Al-Quran Hujja Lak Aw Alayk
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- Al-Quran Hujja Lak Aw Alayk
Al-Quran Hujja Lak Aw Alayk (The Quran Is a Proof for You or Against You) is a short treatise by Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Amari, an official in the Department of Da'wah and Guidance at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Saudi Arabia. The work is centered around the prophetic hadith narrated by Abu Malik al-Ash'ari in Sahih Muslim: الْقُرْآنُ حُجَّةٌ لَكَ أَوْ عَلَيْكَ ("The Quran is a proof for you or against you").
Structure and Content
The treatise is organized into thematic paired headings contrasting the conditions under which the Quran serves as an argument in favor of a believer with the circumstances under which it testifies against an individual. Each premise is substantiated with citations from Quranic verses and canonical hadith compilations.
The author sets out duties and righteous interactions with scripture that make it an intercessor and evidence for the reader:
- Knowing and understanding the Quran.
- Memorizing, reciting, and contemplating (tadabbur) its verses.
- Listening attentively when it is recited.
- Acting upon its guidance and night vigil recitation.
- Learning and teaching it to others.
- Believing in the entirety of the text, following its clear rulings (muhkam) while accepting its ambiguous passages (mutashabih).
- Taking admonition from its warnings, applying its laws, and seeking arbitration through it exclusively.
In contrast, the work details instances where the scripture becomes evidence against a person:
- Remaining ignorant of the Quran, turning away from its recitation, or reading it without contemplation and comprehension.
- Failing to act upon its injunctions or concealing its teachings from others.
- Selectively accepting some parts of scripture while rejecting others, or pursuing ambiguous verses to sow discord.
- Arbitrating by laws other than revelation.
Methodological Warnings
A substantial part of the text warns against abandoning the Quran and prophetic guidance when acquiring religious knowledge about God, His faith, and His Prophet. The author warns against relying instead upon:
- Satanic whisperings, intellect (aql), personal whims (hawa), and speculative opinion (ra'y).
- Uncritically following scholars, ascetics, leaders, societal majorities, ancestral customs, or partisan religious factions and groups (al-tawa'if wa-l-ahzab).
- Acting out of unchecked zeal or raw emotion.
- Relying on pure sensory impressions, mystical tasting (dhawq), rational frameworks (qawa'id 'aqliyya), or prioritizing lexical definitions (al-ma'ani al-lughawiyya) and analogical deduction (qiyas) over explicit texts.
- Following earlier religious legal codes (shari'at man qablana), sectarian school affiliations (al-madhahib), dreams and claimed miracles (al-ru'a wa-l-karamat), Sufi masters, or seeking unseen knowledge (kashf al-ghayb) via spiritual asceticism.
The treatise concludes with short poetic lines praising God for the completion of the compilation.
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