Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #037 Learning & Teaching the Quran Struggling to Recite Pleasing Ones Teachers
AI: Summary ©
The Roha collection is a combination of a book and a podcast, with a focus on learning and practicing Sharia sciences. The importance of learning and practicing Sharia science is emphasized, along with respecting one's teacher's teachings and avoiding dis intention. The transcript discusses the characteristics of success in seeking knowledge and respecting one's teacher's teachings, as well as the importance of avoiding visiting students during Christmas and the first day of the year.
AI: Summary ©
You're listening to the daily guidance for seekers
with Sheikh Farazrabani,
who will be covering Imam Yusuf and Abiheni's
beautiful collection of 40 sets of 40 hadith
of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon
him, as well as Imam Zarnooji's guidance for
seekers of knowledge regarding the ways of seeking
knowledge.
In our look at
the 40 hadiths,
the 40 sets of 40 hadiths
by Sheikh Youssef and Nabhani,
We completed
the second set
which is hadith
on
the praise of Allah
Hadith indicating
the praise of Allah. And praise
is for blessings.
Right? And one of the lessons that we
saw
from those hadiths is
that the,
you know, that
what are the greatest blessings of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Right? The greatest bless the blessings
of Allah in reality
are not material matters.
Right?
The the believers
in one level
as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us in
the Quran,
and he tells us
amongst you are those who seek this worldly
life and amongst you are those who seek
the hereafter.
So the believers
with worldly concern,
what
do they see as their blessings?
They see they see as their blessings
material things.
I got a job, Allah is merciful.
I got married, Allah is merciful.
This
right. They see the things worthy of praise.
What do they say
for?
I had nice Turkish food.
Right?
But none of that
really and all of these are blessings.
But the blessings that matter are the everlasting
blessings. Right? And this was the focus
of
the
hadiths
that we saw. Right? Particularly,
what Allah has
promised the believers in the hereafter.
What Allah
has promised the believers
in the hereafter.
And
there are numerous lessons in those. And for
those of you who are joining in,
this is this daily Roha takes place
normally between Mondays Thursdays
at 7 PM from Seekers Hub Toronto,
and if you look for daily RoHA
in iTunes, it it is also podcast
there.
So the 3rd collection
of 40 hadiths
by Sheikh Yousef and Nabhani.
He says
He
says
40 hadith
in the virtues
of
the noble Quran
and in the virtues of reciting it.
So the the author begins with a very
brief sending of blessings. He says,
All praise is due to Allah.
Lord
of
the worlds.
And
all blessing and all peace be upon our
master, Muhammad,
the master of all messengers,
and upon his folk,
and his companions,
all of them.
To proceed.
These are 40 hadiths on the virtues of
the Noble Quran
and
the virtues of reciting it.
The first hadith,
Sayidna Uthman ibn Affan,
who's known as the Nurayn,
the possessor of the 2 the one of
the of 2 great lights because he was
married to one daughter of the prophet
and when she passed away, to another.
And the third of the Khalifa,
Jami al Quran, the one who gathered the
Quran,
he
said
which is why the the Mus'haf that we
have the the Mus'haf is referred to as
a Mus'haf al Uthmani.
Right?
Why? Because
the
form
the final collection of the mus'ah was done
under the direction of Sayyidina Uthman ibn Affan.
The
that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said, the best of you,
the best
and the the one the most virtuous of
you.
Quran
are those who learn the Quran
and teach it.
And
the
has
many levels,
but has to do with the one who
learns
the text of the Quran
and by learning the meanings of the Quran.
Right? So learning the text of the Quran
has to do with
learning how to how to read the Quran
and how to and by memorizing the Quran.
Right? So this hadith
contain
contains within it many virtues.
The best of you are those who learn
the Quran, it has to do with learning
the text of the Quran, learning its recitation,
and
memorizing it.
And there's many sub aspects of that learning
the text of the Quran
and learning the meanings of the Quran, which
is.
Right?
Right.
The
Sharia sciences
And all of them
in
every
Sharia Science,
the Sharia Sciences, the religious sciences
are
are
either established
by the Quran
or they elucidate the meanings of the Quran
or
they detail the implications of the Quran
or are deduced from the Quran
or are instruments
to understanding the Quran like the
the sciences of language
and and logic and so on.
