Maryam Amir – Our Journeys to the Quran
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of practicing the Quran and not just memorizing it, as it is crucial for understanding the journey and finding the right person to talk about it. They stress the need for personal attention and a giveaway for bookstores and women to attend workshop, emphasizing the importance of practicing and learning the language. The speakers emphasize the importance of practicing and not just memorizing the Quran, and mention a giveaway for bookstores and a giveaway for women to receive a book.
AI: Summary ©
Bye.
I will start first with a lab acknowledgement
that will be followed by an introduction
to local speakers panel Question and Answer
followed by your questions at
the very
end. So given the online format of this event, we realize our
audience is going
to acknowledge the
are you? I think we need a clear connection or or voice. I don't
think
we can hear you that clearly. Is it just me or I don't know very
well,
okay,
there for Shan, would you be able to read the land acknowledgement?
Sorry, Tanya, I just don't think you can.
It's just gonna Okay. So while we figure out that, yeah, I just
wanted to welcome everyone, but I'm wanting from everyone so happy
to have you. Masha, Allah, very good to see beautiful faces,
familiar faces.
I'm welcoming all this. I would like to read all your names, but
I'm on my phone, so it's hard to read all the attendees. But
mashallah welcome so happy to have everyone. And this is the leaders
and learners
event with the Muslim Students Association and the women's
circle, and we also have, obviously, our teachers from
rabatha And so the Mariam today, we'll get to hear a little bit
about their biographies and what they can offer us inshallah in a
minute. But I just wanted to welcome you all and say that on
this beautiful day in hamdale, we're so happy that we can all
gather. I know in the crunch of March is is a very tough time for
students, but perhaps all times are but I wanted just to say,
Marshall, it's so beautiful to gather to talk about the Quran and
about our relationship with it, no matter what,
what status currently we have with the Quran, no matter if you, if
you haven't, you know, picked it up in a long time, or if you pick
it up infrequently, and you just, you're here to be inspired to
connect with it. Inshallah. So I hope that's what we get today. So
my name is mozana nofan, and I'm from the Women's circle, and I
would like to
welcome Iman, manager from the rabata Toronto chapter. So
Bismillah, Please, sister Iman, go ahead and introduce us to what
rabata Toronto chapter is,
everyone. Thank you so much, mozina. It's really a pleasure for
me to be here, Alhamdulillah.
So yes, Alhamdulillah, rabata, as you already know, is a global
online institution, and we also have the rebat Academy. And this
is where the fun happened. This is where the learning happened. And
what we've been trying to do at rabata is really bring that
culture of living in the shelter of each other in our own
communities. So whatever we learn, whatever we we want to, you know,
everything that we learn, that we want to share with others, we have
different chapters around Canada, the US. We have a chapter in
Bosnia. We have a chapter in Malaysia and and also in the UK.
Alhamdulillah. So we have chapters all over. And what we want to do
is to connect women to rabata, of course, but also to learn from one
another. So I think for me, being here is really an honor to be able
to connect with other women who are like minded and to who love to
learn and to grow, and, you know, to bring the baraka that we can in
our own communities, as as mothers, as students, as aunties.
I think that's very important. And really follow the rabata Etos of
creating positive cultural change to educate educational experience.
And our vision is really to
what we see. It's a vision. It's a rising tide of Muslim women,
teachers, faith leaders and community stewards in a digital
local neighborhood around the world. That's what we want to do,
basically. So we have a chapter here in Toronto, and we again, we
follow the same ethos, really trying to find people that are
alone, that that's our focus, people that are alone, that don't
really have community. Toronto is such a big city, you can easily
get lost. So that's one of our focus. We've been doing book
clubs,
little gathering here and there. Since covid, we've been online.
But again, we're trying to uplift one another and be there for one
another. So I'm happy to be here and to be representing thank you
so much. From Monica.
Thank you so much. It says that I mean Masha Allah, beautiful to
hear, but rabata. And you know, I've taken courses with rabata.
It's a very beautiful, beautiful experience and institution. And
honestly, I'm inspired by anything, women led, women
focused, women spaces. They're just very, very inspiring Masha
Allah, and that's partially why we had created the women's circle. I
mean, the MSA always does amazing work on campus, and the women's
circle is there just to provide, you know, a special place for the
women's
specific needs on campus in terms of Islamic education. And one of
our biggest goals is to connect Muslim women students on campus to
women scholars across the world. So we've been doing that. We had a
good streak for like, four years of hosting only women Muslim
speakers, until we had the sheik Mendez a couple of weeks ago, that
was our one exception for during Black History Month. But
we had, we've been so honored on campus to have a group of very
good mashallah women come together on a weekly basis. We call it the
circle, because we implement, you know, the circle Halakha,
traditional style of reading Quran together, studying it and also
holding social and other events together. So in a way, we are
inspired by institutions like rabatel, but on our mini scale, on
campus. And so it's not a surprise to host these beautiful speakers
today that we'll meet in a minute, and we'll we'll have about 45 or
40 minutes of pre prepared questions that they will speak to
and then, Inshallah, we'll open it for a few minutes after for anyone
from the attendees who would like to have a question or a Comment
and have a conversation with our teachers today.
So next I will introduce maybe he's our fish and from the MSA to
tell us a little bit about each of our speakers. And then, Inshallah,
we'll, we'll, we'll get to hear directly from them.
I know most of you are on campus better.
Yes, it is okay, hopefully it stays like this. So sorry about
that, but I will start with the speaker introductions
now, so I'll begin with Dr Sadia. Dr Sadia is a board certified
endocrinologist who works at Metro Detroit endocrinology Center. She
also runs an online program called the holistic endocrinologist,
where she merges her passion for allopathic and holistic medicine.
She kahurta jaid ejata from Sheik algardi, may Allah be pleased with
him, and another one from Sheik priyam Raji. And went on to
memorize the Quran. She wrote the book The crowning venture inspire
inspirations for women who have memorized the Quran, along with
the companions. She's founding member of rabita and continues to
serve on the board, while also teaching classes. She has a
special interest in transformational leadership and
health slash life coaching, to support women to bring their own
visions to life. And secondly, we have joining us today with
Southern Miriam. Southern Mariam Amer received her master's in
education from UCLA, where her research focused 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 and another Islamic
Studies from Al Azhar University, and has also memorized the Quran.
She is a second degree block both in Taekwondo and writes for
virtual mosque.com and aljima.com Mary was a lecturer with hikma
Institute, and frequently travels to work with different communities
on topics related to spiritual connection, social issues and
movement studies,
and if it's okay, I'm just also going to quickly do the land
acknowledgement, since we were enabled, and then I'll pass it on
to the questions. So given the online format of the event, we
realize our audience may be joining from different treaties.
We would like to acknowledge the sacred land on which the
University of Toronto operates. It has been a site of human activity
for 15,000 years. This land is a territory of the Huron Wendat and
Hutu First Nations, the Seneca and most recently, the Mississaugas of
the credit River. The territory was the subject of the dish with
one spoon, wampum belt covenant, an agreement between the Arab
corps, Confederacy and Confederate the Ojibwe and allied nations to
peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.
Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many
indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island. We are grateful to
have the opportunity to work, worship and gather in the
community
as Muslims residing on this land, we acknowledge them continues to
benefit from the.
