Maryam Amir – Connecting to the Quran Imam Suhaib Webb
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As salaam akala, and welcome everybody back to another session.
Inshallah, I'm really excited to be moderating this session with
two amazing speakers who begin in the name of Allah subhanahu, the
Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Want to go ahead and
give everyone a recap of what this session is. This session is
titled, How is the Quran and sunna relevant today? We have with us
Imam Sohaib, Webb and Ustad, Mariam, Amir,
the Quran our lifelong companions. We look at the Quran merely as a
holy book versus guidance throughout our life. How do we
build a consistent relationship with the Quran, even if you don't
understand the Arabic or have the perfect where do we start and
where? Where do we start to make the Quran our best friends
and Sunnah today, more than ever, we need to hold on to the guidance
of the Quran and Sunnah to navigate our hectic,
overstimulated lifestyle in 2020 how can we leverage the guidance
from those timeless sources of Quran and Sunnah to navigate the
challenges of today's world. And first, we'll be hearing from Imam
Sohaib Webb. Imam Sohaib, William Webb has a degree in education
from the University of Central Oklahoma and in Islamic law from
Al Azhar University in Cairo. He was named as a faith leader to
watch by the Center for American Progress in 2016
as well as selected by the Muslim community as one of CNN 25 most
influential leaders, as well as one of the five 500 of the most
influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Study Center in 2017
Inshallah, he's
currently the resident scholar of the IC NYU, and teaches a course
at NYU on Islamic law and ethics. He's also a member of the North
American Council. Additionally, he operates Swiss, an online online
educational experience that presents on demand religious
education to English speaking Muslims. Alhamdulillah, we're
really excited to have Shaykh Imam salhib And
Alhamdulillah, Allah, the answer Allahu, Aja
wa salatu, assalamu. Alaikalline,
salawatu, Allah. He was Salamu alayhi wa ashabihi ajmain, praise
Allah, Subhanahu wa taala. Send peace and blessings upon our
beloved messenger, Muhammad, sallAllahu, alaihi wasallam, upon
his family, his companions and those who follow them until the
end of time, brothers and sisters. Assalamu alaikum. Just having a
few technical problems here I'm trying to to address. It's, it's a
pleasure to be here, Alhamdulillah at the 23rd annual mass
convention. MashAllah rising up to the moment. It's, it's an honor to
be invited, and certainly a great pleasure to share some time with
our teacher and our hostess, Maryam Amir May Allah increase her
inshallah in khair. And it's also somewhat sad not to be able to be
normally. You know, at this time of the year, we all expect to be
together there in in California. So we ask Allah, subhanaw Tara to
accept our intentions. Nia min Hai Ram, right, the intention of the
believer is better than his or her actions. As as many of the early
scholars used to say, and Hamdulillah, we ask Allah
inshallah to to make that, you know, easy for all of us moving
forward, I think that this is actually a really great topic,
masha Allah, that is one that should be really happening every
year to remind us of how the Quran and the Sunnah are relevant in our
lives. And I'm not going to make this too complicated, because I
don't think it's very complicated. Uh, Allah says, wajahid bihi Jihad
and Kabira Allah says that you have to make jihad with it a great
jihad. And as Imam Shah to be mentioned in his famous poem on
the different recitations of the Quran, very beautifully, he said,
what Adam and nahablahi, finaki, tabuh, wajah
that, first and foremost, we all have to take a responsibility to
struggle in a relationship with the Quran. It is not something
that necessarily is going to come in an easy way. It's not something
that's going to happen to someone who is lazy. It's not something
that's going to happen to someone who is not disciplined. The Quran.
One of the things that attracted me to the Quran when I was a non
Muslim was the demands that it made on me as a person, the
responsibility, the religious furnishings that were absent from
my life. I.
Found clearly in the Quran. So first and foremost, if we want to
have a relationship with the Quran and find relevance with the Quran,
we have to be willing to sacrifice for the Quran.
We have to be willing to give up some time for the Quran. We have
to take a little bit of time away from watching or binge watching
the Queen's Gambit, or our favorite shows, or playing our new
favorite game, or, you know, hanging out with somebody. I
remember when I started to learn how to read the Quran, and I asked
one of my teachers, how am I, as a white guy from Oklahoma who's not
even born Muslim, going to learn the Quran, and he said sacrifice a
little, right? Jahid, Bihi, Jihad and Kabira. So before we get into
any of kind of the details, I think it's very important that we
adopt a hungry mentality, a a mentality that that is willing to
work and sacrifice for the Quran, not in the way say that scholars
have to sacrifice, not in the way that those like say Abdul Abdul
Samad Hamil had to sacrifice. But we need to be a little bit
uncomfortable.
I had a teacher years ago, and this is a great example of what
most of us can't do. But I think it's, it's it can be microly
processed. Who he lived in a a home that the electricity was cut
off,
and he memorized the Quran. So I asked him, like, how did you how
did you review without electricity? And he said, I used
to sit under
the street light and review, the Quran.
Many of us, of course, that's beyond what we can do. But I think
it's important that within our given ability and within our given
a past capacity, we have to be a little uncomfortable.
One of the concerns that we should have for the Muslim community is
that it has become extremely worldly.
It has become a community that amplifies the world and may
neglect amplifying the hereafter. Well, a lay Salil in Sani, Ilam
asaah The
Quran says, what's going to matter is what you work for.
And I think we have to get back to centering,
being disconnected from opulence, disconnected from the shine of
dunya. We need to disconnect from that in order to have a little
uncomfortability with the Quran. I think that's extremely important,
and often times we want the results without the efforts. I
remember when I first encountered the Quran, I was, you know, I felt
challenged, and I struggled to, you know, kind of make sense of
everything. It's a very it's a new text. But I pushed myself, and I
continued to push myself, and when I started to learn the Quran, the
only teacher close to my house was an hour away, and I used to drive.
I would go to college, I would go to work, and I would drive every
day in the 1983 orange Toyota from my work to the sheik. I would read
to him, and I would come home every day except Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, because I wanted it. I wanted Alhamdulillah to have a
relationship with the Quran.
We, as many of our teachers said, have become a community that puts
barakah before the horse right. We want the blessing before the
effort. So I want you to think about challenging yourself, and
that is that once a week, you're going to spend some time reading
Quran and reading in the language that you understand best, and
pushing yourself to build a personal relationship with the
Quran. That's why I say to Aisha said about the Prophet salallahu,
Salam canal, Quran yamshi. Prophet Sallam is a walking Quran
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
The next thing is, if we want to talk about the relevance of the
Quran and Sunnah, let's invert it and ask the enemies of Islam how
relevant the Quran and Sunnah are to them in their
misinterpretations of Islam.
So we find that the enemies of Islam are perhaps extracting more
false understandings and wrong rulings from the Quran then we as
a community are extracting righteous rulings and righteous
guidance from the Quran.
