Ismail Kamdar – Maximizing benefit from the Quran in Ramadan

			Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh you listening to radio answer 90.4 FM My name is Mike
come down, and inshallah I will be your host every Wednesday mornings from 9am to 10am with a very
exciting new program entitled The Divine connection, the divine connection understanding the Quran.
		

			With this being our first episode of this program, I'd like to take a short moment to explain why I
chose the subject.
		

			I am a teacher at the Islamic online university and one of the subject subjects which I teach is
lumen Quran. And I was mentioning that the reason why I chose this specific topic is that one of the
subjects which I teach at the Islamic online university is called lumen Quran, the sciences of the
Quran. And even though this is a very technical subject, it's a very academic subject. There was a
lot of information in that
		

			field of study, which I feel every Muslim needs to know before reading the Quran. So I decided to
put together a series focusing on those points which each and every one of us need to know if we
wish to understand the Quran better and we wish to connect with the Quran in a stronger way.
		

			And furthermore, it is the month of Ramadan. And as we all know the month of Ramadan is the one in
which about which Allah subhanaw taala has said shut Ramadan and Lizzy Hoon De La Villa Quran hudl
de nasi will be janati we know who that was for con Ramadan Allah z Anzhi La Villa Quran, the month
of Ramadan is the month in which Allah revealed the Quran as what hudl in us as a guidance for
mankind will be unanimous Huda and as proof and evidence for what counts as guidance, while
farrakhan and as our criteria between what is right and what is wrong, and so most of us spend the
month of Ramadan trying to get closer to the Quran. We spent the month of Ramadan trying to connect
		

			with the Quran, we increase the increase in our recitation, we increase in our taraweeh in our 100
in the various different forms of reciting the Quran, and praying during the month of Ramadan. And
so, because of this, I decided that inshallah we will have this program which will give you the
foundation to understand the Quran on a higher level.
		

			Now, just to give you a glimpse of what is to come in our six episodes of this program, this week
being the opening episode and with it being the last witness day before Ramadan, inshallah, today I
will be discussing some practical tips on how we can maximize our benefit from the Quran. This
Ramadan, so today's program will focus primarily on Ramadan and how we can maximize our benefit from
the Quran in Ramadan. Next week inshallah, we will look at how understanding the Quran can transform
your life. Right, how it can transform your life, that once you understand the Quran, a lot of
things will change in your mindset in your attitude in the way you deal with people in the way you
		

			approach the religion. So how does it transform you? What changes to expect and how good are these
changes? And we'll also go through the basic steps of reading the translation of the Quran and
reading a tough scene and inshallah both this week and next week we will focus on what are the best
translations and of seals to read insha Allah. In the third episode, we will be looking at some of
the most commonly recited sutras in Salah, like Shaku Fatiha, and through assar and the three goals
because we recite the surah almost every day in our solar, so it's important for us to understand
them so that we now pray the solar would understand it. So inshallah in the third episode we will be
		

			looking specifically at the sewers and how we can understand them.
		

			In the fourth show, we will dedicate the show entirely to the concept of stories in the Quran. Now
the stories of the Quran are very unique, they are not written in one place, they are not written
with a lot of details. So we are going to discuss these commonly raised issues. Why are the stories
written in different parts of the Quran? Put together in one place? Why are the stories not written
in details like how do humans how we write stories? Furthermore, why is your use of in one surah
while the other
		

			Why is the story of use of ensued our use of while the other stories are split up? We will look at
all of this in details inshallah, in the fourth show, which will be dedicated entirely to the
stories of the Quran
		

			towards the end of Ramadan, in our first program, we will be looking at the areas which many of us
find difficult in understanding the Quran. For example,
		

			Things like abrogation, what is abrogation? Which verses of the Quran abrogated? How do we
understand this concept? How do we explain it to people of other faiths? We're going to look at the
reasons for revelations. certain verses have a context, how to understand the context so that you do
not misunderstand the verses. So inshallah we will dedicate our first show to that specific topic.
And our final episode The six show, which will be in our last week of the program, we'll look at
practical steps in how we can make the Quran a constant part of our lives. Because so many of us
after Ramadan is over, we struggle to keep the Quran alive every day in our lives, and inshallah we
		

			will spend an entire show dedicated on how we can make the Quran part of our lives not just in
reading, but the understanding and practice as well. So inshallah that is the lineup for the next
six weeks every Wednesday morning from 9am to 10am. I hope that you'll as excited as I am for this
program, and I hope that you will be joining me and joining into a discussion about the beauty of
the Quran and how we can understand it better.
		

