They had all sorts of other dealings with him apart from...

They had all sorts of other dealings with him apart from acquisition of knowledge from him, and this was the biggest insult to his personality. Similarly, the Holy Quran is a book of guidance and it contains guidance in itself. This is not a book of "Istekhara". Since the subject under discussion is not Holy Quran, hence I am just giving some key indicators about this, but be certain about what we consider and think about Quran, it is not that, it is a book of guidance only.

It is a not a book of seeking rewards (thawaab) by mere recitation. Allah (s.w.t.) did not descend the Quran for us to accumulate as much rewards as we can. It was not like that Allah (s.w.t.) gave the Quran to Gibrael to give it to the Holy Prophet (S), so that Allah can keep on giving more and more rewards to the people for their recitations. We organize Quran recitation ceremonies for the sake of seeking rewards.

An analogy to this is when we want to distribute or invite some people for having food we organize a majalis, or a miracle recitation program to make it a means of distributing food. As if Allah (s.w.t.) wants to distribute rewards and hence he created Quran so that people can read it and earn rewards. The purpose of associating rewards with the Quran is related to the purpose of creation, whereby Allah (s.w.t.) wants us to acquire guidance, acquire spirituality and be disciplined.

Holy Quran is the means to acquire these essential things for our lives and hence there is a reward associated with its recitation, so that if not explicitly for the ·sake of guidance, but at least for the sake of getting rewards we will come near to the Holy Quran. There are several acts which are done for the purpose of attracting others towards a much higher goal behind those preliminary acts.

Reverting to the same example of distribution of food in Majalis, many a times when we are not certain of people's attendance in the majalis, we announce that food will be served after the majalis. This ensures a much larger audience who even if they come for the sake of food, they will still listen to the lecture that would be a means of guidance for them.

Allah (s.w.t.) established guidance for human being and along with this said that if you come closer to this guidance I will give you rewards also, so that your involvement with this source of guidance becomes certain.