Maryam Amir – Quran Heals
AI: Summary ©
The transcript discusses the history and curriculum of the Quran, including the military rule in Jerusalem and the importance of connecting to the Quran for a better life. It also emphasizes the importance of memorizing the Quran and creating a workbook for it, as well as the importance of learning about the Quran and sharing experiences to act well. The speaker also mentions the importance of creating a teacher for a better life and sharing experiences to help change one's behavior.
AI: Summary ©
Aspects of Palestine, to me, is the way that Salah Haddin came
back and gave justice to the city after it had experienced 88 years
of oppression under colonial rule under the Crusaders. The
Crusaders, when they came in, they killed everybody. They killed
other Christians, even though they claimed that they were going on a
holy war for Christianity. They killed any Christians that were
not part of their group or their denomination. These are European
Christians coming into Palestinian Christians and murdering them.
They Murdered Jews, they murdered Muslims, they murdered everyone.
And when we read history books, there are so many descriptions of
the ways that the Crusaders ate babies, how they
the the blood was flowing in the streets, and it went all the way
to the to the knees of the horses when you visit Jerusalem and may
Allah honor us all with with going to over and over yorubham mitsalim
in Europe, when You see the stones and you walk in that area, and you
know that this is the same place that's been walked upon by
Prophet, upon Prophet, by righteous, by upon righteous. And
also where so many people have been martyred in the name, in the
name of
of whatever holy circumstance people are circumstances the wrong
word, but people have been martyred so over and over and over
in the centuries there, however, one Salahuddin came. He brought
justice to everyone in the city. When you read the descriptions of
those who spoke about the justice and the peace that he brought, it
was not just for Muslims, it was for everyone. And this is
something that our dear brother, Mansoor Shuman, who may Allah
protect him and all of the people of Laza. He's a Canadian citizen
who has been reporting live from Hudson, and he has been kidnapped
by the Israel occupation forces. He always spoke and speaks about
freedom for all of us, for every person who is experiencing
injustice, when salaha Deen went into the city, he did so in a
victorious moment. However, he didn't just show up. And that
happened. I've mentioned before, and I don't know if you're aware
that the way that salaha deem came about was actually through a
process. What happened in the time of the Crusaders is they entered
and that massacre I just described, there were a few
refugees who escaped. They ran away from the city of Jerusalem,
and when they ran away, they went into Syria, where there was an
imam who was teaching they are refugees with tattered clothes on
their backs, traveling and seeking safety. And there is an imam there
who was teaching a halakah who suddenly sees that these men are
coming in. They describe to him what happened, and he goes and he
tries to get an audience with the Khalifa at the time. Now,
unfortunately, similar to our circumstances today, as a Muslim
ruler, this individual did not even give audience to this Imam.
And so do you know what the Imam did? He went in Ramadan to bel
dad, to the biggest Masjid in Belgium, Dad, where he knew that
this ruler was sitting and listening to the chutzpah behind
the scenes. There was a special place for the ruler, ruler to sit,
and this Imam went to the front of the masjid in Ramadan and he
started to eat while the chutzpah was going on. What do you think
your reaction would be if someone walked to the front of the masjid
in Ramadan and the Imam was given the chutzpah, and people are
watching this guy, and he's standing right next to the Imam
and he starts to eat, how do you think that the crowd would react
they were there was an uproar. And then he said, This is your uproar.
For me eating in Ramadan, and
your brothers and sisters were slaughtered in upsla.
Now it was 88 years from this point until the point when Salah
hadem came back in. And in that time period, there was an
educational campaign to help people begin to love and
understand the importance, and part of that was reestablishing a
connection to the Quran and an understanding of Aqsa of Al quts
in the Quran. And that curriculum is where Salah Haddin came
through, so that before him, imaudin and then Nuruddin, when
they set the foundation for freeing Aksa, Salahuddin was
ready. We are in this middle time period right now.
Imaudin, before nuradin, didn't see Aksa.
Nurun didn't see Aqsa,
but they set the stage for Salah ad to be able to go in with peace
and prosperity for everyone, regardless of religion. Now, that
curriculum that Salahuddin went through because he wasn't
religious, from the very beginning, it was a process of his
reconnection, and something I think is very important for.
Us to all recognize right now we see someone say Masha Allah to
that person, Tabarak Allah to that person, masha Allah to that
person, astagfir Allah to those people. What if the people we are
saying astagirala to those people,
what if one of them, or all of them, are the people who are going
to change in some part of their life, maybe because they're
touched by your story. Maybe they're touched by the way that
you interacted with them. Maybe they felt welcome at one point,
and they may be the person who likes Allah had Dean does
something like Salahuddin, but we would not be able to recognize
them, because that's not our perception of piety. Who
Salahuddin was before was not our perception of who Salahuddin came
became the way Salahuddin became Salahuddin. One of those
connections was Quran. He would say that as important as the
people who were protecting the innocent against the Crusaders, as
important as them were the people who were making dua for them in
the middle of the night,
that there is a a connection, that there is a there is a
responsibility upon all of us to make dua in the middle of the
night or in the middle of the day, or whenever you can, because when
you feel so helpless, it doesn't mean that Allah isn't taking those
and putting it in a place that we may not be able to see yet we may
never see in our lifetime.
