Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #044 Beautiful Recitation of the Quran Striving & Exerting Oneself to Learn The Frontline o
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
You're listening to the Roha, 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 Zarnouji's guidance for
seekers of knowledge regarding the ways of seeking
knowledge.
We're continuing to look at
the 40 Hadiths
in praise
of the Noble Quran and in praise
of its recitation
by Sheikh Youssef
and Nabihani Rahimahullahahu
ta'ala.
And we stopped at hadith number 23.
So today we're beginning with hadith number
23. Correct?
That
Abu Hurair
relates that
he heard the Messenger of Allah say
Allah
has not allowed
anything
as he has allowed for a prophet
to have
a beautiful voice
by which
they recite the Quran
beautifully
and
exert themselves
regarding this.
That and the meaning of Allah has not
permitted, has not allowed anything
even his permission
meaning that Allah is not pleased
with anything as he is pleased
with even a prophet
who to have a beautiful voice
and to
is literally to sing.
Is to sing, but here it means
to recite melodiously,
to recite
in a beautiful manner
and with a beautiful intonation. So the beautiful
manner would be
in accordance with the rules of proper recitation,
but you can beautify that. Right?
You can follow the rules but in a
flat
tone, but you can also do it in
a with with a beautiful
melodious intonation.
Right? That one exerts themselves
who exerts themselves in it.
Because you can recite properly,
but plainly. You can do it properly and
beautify it, but you can strive to beautify
it as much as you can.
Right? So the underlying thing is that it
is
even for a prophet.
It is pleasing to Allah that they beautify
their voice.
Right?
And that they
chant the Quran melodiously,
to chant it, to recite it melodiously
in accordance with the rules of proper recitation
and to make that recitation then melodious and
beautiful
and to exert themselves
in that.
And they say the sign of this being
sincere
is that you recite properly and melodiously when
you're alone as you recite it
as when you're in front of people.
And that's sort of the safeguard
for sincerity in our acts of worship.
They say
being true is that one's
outward and inward are the same. One's public
and private are the same.
So one safeguard
against
unconscious showing off is that the way you
do your father and your nafil and your
sunnah, etcetera, the way you do it in
public should be the same as you do
it in private and vice versa.
Hadith number 24.
What what is?
Right?
So
here
the same meaning
repeated,
may Allah be well pleased with him,
said that the messenger of Allah
said Allah
had
grants greater permission
for a person
of beautiful voice with the Quran,
that beautify your voice as you wish, than
a person who has a slave with respect
to their slave.
Right?
Rahu ibnu Majah. Right? So this is one
of the things to keep in mind is
that the prophet addressing those
who are around him as well, that
this was something permitted
at that time and present
and the owner of a slave has rights
over the slave. And
the
and in that societal context, right, some people
are troubled that how come there was slavery
at the time of Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam? And we say there was no
injustice
in
the upholding of that in that context. Why?
1, because it was encouraged to, number 1,
to free them. Number 2,
slaves arose in the context of war.
It was there was no
political, economic, or social feasibility
to take
to imprison prisoners.
Where are you going to keep them?
Right? So what are you going to do?
You're gonna slaughter
them? You're going to what are you going
to do? So this was
this was a way where they were integrated
into society.
Right? They were integrated
into
society.
Right? And and that applied in that context.
This is not an institution in which there
is any inherent merit
or desirability.
Rather,
the greatest
of good act of good worldly actions includes
freeing a slave.
There's 2 ways in life as we know
in the Quran.
The Aqaba, which is the highway
and then there's
the low road, the way of virtue and
the way of wrongdoing.
And the first act mentioned is a what
is a a foundational virtuous act?
Is to free a slave.
But practically,
you don't judge society by the fact that
it has prisons. Prisons are not
good institutions.
Okay? But what is the alternative?
Like, if someone commits a crime, you slaughter
them.
But unlike prisons where all kinds of people
go in for all kinds, this was limited.
The institution of slavery was limited to
someone could only be in prison in the
context of war, nothing else.
And there's other limitations to it. And there's
guidance on their proper treatment, their proper
care, etcetera. And
then there's establish
social expectations because the purpose was for them
to be integrated. Now and we're very clear,
this is not something that the Sharia has
encouraged, but this is the reality that it's
dealing with and how do you make things
better to the extent possible.
