This post serves as a response to the comment left by Ocean Girl. It got too long and I have no choice but to post it because, the comment box found it annoyingly long.
Ocean Girl wrote;
"The Quran was not sent to us. It was sent to the Prophet.
The basic of all basics is to Obey Allah and His Messenger. I do not see anything about "spreading love". And how do we obey the Prophet if we do not know his hadith and sunnah."
Thank you for sharing your thoughts dear. My Response;
Ocean Girl, sorry dear, but I totally disagree with you. Quran was meant for all of mankind, but Muhammad was the one chosen to receive it via Jibrail, hence the term "messenger". - Nothing different from other of His messengers.
“Verily, We have sent down to you (O Muhammad) the Book for mankind in truth. So whosoever accepts the guidance, it is only for his ownself; and whosoever goes astray, he goes astray only for his (own) loss. And you (O Muhammad) are not a Wakeel (trustee or disposer of affairs, or guardian) over them”[Surah (Chapter of) al-Zumar 39:41
“Had We sent down this Qur’aan (Quran / Koran) on a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling itself and rent asunder by the fear of Allah. Such are the parables which We put forward to mankind that they may reflect”[Surah (Chapter of) al-Hashr 58:21]
“The Messenger (Muhammad) believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. (They say,) ‘We make no distinction between one another of His Messengers’ — and they say, ‘We hear, and we obey. (We seek) Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all)’” [Surah (Chapter of) al-Baqarah 2:285
“This is a Book which We have sent down to you full of blessings that they may ponder over its verses and that men of understanding may remember.” (Saad: 29)
And before you bring up the matter that the Quran have contradictions so much so, we need the auta…sorry, authorities to figure them out for us, ponder on this;
“Do they not then consider the Qur’an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah they surely would have found therein many contradictions.” (Nisaa’: 82)
It’s to say that THERE IS NO CONTRADICTIONS IN THE QURAN.
Here are more verses to tell us, how important it is for us to read the Quran ourselves.
“And We have sent down to you the Book (the Qur’aan (Quran / Koran)) as an exposition of everything, a guidance, a mercy, and glad tidings for those who have submitted themselves [an nahl:89]
And Muhammad, like other messengers before him has the duty of distributing His words to mankind. If mankind rejects, Muhammad does not have to answer for mankind. It is mankind who have to answer for themselves.
“O Messenger (Muhammad)! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message. Allah will protect you from mankind” [Surah (Chapter of) al-Maa'idah 5:67]
It's high time we look at the Quran ourselves instead of trusting others. Isn't it weird that with a snap of fingers we can get people to come teach us how to recite the Quran but getting a teacher to come teach us the translation to our kids is totally non conducive? Have you read the Quran yourself or made an attempt to complete reading it? It's easy except for some parts whereby, yes, we need to ask people who knows. But basically, it's easy to understand it. Problem is, we chose to recite it yet not understand the content of it, like a parrot, because we are told from small that the satan would be teaching us if we read it on our own. As a result, we put the Quran on our heads everytime we touch it, exhibit it at the highest point where it lays there majestically, albeit collecting dust, and to make up for not reading it ourselves, we all end up trusting the "people who know it all" and what do you know...look where we Muslims ended up today.
[6:116] "And if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they only lie."
Despite the many evidence for us to read, understand and practice the manual God gave us in a form of book of revelation, many had failed to do so;
“O my Lord! Verily my people deserted this Qur’an” (Furqaan: 30)
And the reason being:
“Do they not then think deeply in the Qur’aan (Quran / Koran), or are their hearts locked up (from understanding it)?” [Surah (Chapter of) al-Baqarah 2:285
Perhaps, this is because, guidance comes from God. There are people who’d get it, and there are people who may never will….
“Allah has sent down the Best of Speech, a Book, its parts resembling one another and oft-repeated. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver when they recite it or hear it. Then their skin and their heart soften to the remembrance of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah. He guides therewith whom He wills; and whomever Allah sends astray, for him there is no guide.” (al-Zumar: 23)
You said that there is no message about spreading love in the Quran. Again, I beg to differ. You spread love when you’re kind to the orphans, your neighbours. You spread love when you help others regardless of their race, gender, beliefs because your duty is to spread love and live righteously, and judging is for god.
"Their hostility towards each other is intense. You consider them united but their hearts are scattered wide. That is because they are people who do not use their intellect," (Surat al-Hashr, 14)
The problem with us Muslims today, we practice the reverse. We are quick to judge, and we are more concern in doing less (as most of the things are haram apparently) rather than doing more.
Allah is about love, compassion amongst many of His beautiful virtues;
If you look at Christian or Buddhist movements who help others regardless of race etc, the Muslims should be ashamed of ourselves. And to cover for that shame, we avow that these movements are insincere and to convert as many into their religion, a rat race. We complain but apart from helping out only Muslims, what have we really done to serve society as a whole?
Instead, we pride ourselves in indulging in trivial matters like muhrim issues, haram inai on hands etc? Zakat? Well, are we sure zakat money is not being abused like what happened with Lembaga Tabung Haji some time back? I had my nurse coming in complaining to me (in a clinic where I do part time), that a Datin came in and purchased hundred ringgit worth of medicine, and payment was being made via Zakat money. What is that all about? NEP is a fantastic program, but what about it’s implementation? Is it Islamic? Is it Islamic to excel at the expense of suppressing others, when clearly, Islam is about serving others regardless of race, gender and whatever type of categorization the humans are fond of to create a sense of belonging.
Surah Al-Nisa':36:
"Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet) and what your right hands possess : For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious.
God after all is ample with love;
“As for those who believe and do right actions, the All-Merciful will bestow His love on them. “(Surah Maryam, 96)
As for the rest of us; we have love for each other.
[Yusufali 30:21] And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.