ADNAN OKTAR:The Qur’an opens people’s hearts, and produce a great ease on those who hear it. It opens our brains. ,It strengthens the bond between the human heart and Allah. Heaviness is lifted from us, and our ability to speak is enhanced. Our wisdom growth and depth comes. Ease and gentleness come to the heart. The Qur’an is very important. It is healing. Allah says the Qur’an is healing. It is healing for the heart and body. That is why whenever the Qur’an is read in any way, a feeling of ease results. One’s mind and horizons are opened and grow in profundity. If one has devilish disturbances, these disappear. One turns to a rahmani merciful ease, and a clarity of opinion emerges. One’s attention and ability to understand are strengthened, and one’s intelligence grows. Otherwise, may Allah forbid, if a person has no intelligence, and does not act according to the Qur’an, he will say the most abnormal things. He will start talking in an unbalanced manner. He will become emotional and upset. He will lose the power of deep thought.

PRESENTER 4:Definitely. The words in the Qur’an have such a range of meaning that you can interpret them in any way.

ADNAN OKTAR:Masha’Allah. And the Qur’an is an excellent opportunity for exercising the brain. Examined with care, you always find a new pronouncement, new information and a new depth, every single time. One must take pains over this when reading the Qur’an. The Qur’an exercises the brain and develops it to the greatest extent. People who profoundly analyze and research the Qur’an become highly intelligent.

That is in Judaism, too. They used to read the Torah all the time. It has been corrupted, but the Jews are a highly intelligent people. Their memories and intelligence developed enormously. They constantly read and interpret the Torah. They examine its depth and fine detail. Even people of 70 or 80 constantly read the Torah standing up.

But among us, as you know, the Qur’an is a book that is rarely read. It is a book generally kept in a special cover and occasionally taken down, to be dusted. In most houses the Quran has inscriptions in Qur’anic lettering. But they don’t know what they mean. That’s why most of them never touch it. People should have the Quran with Turkish-language texts in their houses. But it would be wrong to draw canonical pronouncements from the Qur’an. One needs to look at catechisms to do that. The most reliable catechism is that of Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen. There is no need to have the work of this hodja or that hodja. They may be very dangerous and risky. One may go down wrong paths. They sometimes ask me from time to time, “What is the ruling on this or that?” But I am not a mujaddid or religious reformer or renovator. I am muqallid (one who accepts the interpration of a mujtahid). I just act according to the catechism. Anything I suggest is therefore just the catechism. They can look at Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen’s catechism and learn all they need from that. I talk about matters of faith. I concentrate on the existence and oneness of Allah, paradise and hell and love and fear of Allah. I concentrate on the matters referred to in Amantu (the Islamic creed), insha’Allah.

PRESENTER 2:Is reading the Qur’an from a CD the same, in terms of good deed, as reading it from the beginning? Does one count as having recited the Qur’an from listening to a CD?

ADNAN OKTAR:Good deed lies in the Sight of Allah, of course. Our intentions are also very important. If our intentions are pure of course, we earn the same good deed. But one would really want people to know the Arabic text, to know and tell the original text. But its meaning is fine, insha’Allah.