Ismail Kamdar – How to understand the Quran
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The importance of understanding the Quran in Surah Aloni is discussed, including practical tips on improving the understanding of the Quran, avoiding mistakes, and being mindful of meaning and meaningless words. The speaker emphasizes the importance of philosophy and approach the Quran with sincerity to gain understanding. The confusion surrounding the Quran's two types of verses is discussed, with the majority being unclear and the rest being clear. The importance of being sincere and approach the Quran with open-mindedness is emphasized, along with the need for teachers to teach in a reliable and authentic way. The importance of understanding the depth of pages and taking time to reflect and meditate on the Quran is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
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So last week we began looking at some of the dimensions of how the Quran
is important to us and how it is something that we should spend more time with in the month of Ramadan. And we said that Ramadan is the month of the Quran. And we spoke last week about the importance of increasing our recitation of the Quran, our understanding of the Quran, our practice of the Quran, all of this we discussed. So what we're going to look at today, inshallah is some practical tips on how we can improve our understanding of the Quran. Because the Quran was not meant only to be recited. It was meant to be understood, and was meant to be loved. The Quran is meant to be a lived reality in our lives. It is not simply a book that we recite in the month of Ramadan.
It's not simply a book that we recite when someone passes away. It is meant to be the guiding force of our existence. The very beginning of the Quran in Surah Al Baqarah, Allah Subhana Allah says that this Quran is who doesn't deal with the pain, it is a guidance for those who have done. And in the, in the verse of Ramadan, he says, There is Buddha enough it is a guidance for mankind. And the only way that the Quran can be a means of guidance for any of us is if we make an attempt to understand so how do we go about understanding beforehand,
because they exist in our community, to extremes when it comes to understanding the Quran. On one extreme, we have those individuals who tell us don't read the Koran understanding, because Don't try to understand the Quran, you will go straight, leave it to the whole Ummah, right we have this one group that will prohibit you from reading the translation, they will prohibit you from reading it, he will say leave it to the Allah just follow, just follow us.
And on the other extreme, or the other extreme, we have those individuals who think that they open up a jazz nation, and they write their own fake and their own aqeedah from a translation. We have individuals who approach the Quran, with no system with no methodology, sometimes even when no sincerity, and try to intervene, to put into the Quran, their own meaning and their own understanding.
And these two groups are constantly looking at the other Google as proof that they are right. So the group they say don't read the Quran understanding the point to the group that mercy told me the currency see if you read the grammar understanding and become like that, and the group that was understand the Quran, they point to the other room and see, if you don't read the Quran we do, you'll be a blind follower right here. And both groups are pointing at each other. And whenever this happens in anything in this world, this is a tsunami of this world. anything in this world where you have two groups and opposite ends, who can see the faults in each other but not the faults in
themselves. The truth is always in the middle,
the truth is always somewhere in the middle. So what is the middle part what understanding of what
the middle part is that Allah revealed the Quran to be understood and to be followed, but the layers and the dimensions to understanding the Quran that the level at which you will understand the Quran from a translation is not the same as someone who has been 20 years studying, it's not going to be the same. They are verses that anyone could understand and they are persons that require explanation of the order above. And so if you read the Quran, for general guidance, for the stories, for the allowed for the inspiration for the manuals for the purpose of life, you will be guided. But if you try to derive law from the Quran, without understanding how this without understanding, without
understanding the will show the principles of our religion, then yes, you will misinterpret the Quran. So, what I'm going to share with y'all today is a step by step process that all of us can use to understand the Quran at least on a basic level, certain things that everybody can do. So each and every one of us can gain some level of understanding of the word of Allah.
Step number one is philosophy or approach the Quran with a sincere intention. Approach the Quran with sincerity if you are making an effort to understand the Quran
Then it should be trying to understand the Quran for the sake of Allah to know what Allah once told me so I can do.
You're not trying to understand the Quran so you can prove some of the outflow. You're not trying to understand the Quran, you can prove yourself right? You're not trying to understand the Quran, so you can show off your understanding of the Quran. No, you are doing it for
the last has to be them. The nature of the Quran is such that those who approach it with a floss Allah will guide them to the straight path. And those who approach it with a disease in the heart. That same Quran will be a means for them not to Allah will make it such that they don't understand the Quran and they end up going astray.
Allah Subhana Allah, European from the beginning of surah, Allah Imran he tells us that the Quran there are two types of verses. He says the majority of the Quran is come. It's clear, anyone can read it, understand it and get its meaning. And then there are those verses that are pretty shabby. The meaning is not too clear.
And they are left handed says that there's two ways of reading this verse one way is those verses are unclear. Only Allah knows the meaning. And the people have knowledge simply believing. And the other way of, of reciting this verse is those verses that are unclear, only Allah and the people of knowledge know its meaning. And they say we believe in both of these are complimentary. I this is one of the beautiful, miraculous features of the Quran, that Allah reveals a verse in multiple ways to give us multiple layers of meaning. So this verse has two layers of meaning. They are verses in the Quran, there are unclear in the sense that only Allah knows a meaning. For example, olive law
means only a lot of people have knowledge when they come to a verse like that. They see if you want to load up the news. But then they are also verses in the Quran that allows the meaning and the older model the meanings. And therefore the other recitation of this verse comes in that the verses in the Quran which are unclear only a lot of the people have knowledge of these meanings. Right. So when you approach the Quran approaching with this understanding that they are verses that are clear, and they are verses that requires quality interpretation, and I need to know my limits as someone who is new to the Quran. So number one, be sincere. Number two, know your limits. Number three.
