Maryam Amir – Quran Journey from Bosnia Ustada Amina Mujela Butic

Maryam Amir
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses their journey with learning the Quran and finding a place where one person is. They emphasize the importance of finding a place where one person is and being kind to their Lord. They also stress the importance of learning the Arabic language and finding a place where one person is. They encourage students to practice and find a place where one person is.
AI: Transcript ©
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Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Akbar, subhanAllah, Alhamdulillah,

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illallah, Allahu. Akbar, subhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Allah,

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ILAHA, illallah, Allahu, Akbar Wa Alaikum, asmaahi, wabarakatuh,

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waalshi, wa rahatu, subhanAllah, alhamdulillahim. Jihad, Ahn Imam.

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Jihad, such a blessing to have you here. Imam Baraka Lo Fi, Abdullah,

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your comments are not welcome at all. You are welcome to be blocked

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after this. Subhanallah Alhamdulillah, Allahu. Akbar.

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Subhanallah Alhamdulillah, Allahu. Akbar, so great to see you. Masha,

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Allah, Wa Alaikum, Asmaa, Salahi, what I get to Subhanallah

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Alhamdulillah. We have our staff with us. This is Subhanallah

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Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, finally, this day has come,

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a blessing to see you. Masha, Allah, how are you doing?

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Alhamdulillah, I'm fine. I'm just currently at my workplace. So this

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is the library where I work in so at hand, I'm kind of getting in

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touch from here.

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Awesome. Let me introduce you. Inshallah.

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Alhamdulillah, we have such a blessing of having said that amino

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that's today, mashallah from Bosnia. This is so exciting. A lot

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excited to hear her story Mashallah. She has spent so many

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years working with Quran, working with scholars and memorizing

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Quran, teaching Quran Mashallah. She also teaches Arabic. She has a

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master working towards in Islam in Europe, and she already has a

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bachelor's in Islamic studies. So mashallah, she comes not only from

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the place of working with Islamic knowledge, but also someone who

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focuses on Islam in Europe, specifically, and Bosnia has such

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a long history with Islam in Europe, so Subhanallah, it's so

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wonderful to be able to speak with you in person and Inshallah, learn

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about your journey, and to hear about the Journey of Bosnian woman

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and their process with the Quran. So can you share with us today

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about your journey to the Quran? Inshallah,

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oh Subhanallah, when I was thinking about, what would I say

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if you asked me about my journey with the Quran, I would just say,

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like one common place where we were both Bosnians here and the

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Europeans and generally the Americans, that all of those non

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Arab people come from, this the same baseline is that we do not

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know Arabic. So all of us who want to learn the Quran, who want to

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read the Quran, the first kind of place, the first dot that we all

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have to start from, is to learn how to read,

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and that is a struggle by itself. So all of those who have been on

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this place know how it is. So my journey on first reading the

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Quran, because to learn the Quran by heart was not my first option.

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It was just to kind of get to know

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was about eight years eight years old. However, because it was

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because we have here in Bosnia, it is called the maced it is kind of

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like the basic Islamic education for children, and it is organized

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by different Imams here in Bosnia. So every child who wants to learn

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the basics of Islam, they can go to a mactab and to learn the

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basics of it. So I started there, and I started with my first

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teacher in the MEK school. Her name was Fatima May Allah, bless

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her.

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And unfortunately, I had this kind of

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tendency to kind of give up easily on things. So my journey took of

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learning only the Haru learning only the letters. My journey took

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more than about even, I think, six years. Was it six years, and it

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was like, every year I would start, and I would go for about a

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month or two months and three months, and I would just like, oh,

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I cannot do this. I would give up. And then when I was, when I was

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about 12 years old, a new teacher came to us, and his name was

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Professor Nazif, may Allah bless him, and may Allah accept from

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him. And he said, like, No, we are not going to do this again. You're

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not going to start this all over again, and then, like, stop at the

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in the middle. We're going to start and we're going to finish it

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so that.

