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May 30, 2005
Mission Statement
What started in December 2001 as the "Qur'an As I Understand" (QAIU) Project has now been formally transformed into The Qur'an Institute, Inc. The Qur'an Institute is a not-for-profit, educational organization that is dedicated to a broad-based, linguistic and conceptual understanding of the Qur'an.
MISSION STATEMENT
To help bring about Qur'anic insight, as outlined in the following verse:
39:18 Who listen to the Word, and follow the best of its application. Such are those whom Allah guides, and they are the insightful ones.
MAJOR GOALS
A. We believe that pre-written exegeses are inherently limited medium for the understanding the Qur'an, and that the Qur'an is better understood when one engages with it. Therefore, we will make lexicons and other learning tools available for people so that they may engage with the Qur'an at much deeper levels.
B. We believe that the Qur'an belongs to the whole humanity, and not just Muslims. So we plan to deconstruct Qur'anic wisdom at a level where its components can be succinctly approached by specialists and non-specialists alike to develop "products" for general human consumption.
C. We intend to develop a curriculum to teach people to engage with the Qur'an through Arabic lexicons, Jahiliah poetry, Hadith as well as Qur'anic contemplation methodologies developed by Muslims during the past 1,400 year.
D. We intend to develop cross-referencing and phonetic search capabilities for lexicons, Hadith books and Jahiliah poetry.
We anticipate that the above-mentioned goals will be refined as we progress with our projects, attract additional talent and resources, and get feedback from our well-wishers and critics.
Posted by m12390 at May 30, 2005 06:07 PM
Comments
Hello, Liaquat Ali asked me to comment on the mission statement.
The one thing I would say is that it reads more like a plan of action rather than a mission statement. I would leave out the actions you intend to take (because once those are done, they aren't part of your 'mission' any more) and stick with the core beliefs - and leave them as core beliefs, ones you feel are immutable and unlikely to change as the project develops.
Encouraging widespread engagement with the Qu'ran seems to be the mission statement; the rest is sidebar, how you plan to go about it. Maybe talk about what sort of engagement you mean - intellectual? Spiritual? Emotional? Academic? All of the above? Boil it down, though, keep it simple.
Don't feel like you need a big, long mission statement: the smaller it is, the more you can do with it, actually, because it leaves flexibility in terms of what you do for that mission.
Think about it this way: the purpose of life is to serve Allah (swt). Think about how much you can do to fulfill that mission statement! Think of how many ways the Qu'ran can be read to suggest how that's done!
Aim for something similar ;)
Posted by: Ibrahim at May 31, 2005 08:21 PM
I just wanted to say I agree with the mission statement and method of approach.
http://www.StudyQuran.org is also dedicated to promoting quality study of 'al quran' (the reading), and will happily co-operate in any worthwhile projects.
Wakas
Posted by: Wakas at August 1, 2005 06:26 PM
Assalam-u-alaikum !
I read on this web site "the translation of Lughaat al Qur'an by G.A. Parvez. Lughaat al Qur'an spans almost 2,000 pages of Urdu text and contains almost 7,800 cross-reference between Qur'anic words and their roots. "
Why don't you scan it and offer it freely in Urdu. The translation to English can continue but the original Urdu version should also be made available online. For ideas you can contact www.studyQuran.co.uk who are already working on Lane's Lexicon. i.e. you offer it online and also in a downloadable format.
Also I would recommend you make plans to translate the great Classical Arabic to Arabic Lexicons to Arabic to English Lexicons starting with the most authentic Lexicon available.
Posted by: Asim at September 11, 2005 02:17 PM
Asim, although you have a great idea, we will have to get permission from Tolu-e-Islam to scan the Urdu version. If you can secure the permission, The Qur'an Institute will facilitate the scanning effort.
Thanks.
Posted by: Liaquat Ali at September 11, 2005 03:38 PM
Hello
I am a medical student from India.. I'm researching in Quran and Medical Science...
Posted by: Shabeer Ali T.M at March 14, 2006 11:47 PM