Later generations drifted away from the Qur'an...

Later generations drifted away from the Qur'an, from its particular style, its guidance, and from the milieu of values and practice similar to those found in the milieu in which the Qur'an was revealed. Only those living in such an atmosphere can truly understand the Qur'an and be inspired by it.

No one can understand the Qur'an as it should be understood unless he lives amidst the toil and struggle accompany­ing the revival of the real Islamic way of life, with all its burdens, its sacrifices, its sorrows, and all the situations that arise in its confron­tation with jahiliyyah[^2] at any given time.

The real problem in grasping the significance and the spirit of the Qur'anic teachings does not lie in understanding its words and sen­tences, that is to say, its exegesis, as is often claimed. This does not constitute a problem at all.

The problem lies in the capacity of our minds to reconstruct feelings, ideas, and experiences like the feelings, ideas, and experiences of the first generation of Muslims when they received these revelations from the lips of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the thick of the struggle. Theirs was a struggle of jihad, of striving within oneself and striving with other people.

It was a fight against temptations and a battle against enemies -exertions on behalf of others, and sacrifices, fears, and hopes. It was a constant cycle of falling down and rising up. The first Muslims experienced the ex­hilarating beginning of the Call in Makkah, and also the subsequent poverty and weakness, the indignities of being outcasts among the people and of being shut up in the Valley of Abu Talib, the hunger and the fear, the torments of being hunted down, and the boycott.

And then they experienced the atmosphere surrounding the establishment of the Muslim ummah and the initiation of a social and political order, with ever present friction between feelings and policies throughout its period of construction and organization. Such was the vibrant and pulsating atmosphere in which the Qur'an was revealed, with its words and messages full of meaning and inspiration.

And without doubt, in a similar atmosphere -an atmos­phere that always accompanies any new attempt at the revival of Islamic life -the Qur'an will again open its treasures to men's hearts and bestow its secrets on their minds, sending forth its fragrance in all directions and bringing guidance and light.