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He kind of made the intention straight from the light from the

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beginning. So then, like we started, and then like we came to

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the, I think the tenuine was the sign that we did together the last

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and then a new teacher again came. And then with the third teacher, I

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just finished my journey of how knowing, knowing how to read the

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Quran, and her name is admira. And

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I then realized that in order for me to be able to learn the Quran

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and to be kind of able to read it properly, I would need a tough

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teacher, so not someone who is like too calm and generous and

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like too sweet and like kind of

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respective, etc, I would need someone who kind of says, you have

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to do this. You do not have choice, yeah, to get it up.

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So that's what I went when I finished. It was like, No, you do

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not have a choice. You do not have an option here. You just have to

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finish it. And then, then, I had finished my the Arabic letters. So

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anyone there who has the same struggle, I know how you feel. I

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know how it is, because it took me for so much, so many years, and

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when I finished it, then the real fortune came to me, because I then

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realized

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how beautiful this book that I was reading was, and how kind of, even

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though I was a child, I was kind of aware of how beautiful a

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feeling it came to me when I read it. It was like whenever I read

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the Quran. I kind of felt like this calmness in my heart that I

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never felt in any other book. So even though I didn't know what I

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was reading, I didn't know the meanings of it, I didn't know what

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was behind all of those letters and words and the sentences and

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ayat I was just reading it and just the

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the process of reading the Quran only the reading was really

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enjoyful for me.

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So yeah, it is not easy, but it is worthy of it, because, like, after

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that, I never kind of forgot the letters. And

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this journey of this hard journey that all of us can come through,

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and I know my I have a lot of students, and they kind of have

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the same struggles, especially, it is especially when we come, for

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example, for for the al haruf, al musakham, for example, the HA and

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the rain and the ain, when he come to the rain, it is like, Oh, we

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cannot do this. Where is this sign gonna come? Where did is this

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sound gonna come from? Where Where should I put my tongue? Where

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should I do this? So, yeah, it is a struggle, and I know how you

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feel, but it is worthy of it. Because, like, the pleasure of

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reading the Quran afterwards, and what, what it comes from to you

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with, with all of its messages, etc, is it's, it's much more

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worthy than the struggle that we come through during the reading of

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during the learning of the letters, etc. So I'm sorry,

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because maybe this answer took too much of the time. I'm sorry.

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So awesome. That's why you started with just being introduced to the

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letters in the Arabic language. But so people learn Arabic, and

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they don't memorize your Quran. Why did you want to memorize Quran

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after that, if you

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still wonderful, but why did you especially because you didn't

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understand what you were reading? So why did you choose to memorize

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so my memorizing process started when I was in my high school. So

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here in Bosnia, we have the so called Islamic high schools,

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meaning, like, you can go to a madrasa, which lasts for four

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years, and then you can go, like, to learn from, like, the basics of

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aqidah, of fiqh, of Sierra, of history of Islam, of many

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different aspects of Islam. So to go to there. It was a little bit

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of a struggle, because my parents were not for going to this Islamic

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High School, and because in that time, my parents were not really

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religious, so I had to kind of

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struggle to get into it, and kind of to get their trust in that I'm

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not going to go extreme, that I'm not going to start bombing myself,

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etc. So it was like a struggle, because they were afraid that

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something might happen to me. That's not a problem here, but

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kind of, they're afraid that their religion, their main concern was

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that religion is going to close my not to, kind of to close me in a

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box, so to say, not to give me the freedom that they thought I

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needed. They were afraid that I'm gonna like, stay stuck and not

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being able to educate myself and not being like many different

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things. So it was just any other parents. They were concerned that

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their child, their their their daughter, you.

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It's the best education that she has to so I just told them, it is

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my biggest wish. It is what makes me happy, and I will not be happy

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if I do not go to this Madras and learn about Islam. And I think

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then the love and the accepting part of my parents kind of stood

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there, and they told me, of course, if you wanted to go, we

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respect you, we respect your decisions, and it's okay. It's not

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that we agree upon that, but we respect your decisions.