Right?
So the best of you, the best most
virtuous of you are those who learn
the Quran which has to do with learning
the text of the Quran, it's reading
and
memorizing it
and
the meaning of the Quran,
which is and the meaning of the Quran
is a critical error. The meaning of the
Quran is
is a Sharia sciences.
It is not simply
a textual
textualist
understanding of the Quran.
Right?
The the the Quran is only understood understood
through the Sharia sciences. What is the point
of fiqh unless it is a detailing of
the divine command?
What is the point of hadith except that
it's a detailing
of the divine command? What is the point
of all
of spirituality,
of this, all of them? Right? So
one could diagram this very beautifully. Someone wants
to break
it out. And understanding the Quran
itself, which is the tafsir of the Quran,
tafsir
is only through
the Uluma Sharaya.
Right? And the only person who can
someone doing tafsir is doing one of 2
things.
They are either
conveying to you
the interpretations
of
those capable of interpreting the Quran,
or they are themselves capable of interpreting the
Quran, which requires complete mastery of the Sharia
sciences.
Anyone else talking about
the meanings of the Quran,
beware.
Beware.
The best of you
are those who learn the Quran.
And part of learning,
of course, the the
the and what is necessarily entailed by learning
is
acting accordingly.
And who teach it to others,
who teach it to others whether that be
teaching
the recitation of the Quran
or teaching people, mentoring people to memorize the
Quran
or
with even more virtue
teaching
anything of the Sharia sciences. And there's levels
of virtue in the Sharia sciences.
This is related by Imam Bukhari
and others.
Right?
And everyone should
hearing this should yearn
to
learn
and to convey
for the sake of Allah
to be
of the best of creation are those most
beloved to Allah.
This is
and this is why
virtue with Allah is connected with knowledge.
Right?
In learning it and in conveying it. Right?
And in conveying it.
And every believer should make a commitment to
that, to to properly
recite the Quran
and ta and to properly
and to memorize
some share of the Quran
and to commit to learn all that is
needed
to
live
the meanings of the Quran, which you you
need to have
a a foundational
understanding
of the
sciences of the religion.
Right?
So that and a test do you know
what you need to know in your deen?
That if you read the Quran,
you
when it talks about
inheritance, you know, okay, this is what it's
saying. When it talks about
the criminal punishments, you know what it's talking
about and what it entails. When it's talking
about transactions,
when it's talking about
all the various akham, the command of Allah.
When it's talking about Allah himself
and his prophets, you know,
what we believe about them. When it's talking
about spiritual matters,
right, when Allah talks
about the Akhlaq.
Right?
The inward Akhlaq,
you know, the spiritual
qualities of the heart or the social qualities
of the heart. Whether it's talking about
patience,
you know, sabr
or gratitude, shukr, or talking about the the
social
qualities of the heart such as generosity,
such as
good opinion of others, etcetera. You know
you know
the guidance related to it And that's the
practical
need for the sharia sciences so that one
can live.
And so one has of the of Allah,
the command of Allah.
And of course the other key aspect in
this hadith,
in the Arabic language
as the commentators of hadith make very clear,
taalum
is what is done
by studying under a teacher.
That is taalum in the Arabic language.
Reading has different words in the Arabic language.
Right?
Right?
Right? But Talum
is specific
in its core sense
to that which is done by a Mutaalim
under a Alim.
Right?
And that's very clear.
That's why the prophet said.
Knowledge is only through study.
The second hadith,
The one who recites the Quran
and they
are
expert,
you know, they they have mastery
in in its recitation
is with the the
noble,
righteous,
exalted ones.
Right? The
highest angels.
And the Mahir, there's an outward Mahara,
outward expertise or mastery,
which is they recite it proficiently.
Right?
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, they recite
it as it deserves to be recited.
But that how it deserves to be recited,
there's an outward proficiency in it, but there's
an inward state of the heart.
And the the the Meher Baathinan
is the one who recites it,
but they behold
that they are being addressed by Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
It's.
So they're being addressed by Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
They're in the presence
of Allah and
that even
their lips
are moving by Allah
They behold
Right?
