One of the most intimate and serene moments is when you read the Qur’an and realize that, actually, it is reading you; that it is explaining the deepest, most intimate secrets in your heart. It is amazing how this Book reads the human being, reads life and reads the universe. “We shall show them Our signs in every region of the earth and in themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord witnesses everything?” [Qur’an: Chapter 41, Verse 53] After going through different experiences in life, I came to realize that the Qur’an is one of the greatest manifestations of The Creator’s mercy to all of us. In the toughest situations, when one is almost completely shattered and broken, going through the pages of the Qur’an will ease the pain, put things in perspective and put one back on track with a clear vision of the destination ahead. You see, the human being is body, mind and soul. We know how to feed our body (food), we know how to feed our mind (education), but sometimes we neglect to feed our soul. The Qur’an is the nourishment and healing of the soul.
What a difference it makes in everything, if we feel like we have just been rescued from torment and death! Picture your attitude on a ship after being plucked from the ocean where you spent weeks adrift on a life raft. Or picture yourself rescued from a deep, Or think of a nine-month battle with malignant cancer, only to hear the doctor say, "I can't explain it, but it's gone." Think about your powers of patience and kindness and forgiveness in those early hours of relief and rejoicing.
When you say the word ‘Think!” most of us point to our heads, right? How many of us point to our hearts when we say “Think?” The Messenger of Allaah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, “Taqwa is here,” and he pointed to his chest. [Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, Ahmad] Subhanallah, one of the functions of the heart is ta’aqqul (understanding). Allah subhanahu wa ta’alaa gave us a heart to comprehend, to reflect, and to reason. That brings us back to the central ayah: and have hearts by which to reason . . . Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah said that many doctors and philosophers have said that the mind is in the brain, so we think and understand with our brains and not with our hearts. He then said that the centre is actually the heart. Ibn Katheer said: The arrogant philosophers say that the mind is in the brain. [Tafsir ibn Kathir vol 4 p.508] To believe, to disbelieve, to understand, to comprehend, to have tranquility, to feel confusion, to have tawakkul and to have khushoo’ are all functions of your heart.