So the Quran is relevant to the enemies of our community, because
they are actively looking for something in it. And we know that,
of course, Allah says, what a yawl vari Mina ilahasara, that the
evildoers will be misguided because they're not able to see
the Quran correctly. Allah says that they look at.
Muhammad, sallam, Torah, you see them looking at you, but they
don't perceive you. You see them looking at the Quran. They don't
perceive the Quran.
But I would beg to differ that our community has put a number of
roadblocks between itself and the Quran. For example, statements of
scholars, if you were to quote a verse of Quran, someone will say,
but this scholar said this, but this is a clear, clear text from
the
Quran, uh, popular ignorance, which I think is the bigger
problem in the Muslim community. Notions of what Islam is held by
popular education, which are not founded actually in the Orthodox
pedagogy of Islam, nor the Quran.
So the first is that you have to be willing to struggle, and the
second is you have to be willing to be challenged. Usted Hora
Murad, I think he has the best book I've ever written in English
on the Quran called the way to the Quran. I encourage everyone to
read it. He says very clearly that you have to be ready to be
uncomfortable. We celebrate the life of Malcolm X in a in a kind
of shallow way, but read what Malcolm writes about how
initially, when he began to read the Quran, he felt he was being
challenged. He felt that he, you know, he was little uncomfortable.
So we have to be very careful that we're not too worldly. A worldly
community is one that dismisses religion and chooses the world and
gets really uncomfortable and sensitive when religion speaks.
The Quran is, is God's word. The Quran contains God's law.
I have to be willing to sacrifice and struggle for it, and I have to
be willing to be uncomfortable.
For that reason, I say it's important to have Sahba with the
Quran. And as I finish this, this brief discussion, Imam Al muhasibi
In Uriel to mustardi. He says, What Anam and faribataki, tabula,
lahi Subhan, Farida, takitabi, lahi Subhana, wa taala, Sabah. He
says that the obligations the Quran has on you and the Sunnah
are the following. Number one, Allah, aminu, behokh, me is to act
on it.
One of the things that's interesting is, I see that there
are convert Muslims who their attitude is that the Quran is a
book of transformation.
Then there are born Muslims who come back to the faith who also
see the Quran largely as a manual for constant improvement and trans
and transformation. And then there are a group of Muslims who the
Quran is either a historical document or a cultural relic. And
that's a problem. Muhammad Assad said that the downfall of the
Muslim ummah is when it fails to see the transformative power of
its sacred texts and instead sees it as something simply cultural, a
cultural relic, relic. But Allah says, well, kadarika, oh, hey, oh,
haina, we sent the Spirit to the spirit is the Quran because, like
oxygen is is a necessity for the life of the body, the Quran is a
necessity for understanding the true reality of the world.
So he says, The first is to act on it. There was some Sahabi who
actually would throw parties because they did khatam of Quran,
not with
they would complete the Quran with their actions.
The third, he says, is to believe it's
one of the dangers of the Trump experiences. We become very
political, and perhaps we've allowed ourselves to to identify
as being on the left or the right. We are not on the left or the
right. We are prophetic. We are a community of prophetic morality.
We are a community that has a sacred book that we are
responsible to. The Prophet, said Al Quran, heard a lake. And this
the outcome of being very worldly.
Be being very worldly is that now my ethos is largely dominated by
the gears of the dunya, whereas a Muslim is emancipated by the Quran
from the world. That's why Sayyidina shaktibi says, Who will
hurry you that the person of the Quran is emancipated, is free,
because the intellect now is being driven by divine teachings and not
lost in the grime and grit of worldly notions that tend to be
rooted in secret attempts at efficacy and utilitarianism. No
doubt we may align.
Of people on certain political positions, largely, Alhamdulillah,
on the left. But that does not make us left. We are still
prophetic.
So the the next point is, after acting on it is to believe in its
threats and its promises, and that allows us to speak truth to power,
no matter who we speak to,
no matter if it's Joe Biden, no matter if it's allies, no matter
whoever it is Donald Trump, whoever the Muslim is commanded to
constantly be kunu Awa, minab, al qasti, Shuhada or anak speaking
truth, whether it's Musa in front of firao, whether it's Sayyidina
Muhammad Sallallahu sallamah reminding his own people,
we are not simply allowed to untether ourselves from religion
in the name of political, economic, social or cultural
efficacy. That is a worldly community whose revelation now is
what's popping in the streets, what's popular in the beltway,
what's going to make us look nice.
The fourth thing that he says is to believe in the allegorical
verses, meaning those things that we may find difficulty in
understanding. We believe in them and we act on them. And then
finally, he said, is to work to preserve it, right? And what he
means by preserving it is not only memorizing it, but living it. The
same applies to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu, sallam, the
Quran. And Sunnah, in our mind, should be as sources of life,
sources of for me, as a convert, I like to tell people, for me, the
Quran is exploration.
For me, hadith is exploration. Oftentimes born, Muslims may see
the Quran as a jail cell. May see the Sunnah as a jail cell. Others,
we see the Quran as the key to take the handcuffs off of our
arms. And for those of you who are activists, for those of you
involved in mass, for those of you who are leading usras, for those
of you who sit on the boards of Muslim organizations, if you are
not experiencing at least two hatamah Quran every year, you need
to check yourself. If you are not having a deeply invested
relationship with the Quran, you need to check yourself, because
how can you lead if you're not being led, and if you are leading,
and you're not being led by the Quran and Sunnah, then what are
you leading by?
And if we were to take the Quran
and apply it to the work, say that mass LA is doing, we can see that
they are doing great work. They have a succession plan. They are
bringing in young people. They are staying independent, not taking
money from strange, dubious sources. They are sanctioned by
the community that they are engaged in passionate youth work,
that they are about supporting the comprehensive nature of Islam as
found in the Quran. The word taqwa in Soto Bakra is used in every
context of life, individual piety, social piety, economic piety,
political piety, piety within the family. To present to us the
comprehensive nature of the deen.
The last point that I'll make is that although covid is is an
extremely difficult time. My wife, subhanAllah, and her mother and
her grandmother, who was nine years old, all just had covid.
Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, all of them came out of it. Well, I was
living in isolation. I was from there, kharib, you know, I was
living three different houses, because each house there was a
breakout, so I won't have to move.
And I was talking to one brother,
a convert who memorized the Quran.
And I was, you know, I was venting. It's okay to vent, right?
And
he said, Wallahi, this is a blessing. And he actually has
covid 19. I
said, Man, I mean, I mean, I understand it's a blessing, but
what do you mean? He said, When covid 19 started,
I decided to contact my teacher
and finish all of the Karaite of the people of Medina.