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And

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yeah, it's so powerful, because they're just talking to a

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teenager, but they're listening to you and work with you. Yes, and I

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had really opinions in that time. I know that when I wanted to do

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something in my life, then I would just do all. I would go through

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walls, but I would do it. I was like, oh, there is no other

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opinion for me. It's gonna make me happy. I know that this is

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something that I need, and it was something that I need, because

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during the madrasa period, I put on my hijab, I started, like,

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learning about Islam. I started praying regularly, and I started

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kind of getting to know about things about Islam. It's the

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basics of it can be really good, well known here in madassa in

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Bosnia,

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but when I wanted to maybe this would be interesting for some of

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the viewers

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the second like struggle because and the third one is going to be

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the Quran. The second struggle that I had was, again, how to put

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my hijab on. I was only 15 years old, and I was about in that

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school for only about two or three weeks, and I then I immediately

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wanted to put my hijab to be, to be the hijabi all the time. So

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until then, we had, like, the opportunity to put on the hijab

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during the classes, but outside the classes, we didn't have to.

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We're on the hijab regarding the rules in the madrasa. And

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when I when I wanted to start during the hijab, I was like,

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concerned. Oh, what's gonna happen now? And I kind of felt it in my

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heart. I remember sitting one day, and

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I remember, like reading a an Ayah from like there was a board and

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there was the ayah when, and it says, Well,

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no, I cannot remember one by one word. So it said about the hijab,

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ayah, meaning the cover the hijab, that kind of

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says to the women to kind of put the hijab on and it I read that to

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Aya a lot of many times before, but that time when I was reading

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it, I just kind of felt in my heart that, oh, this is Allah

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talking to me. This is something that Allah wants for me. I am his

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believer. I am someone who wants his mercy. I want I'm the one who

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wants his forgiveness and and he's the one who gives me the best of

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this life, and He is the one who wants to be the best for me. And

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when I realized who was talking to me in that ayah, I kind of right

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away felt in my heart now I want to be someone who is a real Muslim

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to him, meaning like

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someone who kind of wishes what he wishes for someone who desires in

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his his life, what He desires for us. And kind of I felt the

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comments in deciding that I want to swear the hijab. And there was

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no other opinion in that period for me. And then when I came home

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and I told my parents, I wonder, I want to start wearing it, they

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kind of said, Oh, but you're too young. How can you wear the hijab

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and you're only 15? What's good? What? What the other people will

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say? What if you change your mind later on? What will happen then?

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And then I said, I will not think about that. I will just hear it

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now, and I will start doing it right now, because I I know that

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this is something that I want. And then, yeah, I remember my mother.

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She was so angry at me because she was, like, so scared what is going

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to happen next?

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And then I started wearing it. And later on, and now, when I talk to

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her, because about 10 years or more have passed since I started

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wearing it, and now she says,

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What if only I knew what is going to come next, and how happy you're

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going to become because of that, and how happy you're going to

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Islam is going to how much happiness and beautifulness in

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your life Islam is going to get you. I will never, kind of be

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angry at you, I would never, kind of stop you from any of those

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things, because now she kind of realizes how,

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how this religion is really a source of happiness for us, even

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in this world, even though we go through many, many different

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struggles and we have

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many insecurities, we.

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Have so many things that we go through, but because we have

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someone who really rely upon and whom we can talk to, and whom we

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can kind of ask from to give us what we need. And kind of it gives

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so much calmness, and it gives so much joy and happiness that it

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cannot be compared to anything else, and we can go and buy things

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the kind of new things can give us some joy, but

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from those new materialistic things that we buy or get, etc,

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they give us a joy or happy feeling for a couple of days,

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maybe, or even the weeks. But after that, we kind of get bored,

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we kind of get over it. We do not feel any more the joy. But this

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would have the faith in yourself. It's something that kind of

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gets you more and more if you're going to go go deeper and deeper.

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And it's SubhanAllah. And even when we read this book, this

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beautiful Quran at Allah sent that sentence.