Colonial injustices, is our duty to learn, address ongoing
injustices and stand in solidarity with the oppressed and
marginalized. Allah says, But believers, stand firm for Allah
and their true testimony. Do not let the hatred of a people lead
you to injustice. Be just. Let us closer to righteousness and be
mindful of Allah. Surely Allah is all aware of what you do.
Recognizing the history of this university of Hillsborough is
vital for different communities in the space to center ideas of
responsibility, reciprocity, resilience in our work, and be
accountable to the treaty relationships we are bound to
Okay,
Michelle, so actually commenting on your your biographies.
Basically, you have two boss ladies here, masha Allah, so
we can't wait to hear more about all your achievements. Masha
Allah, and if you want to connect with Doctor Sadia and says Mariam
later, we'll also post their their handles on Instagram or their
contact information.
Thank you so much. Dr Shen, for the intros and for the land
acknowledgement. I don't know. Mariam, if you have access, can
you read us? Please the first question, and again, welcome to
our guest.
So the first question
is going to be in the pursuit of memorizing and learning the Quran,
what challenges did you face or are aware of that apply more to
women and for some unsure of where to start. What would you
recommend?
I guess, since I'm unmuted, I will go first. First of all, I do want
to thank you for the beautiful introductions, and especially the
land acknowledgement that really brought tears to my eyes. What a
beautiful way to start. I want to mention, as far as challenges,
back when I initially memorized the Quran, the biggest challenge
for me was not having a lot of role models or women that had done
it in my area, here in the US, I had to travel to see women who had
memorized the Quran and to see that it was something that perhaps
I could do as well. I didn't go with that intention to memorize
the Quran, but while I was there, I was opened up to this amazing
world where women and girls of all ages were memorizing the Quran.
When I memorized, I was there in this atmosphere, and that made
definitely made things easier.
It just being immersed in that, being surrounded by women who were
doing the same thing. One of the biggest challenges for me was when
I came back and I no longer had that support,
because there it was not as common as it is now for girls and women
to memorize the Quran here in the states now, masha Allah, there are
programs for girls across the nation. There is opportunities
online and in person, but those did not exist back then. So there
was a sense of, I'm on my own, and on top of that, I want to share a
story where this is it has a happy ending. But I'm just going to go
back a few years. When I first came back after having memorized
the Quran, I remember that we had some family friends visiting us
from another state, and in that family, the boys all memorized
Quran, every single boy, it was a given.
I thought that Auntie would be extremely happy to hear that I had
memorized the Quran. When, when I told her, she actually, I think my
mom probably told her that, you know, Sadia was in Syria. This is
what she did. She actually said
girls shouldn't memorize the Quran because when they grow up, they'll
have too much housework
and they won't be able to review.
That was, that attitude was kind of pervasive back then. And the
reason that I want to bring up this story is because that was at
that time, but so that was challenging for me. It was like
deflating a balloon. I was almost like, well, I already did it, so,
you know hamdullah, but I just want to share that this same
auntie a few years ago who came back again and visited us, and now
she was proudly telling me that not only had many of her
granddaughters memorize the Quran, but each one was in the journey
somewhere at some point, and even her great grandchildren. So she
had grandchildren and great grandchildren. She's proudly
telling me, this one finished it. This one is working on it. So I
feel like times have have changed. I feel like the challenges, that
was my challenge, personally, my challenge back then, and of.
Course, there are always different challenges, but I feel like that
one Alhamdulillah that the tide has changed, and it is continuing
to change, and Masha Allah, with the work that Saddam Mariam is
doing with the four mothers, I know that that has opened up so
many doors for women to see other women and hear other women recite
Quran so zakat, for the beautiful work that you're doing. Estado
Mariam,
the second part of your question, I didn't know if you wanted to tag
team. I just wanted to share one thing about what you mentioned.
You asked, Where does one start?
And what I want to say about that is one starts with an intention
that Ya Allah, I want a relationship with your words.
That's the very first step.
So, Inshallah, that relationship might evolve into step by step,
learning how to recite it properly,
falling in love with reciting it, falling in love with hearing it.
And it may lead to memorization of Quran.
And it's okay to start out with that intention as well, but the
most important thing is loving the Quran, having a relationship with
it. One thing that one of my friends when I was interviewing
her, and I asked her, What is the one piece of advice you would give
to people who want to memorize the Quran? And she said, You will not
be able to memorize the Quran and tell you love it. So find what it
is that makes you love it.
Those words
are so beautiful and so deep. For some people that loves of the
Quran comes from reciting it, listening to the recitation of the
sounds. Some people who are very like oral learners. For some
people, it could be that the seed really wanting to dig deep into
the tafsir. For some people that love could come from the Arabic of
the Quran.
Some people who love grammar. My grammar teacher, she's mashall. I
love her, you know, I jokingly, lovingly call her a grammar nerd,
and she calls herself that too. But for her, going through the
grammar of the Quran is it gives her goosebumps. And for some
people, it's all of them. So start out with that intention, that I
want to have a relationship with the Quran, and then which, which
one of those pathways is most accessible for you? And and the
easiest, and of course, recitation of Quran learning proper, the juid
is a very, very important step, because it is incumbent on upon
every person who has the ability to learn how to recite properly,
that they that they should. And so the recitation of the Quran start
there, and then from there, just have an open heart and let Allah
subhanahu TA guide you. It deeper and deeper into that relationship
with the Quran, and I
would love to hear from sada Mariam nowokfi, Doctor Saria, such
a gift to hear you, Masha Allah and mashallah, you're someone who
has so inspired me, and the book that you've written has inspired
so many women around the world to Barak Allah, it's, it's, it's such
A gift to see, like you mentioned, how there are more and more
conversations on the need for women to be in spaces of Quran.
And the biggest struggle that I experienced mirrors. Dr saadias, I
wasn't really into religion, and then Alhamdulillah, I went to
Mecca. Changed my life. I came back. I wanted to start like,
learning about the Quran. I thought, How do I connect with
with Allah reading his book? And so I read it in translation. I
didn't know Arabic, and reading in the translation was just so
powerful that I was like, I want to know what the meaning of what
I'm reciting is in Arabic. And so I, you know, started working with
the teacher, and then something happened with that teacher, and
then it took months to find a new teacher, and then I worked with
that teacher, and then it took months to find another teacher. It
was one woman after another. Who are, you know, mashallah, these
memorizers of Quran, who had things come up for them. And so
the reason my journey took seven years is because every time I
would lose a teacher, I would spend months looking for one, and
then I would find one, and then they would start me all the way
over. And so then I would go through the whole part, all the
parts I've memorized, the new teacher, and then start again
after that teacher couldn't work, and it was one after one, you
know, woman after another. And Subhan Allah, they all may. Allah,
bless every single one of them. They all had so many
responsibilities. They're juggling so many different, you know,
responsibilities. And the reality is that, you know, in our
community right now, we don't have women resident scholars in masajid
women as Quran teachers. Yes, we have women who teach Quran and who
charge to teach Quran, which is an important profession. But the
majority of women who I interacted with, they were not teaching
Quran. They were doing it on the side, because they.
Didn't have a position in the masjid to be the Quran teacher for
a woman, they didn't have a position in an organization to be
a Quran teacher. They were juggling everything in their
lives, and many of them were already working other jobs and
helping me learn on the side. And so it wasn't until I went to Egypt
where hamdullah was able to access a teacher who was a full time
teacher. That was her job. She had many students. Alhamdulillah, I
was able to study with her. And then when I came back to
California, Alhamdulillah, I finished my memorization with
Masha Allah tabarakallah, the best Shaykh in the world, Sheik
mahibullah, masha Allah, what a gift to be able to study with him.
