October 2007, Grafton, Australia

Dear reader, I'm in Grafton, Australia. It's a beautiful city. The weather is wonderful at this time of year, October, which is late spring, almost summer. There are Jacaranda trees in blossom across the city, vibrant with purple, and myriad native flowers in bloom as well. I love to read and / or recite the quran at dawn.

The quran tells us to read at dawn (17:78). In this line, the text uses the verb 'to read' (Arabic: to quran) twice. It says "quran at dawn, truly, quraning at dawn is witnesssed". With regards to the dawn, there is no mention of the verb 'to recite' or the verb 'to pray', although elsewhere in the quran the term 'dawn prayer' appears (11:114). Line 17:78 is below.

My thinking is as follows: each person has to pass the dawn every day. There is no day that passes without every living soul having to live through that dawn. So, experiencing the dawn is a given. Some people will experience the dawn awake, others asleep, and some will be reading the quran, some meditating on it, some mothers will be feeding or changing their babies, but every living soul, every day, must mark off another dawn he or she has lived through.

Well, if this is so, and the dawn is inescapable, then the only thing to work out is: 'how best to spend the dawn'? Obviously, if you believe the quran is the word of god, you'll take the quran's advice on the subject. So, it would seem obvious that anyone who reads chapter 17 will then be reading the quran each dawn thereafter.

However:

1. The translation of the quran that you may have butchered this line. This is a tremendous crime, but I fear it has been committed, and none can be blamed but the devil. See the quran translation by the Indonesian Department of Religion (Departmen Agama Indonesia) for an example. They have translated this line to show 'pray at dawn' instead of 'read at dawn' in the 2007 edition.

2. Perhaps the line was meant for Mohammad only, or someone else with an equally giant mission, not meant for all mankind, or all believers. Perhaps the rest of us can sleep easy. I don't know the answer here, god knows best the meaning of his revelations. My opinion, though, is that anyone who is healthy and gets enough sleep pre dawn, can do dawn reading of the quran.

I am grateful to god that I've been able to share a few thoughts on this topic on this blog. I hope that anyone reading it contemplates the subject with god, and takes the time to decide for themselves what is the real intention and the real duty this line of the quran is giving. God knows best in all matters. God has given each of us a brain, a heart, our limbs, and some time, so that we can work it out. Glory be to him.