“If our hearts were pure, we would never be tired of the speech of Allah.” - Uthman Ibn Affan - Quoted in Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 7/272

I came across this quote, and it answered a lot of my questions because it diagnoses a lot of issues. We don’t get tired of the Quran or are lazy to spend time with it because it lacks depth or beauty. Rather, we struggle to bring more Quran into our lives because the heart that’s listening to it is crowded. It’s crowded with noise from the life that we have created for and around ourselves, distractions, social media, unnecessary attachments, and a constant pull toward things that excite the nafs more quickly. The more we clean our hearts, the more they lean toward the speech of Allah naturally, just the way thirsty land leans toward rain. But when the heart is heavy and crowded, even truth can feel demanding. So maybe the question isn’t why the Quran doesn’t move us the way it should, but what we have allowed to settle inside the heart that makes it difficult to absorb more of the Quran through its recitation, learning, listening, and understanding.

May Allah help us cleanse our hearts so we never see the Quran as a burden to pick up, but as a mercy our hearts long for.