An exercise in Living the Quran

It has been said that the Holy Quran is a doing book rather than a reading book. What better time to live the verses of the Holy Book than the blessed month it was revealed in.

This Ramadan, let us connect to the Quran by taking verses and incorporating them into our daily lives.

Take a few minutes to browse some verses of the Quran that call you to action.

1) Read and write the translation of the verse.

2) Jot down HOW you will live that ayat. If you were living your life according to the ayat, what would it look like? What would you be doing more of? Less of? How would you be feeling?

3) What are some barriers that you have or might face?

4) How will you overcome them?

5) What is your accountability process? How will you keep on track?

Take a few moments to do this but DO NOT over think it. It is a very effective exercise if done quickly and simply. If you find yourself telling a story about the exercise or finding ways why it will not work, STOP! Keep at it, keep writing even if your mind is telling you it is not going to work, or that you do not understand it.

When you are done, it should be a few simple (not necessarily easy though!) sentences.

Here are a couple of examples:

1) Ayat 10:62

أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

[10:62] Now surely the friends of Allah-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.

This ayat speaks to me in that I can only be free of fear and grief if I connect to the present moment and am living mindfully in the present. In other words, fear means I have anxiety about the future and grief means that I am ruminating about the past.

2) I will inshallah live this ayat by continuously bringing back my focus to the present minute. If I was living this ayat, I would not be staying awake at night ruminating about what happened or worrying about what might happen next. I would be sleeping through the night and I would have a feeling of peace within.

3) Barriers are old habits and procrastination. A major barrier is telling myself I will do meditation later in the day and then getting busy.

4) I will plan to do 10 minutes of meditation at least 5 days of the week after fajr prayers to get in touch with the present moment.

5) I will mark my practice on the calendar. I will share my goal and my progress via a blog.

Attachments

1)

لَن تَنَالُواْ الْبِرَّ حَتَّى تُنفِقُواْ مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ وَمَا تُنفِقُواْ مِن شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ

[Shakir 3:92] By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend (benevolently) out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, Allah surely knows it.

This ayat calls to me because it tells me that if I want to get closer to Him, I need to practice letting go of attachments. I need to make space in my heart for Him.

2) I will inshallah get rid of 3 things that I love and am attached to but that no longer serve me. They may or may not be material. If I was living this ayat, I would be letting go of more things and I would feel less burdened and guilty.

3) The barriers are the feelings of love and attachment to things, material and non material (knowledge!). The belief that I cannot do without certain things. That I will  be diminished if I let go.

4) I will go through stuff and make a list of potential things to give away and then give away at least 3 by the end of the month

5) They will be out of my house before Eid, inshallah.

What are your thoughts on this? Do some ayat call you to action? Are you afraid to make a commitment to living them?