Number three, do not read the Quran with any type of bias. Do not read into the Quran, your own ideas and your own understanding. This is where misguidance comes from. You see today, people try to approach the Quran for a quick example of just giving as an example from a feminist lens. So they try to read feminism into the Quran. And any verse that goes against it, to find a way to reach of any any verse that they can push towards it, they will find a way to interpret it in a way that suits the ideas. So they're not trying to take the message of the Quran. They tried to make the Quran meet their own message. And a lot of people do this. Right now the extremist Jihad movements
they do the same thing. They don't take the Mick Ron's message, they use the Quran message and manipulated to agree what they already believe that they want the Quran to say something and they find a way to be
if you approach the Quran in this way, that you already have some ideas in your mind of what is right and what is wrong and what is the right ideology. And you trying to make the Quran national ideology, whatever that ideology is, when is liberalism whether it's jihadism, whether it's feminism, whatever it is, if you are trying to make the Quran match your ideology, you will go straight and you will lead other people astray. Instead, approach the Quran with the open mind. Approach the Quran with understanding this is from Allah. Allah knows best what is right and wrong. Allah knows best what is good for me. I will accept the message of Allah even if it goes against my
own ideas. I will accept the message of Allah even if it goes against my own understanding of this world. You have to approach the Quran with open mind. You cannot approach the Quran already having in your heart. This is what I believe the current with the magic. If you do that, you will not understand the
point number four. So you mentioned three things so far. Number one, be sincere. Number two, understand your numbers. Number three is approachable on the open mind. Number four, study the Quran with the teacher.
This is very important. If you want to understand the Quran, find a teacher who is reliable and authentic and study that have seen with him. Do not try to study it entirely on your own. You can read translations, you can read books of them, but that should not be your only source of understanding the Quran. Why? Because if you miss read something in a book of tafsir, who's going to correct you if you don't have a teacher? If you miss understand the passage
If you must understand the translation, if the translation you are reading has mistranslated a verse, how are you ever going to figure that out the teacher.
So everyone needs teachers. That is the nature of our religion since the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam that the Quran was passed down from generation to generation 3d. He was not something that people study on their own. So of course, the first teacher of the Quran was jabril, who taught it to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam and the second teacher, the Quran, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, who taught it to the Sahaba and explain these verses to them. And that is why there are many Hadees that explain the Quran, and you cannot understand the Quran without the Hadees because the Hadees are the Tafseer of the Quran, the original Tafseer of
the Quran, and the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu sallam, he brought the Quran he explained. And then with the next generation, we have the same thing as well. And so when the when the web when the second generation of Muslims wanted to understand the Quran, didn't try and derive their own meanings from it. They went to UCLA.
They went to Ayesha BTOB bunker. They went to Abdullah Omar Abdullah, he went to the whole ummah. And he sought knowledge from the Ummah
and he sought the understanding of the Quran.
And so we had another day of the series that obscene of the Sahaba. And so when we study the Quran, we don't just study it in a vacuum. We studied with diabetes, we studied what the goal of the Sahaba were the opinions of the Sahaba. And we use that to understand the problem.
And in the second generation, by the way, they were people who try to understand the Quran by leaving aside what the prophets like Sam said, and what the Sahaba said. And those were the first deviant sets.
I'll give you one example, titled over the dangers of trying to understand the Quran without the understanding of Rasulullah symbolism in the Sahaba. In the time of unimodular, one, we all know about the civil war that took place between the Sahaba with the army of our we are not allowed on one side and the army of other erodium on the other side. And this Civil War, it ended with both sides trying to make peace they got together and they discussed terms of peace. Now when they discuss these terms of peace, a third group emerge. This group said, What are you discussing? The Quran is our judge. We don't need to discuss anything. The Quran says that whoever does not rule by
Allah has revealed they are coffee. So this group taking this verse on their own with their own understanding. They said Allah is a coffee, and he said organza coffee, and he said assassins to kill them. And they assassinate
What went wrong? They were reading the Quran. They were memorizing the Quran, they were taking the notes of the Quran, but he railed against the understanding of the Sahaba. And he derived extremist methodology.