But they are being recorded and they are being saved, or they are
being accepted in a way that we may not necessarily be able to
perceive. But but is Ha is, is truth,
one of those ways that the curriculum of Nila Muk, that he
set the focus, was this reconnection to the Quran. And
what I'd like to share with you is actually a story. Last Sunday, I
did an event with Dr Rania Awad and usteda Suzanne durani, and Dr
Rania and us said, of Suzanne Tabata Kala, they have their ijaza
in the 10 pirahat, and they were telling us how they did it. They
had both completed their ijaza and helps 20 years prior to completing
their ijaza in the Kira at 20 years prior, they both, at the
same time, in the same way, received their certification in
one Pira of the Quran in memorization
20 years ago.
And subhanAllah at the time, Dr Rania, mentioned that there are so
many scholars in Syria who are women who have authored books on
Quran and authored books in all Islamic sciences. And she showed
us the most half that she's holding. And it's a must have of
the 10 Kira at and it's this huge must have that shows all the
different ways to recite the Quran. And she said that her, the
person who the the scholar who wrote this. When she gave her the
must have, she told her that this is for you. And Doctor Rania, at
the time, was in medical school, and she was like, she has no idea
when she's going to have the opportunity to do the 10 kilo at
that's like, it's like a very, very intense study and very
intense process to get your age, as in the tent. And she said that
she walked past that book for 20 years until it was time for her to
do the 10 and said, If Suzan had a very similar story. And the reason
I want to share their stories with you is one, many of you know them.
They're modern day examples, masha Allah, a woman who are doing
incredible work and who have this deep connection with the Quran.
But two, it took some 20 years before they were able to complete
what they wanted to do, or were told, were suggested, or made,
someone made to offer them to do. 20 years later, you may already
have been trying to work with the Quran for the past 20 years, and
you may feel like you know at one time you were more righteous than
you used to be. Or you may look back at a time in your life and
think, I wish I was like that. I wish I had the time I had back
then. Or you may just feel like you'll never be able to surmount
the way that you feel right now. Maybe you're in a stage of life
where you have a very young child, or young children, and you just
don't have the time to shower on your own, let alone spend hours
upon hours upon hours studying Quran. Maybe you, like our dear,
dear, dear brother, are processing something that is you know affects
every part of your life, like your health. And of course, mashallah,
our dear, amazing brother, said that he recites the Quran at that
time. And that is so beautiful. That is your connection to the
Quran. Bringing in the Quran does not have to look like I'm going to
study it from 9am until 9pm bringing in the Quran so that we
have a connection to the Quran as an ummah looks like being
intentional in our relationship with it. Now that's going to look
different for different people. So for example, you may be someone
who.
Has time, and it's like I don't really know what to do with my
time, but I do want to have a better connection with the Quran.
Yes, enroll in a course, enroll into facial enroll in finding a
teacher and memorizing absolutely but you may also be someone who
just doesn't have that level of commitment right now, but maybe
you would like to theoretically do that in the future. Make that
intention. Make the intention for whatever you want and broaden that
intention. I asked one of my Quran teachers yesterday, I said, Do you
know what like I asked, Can I tell you the DUA that I make for you?
