitions. A major portion is dedicated to the five types of “abandonment” (Hajr) of the Qur’an, as detailed by Imam ibn al-Qayyim. These range from abandoning its recitation and contemplation to neglecting its rulings and seeking cures elsewhere. The sermon reinforces these points with verses from the Qur’an and sayings from the early generations of Muslims (Salaf), such as Ibn Mas’ud and Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, emphasizing that a person’s engagement with the Qur’an determines whether they will be led to Paradise or driven to Hellfire. The speaker concludes with practical advice on how to connect with the Qur’an by reciting, understanding, memorizing, and applying its teachings.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم.
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. I testify that there is no true God worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam is Allah’s true slave and messenger.
This will conclude the subject on the Noble Quran, and this is only really a brief discussion on the glorious Noble Quran. This last part will deal with the topic that the Quran is a proof for you or against you.
This statement is of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam’s words and which is reported in the Hadith in Sahih Muslim. The Quran is a proof for the believer who establishes what is required from him regarding this noble book. The requirement is stated in the great Hadith in which the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam declared that religion is advice.
الدين النصيحة
The religion is advice.
Then he sallallahu alaihi wasallam clarified that part of this advice is the advice to Allah’s book. Such advice has many aspects to it, including the following, and which I benefited from our Sheikh’s durus on this subject, and they are summarized as follows.
Aspects of Nasiha (Advice) to the Quran
Number one: defending the Quran against all kinds of تحريف tahreef (alteration). This is advice to Allah’s book, which takes form in the defending, in defending the Quran against all kinds of tahreef (alteration).
Secondly, believing all of its reports without any kind of doubt. And this is نصيحة nasiha to Allah’s book, is believing all of its reports without any kind of doubt.
Thirdly, from the nasiha to Allah’s book is pondering on its meanings, and complying with its commands.
Fourthly, from the advice to Allah’s book is keeping away from its prohibitions.
Fifthly, from the advice to Allah’s book is believing that its legislations are the best and most perfected laws.
And sixthly, from the advice to Allah’s book is believing that this Quran, letters and meanings, is of the speech of Allah and that He ‘azza wa jall, Most Mighty and Most Magnificent, spoke it to Jibril alaihi assalam, to Gabriel, and that Jibril alaihi assalam brought it down to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Accordingly, the Quran is a proof against the one who does not establish the advice it demands. And that’s why the one who knows, ponders, and abides by the Quran, profits and his life is in constant attachment with the Quran. While the one who does not, fall in debt and his chest is in a state of confinement because they have abandoned the Quran in one way or another. This is in comparison.
The Types of Abandonment (Hajr) of the Quran
The types of الهجر al-hajr, abandonment or desertation or desertion of the Quran were summarized by Imam ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله (rahimahullah) as:
Number one: Hajr of listening to its recitation, believing in it, or giving attention to it.
Hajr, secondly: abandonment or desertion, hajr, of acting by it and abiding by what it prescribes as halal or haram, even though the one who does so believes in it or recites it. Meaning it is not sufficient to believe in it and recite it and then abandon acting by it and abiding by what it prescribes as halal or haram. Rather, therefore, from the hajr, from the abandonment, is abandonment of acting by it and abiding by what it prescribes as halal or haram, even though the one reading it believes in it or recites it.
The third type: Hajr (abandonment) of ruling by it or taking it as a judge in all matters of religion, believing that it does not warrant certainty of conviction, and that its evidences are merely literal in the sense that it does not result in knowledge. This is a type of abandonment.
Number four: hajr of reflecting upon its meanings, understanding them, and knowing what Allah, the one who spoke it, desires from the one who recites it. This is the fourth type of hajr.
The fifth type of hajr is Hajr of using the Quran as a cure and healing for all the diseases and ailments of the heart. So he seeks the cure of his ailment in other than the Quran and thus abandons its use as a medicine. So the person seeks the cure of his or her ailment in other than the Quran and thus abandons its use as a medicine.
All of this is signified in the saying of Allah in Surah al-Furqan, in chapter 25, verse 30.
