Ismail Kamdar – Al-Ghazali’s Tadabbur Tips – Quranic Reflections

			One is color moolah. It is the speech of Allah. The Quran is Kalam Allah, it is the speech of Allah.
Just take time to reflect on that. Allah has sent us a message, we have direct access to that
message. You can read that message yourself and reflect on it yourself. Do we do we realize what a
high status the Quran has. When you realize that the Quran is on such a high level, it is the kalam
of Allah it is the speech of Allah, it is Allah speaking directly to us, then this should cause us
to pay more attention to it, to take it more seriously, to spend more time with it. Because this is
no ordinary book. This is Allah's message to you. And to me and to all of us.
		

			Imam Al Ghazali then tells us in his second tip on how to do the double, he tells us that when we
are reflecting on the Quran, and when we first take time to realize that this is the kalam of Allah,
we should then praise Allah, we should do zikr we should express gratitude to Allah for giving us
the Quran. So our double should begin from a place of gratitude from a place of vicar that we thank
Allah for sending us this book. We thank Allah for making us Muslims. We thank Allah for giving us
direct access to his column.
		

			So we begin from a place of gratitude and what these two terms do, recognizing the Quran is Kalam
Allah, and being grateful to Allah what this does is, it makes us start our recitation of the Quran
from a position of being connected to Allah. So you're not reciting Quran, just as a ritual, you're
not reciting Quran because everybody else is doing it, you now have this direct connection with
Allah that you recognize this is gala Mala. And you are thankful to Allah for sending it to you. So
you are going to approach it in a very special way.
		

			The third tip that Imam Al Ghazali gives us is to be focused, to have your heart present in your
recitation of the Quran to be focused, we know as human beings, our thoughts label, right,
especially in this day and age where everybody's always consuming micro content, it's become very
hard for people to pay attention to things for long periods of time. But as Muslims, we must train
ourselves to do so we must train ourselves to be able to focus whether it's on our salah, or whether
it's on reciting Quran, or even when it comes to our work in our studies, we must be able to focus
and to commit to something for a long period of time. So Mr. Ghazali, he reminds us that when
		

			reciting Quran, we must focus our heart, our attention should be entirely on what we are reciting.
It's not enough that you just recite the Quran, you must give it your full attention.
		

			And again, these things are all working together. When you understand that this is Allah, Allah, and
when you thank Allah for his color, you will give it more attention than when you are just reading
in ritual. Right? All of these things work together to build up towards the double. And then tip
number four, Imam Ghazali tells us now you do to double. Now you sit and you reflect.
		

			So it's not that you just open up and say okay, I'm going to do the double. No, you have to build
build up to it. You have to put yourself in the light right mindset for it. And to put yourself in
the right mindset for it. You have to remember Allah you have to remember where the Quran is from
and what the Quran is about and you have to focus now that you are focused and you are connected to
Allah. Now you can reflect on the Quran. Now you can take time to sit and think, What is Allah
saying to me? What is the what is the message that I'm supposed to get out of this verse out of the
surah out of the story, and you can take time to think of over the Quran and it's an it's a personal
		

			connection to your life.
		

			We know from the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that he would do the double in
his tahajjud to such an extent that I Sharon, Johanna Raisa one night, he just recited one verse
over and over again in his tahajjud because he was reflecting on the meanings of that verse. He was
doing the double on that verse. When was the last time we took a verse of the Quran. And we just sat
and we recited it over and over again thinking about what does this verse mean? How does this verse
apply to my life? What is Allah trying to tell me in this verse? This is the double. You focus in on
the verse, you've got focused on a surah you focus in a passage and you ask yourself, What is Allah
		

			telling me in this passage?
		

			Then Imam Ghazali says you should try to
		

			understand the Quran, you cannot do it the double of the Quran, if you don't understand it, right,
you cannot do the double of the Quran if you don't understand this is the biggest value. For many of
us when it comes to the double, that we don't understand the Quran.
		

			And of course, Imam Al Ghazali was speaking to a Arabic audience in the audience whose first
language is Arabic, so he didn't have to discuss the language barrier. But even when people who
speak Arabic there is value as to understanding the Quran, because you may not be familiar with the
history of the Quran, you may not be familiar with specific verses why they will reveal you may not
be fully familiar with certain verses and the legal implications, or if they are talking about
historical incidents, what the incident actually is. So you need to put effort into understanding
the Quran. And that means that the seal is necessary for the demo.
		

			Because one of the conditions for one to double to be acceptable is that he cannot contradict the
Orthodox tafsir meaning if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And the Sahaba understood a verse
in a certain way, you cannot come up with a new interpretation that contradicts that you can build
on top of that, you can add to that you can go deeper than that. But you can't contradict that, that
is the meaning that cannot be changed, right. So you need to understand the * in order to do
the double. So this means taking time to study the Quran. This means taking time to study industry
with a scholar. This means taking time to understand the many layers of meaning within the Quran.
		

			And the field itself is a miracle. The fear itself is a miracle.
		