			Now, inshallah getting into today, today's topic, we are looking at Ramadan, and understanding the
Quran in Ramadan.
		

			And I pray that each and every one of us have an intention in our hearts that we want to make this
upcoming Ramadan special. We want to make it unique, we want to make it life changing. We want to
make this Ramadan such that we come out from it better Muslims, and one of the best ways to do that
is to make a dedicated effort towards reciting and understanding the Quran.
		

			Now what is the Quran that is something which needs to be first explained before we explain how we
understand. Most of us know what the Quran is for for those listeners, especially those who are not
Muslim. Who would like to know about the details, I will very briefly go to what the Quran is. The
Quran is part of the final revelation, sent by God sent by Allah to the final prophet muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam 1400 years ago. We believe that Allah subhanaw taala sent revelations to
different people at different times. He sent the Torah to Prophet Musa, the Prophet Moses, he sent
the Psalms to the Prophet David, and the gospel to the Prophet Jesus. And then for the final prophet
		

			Muhammad, who were sent as a final messenger to all of mankind. He gave him a revelation, which is
of two types, the Quran and the Sunnah. The Quran and the Sunnah are both revelation from Allah
subhanho wa Taala to the Prophet Muhammad Ali Salam. And the key difference between the Quran and
the Sunnah is that the Quran is in a large words, it is God's words, while the sinner is the
prophets words. So it's the revelation of Rasulullah saw sent to Rasulullah saw some in his own
words, aside for her these are Pudsey that is also in a large words. So the Quran is God's word and
the sooner is the Prophet Muhammad Salah some words they are kept as two separate things for the
		

			Abode the sources of Islam. Furthermore, the Quran is a miracle in of itself, that studying the
Quran understanding the Quran, you will understand and gain conviction that the Quran is indeed from
the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Because in of itself, it is a miracle and the proof of the
truth of Islam. So this miracle that we Muslims all accept and believe in. We believe this as
Muslims, that the Quran is the final revelation. The Quran is a last word to Quran is a miracle. And
so we should make extra effort to understand it, extra effort to practice it, extra effort to teach
it. So inshallah I'm going to explain how we can do that. And before we went for a break, we were
		

			looking at what the Quran is. We said that the final messenger the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu,
alayhi wa sallam was given two types of Revelation, he was given the Quran and the Sunnah, with the
sinner being revelation in his own words, but the Quran was evolution, in the words of Allah
subhanaw taala himself. And so the Quran has a very special place in the lives of Muslims, and that
Muslims should strive to understand it, and to practice it, and to follow it.
		

			Now, despite this being the case, we find today that in many Muslim homes, the Quran is not recited
a lot. For many of us the Quran is kept on the shelf, we recited perhaps in Ramadan, perhaps at the
janaza or the Nika if it would be lucky we might recite it for Juma.
		

			But it's very rare to find homes where the Quran is decided on a daily basis, which is rather sad
because also some has warned us and said don't make your home
		

			The graveyards recite the Quran in your homes, you know, don't make your homes dead in terms of
Eman, recitation of the Quran on a daily basis keeps the mind in your house alive, and he chases the
shaytan away Rasulullah saw some say that if you recite Surah Baqarah in your house, it chases the
devil's away. So the recitation of the Quran in our homes is very important. For how many of us do
this? And from those of us who do recite the Quran, at home, how many of us make an attempt to
understand it?
		

