Introduction to The Human Manual

Understanding the messages in the Qur’an for the common man

Welcome to “The Human Manual” – Finding Guidance from the Holy Qur’an. Let’s embark on a journey trying to find the purpose of life. Questioning who has the ultimate rights of determining right from wrong. Searching for the True God. Wanting to be guided by God Himself.

Most people will not bother to ask oneself what is the purpose of being alive. They just follow what society does. When there is a problem in life, most will fall into depression and started thinking that life is meaningless. If a person believed in God and knows why God created him, then he has a purpose in being alive even though society think nothing of him. Most materialistic people will be conscious of what people think of him and he will put on a show that he is better than the next person while belittling a person that he is jealous of. This person does not understand the purpose of life.

A product created by human, eg. the Washing Machine, will come with a manual on how to operate the device correctly. If you keep doing it incorrectly, it will destroy the device.
The Quran is a manual for human to refer to. If human keep doing the opposite of what the Quran has stated, it will make human being becoming a miserable species.

The goal of the Quran is to guide people towards achieving Taqwa and the result is Jannah, Paradise for eternity.

What is Taqwa?

God consciousness in any situation by fearing and loving Him, having hope in His mercy while staying obedient to His Commandments (consistently performing worship & rituals) and staying away from His prohibitions. The most important of all is worshiping Him alone without any partners (w/o any sub-god, mini-god, sons/daughters of god, saints as intermediary, etc). The way of directly worshiping and praying/talking to Him is according to how He had taught through His Prophet s.a.w.

Without knowledge, a person can be manipulated by syaithan of having a false sense of Taqwa, deviated from what Islam is.

Taqwa varies from person to person. The same person will have different levels of Taqwa on the same day, and from day to day. Knowledge is a compulsory tool towards achieving Taqwa. With more knowledge, you gain more tools in opening up the doors of Taqwa. Without the tools of knowledge, you are unable to open the door.

However the amount of knowledge you possess may not be directly proportional to your amount of Taqwa. Someone might have lots of knowledge, yet has very little Taqwa. Knowledge must be supported with sincerity towards God and His religion. With a good understanding and sincerity towards God, you will able to consistently perform religious deeds. Religious deeds are to maintain your level of Taqwa. Without these daily maintenance, your Taqwa and connection to the Creator will perish. A house without walls, the roof will collapse and you are exposed to danger.

The difference between man in our Master’s perspective is the amount of Taqwa a person possesses. The amount of knowledge, the amount of status or the amount of wealth means nothing to God if we don’t have Taqwa. Achieving the highest amount of Taqwa is the goal.

Learning the Quran

There are many parts in learning the Quran as shown in the diagram below.
In this document, we will learn the "Tadabbur" and "Tafseer" parts which in some ways will include Arabic word translation with some grammar and Quran history.

The Clear Quran

[Quran 54:40]
"And We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?"

Allah made the Qur’an easy for remembrance. Easy for remembering Allah and remembering the Deen. Easy to get advice from it.

Surah Al-Hijr (15:1): "Alif, Lam, Ra. These are the verses of the Book and a clear Qur'an"

تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ وَقُرْآنٍ مُّبِينٍ

However, someone engaging in deep learning of the Quran will find that it is not that simple. He has to put lots of effort to learn everything about the Quran. Allah never said it is simple. But Allah said it is clear. Just like a professor who wrote lots of mathematical formula on the whiteboard. Those formulas were not easy to derive, but the students found his solutions and teachings clear. Clarity is when something make sense. A complicated thing is easy when you find clarity.

The scholars writing Tafseer of the Qur’an is not easy. But when we read the Tafseer, it is easy for us to understand clearly the guidance. Humanity has so many problems. The Qur’an ease their burden and guide them out of the problems.

Teaching and studying the Quran

[Sahih al-Bukhari 5027] Narrated `Uthman:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it."

Learning and teaching is not only about recitation but more importantly is about understanding.

A good teacher is when students understand what is being taught using simple everyday examples. The aim is to get guidance (“huda, hidayah”). A bad teacher is when he is using bombastic words to impress people but nobody understands what he is teaching.

A scientist will not be able to teach kindergarten kids as good as a kindy teacher will. The kindy teacher may not have the knowledge of the scientist but she can achieve much more with the kids.

The students in turn need to know the skills of learning. There is only so much a Teacher can teach but it is up to the student to personally know how to study.

> Increase in knowledge is not proportional to increase in “iman” (guided faith).
> Increase in sincerity is proportional to increase in guidance.

By only glorifying knowledge will lead you away from guidance.
By glorifying guidance is a start of getting both knowledge and guidance from your Master.

Qur’an as a Miracle to the last nation on earth

If you were with the Jews who saw the sea parted into two, you would be overwhelmed by that miracle. However we did not see this miracle. The Qur’an is an on-going miracle. Therefore the same feeling that was felt by the Jews during the time of Moses (a.s) should be experienced by the Muslims nowadays when reading the Qur’an.

Virtues in Quran recitation

[Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2910]
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah, he will receive one good deed (reward) as ten good deeds (rewards) like it. I do not say that Alif Lam Mim is one letter, but rather Alif is a letter, Lam is a letter, and Mim is a letter.”

[Sahih al-Bukhari 5027] Narrated Aisha:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Such a person as recites the Qur'an and masters it by heart, will be with the noble righteous scribes (in Heaven). And such a person exerts himself to learn the Qur'an by heart, and recites it with great difficulty, will have a double reward."

[Sahih al-Bukhari 5059] Narrated Abu Musa:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The example of a believer who recites the Qur'an and acts on it, like a citron which tastes nice and smells nice. And the example of a believer who does not recite the Qur'an but acts on it, is like a date which tastes good but has no smell. And the example of a hypocrite who recites the Qur'an is like a Raihana (sweet basil) which smells good but tastes bitter And the example of a hypocrite who does not recite the Qur'an is like a colocynth which tastes bitter and has a bad smell."

[Sunan an-Nasa'i 1015]
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'Make your voices beautiful when you recite Quran.'"

[Sunan Ibn Majah 1339] It was narrated that Jabir said:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Among the people who recite the Qur’an with the most beautiful voices is the man who, when you hear him, you think that he fears Allah.’”

[Riyad as-Salihin 991] Abu Umāmah (R.A) reported:
I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Read the Qur’an, as it will come as an intercessor for its companions on the Day of Resurrection."

[At-Tirmidhi (2914) and Abu Dawood (1464)] ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (R.A) said:
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “It will be said to the companion of the Qur’an: ‘Read, and ascend, and recite as you used to recite in the [previous] world, for your status will be according to the last verse that you recite.’”

[Sunan Abi Dawud 1398] Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone prays at night reciting regularly ten verses, he will not be recorded among the negligent; if anyone prays at night and recites a hundred verses, he will be recorded among those who are obedient to Allah; and if anyone prays at night reciting one thousand verses, he will be recorded among those who receive huge rewards.

We need the Virtues from our deeds in order to add on our "Good" Scales on judgement day. Refer to the discussion on Scales of Justice.

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كِتَـٰبٌ فُصِّلَتۡ ءَايَـٰتُهُ ۥ قُرۡءَانًا عَرَبِيًّا لِّقَوۡمٍ يَعۡلَمُون

A Book whereof the ayaat are detailed (clear): an Arabic Quran: for a people who know
(Surah Fussilat – 41:3)

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INDEX (Quran Intro) :