Preface

Praise be to Allah 2 Who has sent down upon His

bondman the Book and has not made to it any
crookedness. (TMQ 18:1) 3
Praise be to Allah, Who guided us to this; and in no
way could we have been guided, unless Allah has
guided us! (TMQ 7:43)
This book is not an interpretation of the meanings of
the Quran, and its aim is not to give a detailed
explanation of the ayahs (verses) of the Quran. If this
is what you are after then you should refer to the main
tafseer (interpretation) books, like tafseer At-Tabari or
Ibn-Kathir or any of the other interpretation books that
fill our Islamic libraries. This books idea is different and
so is its aim.
The idea behind this book haunted me for ten years,
especially in Ramadan of each year, when Muslims all
over the Islamic world dedicate their time to reading
the entire Quran during this blessed month. However, I
found it truly regrettable that this genuine desire to
read the Quran was not associated with a clear
understanding of each surahs objectives, reasons of
revelation, and the core message addressed to us. As a
result, I found people reading the Quran and feeling
that its meanings were somewhat alien to them. Some
might even find them enigmatic or meant to be read
without proper understanding of their essence or
purposes. Others might grasp the meaning of the
wording of the ayahs, but find no connection between
one ayah and the next, and instead consider them a

series of unrelated ayahs in one surah. They might

even think that there is no main objective that links all
the ayahs of the surah. This is the cornerstone of this
book. It is a humble piece of work that breaks the
barriers between the youths of our Ummah and the
Noble Book of Allah (SWT 4 ).
This book shows how the ayahs of each surah are wellknit and closely related. It demonstrates that every
surah has one topic and a specific objectives, and that
although at first glance the ayahs might seem
scattered and unrelated, when you look closely you will
discover the topic of the surah and the amazing
correlations between the ayahs. This will lead you to a
clearer understanding of the objective of the surah,
increase your love of the book of Allah, and strengthen
your belief in its divine nature, a revelation from the
Wise, the All-Aware: And if it had been from (any
where) other than the Providence of Allah,indeed they
would have found in it many difference (s). (TMQ
4:82).
Therefore, one sees that each surah of the Quran is a
fundamental entity, achieving a clear goal; and each
ayah serves this goal. The title of the surah itself is
related to its objective (this sheds light on the choice of
title for the surahs of the Quran such as: Al-Baqara
(The Cow), Al-Imran (The family of Imran), Yunus
(Jonah) and An-Naml (The Ants)).
Moreover, every surah is closely related to the previous
and the following surahs, because the order of the
Quranic surahs was also revealed by Allah (SWT). We,
therefore, come to the conclusion that the surahs of the

Quran are one continuous series, so that if you

understand their objective (or objectives), you will
grasp Allahs aim and what He wants to teach you from
this book.
Even if you do not understand every single ayah or
word, comprehending the general objectives of the
surahs leads you to understanding the Quran in its
entirety.
Thus, this book is equally useful to the public and the
inexperienced, providing them with the essential
principles to understand the Quran, as well as to those
who memorize the Quran
and those interested in the science of tafseer. This is a
humble attempt on my behalf to present the core ideas
and topics of the surahs of the Quran.
The method adopted in exposing the Quranic
reflections is as follows:
- Pinpointing the objective of the surah.
- Clarifying the relation between the title of the surah
and its objective.
- Exposing the relation of each surah with the previous
and next surah.
- Choosing a few ayahs to comment on.
Once again, I would like to stress that this is not an
interpretation of the meanings of the Quran but a mere
effort and attempt to help the youths better
comprehend the ayahs of the Quran and the
correlation between the surahs. No one can ever have

the last word on the subject of the Quran. Any attempt

made to fully comprehend and grasp the topics and
core ideas of the surahs is a far-reaching task, because
of the eloquence of Allahs words, the unfathomable
depths and accuracy, in addition to my limited and
meager abilities.
This is a joint effort exerted by me and the
commendable research-team who prepared this
material. Any success is due to Allahs grace, and any
errors or mistakes are of our own doing. I cannot help
but think of what Al-Asfahani said, I have noticed that
when a man finishes writing a book, he cannot help but
say later on, if only I had not written it that way; if only
I had added to it, it would have been better; had I
brought this forward it would have improved the work;
had I omitted this it would have embellished it. And
this is a great
lesson that highlights human imperfection.
After this brief introduction, I invite you, dear reader, to
open your version of the Quran and join us in these
meaningful Quranic reflections with my book.

The word Allah is the Arabic term for God. Although

the use of the word "Allah" is most often associated
with Islam, it is not used exclusively by Muslims; Arab
Christians and Arabic-speaking Jews also use it to refer
to the One God. The Arabic word expresses the unique
characteristics of the One God more precisely than the
English term. Whereas the word "Allah" has no plural
form in Arabic, the English form does, and the word
2

'Allah' in Arabic has no connotation of gender. Allah is

the God worshipped by all Prophets, from Adam to
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.
3 TMQ=Translation of the meaning of the Quran. This
translation is for the realized meaning, so far, of the
stated (Surah: ayah) of the Quran. Reading the
translated meaning of the Quran can never replace
reading it in Arabic, the language in which it was
revealed.
Details about the translation of the meaning of the
Quran used in this book: Towards Understanding the
Ever-Glorious Quran By Dr. Muhammad Mahmoud
Ghali, Al-Azhar University Third edition: 2003 Dar AnNashr for Universities All rights reserved to publisher.
4 Suhanahu wa Ta'ala = Glorified and Exalted Be He.