The Art of Tadabbur: Enriching Our Relationship With The Quran

Ramadan is the month of the Qur’an, and we should all strive to enrich our relationship with the Book of Allah

Sheikh Abdul Razzaq al-Badr حفظه ٱللَّٰهُ once said that our concern while reading the Qur’an should be, ‘When will I be guided by it? When will I benefit from it? When will I be among the people of the Qur’an?’ To allow these concerns to guide us, we need to understand what Allah is telling us to do. In Surah Sad, Allah encourages us to do ‘tadabbur’ on His verses, i.e., to contemplate on them.
“˹This is˺ a blessed Book which We have revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ so that they may contemplate its verses, and people of reason may be mindful.” [Surah Sad: 38;29]

And, in the pursuit of contemplation, we hope to extract a profound reflection or unlock a subtle new meaning in the verses we are reading. Yet, have we not found ourselves every now and then forcing a reflection out of it? Sometimes it proves to be a success. Sometimes, it leaves little impact on our hearts. If we fall short in extracting Qur’anic “gems”, are we doing something wrong?

These doubts were addressed in a virtual class conducted by Ustadha Abeer Sadary حفظها ٱللَّٰهُ before Ramadan. Titled ‘The Art of Tadabbur’, the class helped us understand how best to reflect upon the Qur’an, the mistakes we often make, and what steps we can take when interacting with His Book. The following are my personal notes from this class.

What is Tadabbur?

Tadabbur means to reflect and contemplate on the Qur’an. It should be the focus of every believer.

As in the verse from Surah Sad, “˹This is˺ a blessed Book which you have revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ so that they may contemplate its verses, and people of reason may be mindful.” 

Tadabbur isn’t technical; there aren’t strict rules that encompass it, and it is accessible to the layperson. It is different from tafsir because tafsir is a science to extract meaning and is limited to scholars. On the other hand, tadabbur is to think about those meanings. In other words, if the goal of tafsir is to learn the meaning, then the goal of tadabbur is to get guidance from the meaning. 

For example, in Surah Baqarah [2:195], Allah says, “إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ” (“Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good.”) To do tadabbur on this verse would be to think, “If I do acts of righteousness, I may earn the love of Allah . So what can I do today that’ll attain that love?”

Misconceptions Of Tadabbur

With everything in life, we want to make sure you do things right the first time. We don’t want to spend a lifetime working on something only to later discover that there’s a better way to do it. It is the same with tadabbur. There are a few misconceptions around the topic. But if you understand what it is and what it isn’t, then you can get it right the first time around.

 – Misconception #1: To assume that tadabbur is an outcome instead of a process

When reflecting on a verse, you don’t have to have tears or a long reflective post about it. Tadabbur is a process, and thinking does not necessitate a conclusion. It can even be a question or an incomplete thought. Linguistically, tadabbur comes from the wordدﺑر (da-ba-ra), which means the outcome or end result. Ibn Qayyim رحمه الله says that to reflect is to examine the beginning and the end, and then look at it again and again. It is interesting to note that tadabbur is a verbal noun. In Arabic, a noun means something permanent, and a verb means something that happens over and over again. A verbal noun, therefore, is a bit of both. And this is what Ibn Qayyim meant by looking at it again and again.

Our idea of tadabbur is shaped by a lot of what we see on social media: the journals, the coloured pens, the tea, etc. But this isn’t what tadabbur is. The reason why the Qur’an is so effective during Ramadan is because we remove distractions like food and water, and the emptiness is filled with the Qur’an.

Then imagine coloured pens and stickers. This is a hobby: this isn’t what Allah wants. If you do this with your five-year-old daughter, then that’s excellent. But, as an adult who wants goodness and rectification, you cannot take that approach for yourself. It might become a tool of distraction. Anything, even if on the surface is positive, can become a distraction. The Salaf used to complain about people’s excessive focus on good recitation, so much so that they would neglect the action, admonition, and rulings in it. The Prophet said: “There will emerge from the East some people who will recite the Qur’an, but it will not exceed their throats…”

 – Misconception #2: To assume only scholars can do tadabbur

Tadabbur does not have to be an “all or nothing” approach. Some people worry that if they can’t reflect on every single verse, they should not try it at all. No, that should not be the case. Instead, you should remember to focus on quality, even if it’s one verse. At least in the beginning. The Prophet would sometimes recite one verse the whole night.