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If you read it, you read an ayah, and you read it in one way, one

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day, and you kind of understand it in one day, and then you come in a

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couple of days or months or years, and you kind of read the same

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ayah, but you are not the same, and you kind of look, look into

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the same ayah. It's completely differently from how you saw it in

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before. So, so this is, yeah, this is the joy of our of our religion,

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and this kind of the joy and the beautifulness of our Islam. And

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then after, like, putting the hijab my first year of classes, I

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started, started from going to the second class, and then I met one

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of my then one of my friends told me that she was starting to learn

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the Quran by heart. And I like, Okay, you were learning in

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Mashallah. It's beautiful, it's nice. But I kind of was, No, it's

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not for me. I'm not like, I'm not worthy enough to learn the Quran

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by heart. That's what was one of my main thoughts.

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I cannot do it. I cannot do it. It's kind of, yeah, I am too like,

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sometimes I get lazy. Sometimes I get like, stuck in my thoughts and

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stuck in many things. Sometimes, like, I cannot even I hardly get

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up and pray at all. And how will I be if I'm not like praying every

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night the Lail and how am I going to be half alive? I'm not like all

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this additionally, additionally, additional, additionally.

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And I was kind of getting, I was like, feeling it like

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I had to go, I have to get to a certain degree of my Iman, of

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everything about me. And then I will be worthy enough to learn the

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Quran by heart. And like I was, I had to be something in order to be

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able to learn by heart. And then Subhanallah, I realized, and you

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do not have to get into any point to learn the Quran by heart. Allah

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has sent you the Quran to benefit from it, subhanAllah, and you do

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not have to get to any level to learn it. It is open for you if

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you really want to learn it. And then I kind of,

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I kind of stopped thinking about, where should I be in order to be

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able to learn the Quran, and what should I know before it? And what

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should I accomplish? All of these accomplishments such, I know the

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Quran is there for all of us in all times you do not it is there

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for you, even though, if you're in the baddest in the worst place in

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your life, as it is for you in your if you are in the best place

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in your life, meaning, like in the happiness in the sorrows. So

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kind of when I kind of stopped thinking about where should I be

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in order to be able to learn the Quran by heart? Then it kind of

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came and I started learning it. And by learning it, then many

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different than many other struggles came in. But yeah, just

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to start learning it, it was kind of from there. I do not have to be

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anyone to be able to learn the Quran or to recite it, or to come

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closer to Allah, right? Is so inspiring, and it left me with

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chills, and my heart feels fuller, and my eyes just feel like I can

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feel the love of Allah's Panama Tala that you have just brimming

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over your tears. Mashallah, may Allah, bless you. You talked about

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learning the Arabic. You talked about how you, you know, felt

00:19:27 --> 00:19:32

unworthy for the Quran, but felt like, Okay, this ayah is talking

00:19:32 --> 00:19:35

to you and how it impacted your life and the happiness that your

00:19:35 --> 00:19:37

mom even sees in you after this. Masha Allah,

00:19:38 --> 00:19:43

what did you go to actually trying to understand the meaning of what

00:19:43 --> 00:19:47

you're memorizing. Was that part of the process of you memorizing,

00:19:47 --> 00:19:50

or was it like, you know, separate? How was that for

00:19:51 --> 00:19:52

you?

00:19:53 --> 00:19:57

Understanding the meanings of the Quran is something that I'm still

00:19:57 --> 00:19:59

kind of working on, and I think about working.

00:20:00 --> 00:20:05

Work on it. As long as my life goes and I will kind of work with

00:20:05 --> 00:20:06

my whole life,

00:20:08 --> 00:20:12

to be honest, my Arabic Now is not on the place where I wanted to be

00:20:12 --> 00:20:17

like it is I'm like on the some place where I can understand it.