That is inward expertise in reciting it. They
are
in with the highest
noble virtuous
angels.
They are where are they? They're in the
they're in the divine presence.
Such a person is present
in the presence of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And there's an outward
there's an outward expertise but an inward expertise.
And the one who recites the Quran.
And and it it it conveys the meaning
of
the sound
that they struggle with it.
Right?
And they struggle with it.
And it is difficult for them.
For example,
they're a convert
and their language,
their mother tongue
has
letters that are significantly different from the Arabic
language. And many of the Arabic letters are
difficult for them to pronounce or they struggle
with the pronunciation. They're learning
it when they're much older, etcetera.
Such a person has twofold reward.
Right?
The reward of their action and the reward
of their effort.
Right?
But the action Ra'ul Bukhari a Muslim. This
is related by Bukhari a Muslim.
So one aspires to be of those who
are mehir,
who recite it expertly, which is an outward
mastery and an inward mastery.
And a lot of upcoming hadith will discuss
this inward mastery.
But there is also
that if one hasn't attained that and one
has struggle, the struggle itself is beloved to
Allah.
Sheikh Abdul Ghani Nabulsi in his commentary,
explaining the work of the path of Muhammad
by Imam al Birgivi.
He explains that the ulama asked the question
that how do the angels write down a
poor recitation?
So then they record it according to
the intention and the genuine effort of the
servant.
But
everyone should be, you know, everyone should be
working on improving
their recitation.
And if one's serious about the deen,
but and one hasn't reached a level one
hasn't done,
rectifying one's recitation, then one is deficient in
deen.
Right?
Lacking in intellect.
Right?
If this is what Allah and His Messenger
have told us,
where are we from that?
And if someone considers themselves a student of
knowledge and they're not working on their tajweed,
then simply shame on them.
So we should hasten to rectify that situation.
But also there are inward qualities
with respect to the Quran,
the adab of the Quran and that's something
that everyone should take very seriously. Anyone serious
about
acting upon their knowledge
should be
studying and reviewing the adab with the Quran.
And 2
of the greatest works on that, number 1
is Imam Nawawi's work translated as etiquette with
the Quran.
And the second
is the chapter on
the adab with the Quran,
particularly
the the section on the inward spiritual man
the the inward adab with the Quran. No
one has talked about that as brilliantly as
Imam Al Ghazali,
And
we've covered that previously
on
SeekersHub.
So we're going to continue from hadith number
3,
next time,
and we'll read briefly
from
on the adam of the
seeker of knowledge.
And
this work by Imam Zernooji
looks at
what are the qualities
of a success of
a seeking of knowledge that is successful
that
bears fruit.
So we stopped
at the at a summary of the adab
related
to
respecting one's teacher.
Right?
So he says,
wafiljumlah.
Right? So this is
this is in chapter,
the chapter on respecting knowledge and its
people.
Right?
And in summary, one seeks
to please them,
and one avoids displeasing them. And this is,
of course,
the kind of teacher who's fit to follow.
Right?
As and why is that? Because the true
teacher wants what's good for you in your
relationship
with
Allah. They want what's good for you in
you fulfilling your ultimate potential with Allah. This
is why,
Imam,
in his
in their good pleasure, in the good pleasure
of one's
teacher, one's mentor,
right, is
in their good pleasure is the good pleasure
of Allah. Because the true teacher,
they're not telling you things for their sake.
They're, you know, and particularly with respect to
your
learning
and your, you know, and what
and the counsel they give you. Yeah. There.
Well, the key quality of the true teacher,
the true mentoring teacher is that they have
They see good with respect to you.
Right?
So and they say,
Right? What
it
right? That what
it doesn't matter whether you're proud of your
teacher.
But rather whether your teacher is proud of
you.
Right?
And one obeys their command in other than
the disobedience of Allah most high.
For there's no obedience
to creation in disobedience to the creator. Right?
So listening to one's teacher is a condition
for benefit,
but it's a means
to
seeking Allah Subhanahu Wa Salam. Right? It's not
an end in itself.
That though it's related from the prophet that
from the worst of people are those who
rid
themselves of their deen for someone else's worldly
gain.
And one should be careful because everyone, like
our following is a principle following.