What that means is war Shane
through the tray of Azraq. That's one. Washana through Asmaa, that's
two khaloon with Abu nasheed and khaloon with halawani. That's two
more. That's four. And then who's left is abi Jafar al Madani, the
sheik of all of them. And I said to him, how much have you
finished? He said, I only have now. AB Jafar Jafar al Madani
left. I said, Subhan Allah, man, you really used this time in
covid, he said, because I don't know when I have this opportunity
again. Why can be at home and put in work? So as I finish, I think
it's very important
that you set some objectives for yourself. You and your family,
begin to read the Quran once or twice a week.
That you have discussions with each other, you don't Imam Razi
says the majority of the Quran doesn't have to be understood by
ulama,
right? The majority of the Quran is understood by everybody,
that if you're with your roommates in college or your friends, that
you begin a small haraka of the Quran, as the Sahaba used to say,
ijbina, let's sit together and study the Quran. As the Prophet
salallahu, Salama said that the Quran, when it is studied
together, it brings about blessings and tranquility. And
you're not studying it to save the world. You're not studying it for
a meta narrative.
Think about how you're studying it, to be in love with Allah,
to find the grammar that makes sense of why marriages struggle.
To find understanding behind the pain of covid 19, to find the
beauty in the successes in your life. To gain security if you're
in high school, to be alone like Sayyidina Adam, to be bullied like
Sayyidina Noah, to be in the fire, like Sayyidina Ibrahim, to be a
trafficked human being, like Sayyidina Yusuf, to be an abused
child, maybe like Sayyidina Yusuf, to be a woman who's challenged
because of her gender. That's all in the Quran,
to understand that the prison industrial complex is mentioned in
Sultan Yusuf, that environmental allyship is mentioned in Suratul
to find greater meaning of what the Quran means for now in your
life. And nobody can teach that to you. Nobody can come in and teach
that to you. The Quran is there waiting for you to explore it. And
it is such a beautiful book, masha Allah, as well as the Hadith of
the Prophet salallahu, sallam, so I recommend that you have a study
circle of the Quran. Really, the best translation I've seen is by
Doctor Mustafa Khattab, the clear Quran. It's a wonderful
translation, and he even has one now for teens. He has a dictionary
that he just released. It's incredible. And the second is for
understanding the Sunna. I encourage you to read the Sira.
And the best book I've seen on Sira is Muhammad, men and
messenger by Doctor Abu Salahi, it's my pleasure to be with you.
Ask Allah to bless you. I'm super excited to pass now this baton on
to an incredible leader and woman, scholar and wonderful friend,
Maryam, Amir barakaz, Muhammad
zakalaha, bless you. One of the commenters on YouTube said, this
talk is riveting. Couldn't, couldn't have said it better,
better myself. Mashallah, we'll go ahead and transition to Maryam.
Amir,
Sada Meriam Amir, Sheik, Maria mamir received her master's in
education from UCLA, where she did her research focusing on the
effects of mentorship, rooted in critical race theory for urban
high school students of color. She holds a bachelor's in child and
adolescent development from San Jose State University. She holds a
second Bachelors in Islamic Studies from an Azhar University,
and has memorized the Quran Masha Allah. She has a second degree
black belt in Taekwondo and writes for virtualmas.com and Al juma.com
Mariam, sister, Mariam, ustada. Mariam is a lecturer with hikma
Institute, and frequently travels to work with different communities
on topics related to spiritual connections, social issues and
women's studies.
When I
was in high school, my family and I drove to the masjid for taraweeh
and Ramadan, and I had never actually experienced a Ramadan
where I felt any sort of emotional connection. I was in the car, and
we were listening to the Quran, and the reciter started to
suddenly stop and just cry. He started to bawl as he was reciting
these verses. And I had never seen such a reaction to the recitation
of the Quran like this. And because my family is not Arab and
we don't, we don't understand, we didn't understand exactly what the
messages were, I just was staring out the window and thinking, What
is he crying for? What is the Shia crying about? And I asked my dad,
and he said the general message was that he was thinking about the
hereafter. The Imam was reciting the ayat that had to do with the
Hereafter. And so we went to the masjid, and for the first time, I
used to fast Ramadan, because it was expected. I used to pray a
certain amount because it was expected. And after that, I would
go with my friends, and we would hang out around the Masjid. But
that was the very first time I sat in the masjid and just continued
to listen to the Quran, thinking about what this actually means. I
went home that night.
And I decided that I was going to open up that surah and start
reading the translation of those verses so that I can understand
for myself why that Imam had such an emotional reaction to those
verses. It was the end of Suratul moenon, and as the ayats kept
going and talking about that day and the conversation of people
with Allah, and just the recognition of the of the reality
of this life being so short,
I was emotionally impacted like that Imam was, and I chose that I
was going to memorize that Surah right there. That was the first
Surah that I consciously memorized. And I didn't really
know Arabic. I was super slow in in the recitation, I didn't know
any tijuid. The way I memorized wasn't by looking at the at the
Arabic. It was by looking at the transliteration and listening at
the same time and memorizing the translation so that I could
understand what it means, because the impact of the meaning was what
caused that shift, that shifts recitation to waver so intensely
because he was so impacted by the words of ALLAH, like Hassan Al
Basri says the Quran when you're listening to it, recognize that it
is the words of God Almighty sent to you on the on the lips of the
Prophet Muhammad, On the tongue of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be
upon him. So Allah alaihi wasallam. Now I used to go to
Quran class. When my parents encouraged me to go, I had taken a
sticky note, and I wrote out the verses on the sticky note, and I
would sit and as the as the Sheikah was looking at her, must
have to see if I was correct or not. I would look at the sticky
note, and I would recite the Quran that I was supposedly have
memorized just like that, and Subhanallah that at that time, I
wasn't connected to the Quran as a child, I didn't particularly feel
like that spark, but that emotional moment was one of many
in which caused me to fully decide that I want to be committed to
this book, and my story is just one of so many of millions of
people, many of you who have the same exact story, one of the Imams
of the Haram in our contemporary times. He didn't start as the
sheik who just loved the Quran since the minute he was born. He
was someone who would spend a lot of time watching TV, a lot of time
playing games, not really that interested. And one day, he was
waiting for someone to come, and he was standing outside, and when
they arrived, the door opened to the car, and in the car there was
a recitation playing, and that recitation was Sura al Kaf, and in
it, the shift was in Showa, he started to recite waja at Sacra,
tool motiva, Subhan,
Allah in that moment, this is talking about the reality of
death, the shortness of this life, being held accountable. And that
Sheik,
that was the first time he woke up, hearing the Quran caused him
to wake up. And he said that that moment didn't change his life, but
it was the first one in which he decided that he wants to start
making a change. So he started going to the masjid, and when he
would hear an imam or said the Quran, and he felt like these
verses speak to me, he would go back and he would memorize those
verses, until one day he was the imam who was leading taraweah, and
he was reading off the must have itself. And by the next year, he
said, I want to have this book memorized. I want to recite it
from my heart. And so he did, and he eventually became the Imam of
the Haram, the Imam of Mecca. And this story is a contemporary one,
but it's very similar to one that we have from our past full day.
