RISING A GREAT SOUL WITH AL-QUR’AN

Thank you Mr/Miss Chairperson.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh to the honourable judges, time keeper,

teachers and to my attentive audience.

Dear brothers and sisters in Islam,

Rising a great soul with Al- Quran. What a wonderful topic to be discussed in this

beautiful hall today. But what does it mean by rising a great soul with Al –Quran? According

to the Online Cambridge Dictionary, rise means to become greater in amount, size or degree,

meanwhile great is defined as very good and soul is a person of a stated type. Finally, al –

Quran as defined by the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs & Awqaf of Kingdom of Bahrain

is the word of Allah as revealed to his prophet Muhammad (PBUH), transferred to us through

narration in chains, protected by Allah between the lines, recited as a form of worship and

miraculous in its words and meanings. Therefore, it can be concluded that rising a great

soul with al Quran means to build a very good person through the miraculous words of

Allah, that is, the Quran itself.

And why it is said that one can rise as a great soul with the Quran? The first reason is

because of its contents that are didactic in nature; it always stresses on humans to reflect

and ponder the truth in a very decent way possible one can muster for. This can be seen in surah

Ar - Rahman where God tells us that He is the one who is the Most Gracious, from the one

who taught us the Qur’an to the one who created man and gave him intelligence and the moon

which moves on its course. And the verse which translated “Then which of the favours of your

Lord will ye deny?” is repeated for 31 times in the surah. This really is engaging human’s

intellect to reflect upon Him as the only God to be worshipped. So it is clear that through the

Quranic teachings, human can practise intellect and become a great thinker as he uses the Quran

as an authority in making wise judgements and decisions in life.

1
 Another reason why one can rise a great soul with the Quran is that Allah promises

paradise to those who read and memorise it. It is reported by Abu Dawud and At-Tarmizi in

hadeeth sahih that one’s position in paradise is determined by the amount of Qur’an one

memorizes in this life. ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr ibn Al-’Aas heard the Prophet (PBUH) saying: “It

will be said to the companion of the Qur’an: Read and elevate (through the levels of the

paradise) and beautify your voice as you used to do when you were in the dunyaa! For verily,

your position in the Paradise will be at the last verse you recite!” [Abu Daawud and At-

Tarmizi, saheeh] So dear brothers and sisters, is it not great rising a good soul with Al Quran?

Is a guaranty of paradise not great enough for us? I leave these questions for you to decide.

And the last reason to rising a great soul with Al-Quran is through its recitation

and elocution that shape humans’ brains. Mohamed Ghilan, a Phd holder in neuroscience in

his article ‘How the Quran Shapes the Brain’ (2018) stated that the temporal lobe in human

brain is activated during the recitation of the Quran. It is also activated when the student

engages in handwriting exercises similar to the ones on the wooden board. Why this matters is

that this is the part of the brain which activity levels and capacities have been correlated with

a person's aptitude for learning new information. The more activation this area receives, the

better and more efficient it becomes in its functions for learning and memory.

The parietal lobes are also quite heavily engaged as one learns the Quran. The left

parietal lobe deals with reading, writing, and functions in speech. It's also the part whose

activity is important for math and logic problems. The right parietal lobe handles speech tone,

which is related to elocution. It's also responsible for visuospatial relationships and

understanding facial expressions. The front part is responsible for the sense of touch

discrimination and recognition, which is active during handwriting. The back part plays an

important role in attention. Both lobes are also activated during skill learning tasks. Overall,

having parietal lobes that have been well activated translates to better logic and math-solving

2
skills, eloquence in general speech, better ability at reading emotional states from facial cues,

improved attention, and enhanced capacity for understanding visuospatial relationships. This

clearly correlates with God’s first revelation to the prophet (PBUH) in surah Al-‘Alaq which

translates: “Read in the name of your Lord who created. He created man from a clot. Read

and your God is the Most Honourable. Who taught by the pen. Taught man what he knew

not.” (96: 1-5)

Now imagine what such a soul will be able to do when they tackle any subject. It makes

sense how someone like Imam Al Ghazali could study Greek philosophy during his spare time

and master it within 2 years. Last but not least, what was the Muslims' secret for their

exponential rise in scientific advancement and contribution to human knowledge? Literally, it

is the Quran when it was the centre of their education system. Till then my brothers and sisters,

Wabillahitaufiq walhidayah, assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.