00:20:17 --> 00:20:22

But my my speak level is not like my level of how to communicate and

00:20:22 --> 00:20:26

speak it. It's not on the place where I want it to be. However, I

00:20:26 --> 00:20:29

do not let it to stop me from understanding the Quran, because,

00:20:29 --> 00:20:33

yeah, I just kind of think that

00:20:34 --> 00:20:38

understanding the meanings of the Quran, meaning like understand

00:20:38 --> 00:20:41

each word or many words from the Quran, can benefit us as well.

00:20:42 --> 00:20:46

I started learning the grammar from my high school, and then I

00:20:46 --> 00:20:51

continued learning grammar very begin during the faculty period as

00:20:51 --> 00:20:56

well. And then I, when I started working, I came Alhamdulillah,

00:20:57 --> 00:20:58

here in nahlah. We, kind of,

00:20:59 --> 00:21:03

they gave me the opportunity to teach the linguistic tafsir

00:21:03 --> 00:21:08

meaning like we can go word by word, translating some Surahs and

00:21:08 --> 00:21:12

understanding them deeper. And my first course that I taught there

00:21:12 --> 00:21:17

was the linguistics tafsir, word by word, meanings of the surah

00:21:17 --> 00:21:24

class, like they were the basic surahs, so to say. And so many,

00:21:24 --> 00:21:28

many people here in Bosnia know these Surahs by heart, but I think

00:21:28 --> 00:21:33

if they, if you ask them what the surahs mean, and how do you kind

00:21:33 --> 00:21:36

of practice these Surahs in your everyday life? Unfortunately, they

00:21:36 --> 00:21:39

wouldn't be able to kind of translate them and understand what

00:21:39 --> 00:21:42

they mean. But they'll, for example, recite them every day in

00:21:42 --> 00:21:48

their prayers as like a sort of a protection in the mornings, in

00:21:48 --> 00:21:53

life, in the evening, etc. So I was thinking, why do we not know

00:21:53 --> 00:21:56

these surahs, these words, they are not basic, they're advanced,

00:21:56 --> 00:21:59

if they if we understand the meanings of them. And then I

00:21:59 --> 00:22:04

started kind of going through one by one word. And how does why

00:22:05 --> 00:22:09

Allah chose this word in order to to start this surah, and how the

00:22:11 --> 00:22:14

different meanings kind of complete the overall message of

00:22:14 --> 00:22:19

the Surah, etc. And, wow, when I started doing that, it kind of

00:22:20 --> 00:22:25

bring my it brought my my level and my connection to the Quran to

00:22:25 --> 00:22:30

a completely new level, Subhan Allah, to know one by one word and

00:22:30 --> 00:22:34

to know kind of a deeper meaning of what we read and recite in the

00:22:34 --> 00:22:39

Quran. It is completely subhanall. It's something so beautiful. It's

00:22:39 --> 00:22:39

kind of

00:22:41 --> 00:22:44

when you see, for example, why Allah has when you read it in, for

00:22:44 --> 00:22:48

example, we have the translation of the Quran here in Bosnia. And

00:22:48 --> 00:22:51

everyone who, everyone who wants to know the meaning of the Quran,

00:22:51 --> 00:22:54

we you can read it in you, and you have many different translations

00:22:54 --> 00:22:56

of the Quran in Bosnia.

00:22:57 --> 00:23:00

And it is on one level, so to say, really nice and useful, etc.

00:23:00 --> 00:23:05

However, when you go and kind of start reading it and trying to

00:23:05 --> 00:23:09

understanding, to understand it word by word, and kind of try to

00:23:09 --> 00:23:12

find the connection between the words and what is the kind of

00:23:13 --> 00:23:17

what, what meanings can we get behind these like letters and

00:23:17 --> 00:23:21

words that are connected, one after the other, the connection to

00:23:21 --> 00:23:25

with the Quran becomes really more beautiful. And I know my students

00:23:26 --> 00:23:31

used to tell me, like I kind of, they said, I kind of have the

00:23:31 --> 00:23:34

connection with these Buddhas on a completely new level, because now

00:23:34 --> 00:23:38

when I recite them in my prayers, it is like I'm talking to Allah.