 – Misconception #3: To assume you have to be free with our time or you have to be sinless

To successfully escape the clutches of shaytaan, you need to know how he works. One of his tricks is convincing you that you’re too sinful to reflect on the Qur’an. He can drive you away from engaging in tadabbur because he knows that guidance lies within the reflection of the Qur’an.

Another trick is convincing you to stipulate conditions before you even get close to the Qur’an. For example: you tell yourself that you have to cook the food and keep the kids busy before getting to the Qur’an. But this is life. You’ll always be busy, and this is what life will be till the end. What you have to do is do it now with the circumstances you’re in.

 – Misconception #4: To assume you can only recite the Qur’an if it’s accompanied with tadabbur

This is wrong as it’s an absolutist mentality. The salaf had a multi-dimensional relationship with the Qur’an: they used to recite for shifa, they used to recite in excess, recite to receive answers to questions, etc.

With enough practice, you should be able to recite and reflect simultaneously. It shouldn’t be one at the expense of another. For Ramadan, pick a surah and study it beforehand. Understand what it means, so much so that you don’t rely on your notes and can briefly describe what it means.

Requisites Of The Qur’an

Tadabbur has certain requisites that will help you enhance your relationship with the Qur’an. One of them is to acknowledge the Qur’an’s greatness.

“Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word.” [Surah Al-Muzzammil: 73;5]

Allah calls the Qur’an a “heavy word”. The Qur’an physically weighed the Prophet down. There are many incidents that indicate this, one of which was when the Prophet was atop a camel. When wahy (revelation) came to him, it is narrated that the camel buckled under him. On another occasion, the companion Zaid bin Thabit was sitting next to the Prophet with his thigh under that of the Prophet’s . When wahy came down, it was so heavy on the Prophet that the companion felt like his leg would break. It is also reported that the Prophet would sweat profusely when he received wahy, even when it was freezing cold.

All these examples help us understand how tremendous this Book is. If people approach it like a reading or journaling club pick, their connection to it will be limited. If they approach it with coldness like they would a newspaper, their hearts won’t be filled with joy, and their reflections will be deficient.

Another requisite is to have an aim with the Qur’an. You need to have a desperation for it, a desperation for its guidance. If a person walks without a destination in mind, he or she won’t reach anywhere specific. It’s the same with the Qur’an: if you open it without an objective, you won’t get to your destination. But if you approach it with iman and seeking iman, you’ll ultimately get iman. The one who seeks a cure will find a cure, the one who seeks rectification will find rectification, the one who seeks guidance will find guidance. And the ones whose aim with the Qur’an is to increase in knowledge, they will attain it. Come as a blank slate and let the Qur’an shape your perceptions and beliefs.

Practical Tips for Tadabbur

What are some practical tips to do tadabbur? 

• A non-negotiable tip is to have knowledge of tafsir. It needn’t be an in-depth, scholarly level sort of knowledge. 
• Start with a surah you’ve memorised, or you’re familiar with, if the whole Qur’an seems daunting. It’s a slow process, but it’s possible if you’re diligent and you build enough stamina. The companionship you build with the Qur’an is like any other relationship in general: it isn’t built in a day but in years of investing and hours of time spent on it.
• You must come with a focused mind. A scholar once said that if you wish to benefit from the Qur’an, then you must gather your heart when listening and reciting from it. Imam an-Nawawi quotes Hasan al-Basri رحمهم الله when he said that the people before them (i.e., the sahabas) saw the Qur’an as letters and forms of communication from their Rabb. They’d reflect on them at night and strive to act upon them during the day. This is how love is. 
• Sheikh Abdur Rahman As-Sa’di رحمه الله was once asked about how one can reflect on the Qur’an. He said, “You continue to read and read and read until Allah opens your heart.”

May Allah allow us to enhance our relationship with the Quran with every passing day – starting this Ramadan inshaAllah.

[Ustadha Abeer Sadary حفظها ٱللَّٰهُ conducts both onsite and online classes on various Islamic sciences, including tafsir, hadith, tazkiyah, and tawhid, exclusively for women. Her website can be found here.]

Related:

Cast Aside Evil Thoughts In This ‘Month Of The Quran’

The Albatross and the Quran: A Short Story