قال الله تعالى Allah the Exalted said:
وَقَالَ الرَّسُولُ يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا
And the Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) will say: “O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur’an (25:30)
Even though some kinds of hajr are lesser in magnitude than others. One of the Salaf رحمهم الله (rahimahumullah) stated that no one ever sits with the Quran and leaves safe. He will either win or lose. And he will, he will never leave kind of neutral. He will either win or lose. And then he recited the following verse in Surah al-Isra, 17, 82.
وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۙ وَلَا يَزِيدُ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلَّا خَسَارًا
And we send down from the Quran that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe in tawhid and act upon it. And it increases the الظالمين dhalimin, the polytheists and the wrongdoers, nothing but loss. (17:82)
Ibn Mas’ud may Allah be pleased with him, said, quote, “The Quran is an intercessor of which intercession will be accepted and a disputant and credible adversary. So, whoever places it as his leader, it will lead him to الجنة al-Jannah, to Paradise. And whoever places it behind his back, it will lead him to the fire of hell.” End of quote. And this is reported by Abdul Razzaq in his Musannaf and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir, through the same chain of narration, and it is, or its isnad is declared as sahih by the checker of Jami’ al-‘Ulum wal-Hikam.
It is also reported that Abu Musa al-Ash’ari may Allah be pleased with him, said, quote, “Verily, this Quran is either a reward for you or a burden upon you. Thus, follow the Quran and let not the Quran follow you. Verily, whoever follows the Quran, it will make him to alight upon the gardens of Paradise. And whomsoever the Quran follows, it will push or thrust him from behind until it shall cast him into the fire of Hell.” End of quote.
Imam al-Bukhari on Benefiting from the Quran
Imam ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah pointed out that Imam al-Bukhari rahimahullah statement, “Nobody enjoys it and benefit by it except the one who believes in it,” meaning the Quran. He stressed that nobody will enjoy the Quran and its recitation and understanding except the one who testifies that it is the words of Allah, that He really spoke and revealed to His Messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Anyone who does not believe that the Quran is a true book from Allah, which He truly spoke to Jibril and revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and that it is not part of his creation, then his heart is constrained by difficulty therefrom.
And anyone who says that it has a باطن batin, an inward meaning that opposes its ظاهر dhahir, its outward meaning, or that it has a figurative interpretation that opposes its apparently understood meaning, then his heart is striated by difficulty therefrom. Anyone who says that the Quran has a meaning which we cannot understand or apply, rather we worship Allah by the mere recitation of its, then indeed his heart is confined by difficulty therefrom.
Nobody subjects the Quran to the rhyme of baseless opinions, the irrationality of the people of scholastic theology, the sophistry of the sufists, and the superstitions of the Sufis, except that his heart is constrained by difficulty therefrom.
Anyone who makes the Quran subservient to his sect or madhhab or to the far-stretched ideas of whom he blindly follows, then his heart is confined by difficulty therefrom.
Anyone who does not take the Quran as a judge in the open or in secret and all matters, in all matters of deen, and does not submit to its rules, no matter what it could be, then his heart is striated by difficulty therefrom.
And anyone who does not comply with its commands and is not forbidden by its restraining statements, and does not believe in all of its reports, then his heart is restricted by difficulty therefrom.
All of those people, their hearts are not affected by the meanings of the Noble Quran, nor do they understand it as it should be understood, and they find not the joy of its sweetness and taste and which the companions and their successors found.
رحم الله Rahim Allah Imam Ibn al-Qayyim and the scholars of Islam, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala make from this discussion a benefit for myself and a proof for me and not against me, and the same for you.
والحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم
Walhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen wa salla Allahu ‘ala Muhammadin wa ‘ala aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.
This concludes the subject on the glorious Quran, and there is a reminder at the end, is that we should exert the effort to try to begin the process of reciting the Quran, understanding, even if we take five verses at a time, recite them properly, correctly, understand what they mean, commit them to memory and go on. And act upon what we learn. This is my advice. This is the advice for myself first and for all of you.
Walhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen wa salla Allahu ‘ala Muhammadin wa ‘ala aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.
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