Right?
And not not to make any comparison, but
if you judge the rule of a ruler
or a president,
you don't judge them in the abstract,
but you judge them in the context
of what is within their ability.
Right? So whoever is going to judge
whichever president. Let's just say
president Obama. You don't just judge, okay, what
did he do, but what what was he
able to do given the circumstances limiting him?
Poor you know, the guy,
first day he's president, he says, I'm gonna
close Guantanamo. I'm gonna close Guantanamo. He wanted
to close it before he got elected, but
he couldn't because there's
political circumstances that congress would not never approve
that.
And there's practically where you're gonna send the
prisoners. Right? Whether it's right or wrong is
not the point, but you have to look
at what are the surrounding circumstances. And then
from those circumstances, there arise expectations.
Right? So relations with one's female slave was
something that that was
socially
accepted by both sides of the relationship,
and there was an understood
wisdom and purpose in it. Why? Because we
may find it very difficult to how could
that be? We have to step back. Don't
judge
the past
by your standards, and don't think that we
are somehow better than they are.
Right? But rather, there's also why was it
accepted by the one who is enslaved?
That
the this, you know, the slave girl, if
she has a child
from
her her master, that child is born free.
And the umulwala becomes free by the freedom
of her child.
So that integrates someone. So
someone oh, you some village were was captured.
They are prisoners.
They're enslaved. Now what you
they were captured. In other
your people,
this was a way of of integrating them
and giving them rights rather than violating them
than violating their rights or killing them. Because
what are you going to do with so
it's not a good institution,
but it's a sometimes
there's certain
institutions, certain human choices
that are a matter of diminishing harm rather
than achieving benefit.
Right?
So and there's some very good discussions. One
of the most insightful people that's written about
this
and spoken about this is doctor Ingrid Madsen
who did her graduate academic research on this
and the institution of the Umul Waleed.
Right? So, of course, where we find ourselves
in, there's some literalist fools who say
that we're we're reviving the institution of slavery.
Why? Because pleasing to Allah?
That that's foolishness. Right? That's that's foolishness.
When the prophet
praised, for example,
the tasbih after the prayer,
saying subhanAllah,
this is better than freeing a slave from
the children of Ibrahim
from the descendants of Sayid Nabraham.
Right? That this is of unimaginably great reward,
and that's the reward of freeing a slave.
One of the categories of zakat, where is
where should charity be given? One of them
is to buy
the freedom of a slave.
So that that's what the that's what the
lawgiver
wants.
That that is the what is sought. But
there's also a reality that how do you
deal with it,
and how do you live within that reality
going towards
those ideals.
So just as the owner has a has
rights over that,
the person who has Quran
should
beautify
their recitation of the
So relates to the Messenger of Allah
said,
adorn the Quran with your voices.
Adorn the Quran with your voices.
Dua Lama explained this in a number of
ways. One is that this is
there's a there's a rhetorical reversal
here
which actually means
adorn
your voices with the Quran.
That's one of the ways it's understood
as a the commentators on the hadith, and
there's a number similar hadith.
To adorn your voice, the most beautiful thing,
but also it can be literal that the
Quran
has rights.
The Quran has rights.
Reside the Quran
with with
steady measured tones.
The other
Quranic verses,
who recite it as it deserves to be
recited.
And part of that is
to
strive to recite it beautifully. Practically, what that
means is we should always be working on
one's on our Tajweed,
right, reviewing it. 1, to learn it,
to learn
sound recitation,
but then to go from sound recitation to
good recitation, to excellent recitation.
But
all these things require review, which you see,
macheikh, if someone comes who knows who's an
adept Quran reciters and say, I'd like to
review my
my Quran under them. Why?
Or review the fed, review, sir, and spend
that time
also
benefiting from improving one's recitation because there's a
prophetic
there's a divine call and a prophetic call
to that.
The final hadith we'll look at today,
hadith number 26,
So,
say, Nasad ibn Abi Waqqas
relates that the prophet said,
whoever
does not
chant the Quran beautifully
is not of us.
