The Epic of Keys and Locks

Imad wrote this short poem on memorizing and reflecting on the Quran, a book he says was never meant to rest on shelves. It honors memorization as a blessing and the start of the road, calls memory and understanding the two wings the Quran needs to fly in a person's life, and asks how many verses truly came alive within us.

ليس القرآن كتابًا يُوضع على الرفوف...The Qur'an was never meant to rest upon shelves...

ولا أصواتًا تتردد بين الشفاه...Nor merely echoes upon the lips...

بل نورًا يبحث عن قلبٍ يسكنه...It is a light searching for a heart to inhabit...

وعقلٍ يوقظه...And a mind to awaken.

الحفظ نعمة...Memorization is a blessing...

بل شرفٌ عظيم...A noble honor indeed...

لكن الحروف...Yet letters...

ليست نهاية الرحلة...Are not the end of the journey...

إنها أول الطريق.They are only its beginning.

كم من صدرٍ امتلأ بالآيات...How many chests have carried the verses...

وقلبٍ بقي مغلقًا...While the heart remained locked...

وكم من عقلٍ وقف طويلًا أمام آيةٍ واحدة...And how many minds stood before a single verse...

فخرج منها إنسانًا جديدًا.Only to emerge as a new human being.

القرآن...The Qur'an...

لا يريد حافظًا يعدد الآيات فقط...Does not seek one who merely counts its verses...

بل إنسانًا...It seeks a human being...

إذا قرأ...Who, when he reads...

تغيّر...Is transformed...

وإذا فهم...When he understands...

أصلح...He reforms...

وإذا تدبر...And when he reflects...

أحيا أمة.He revives a nation.

ليس بين الحفظ والتدبر خصومة...There is no rivalry between memorization and reflection...

فالذاكرة جناح...Memory is one wing...

والفهم جناحٌ آخر...Understanding is the other...

ولا يحلّق القرآن في حياة الإنسان...The Qur'an cannot soar in a person's life...

إلا بهما معًا.Except with both together.

فطوبى لمن حفظ كتاب الله...Blessed is the one who memorizes the Book of God...

وأطوب منه...And even more blessed...

من جعل كل آيةٍ...Is the one who turns every verse...

نافذةً على الحكمة...Into a window of wisdom...

وسُلّمًا إلى الأخلاق...A staircase to character...

ومصباحًا يهدي الطريق.And a lamp that illuminates the path.

فالقرآن...For the Qur'an...

لا يسأل يوم القيامة:Will not ask on the Day of Judgment:

كم صفحةً حفظت؟"How many pages did you memorize?"

بل...Rather...

كم قلبًا غيّرت؟"How many hearts did you transform?"

وكم نفسًا هديت؟How many souls did you guide?

وكم آيةً...And how many verses...

عاشت فيك...Came alive within you...

قبل أن تنطق بها شفتاك؟Before they ever left your lips?

More epics on this subject are in the library's Faith & Spirit collection, and more essays in the journal's Faith & Spirit section.