The following is the full text of the speech delivered on August 12, 2010 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, at a Quranic meeting. The meeting was held on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I thank Allah the Exalted for giving us the opportunity and letting us live long enough - with His blessings and kindness - to participate in this meeting once more and benefit from the recitation of the Holy Quran by our dear qurra. This meeting is very sweet, productive and valuable. I consider this great blessing - which is, in fact, the increasing interest of our society in the Holy Quran - to be such a great blessing which has perhaps no equal among other blessings.
Today's meeting was very good. The honorable qurra - whether the Quranic experts, some of whom recited the Holy Quran today, or the dear youth who have just entered this arena - give us the feeling that there are good talents, good voices and great enthusiasm. This signifies a better future for the country.
Well, Allah the Exalted has bestowed this blessing on us. "But Allah has endeared the faith to you, and has made it beautiful in your hearts, and He has made hateful to you unbelief, wickedness, and rebellion" [The Holy Quran, 49: 7]. This is a great blessing. Allah the Exalted has endeared faith and the signs of faith for our people and He has made it beautiful in our hearts. If we want to benefit from the Holy Quran in the real sense of the word, we should become familiar with Quranic teachings and concepts. Reciting, memorizing and establishing a close relationship with the Holy Quran help us on this path. If we did not learn from the Holy Quran, we would not be strongly advised to recite it.
We should pay attention that the goal is not simply to create and disperse vocal waves in the air. This is not the goal. And the goal is not to enjoy the Holy Quran like the way we enjoy a poem which is recited by a person in a good voice and in a rhythmic way. The goal is not to enjoy the Holy Quran this way. All these prerequisites - that is to say, reciting the Holy Quran and what promotes this recitation in society, which is having a good voice - are for the sake of understanding Quranic concepts. Good voice is only one of the elements which promotes recitation in society and which attracts hearts towards it.
Understanding the Holy Quran has certain levels and degrees. It starts from thinking deeply about Quranic words and paying attention to the meaning. When we speak about Quranic teachings, we do not mean that it is a mysterious and puzzling maze which no one can understand. Of course, there are a number of lofty Quranic teachings which people like us cannot understand. But there are many other teachings that we ordinary people can understand and benefit from provided that we pay attention to the words and to the meaning. There are many understandable teachings in the Holy Quran. These are the lessons of our lives.
For example, this holy ayah is a lesson: "Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks his faith, he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward" [The Holy Quran, 48: 10]. This is a clear lesson for our lives: "Therefore whoever breaks his faith, he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul".
If you go back on the promise that you gave the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Islam and if you break the allegiance that you swore to Allah, you have acted to your own disadvantage. "Therefore whoever breaks his faith, he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul". Breaking our allegiance to God and the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) is an act against ourselves. It is not against God and the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and they do not suffer any loss because of this violation.
"And whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward". If we honor the pledge that we swore to God and the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), we have acted to our advantage and we will receive a great reward from Allah the Exalted. It has not been mentioned in this ayah that this reward is otherworldly and that it is confined to paradise. Of course, a great part of this reward is otherworldly.
But we will receive a reward in this world as well. The ayahs from the holy Sura "al-Ahzab" - which was recited by one of the brothers or, perhaps, by a number of brothers - are a proof of this worldly reward: "Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Of them some have completed their vow to the extreme and some still wait. But they have never changed their determination in the least. That Allah may reward the men of truth for their truth" [The Holy Quran, 33: 23-24].
"Who have been true to their covenant with Allah" means that they were true to their covenant with God and they stuck to it. The hardships of life and worldly and tempting desires did not make them deviate from this path. "That Allah may reward the men of truth for their truth". God rewards them for this truth and faithfulness to the divine covenant.
Well, these are teachings which can be understood if we refer to the Holy Quran although there are undoubtedly a number of teachings beyond these ones. Only experts and righteous and worthy servants of God may be able to understand these teachings. We may not be able to understand them except with the help of these servants. Without a doubt, there are such teachings because it has been said that the Holy Quran has different layers.
There are many narrations which say the Holy Quran has outward and inward aspects. These narrations say that it has certain secrets and depths. It is like a sea. The outward aspect of the sea is its water. But the sea does not only have this aspect. It has certain depths as well and there are certain truths in these depths. This is undoubtedly true. But we can benefit from these outward aspects. What is the condition for benefiting from these outward aspects? The condition is that we should pay attention and think deeply about them.
We have repeatedly said that you should gain a correct understanding of the ayahs you recite. It is a few years now that we have been saying this. Fortunately, it has produced good results and one can see this. But we would like to stress it even more. You should understand the outward meanings of Quranic ayahs the way an Arabic-speaker understands them.
If we do this, we gain the opportunity and the capability to think deeply when we recite the Holy Quran. If we pay attention to the meaning, we can think deeply. I will tell you that if those who are interested in reciting the Holy Quran in a good voice and in a rhythmic way know the meaning of Quranic ayahs, this knowledge will guide their intonation. If we know what we are reading, we do not at all need to pay attention to the way a well-known reciter recites the Holy Quran in order to see when he uses a falling or a rising intonation and when he drops or raises his voice.
If we know the meaning, we do not need to do this. If those who have a good and singing voice and who can use different tones know the meaning of Quranic ayahs, this guides their voice and this will give them the tone they need.
This is like ordinary conversations. When you speak, your voice sometimes falls and sometimes rises in pitch. Sometimes you speak quietly, sometimes you speak quickly, sometimes you speak clearly and distinctly and sometimes you stress a word. Before you speak, no notes have been written for you. You do not speak on the basis of certain notes which have been written for you before you speak. Rather, your voice rises and falls in pitch on the basis of your feelings and intuitions. If you understand the meaning of Quranic ayahs, your understanding and intuition helps you decide what to do. It helps you decide when to recite quietly, when to pause, when to assimilate words and when to begin.
Having a mastery over Quranic ayahs gives us this skill. Of course, there are a number of qurra who understand Quranic ayahs because they are Arabic-speakers. They perfectly know the meaning of Quranic ayahs, but when they engage in recitation, one sees that they do not pay attention to the meaning.
There are some individuals among Egyptian qurra who recite the Holy Quran like a person who has been ordered to read a text. They read it from the beginning to the end without communicating with the audience. One can see that some qurra do this. But there are a number of qurra whose recitation is like ordinary conversations. Your recitation should be like this.
Unfortunately, most of our people do not directly benefit from Quranic words. That is to say, most of them do not know Arabic. Well, this is one of the things which we are deprived of. This is why learning Arabic has been specified in the laws of our country. It has been specified in our laws that learning Arabic is one of the necessary things. If we really want to understand Quranic meanings, we can refer to Quranic exegeses and translations. Even ordinary people who do not know Arabic can do this.
Fortunately today, there are good translations of the Holy Quran. A number of people in the country have made great efforts and they have done good translations. In any case, my advice to you dear brothers who recite the Holy Quran in a good voice is that you should pay attention to this point. You should recite the Holy Quran by paying attention to the meaning. You should recite it in a way that it seems you are speaking to your audience with the language of the Holy Quran. If this happens, you will benefit from your recitation and the people too will benefit from listening to the Holy Quran and your recitation.
I hope that Allah the Exalted broadens the scope of understanding and benefitting from the Holy Quran and Quranic teachings among our people. I hope that He will help us benefit from the Holy Quran and Quranic blessings more than before.
I deem it necessary to advise our fellow qurra to work on translating the Holy Quran. You should do this in a skillful way. Of course, memorizing the Holy Quran is very important in this regard as well. I hope that, by Allah's favor, you will be successful.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings