Muslims have been observing their annual obligatory fasting in the month of Ramadan for more than a week already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As can be seen from the practice in yester years, Qur\u2019an recitation and study sessions will become more frequent in this blessed month, especially during its second half, particularly in commemoration of the Nuzul al-Qur\u2019an<\/em>, the inaugural revelation of the Qur\u2019an to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In parallel with the aforementioned, also frequent is the emphatic call for Muslims to observe the teachings of the Qur\u2019an in their lives as well as to exercise taddabbur<\/em> on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Certainly, all these are carried out with the hope that such activities shall continue past Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nevertheless, tadabbur<\/em> has been widely used loosely, without reference at all to its root meaning in the Arabic language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This then leads to it being misunderstood to be synonymous with other terms that generally denote \u201cthinking\u201d or \u201ccontemplation\u201d such as tafakkur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is therefore a need to provide sufficient explanation on the meaning of tadabbur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To do so, it is important that we pay attention to its explication in al-Ta<\/em>\u02bb<\/em>rifat<\/em>, a famous dictionary of technical terms by a Muslim polymath of the late 14th and early 15th century, al-Sayyid al-Sharif Ali al-Jurjani (d. 1413).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cTafakkur<\/em>,\u201d Jurjani explains, \u201cis the directing of the intellect\u2019s observation to proofs while tadabbur<\/em>, to consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The semantic variance stems from the different roots of such Arabic terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As such, the applying of tadabbur<\/em> to the Qur\u2019an specifically means the intellect\u2019s observing and scrutiny of the outcomes as contained in the Qur\u2019an as well as the lessons derived therefrom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, there are no less than 34 verses in the Qur\u2019an which are directly concerned with outcomes, many of them pertaining to earlier peoples who disobeyed God and His prophets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, tadabbur<\/em> applies not only to the Qur\u2019an but also to other matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, such noetic activities need to be comprehensive in order to qualify as tadabbur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because sincere, honest and serious contemplation of consequences demands that one be prospective, retrospective, introspective and inspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has to be prospective because consequences as results-to-be require that the mind\u2019s eye be directed to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The contemplation needs to be retrospective because any noetic act concerned with outcomes has to involve looking at history, examining what has happened, so as to not only identify patterns of events and occurences which are flowing to the future but also predict their probable ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The intellectual act should be introspective too. For, it requires its agent to look at his or her own self, assessing his or her strengths vis-\u00e0-vis weaknesses, in order to properly plan and be prepared in moving forward with all the expected consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, it must be inspective because its agent is required to examine his or her current situation in the context of the flow of events to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the four modes of contemplation encapsulated in tadabbur<\/em> as outlined above may also be represented by the combination of sight, insight, hindsight and foresight, all in a single view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is hence necessary to incorporate the aforementioned in our current understanding and exercise of tadabbur<\/em>, including in regard to the Qur\u2019an, so that we would be in a better position to not only reap greater benefits in our rumination but also render all activities related to it more meaningful and complete!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Muslims have been observing their annual obligatory fasting in the month of Ramadan for more than a week already. As can be seen from the practice in yester years, Qur\u2019an recitation and study sessions will become …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}