Libin yelled, who was a great scholar in our history. Phil Ibn
yelled is quoted in so many books of of scholar, scholarly
knowledge. But he didn't start as a scholar. He was actually known
as a robber. Parents would scare their kids, and they would tell
them, Go to sleep or full Dale's gonna get you behave, or fool Dale
is gonna get you. And one day, he was running to rob a home, and he
stood on the roof of that home, and there was an older man
reciting the Quran, and he was reciting Alam yet Nili Levine.
Hasn't
it
become time for the people who have believed to be impacted by
the words of Allah? And when he heard this, fudil Ibn iyel said,
yes, it's time. He made Toba and he became the Imam of the Haram,
and his example is the example that we have from the Companions
Radi Allahu, AKM um Ayman Radi Allahu, anha Abu Bakr Al na Radi
Allahu, anhuma, they decided that they were going to go visit her as
a Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to do when he was
alive and when.
Went to her, she started to cry. And they said, Don't you know that
what is with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is
better for, excuse me, what is with Allah for the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is better and, um Amen, she responded
by saying, I'm not crying because I don't know that. What with that,
what is with Allah is better for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, I'm crying because the revelation has been cut off from
the heavens. When Abu Bakr and AMR heard this, they began to cry. And
so OMA Amen and Abu Bakr and Amar Radi Allahu anhu, they're just
crying, and they're crying. Why? Because the revelation is no
longer being sent down. They no longer have the revelation to
interact with physically in their lives. Suratul Lana am 70,000
angels brought that Surah down. Abu Huraira, the mentions that
when you recite the Quran, it's a four as a form of bringing angels
into your home, and a form of causing the shayateen to leave it
when you recite the Quran angels that roam the earth look for
people who are just reciting the Quran. They just look for you.
They want to hear your recitation. Whether you're stumbling and you
sound like nails on a chalkboard or whether you're reciting like
the angels, they are looking for you. Excuse me, they're looking
for you, and with their presence comes protection, and it comes
mercy and it comes Baraka,
yes. Subhan, Allah, how often I hear things like, What is wrong
with our ummah? We're so disconnected from the Quran our
youth. They're so into Tiktok, they're onto social media. They're
not connected to the Quran. What is wrong with our Ummah And
subhanAllah when Imam suhay May Allah bless him and protect him
and increase him and his family? When he was speaking and he
touched on this point, I was thinking, Imam Sohaib was my very
first mentor. You the investment he made in myself in the youth who
grew up when he was the Imam of our masjid, may Allah bless him,
he didn't cast us aside and say, Oh, they're just youth. There's no
potential there. He invested in us, and he helps us learn not to
be so afraid of ourselves, to help us grow in a religious space and
find empowerment in that spirituality. That message is not
the message that I'm hearing from young people today. I speak with a
lot of young professionals, with college students, with high school
students, the messages that they tell me are things like their
parents say, the reason you got into that car accident is because
you don't read enough Quran. The reason that you are not successful
in what you're doing is because you're not reading enough. Quran,
the reason you're depressed is because you're not reading enough.
Quran, you're not even worth being a part of this family because you
don't read enough. Quran, because you didn't memorize the Quran, I
actually hear statements like this and ones that are worse. And when
we talk about, where is our ummah? Why aren't we connected to the
Quran? We need to rephrase that question and ask, what are we
doing as individuals to cause people to feel like they have to
run away from the Quran? We have so much spiritual trauma in our
communities when the Quran is weaponized by parents or by
community leaders or by members. Of course, not everyone, not at
all. Well, we have very real trauma where people are coming to
the Quran and they can't open it. They are shaking because of a way
that it was weaponized when they were a child, that their love was
dependent a person, a caregiver's love was dependent on whether or
not a child had any type of connection with the Quran, and
when we give that message that you are not worthy, you are not good
enough, you are not worthy of my love, unless you've memorized a
certain portion of the Quran, unless you're reading a certain
amount in Arabic, even if you don't understand what you're
saying, unless you reach this certain level in madrasa, if
you're not reaching this particular goal, then you are not
worthy of love. Then the message that that gives, which is even
more terrifying, is that you are not worthy of the love of Allah,
subhanho wa taala. And when we make the love of Allah dependent,
when we make his acceptance and his willingness to forgive
dependent on how much work a person is doing with the Quran,
then we are causing people to feel like when they are the their most
vulnerable, when they are at their lowest, when they need nothing
more than to go back to the book of Allah, that
that's the one place they can't go because they're never going to be
good enough for it.
Versus a therapist told me that, why is dua so healing? Why is
reciting the Quran so healing?
Because one of the most healing forms of therapy.
It is simply just being able to speak without being interrupted,
knowing you have a safe space to express all that you're going
through without feeling like someone is going to cut you off
and say you're wrong and your feelings don't matter. That is
what the Quran gives us, a place where we can open it and we're
able to find guidance, we're able to find validation, and we're able
to find purpose. And we're going to talk about these three when we
look at the companions of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasalam
Ibn ama Radi Allahu anhuma. One day, he was reciting Suratul
multafi, Sora Mota fifun, and he was reciting eating was and as he
was reciting, he got to
Surat, a motto, fifine, he got to an ayah that was yomay, akumu,
nasudi, Rabbi la Alamin. When he got to this verse, he started to
cry, and he couldn't continue. He just kept crying and crying and
crying. And as he was crying Subhanallah, he had to stop his
recitation, and he was the same person who said that he it is more
beloved to him that he would cry out of the awe and this hasha of
Allah, this fear mixed with this humility and this hope and this,
this, this, amazement at Allah, Subhanahu wa taala, thou would be
more beloved to him than giving in charity 1000 Dirham. Now Ibn Al
Radi Allahu anhuma, he said that crying privately for the sake of
Allah in this way is more beloved to him than in a huge amount of
charity. And I want to contextualize that, because
charity is a humongous, great work, because you're not only
benefiting yourself, you're benefiting other people. But who
are the seven who on that day, the day of resurrection, who are
protected under the shade of the Throne of Allah, subhanho wa
taala? Two of them are mentioned right behind each other. One of
them is the person who gives without measure, the person who
gives so much so selflessly, and the one behind that person not
behind, but the one who's mentioned after that person is the
one who cries privately out of this hasha of Allah subhanahu wa
and most of the companions were not super rich people roll the
Allahu Anhu. So many of them, like many of us, we can't give a
million dollars every month. Some people can Masha Allah, but most
of us can't do that.
