Muharram is the starting
month of the Islamic calendar. Yet unlike the Gregorian calendar, or others of
Persian or Chinese, the Islamic calendar starts with a mourning that a
celebration. As such, it requires an intentional effort to change one's attitude
and mood accordingly, which needles to say is difficult. To be involved in the
secular busyness and norm of the general world all around the year, and to at
once shift one's demeanor, or even one's inner aspects like thoughts and
feelings - is a difficult task to say the least. But as Rilke had said, the
fact that something is difficult is all the more reason for us to do it.
Ramadan is another such Islamic month which propels Muslim to change their
lifestyle. But it doesn't require one to mourn, other than the three nights of
Qadr in the least ten days which is grieved by Shias for the martyrdom of Imam
Ali. Generally though, Ramadan is quite the month: fasting for the purification
of the body and the soul, the post iftar night life, the sehri and the iftar,
the meals and desserts, prayers and recitations - it's a lively and
rejuvenating month. What both these months have in common, for me at least, is
the call for becoming a practicing Muslim again: one who is a Muslim in action
and in thoughts.
This recent Muharram, I felt uneasy and unprepared for the month and what it
entails. I missing the intent that this month needs to follow through on the
instinct of mourning and grief at the event of Karbala. But while nohas (songs
of grief sung to the sound of beating chests) helped me 'get in the mood', the
practicing part of it never kicked off. I didn't offer regular prayers expect
on the day of Ashura; nor did I recite or read the Quran. Nevertheless, what I
did do was try: I started rereading Hazleton's 'After the Prophet' to better
understand the Karbala and the history it gave birth to. What followed the book
were heated discussions among friends that helped kindle something that could
be salvaged for longer and practical effects. Asim Khan's commentary book 'The
Heart of the Quran: commentary of Surah Yasin' could be considered an effort of
that salvation.
Divided into six sections, Khan has deconstructed Surah (chapter) Yasin in a
meaningful pattern to bring out its significance to beginner readers of the
Quran. Yasin starts with the Quran and its purity and addresses the heedless of
Prophet Muhammad's pbuh lifetime. Then it talks about the people of Anitoch
which faced God's for behaving like the heedless were behaving then. Then the
theme shifts to spiritual signs present on Earth and how the stubborn and blind
refuse to see and acknowledge them. The surah closes with the visual
description of the judgement day, the fate of the believers and non-believers,
and ends on a similar note with Quran and the arrogants.
Khan takes help of visual and historical content to make this book as inviting
and appealing to new readers of Quran as possible. He takes help from the
reknowned classical translations and commentaries of Yasin and has neat visual
designs throughout the book to make the content easier and helpful.
I was shown the book by my usual book seller and seeing its slimness and the
content (not to mentioned a beautiful cover) I decided to buy and start reading
it without delay. Muhammad's pbuh birthday was also on the horizon, and with
Hazelton's 'First Muslim' it proved to be a complimenting book for a
respectable approach towards the revival and prolongation of Islamic spirit.
However, I would mention that the book or the translation did little to impress
me deeply; it lacked any worthy insight or overarching narration or
understanding. Nevertheless, the content was well organized and as Khan himself
writes at the end of the book, it was effort enough for a 'further interest in
engaging in a more meaningful reading of the Quran'. Together with Muhammad's
pbuh biography, told with Hazelton's impeccable grace and imagination, I am
quite adamant of the rightfulness of Islam and its teaching, and excitingly
curious about theology and study of God within its context.
I give The Heart of the Quran three and a half stars.
September 30, 2024