Color-Coded Quran

A new fad called ‘Colour Coded Qur’aan’ has been introduced in some quarters. Looking at a copy of such a colour-Qur’aan, o­ne is appalled at the degree of defilement of the sacred Qur’aanic text. The whole Qur’aan is messed with a variety of colours in which different words have been shaded.The misguided inventors of this silly fad have failed to understand the notriety of their act. A fad has been introduced for commercial purposes using the glorious Qur’aan Majeed—the noblest and the most sacred of Allah’s Scriptures. The mess of colours defacing the Qur’aan Majeed is an act of defilement of Allah’s Book. In the misconception of the originators of this sacrilege, the frivolous method of dumb ‘tajweed’ which the colours purport to teach, is the best method for teaching Tajweed. This misconception implies that the method and system of teaching Tajweed which Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had imparted to the Sahaabah is obsolete — that it has outlived its utility, hence the need for the ludicrous methods of western kindergarten schools.

TAJWEED

It should be borne in mind that Tajweed is a sacred branch of Shar’i Uloom. It is directly associated with the Qur’aan Majeed. It is a branch of Ilm which has attained its highest state of perfection in the very time of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Jibraeel (alayhis salaam) taught Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) the way of Qur’aan Tilaawat with Tajweed. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) passed o­n this Ilm and the method to his Sahaabah who in turn produced the greatest Qurraa (plural of Qaari) the world has ever seen. Until the Day of Qiyaamah no o­ne can hope to supersede and surpass the standard and degree of excellence and perfection in Tajweed and Qira’at which the great Qurraa among the Sahaabah had achieved.

The illustrious Imaams of Qira’at among the Sahaabah disseminated this Ilm and its methods of ta’leeem to the Taabieen who in turn transmited it o­n to their Students and so o­n until it reached the Ummah in every epoch down the long corridor of Islam’s 14 century history. Every age produced illustrious Aimmah and Qurraa in this Branch of Ilm.

It is the height of absurdity and perfidy to even suggest that the stupid colour-code method introduced by non-entities for monetary gain can come anywhere near to the Methods of teaching Tajweed in the Khairul Quroon era. To suggest that this ‘colour-code’ method of defiling the Qur’aanic text supersedes the Methods of the illustrious Sahaabah, Taabieen and Tabe Taabieen is tantamount to kufr. In this belated age some silly ‘wiseman’ thought it smart to mess up the Qur’aanic text and defile the Sacred Scripture of Allah Ta’ala with a variety of colours used primarily to amuse kindergarten kids.

NO BETTER METHOD

There is no better method nor will there ever be a better method of teaching Tajweed than the method which the Ummah has inherited from the illustrious Authorities of the Khairul Quroon era. It is not permissible to displace the holy Method of Islam with this or any other new-fangled method. The ‘colour-coded’ method is indeed ridiculous. Anyone accepting this fad and sacrilegious method at the cost of abandoning the study of Tajweed, will be falling from the sublime to the ridiculous.

NOT PERMISSIBLE

It is not permissible to adopt this method as an aid to recite the Qur’aan Majeed. It is not permissible to defile the holy text of the Qur’aan Majeed with this type of silly interpolation. It is not permissible to buy and sell such Qur’aan copies. The o­nly correct and valid method of acquiring the Ilm of Tajweed is to study it in the way the Ummah has been studying it for the past fourteen centuries. Tajweed, like all the other branches of Deeni Uloom, are not mundane pieces of equipment which are upgraded constantly and which are rendered obsolete when a better version is invented.

DECLINE

While there is and will always be advancement in technology and mundane sciences, there cannever be such advancement in the Branches of Shar’i Uloom. o­n the contrary, the closer Qiyaamah approaches, the more deterioration sets in. Standards in Ilm and Taqwa are o­n the decline, not o­n the advance.

Just as everything else, including the Hajj, is heavily commercialized in this age, so too is the sacred Text of the Qur’aan Majeed being commercialised. The greed of the publishers of this corruption is conspicuously displayed by their registration of copyrights. If they had a true understanding of Ilm and a true feeling for the Qur’aan Majeed, they would never have stooped to the extremely low moral ebb of preventing others from distributing and disseminating Qur’aanic knowledge and methods of ta’leem.

Although the stupid colour-code method is not a valid method of Tajweed, nevertheless, in the minds of its inventors it is the best ever method. So, if they are sincere and they have the Goals of the Qur’aan in mind, and if they understand who had revealed the Qur’aan and to whom, and why, then never would they have scraped the bottom of the barrel in miserliness and worldliness by debarring others from aiding in the process of dissemination of Qur’aanic knowledge. But since the whole exercise is nothing but the effect of worldliness and the desire for monetary gain, it has become imperative for them to resort to kuffaar strategems of law to prevent other Muslims from publishing and distributing this silly colour-code method which has truly defiled the Sacred Text.

Muslims should not be so prone to gullibility to fall in every trap which shaitaan sets to divert from the ways, methods and styles of the Salf-e-Saaliheen. Remember that along with a method comes the attitudes and effects of its founders and originators. By the same token, when a Sacred Method is abandoned, the roohaani (spiritual) effects which grace such a holy Method are also lost. Thus, there is a world of difference teaching the Qur’aan Majeed sitting o­n the floor in humility and teaching it in kuffaar style sitting o­n benches in the way in which they do at kuffaar schools. Some so-called ’Islamic’ schools too have incorporated the style of the kuffaar to teach the Qur’aan. In these methods of the kuffaar which displace the Methods of the Salf-e-Saaliheen there is no goodness. Such ways destroy whatever little spirituality there may still be. May Allah Ta’ala open up the minds and eyes of Muslims to see and understand the harms and ruin in new-fangled methods which displace the Methods of the illustrious Pious Predecessors who were all the Students of the Sahaabah or the Students of their Students.

["The Majlis"]