As I mentioned in my last Khutba, ‘Living in the Revolution’, there are three things that we must change in our approach to life to leverage the benefits of technology and counter its ill effects. Change the way we connect with Allahﷻ and Rasoolullahﷺ, change the way we teach, and change the way we relate with one another. Each of these is important enough for us to reflect on, so here goes.

Let us reflect on how we relate with Allahﷻ and His Messengerﷺ today. For most of us, it is ceremonial, ritualistic, restricted to special occasions, like when we go to the masjid, when we pray and when we are in a religious gathering. We read the words of Allahﷻ ceremonially at the beginning of some of our meetings, which is not a Sunnah. We have Qur’an recitation competitions; we try to memorize the Qur’an and learn to recite it in a melodious way. We learn the rules of Tajweed and criticize others whose Tajweed we think is incorrect. We write the Qur’an in different styles of calligraphy and decorate it beautifully and make it a work of art. When our children are 4 years, 4 months, and 4 days old, we do a ceremony called ‘Bismillah’, in Hyderabad. In Bangalore they call it ‘Ameen'. When we enter a new house, we carry the Qur’an on our heads. When we get married the Qur’an is carried over the head of the bride like an umbrella, maybe to shield her from her husband. I can go on, but this will suffice to illustrate our relationship with the Kalaam of Allahﷻ which is the only means we have to get close to Allahﷻ. Heﷻ gave us the tools to vet this relationship and said:

إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتُهُۥ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـٰنًا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

Anfaal 8: 2    The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble (with the Awe and Majesty of Allahﷻ) and when His Ayaat (Quran) are recited unto them, they (the Ayaat) increase their Faith; and they put their trust in their Rabb (Alone);

I remind myself and you to ask what the purpose of the revelation of the Qur’an is. Is it to get stuck in how to pronounce it, to sing it (no matter that we call it recitation), to write it in beautiful fonts, to translate it into many languages, to create all sorts of ceremonial uses for it most or none of which Rasoolullahﷺ ever did, and of course to argue about it? Or is it one simple purpose; to understand it and live by it. To practice it in our lives. Let us ask what Allahﷻ will question us about; Tajweed (pronunciation), Kitaabat (writing, calligraphy), Rusoomaat (traditions) or A’amaal bil Qur’an (actions by the Qur’an). I remind you that the Kalaam of Allahﷻ is the closest that we can get to Allahﷻ in this life. Let us use it to get close to Him. The way to do that is to forget everyone else and focus on ourselves. To ask what the Qur’an is doing for us and to us when we recite it or listen to it. Forget the reciter. Focus on yourself and ask, “What happened to me when I heard/read that Ayah?” What do you say about a farmer who spends his time examining the fields and crops of his neighbors, criticizing them instead of tilling his field, treating the soil, planting his seeds, watering them, protecting them from pests, disease, and predators? Who will starve in the winter? Forget everyone. Focus on yourself. Not even our children. But ourselves. Only a lighted lamp can light others. If the lamp wants to light others, what advice will you give it? Light up yourself. Where is your flame? Without your flame you will never light anyone else’s lamp. So, let us do a little self-test. Focus on your heart and see what happens to it as I recite some Qur’an for you. It is the Kalaam of Allahﷻ. See what it does to you.

I am deliberately not translating these Ayaat firstly because I know...