The Christians of Abyssinia

What, then, is this account? These āyāt about the Christians who became Muslim concern those of Ḥabashah — Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, that region. As is known, many Muslims had already migrated there. The king was a Christian king, and very favourably disposed, very accommodating, towards people of faith; hence the whole account of the people of Makkah sending a delegation to bring the Muslims back, the Muslims having migrated there, and his refusing to hand them over. When the Qur'an was recited there, they began to weep; they became almost uncontrollable, because it was as though the thing they had always been seeking had now dawned upon them, and was there for them, for the taking. Their beards became wet, according to the transmissions we have. Such is the effect of the Qur'an. That is the effect of the Qur'an. And Allāhu akbar.

When a person reads the Qur'an with an open mind, objectively, without bias, without subjectivity, without animosity — there have even been people who approached the Qur'an with animosity and were bowled over; not everyone, but a great many even of that kind. In general, anyone who looks at it open-mindedly and reads it for himself will without doubt be affected by it. Unfortunately, in a survey of the Qur'an such as this one, there is no such personal time with it, since one is always hastening on to the main themes. But that is the idea: when time allows, one does this for oneself. The sūrah that follows Sūrat al-Māʾidah, the next sūrah, Sūrat al-Anʿām, is entirely given over to reflection; it is very difficult to give a tafsīr of, and, as will be seen, it is quite surprising when regarded as a whole in that way. When a person is without hatred, animosity, enmity, or something approaching a superiority complex — when one approaches it with humility, to learn and to seek, with ṭalab and desire — then it will certainly open up. That is the adab of the Qur'an: to approach it for that purpose. Otherwise the Qur'an will only help one further into one's error. Allah raises certain people by the Qur'an and brings others down by the Qur'an, as evidence — because one was seeking the wrong thing in it.