			And furthermore, how many of us are trying to follow it? My brothers and sisters, remember that the
Quran itself mentions that Allah Subhana, Allah created us, and put us in this world to test us. It
is a test to see who will submit and follow the creator and who will not. We as Muslims, we know
this, we know that Allah is testing us. And we know that he has sent to us a revelation, which has
in it our best interest, the Quran, whatever laws are in the Quran and Sunnah idea, to facilitate
what is good for us, and to keep away what is bad for us. This is agreed upon by all scholars or if
you open any book of Islamic law, it mentions that the fundamental principle of Islamic law is to
		

			bring about what is good for mankind, and to keep what is bad for mankind. So why wouldn't we want
to follow this? Why wouldn't we want to follow the one teaching, which can help us attain what is
good in both worlds, and keep away from what is bad in both worlds? And should we find that we have
become many of us a sign of the AMA, a sign of the Day of Judgment, which Rasulullah sallallahu some
wonderful, these are Hadees, where Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam was talking about the signs of Yama.
And he mentioned that knowledge will be lost to the Sahaba Rajaratnam asked him they said how can
knowledge be wrong be lost if we recite the Quran?
		

			Now if you listen to that sentence, that means the Sahaba understood the Quran to be knowledge, not
just the book, which they recite the Quran to them was knowledge. So they said how can knowledge be
lost if we recite the Quran, and we're going to teach it to our children, and they will teach it to
their children, etc. Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam replied and said, Don't you see people of other
religions in other faiths? Many of them, read the books, what they don't really do understanding
they don't follow it. And one day the Muslims will be like this too. That's not the exact words of
Rasulullah Islam, but that is paraphrasing it in English, that he said that we will follow in their
		

			footsteps, meaning that just like in some of the other faiths, they have followers who do not read
the books, and those who do really do not really understanding or practicing or following amongst
the Muslims, many of us will follow in the footsteps. We need to think about this, how we part of
the sign of Yama, those who are asuza some wonder about technologies lost from the lives because
they do not make an attempt to understand and follow the Quran. Allah subhanaw taala himself warns
about this. In the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala warns about this when he talks about something which
will happen on the day of judgment on the Day of Judgment. Allah subhanaw taala says then Rasulullah
		

			slow Islam will see his father rasuluh Yeah, Robbie in the COVID de casa huddle Khurana Majora. This
is in Surah four upon chapter 25 verse 30
		

			is called rhassoul when the messenger will see on the Day of Judgment here Robbie, oh my lord. Oh
Allah in the komeito the huddle Quran, Jura, my people have deserted the Quran. My people have
deserted this Quran, they have left this Quran, they are not following this Quran. This is what
Rasulullah some will complain about on the Day of Judgment. And we need to ask ourselves, are we
from those people who are soulless and some will be sad about that we did not follow his Quran will
we be from those who the Prophet Mohammed slash can be proud of as his followers on the Day of
Judgment, let us not be a sign of karma. This is not be from those who went against the teachings of
		

			Islam Islam. Let's make a concerted effort here and now that this Ramadan, we are making a change,
we are going to understand the Quran, we are going to practice the Quran, we are going to live the
Quran. And certainly for many of us, even though we make this effort, we make this intention. But
the methods we use to attain it sometimes are not done in the proper manner. For example, many of us
are guilty of praying Ravi at superspeed. In fast forward, you know, lightning speed we played
around he so fast without the jury, without understanding without pondering, we just the words of
the Quran just fly out of our mouths, as if you know it has no impact in our lives. And this needs
		

			to change. This is not the way of Rasulullah sallallahu sallam. This is not the way of the Sahaba or
any of the early generations in praying
		

			practicing Islam, that each and every one of them, they would pray the Salah in a way that they
would cry because they understood what they were praying. You know, even if they didn't cry, they
would take their time they will ponder over the verses how many of us do this? Now obviously we
don't know Arabic it's not possible for us to do this for the entire Quran. So again, one of the
things we need to do is to make a concerted effort to study Arabic, study the Arabic language
inshallah It is not something which is impossible, it's something which with a bit of effort, we all
can attain, study Arabic, understanding the Quran becomes so much easier.
		

