A devoted effort to understand holy Quran

The Quran, the final revealed book, is the only holy book for the Muslims to follow. In other words, the sacred book instructs Muslims how to live a successful life, as per the ordaining of Islam.  It helps them transform their lives such as help them achieve the will of Allah. The full content of the Holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for 23 years. The prophet then transformed his followers into the followers of Islam.

As the first revelation of the Quran took place during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, the month is observed with a lot of enthusiasm through extensively reciting the Quran by the Muslims across the world. Besides dawn-to-dusk obligatory fasting throughout the month, recitation and discussion on the Quran become a major task for them. Again, learning, reciting and understanding the Quran is not limited to Ramadan but continuous things to do round the year.

To make the Quran easy to understand, a number of translations coupled with explanations at various lengths in Bangla are available now. Besides experienced scholars, a number of young and enthusiastic people have also come forward to do some work in this connection. Ahmed Ferdous Faisal is one of them. He writes a brief book in Bangla to understand the Holy Quran on a small scale.

 Titled 'Quran Bojhar Prayas' (An effort to understand Quran), the book is not a full or partial translation of the Quran. It is also not a brief compilation of Tafsir or extensive explanations of selected Surahs or chapters. Instead, Ferdous Faisal presents his understanding on 50 Surahs in a plain language after going through the holy book rigorously with the help of some other relevant scholarly works.

The book starts with concise explanation of Surah Fatiha which is the first chapter of the Quran and also known as preamble to the Muslim's only holy book. It is obligatory to recite the verses of the Surah at every Salah or namaz, at every rakat of Salah to be precise. Salah will be incomplete without reciting Surah Fatiha.

 In the book, the writer presents the core messages of 50 Surahs and gives concise titles to understand. For instance, it is mentioned in the book that 'Surah Aal-Imran demonstrates the lessons of three miracle incidents' or 'Surah An-Nissa represents the rights of women.' In a similar vein, the title like 'Surah Ibrahim tells the stories of the struggles of the Prophets' or 'Advices included in the Surah Lukman may change the way of lives' also indicate that the writer tries to dive into the depth of the Quranic verses.

Despite being a journalist, Ferdous Faisal has developed his knowledge and understanding on Islam and Quran over the years through dedication and continuous study. He is one of the rare journalists who performed and covered Hajj for around the last one and a half decades on behalf of a leading vernacular daily of the country. In this process, his understanding on Quran has also got enhanced significantly which is reflected in the book. In the preface, the writer also notes that he starts his effort to decode the Quran when the whole world was locked down due to spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the pandemic has changed lives and lifestyles of many when they spent more time to garner religious knowledge.

Readers will thus get short and snappy meanings of the selected chapters of the Quran from the book. It is also a good book to make a gift. 

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