And she said she responded, and she said, Yes. And I told her, and
it was a real it was related to Quran. And her response was, I've
never thought of making that goal for myself, despite the fact that
Mala she already has ijazah in the temple at and she already
mashaAllah has so many other things of scholarship related to
Quran. Her reaction wasn't, Oh yeah, I'm already planning to do
that. Her reaction was, I've never made that intention. Now I need to
make that intention. There is always more to go to with the
Quran. So one I want you to just think about yourself. Someone is
asking about the feelings of deficiency in our efforts for
Palestine and sincerely continuing to strive for Ihsan and aiding
them. There are so many ways that we can and Inshallah, we can
discuss that general question during the Q and A but a part of
that I want to take is that our connection to the Quran makes a
difference. Because if we are trying to live the Quran, when I
was reciting Surat Nisa Abdullah dib, there's an ayah that talks
about the people who are are just with their covenants, they are
just with their leadership. They are just in the way that they
interact with people. And he pointed to this ayah, just this
one ayah, and he said, If we all implemented this one ayah, if the
Muslim leaders implemented this one ayah, we would not have
injustice in our ummah. We would respond to injustice in a
completely different way. If someone is being unjust to us, how
are we going to respond that? One of the ways truly that we can help
this ummah in all parts of it, is looking at the people who are
taking the Quran when they are going to whores we can't even ever
express in our wildest nightmares,
and then take from that and apply it into our own lives. So one I'd
like for all of us to take a moment and make an intention with
the Quran. Maybe your intention is you want to memorize the whole
Quran during your lifetime. Maybe your intention is you want to
understand the tafsir of Surah Al Fatiha, every single letter, every
single haraka You want to understand why Allah has a Fatah
on top of that letter, instead of a kesra? Why did Allah use olamah
instead of a Fatah? Why, or maybe your intention is that you want to
create a workbook for children where they can connect to the
Quran through coloring and the only way that you can act well,
not the only way, but one of the ways that you can produce
something like this is that you are going to have a very deep
connection with Jose Amma. You are going to listen to every podcast
you can get your hands on about Jose Amma. And then you're going
to make this production, whatever your whatever you see, that you
seek for the Quran, and you may feel like it's not enough. What I
want you to know is that when you make the intention for the Quran,
whether or not you complete that intention, the fact that you make
it and the fact that you even try, Allah already has written you of
those people. Allah already writes you as a person of the Quran when
you make the intention to memorize it. So even if you don't finish,
even if you don't get to where you wanted to go, but you are trying,
Allah writes you as a person who did.
There are people who memorize the Quran in their 80s, one of my
Quran teacher, Sheik Moheb, I would watch a Yemeni grandmother
come in. She would bring her grandchildren to memorize Quran
with him, and she would sit in the corner. And then after their
class, she would recite to him. And she was in her 80s. Masha
Allah, there are stories of men and women who memorize the Quran
in the 80s. In their 90s, one of the masters of Quranic recitation
of our more contemporary time washe um sad who into her 90s, men
and women from around the world would travel to her to get ijaza
from her, because she had one of the shortest senates, actually the
shortest Senate in her time period, and a particular
of the Quran.
There is no time in our life where we have done where we have done
enough, or where we can
say that we need
more ideas, I guess, of how to connect with the Quran, because
there is a way that we can bring it into every aspect of our lives.
So.
One just take a moment to make the intention that seeing what's
happening in khasa, seeing what's happening in Sudan, seeing what's
happening in the Congo, seeing what's happening in Yemen, seeing
what's happening in all different parts of the world,
we are going to reconnect to the Quran as a means of helping this
ummah change that we are going to work on restoring justice in our
own lives, praying that it's a means of restoring justice in the
Ummah as a whole. Number one and number two, falling in love with
the Quran is a journey, just like falling in love with someone is a
journey. And that doesn't have to be falling in love like a spouse,
falling in love with with, okay, not falling in love, okay, loving,
loving your friend, loving someone you meet for the first time. You
don't just meet them normally, you know, for the first time at a
cafe, and look at that person and think, I love you. Normally, it's
a process. You get to know them. You start to have experiences with
them. You are building a relationship with them, and that
process is one that we all go through with the Quran. Now that
is a whole different discussion on how to love the Quran, but one
thing I would just like to share right now in our viewing of the
Quran, often we see it as I'm just going to sit and memorize in
Ramadan. I'm going to read as much as I can, but I want to ask you,
when was the last time you laid down in bed and you were about to
go to sleep and the Quran was on your pillow, when was the last
time you hugged the Quran? And I'm not talking about the cultural
idea of you drop the Quran and you pick it up and you kiss it. That's
a very cultural practice. I'm not talking about that form of respect
in that culture I'm talking about because you just really want to
express your physical love with it.
How do you
express love to someone? You get them gifts. You spend time with
them. You you use words that share how much you love them. Talk to
Allah about the Quran, and when you're holding the Quran and
you're pouring out your heart to Allah about this ummah, about your
personal circumstances and the heartache that you experience.
Because I know many of us feel like because of what's happening
in ASA, we can't you know the pain, the hardship, everything in
our lives doesn't compare. But I'd also like to say, obviously,
that's 100% true. And also you can still be going through hardship.
You can still be going through difficulty, and because sometimes
the guilt and the horror of what you're seeing and unable to help
and and then you know how to process sometimes it makes it even
harder for you to deal with what you're dealing with in your life
on a personal level, because you don't have the emotional capacity
for something that was already so difficult, and now the compounded
amount of trauma of just being a witness to what is happening and
then at the same time, navigating the tests of your personal life,
all of it together, can be so overwhelming. And so that's why
going back to the Quran as a as a shifa, that the Quran is what you
seek it for, is something that can help us in all of our not only our
relationships with other people, our healing Inshallah, and the
journeys that we go through in different ways. And of course,
work with the professional if necessary, as well, but also in
our.