Tadabbur - Deep Reflection on the Quran
Assalamu alaykum and Ramadan Mubarak everyone. It is Day 1 of Ramadan here in the UK today. I am sitting here enjoying another glorious morning with crisp sunshine and bitter cold.
I read the Qur’an as if it matters and in many ways my reading is simple, although not simplistic. Whilst reading in Arabic for reward with Allah is also important, I want to read it in a way that I can grow my capacity to do tadabbur. The word tadabbur is often translated as ‘pondering’ in English, which is what I have also chosen as a title for this series of videos. But as always, the Arabic word contains depth of meaning that the English word cannot portray. Tadabbur keeps within it the meaning of deep reflection, openness of the heart and mind, meditation, contemplation and deliberation. The noun ‘tad-beer’ means direction, planning, solution and management. In other words, tadabbur is deep reflection that directs our thoughts and actions.
The late Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi, one of the greatest mufassirs of our time, considers tadabbur as a condition for benefiting from the Qur’an. On p.39 of volume 1 of his tafsir titled Tadabbur I Qur’an, he brings to our attention verse 24 from Surah Muhammad chapter 47. Allah says:
Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up by them? (Yusuf Ali’s translation is great because it emphasises choice: hearts locked up by them?)
So we have to open up our hearts, overcome the fear of having our comfortable existence rocked by the teachings of the Qur’an.
For me, tadabbur means that I want to learn from the Qur’an, allow it to put me in a reflective space and guide my decision making. It also means that I engage with the work of many amazing scholars who have done outstanding research on the Qur’an and developed ways of explaining the Qur’an. I will bring some of those ideas to you via this series of videos.
Being a systems thinker and strategic planner, I like to link ideas so I can create the big picture but also see the detail and the implications. Perhaps this describes best my approach to the Qur’an: see the big picture and the values of the Qur’an, and read the Qur’an as if it matters.
Read the Qur’an as if it matters.
I will leave you with this reflection. Assalamu alaykum.