26.1.08

The Magic of Reading Al-Quran

I went bloghopping (thanks, Yah!) and chanced upon this delightful story. Read on...

Why Do We Read Al-Quran Eventhough We Don’t Understand A Single Arabic Word?
An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Quran. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Quran just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Quran do?”

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.” The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house.

The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water.You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.

Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!”“So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Quran. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives.”

I'm humbled!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Pak Mior.

MasyAAllah..SubhanAllah....what a lesson. I too am humbled!

Pakpayne.

Mior Azhar said...

Pak Payne,
Alhamdulillah! Things we learned off the world wide web!!

wanshana said...

Mior,

Thanks for sharing this with us. Very true indeed. The best soul cleanser IS the Al-Quran.

Take care.

P/S : Btw, did you send your blogsite for plastic surgery or botox injections?! Hehehe. Trying to get used to the new layout. Masa mula-mula opened it this morning, ingatkan tersilap site :)

Mior Azhar said...

Shana,
No problem. But to me to istiqamah reading the Quran is the most difficult to do. InsyaAllah this will spur me on.
Yeah, I did a makeover - I was bored. Which happen quite often these days. Its the same with my home too. Boring jer, we reaarange the furniture.

Unknown said...

Pak Mior,
The hardest part about this is not about reading al-quran, but istiqamah.
Al quran is indeed a wonder.

Nafastari said...

This is what I like about this blog, I can read a simple and enlightened story.. To remind forgetful me.

Mior Azhar said...

Akmal,
Ya benar. Its the istiqamah part that's difficult. But we must continue to presevere, right? InsyaAllah.
And thank you for visiting. I've been to your blog several times. My wife said you look a lot like her nephew also an UIAM student. And yes, memang pun.

Mior Azhar said...

Sdr Ahmad,
Thanks. Sometimes little stories like these are real eye opener. Sama-sama kita berkongsi. InsyaAllah.

Anonymous said...

Pak Mior,
Yes, I would agree that we could get benefits out of just reading the Qur'an. BUT at the same time we have NO EXCUSE not to understand the MESSAGE of the Qur'an since we have TRANSLATIONS of the Qur'an in various languages nowadays! There are numerous remarks by Allah swt in the Qur'an highlighting the fact that Allah elavates those who UNDERSTAND the message of the Qur'an on a level higher than those that do not. Salam.