And it was really through his example that I learned not just
what it meant to memorize the Quran, but really what it meant as
a woman to be a Quran reciter. And that shift for me, Subhan Allah,
that was a shift that I had never experienced in my life before. I
had never seen before. I had heard my own teachers reciting the
Quran, but I had never seen a woman recite the Quran. There's a
difference between your teacher teaching your Quran and you
reciting to your teacher and being a Quran reciter. It's an art, and
it's one I had never seen, and it's certainly not one I claim I
have, but it's an art to see woman as Quran reciters. And so he is
the one who really helped me start looking at this part of my life.
And this, this, this, this, this knowledge that's Subhanallah from
the beginning of the time of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa
sallam, from the beginning of the time the revelation Subhanallah,
how women's voices have been a part of that process. But really,
just like Doctor Sadia mentioned, the biggest, the biggest challenge
for me was the modeling. Was seeing other women, was accessing
other women at hamdullah, things are changing now. Inshallah,
things will continue to change in the direction that isn't a it's
not a progressive direction. It's literally taking us back to the
traditional, you know, the roots of our, of our, of our, of our, of
our legacy, of Islamic legacy. And as to advice, just like Doctor
Sadia mentioned, you know, when you make the intention that you
want to go on the Quran journey, I started with just reading the
translation. The translation changed my life. Then I started
memorizing it in the transliteration. I memorized all
of sorts of what me known in the transliteration. That's when you
write the English, but it's like Arabic, like B, I, S, M, I, L, L,
A, H, that's why I memorized Minun. Sheikhom Jamaluddin
mentioned memorizing all of Sura Ali Iran with the transliteration.
So Subhan, Allah, you know, when you want the Quran, you're willing
to do it, even if you don't even know how to read Arabic. But when
you make that intention, oh, Allah, I want to know your book. I
want to, I want, I want. I want to hug it and just be in love with
it, even if you don't have time to not time, but even if you don't
know how to read it, maybe you've gone through traumatic experiences
within the Muslim community. Maybe you've experienced trauma because
of the way the Quran was introduced to you and you you
shake when you want to open it, hold it, hold it. Go on walks at
the beach and hold the Quran. Go to a cafe and hold the Quran. And
let let your Quran. Let the Quran be your companion. Those
experiences when you make the intention of Allah, I want to be a
person of the Quran, even if you don't complete your journey before
your journey in life is completed. But you try and you work towards
it, you will be recorded as a person of the Quran. And we ask
Allah to record us of those people. So making the intention
seeking the Quran in whatever way, whether it's a physical or an
emotional or a knowledge connection. And also work with a
teacher. I cannot stress that enough, robota has an amazing
system of women who teach the Quran. Work with robota, working
with a teacher consistently is so critical to be able to go through
your journey. Inshallah,
so Mariam, you said being a person of the Quran. What does that? Why
should we try to be your strive to be a person of the Quran.
The Quran is breath. The Quran is your soul. The Quran is life. The
Quran is everything. When you are a person of the Quran, it's not
like, oh, I memorized a book. No, it's your character. Has to change
your interactions with people, change the way you view the world,
shifts your empathy with other people, the accountability you
hold for yourself and the standards you hold for yourself,
and the interactions you have with people who are vulnerable. It's so
it's it's it it changes your life, and because it should change your
life, and when it changes your life, you are able to create that
change in the world around you. And if it's not changing your
life, there's a problem. If it's not, if you are memorizing the
Prophet sallallahu, sallam, you know, warned us of this, of people
who might recite beautifully, but their actions do not reflect the
Quran. A person of the Quran is not just someone who knows the
whole Quran. It's someone who, when you.
See them like the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam. You
think about them, that person is a walking Quran. The morals that
they reflect, the way that they carry themselves and their
religion is is a gift to the world, honestly. And that's not to
be that's not to say I don't think I'm a person of the Quran. So I'm
not trying to say that. I'm not trying to describe myself as this
way. But what I'm saying is, when you see someone like that, and
someone who is so kind, even when people are so harsh to them,
someone who is so generous, even to people who are stingy to them,
and I'm not talking about someone in your personal life who's
oppressing you. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about
situations where you could technically seek revenge, but you
choose to do something differently, and again, not when
you're personally oppressed. I'm talking about general situations
that's a gift, that's a gift to the world. Imagine policies
created in ways where there's justice brought to those who are
oppressed, but at the same time, there is just mercy in the Justice
SubhanAllah. So why should you be a person of the Quran? On a
personal level, your life will change. Subhanallah, the way that
you the way that you see yourself, shifts those insecurities that you
have, will still be there. But you know you're not alone as you
process those insecurities, the toxicity that you may experience
in your life, may still be there. But you know that you're not alone
when you call out to Allah, and you open the book, and you close
your eyes, and you point to a random ayah. And when that ayah is
exactly what you're going through Subhan, Allah, you know you're not
alone, knowing that you have that connection with Allah, that it's
not just in this life, it is forever. And I think this is one
of the things about the Quran. There are so many times where we
believe in Allah, we believe in the hereafter. We believe that
it's the truth. But as human beings, sometimes you're just
like, is this really real?
Is this actually going to come to an end?
What is actually going to happen when I die, and then you go back
to the Quran and you're like,
You are the truth, Allah, you are the truth. And there's no one who
will be with me, but you having that relationship with Him,
Subhanahu wa taala. It's, it's, it's one that, it's one that
allows you to be more grounded in the relationships you have with
other people too, and I'm sure doctor, so my wisdom to share.
Inshallah, yeah, you remind me of Saddam I am of actually a story
that I read in Dr sadias book about
a person, one of the learned people he she described, who is
struggling to memorize an area about Hajj, and when she seeks
advice on What's what's going on? Why is she struggling to
memorize it? I think, if I'm not mistaken,
her teacher advises her to make the intention to go to Hajj, and
then once she makes the intention, she's able to memorize that verse.
So if I'm not making if I'm not confusing the stories, but
you said, yes, it changes you, and it even changes your even
internally, that a simple thing is the intentions you have in life.
Now you're making all these intentions of being the person
that the Quran speaks about, and Dr asadia, if you could speak a
little bit more to that as well, like how the Quran has changed the
people you've met and how you see it changes people around you when
when they are becoming people of the Quran.
Yeah, that was so beautiful. What you said is Saddam Mariam, so many
of the stories that when I interviewed women, they said a lot
of beautiful things about their faith. One in particular the way
she said it. I asked her, what
changes did you notice in your life after you memorize the Quran?
And she said, I feel like Allah pants got my back
at the end of the day. I love how she put it. It was, it was like,
Allah, he's got my back,
and that's faith
that that is faith really feeling like aless panada has got my back.
It makes me so sad, even in supporting women with the Quran
journey, how there's so much fear and so much self beat up
about being on this journey and oh, I'm not doing good enough. Or
in general, in life, there's just so much self beat up. I'm not good
enough, XYZ, whereas when I when I think about it, especially
somebody on the path who's memorized in the Quran, you're
spending time with the Quran like how many people in the world are
taking time from their day to sit and not only memorize, but any
time that is spent with the Quran is beautiful, and it's amazing,
and then to turn around and think that Allah is not going to be, you
know, happy with me or my effort. So I.