			So now if we have an intention to study and if we have an intention to change, then what are the
steps that we need to take to do so? inshallah I will explain this after the next break, as salaam
wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. We spoke today about the Quran itself what it is and the
importance of us changing our intention and making a firm intention this Ramadan to understand and
practice the Quran. And so now we are going to look at the practical steps that we need to take in
order to do so. And of course, the first step is to make the intention. Because Rasulullah
sallallahu Sallam has told us in the most popular of Hadees
		

			narrated by Omar rajala and who enamel Mr. looby Nia, every action is judged by its intention. In
Islam, if you make a good intention, even if you are unable to fulfill it, you will still be
rewarded for that intention. So today, right here and now each and every one of us should make an
intention that this Ramadan, I will become a better Muslim. And I will do so for the sake of Allah
alone. And I will begin understanding and following the Quran and the sooner to the best of my
ability and I will not allow my mistakes or sins to stop me from repenting and trying again, make
this intention and allow will make the road to accomplishing it easier for you Bismillah HCA Allah.
		

			With such an intention in our hearts, the next step of course, is to make dua to Allah to help us to
achieve our intention. Now intentions as noble as they are, really, on a practical level, you can't
fulfill an intention without a plan. You study this in any course on leadership or management, that
when people have good intentions, and no plans, nothing gets accomplished. And so I would recommend
to each and every one of us to like to write down, write down a list of goals for this Ramadan, and
to draw up a plan for accomplishing your goals this Ramadan. Now for many of us, this might sound
like something different, something new, which we might not have done before. But trust me, this is
		

			something which can make things more concrete and easier for you to know where you're going. For
example, for myself, about a week ago, I wrote down a list of 12 goals, which I've set for myself
this Ramadan, and that made it like a checklist. So as each goal is completed our ticket off and
I've set for myself a way of accomplishing the goal. So for example, one of my goals is to complete
two Islamic courses. To the Islamic online university, I wanted to study two full courses in
Ramadan. So how am I doing it, I've set a plan that every day I've dedicated certain hours just to
study. So that way, my goal in Ramadan becomes realistic and I'm able to achieve it. Likewise, I've
		

			set a goal that every day on Facebook and on Twitter, I will post a verse of the Quran, which I've
seen, and I've set a time for that as well. So now these goals are not just intentions, now they are
written down with a plan, there is a bigger chance that you will go ahead and do it. So these are my
personal goals. Everybody would have their own goals. You know, you write down the goal at this
Ramadan, I want to read the Quran understanding and make a plan for how you're going to do that.
When you write down your goals, it becomes easier. And if you have good time management skills, it
becomes even easier. For those of you who would like to know more time management, and some basic
		

			tips on fulfilling goals. I have a very good article available online called top seven time
management tips. This is an article I wrote a few months ago, available on the website WWW dot
Muslim matters.org. If you go to that website and look for the article, top seven time management
tips, it will help you those tips will really help you to accomplish your goals of Ramadan. So
please go ahead and read the article inshallah. And I hope that that will help you to put your goals
into a realistic setting and to be able to accomplish them in Ramadan. Now regarding a goal related
to understanding the Quran, I'd like to read a personal story of how I began reading the Quran
		

			understanding and how this changed my life.
		

			When I was a teenager, and when I was young, every Ramadan we would recite the Quran as many times
as possible to try and complete as many quarters of the Quran as possible in Ramadan. This was a
practice of my family but even though you
		

			To do this, it didn't really have much impact on me. Until one year while I was a teenager 100 I got
exposed to check ID that rahima hula delay check ID that. And for those of you who know him you'll
know that he emphasizes a lot in his lectures the importance of reading the Quran, with
understanding.
		