			Because there's no other book on Earth,
		

			in which you can spend your entire lifetime reflecting on it, and studying it. And you still find
deeper and deeper meanings to it. Think about how many volumes of Tafseer have been written over the
past 1400 years. Yet more tough scenes continue to be written today.
		

			This is the medical this is part of the infinite speech of Allah, that Allah speech is not just
infinite in Asia, but it's infinite in depth, that no matter how deep you go into the Quran, and
always more deeper meanings to uncover, that you can take a single Surah of the Quran. And you can
have 1000s of volumes of Tafseer on a single verse of the Quran.
		

			And so Imam Al Ghazali reminds us in that he says that the Quran, part of its miraculous nature is
that there's no end to its meanings, to study its stuff, see it and then do the double, because
there's always something more to unlock. And then he says you should remove any barrier between you
and understanding the Quran, you should remove any barrier between you and the understanding of the
Quran. Now in our times our value, our biggest value, which he doesn't mention is language, right?
Because many of us don't understand Arabic. And to overcome this barrier, I will give you a short
term solution and the long term solution, short term solution, have a good translation of the Quran,
		

			and a good English translation of a tafsir in your home. This is a short term solution, that you
have a good translation and you read the translation, long term solution, learn Arabic, learn
Arabic, it's important to understand the Quran in Arabic, because many things are lost in
translation. And you're not gonna get the same understanding and reflection from a translation that
you wrote from the original Arabic. So in the short term to overcome this barrier, we can access a
translation, keeping in mind that translations have mistakes. translations are human efforts, and
many things are lost in translation. But it's still better than nothing. It's still better to have a
		

			translation and not to understand it at all. But same time we must understand the human limitations
of translation. So to overcome the language barrier when understanding the Quran, it is important
that we that we access its meaning and this means accessing a translation and overtime learning
Arabic itself. It's interesting that Imam Ghazali mentioned three obstacles to understanding the
Quran that were common in his time. And to some extent they are common in our time as well.
Actually, I'll see some of these are very common in our time. So let's go through the three
obstacles to understanding the Quran and Imam bizagi mentioned Number one, he said being too
		

			obsessed with the tweet. Very interesting, right Imam Ghazali said some people are too obsessed with
that read what does this mean? are you so obsessed with being perfect in your recitation? And in the
end in articulating every letter properly? Some people are so obsessed with this, that they've never
taken time to study the meanings of the Quran.
		

			It's only about how it's recited not about what does it mean? There has to be some
		

			Valencia, we have to, yes, learn how to recite the Quran properly. But we also have to understand
the meanings. It's not one or the other. So you want to get some people to only focus on it that
read to a level of perfectionism, which is impossible for most people, by the way, most people
cannot be perfect and get the treat, right.
		

			And so he's warns against people who are perfectionist in Madrid, to the extent that they forget to
study the meanings of the Quran. So he says, You have to focus on the meanings as well. The second
barrier to understanding that he mentioned is very important and relevant to our time. And that is
sectarianism, that you go into the Quran, with your beliefs already formed. And now you're trying to
make the Quran match what you already believe. And most of us are guilty of this at some point or
another in our lives that for some topic or another, we already think that we know what's the right
answer, or we really think we know what the religion should say. So now we trying to find ways to
		

			make the Quran say what we want it to say. So he says you cannot access the Quran, with your
opinions already formed. You have to be willing to let the Quran shape your opinions. You have to be
willing to let the Quran correct you. And you cannot do that with a sectarian mindset. You have to
approach the Quran from the humble perspective of, I don't know, Allah knows whatever Allah says
he's right.
		

			And number three, very important, he said the third barrier towards understanding the Quran is that
our own personal sins and arrogance, because the Quran is the light of Allah. It is a neuro it is a
light of Allah subhana wa Taala it cannot penetrate the heart that has too much sins and arrogance
in it. So part of the double Is this the art of reflecting on the Quran is that we seek Allah's
forgiveness and we try and purify our souls before accessing the Quran, because our sins may be an
obstacle between us and understanding the Quran.
		

			Finish off.
		

			Just a few more tips, Imam Ghazali mentioned number seven is to imagine that Allah is talking to you
directly. Very important. Sometimes we treat the Quran as if it's talking to a people of the past.
The best way to recite the Quran, Allah is talking to you directly, right? Because Allah says, Every
warning, every glad hiding every command, every prohibition, treat it as if ALLAH is talking to you
directly. That's how you get the best out of it. Number eight, he tells us be emotionally invested
in what you are reading. So earlier he told us to focus in terms of our intellect to focus on what
we are reading, then he tells us to be emotionally invested in what we read. What does that mean?
		

			When the Quran describes Jahannam you should feel fear. When the Quran describes Jana, you should
feel hope and desire agenda. When the Quran tells you a story of a prophet, you should be
emotionally invested in that story. You should be caught up in that story, go into the emotions with
the people in that story. It's you shouldn't be cut off. Like you're just reading something that has
no effect on you. The Quran is supposed to have an impact on us emotionally, so let it affect you
emotionally.
		