So for those people who are able to give, whether they don't make
that much and they still give, or whether they make Allah and they
give
that that quality is for them, but that's not everyone. But what is
something everyone can do? It's what Ibn Amarillo Anu said, that
you are emotionally impacted by those verses. And Ibn Al qayyim
Rahima hula, what did he say? He said, When you listen to the
Quran, bring your heart up so that when you're listening, you join
your heart with what you're hearing together, so that you can
be emotionally impacted by the verses.
Now, when we talk about the Quran as a safe space, a space of
validation, look at the example of Amaral, the Allahu anhu, one of
the companions, mentioned that he was in the final row of the masjid
when Amar Radi Allahu, Anhu was leading salah, and AMR recited
from Surah Yusuf, and he said, and he began to cry in Nana ashku,
Bethy wahozni, illallah, Wa Allahu, mean Allah, himala, taala,
Moon, indeed, I cry. I complain this sadness only to Allah. And I
know from Allah what you don't know, Ahmed al the Allah and who?
Who is he? He's the Khalifa. He's somebody who was harsh towards
Muslims before his conversion. He slapped his sister. And because of
that moment and the remorse he felt, his heart was open to
hearing the verse of the surah Taha, which is what guided him to
Allah, the Quran is what changed the heart of Amarillo, the alarm
so he is already someone who's promised paradise, and yet in his
lifetime, the responsibility that he holds weighs him down. He sits
and he reflects on his past. He's worried about his future, and he
is crying while he's reciting, I complain only to Allah, and he's
quoting, he is reciting what Allahu, Allah is quoting in the
Quran. Yeah, Quba Alayhi Salam. Why is Prophet Ya Abu balahi Salam
making this statement? It's because after decades, one of the
scholars of tafsir say 40 years between the time that he lost
Prophet Yusuf alaihi salam and the time that Prophet Yusuf alaihi
salam was rejoined with his father, and he's losing another
son, and he's losing another son be the manipulation of his own
children. Imagine how that's making him feel emotionally and
after all this time, when his family is saying, You're.
And I keep remembering Yusuf, until you lose yourself, until you
become like you're not able to even like, oh, takuna, mean, Al
haliki, and you're just going to be destroyed. What does he say? I
only go back to Allah. I only complain to Allah. Now that
doesn't mean you don't work with a therapist. You work with
therapists. You work with people who are going to support you
through your process. But also look, when somebody tells you,
hasn't it been long enough? Haven't you been depressed for
long enough? Haven't you cried over this loss for long enough?
Look at the Prophet yakuba alayhi salam, and he's still weeping, and
he's still crying after decades, but he does this with Allah and
Ahmed Radi Allahu Anhu in his timing. How many? How many years
later, is weeping and crying over and over as he recites this ayah?
Why? Because the Quran is a safe space. No matter what you're going
through, the Quran is open to hearing the type of pain that you
experience. And it's Allah subhanho wa Taala speaking to you
as he listens to the pain that you're stating, he has verses that
comfort you through it. And finally, let's look at Aisha,
radiah. She was she was reciting with purpose, excuse me. Masrok
was reciting to her famine. Allah, Alaina, Wakana, Ada be samum, and
she's just started making jaw and just crying and crying about this
day. The Allah honors us with removing the punishment and
blessing us with, with, with we pray eternal blessings.
SubhanAllah. Look at how when we think about the purpose that a
person feels with the Quran, it's look at Aisha radiah, how many do
we focus on women being mothers, which is so important. But on the
flip side, I have women messaging me constantly wishing that they
could be mothers, but they haven't been able to conceive for over a
decade. They haven't been able to get married for over a decade.
Aisha radila anha, imagine how she felt. Maybe she wanted to have
children and she never could. Where does she take that emotional
reality? Where does she take anything that she deals with, with
her pain of losing her husband, the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa
sallam. She takes that to the Quran, and she weeps, finding her
purpose as a scholar, finding her purpose as someone who leads an
army, even though she was she was
regretful of her political position of that time. And of
course, that's something that we regret as an ummah, but she wasn't
afraid of who she was, Royal, the Allahu anha, because the Quran
gave her purpose. When we look at this concept of feeling emotional
connection, it's also important to recognize that not everyone is
going to cry, and it's not a requirement to cry when you hear
the Quran, Abu Bakr Al, the Allah Quran, who says that the people of
Yemen came and they were hearing the Quran, and they began to cry.
And Abu Bakr says Abu Bakr Al Iran, who says, hakida, Kuna, this
is how we used to be, and then our hearts and then the hearts became
hard. Who is making the statement? Abu Bakr Radi Allahu Anhu is
saying, we used to cry, and then our hearts became hard. Don't
focus on and then our hearts became hard. Focus on who makes
that statement? If Abu Bakr or the Allahu anhu, someone of his great
status in the Companions, could listen to the Quran. And sometimes
they weren't crying. Sometimes their emotions were not like other
times, what about me and you? The Quran isn't asking us to prove our
love for it by bawling every time we hear it. We are asked to look
at the actions that we are going to do. How are we going to know
our actions by actually reading it in a language that we understand.
Make it a point to read the Quran every day, just one page a day at
a minimum, in the language that you understand. Bring your heart
and focus on it. Go to work through therapy if you need to, if
it's been a space of hurt for you, and reconnect with the book of
Allah, because when you recite it, he sends angels to surround you.
He loves hearing you say it. He loves and praises and rewards and
brings benefit and blessings. Every single time you're resetting
the Quran, your voice matters to him, so go back to him and never
underestimate the power that the Quran will bring to
your life. Panicham will be hundreds. Sheikha Mariam for the
inspiring words, really, it was in listening, I felt like it really
gave us all the affirmation that we needed, that the relationship
with the Quran to become our best friend is really waiting for us.
We just have to take that first step, Charlo, we're going to go
ahead and transition to Q and A.
Just want to remind everyone, whether you're listening on
Facebook or YouTube, because.
Go ahead and post your questions in the chat, and we'll get to
them. We did get one question which was related to Sheik mariams
closing thoughts. So maybe Sheik Mariam you can expand upon it
question it reads, a lot of us feel bad since we go away from the
Quran.
We memorized, then we forgot, we cried, and then the tears stopped.
The guilt makes us feel bad. How do we explain this journey wherein
we go away from the Quran? How do we go back? Is this normal
Baraka lofik? That's such an important question, and one that
all of us grapple with. When you look at the Quran, we are not
asked to have a specific emotional reaction to our deeds. Allah's
Panama Taala tells us that we grow closer to Him through our
obligations, and then what? Then the extra, and those are actions.