			And so that you're I had made up my mind that this Ramadan, I'm going to do something different. I'm
going to read the Quran could understand it. And as a teenager, that time I spent an entire Ramadan
every day, four times a day I read a quarter judicata part of the Quran. So I did one Jews of the
Quran today with the use of Allah translation. So let everyday one Jews with translation, the entire
Ramadan, by the end of Ramadan, I completed reading the entire Quran with understanding for
hamdulillah. And the next year I did the same thing for the darussalam Translation the year after
the same thing with the FARC as a Mali translation, and hamdulillah after I had learned Arabic And I
		

			had learned Arabic well enough to understand the Quran translation. And so after that I have been
reading the Quran in Arabic with tafsir every Ramadan trying to read a different type of seal as
much as I can. Of course, it is sometimes possible to read an entire tafsir Ramadan, but we try to
do as much as we can. The goal is not to finish the entire Quran, but to benefit and to understand
the Quran as much as possible. So this is my personal story of how I started reading the Quran
understanding in Ramadan, and hamdulillah I can see this left a major impact in my life, it
completely changed my life. And the Quran has become a part of my life in a major way. And I really
		

			hope that for each and every one of us we can get this we can get this connection with the Quran. So
hope this gives you some idea of what you can do to
		

			read and recite the Quran this Ramadan with understanding in a way that's realistic, that perhaps
inshallah, if you have enough time, if you make enough time rather, you'll be able to complete
reading the entire Quran with understanding this Ramadan. Now, for many of us, we have no idea that
we want to read the Quran with understanding. But then, you know, the next question which arises in
our heads is, which translation do I use? Because there are many translations of the Quran available
in English, and I'm sure you would have heard a lot of things about the mistakes in the translations
or the problems with the translations. So which ones are the best to use? inshallah? I'm going to
		

			talk a bit about that soon. First, let's talk about the issue of translations itself. What do the
scholars of Islam
		

			see about the topic of translations? And we see the scholars of Islam they have agreed that
translating the Quran in of itself is permissible. We see that even in the time of Rasulullah
sallallahu wasallam, that when the Sahaba went to Abyssinia, and they met the king of Amazonia, they
recited for him to Ramallah. And the king of Amazonia did not know Arabic He had a translator with
him, who was translating for him what they were seeing. Likewise, when Rasulullah Slocum sent a
letter to Heracles, the emperor of the bison Empire, he sent him a letter which had Quranic verses
in it, and this was translated for him as well. So the translation of the Quran into other languages
		

			began in the time of Rasulullah sallallahu wasallam. But the scholar see that we need to understand
a translation of the Quran is not the Quran. It is not the Quran. This is because the Quran is God's
word, the Arabic Quran is God's Word, and the translation is a human effort. So, the Quran is God's
word and the translation is a human effort This is something we need to keep in mind. Now inshallah
we are going to discuss what are the best translations to use for before that we are going to take a
short break as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Alhamdulillah. Thus far today we have been
talking about the Quran in Ramadan, what practical steps we can take towards connecting with the
		

			Quran in a stronger manner. And towards the ending of the program. We now began discussing the issue
of translations. And before we went on break, we are talking about the translation. What did the
scholars of Islam say about translating the Quran, they have established that translating the Quran
is permissible. But when you translate it, you are translating the message of the Quran. It is no
longer the Quran itself. It is no longer a last word, it is now a human translation. You see the
Arabic Quran is divine. It is Allah subhanaw taala his words his exact words.
		

			It is a miracle in of itself. When you translate it when a human translated, there will be human
errors. Part of the miraculous nature especially in terms of the Arabic grammar and the Arabic
poetry becomes lost. Part of the meaning becomes lost. But the main messages of the Quran will
remain in a translation and that's where the benefit of the translation comes from. That the main
		

			message of the Quran is still there, it's still there for us to benefit from. And that's why, you
know, it's encouraged for somebody who does not know Arabic yet to read a translation, but at the
same time to study Arabic, so that inshallah in the future you don't need to use translations and
you'll be able to understand the Quran in Arabic itself. Now, as far as the translations available
in English go, my two personal favorites.
		

			The translation known as the Sahih, international translation, which is done by three river sisters
from the USA, that's a very well done translation, got very few mistakes. And it's very easy to
read. Another one, which is my personal favorite is Al Quran, a guidance for mankind.
		