And this expression not of us is not
following our way as it deserves to be
followed. Doesn't mean that they're doesn't
mean that they're
doesn't mean is not following us as
they should be following us.
Right?
And let me
Quran.
Most of the ulama said what it means
is whoever does not
beautify their voice, the whoever doesn't try to
improve their voice with the Quran.
The basic level would be to recite
it soundly.
Right? To to to have a sound recitation.
That's at the level of obligation.
Then there is
Tassinulqira'a,
then there is
reciting not just validly
but
well,
which is because Tajweed has a basic level
of Tajweed,
which is Tassihul hruf, right, one pronounces each
letter
correctly
and one does the,
you know, the different
vowels and so on correctly.
But then there are there's a
from valid recitation, a proper recitation which is
to fulfill
the Muqamilat of Tajweed. The details
of proper recitation. That's highly recommended.
And then there there there is more to
it which is the your own striving to
beautify your voice with it. You're reading it
with internal feeling and and
and emotion
and care and presence and so on. And
there's an internal taghani bil Quran, that to
be moved by it. Right?
That's the majority.
Right? It it has to do with an
outward aspect, but there's also a second meaning
that the olema of, you know, the the
olema of, you know, who commented on on
on these hadiths mentioned, which is is from
whoever
does
not find
their sufficiency in the Quran
from other than it is not of us.
Right? From,
right, which is to be free of need.
Whoever doesn't find
their sufficiency in the Quran
is not of us. That's a less likely
meaning because it's not the most obvious
from the
lexical structure, but it is it is possible
from the lexical structure, and there's also a
meaning there. The whoever does not find sufficiency
in the Quran that they they look
you know, they they prefer other ideas and
theories. So it's okay. How should I conduct
myself? Well, there's these theories and so on.
And, yeah, well, the Quran says that. You
know? So I'm feeling stressed out. So instead
of saying, well, the Quran says to make
zikr,
say, well, let me do yoga.
And and well, that's what I'm doing these
days. Right? That's not falling to sunnah.
Right? And a lot of people are stuck
in those kinds of things as well.
Right?
That's a secondary meaning, but the ulema has
both are sound, but the more more obvious
meaning of the hadith itself,
whoever does not,
whoever does not recite the Quran beautifully is
not of us. And, of course, reciting it
beautifully
is striving to recite it beautifully.
That you seek to do so and you
exert your effort
in doing so even if it at present
comes out badly.
Okay. So that's what we wanted to look
at today. So we should all
make a serious commitment to
learn to read if we haven't learned it
and if we have,
then to always to check because errors creep
in.
And errors
creep in.
And we're going to look next at
the,
the work Talim al Mu'ta'lim.
We we're in the section on,
striving
and consistency and high resolve,
and
we talked about and he's talking about,
you know, consistent effort that whoever keeps knocking
on the door
and is consistent in their knocking will eventually
enter.
Long, meaning to the extent that you keep
reminding yourself and renewing
your aspiration, will you attain what you aspire
to? Please say, okay. I want to be
able to benefit myself and others with knowledge.
But then you don't think about it. So
to the extent that you renew
your
temeni, which is your hope, to the extent
that you to the extent that you hope,
will you attain what you hope?
Meaning, to the extent that you keep renewing
your your your your goals.
And
in that regard says that if the light
of spiritual insight
were
shining in your heart, then you see the
hereafter
being
so close to you that you don't have
to travel to it because it's hot.
Right? And just as you live in creative
things, time itself is just created. Right? Time
is not some ultimate reality. Time is just
a relationship between created things.
K? So
Jannah and Nar,
closeness
to Allah and distance,
they're all
immediate
they they are just as real as the
moment you're in. Actually, the moment you're in
is fleeting because as soon as you're in
it, you're out of it.
Right? So the goals that matter, that last
to the extent that one
has them and to the extent that one
reminds oneself of them, we'll be able to
attain them.
And and also spiritually,
call upon me and I'll answer you. So
if you ask him and you keep asking
him and you keep seeking it, Allah will
grant it to you.
Why else is he the merciful?
It
said, it is said that 3 require
striving
in learning
and in gaining understanding.
There's 3 that require
striving
for
in the path of study
and gaining understanding, tafakkuh.
Al Mutalim,
the student.