A sound following
of scholars
is a principle following
that if they one would not
If they do something wrong, unprincipled,
one would not
follow them in that Now
everyone
can
sometimes.
Right? That's a given.
It does not negate the affirmation
of
electhood of high rank with Allah
for the
the the traits of humanness
to be manifest.
But if if it becomes a norm
and it is not something that the person
disassociates themselves with, they made a mistake, they
go back on it, they repent, they
redressed, they rectify,
then that's very dangerous.
K? And then he says,
and from the respect
of one's teacher is to respect their children
and those associated with them.
The author of the Hidayah,
our teacher, Sheikh Islam, meaning
Al Marghinani,
used to tell us that one of the
great
one of the great imams, the one of
the great scholars
of Bukhara
used to sit
in the the place of teaching his lesson.
And once in a while during the lesson,
he'd get up.
So they asked him regarding that, and this
lesson was probably in the Masjid or in
a public place.
Said that
the the the son of one of my
teachers
plays with the children
in one of the
streets and sometimes comes to the door of
the masjid.
It says, and if I see them,
I stand up out of respect to my
teacher.
That's one story.
Right? So another of the great scholars the
the Imam who
was
the the foremost
imam, the foremost lead scholar of the great
region of Maru.
And even the Sultan there,
the ruler used to respect him
to the utmost of respect. He used to
say, we have only reached this rank
by serving
my teacher.
It
says, I used to serve
the great teacher, the the imam Abu Abu
Yazid the Debussy
or Debussy,
and I served him and cooked for him
his food for 30 years.
Would not eat anything. Imam Abu Dhabi was
one of the great Hanafi
and wrote some brilliant works
both in and
in the,
he has an amazing work called Sisun Nadar
where he looks at
the
underlying principles
in which Imam Abu Hanifa
and his companions
differed that resulted in their differences
in the details of in different
issues. It's an amazing,
very subtle book.
I have yet to see an addition that
the editors understood what he's talking about because
they're all riddled with errors.
So they read it reads like a puzzle.
It's a good deciphering practice.
We'll look at one more story.
So and it's related,
regarding the great imam, Shamsul al Imma, literally
the son of scholars,
Al Halwani. And Al Halwani is one of
the great great imams of the the Hanafi
school,
that
he'd left
Bukhara
and was living in one of the small
towns,
in one of the villages literally,
for for for a period of time because
of some events that happened to him. Because
the scholars would get prominent, but then the
the authorities
would get very sensitive about them. They've all
the the or,
you know, so things would happen. So he
was living in one of the the the
small towns or villages.
And all his students visited him
except for
the the the great imam
So when he finally came, he asked him,
why didn't you visit me? And, of course,
this is going back to an issue that
we totally neglect. It's not just between a
teacher and a student,
but it's a broader thing that
Visiting one another for the sake of Allah
is one of the most important
of the social
sunnahs.
Right? And it's a bid'ah,
and I say it unhesitating. It's a bid'ah
for people not to take the days of
Eid off, At least the 1st day going
back to work when if you have one
vacation day,
take one of the Eid off. If you
have 2 vacation days, take 2 days of
Eid off.
Right? Work through Ramadan,
but the 2 days of Eid are days
of festivity.
Right? And it's a fundamental bid'ah not to
do so. Right?
And failing
to make arrangements for that is just neglect
in deen.
Right? It is religious neglect.
We are commanded to celebrate,
to visit one another, etcetera, and this is
a fundamental,
shortcoming
of visiting,
you know, family first. Right? But,
you know, in in places like Damascus or
Tareem or other cities, we're just an established
Baghdad, I heard this from Sheikh Afifedin al
Jelani, just a given.
2nd day of Eid, it's hapululah lemah.
The the 1st day of Eid is the
right of family. 2nd day of Eid is
the right, if you're religious, of the olema.
You visit them.
Right? You visit them.
And this is well established. Right?
This is well established. And sheikhafi Fidin al
Jelani mentioned the 1 year because sheikhafi Fidin
al Jelani is a direct descendant of sheikh
Abdul Qadir al Jelani.