The more time that I see that women do spend with the Quran,
there is this feeling of closeness to Allah that, you know, I feel
like Allah loves me.
You know, not to say, not to say that, Oh, I'm perfect, or that I
don't do things wrong. I will say, for me, personally, I do so many
things wrong every single day. I make so many mistakes, but I know
that Allah loves me like I feel that love, I feel that closeness,
even when I know that I've made mistakes. But it's this constant
thing that the Allah is right there. And the other thing I want
to mention is that the Quran is a protection.
And
I remember that there was a time in my life where I was made, I had
to make a lot of different decisions, and there were certain
decisions. I was talking with my teacher, who was abroad, and I was
telling her, I don't know why. I just don't feel comfortable with
this particular thing. It wasn't even anything bad. I was like, it
just makes me very uneasy,
she told me. She said, Yes, Adi, that's the Quran in your heart.
That is what is giving you this sense of discernment. It's giving
you. You can't even explain it. You can't explain why your heart
doesn't feel comfortable with it. But it's your guide. It's guiding
you.
So there's that part of it, and then there is that part where the
Quran is our teacher. It becomes our teacher. So you mentioned the
story in the crowning venture of the person who was struggling to
memorize the ayat about Hajj, and that was because she hadn't
intended to go on Hajj, even though she didn't even have the
money. She wasn't going to have it for the next few years, as far as
she knew. So she didn't make an intention. But once her teacher
pointed out heavy made an intention to go for Hajj,
regardless of whether or not you have the money,
regardless of whatever human
things there may be that what could stop you, like money or
travel or having small children? But did you make an intention? The
moment she made that intention, she was able to memorize that
verse.
Another example, the Quran is a very sensitive barometer to our
states. So when we have that relationship where we are, either
it could even mean
our daily recitation, not even memorization, but memorization is
even more sensitive when we're struggling. Sometimes, if we look
and see what's going on in my life, is somebody upset with me.
Did I do something yesterday that is, in a way, putting a veil
between myself and the Quran, between me and the Quran.
It, we become very aware of that, and we don't want anything to come
in between us and the Quran
so in so many different ways. It becomes our guide. It becomes our
teacher. It's alive. The Quran is alive. It's a relationship. That's
how when I say, have the intention to have a relationship with the
Quran, it is a real relationship.
Beautiful. I think,
I think we forget often that it's something alive as well. The words
are not sort of in the past, or something that is continuously
applying to our life and continuously speaking to our needs
and states of being and and I think that we can tend to think of
it as just another book, right with words in it? Maybe, of
course, more beautiful words, the words of ALLAH, but we might
classify it as words written in a book, and that's it. And instead
of that living dynamic sort of understanding of the Quran and how
it can change us, like both of you. Mashallah, so
I remember Maryam et you guys had also a question about techniques,
or more practical kind of skills. But if you read it for us, I think
it was number four or
sorry, go ahead. Sorry, I can read the next question.
So actually, before we get to that one, just because I think it's a
little bit more fluent transition, I wanted to ask, Can you touch
upon some things in your life that you have seen improve for the
better after your journey of memorization with different
Yeah,
uh, so I did mention, you know, some of those things where I feel
that I it's given me. I mean, if you look at the Quran, and one of
the names of the Quran,
you know, when we talk about, like, what?
Being able to discern, right? So Furkan,
it gives you that ability to it gives you your heart. It brings
your heart to life.
I would say that the Quran is,
it's, it's like an IV, you know, there's memes and stuff out there
that I've seen where it's like an IV is, you know, giving this
person a boost, you know, Abu on. But when I think about it, that
really is a good analogy, because
oftentimes, what is an IV doing? It's keeping somebody alive, and
it's, it's giving them the fluid that they need for their heart to
beat. And something happens when you memorize the Quran. You
literally do feel it inside of you.
You can feel your heart start to beat. And these are not
palpitations that can happen if the thyroid medication is too
high. I mean, this is like, you know, I am the heart is beating.
It is beating Allah's name. So that's part of what it means to be
a carrier of the Quran. Other things that I've noticed, and I'm
going to share a story from when I
came back from Syria the first time, and that summer, I spent
four and a half months devoted to the Quran, reciting day in and day
out to get my Ijaz and dejuid. That's when I fell in love with
the Quran,
when I came back my first day of medical school. So four days after
I came back, I started medical school. My first year, we had
these icebreakers. We were in small groups. We had to go around,
get to know each other. And one of the icebreakers that we had was we
had to write on note cards, one thing that we want to give to
people, and then one thing that we want to take from them. And
without fail, every single person wrote something to the effect of,
I want your inner peace.
I wanted to you seem so calm, you know, you seem so happy and
content, like everybody wrote something like that. And
subhanAllah, I had just come off of this immersion with the Quran.
And the interesting thing is, because I don't necessarily, would
not have classified myself as a very, you know, calm, Zen kind of
person. But I hear that a lot. I heard it then, still, sometimes
people say that to me, and it's, you know, I don't consider myself
that kind of person, but I'm they are really sensing the Quran
inside of me. So what they are sensing is really that, you know,
it's in there. Even though I'm not a perfect person, I make so many
mistakes sometimes, you know, I put my foot in my mouth, but the
Quran that I spent the time with is what people are feeling when
they're around me,
and so it's just really beautiful to when We say, what is a carrier
of the Quran.
That's partially what it is we are carrying it around. People are
sensing it,
you know, regardless of who I am or or anything else. And it
becomes this, a participant
in the interaction. So it's now, it's me, the other person, and the
Quran.
And, you know, it's really beautiful when people say that and
they feel a sense of peace.
It's a blessing to be able to bring that to people, that sense
of peace. You know, even though, again, like, do I live up to it?
No, do I wish I was better? Yes.
But you know, subhanAllah, the time that you spend with the
Quran, it stays with you every single moment.
And that's why you know when I I know I'm kind of diverging a
little bit, going on a tangent. But in my class, I don't have the
students set goals of, if you can, I let them have a goal if they
want to have it, you know. But I don't have a specific goal, like,
okay, every day you have to memorize five pages. The goal is,
every day spend a certain amount of time with the Quran. For that
class, it's minimum of 20 minutes. So it's spend the 20 minutes a day
with the Quran, make it consistent, and at the end, don't,
don't beat yourself up for how much you were able to do or not
do. I mean, as long as you put in the effort, then the result is up
to Allah, subhanaw taala, but you spent 20 minutes with the Quran,
and those 20 minutes are going to be with you in your heart forever.
That's there's a reward. It's going to go to here after you're
you're getting the the benefit the barakah in this life, all of it.
So
just really starting with the mindset, let me just start
spending time with the Quran and like those. Tata Mariam said, step
one for some people, it's just touching it.
You know, I loved how you described that, especially for
people who may have trauma or bad experiences, just touch it.
You have something to add to that about
changes in your life, Michelle and afisadi That was so beautiful.
