What are the concrete steps to take in order to adhere my life to the Qur'an and the Sunnah?

Adherence to the Qur'an and the Sunnah begins after making a whole hearted commitment to do so, and with knowing what constitutes adherence to the Qur'an. Because if we really don’t understand, then how can we adhere?

Adherence, of course, begins with the regular reading of the Qur'an. If this is not in our lives, then we need to put it back into our lives.

So, establishing the habit of reading the Qur'an everyday is something each and every one of us should do. That’s what Salaah is about, the five times daily prayer puts this Qur'an in our lives at least five times in the day. We have to read Surah al-Fatiha and Surahs (chapters in the Qur'an) after it , five times in the day for the purpose of rooting the Qur'an in our day to day lives at least for those moments.

But we need more than that, because in our five times daily prayer, we are only covering a fraction of the Qur'an. The Qur'an is the book of guidance which Allah sent. He says,

"This is the Book in which there is no doubt, guidance for those who fear Allah - who are conscious of Allah." [1]

So if we want that guidance in our lives, we have to read it regularly and of course, read it with understanding. That cannot be over-stressed.

Where is the guidance if we don’t know what the word of Allah is saying? How can we be guided? Well, you can say, “That’s the miracle of the Qur'an, we just read it and it will guide you”. It sounds nice. Yes, the Qur'an is the word of Allah. It’s the living miracle of the Prophet (ﷺ). But Allah has placed in this world a cause and effect chain. He breaks that chain when he wishes and miracles do occur, but for the normal function of human life, it is in accordance with a chain of cause and effect. You take the right cause and you get the right effect.

The Qur'an is guidance for those who understand what the Qur'an says, if they are sincere, they have submitted their will to Allah. There are orientalists, scholars in universities in the UK and the US, America, who understand Arabic and they read the Qur'an but the Qur'an is no guidance for them, though they understand it. And that’s why Allah says, "...guidance for those who are conscious of Allah - who fear Allah."

But it still requires the principle of understanding and that’s why Allah himself said in the Qur'an,

"Will they not reflect on the meanings of the Qur'an or are their hearts locked up?" [2]

Allah himself said we are supposed to reflect on the meanings of the Qur'an so therefore let us not fool ourselves, the parrot reading of the Qur'an is not what was intended.

So we have to re-establish the Qur'an in our lives through regular reading and reflection and by learning the language of the Qur'an. We have to make efforts to learn the language of the Qur'an, reading the translation just as we read the text.

Also, we should memorize what we can of the Qur'an, but it should be a continual process in our lives, trying to memorize more and more of the Qur'an. And we should, in order to establish that, be conscious of the obstacles that we have placed in front of ourselves. To remove those obstacles, we have to identify “why can’t I?”  And look at these whys and know that they are removable because Allah will not place on us any burden which are too great for us to bear.

Similarly, for us to adhere to the Sunnah it requires us to be aware of what the Sunnah is. We should read it, we should understand it and we should also try to make all of the various actions in our lives and decisions that we have to come to, based only on the Qur'an and the Sunnah through a thorough understanding of that Sunnah where guidance lies for all of our decisions, but we can only access it if we are conscious of it.

We also need to read from the Sunnah, just as we read from the Qur'an regularly. There are various books of the Sunnah which are authentic compilations like “Riyadhus saliheen” and “Forty hadeeth of nawawi”. These are reliable compilations.

Beyond that, we need to understand and develop new habits with regard to the Qur'an and the Sunnah by understanding the process by which habits are formed.

Ibn al Qayyim identified five levels by which habits are formed and customs are changed.

The first level is the fleeting thought, when an idea comes to the head, whether it’s a good idea or a bad one. If it’s a bad idea, we try to stop it right there. Allah says,

"When an evil whisper comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah..." [3]

because that fleeting thought can come from anywhere.  And that’s why Allah is merciful and we are not always accountable for them.

If that fleeting thought is reflected upon, then the next level will becomes a conscious thought, where we start to weigh the pros and cons. The fleeting thought now becomes something we are reflecting on. We begin to think if it’s a good idea, what the benefits are from it, what the pros and cons are. Again, if at that time we seek refuge in Allah, because it’s still in the realm of thought, we can save ourselves from so much sadness, regret etc., in our life to come, and these are the easiest places to stop.

However, if we let it go to the level of decision, where we make a decision to do this evil, evil that is based on desires, desires overwhelm our better judgment, we have now reached the critical stage. If we can’t stop it here after having made that decision, what happens is that after having made that decision, Allah will let something happen in our lives to give us a chance not to do it. We make that decision, but something happens.  A phone rings, somebody says something happens where we could have said, “Ah! I better not do this.”

But when that warning comes and we ignore it, then the next stage is action. We made that decision to do something and we now turn it into action and of course, following that we might regret, we might feel bad etc.

But if we don’t focus on that feeling of regret and turn back to Allah sincerely feeling hurt because we have, in fact, hurt only ourselves. Then, the fleeting thought will come again, it will go through the same process and be back there again and the more times we do it we create with new habit, an evil one.

On the other side, the flip side of the coin, there are good thoughts. We have a fleeting good thought. The prophet (ﷺ) said that each and everyone of us, Allah has assigned to us an angel, an angel who would prompt us to good. So if we want to change, when that good thought comes we have to grab the thought, we have to catch that thought and reflect on it.  And from that reflection we can make a decision and from that decision we can then end up doing good action. Those good actions Allah says,

"...good deeds erase evil deeds..." [4]

And this will only happen if we try to capture those good thoughts and turn them into action, regular actions by which we can make new good habits which can replace our previously evil habits. And know, that the Prophet (ﷺ) has said,

"...the most beloved of deeds to Allah are those done regularly even if they are small." [5]

So we start with certain basic deeds that we are having difficulty with and try to establish them, whether it is salathul fajr on time, and then gradually build beyond that. Starting with the most basic area of our own personal weaknesses, we work our way up to the bigger areas. Always being consistent, being conscious of how evil deeds arise and how good deeds can replace them.

This was the example of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) encouraging his companions and the Ummah to access the guidance in their lives, to be around good people because where do these good thought come from? Some of them come from angels but a lot of them, from the company we keep. That’s why the Prophet (ﷺ) said,

"The good friend is like a perfume merchant. If you stick around the perfume merchant either he’s going to give you a sample or you will walk away smelling good because he has opened up perfume bottles and the smell and come over you. Either way, we can’t lose being with good companions." [6]

So if we want a change, we have to also change our companions, those who we spend most of our time with. If those who spend most of our time with are those involved with the same evils that we’re involved in then what can we expect as a result?

If we have to change, then we have to make that change in our environment and ourselves if we really want to adhere to the Qur'an and Sunnah, as it deserves our adherence.

References:

[1] [Qur’an 2:2]

[2] [Qur’an 47:24]

[3] [Qur’an 7:200]

[4] [Qur’an 11:114]

[5] [Sahih al-Bukhari 6464]

[6] [Sahih al-Bukhari 2101]