			And it's done by Palo Alto Malik, also from the USA. Why I like this translation specifically is
that it's written with a flow, very similar to how the Arabic of the Quran flows. This translation
also has a beautiful flow to it. Or the only problem I have with this translation is that it doesn't
have a lot of footnotes and explanation. So for somebody reading the Quran for the first time
wanting explanation, or you might find this translation a bit lacking in that department, unless of
course when you need to consult your local allamah for assistance.
		

			Now if neither of these translations are available in your area,
		

			the two next best is that our module picked out which was the first full translation of the Quran
into English by eight Sunni Muslim otter and the darussalam translation, known as the translations
of the meaning of the Noble Quran by Dr. Marcin Khan and Dr. Cod, Healy. These are probably the four
best translations available in English. Again, let me repeat their names. My personal favorite, as
far as translations goes, is the one by Faruk azim Malik is called Alcor and the guidance for
mankind. And the second best one to me is Asahi internationals translation,
		

			which is done by three river sisters. And then we have the translation of the Noble Quran by Dr.
Mohsen kanakia. Le published by darussalam publications. And finally the is mama typical
translation. These are in my view, the best translations available in English. There are other
translations as well available. But as I said, Every translations has mistakes as they are done by
humans, every human makes errors. These translations tend to have the least mistakes and have some
of the best content
		

			have two more points to note before we conclude on the issue of translations, and reading the Quran
understanding as the first point is a very important one which anybody will tell you who has
experience with the Quran. And that is that when reading the Quran, one needs to be unbiased. One
needs to be completely sincere, that you are reading the Quran with an open mind. Whatever Allah
subhana wa Taala told you in the Quran, that is the truth, even if it goes against your opinion and
my opinion, because Allah knows better than us. For many of us, when we read the Quran, we try to
improve our understanding of the world of Islam on to the Quran. Right. And as a result, sometimes
		

			you will miss read a verse because it goes against our understanding, to get maximum benefit from
the Quran and not to deceive ourselves. We need to approach it with a clean slate that I'm going
into the Quran unbiased with the open mind, whatever Allah tells me in the Quran, this has to be the
choice, right even if it goes against my own opinions. So that's the first and important point. The
second important point towards understanding the Quran is that it is very important to note that not
every verse of the Quran can be understood by everybody. The verses in the Quran which are fixed in
nature, which are which deal with Islamic law. There are verses in the Quran which have been
		

			abrogated. The verses in the Quran known as the Mata shall be heart The unclear verses, verses
dealing with intricate aspects of Akita. Now all of these make up a minority of the Quran for the
audience. And you need to acknowledge that these verses, you need the explanation of Colaba to
understand it. So what I would recommend is when you are reading a Quranic translation, when you are
reading the Quran, with our understanding, keep opinion at hand to take note of those verses which
you don't understand for those verses which you afraid you might must understand for those verses
which deal with Islamic law or difficult concepts and take it to a scholar that you trust to get to
		

			a limit you trust and asked him to explain to you what this verse is about so that you can get the
correct understanding of the verse. And of course, if you want to, you can even
		

			you know, ask all these questions right, you're on this program every Wednesday between nine and 10
or 10am. I will be available right your radio that sir and if you have questions related to
understanding
		

			Quran feel free to ask me about him inshallah. So, that is ensure that today's program, we have
spoken about the Quran in Ramadan. Have you spoken about translating the Quran, I hope inshallah,
that you all have benefited and I look forward inshallah to join if you're joining me for the
remaining five episodes. Don't forget if you want to join in and talk more about this topic if you
have any questions or comments on this topic, then you can follow me on twitter at a smile calm or
you can like my Facebook page or both of these Facebook and Twitter we will be continuing discussing
this topic throughout the month of Ramadan and inshallah next week, we will discuss how the Quran
		

			can transform your life. So inshallah I will see you all next week until we meet again, an early
Ramadan Mubarak from me is aka the Heron walk through the water and hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen wa
salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh