The Quran, a user’s guide pdf download

The Quran a user’s guide, a guide to its key themes, history, and interpretation by Farid Esack

THE QURAN a user’s guide

He says;

The first level of interaction! with the Qur’an can be compared to that between an uncritical lover and his beloved.

The presence and beauty of the beloved can transport the lover to another plane of being that enables him to experience sublime ecstasy, forget his woes, or respond to them.

 It can console his aching heart and can represent stability and certainty in a rather stormy world: she is everything. The lover is often astounded at a question that others may ask: “What do you see in her?” “What do you mean? I see everything in her; she is the answer to all my needs.

Is she not “a clarification of all things” (16.89), “a cure for all [the aches] that may be in the hearts (10.57)? To be with her is to be in the presence of the Divine.”

 For most lovers, it is perfectly adequate to enjoy the relationship without asking any questions about it. When coming from the outside, questions about the nature of the beloved’s body, whether she comes from a distinguished lineage — begotten beyond the world of flesh and blood and born in the “Mother of Cities” (42.7) – as common wisdom has it, or whether her jewelry is genuine, will in all likelihood be viewed as churlishness or jealousy.

For the unsophisticated yet ardent lover such questions are at best seen as a distraction from getting on with a relationship that is to be enjoyed rather than interrogated or agonized over. At worst, they are viewed as a reflection of willful perversity and intransigence.

This lover reflects the position of the ordinary Muslim towards the Qur’an, a relationship discussed in greater detail in the first chapter.