They have to strive.
They have to exert the effort
to learn and
to review and so on.
And the teacher because they have to be
giving of their time and their attention and
their counsel.
And the parent.
If they're still alive.
Because the family has to be patient
that well, because your parents want the success
of their child, etcetera. So now you you're
at an age where you could be working,
you could progress in your career, etcetera,
but the parents have to strive.
1, to put off their material
goals for their child for the other goals
that they have. They may have may strive
in supporting their child
in their goals and that's something very neglected.
A lot of
the the the learned scholars their their parents
put, you know, in the old days people
used to study
for decades.
I was talking to Sheikh Salic and said,
who's a scholar in our time?
And
he was only Sheikh Salic could pull something.
He said,
who says that Murabitat Hajj is a is
an imam?
He's a he's someone who can explain the
text to you,
Said no one is a decisive proof.
Only he could say that, the context. Said
said he said we we've studied under Murabitul
Hajj for, you know, 20
25 years. I said, well, just a Talib
as well. I can explain some books to
you, and that's that's all I can do.
So
but it requires time and to support them,
you know, and to facilitate for them. That
all requires striving.
Right? So
he
says, one of his teachers,
told
him some lines of portrait of
He said, striving draws close
every high
difficult
matter.
And
by striving
are opened
all doors
that were locked.
And the most deserving of Allah's creation
in having high resolve
of of having concern
is a person who has high aspiration,
who is
tested
with
constrained,
material
conditions.
And then if you have high aspiration and
there's constrained material,
you you know, you're not able
to
attain some fleeting worldly goals. You know, you
don't have enough money to buy
the latest gadget
or you live you live in a house
that the other people
in your age group, they they own this
and that, but you have other priorities,
then
the people most deserving
of
of Allah's creation to have
high concern
is a person who has a high aspiration.
They want to attain something,
and they're tested with constrained
livelihood
whether the high aspiration is a high spiritual
aspiration
or high knowledge aspiration or even a high
worldly aspiration. I remember, you know, my one
of my uncles, everyone thought he was nuts.
He was convinced
that he'd he'd discovered
a synthetic fiber that could make really good
cloth. And I was always
nuts. And then they even
his his
father and uncles had a business. He
didn't take a share of that business.
He lived in someone else's house. It's embarrassing.
It within the family. He drove someone else's
car. I used to stay with them
when I went to Pakistan.
And it was like, most days just rice
and lentils for for lunch.
Meat was
relatively rare.
Everyone was like, he's the black sheep, the
embarrassment in the family, but he had an
aspiration. Well, he couldn't care less. He'd go
every day to this little shop he had.
He's working. What are you doing? So I'm
he's like the the nerdy scientist.
I've almost got it right, but it wasn't
worth. It took better part of a decade.
Now he employs,
whatever, 1200 plus people, travel all over the
world, always traveling first class.
We know because
the pictures get shared on our WhatsApp group.
But it takes if you really want something,
then doesn't matter.
You you're patient with
the the short term
or just the the the worldly considerations. And
and if the more important what you seek
is, the more you would sacrifice in that.
He says, from the signs
of divine decree
and divine judgment
that things are by Allah's decree and judgment
is
the
the poverty
of one smart
and the comfortable life of a fool.
Like, it could only be
because really smart people and they're poor and
this total dumb person, and they're successful. Why?
Because it's that's a sign, said Imam Shafeh,
of there being divine decree
and divine judgment.
However,
the one who's
Right?
However, the one who's granted
intelligence
is prevented
from
mere
fleeting wealth
because opposites
part
completely. Meaning, the one who is truly smart
would not just be seeking material
richness
because what you the intelligent person should be
seeking
is not merely the material.
And I heard from other than him, from
other than
It
says,
I said, you you long to become
a
and a
of high rank who can debate others
without
and here it may be minhrei ana in.
Yeah. There's a mistake in the copy here.
Without toil.
And madness is of different
and madness has many forms
that you want to be.
Do you want to become
a faqih and a munavir,
a great
scholar of fiqh and was able to debate
people and to become a great scholar without
exerting yourself? Anna
is
is toil,
and madness has many forms.
Right?
Said
acquiring wealth doesn't happen without effort,
without hardship
that you take on.