00:23:38 --> 00:23:42

Now that when I'm reciting in my prayers, I know what I'm saying

00:23:42 --> 00:23:46

and know what I'm seeking, the protection from, and who am I

00:23:46 --> 00:23:51

talking to, etc. So yeah, even you, even from when you go, from

00:23:51 --> 00:23:54

the basics, you can go to advance if you understand and know how to

00:23:54 --> 00:23:58

go to get into it. And then I didn't stop the journey there. So

00:23:58 --> 00:24:03

this year, Alhamdulillah, we, I had this course called The and I

00:24:03 --> 00:24:06

am having speech is still ongoing. And having this course of

00:24:06 --> 00:24:11

linguistic, again, a tafsir of Surah Mariam. And it is a

00:24:11 --> 00:24:15

completely, again, a journey. It is a beautiful journey. And we

00:24:15 --> 00:24:19

cover, for example, each week about three to four ayat, and it

00:24:19 --> 00:24:23

is only about one by one word, and then we cover the whole page of

00:24:23 --> 00:24:27

the Surah Mariam for a month. So we do one page a month, and it is

00:24:27 --> 00:24:31

really slow, and our students are learning the hips of the surah as

00:24:31 --> 00:24:38

well as the the meanings and wow it is. Their hips is strong. Their

00:24:39 --> 00:24:40

their

00:24:41 --> 00:24:45

understanding of the surah is is beautiful. So it is completely new

00:24:45 --> 00:24:50

level to learn it this way. And my Inshallah, my goal, let me, Allah,

00:24:50 --> 00:24:54

make it easy for me and all of us who want, want to do it this way,

00:24:54 --> 00:24:59

is to kind of understand the whole Quran in these like small levels,

00:24:59 --> 00:24:59

like.

00:25:00 --> 00:25:03

Understand it word by word going you go into this. It's deeper

00:25:03 --> 00:25:09

meanings like that. So, yeah, it is a completely different

00:25:09 --> 00:25:12

perspective, and it is a completely new level of of

00:25:12 --> 00:25:17

connection with the Quran. Because you kind of get, I know, when I

00:25:17 --> 00:25:19

start reading the swaram Now,

00:25:21 --> 00:25:25

I kind of get, like, triggered by some words that are that I didn't

00:25:25 --> 00:25:29

but that I wasn't triggered, not what, what? What's the meaning of

00:25:29 --> 00:25:33

trigger? Meaning like, it gives me the chills. It gives me the

00:25:33 --> 00:25:37

warmness in my heart. It gives me the tears. It gives me the feeling

00:25:37 --> 00:25:42

of, wow. This is, this is what Allah has told us, in the in the

00:25:42 --> 00:25:47

in the Surah Mary, I mean, this is his choice of the words and kind

00:25:47 --> 00:25:52

of these, what this like, read so many small words so to say, of

00:25:52 --> 00:25:57

suramarium, they kind of give me these new feelings that I have

00:25:57 --> 00:26:00

never had before, and that's all because of these kind of

00:26:00 --> 00:26:04

beautiful, beautiful meanings that I have learned throughout this

00:26:04 --> 00:26:09

year. And may Allah bless him, Shaykh abd Nasir, I have learned,

00:26:09 --> 00:26:13

I have listened to his Surah, Maryam, it was a must for me in

00:26:13 --> 00:26:17

order to prepare my own So may Allah bless him, and may Allah

00:26:18 --> 00:26:22

accept from him for doing the linguistic perspective of the

00:26:22 --> 00:26:24

surah as well. So beautiful

00:26:27 --> 00:26:31

that someone can teach the tafsir and not realize that maybe in

00:26:31 --> 00:26:34

another country, they're going to be using it to understand the

00:26:34 --> 00:26:37

Surah, Subhan, Allah, JazakAllah, khairan, that, Oh, beautiful.

00:26:37 --> 00:26:41

You've been talking about people learning the meaning of the Quran

00:26:41 --> 00:26:46

in Bosnia. Can you share with us what is the culture of Quran for

00:26:46 --> 00:26:51

women in Bosnia? Do women actively take classes for and memorize

00:26:51 --> 00:26:55

Quran? Is it? Is it? Is it something that is you know, a lot

00:26:55 --> 00:26:57

of women do. What is the culture there?