Baraka, lofiki, aspana, just echoing, you know, just very
emotional listening to you. The there is, I think, two aspects of
my life and generalities. I know we all have, like, personal
stories, like, you know, where something happens and it's because
of the Quran. But there are two generalities that I think I've
noticed in myself, but I've also noticed this in other people. And
the first is that when you work towards memorizing the Quran, the
Quran follows you, and the Quran seeks you out. I don't know how
else to describe it. It's so so many stories that you will read in
books on the righteous people of the past where you know something
happened to them, and it was this particular ayah, and then they
went somewhere else, and it was that same exact ayah, and that's
Malik Ibn D in our story, for example, rahimahola. But what
like? There are so many times where you might feel you make a
about something, and you're confused, you you feel overwhelmed
over something in your life, and you make dua, and you're like, Oh
Allah, I feel alone. Oh Allah. I don't know what to think. Oh
Allah. These people are saying this, Oh Allah, is what I mean,
doing even the right thing, and then Allah will bring you the
verse. And to someone else, it's a beautiful verse, But to you, you
know exactly why Allah sent that verse to you, subhanAllah, I can't
tell you how many stories I have like this, where you know
something happens in my life, and a friend of mine who I haven't
heard in from in forever will randomly send me a recitation of
her reciting that particular ayah, or like walking into a masjid, and
that verse that they're reciting as you walk into the masjid is the
exact ayah that you need to hear, And subhanAllah this. This is not
a personal story. This is the same story Doctor Sadia has
experienced, and I don't even question it. I know she's
experienced it. This is a common this is a common theme. When you
seek the Quran, the Quran will be with you. And I think that just
that, knowing that over and over, just anytime you wonder about your
life, like, oh, Allah, are you even listening like, How is this
not proof that he's listening to you? You're very explicit, very
specific situation that you might have whispered out to him, but you
haven't even said all of it, but he knows because of what's in your
hearts. Pamela, so that's the first thing. And then the second
thing is just for me, as a woman in particular, a woman who's
extroverted, a woman who
who has to hide most of who I am in our community, just because I
feel like our community doesn't value women like me in particular,
I'm very cautious with who I am in public, because I know that if I
showed all my love for things, it would just be
I would be destroyed. And every time I go through that pain of
just experiencing this in our community, it's a very painful
wound here. I opened the Quran, and I just, I have to remind
myself, like, oh, Allah, You created me this way, and that's
not something to hate about myself. Because I hated myself for
a very long time because your community made me feel like my
personality was wrong in and of itself, and that Allah's panel
went to Allah didn't value women who, you know, had these, these
personality traits, and that it's not modest to have energy and And
subhanAllah, knowing that those are cultural understandings,
knowing that those are not from Allah, going through the Quran and
just Feeling like the Quran,
the Quran values my recitation Allah. I shouldn't have said it
like that. I should have said Allah values my recitation of the
Quran even when I have a very strong voice. And I'm not saying
that as a compliment. I'm saying that as I struggle with that. I've
never heard women reciting inshallah. All of you will hear
women reciting because the qadi app inshallah is coming out, the
first Ramadan, and you're going to hear all these women to hear all
these women with amazing recitations inshallah. I didn't
hear that, and so I tried to mimic men. And so I don't know how to
have that light, flowy recite. I don't even know how to do it. I've
tried so hard to copy women as they recite in these high pitches.
I don't know how to do it. And and for so long, and until now, it's
something that brings me a lot of insecurity, honestly, but then I
think, well, Allah, He loves to hear you recite no matter what,
and
that's when you're struggling with your recitation. That's when you
feel like you sound like nails on a chalkboard. That's when you make
mistakes. He gives you double the reward, so knowing that as a
woman, you matter to Allah, even when other people make you feel
like you don't I feel like that's one of the biggest blessings I've
felt in my relationship
with the Quran.
Very touching and.
Beautiful, may Allah make us all able to benefit from the Quran
that way. InshaAllah,
I wonder how both of you had experience apologies, my
daughter's crying, but how the Quran has made
it has been an opportunity for you to connect with other Muslims.
How, how did that happen? And, and how do you see the Quran as that
bond between Muslims looks
like we're tag teaming? And first of all, I want to say isad Mariam,
I love you just the way you are, and don't ever change.
Alhamdulillah, your energy and your passion, all of it, masha
Allah is is beautiful, and your recitation is beautiful.
You know, when it comes to the Quran,
I, first of all, I have a few people in my life who are my Quran
buddies. And I highly recommend everybody should have that person
in their life, that Quran buddy. And what does that mean? It means
that person that
you can call each other and just talk about the Quran and and
you're cool, like you're both excited to just talk about the
Quran. We're not talking about anything else I have had that I
have, I would say at least two of those friends, and one of them, it
started out every time that I had an hour commute at one point for
to go and recite, you know, my review of Quran. And after, after
that recitation, I'd always be on this high and you know, Saddam
Madam, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. And anybody here,
when you recite to your teacher, there's just this high that comes
from it. It's even if you spent a lot of time preparing pages. But
there's something that happens at that point. There's some kind of
opening that is, that's really beautiful. And so I'd always, I
want to share this with somebody, you know, I'm driving home, and so
I'd call her, and she would know, the minute she'd pick up the
phone, she'd be like, you had this man today, right? You recited,
and, yeah, it's, we would just talk about that. And you know, she
was also, at one point, she was my teacher. She's somebody I call my
photo on hero, in fact. So these relationships that are solely
bonded by Quran, they're beautiful. And I would say that
one thing that
when I was memorizing, unfortunately,
there is something that women are it's really ingrained in us to not
talk about anything that we're doing good. And I know that there
is this fear of I am, you know, of the evil eye. So don't share where
you are in your journey. Don't tell anybody.
But it also made it a very lonely journey. When you don't, you don't
talk about it, everybody's there's whether it's out of you know,
there's some modesty there maybe some fear of losing the blessing.
When I interviewed women for the crowning venture, many of them
said they were actually afraid to tell people that they had
memorized the Quran because they did not want to be looked at as,
oh, now she's untouchable or judged, you know, or it's not good
enough. One girl said that when she came back after memorizing
and, you know, her friend made a joke. She laughed at it, and her
friend said, Oh, my God, I'm so relieved that you still laugh.
So there's just, there was a lot of like, just privacy and secrecy
around it,
to the point where one of my very good friends, I didn't even know
she had completed her memorization. And it's not
something I necessarily went around sharing and telling people
either. And when it came to writing the crowning venture, that
was the hardest thing for me was to come to like to come clean and
have the whole world not only know that I had memorized the Quran
once through I don't even like to call myself hafiba, but
not only that, I mean my very, very personal Journey. And for
somebody like me who's a mixed extrovert introvert, it's, it was
very scary,
you know, to put this out there, until now, sometimes I'm like, Oh
man, you know what I feel like. Sometimes I have to be the poster
child for chronic memorization. And I know that there's probably
1000s of women there are. I don't even want to say probably there
are 1000s of women who have memorized it better than me and
who know it better than me. But one beautiful thing that came from
this book is every week I'm receiving a message from somewhere
in the world. You know, the Maldives, the Philip.
Means Australia, you know, South Africa, of of somebody who has
read my book, and it has reignited their desire to connect with the
Quran. Some women tell me they had started memorizing and they
stopped for XYZ reason, and it motivated them again. And I mean
these stories, they tell me that, okay, it was worth it, fine, be
the poster child, you know, and and be happy. Other people will,
Inshallah, they'll do better than me, you know, Inshallah, they'll
like, truly become the true happy thought. But so that was one
thing, is, I really believe that us feeling comfortable just
sharing with each other, not fearing judgment, and opening up
that door for conversation with, you know, other women. And look at
the, you know, the good that's come from my book, the good that
has come from what's Saddam's work with the foremothers. I mean, I
hear all the time people women are so happy to hear other women
reciting Quran. So,
you know, kind of getting rid of the stigma of talking about it.