			Number nine, it helps us to strengthen our connection with the Quran, which means we should recite
it more often, we should treat it with respect, and we should do this on a daily basis isn't
something we should do once in a while. And finally, number 10 Imam Al Ghazali reminds us to be
humble. You cannot benefit from the Quran. If you have arrogance in your heart, you have to be
completely humbled that this is the kalam of the Creator and readjust the creation and Allah knows
best and whatever Allah says is right. And you have to approach it with complete humility.
Otherwise, we are not going to benefit from the Quran. So to conclude, we say that in the month of
		

			Ramadan, we increase in our recitation of the Quran and with that we should increase in our double
of the Quran. So we went over 10 times Imam Ghazali gives in the * alone the deen about how to
improve the quality of your reflection on the Quran. He tells us to appreciate the source of the
Quran and it is from Allah to praise Allah and be grateful to Allah when we begin our to double, to
be focused and present. To do it focus with the present heart. Number four, to do the actual act of
the double number five to ensure we study the Tafseer as well. Number six to remove any barriers
between us and understanding the Quran number seven to imagine that Allah is talking to us directly
		

			number eight, to be involved emotionally invested in the recitation of the Quran. Number nine, to
have a strong connection with the Quran and number 10. To be humble. We ask Allah to grant us the
correct understanding of the Quran to make it the light of our hearts and the guidance of our deeds
will accrue Tawana and hamdulillahi rabbil aalameen
		

			hamdulillah
		

			Shawanda was Salatu was Salam ala Mala and the inner circle Hadith Nikita Bula will tell you how do
you have the Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was Shabbat morning to ha Columbo
		

			will be at the end Gadalla beaucoup de la.
		

			To just a few more points about the Dubourg one of the mistakes we make is that we
		

			overstep sometimes we don't realize the limits of the debate. So it's important for us to understand
that our personal reflections on the Quran
		

			cannot override that.
		

			It cannot override the Orthodox understanding of the Quran. Right? It has to build on top of it,
meaning if a verse of the Quran is understood in a specific way by all of the Allah, Allahu sunnah
one Jamar there is consensus and how that was interpreted. We cannot come to the end. So you know I
did the double. The understanding is wrong. This is my understanding, right? You cannot contradict
the FCA, you can only build on top of it. Things like Aqeedah and Vic, we learn that through tafsir,
not to to double right we don't extract Islamic rulings, or theology through our personal
reflections, we have to go with the Orthodox tafsir to get our rulings and our opinion so be careful
		

			about trying to extract Vic and Aqeedah from the Quran, our proper scholarly training, because this
can be actually a very sinful thing to do. In fact, the prophets lie some warned against people who
interpret the Quran based on their own opinions. He warned us not to do this, there are many studies
prohibiting this. So what should the Dakota write some people will be asking, Okay, if I can't
extract rules from the Quran on my own, if I can't interpret it in how I wish, what is the point of
the double work the double is a personal reflection on how the Quran applies to your life. So it
should give us the following benefits. Number one, it should increase your email that when you have
		

			a personal relationship with the Quran, this should increase your email. And it should make you feel
closer to Allah subhanho wa taala. Number two, it should give us hope and optimism, and many times
even solutions to our personal problems. So when you are reading the stories of the prophets of the
past, and the trials that they had to go through, and the difficulties they faced in life, and how
they eventually overcame these problems. If you are emotionally invested in these stories, it will
give you hope. It will give you optimism. And sometimes you'll even find the solutions that you're
looking for in their stories.
		

			And most importantly, the double will help us to prioritize and help us to realize what is most
important, the pleasure of Allah and preparing for the afterlife. Because sometimes our hearts may
be filled with anxiety because of a worldly problem. Or when you take time to sit and reflect on the
Quran. The Quran keeps reminding you of two key things. Number one, that we are created to worship
Allah number two, that they have judgments coming in, we need to prepare for it. And when you keep
coming across these verses over and over again, and you keep reflecting on them over and over again.
It helps us to prioritize and to remember that preparing for the day of judgment. And having a close
		

			relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala are more important in many of the trials that we face in
this world, and they will actually help me with helps us get through these trials, even when there
are no worldly solutions for them. So the double is a personal act of worship, to connect our hearts
to Allah to connect our hearts to the Quran, and to benefit spiritually from the Quran. It's not
meant to replace tafsir it's not meant to make us think of ourselves as scholars it should be done
humbly. It should be done for the sake of Allah it should be done to improve our own spiritual state
and the benefits of it are all spiritual. The benefits and benefits of the double is that you gain a
		

			close and personal relationship with the Quran. And through it will Allah subhana wa Taala that will
help power you through life through the trials of life and help you prepare for the afterlife as
well. We ask Allah to grant us the correct understanding of the Quran. ask Allah to make the Quran
the light of our hearts in the guidance of our deeds. Robina Arjuna dunya Hasina what will after the
husband awoken Governor probably not have the enemies watching how to react in a Kurata is mama wa
through Dhawan and hamdulillahi rabbil Alameen Aki masala