After some came to believe—and they almost did not believe—in the necessity of contemplating the Noble Qurʾan, they said: How can the general public, that is, those other than the scholars versed in the sciences of the Qurʾan and in the refined scholarly tools it requires.. how can they contemplate.. indeed, why should they have the right to contemplate? Is that not considered an intrusion upon the Glorious Book of Allah? Is that not the specialty of those godly scholars??
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Those people did not realize that contemplation is a system that includes all human beings, with the intellectual faculties that Allah the Exalted has deposited in them, so that they may understand things and their thinking may be led toward their meanings, their effects and their inner aspects, which are hidden from the passing glance at things. When we say that contemplation is a method of understanding the verses of Allah, Almighty, that scholars follow in their exegesis, this does not mean that we restrict it to them; rather, contemplation is a relative system: the scholars' dealing with it differs from that of the reciter of the Book of Allah, because the Qurʾan gives in proportion to the effort that is given to it.
Contemplation in recitation is that the reciter looks closely at the noble verses and reflects on them, and looks at the outcomes to which they lead in the end, so that his soul is saturated with the verses, his mind is absorbed in the concepts, and his conduct is guided by the insights of the holy revelation.
The Exalted said: “Do they not contemplate the Quran, or are there locks on the hearts?” (Qurʾan 47:24). So the locked heart is the one that reads without contemplation.
And He, Almighty, said: “[This is] a blessed Book that We have sent down to you, so that they may contemplate its signs, and that those who possess intellect may take admonition” (Qurʾan 38:29). And admonition comes only through contemplation.
Contemplation in recitation, then, is awareness of the content for the sake of opening up to the horizons of the Noble Book; otherwise, how can one affirm the greatness of the verses, and how can one be truly affected by what the Creator, exalted is His station, intends.. As Imam ʿAli (a) says: “Lo, there is no good in a recitation in which there is no contemplation.”
And we have in the Qurʾanic lesson the best example—it is a guidance from the guidance of contemplation, and an example of it—where He, Almighty, says in Surat al-Muʾminun: “When We seize their affluent ones with punishment, behold, they make entreaties [to Us]. ‘Do not make entreaties today! Indeed, you will not receive any help from Us. Certainly My signs used to be recited to you, but you used to take to your heels, being disdainful of it, talking nonsense in your nightly sessions.’ Have they not contemplated the Discourse, or has anything come to them [in it] that did not come to their forefathers?” (Qurʾan 23:64–68).
The verses tell us that punishment befell the generality of people in society, because the verses used to be recited to them, but they did not contemplate the Discourse so as to enter the sea of truths that would save them from punishment and make them see the light. Is there not in that a lesson for us in our recitation of the Qurʾan?