So how could knowledge
be attained otherwise?
Just so you have to work hard
to to gain wealth. How could you how
else could you gain knowledge?
Right?
And then there's these beautiful lines by Abu
Tayib. And who's Abu Tayib?
Abu Taib is al Mutanabbi.
Al Mutanabbi
was one of the greatest of the Arab
poets in the Islamic period,
and he was a real character. And I
won't go in if you want to Google
Mutanabbi,
he was
one heck of a character,
and I won't tell you why he's called
al mutineb bi.
But anyways,
Abu Tayyib al mutineb bi.
And a lot of the Arab poets
poets were honored by the Arabs, even the
Islamic age,
and and rulers like surrounding themselves with poets.
They're like
the worldly celebrities.
But a lot of times, they're praising
the rulers and and so on, and many
lines of poetry that the Ulema use in
reference
to
pray to to talk about
Allah is actually the poet actually used it
to praise the ruler who was giving them
their stipend. So one of them said in
praise of the the ruler
that
had
if he had nothing in his hand
other than his very life
and you asked him for it, he would
give it.
So let the one asking
beware.
And this was mentioned regarding, I think it
was Sayfud Daulah of Aleppo. May Allah
protect it and bring it peace and protect
its people from
the genocide taking place.
But ibn Rajab quotes that and said these
lines in reality
apply to no one in creation but the
prophet
that if he had nothing in his hand
except his very soul
and he was asked for it, he would
give that too. So let
the one asking beware.
So he said,
he said, this would only apply. It was
only befitting Allah. So
he said, and these are amazing lines. If
you're a student of knowledge, you should memorize
them.
And always
look at yourself
with respect to this.
Right?
Because there's many books that talk about, you
know, if elderly people, when they reach old
age,
how they feel.
And one thing, a lot of old people
thinking old people. Rafla is a great mercy
of Allah. A lot of people don't think.
They tend to be happier than people who
think.
One of the biggest things that they regret
is that they didn't make most of their
life. So
he
says, So I have not seen in the
faults of people
a fault
like the falling short of those able
from
completion.
And
I have not seen in the in the
faults, in the blameworthy qualities of people any
blameworthy quality
like the falling short of those able from
complete attainment.
That's why they say,
missing out is complete loss.
And in that light, this is what the
message of Surah Al Asr is.
By time, man is indeed
in in loss, immersed in loss.
What is the you know, and that which
is why
Sheikh Abdulhaman al Shahuri in his argument in
his most famous poem,
He says,
Sahi, my dear friend,
Sahi
is dear friend,
make the most of your life.
How many a dead person has he given
life? And even if you feel that you're
totally dead right now,
ask him, and he'll give you
life.
Never
ever
would he let down ever
one who comes to him with true intention.
Right?
But what do you have to do?
Empty your heart
for him to manifest.
And other than him, anything that will not
lead to him,
let go,
dear friend.
Let go of it.
Right?
Right?
Right? And he explains
the way of spiritual turning. Right? So commit
to it. And then
from that, he says, and we'll close with
these lines.
He says,
It's necessary for the seeker to stay up
at night. Of course, staying up at night
here has a context.
In the old days, once it was dark,
it would be dark to be lights out.
And if
and try that at home sometime.
After I switch off all the lights,
like all of them including digital devices, etcetera,
you'll fall asleep.
Right? One of the things that prevents proper
sleep is that you have
sources of light because the human being, if
there's light, they want to be awake
naturally. So
so people would
at night,
the body naturally inclined to sleep. So here,
staying up is to sacrifice
some of the excess
sleep
for seeking knowledge or sacrifice some of the
excesses that are done at night
of idle socializing,
idle entertainment, etcetera.
It's to sacrifice
the excess of sleep or the excess
that is done at night. That's what's meant
by sleep staying up at night. It doesn't
mean that deprive
yourself of sleep.
Right? He he
says, as the poet said,
Where is
It says, by to the extent of striving,
is
like jid.
To the extent of striving are high matters
attained,
and whoever
seeks high things
stays up at night, but stays up at
night in seeking them.
Not in I I stay up at night,
come as student of knowledge. But what are
you doing at night?
