In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Introduction to the Critical Edition

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help and guidance, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can lead astray; and whomever He leads astray, none can guide.

I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah alone, without partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah’s blessings be upon him, his family, and all his Companions.

To proceed:

Living with the Book of Allah is a blessing whose value is known by the one upon whom Allah has bestowed it. How fortunate is the person who makes this Book his guide—as every Muslim should—and is guided by its direction after reflecting upon its verses! How fortunate is the society that brings together such individuals! And how wretched are those who deprive themselves of its guidance, wandering aimlessly through life in every direction, until they squander their lives, their worldly existence, and their Hereafter:

“Say, ‘Shall We inform you of those who are greatest losers in their deeds? They are those whose effort has gone astray in the life of this world while they think that they are doing good. They are the ones who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord and in meeting Him; so their deeds have come to nothing, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall assign them no weight. That is their recompense: Hell, because they disbelieved and took My signs and My messengers in ridicule.’”

The most blessed times are those spent with this noble Book, when a person lives with the speech of his Lord. He feels that he is in intimate communion with Him, and thus his rank is elevated. He feels divine care surrounding and nurturing him, taking him by the hand toward his happiness and success—particularly when he realizes what the One who sent down this Book brought about through it in the first generation that received it, and in every generation that received it well and committed itself to its implementation. Then he senses the Quran’s profound effect upon the life of the individual and the community, whenever they recognize from whom they receive it and what is required of them after receiving it. He comes to perceive the secrets of this noble Book as it refashions souls, making them—individually and collectively—unique and distinguished models in the long history of humanity.

One who lives with the Book of Allah also realizes the grave danger of the claims of those who call for the spread of colloquial language in speech and writing, even if they attempt to conceal themselves behind assertions concerning the difficulty of Arabic syntax and orthography. These claims seek to sever the community’s connection to the Book of its Lord, so that it may cast off the source of guidance and be drowned in bewilderment and loss.