00:26:59 --> 00:27:07

So women here learn and recite the Quran just like on a daily basis.

00:27:07 --> 00:27:11

And they learn, they teach, and they kind of recite the Quran that

00:27:11 --> 00:27:16

on the same level, so to say, as men. So just from the beginning,

00:27:16 --> 00:27:20

for example, when we start from the Mecca period, the basic

00:27:20 --> 00:27:24

Islamic education period. Altogether, women and men like the

00:27:24 --> 00:27:28

children go together, and they learn the letters. They learned

00:27:28 --> 00:27:34

how to recite it as well. And then the high schools usually there as

00:27:34 --> 00:27:38

many men. There are women as well. There are girls and boys, and they

00:27:39 --> 00:27:43

continue their journey. And one interesting point, and this is

00:27:43 --> 00:27:47

maybe something that some some can benefit from. We have this kind of

00:27:47 --> 00:27:52

yearly competition in reciting the Quran. So my first kind of public

00:27:53 --> 00:27:57

reciting, or my first kind of the competition in the Quran, was when

00:27:57 --> 00:28:03

I was about 17. I think I was 17 years old. And then we learned

00:28:04 --> 00:28:05

five Jesus of the Quran by heart.

00:28:07 --> 00:28:11

And then, kind of, we came to this competition, and it was like, wow.

00:28:11 --> 00:28:14

What is going to be beyond this competition? Who am I going to

00:28:14 --> 00:28:20

compete out against? And there were so many different half a lot

00:28:20 --> 00:28:24

or men and women who were competing and who were like, Oh,

00:28:24 --> 00:28:29

am I going to make a mistake here? Or I'm not. So the competition was

00:28:29 --> 00:28:33

like, if you're on the five judges, a competition that you get

00:28:33 --> 00:28:37

two to three pages that you have to recite in front of the of the

00:28:37 --> 00:28:41

board, so to say in front of the board of their recitation. And

00:28:41 --> 00:28:46

they said they kind of choose a random page, but by random I mean

00:28:46 --> 00:28:48

like the hardest pages,

00:28:51 --> 00:28:54

like you never get the easy ones, you get only the hardest.

00:28:55 --> 00:28:59

So, yeah, and then they just want to test their your hips, how we're

00:28:59 --> 00:29:02

going to finish the ayat, how we're gonna kind of,

00:29:04 --> 00:29:08

how we're gonna connect it between different ayat, etc. And on that

00:29:08 --> 00:29:12

competition, Alhamdulillah one, I was the second, and that on the

00:29:12 --> 00:29:17

state, state competition, together with my two colleagues, and one of

00:29:17 --> 00:29:22

them won the first play, the first place, she's now Hafez. She is

00:29:22 --> 00:29:27

Akia kawabat. And the third place was, again, my my colleagues,

00:29:27 --> 00:29:30

because we were really good group, and we were a really good team.

00:29:30 --> 00:29:34

And our half of was our teacher was kind of preparing us, the

00:29:34 --> 00:29:37

whole like here, and he was like pressuring us, you can do it. You

00:29:37 --> 00:29:41

can do it. You don't. You cannot give up. You have to prepare, and

00:29:41 --> 00:29:45

we did it, and Alhamdulillah made a beautiful scores, and like the

00:29:45 --> 00:29:50

whole school was so proud of us. And so there is no limitations for

00:29:50 --> 00:29:53

women to kind of participate in these events. There's no

00:29:54 --> 00:29:58

limitations for women to participate in learning the Quran,

00:29:58 --> 00:29:59

in reciting the Quran.

00:30:00 --> 00:30:01

In teaching the Quran.