And you know, even when it comes to, yes, there's modesty and
everything, but it's not modesty. If it's not immodest, it's not
immodesty, if somebody is going to benefit from doing something good.
So if you share something and from that, other people are going to do
something good as well.
So yeah, I I'm so happy that I believe the stage has been set for
for women to talk about their own stories
and joy too, like sharing that joy of what the Quran brings to our
life. I think that's very important, and we certainly feel
that from your stories,
would you like to add anything about that, in terms of the bonds
that the Quran has opened for you to kind of cultivate between other
people? If you had asked me this question, pre the karya app, I
would have had a totally different answer. But I want to share with
you in a different perspective, because Subhanallah, hamdullah, on
the app, we have over 60 women, and they are from around the
world, masha Allah and
being able to so and what is the app, again, that you clarify for
those who are not yet, I would love to clarify, it's called the
Claria apparia, the woman Quran reciters app in Charlotte, coming
out the first day of Ramadan. This is 2022 Inshallah, it's going to
be available for free on Apple and Google Play stores, and it's an
app that's just women Quran reciters and Subhan. Allah, you
know, in the beginning it was like this journey, as Dr Saadia
mentioned, the foremothers campaign was a campaign to
highlight women's recitations from women around the world. And so,
Alhamdulillah, we started having, like, you know, different women to
recite and I started interviewing women from around the world. And
so because I was able to connect with some of those women, they had
connections with other women, but those were only certain countries.
And so like, even, for example, the mashallah, amazing moderator
herself, astava, she connected me with a reciter in the Gambia, when
she was in The Gambia. So, Alhamdulillah, I had a connection
with some from the Gambia, from her. And then, Hamdulillah, it
was, you know, reciter from Nigeria I connected with because I
found her online. But then there were the debate Quran
competitions, where there were all these Quran reciters from around
the world. And I was like, how am I going to get the phone numbers
of all of these reciters who've been on these international
competitions, who've won, and who are the teachers of these
international reciters? And so it was such a journey to go, like,
you know, using Google Translate to speak in French to talk to
someone in Guinea using, you know, Google Translate to talk to
someone in Malay. And like, how do I even get the contact per number
for this person in Malay, and it was just Subhan Allah. The journey
itself to get the contact information for all of these women
has been one that it's just been so incredible. And as soon as you
connect, as soon as I connected with them, it was like, you know,
two women who are in the same space, who are in the space of
Quran, and all of these women are public reciters already in their
country. So none of these women, with the exception of maybe one,
is not a is not already a public reciter panel, maybe exception of
just a few, but they recite, and they recite, you know, in public
spaces. They recite on stages. They recite in these competitions
and on TV. And I just can't believe that my phone book is full
of these clarias from around the world, subhanAllah, but the
connection is just this. Connection is just like, oh,
Quran, of course, welcome, welcome. We love you. Welcome. And
it's just such a gift to be able to experience that in my own
personal life, I feel so incredibly unworthy and so
privileged, and I pray that you will all be able to experience the
same. Being able to panelists see just seeing other women in these
spaces is so inspiring. And when you see the ways panelists, some
of them recite in huffs, and some of them recite in sharba, and some
of them recite in khalefan Hamza, like they're all different. And
you may have never heard of these recitations before.
But like the fact that these women are powerhouses of Quran, and we
have never heard of them in here, in our in where we are, that in
and of itself, many of us, not all of us, many of us have never heard
of them, and that, in and of itself, speaks to the fact that we
need more women who are in spaces of Quran, who are going to connect
to women in spaces of Quran to be able to continue to share that
message inshallah. And one of the one of the features on the app
actually, is to have the contact information of any woman who has
any sort of online presence, so that you can inshallah directly
message her, like listen to her recitation and say, subhanAllah, I
love this and and be able to directly connect with her. Dr
Sadia, I read her book before I had the honor of connecting with
her, and when I was first connected with her, I could not
believe it. I saw Subhan Allah, the author of the crown adventure,
is connecting with me. I just feel so honored, Subhan Allah, so that
that's just something, that it's just is just joy. There's no other
word for it. It's just joy. It's a gift, and it's joy. Subhanallah,
may Allah, bless us. Always, of being people who are connected
with people of the Quran,
I'm sorry to keep you I know Mariam you have to run but I have
so many questions about the process of creating this app. But
one particular pressing question seems to be talked about, like,
countries from all over the world, people from there. And you know,
what have you? What can you say you learned about culture and
tradition and Islam and the difference that plays in terms of
female women reciters.
I'll share with you that when we first announced the app, it was
the beginning of the year, and there was a huge, like, a huge
response, Alhamdulillah, like, a very positive response overall,
Mashallah. But there were also, you know, the people who said,
Well, what are you talking about? This is haram. I don't support
this. What do you mean? And those are expected, and that's okay.
It's a difference of opinion. No problem. But when I spoke to the
clarias, because we have, like, you know, different lists of
clarias, and when I, when I shared with them, like the different
feedback we're getting,
their response was, What do you mean? Women shouldn't reset Quran
in public, like they were generally confused because they
had never heard this before. They were literally like, I've never
heard that before. What do you mean? Who said that? And
subhanAllah, the fact that that was consistently the reaction from
women around the world showed me how we really, you know, we really
are a product of our upbringing and the cultural norms that we
create in our communities. And if you had been raised with a
cultural norm, like, oh, panel likes me, she she's from
Singapore. Excuse me, from Singapore. And she was telling me
that, you know women, boys and girls, when they're young, in
elementary school, they learn Maka mats, like the ways to pitch your
voice in the Quran. In elementary school, like you take PE as a
sport. It's just part of the curriculum, like Pana law when,
when I was talking to these women, like Sheikha, Miriam, koremi,
she's in Algeria, and I was like, what's the culture like? Like, you
know, has anyone ever said to you woman shouldn't recite the Quran,
because she recites the Quran on television with her Sheik. So
you'll see if you actually scroll, scroll down through my Instagram
page. It's AT T H, E M, A R, Y, a m, a m, I R. Sorry, I wasn't
trying to plug myself. I was trying to show you where you can
see it, because it's not on her. Because it's not on her page. You
can see her reciting. She recites part of an ayah, then her share it
says on television, recites a part of an ayah, then another shift
recites a part of an ayah, and then they all recite the AYA
together. And this panel, I've never been exposed to something
like this before, so I asked her about it. I was like, do you get
pushback? And she was like, Where are you from? And I was like,
California. And she's like, literally with her head, like,
listen, maybe in California, women don't recite the Quran in public.
But here, this is the norm, and women compete against men, and
women win.
I was like, Allahu Akbar. Imagine if women were exposed to that. And
it's not because we need to win over men. We are brothers and
sisters who are allies with one another. They their scholars. Are
men and women, and they teach each other and they work with one
another. That's that is Islam, the beautiful camaraderie, the
beautiful allyship in in this knowledge. But Subhanallah, the
fact that over and over for them. They were like, This is our
culture. This is our norm. This is women being a part of Islam. I
just feel like the disenfranchisement that women feel
here. How many of us know someone who has left Islam? How many know
of us know a woman who doesn't feel connected to Islam at all,
who doesn't want to go to the masjid, who has more more pain
entering the house of God than she does the mall or the movies or her
school, like we have serious trauma when it comes to many
Muslim women who've experienced spaces that are filled with pain
and
until we give women the physical.