And so they take care of the masjid
and the and the maqam of of Sheikh
Abdul Khad Al Jilani in Baghdad. And 1
year, with all the
disturbance going on and so on,
on the 2nd day of Eid, he was
not able to visit his teacher, Sheikh Abdul
Khareem Mudadris.
And then
3rd day,
he was busy and he had a dream
that night that
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And
I heard this straight from Sheikh Sheikh Fideen
al Jalani.
He asked him,
Oh,
Afif
oh, Afif Fideen, how come you haven't visited
your teacher?
Sheikh Abdul Karim.
And he woke up, and he went to
visit his teacher. And Sheikh Abdul
Karim, when
he came, he he asked him,
sayid Afifuddin,
you didn't visit me during Eid.
And he apologized, said, but I have a
good store I have a bush rod to
share with you. I said, what is it?
He said,
I saw the prophet,
and he asked me why I didn't visit
you. So I I apologize.
And so sheikh Afibuddin
said, you really saw that? He said, yes.
So let's celebrate.
And he said, let's make tea
and have
Kak, which is the the dry biscuit. That's
all Sheikh Abdul Karim Mudarris had. Sheikh Abdul
Karim Mudarris lived to around 103
or 104, maybe 105 years of age. And
he was
he was teaching
full time dedicated
for over for 90 years,
from when he was in his early teens.
That's why he's known as Al Mudarris. He
had nothing. He lives in a small room
by the masjid
and
was till his death, he was actively teaching.
Great, great imam died about 10 years ago.
So
Al Hawani asked this question.
How come you didn't visit me?
So his student,
the student of
Al Hawani,
I was busy serving my mother.
Said you'll be
you'll be
granted long life,
but you will not be granted
radiance
in your in your teaching
because
and this is based on the hadith of
the prophet
that whoever maintains ties of family
is blessed in their life
either by long life
or by barakah in their time or their
wealth but
they're blessed in their life.
Right? The silatirrahim
lengthens one's life. Either lengthens its amount or
lengthens or expands its blessing
or expands the blessings within it.
But you will not be granted the ronak
which is used in Urdu. The ronak is
from this. May actually be from Farsi.
The radiance,
the the, you know, the benefit
of
of your teaching.
And
and that's how it was.
And this this great otherwise great scholar
lived most of his life
in small towns,
and he would never able to get his
teaching going.
Whoever's teacher
is annoyed by them
is debarred.
Is debarred from the blessing of knowledge.
And one
and others
or either they don't benefit by their knowledge
except a little, or others don't benefit from
their knowledge except a little. And this is
Mujarrab.
It begins, of course the first step is
respect your own teacher
or respect your own teachers.
And second, respect the people of knowledge.
Respect the people of knowledge.
And then,
we'll close with these lines of poetry.
Right? He says, the teacher
and the doctor, both of them, don't give
complete counsel
if they are not respected.
So be patient
with your ailment
if you are bad to your doctor,
and be content with your ignorance
if you're bad to your teacher.
K? Of course, what it means is that,
you know, if you're disrespectful to your doctor,
whatever your doctor tells you, you're like,
well, I disagree. What your doctor is not
really gonna tell you what you need to
know. I said, well, you know, why do
I tell you?
Right?
Right?
It's not that, I mean, the doctor will
do their job, but will they go above
and beyond to help you? No.
Right? And this, of course, is especially based
on
a model of where
you had much closer,
much more holistic relationship with your doctor.
Right?
And that's the basis with one's teacher.
So be content with your sickness if you
are
rude to your doctor
and be content
and suffice yourself with your ignorance
if you are
if you wrong your teacher.
Because most of the benefit of the teacher
student relationship
is not in the class,
but by their counsel and by their guidance
and by observing them and by
acquiring
the attitude to knowledge
and the
tools,
right,
and the application of the tools of knowledge
that the teacher has. But that's only through
establishing
a genuine relationship of closeness. And it's not
saying that you cook and clean for your
teacher and that's it.
Right? But
it's one of the things that to acquire
closeness to the teacher by being worthy of
that. Right? And that that's a that's an
art.
And then
we'll continue
tomorrow or on Monday by looking at the
story of Harun al Rashid
when he sent his son
to one of the great
scholars of the Arabic language, Usma'i.
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