Oh, I'm following the US elections. Are you
voting? No. Then
You seek
honor, but then you sleep at night.
The one
seeking pearls
dives in to the ocean.
High attainment
is through
high
resolves,
and the honor of a person
is through staying up at night, making, sacrificing
comfort
and I and,
you know, idleness
for
what matters.
So he says, and whoever seeks high matters
without striving
waste their life
in seeking the absurd.
Then he addresses Allah Subha
Says, I have left sleep,
oh lord, at night
for the sake of your good pleasure,
oh master of masters.
So grant me facilitation
to attain
knowledge
and make me reach
to the highest limits
of high rank, meaning of high ranks of
closeness to you.
Right?
So, of course, this is not to be
excessive. Your body has rights over you, but
also you
wrong yourself with respect to what you do
at night. Right? So that's one of the
times that one
makes the most of. Most people get home
at a certain time from their work and
from there
till you look at from the time they're
done,
their work
to fajr time,
what are they doing? There's a lot of
dead time.
Right? So that but the prophet
said and this applies to the night as
well. Someone asked him about sleep. He said
excess is not in sleep, but the excess
is in wakefulness.
So the ulama say and I kept asking
king Sheikh Mohammed Pailesh about how much should
one sleep, and he kept saying
that
that
excess
is
not in sleep, excess is in wakefulness.
Right? That first optimize
your waking hours. So what what they
staying up at night, meaning
making your nighttime fruitful,
and nighttime begins with Maghrib. So from Maghrib
time
till the time you go to work the
next day. How are you spending that?
How are you spending the waking hours there?
Optimize that first because that's more discretionary. Once
you've optimized that, then look at how much
should I be sleeping.
And you try to optimize. Because you optimize,
you make the most of what you have
control
over first then what is more difficult
to control. So we ask Allah to
grant us high resolve in that and we'll
close
by
the words of Imam Malik ibn Anas
as mentioned by Ibn Abdul Bar in his
amazing work.
So this is from the
from the council of
of Imam Malik that is not befitting someone
who has some knowledge to leave learning,
which
is why it has come in narrations from
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
right,
as related by Abu Zar
that the messenger of the
said, that if death comes
to a seeker of knowledge or and they're
in that state of seeking knowledge,
they die
a martyr.
Right?
And,
and this is
related by
ibn Abi Sheba in his Musanaf
and
by Adarimi and others
and the meaning is sound and the meaning
is sound and there's many related
narrations. It's confirmed by the words of the
prophet that
whoever pursues a path seeking knowledge therein, they're
on the path of Allah. And one who's
on the path of Allah is a mujahid.
And the high and of the highest forms
of jihad is
seeking knowledge, right, seeking knowledge with its intentions
to and to spread knowledge with its intentions.
Right?
You know the intentions encapsulated by Imam Al
Haddad,
whoever is on that path,
you know, as facilitated with them to them
in their life. They're on the path of
Allah, so one dies on that path, one
dies a shahid.
And one dies a shahid. And that metaphor
of seeking knowledge being a jihad,
there's numerous hadiths about it that is on
the path of Allah. And also
that leaving the seeking of knowledge
and once, you know,
the it's considered one of the worst forms
of fira'ru minazahaf,
one of the greatest of enormities
is to flee from the front lines
is to flee from the front lines in
jihad.
And they say of the most dangerous types
of fleeing from the front lines is to
not fulfill one's duty with respect
to the preservation of the deen, and the
preservation of the deen is through 'ilm and
through dawah. That am I doing what I
should be doing in seeking and spreading knowledge
given what Allah has facilitated for me?
And am I
calling to Allah
and striving to do so
and in a manner that fulfills the communal
obligation of calling to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
given my circumstances. Right? And particularly those who
are aware of that,
you know,
that's,
that's something that, you know, should
be
that's,
you know, that's the
that's what stirred the concern of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, right?
So we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
for for that for that concern and the
striving that that arises
from that concern.
Thank you for listening to the Roaha, daily
guidance for seekers with Sheikh Farazrabani.
Help SeekersHub
give light to 1,000,000 around the world by
supporting us through monthly donations by going to
seekershub.org/
donate.
Your donations are tax deductible in the US
and Canada.