Best Gift Ever!

Best Gift Ever!

Allah says in the Holy Quran, "O Messenger, deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord, for if you do not, you will not have delivered His Message." (5.67)

Giving Al-Quran to Non-Muslims
By: Sheikh Abdul Rahim

Allah says in the Holy Quran, "O Messenger, deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord, for if you do not, you will not have delivered His Message." (5.67)

"We sent down to you the Remembrance that you may make it clear to mankind what was sent down to them, that they might reflect." (16.44)

In the Quran itself, Allah commands Muhammad, the last of His Prophets (r) to convey the Book and elucidate its meanings as he willed. He spent nearly a quarter of a century doing precisely this: Promulgating the Quran and explaining its principles to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

In so doing, he met and attended the gatherings of both those whom he knew or was related to and strangers from afar. Virtually without exception those he called to initially were not Muslims and certainly unexceptionably the message he was relating to them was that of the Quran.

Indeed, as the years passed and many of his companions themselves memorized and became learned in the Quran, he exhorted them to go to the farthest reaches of Arabia an beyond to teach the Quran to the people of what were then the outlying lands of Islam. The Prophet made it clear that the "best among you are those who either learn or teach the Quran."

Near the end of his life, the Prophet (r) received Allah’s command in Surah At-Tawba sanctifying the right of even the non-believer who so desires to listen to the Quran and learn its principles in the asylum of peace amidst Muslims in a Muslim state. In fact, the community is obligated to guarantee safe passage thereafter for the inquirer to where he or she feels secure.

"And if any of the idolaters seeks of your protection, grant him protection till he hears the words of Allah. Then convey him to his place of security. This, because they are people who do not know." (9.6)

Before his death, the Prohet (pbuh) delegated the trust of conveying and explaining the Quran to the community. "Let whosoever is present from you promulgate this (the trust of Islam) to those who are not." This explains the emergence of the great variety and volume of literature about the Glorious Book, i.e., on recitation, commentary, its history, principle issues, and the translation of its meanings and their dissemination.

Modern technology has afforded us the preservation and introduction of the Quran through a large and increasing number of channels, over and above the conventional form of writing. Audio, video, computer software (and compact computer disc which combine audio-visual potential with speedy and selective information retrieval) are avenues that come to mind.

I should underscore the word "potential" here, in that these devices may ease the way to our delivery of the Quran’s Message. But they themselves cannot convey it. This remains the community’s responsibility. One way for our Da’wah institutions to advance this work is to provide Reading Room in major urban areas where the written or recorded translations of the meanings of the Quran, its commentaries, etc., are readily available to all who desire to enhance their understanding of this Book, its message, and its Sender. Another method is to send such works to institutions already made available for this purpose and interested organizations.

In view of this principle, it is permissible to provide a translation of the meanings of the Quran to non-Muslims, either as gifts or on loan. Along with this should go the advice that it is necessary to accord respect and reverence to the Book of Allah and to protect it from places of defilement and abuse. Were one to become absolutely certain that those seeking the Quran wish only to desecrate them, then, of course, it shouldn’t be provided.

Some Muslims, however, are hesitant to provide non-Muslims with copies of the Quran based on the miss-understanding that an unbeliever is by nature impure, and that the verse "لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ" "None but the pure can touch it," forbids non-Muslims from touching it.

The truth of the matter is that this verse does not forbid this; it negates the possibility that devils interfered with the Quran’s transmission, revealed in response to the Makkans’ claim that the Quran was inspired by Satan’s proteges.

The verse assures us that the Quran has been handled only by the pure (angels). The great mufassirs ibn Janr Al-Taban (27:206-7) and Ibn Kathair (4:298) cite the statement of Qatada, a Successor renowned for his Quranic explication, that this verse means exactly this.

As for this world or this life, it may be touched by an unbeliever, and is in fact touched by hypocrites. Our duty is to facilitate the presentation of the Quran and clarify its meanings for all.

We should not stand between Allah’s people and Allah’s guidance especially when he says, We have made the Quran easy for Remembrance. Is there any that will remember?

(Courtesy "Islamic Future")