The Qur’an Culture. And how one person got a touch.
I’ve come to realize something that’s remarkable about some societies, one of which is in Tareem and it’s to do with the theme we experience each Ramadhan.
It is the month where many Muslims pickup the Qur’an more than usual. From zero to once, from once to twice a year. Others from once a week to once a day. Each to their own. The key is to have a sense of recognition of the holy month – that results in a state of improvement no matter how little.
*Pic is of one other student, engrossed reading in prayer after lights out.
What I’ve come to realize about Tareem is that in the other months other than Ramadhan, they have the Qur’an in their culture. Each mosque have a group of people reading in a group between Maghrib and Isya’ (dusk to nightfall) and also at dawn. Regular members of the local community. Adults and kids.
This is a small town of almost 400 mosques. And the Qur’an is around them and with them.
Each Thursday at dawn, all the mosques will have their weekly khatam (completion of one full reading) of the Qur’an. And the numbers are higher daily circles. Coffee may be served to those who attend, and they get a small gift – a mini pack of biscuits, chickpeas, local sweets or whatever. Something to indicate the (weekly) special event.
The point here is the culture.
We don’t have to get preoccupied about trying to copy one place. Different places live different lifestyles and conditions. What’s key is that what can be done in such a way that the culture is lived by us individually and beyond. And for some it starts with just realizing the awesomeness and greatness of the Qur’an, attaching our hearts to it. ‘Like wow, this is a great book.’
In my subsequent posts I’ll be focusing on this. Now I’ll just share how one person achieved the point above.
The touch.
One schoolmate I know was not very drawn to the Qur’an and recognized that problem, let alone that he rarely read it. He pondered over Who wrote it, and it hit him. But it wasn’t enough to pick it up habitually. So he tried when he could, that whenever after he made ablution, he would just touch the Qur’an.
Just touch. He’d walk past one or a shelf of Qur’an’s, and just brush his palm over it. If it wasn’t a Qur’an, he’d open a book that had pages of it, and he’d touch those pages. Sometimes he’d read a line for the sake of it. He then begin placing copies of the Qur’an at places he’d walk past often. Then I asked, ‘What’s the outcome so far?’
‘Well I was away for a few days where there was barely a few copies visible in my surrounding and I didn’t get to touch any. But before I went to bed that night, I thought of the Qur’an. And the only words that came to my head was,
I miss you.”
Your words touch my soul!