He doesn't ask us to force ourselves to cry. Yes, there is a
narration of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam,
talking about honest this, like, kind of concept of like, if you're
not emotionally there, try to get there emotionally. How would you
physically make yourself to feel emotionally there? And what we can
do is we can take that and say, Okay, what kind of atmosphere do I
need to be in to really feel emotionally connected? If you are
in Mecca, staring at the kiaba or in Medina, in the road of the
Prophet sallallahu, they would sell them. Of course, that's a
different conversation if you're a woman in the world. But the point
is that if you're in very beautiful places that are
spiritually ones that connect you, are you going to be feeling
differently than if you're in the chaos of your home in the middle
of a quarantine, you have to deal with maybe your kids or your
family and the dreams and figuring out what your life is. We're
humans who are dealing with our emotions. And if you're going to
place yourself in a space of serenity where all you're doing is
focusing, and you're able to focus and like pour your heart out to
Allah, that's a very different circumstance. So the point is
that, like Abu Bakr all the Allahu Anhu mentioned the Companions
themselves went through ups and downs. So what about us? The
beautiful thing about our religion is that when we think about our
time today, you know, we're in the United States, we don't have the
Adan five times a day and then the Obama and then hearing the Salah
from a masjid close by to our home, because all of our apartment
buildings have massaged it on the bottom of them. We are living in a
place where we have to be very conscientious about the actions
that we take. Don't you think that Allah swt is going to is not going
to Don't you know that Allah is going to reward that, how much he
loves that, the guilt that you feel over that he knows that, and
those are good deeds for you, because you feel that's a sign of
your love for him. So be easy on yourself. Make a consistent amount
that you're going to do on a regular basis and focus on the
action. Sometimes the emotions will come and sometimes they
won't. Allah is not requiring emotion from you. He's requiring
that you work sincerely towards what you're doing for his sake and
he loves the small
and consistent deeds we have another question, Imam Sohaib, you
feel free to expound upon that. And then, and then take this
question. The question reads, the teachers slash,
referring to yourself, Imam Sohaib and Sheik Maryam mentioned to
spend time with the Quran. I'm finding from years ago, when we
used to just sit on a bus and read,
the distractions have increased so much in the digital age, meaning
there used to be a lot more opportunities to read. Now things
are there's so many more distractions. Any practical tips
on how to be alone? Quote, unquote, with the Quran for both
young and old,
a discussion with the idea of discipline. You know, I remember
one time I was memorizing Alfie tabi Marek and I went to Sheik,
eMAR, efam Shahid eMAR effort, who died, of course, in the first
Egyptian revolution. And I said to him, you know, I'm having trouble
memorizing this text. Is there something I can do? And he just
said, like, work hard
again. Just like wave of wand, right? You're gonna memorize it.
So I think the answer actually, is in the question, right? You have
to be disciplined with your distractions.
No one else will be able to do that for you.
That's passion. That's commitment. My grandmother, my wife's
grandmother, mashallah, is nine years old. For 14 days, she had
covid. 19 for 14 days, she made the Hajj.
That's discipline, like, how much Allah, like, that's just working
hard, right? You have to work hard. There's no There's no magic
pill, right? That's the thing, I think. Secondly, and this is very
important, is to make a schedule.
So like to set an actual schedule, like on your phone, that this is
the time where I'm going to spend with the Quran. Now, of course, as
we get older and our responsibilities grow, oftentimes,
though, I found the more people have things to do in their life,
the more disciplined they are, because they don't have that big
budget of time. And when people have suddenly a big budget of
time, that's where they struggle to be disciplined. But that's a
different discussion. That's a different discussion. But I think
setting a realistic schedule for yourself and holding yourself
accountable
are the keys.
So
Mariam, feel free to add on to that as well. I'm going to direct
the question towards you. You can expound upon that and then take my
question unless you have anything to add right now.
No Chef imaz, my teacher, may Allah, bless him. He said
everything, Allah and the two of you are both all of our teachers.
May Allah, bless you both.
Subhanallah, just last night, actually my own family, we had a
hijab party for my niece, who is now taking on wearing the hijab
full time, Mashallah. And it reminded me of Seda Mariam, one of
you know, sort of a campaign that you had started inspiring women
and mothers to reconnect with the Quran. And and I wanted you to
speak a little bit about that and then share any advice you would
have for young sisters or just women in general, and then also
the brothers. We can also take notes and learn, learn a thing or
two. What advice would you give to a sister who maybe feels like, you
know, the reason why that I started with the hijab party was
because a thought came to my mind was, you know, we had the hijab
party. And the boys were there said, well, we don't get a hijab
party. I said, you can have, you know, when you memorize the Quran,
we'll have a party for you. And that reminded me that we'll have a
party this. You know, the girls in the family could also have that
party as well. So if you can just share a little bit of advice to
all of us on that,
I really appreciate you highlighting this concept of like
woman and connecting to the Quran. So Subhanallah, Imam sohib Is the
person who helped me not be afraid of myself with the Quran,
especially as a woman. A lot of times we are not focusing on women
and being like Quran reciters. Of Quran memorizers. We have so many
Masha Allah, so many men who've memorized the Quran, but when we
look in our community, sometimes we might have one or two sisters,
maybe, but sometimes not. And maybe some communities have so
many more than others. And subhanAllah, when I was beginning
my journey with memorizing the Quran, every single Sheikha that I
went to to try to memorize with she had something happen, and I
couldn't continue to study with her. And eventually, after I came
back from Egypt, Allah blessed me with studying with Shaykh mahid.
Shaykh mahid is an incredible Sheik who many of you know here in
California. He's in Southern California, and his recitation,
when he would teach me, he would say, you have to recite the Quran
in front of the community. So other women see that the Quran is
for them, that you don't have to be Arab, that you're a woman, that
you can be born and raised in California, and you can connect to
the Quran. And he was really someone who helped me recognize
like, when we don't have role models, when we don't see other
women do this, we don't necessarily know that we can. It
might be someone, someone who we know in our family, who memorized
the Quran, or maybe we've heard someone of someone who's memorized
but it's different when you can say, I want to be like this woman
who recites the Quran, and this woman who's memorized the Quran,
this woman who teaches the Quran. And I went through the UK doing a
tour, and it was just all these women's lectures with like 300 400
women who would come and approach me afterwards and say, You are the
first woman I've ever have heard memorize, recite the Quran. And
had I known that I could recite the Quran like you, I would have
tried to memorize the Quran. And these are women in their 40s and
their 50s. So because of that, consistently hearing from women
that they had no clue. And if you don't understand, if this isn't
your experience, that's awesome. I'm so happy for you that you come
from a community or a family where a woman memorize the Quran, and
they recite the Quran and they understand the Quran. But that is
not the reality that I'm hearing from from so many women. So when
we talk about going to the Quran, and when women see that other
women can do this, then Subhanallah, we begin to open the
doors of this concept of like little girls. You know your niece,
may Allah bless her and protect her. And the children who come in
the next generation, when we're showing them videos on YouTube of
like all of these Qur'an, who are we saying in the Qur'an that we
can also show her our little girls? This is who you can be,
like if you want to. And since starting this campaign, I'm so
grateful you can listen to the recitations of the sisters. It's
at the Miriam Amir, that's where they're played And subhanAllah,
the sisters who've told me, have sent me messages like for the
first time in my life, I'm reciting to my parents out loud,
and I'm.
