SOME ASPECTS OF THE CONTEMPORARY APPROACH TO LEARNING THE QUR'AN BY HEART

Ever since the invention of alphabet, particularly the phonetic alphabet, the Western world has been constantly moving toward the dichotomy of senses, functions, emotional and political states, as well as tasks. It is a fragmentation which, according to many scholars, leads people to different degrees of dualistic schizophrenia. Oral expression implies a simultaneous use of all senses, interaction of space, unity of thought and action, and totality of the human being. It, in turn, implies the way in which the Qur'an was revealed, or transmitted, which opens or establishes responses to the world as a whole, i.e. the perception of the world in identical, synthetic activation of man's senses and activities.

Still, in the language of rigid rationalism, things would reflect the following question: why do we, today, need to learn the Qur'an by heart, why do we strain our mind and memorize such a complex reading in the epoch of full visualization, when there are so many millions of printed books of the Qur'an, when there are so many recorded records and tapes where the best qaris recite the Qur'anic text in all its subtleties and finesse?! However, under the rigid, rationalist envelope one can discern a more subtle dimension: indeed, in the contemporary world one can observe a blatant hegemony of power manifested in hundreds of ways (among other things, by burning and destroying books and libraries – from burning the Library of Alexandria to burning Sarajevo Town Hall) which speak of the destructive human nature in all times or periods of history and thus raise concern.

What is the defense from such a condition?

We would say only – his (human) reason. It is the man's memory, the only sheltered oasis which cannot be penetrated by means and manifestations of power and which no one can destroy without destroying the man. And here is the salvation of humanity, science, products of man's spirit, faith, all which is good and sublime – here is the man's brain! It is a capacitor which can preserve experience of the world, experience of the man!

Isn't therefore learning the Qur'an by heart an initial warning, a warning which only in this and such a context assumes the full validity, its satisfaction?! And so many centuries had to elapse, so much human experience to pass for people to begin to understand the multilayered purpose and intention, i.e. the confirmation of the wisdom and providence of Allah, dž.š.

We find that at this point one should also note a certain difference between the possibility of learning the Qur'an as the word of God and message on the one hand, and human spirit and imagination on the other. Of course, it is learning in the sense of completely memorizing and constant verbal reproduction. Without any doubt, the Qur'an is extremely distinctive and peculiar in this respect, and the question arises as to if a parallel can be drawn at this level with other works, even works of religious provenance. Since, even a five or eight year old child can learn the Qur'an, regardless of whether he understands it. It is obvious that it is not only because of the perfection of the Qur'an but rather an inexplicable meaning and radiation, which is so easily accepted by the man's soul and reason.

In this context, another issue arises: it is evident that science and technique have never had so much space and such an activity that they have now. For this reason, we witness constant appearance of new technical and technologic devices aimed at helping the man by taking over some of the functions that used to be performed by human organism (such as computers and robots), which have the possibility of hundred times faster and more efficient computing and solving the most complex problems. Such devices are also introduced in schools, so that pupils perform even the most basic arithmetic operations by means of the computer or the calculator practically from the beginning of education. Consequently, their moves become almost mechanical, while their brain does not react, the child's brain becomes a wasteland, and scientists therefore warn of the possibility of the emergence of quite inert and almost half-witted personalities instead of a truly creative personality, and give examples of some highly educated people, too much adapted to calculators, who almost cannot add or multiply two simple numbers!

In such a situation, learning the Qur'an becomes invaluable treasure which cannot even be grasped! To what extent have the human brain managed to get activated and developed while remembering such a complex work, in a foreign language?! Since the Qur'an is a distinctive synthesis of the overall human and beyond-human experience, effects of stimulating every part of the receptive fields in the brain will be more complete and more efficient. And since the contemporary man is a dualized schizophrenic, fragmented, atomized, narrow-minded, the units of the Qur'anic thought in him will re-establish the whole and allow correspondence to the entirety of the world. By learning the Qur'an by heart and reproducing it daily, the man opposes tyranny of the eye over the ear, establishing a kind of balance with the auditive world, leading to the interaction of all senses and the possibility to establish the unity between thoughts and action. With the Qur'anic signs, the world becomes an open field where the man enters calm, composed, aware of his road and task. The man is a particle in the universe but with the Qur'an the whole universe becomes this particle. And it is the unity, the harmony of divine creation, plunging into the totality of the Being, merging with the world in which he already speaks from the inside, from himself, from the world, these are the spaces of freedom where the man's essence, his sense in this world, is achieved.

In the situation when the book is faced with the threat of exiting the stage of human spirit and knowledge, the learned Qur'an is even more completely expressed, since for the person who has the greatest book in his head it makes no difference whether the book in general will give way to other means of communication.

In these several derived postulates I attempted to describe the significance of learning the Qur'an by heart in the present circumstances, from the aspect of primarily technological civilization without referring to classical, already known theological reasons.

In the name of Allah, the Merciful and the Compassionate! Learn, in the name of your Lord who makes he man out of the clot! Learn, generous is your Lord who teaches writing, who teaches who does not know. Indeed, the man becomes wanton when he feels independence ... And everybody will indeed return to the Lord.  (Qur'an)