The Month of Revelation

Today is the beginning of Ramadhan 2006.
It is a month of fasting prayer and good deeds.
It is a month where cleansing of the body heart and soul can take place if one wishes it to happen.
It is a month of group energy , good will and good intentions , community and charity.

My contribution to this is this:
I am starting a message board to discuss personal relfections of what some verses which I hold very dear mean to me. I will try to follow the chapters of the Quran so that it can coincide with our Quranic revisions which many people undertake this month .

Below I paste the URL and the first entries for this message board

Revelation

taken from
http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/way_to_the_quran/Appendix_2.htm

Suggesting a syllabus of Qur'an passages for study, individually or in study circles, presents formidable difficulties. Firstly, what to include? An adequate or satisfactory selection is almost impossible, short of the whole Qur'an. Every part of it has something additional or new to say. Even the seemingly repetitive and similar passages have their own insights to offer. A limited number of passages can include only a limited number of themes. Every syllabus will therefore suffer from the serious defect of omitting many more, equally or even more important, themes. Further, any selective approach must be arbitrary, and will reflect only the preferences of the selector, not necessarily of the Qur'an. These limitations are very important to bear in mind while using the syllabuses suggested here: remain conscious that whatever is omitted is equally valuable and that you are being guided by a fallible human being.

Secondly, where to begin, where to end, and in what order to proceed? The only satisfactory order can be the Quranic order itself, as revealed by Allah. But a syllabus cannot avoid changing that order, so can the order be changed and if so on what criteria? Again, that must be arbitrary. Any order can only be one alternative among many equally useful ones. You may proceed by first establishing the status of the Qur'an as Divine, and then introducing the evidence in the universe, self ,and history; faith in Allah, iikhirah, and RiSalah; individual and collective morality; the goal and purpose of Muslim life; the call to Iman and Jihad, and fulfilling commitment and pledge to Allah. Or, one may start from the basic faith. What I have preferred here something which may be changed from situation to situation is to start by reminding the readers of the blessings of Islam, their goal in life, and their pledge to Allah. This is based on my understanding of how Allah addresses 'Muslims-gone-astray' in al-Baqarah 2: 40-7.

Quote:

A special word about Surah al-Fatihah. It occupies a unique place in the Qur'an, containing within it the whole world of its essential meanings. You read it many times every day. This should therefore form part of every syllabus. But a novice will need help a good teacher or tafsir book to derive the necessary benefit from its study. Wherever such help is available, it must be included in the syllabus, even at the cost of dropping one of the suggested passages.

Al Fatihah

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. (QS. 1:1)

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, (QS. 1:2)

The Beneficent, the Merciful. (QS. 1:3)

Master of the Day of Judgment, (QS. 1:4)

Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help. (QS. 1:5)

Show us the straight path, (QS. 1:6)

The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray. (QS. 1:7)

My impression of Surah Al Fatihah

I view this surah as the key to being guided.
Practising Muslims read this prayer 17 times a day during their solat and , more than this , they also read it on many other occasions , after prayers and during healing and for me, when I feel a special need for guidance.
Why is guidance so important? Can t we assume that if we already profess belief in God and follow the tenets of religion we are already guided? Then why this repetition ? Is it not redundant?
My own answer to this is that the phrase
Ih dinasiratal mustaqim.: 'Show us the straight path ' cannot be repeated too often because the straight path, the path that is the most accurate for each individual requires right action in every second of every moment in our lives.