40 years old. For the first time in my life, I'm hearing my little
girls, who are eight and nine years old, saying, I'm going to
memorize the Quran too. For the first time in my life as a woman,
I hear from women who memorize the Quran, or memorize portions of it,
became teenagers, and as teenagers were told, you can't continue to
memorize the Quran like you used to, excuse me, not me to recite
the Quran like you used to. And they were so hurt by that that
they went the complete opposite direction. And for the first time
in 10 years, they're coming back to the Quran and reading the Quran
again. When we make women's voices part of the narrative of the Quran
for other women to hear, we help other women recognize that the
Quran is accessible to us too, that it doesn't have to be this
Masha Allah sister who memorized the Quran, that that's part of our
norm for our Ummah and Inshallah, we're going to get to that place
with brothers and sisters being allies like the Quran calls us,
and encouraging women to pursue this passion for the Quran, which
inshallah will be able to build by giving them examples. Just a
further question, and I'm so sorry. I realized it took so much
time,
no, no, not at all for, for answering and shedding light on,
onto that and if, if maybe the admins can post what she had
referenced at the Maryam Amir where they can be a part of that,
of that movement, inshallah to we have another question, and I'll go
ahead and actually it's just someone asking for dua, may Allah
subhanahu, to make it easy upon you to memorize the Quran. I mean,
another question is, how do we come back to the Quran when we
always think of our sins? Imam, if you want to go ahead and take that
one. InshaAllah, I
Oh, go ahead,
my mic was muted there well, because the Quran is promising
unconditional forgiveness for the sinner. Why would you see from the
Quran? That's, that's the trick of shaytan. So show he says about the
Quran is the calf like the cave. The Quran is decay for the person
who sees Allah and comes back to Allah, the Quran says that he do
who to him? You know, if you come back to Allah, will forgive you
and Allah. So I think first and foremost, that person is going to
want to go to the Quran, because that's where the promise of
repentance is there. I don't think it's on my end, because our
internet is mashallah, quite strong. It's that Boston Celtic
internet hitting that LA favor internet. So I guess it's on your
end, but I will turn over the question to Shahada.
Now, so hey, I've answered it. Botta colofiki,
man, come on. You got
something? Sure? There's
something. Go ahead. It doesn't have to be, you know, he, he may
have answered the the question entirely, but you could share
additional reflections that that were inspired from it
as well.
I think that there's also, like, a component here of of something
called spiritual OCD, where we are, like, so focused on our
mistakes. And part of that is like we're taught that we need to be
people who are humble, and we shouldn't be focusing on like,
what makes us so great. And so we think about our sins, and we think
about how, you know, terrible we are, and we need to fix ourselves.
And when, in reality, like Chef mentioned that, you know, Allah
promised you, that you're going to be forgiven if you ask for his
forgiveness. Sort of Furkan, in the end, Allah talks about the
person who makes Toba and they believe and they do righteous
actions. The tafsir of this ayah talks about how Allah will replace
their bad deeds with good deeds, and so even your bad deeds become
good deeds on the Day of Judgment because of your repentance. But
our our our obsession with our mistakes. And just like, How could
have I ever done that? I need people who did something five
years ago, two years ago, three months ago. And of course, it's
it's important for us to rectify our mistakes and move forward, but
like we're stuck and we can't move forward. And so instead of
continuing to get good deeds and continuing to focus on how it can
become a better person. What happens is that we become so
paralyzed by our past that we can't do good in our future. And
so when we look at what this concept of like spiritual OCD is,
is that okay, if, if we're talking about a religious fear, we're.
Thinking about, why am I so obsessed with what I've done in
the past, instead of, how can I make up for it? How can I do
what's going to help me go forward, instead of what's going
to cause me to regress? Shaytan wants you to be so focused on your
guilt that you're not able to feel the hope in Allah's mercy. The
Quran itself has messages of his forgiveness. So go back to the
Quran so that you can see how he's telling you that he's going to
accept you, that he promises acceptance, that his for that that
his forgiveness of your sins is going to turn your bad into good,
and then the more that you read it, the more rewards that you get,
and the more that inshallah you understand it, you're going to
change. And through all of that Inshallah, make the sin that
causes you to feel so guilty, as Ibn Al sha Allah mentions, make
that sin the reason why you go back to Allah harder than you ever
have before. Sometimes an act of disobedience, as he mentions,
brings a sinner closer to Allah than an act of obedience that
causes a person to feel so proud and arrogant for moving our
righteously. So focus on how you're going to go back to Allah
and move forward to the sins that you've committed through your
relationship with the
Quran. Hey, I have a question for you really quickly,
if you don't mind,
whatever,
yeah, I hope you don't. I mean, aren't you? Aren't you supposed to
welcome the center and I welcome, I welcome, I welcome all the
people. Thanks. Appreciate this.
But this is a serious question, right that we've experienced, and
that is, what if the Quranic teacher is the one who is
amplifying the negativity. What if it is the person that people go to
to study the Quran is a bully,
is insecure, is a jerk,
and people are traumatized because they expect this person to be is
one of the few people in the world that people just trust,
and when that trust is broken, it can become extremely traumatic
problem. It's like having a bad leader, right? Very similar
experience. People walk into these situations and trust people. But
when it comes to like, I think we need to have like rehabilitation
places for people that have been mistreated in the community. But
in particular, what advice share would you have for people who have
had really, really, really bad Quran teachers that have been
bullied and reinforced like a great sense of negativity in their
life?
I think this goes back to this concept of spiritual trauma, where
people look for a place of safety, and that place of safety is
weaponized. The Quran should be a place of safety, but if the person
teaching you is harming you through it, even if it's 20 years
in the future and you no longer talk to that person, they still
hold control over you, because your thoughts are so ingrained in
those traumatic and toxic experiences. And really moving
forward, I think there's three steps to this, because this is
rampant in our community, unfortunately, the first one is
that you need to seek professional help. That's so critical seeking
professional help a Muslim therapist to help you talk through
what you're going through, because what's going to happen is your
spiritual thoughts are going to be so enmeshed with your neurons and
the way that it's been processing your trauma that you're not going
to be able to recognize what is a thought that's coming from you and
what is a thought that you feel is a misunderstanding of
spirituality. And so helping someone navigate those thoughts
for you is really critical, and working in a professional space
for that is necessary. So you do that process and help yourself
feel like the Quran can be a safe space for you, where, number two,
you also have a support system who help you re experience that having
new experiences with the Quran so that you change the negative
patterns of your past, you can create new experiences that your
mind goes to instead of being stuck in the old ones. Is really
important for your processing. So for example, maybe you used to
learn the Quran in the masjid. Maybe going to the masjid for you
with the Quran right now is not the right space. Maybe going into
the mountains, going into your backyard, going to places that you
feel safe, is important for you with the Quran as you re
experience what it means to have a relationship with it. And then,
thirdly, recognize that with your processing and helping you know,
find this healing, you have control. You are the only person
who has control over your relationship with the Quran, the
more power you give someone who harmed you and hurt you. Five
years, two years, 30 years into the future, they're going to
continue to have control over you as long as you allow the way they
made you feel to dictate the way that you're going to have a
relationship with Allah's book, right?
