A REFLECTION ON “TOUCHING” THE QUR’AN

Verse 79 of Surat al-Waqi’ah tells us that no one can touch the Qur’an except those who are purified (Mutahharun مطھرون). A rather simple interpretation of this verse is that no one can touch i.e. no one should touch the Qur’an unless one is ritually pure. This means that we need to have done Wudu or Ghusl Wajib before we can touch the text (verses) of the Qur’an written on a piece of paper. However, as the Qur’an has several layers of understanding, there are deeper interpretations of this verse. One such interpretation can be that no one can really touch the essence of the Qur’an and understand the true meanings of its verses unless one is purified. Those who are the absolutely purified ones (Mutahharun مطھرون) are the fourteen infallible perfect human beings i.e. the Holy Prophet, Lady Fatimah, and the twelve Imams (peace be upon them all). They indeed know the true essence of the Qur’an. As regards the fallible beings like us, the more we purify our souls, the deeper our understanding of the Qur’an will become and the more we will “touch” the different levels of deeper understanding of the Qur’an. As a result, we will start to derive pleasures that cannot be derived from any other activity.