Pondering over the Quran

Chapter 38 of the Quran tells us the purpose of the revelation of the Quran: “This is a blessed book which we sent down to you (Muhammad) for people to ponder over its messages, and for those with understanding to take heed.” (38:29)

Pondering does not just mean recitation of the Quran and understand its meaning. This method is also without doubt beneficial, but to reach the higher meaning of the Quran in this way is not sufficient.

There are two basic aspects of pondering upon the Quran—contemplation and dua (supplication). What is contemplation? I came to understand it from one particular incident. A Muslim writer with whom I often spent some time used to say, “I am a lover of Ghalib.” Ghalib was a great 19th century Urdu poet, and my acquaintance went on to explain the deeper meaning of the couplets of Ghalib. He said that he not only read the poems of Ghalib, but rather lived in them. As he put it, “The couplets of Ghalib are always in my mind. I am always thinking about them.”

This is the real meaning of pondering. It does not just mean trying to understand the meaning of the Quran while reciting it. It means that it should dominate your thinking. The verses of the Quran should stay in your conscious mind at all times. You have to sleep with the Quranic verses and wake up with them. Pondering upon the Quran is the development of an intellectual relationship with the divine revelation.

The second necessary condition is that one should keep praying to God. Prayer (dua) does not just mean that one should keep repeating such words as: “O My Lord increase me in knowledge.” (The Quran, 20:114) Prayer begins with the discovery of one’s helplessness. A person who cannot recognize his helplessness in this way is not properly equipped to do dua or supplication to God.