What scaling the group's you see in the world today, these modern extremist movements around the world, they quote the exact same verse, they quote, the exact same version, they see all the Muslim nations that will do the adoption, and all the Muslim things are copied, and all those who follow them and vote for the McAfee. They use the exact same cause the exact same ideology and mentality still exists today. But he started back then, and he begins when you ignore the understanding of the Sahaba. If you go to the understanding of the Sahaba, you will find Abdullah even Abbas explained this for us. And he said this verse doesn't literally mean Spoofer, he doesn't mean a person who
that makes the follow the difficulties a cafe, it simply means that it's a part to watch. Right? He called the pupil to do that it's a lesser form. It's not something that takes you out to the form of Islam. How do you just look at how the Sahaba interpreted this verse, they will not have history. And this is why we need teachers. And so every generation had the teachers and the correct understanding of Islam was preserved to these teachers. And the books of these teachers have reached us. And they had students who had students were students for generation upon generation until today, whoever is teaching the deceit of the Quran today, they had teachers who had teacher going all the
way back to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So if we want to understand the Quran properly, find a teacher and sit with the teacher and be consistent in studying the commands that she with the teacher, whether it is once a week, whether it is in person, whether it is online, whatever it is, make sure you have a trustworthy teacher. So when you come across a verse of the Quran that you don't understand, you can turn to your teacher and African teacher and this way your understanding of the Quran encounter.
So you see, we don't have to go to either extreme. We don't have to say don't read the Quran, just follow us. And we don't have to see everybody read the Quran and interpret in how you wish. rather read the Quran with sincerity. read the Quran with the open mind
Read the parabola understanding but have a teacher to guide you understanding how the teacher to explain the motor shaft behalf the unclear verses have the teacher to explain the verses of our Akita and the verses of Islamic law. If you do this, then not only will reading the Quran benefit you but it will be the means of guidance from
Allah for the handler guide each and every one of us will be from the people of the Quran makers from those who know it from those who learned from those who teach it we make the Quran and the light of our hearts in the guidance of Allah Subhana Robin is that the home is the food for Salah.
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Another important step for understanding the Quran is that we don't just recite it, and we don't just learn it, but we take time to reflect on it. In many places of the Quran, Allah subhanho wa Taala asked us the question of whether you
Won't you take time to reflect and meditate on the Quran? Won't you take time to reflect and meditate on the Quran? What does this mean?
This means we shouldn't rush through our reading of the Quran. We should make time to think about the Quran and how it applies to our life. To take a verse of the Quran and sit and think about this verse, what does this verse mean to me? How does this verse affect me? How does this verse impact me? To take that verse and think deeply about it?
Many times, people ask me, where do we get so much stuff from? I mean, how many hobbies Do we have about the property like I've explained the Quran, not that many, how many secrets on how but not that meaning to waste the majority of the field coming from it is coming from the Double of the level that will allow would sit and reflect on the verses of the Quran. And Allah will unblock for them deeper meaning of the Quran that other people didn't think about. And they will write it down. And this forms the majority of the region throughout our history.
The double does not only have to be done by yes when it's done by me at the depot conclusion, because he's guided by the Hadees, and the cloud and by all these other things, but even for the average Muslim, we can do the download of the Quran on a personal level. Let me give you a few examples of this. For example, when you come across the verse in the Quran, Allah says, if you count the pavers of Allah, you will never be able to do so. If you try to enumerate the bounties of Allah in your life, you will never be able to do so instead of just reciting this verse and moving on. How about actually sitting and thinking about how many favorite alive? Let's
see, this is the double. Allah says something you said
a lot. How would you to reflect on this his favorite saying you'll never be able to complete. So try, go ahead and try. Allah has blessed me with this. Allah has blessed me with that and keep counting and counting. You will not be able to list all the details of
this is a powerful tweetable moment. Because when you do this gratitude, you allow it into your heart and bring gratitude to Allah into your heart. This will fuel your ibadah and this will help you to worship Allah on a deeper level. Because now you're not worshiping Allah out of fear you're watching.
Likewise, when you come across the verse in the Quran, in English, with difficulties,
don't just rush through the verse, take some time to think about it. Has there ever been a time in my life where I faced the difficulty. And all of this is
and you try to remember every time in your life, when you face the difficulty and love you can use and the more of such occasions you can think about the more deeper this goodness versus the grabbing. The more important a role to play in your life because now it's not just the verse of the Quran, it's a lived reality.
It is something that you can see in your life. Allah says this, and this is what happened to me.
You can do this almost anybody?
Well, Allah subhanho wa Taala say he's allowed the one and only reflect on this What does it mean that Allah is one and only what will it be like for there to be more than one word? What would it be like for there to be no God? Think about all these different possibilities and you will arrive at the conclusion that a lot of what is only one that is the only logical conclusion. When you do this, when you interact with the Quran in this way, it will impact your heart on a completely different level. Remember, the Quran was meant to transform us
It's not meant just for recycling. It's not meant just for reading with understanding, it's meant for transformation, that the person who understands the Quran, with each level of understanding you should become a better person than the level before that people who meet that should be able to see a genuine change in our behavior and our character, our management, and everything about us, because we have the command line.
And the only way to do this is to understand the command to reflect from the Quran, and finally, most importantly, to live by it.
Because there are many people out there who try to understand the Quran with no intention whatsoever.
How many non Muslims have PhDs in
the ridiculous thing to think about, but the non Muslims out there with PhDs in Quranic studies,
it hasn't impacted the heart. It hasn't affected the soul. It hasn't transformed the life because it's all academic study. It's not studying for the sake of
our study of the Quran should change us It should transform us and even if not doing that is something wrong in the way that we are approaching?
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