HOW TO UNDERSTAND QURAN

If anyone wants to understand Quran, definitely it requires efforts, consistency, time, pure heart and mind, thinking & pondering. Pick any translation, not tafseer as tafseer drags our minds towards preconceived ideas and opinions of the writer. Translation on the other hand gives us only a general idea about the phrase. Check few ayahs before that particular ayah and few ayahs after that particular ayah, in order to understand and establish the whole context in which that ayah appears in Quran. Then follow the broad and general rules as follows in order to understand the ayah;

1. Quran is talking to us, every ayah applies on us, one way or another. It doesn’t matter what was the actual scenario when that ayah was revealed 1400 years ago. This Quran is for all the humanity, for people of all locations, races, languages and for all times to come and the whole Quran is FARD upon us.
2. Logic and sense must reflect in the understanding of the ayah as Quran itself highlights that times and times again ‘do not fall upon my ayahs deaf dumb and blind’ but use your God given faculties including your intellect and reasoning in order to understand Quran. 
3. Whatever understanding we are getting from any Ayah, check it from other ayahs as there should not be any contradiction of one ayah concept with other verses of Quran. There is no contradiction in Quran at all. We must check other ayahs in Quran on the same topic as well, to make sure whatever we understand from these ayahs are consistent with all the Quranic guidance without any contradiction whatsoever.
4. Justice and Haq must reflect in the understanding of the ayah. Deen is Haq as in justice at it’s best, as per God’s solid judicial principles. There is no concept of any injustice in Deen. 
5. The understanding of the ayah you develop must be satisfactory to our mind & heart, without any influence of any preconceived ideas or preconceived concepts. Make sure when we approach Quran it is not to confirm the pre-existing ideas and concepts but to treat Quran as Furqan – the ultimate criteria of right and wrong. And that can only works out well when we are open to accept any outcome from that ayah and approach Quran without any preconceived ideas and concepts. 
6. Use LUGHAT – Quranic Dictionary for meanings of some particular word in that ayah in order to find the best possible fit of the meaning for any particular ayah, keeping in mind the context and all the rules as above I.e. based on haq, justice, logic and sense. 

Basically making sense, logic, justice and HAQ, and no contradiction with any other ayahs are the keys to understand Quran. Rest of the step are to get more assurances about the concept we are developing for that ayah.

Some people believe that we have to learn Arabic in order to understand Quran or that one can not understand Quran without Knowing the Arabic language. 

Contrary to what people normally believe, if someone is an Arabic speaking, one of the disadvantages of knowing Arabic as our mother tongue while reading Quran is that; we tend to use whatever meanings of the Arabic word we use in our day to day life. Since they (Arabs) are under the impression that they know the Arabic, therefore they don’t need to pick up Lughat (Quranic Dictionary). Whereas, (a) the Quranic vocabulary is much different than the spoken Arabic nowadays and (b) there are many words which are used in Quran in many many different ways and meanings, whereas in usual day to day use, the Arabic language utilizes only couple of these meanings. For instance consider the word ‘Raham’ which is normally translated as ‘Mercy’ or the word “Na’mat” normally translated as ‘Blessings’, whereas both these words have many different meanings and need to be applied based on the context and use of the word in any particular ayah. Hence when we do not pick up the lughat, even as a Arabic Speaking person, we make mistakes, and misinterpret ayah. 

For Non-Arabs, or those who are not Arabic Language speaking, there is a phenomenon of learning any 2nd language. Our mother tongues, i.e. our 1st language we born with, has solid imprints on our brain. Whenever we try to lean any other language, for example Arabic, our brain translates Arabic words into the meanings in our mother language in order to enable us to understand and speak Arabic. We always have to memorize meanings of Arabic words, and it is not possible to memorize whole Arabic Lughat or vocabulary. We can remember only few meanings of one single Arabic word. That means even after knowing Arabic we will still need lughat (Quranic dictionary) for root words and more vocabulary. Otherwise we might miss the actual meaning of the word for that particular Quranic Ayah.  One of the disadvantages of having learned Arabic as 2nd language during reading Quran is that we get lazy and whatever meanings of an Arabic word we can remember, we use it. We never approach lughat for more vocabulary for the best suitable meaning and we make mistakes, and misinterpret ayah. If we pick 5 major translations of any well known Alims, we will finds different ways of translations of the same words or ayahs in many surahs.

Rather than following and believing what others believe or what most Muslims practice; its way more important to believe what ALLAH said about QURAN, that is,  Quran is EASY, COMPLETE, for EVERYONE, FURQAN, NOOR-E-MUBEEN and HAQ. Therefore, we must fulfill our personal responsibility towards Quran try to understand Quran through Quran. The KEY is to spend time on Quran, 2 or 3 hours on one single ayah, use HAQ and justice, think and ponder, use logic and reasoning, look for the context of the ayah with few ayahs before and after that particular ayah, establish its addressing topic & context, use lughat for more vocabulary, utilize your God-given faculties including thinking and intellect, consult other Quranic ayahs on that particular topic to make sure there is no contradiction between them. At times we may need to spend not just 2 or 3 hours, may be even 2 or 3 days on one single ayah in order to understand it, but keep in mind this is the haq I.e the due right of Quran and what we owe to Quran being a Muslim.

MAY GOD GIVE US HIDAYAH.