You know,
until we change the culture, we change the physical experience
that women have. Why do we think that things are not going to
change? Like, how are we going to change things by just blaming and
shaming and guilting women more? Instead, let's create change the
culture. Change the culture so women see how big of a role our
voices play in our religion, and how much they've played and how
they play all over the world. We just need to create that culture
for us here as well.
Inshallah, May we all be
agents of positive cultural change. Inshallah, as the rabata
message goes,
I I'm so cognizant of the time, but I'm hoping you still have time
for questions. Seda Mariam and Dr Sadia, I can stay for 10 more
minutes, but I would love to hear Dr Sadia, so please, please keep
going with questions. Perfect.
Do any of the attendees want to unmute and
go ahead with your question.
I just wanted to add, if you are unable to unmute, you can also
send your message in the chat or send it to me and Maryam as
personally, and we can ask on your behalf. But yes, we the floor is
open. Please ask your questions. I think we'll go for 10 more minutes
and then wrap it up from there. Inshallah,
Daniel, go for it.
For you know, everyone involved in this session, it's been absolutely
incredible. And again, echoing your statements, these types of
spaces are so rare. So I really, really appreciate them. I think my
question is going to be, I know, like, sometimes I struggle between
deciding, like, what should I do? Should I be reading? Should I be
memorizing? Should I be doing more tips here? Like, how do you
manage? Like, how do you figure out how much time should allocate
for each Yeah, just because I know, like, you know, sometimes
I'll be overwhelmed with memorizing, and then I'll do
reading, but then, you know, like, sometimes I'll even, you know,
sometimes slack off with that. So how do you how do you go about
knowing what to do on each day?
Well, I'll tell you, that's still a question that I ask myself every
day.
I wish I had the perfect formula. It's it has been one of my
challenges when it comes to how to fit it all in, because it is all
important. I remember prior to, you know, going through and
memorizing the Quran, once I had a certain, you know, certain so what
that I would read every single day, and that was my word of the
Quran. And now, often times that time, because although time is a
human construct,
you know, if we really,
I don't like to say I don't have time, because the more I say that,
then I really won't have time. And time can expand or contract based
on the barakah in the time. However, I have found that, you
know, the time that I've allocated for Quran, oftentimes I'm using it
for review. And so what I used to do before, I don't have the same
width that I had before.
Is that right? Wrong?
I can't say. All I know is that okay, I'm spending time with the
Quran. And right now, this is what you know today. This is what feels
like the best thing to do at this time. There are days where I will
say, No, I really actually need my full bakla. And,
and I'm, you know, like, so really, just getting to know
yourself and realize, I mean for me, being,
you know, physician working full time. And I know Saddam Maria has
a very busy schedule in life as well. The only time I really have
is, the morning. So that time in the morning, before Fajr, after
fajr, before I go to work. And so it's limited. You know, even
though, Inshallah, I love it when I can feel the Buttercup in that
time.
But you know, I I do the best I can, and I have made a priority
that, okay, let me get in my time for review
and but at the same time having that flexibility that, Okay, guess
what if I one day instead, I maybe I'll read, you know, read Baqarah
and and instead, you know,
giving myself that flexibility and grace and realize it's all time
with The Quran. And actually, even, you know, reading through a
surah is review of Quran. So I mean, that's kind of how I so I
don't have a great answer for that. And of course, like with the
seed and everything else, I think it really helps to be in a class
where you have a schedule, you have a teacher, you.
Have assignments that's really helped me, because I did and, you
know, some Hana like, years ago.
Yeah, I don't know if all of you even remember this time, but the
internet was like, not around, you know, it wasn't, or it was brand
new. And we don't, we didn't have all these opportunities to take
classes online, to listen to lectures while driving.
But now, with that, those opportunities are there, and I
highly recommend, especially when it comes to the seed, find a class
with a qualified teacher and that will that'll keep that part on
track. And then I think, really the struggle is okay. Like, do I
do my daily rest? Do I read it just a day? Do I do my review?
Like, do I, you know, memorize and again, I think just,
you know, do you divide up your time to what feels right for you,
and also have that,
like, flexibility, where one day you might change that up, and it's
okay, as long as okay, this is my Quran time, and I'm not I'm not
skipping my Quran time. It's just going to look a little bit
different. And Asad Mariam, I would love to hear your answer to
this one. I
really wouldn't add anything. That's a panel of exactly what I
would say. May Allah, bless you so much.
Sarah, you had a question. Go ahead, yeah,
for this gathering, it's really beautiful. The biggest thing I
struggle with is like the imposter syndrome, or like that idea that I
need to look a certain way, or my hijab has to look a certain way,
or my actions has to look a certain way. So I find that when I
start memorizing, that's the biggest barrier to keep going.
Because I'm like, No, but like, there's other things to fix. How
do you deal with that?
The Quran is your doctor. And for me, the Quran is what changed me
internally, and that impacted the way I felt externally. It impacted
everything externally. I wouldn't focus at all on okay, like, I
don't dress certain way, I don't look a certain way, and I'm not
interacting in a certain way. Like, don't think about all of
that at all. Don't worry about that. Just focus on your
relationship with the Quran, because it anything else will
naturally happen. It's a it's a natural consequence of connecting
to the Quran. So when you think you know, when you think of
someone who has a goal in terms of, like, whether it's a workout
goal or a health goal, or any type of goal, you know, and you look at
them in the middle of their goal, or the beginning of their goal,
and you're like, oh, you know, you're never going to do that. Or,
oh,
you know, it's Panama.
There's so many ways people can judge you. And so you have those
voices in your head and you're like, oh, maybe people see me in
this way. I'm seeing myself in that way. And instead of that,
take a step back and think, how is Allah viewing you? How are you in
the sight of Allah? And I know sometimes we still feel that way.
Well, in Allah's sight. I'm not doing these things, therefore I'm
not worthy of the Quran. No, Allah loves for you to come to the Quran
in any state that you are. You're seeking him. You're seeking His
words. And the barakah of just being with the book will slowly
impact inshallah every other action. So instead of thinking
about the outcome, focus on the process. Focus on the process of
the connection. And Inshallah, you'll see the results. And Dr
Sadia is an actual doctor, so Inshallah, she will be able to
answer
that. Was beautiful, amazing.
The only thing that you know, I exactly like you said,
it is important to remember again. This is just between you and Ellis
panazada, not only your journey with the Quran, but even you know
every part of your faith. So in the crowning venture, I do mention
that how some people will say, Okay, I can't memorize the Quran
because,
actually, I made the analogy of hijab. You know, people saying I
cannot wear hijab because I'm not perfect. But at the end of the
day, who is perfect? The only perfection that exists is Allah.
And for us to even think that we could be perfect is imperfect
because we can't, you know, every single person is a sinner. It's
just everybody's sins are different. And so that's one
thing. And I always, I really stress with my students when you
have that voice, and you know, oftentimes it's either nafs or
shaytan who's whispering things to us. You know, there's really no
other voices there, if there are, please, please see a doctor. But
you know there's nafsir shape on and
you know that are calling us to do, to pull us away, in a way. And
you know, if, if
we think of.
