An essential and important part of living by the Quran is to convey its message to people around you.
Indeed the moment the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) received the first revelation he realized the immense task of bringing it to his people. And the second revelation came with the summons: {Stand up and warn.} (Al-Muddaththir 74: 2)
Then at various places it was made clear to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that to communicate the Quran, to make it heard, to explain it was to be his primary duty and his life mission (Al-Ma’idah 5: 67; Al-An`am 6: 19 and 105; Al-A`raf 7: 157; Maryam 19: 97 and Al-Furqan 25: 1 ).
Duty of Conveying the Quran’s Message
Now we, as his followers, as people possessing the Book of Allah, are charged and entrusted with the same mission.
To have the Quran obliges us to convey it; to hear the Quran is to make it heard. We must make it clear and known to mankind and not let it remain concealed:
{And when Allah took pledge from those who had been given the Book: ‘You shall make it known to mankind, and not conceal it.’ But they cast it behind their backs, and bartered it away for a small price; how evil was their bargain.} (Aal `Imran 3:187)
If there is a lamp in your heart and hand, it must spread its light. If there is fire inside you, it must radiate its warmth and glow.
Consequences of Failing to Convey the Quran
Those who do not do so, for want of transient worldly gains, are in fact filling their bellies with fire:
{Those who conceal of what the Book of Allah has sent down on them, and barter it away for a little price they shall eat naught but the Fire in their bellies, Allah shall not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, neither purify them.} (Al-Baqarah 2:174)
And they deserve the curse of Allah the Almighty:
{Those who conceal the clear messages and the guidance that We have sent down, after We have made them clear for mankind in the Book they shall be cursed by Allah and the cursers.} (Al-Baqarah 2: 159)
Unless they discharge their duties:
{Save such as repent, and put themselves right, and make [the Book] known towards them I shall turn . . .} (Al-Baqarah 2:160)
Look at yourself! Look at Muslims today!
Why, despite the fact that the Quran is read by millions day and night, still it does not make any difference to our situation?
We either do not understand it when we read it, do not accept or act upon it if we do understand it, accept and act upon only part of it while rejecting the rest, or we are guilty of committing the worst crime by concealing it and not bringing its light to the world while we are engrossed in reading and acting upon only part of it.
{And some among them are illiterate common people, who have no knowledge of the Book, [believing] only wishful fancies, and they depend on nothing but conjecture. Woe, also, unto those who write [the meanings of] the Book with their own hands, then say, ‘This is from Allah’, that they may acquire thereby a little price…} (Al-Baqarah 2: 78-9)
{What! Do you believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part? What, then, shall be the reward of those of you who do that but ignominy in the life of this-world and, on the Day of Resurrection to be returned unto the most grievous suffering.} (Al-Baqarah 2:85)
Being Witnesses to the Quran
Let there not be the slightest doubt in our minds that unless we commit ourselves to the most important responsibility of being witnesses unto the Quran, which devolves upon us by virtue of us having it and reading it, we shall never discharge what we owe to the Quran.
The ignominy, dishonor, humiliation, backwardness that has become our lot is only because of the way we treat the Quran and the mission it entrusts to us. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him ) said, “By this Book Allah makes some peoples to rise and others to decline.”(Muslim)
And Allah says:
{Had they established the Tawrah, and the Injil, and what has been sent down to them from their Lord, they would have eaten from above them and from beneath their feet.} (Al-Ma’idah 5: 66)
Taken with some modifications from the author’s book, “Way to the Quran”