The Quran is truly an amazing book. If there is one investment I have made that I will never regret in my life, it is the time I invested in understanding the Quran. The thing about the Quran is that it speaks to me like no other book I’ve read. Such is the magnificence of the book that there is never a hollow reading session; each time I walk away with some truly amazing insights I overlooked before. What makes this possible is that there are, at least in my opinion, infinite layers to the Quran. The more time you spend with it, the more it seems to give you. And so, as I went deeper into the Quran, I was just mesmerized by its structure, cohesiveness, and the metaphors it employs that reflect my being so precisely.

What’s heartbreaking for me, though, is how Muslims have abandoned the Quran, turning it into an object of service. You don’t pay reverence to the Quran by kissing it and keeping it on the top shelf, covering it with beautiful cloths. No, that would be akin to showering your parents with hugs and kisses, but not paying any heed to what they ask of you. Would you not call such a relationship hypocritical and selfish? Indeed, you would. But that’s what our relationship with the Quran is: one of hypocrisy and selfishness. It is used as a tool to gain rewards by reading it in a language that most Muslims don’t even understand, and comes out of its fancy covering only at “blessed” times such as Ramadan, or at times of need – when someone has passed away.

As Ramadan is just around the corner, I implore you to read the Quran in a language you understand this time around, so that you could start disassociating cultural Islam from Quranic Islam.

Here is a passionate response I wrote, outlining all that is wrong with the way we approach the Quran:

Quran is a book that is read widely, a book that is– at times– interpreted wildly, a book that is understood hardly.

Sometimes, on a quiet night, I can almost hear the Quran weeping.

Will you then, embrace it holistically, and release itself from its sorrows?

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