About it. It's, it's really a fallacy, like saying that, okay,
you have to be perfect before you can do then we really, actually
wouldn't be do anything. I mean, are we even good enough to stand
on the sajada and pray? You know? I mean, really, you know. And so
do, don't stop doing a good thing, because
we're not perfect in other areas, because, actually, we're never
going to be perfect. And I also really stress to my students,
think about because a lot of people stop this journey of the
Quran. A lot of people might take off their job. They might stop
memorizing the Quran. Think about yourself when you're 80 years old.
You know, maybe you live longer. Inshallah, everybody lives long,
healthy lives, lived in the pleasure of all this. Hano Tala,
but let's say we're, you're, we're on our deathbed.
What do when I look back? What do I wish I had done? You know,
I'm really going to wish that I had just spent more time with the
Quran, regardless of, like, anything else, because not a lot
it's going to matter when we're there, when we're at that point,
we're going to really see what, what matters, and so all these
other things that come like imposter syndrome,
you know that I'm not good enough? Yeah, I mean, actually, we're,
we're all the same. Everybody is the same. There's places where we
excel. There's areas where we can do better. And
you know, specifically, for some reason, I think women are more
prone to imposter syndrome, and that's part partially society and
everything. But at the end of the day, I love what Satan Mariam
said. Just connected to Ella panozada do when we do it, think,
what is Ellis panazada thinking of me? How does he feel about me? And
then the other thing is,
I forgot what my second point was regarding that.
But yeah, really just thinking that, okay, this is a journey
between me and all those panazada And you know, there's exercises
actually, that you know people do, for example, you know, go to your
like when you're 8080, years old,
and look at, look at your life now, and be like, Okay, that is
sometimes a window into, I have an opportunity now to do what I will
wish I had done when I'm 80,
And so just kind of shut out everything else and focus on that,
because at the end of the day and the hereafter, it will just be me
and Allah. You know, it's just
going to be every single person with Allah, subhanaw, tada,
and I just wanted to presence, that what I said about other
voices, I mean, I didn't mean that in a, you know, in any kind of,
like, derogatory way. I mean, you know, Schizophrenia is a very real
disease that people suffer from, so I'm not like belittling that at
all.
But, you know, it's like we have our inner voices. Maybe there it's
things that we've internalized, that people have told us. But then
there's also things that, you know, people might say to us, and
we just, you know, block that out and that focus and dua, you know,
just pray Ya Allah,
you know, help me in this journey. All I want is to be close to the
Quran.
Actually, it's beautiful way to end. You know, usually we say that
we come to dua last. We go through every single other method, and we
try so many other things, and then at the end we say, Okay, now we'll
do dua. Well, actually, that is the first, the first step always
start out with that dua that, ya, Allah, I just want to be close to
you. I want, I want to be close to your words.
Be honest, even if I find it hard, I'm struggling. And whatever that
may mean, I'm struggling with the actual act of like recitation or
memorization, and I'm struggling because I don't feel that I'm
worthy of this are good enough, but Ya Allah, please, in your
mercy, bless me with this blessing of the Quran.
Thank you much one that you could leave us with that you have
practiced over the years in terms of your relationship with the
Quran.
I think Asad Mariam is no longer here. Oh,
she had to go. Okay. Well, we are so grateful, Alhamdulillah, that
she could join us for the time she had. I think we have a few more
minutes with you, Doctor Sadia, I'm thinking, are you still okay
with us going to perhaps 25 minutes? Yes, like 525, okay, any,
anyone would have, has, has a question that they would like to
ask? Dr Sadia,
yeah.
Who?
Naz, mean you can go ahead. Nazine, okay, go ahead. Naveen,
can anyone?
Can anyone who memorized the Quran teach, teach the Quran? Are they
qualified to teach, if they just memorize?
That's a good question. Welcome nasneen.
Really, there's so many different levels of memorization.
If, if, what if a person is going to teach put on the best is to be
certified,
you know? So I went through the very rigorous process of getting
my ijazah, my certificate to teach the juweed.
It's the best to find somebody who is, you know, certified through
it's a chain. It's a chain that goes all the way back to the
Prophet sallallahu, sallam, to the angel Jibreel, you know, from
Allah, where, you know, the Quran,
you know, went to the angel to breathe. Even so being a part of
that chain, it's a blessing. And it's really that we know that this
person has gone through this process, and now does it mean that
there are people who have memorized, who
cannot like they could even be a better teacher than somebody who
has any Jazza
again? So it's on a case by case basis,
really, though, if you don't know where to start, you know, look for
a program where there are people who are certified, and again,
they're like, I said, there's people who are not certified, who
have amazing recitation and, I mean, they can teach, you know,
just also,
like, you know, what is the the record of this person as well, you
know? And kind of just being aware of that. And, you know, initially,
when children memorize Quran in Syria, sometimes they, they don't
really focus on the Tajweed, so they're memorizing it very
quickly,
without focusing, without the focus on the due. So they can go
through the whole Quran like that. And then oftentimes what they'll
do is, when they get older, they go through again, and they go
through the whole process of the duet. So yes, people can memorize
it without having the due. And that's an important thing,
actually, is when we talk about teaching Quran is teaching the and
then, of course, I didn't know if you were referring to the seed as
well, that definitely also should be something that is studied
before a person teaches that.
I think
we've definitely got away over the time that Dr Sadi agrees to be
accepted first, so I think we'll end there.
So I say to Zach lager, on behalf of everyone here, I think we
really benefited from everything that both you and southern Maryam
discussed throughout the event. And I know I was inspired a lot,
and I hope everyone else that was as well. It
was really my pleasure being here for giving me this opportunity to
speak with all you lovely ladies. And Inshallah, I pray that you all
find joy with the Quran ease of your journey. Sha Allah, becomes a
part of your lives and a constant companion.
Charlotte, I mean as well for making it from the Toronto
chapter. Go ahead, Daniel, sorry, cut you off. Sorry. No worries. I
just want to mention zerfishan did post a couple of links in the
chat? If you could just post those again? Because, yes, thank you. So
I wanted to just mention, because I didn't do it in the beginning,
but we do have a giveaway as a collaboration with for those
bookstore for two copies of the Stella Marines book, The Crown
adventures. And we're really lucky to have this opportunity. And
Inshallah,
the giveaway form will be open for the week following this event. So
for anyone who is watching the recording afterwards, and we will
select two people at random and announce the winners following
that week, and then also go to the feedback form. So we really do
value your feedback, and I hope it'll take like a couple, two
minutes at most.
And if you don't get the book on giveaway, you should go and buy
it,
the crowning venture. And it's also available. Tanya, I can, I
can also send you the, oh, there we go, the robot. Robota.org, and
they have a summer session that would be starting, I guess, in May
or June for their classes. So their classes go on a semester or
term basis, so you could always register for summer, fall and then
winter. Inshallah, thank you so much for the team at BMS.
And the women's circle and all the volunteers, and for all of you for
attending, Hannah, kalahabi, hamdik, nakawa, natubu, ilek,
wala, fiyla, Levina, emmanuam,
also happening this weekend is the journaling workshop by MP and
women's circle. So if you guys want to go ahead and go to our
Instagram or to the emcee Instagram and check out that
event, and Inshallah, we'll see you all soon. Thank you. San
Monica, bye.