Recognize that they are the ones who weaponize the book of Allah,
and that is what Allah will hold them accountable for, and
sometimes realistically, they need to be held accountable here, too,
with authorities. But if it's not that level of toxicity and trauma,
but it is spiritual abuse, then recognize that you are the one who
has to take control of your spirituality, recreating a safe
space for yourself so that nobody has control over you anymore. That
is so critical for you, so that you feel like the Quran is
something that you have a relationship with, with no other
voices except for that, which means your voice in the Quran. But
getting there again, that's a process, and it takes time, and
it's important to know that that's okay. It's okay to feel guilty and
it's okay to shake and it's okay to feel like I can't handle this.
Those feelings are valid. You just have to process what those
feelings are like for you so that you can get to a place of healing.
Inshallah, what would you say? Sheik Sahib,
I would say exactly what you said.
Mashallah, you know, like, I don't think there's else to be said.
Hey, how long did it take you to memorize the Quran?
Took me seven years. How long did it take you
took me two years. But I was really young.
I was also very young. But the difference, I think, for me, is
that for me, I don't know if it's a difference, but I know that you
were in school and you were doing a lot of other stuff, I had
problems with I couldn't there was not a single woman who would be
able to study with you. And every time I started with a new teacher,
she had to start me from the beginning. So like, I'd memorize
up the sort of sending set, and then my new teacher had me start
all the way from the beginning again with her, and then she'd
have to stop because of a life situation. And so that it was a
long process before you finally memorize. Having someone who's
consistent, having a teacher to help you with that process is
important.
What would you say are the good I'd love to hear your thoughts on
that question.
Well, I think, first of all, they need to be they need to love
people. You know, sometimes we run into people that are in religious
vocation, that are super burned out, and it's almost like they
hate the muslimeen
and like, if you're in that place,
number two is, I think that you have to be extremely
I think the teacher has to be somewhat
malleable. Because, you know, people in America are busy, like,
they can't always conform to, like, a strict schedule.
So I think those are, like, loving people being malleable and then
also demanding discipline. But like, in a like, did you see, uh,
the Queen's gambit yet on Netflix, it's like, really good show,
right? So her Shay,
he basically inspires her to be a better chess player. He doesn't
intimidate her. So, like, my teacher was always like, like,
imagine if you do this, you know, like, what's on the other side of
that mountain, man? It's amazing. It wasn't like, if you don't
memorize Quran, I'm gonna like, you know, obliterate you. And why
aren't you motivated? Like, motivating. Being a motivator is
much more important, often in demanding discipline, but
inspiring discipline, right? Not demanding it, inspiring it. I
think so. Being an inspiration. What else? What do you think
I think one of the things I learned from you is helping
someone find their personal what, what is their passion with the
Quran like, what? Why do they want to what is it makes them feel
passionate about what they're memorizing, and like helping them
remember that, I think it's ridiculous when not ridiculous is
maybe a strong word, but Quran teacher shouldn't be your personal
trainer. They're not there to motivate you until you can do it.
Have you caught I kept up with what you're doing like you need to
be on top of it and willing to put in the work. But when they
recognize how much you want this, then being able as a teacher to
see what is going to keep you going when you feel like you can't
keep going is really beautiful. And helping you not be afraid of
what you can achieve through the memorization of the Quran, like
helping you realize like it's a really, really long process, but,
but why do you want it? And just helping you keep keeping that eye,
keeping your eye on the whole and then also in terms of, like
helping you see qualities about yourself that you wouldn't have
even noticed, like helping you recognize those things through
your memorization, I think is really critical. Same or what do
you think
I don't have much to add. Mashallah, you guys are really my
big takeaways. I'll summarize is really, we just got to get to get,
get down and do some work.
You know, subhanAllah, I think we, we often put roadblocks in our own
minds, at least I do for myself. And I think you guys are really
done a good job of breaking those down and ultimately showing.
Me that, you know, you Imam Sohaib, if you took two years,
salamani took, you know, seven years, you had some challenges
that that highlights to me that everybody's road and their journey
to the Quran is going to be different, and that that's okay.
And that somebody might be, you know, aspiring for memorizing the
whole Quran, and somebody else might be aspiring to read with
good Tajweed, and someone else might be aspiring for something
different, and that's okay. And ultimately, what matters most is
that we're we're focused on that journey, and that we're on the
path seeking Allah's Tawfiq success, divine success, as we, as
we move forward in that journey. I just want to go ahead and invite
us to close out the session by each of you guys sharing where
others there's some questions that we didn't have time to get to. If
you guys can just share where others can connect with you guys.
I know in my personal observations, you guys are two of
the most accessible scholars that we have, mashallah, and so maybe
plug your you know, where we can connect with you on social media
or or through a formal Institute inshallah.
I mean, yeah, you can just
look for suhive. You'll find me somewhere on Google, but I run an
online school. We have almost 2000 students. We have a number of
students memorials in the Quran now the Ijaz Alhamdulillah, we
have around 400 youth that take our programs with us. It's only
$10 a month for the entire family. You can go to swahibub.com get
started. Like cost of two cups of coffee man and over 500 hours of
content. And you know, it's really good. It's very nutritious.
Netflix for knowledge mashallah, and that's what Imam Sohaib was,
was reminding us that this was motivational and inspiring, but
now we want to take real action, and so that's an opportunity for
us to really, you know,
grasp into, you know, dig our our teeth into some, some real
knowledge, Inshallah, that we have accessible with Imam Sohaib and
the rest of the teachers that he has with swissad Maria. I just on
Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook, I'm Maria mamiera, and
they are with IBM. I are just like, what's on the screen and on
Instagram, I'm at th Mary
JazakAllah, to both of you guys. I want to thank you guys for your
time and being with us. May Allah subhata bless you and bless your
families. May Allah increase you and always allow us to continue to
learn from you guys and be inspired from each of you. I want
to go ahead and close out the session just reminding everyone
the next session will begin at four o'clock Pacific time. Also
want to close out encouraging everyone to donate to mass to
support programs like this and other services that are provided
to the community. You can donate through the mass con app, and it
makes it real easy for you. Inshallah, see you all at the next
session,
God willing at four o'clock Pacific.
Thank you. Samer, bye.