00:30:02 --> 00:30:06

And there are many, but for example, it is usually. It is

00:30:06 --> 00:30:11

usually divided, like women teach women, the Quran and men teach

00:30:11 --> 00:30:14

men. Usually it's like that. And we have, for example, many

00:30:14 --> 00:30:20

different schools of Quran. Here in Bosnia, we have like female,

00:30:20 --> 00:30:26

specified, so to say, School of schools of the Quran in In which

00:30:28 --> 00:30:32

the focus on, the focus is teaching the women the Quran. And

00:30:32 --> 00:30:36

these schools of Quran have made so many good results, and they

00:30:36 --> 00:30:42

kind of have 10s of half a lot a year. So for example, last year,

00:30:43 --> 00:30:48

we know, for example, now in Bosnia we have around 300 Hafez

00:30:48 --> 00:30:53

hafaz, we have, like, those are both men and women together. And

00:30:53 --> 00:30:56

the last year, for example, was one of the best, not one of but

00:30:56 --> 00:31:02

the best year in the number of hafas, or number of half elders

00:31:03 --> 00:31:07

who learned the Quran by heart. And after you learned the Quran by

00:31:07 --> 00:31:10

heart, here in Bosnia, for example, you have to go to recite

00:31:10 --> 00:31:15

the Quran in front of the so to say his board. It is called the

00:31:15 --> 00:31:19

heifs board, and it is kind of consisted of what for the whole

00:31:19 --> 00:31:20

country,

00:31:21 --> 00:31:26

yes. Yes, yes. So you have to, like you have to, if I understood

00:31:26 --> 00:31:30

it well. So they have, if you want to kind of understand the if or

00:31:30 --> 00:31:32

not, if you finish the

00:31:33 --> 00:31:38

Quran, then you go to the kind of to recite the Quran in front of

00:31:38 --> 00:31:41

the hips of the board. And this hip to the word is consisted of

00:31:41 --> 00:31:45

eight members. So they kind of sit and listen to your recitation for

00:31:45 --> 00:31:49

15 days. And you recite two Jesus of the Quran each day, and you

00:31:49 --> 00:31:54

have to recite them. I think the flat here recite these juices in

00:31:54 --> 00:31:58

about an hour or so, in our hour, hour and a half. So they have to

00:31:58 --> 00:32:01

recite really quick. And their Tajik kind of goes off during

00:32:01 --> 00:32:06

during that period. But yeah, they have to recite it pretty quickly.

00:32:06 --> 00:32:10

And they finish it in about 15 days. And there are even her flat

00:32:10 --> 00:32:13

who had finished it in about three days. They recited the whole Quran

00:32:13 --> 00:32:17

in three days, for example. And there is all there is also one

00:32:17 --> 00:32:21

hafillah. It is. She's female, and she recited the whole Quran in one

00:32:21 --> 00:32:25

day. So she kind of sit in front of the board, yes, and she sit in

00:32:25 --> 00:32:28

front of the board. And she started in the morning, and she

00:32:28 --> 00:32:33

was like finished until salatul magibadi in the evening. We also

00:32:33 --> 00:32:38

have half of there, our half a lot, or from all from different

00:32:38 --> 00:32:43

ages and backgrounds. For example, we have, we had one half of that

00:32:43 --> 00:32:47

he he finished the the recite, recitation in front of the board

00:32:47 --> 00:32:52

yesterday, and he's like, 59 years old, and he was like, like, almost

00:32:52 --> 00:32:57

in his pension days. And he finished it. We also have half a

00:32:57 --> 00:33:01

lot that are 1516, years old, and they all kind of committed into

00:33:01 --> 00:33:05

reading the Quran, learning the Quran by heart, and reciting it in

00:33:05 --> 00:33:10

front of the board. So it is not like limited there are, I think

00:33:10 --> 00:33:16

one of our youngest have. Her father was about 12 or 13 years

00:33:16 --> 00:33:21

old. So now there is no age limit. Allah chooses whom he wants to and

00:33:22 --> 00:33:25

we can only pray that Allah chooses us to kind of be the

00:33:25 --> 00:33:29

carriers of his book, and to kind of carry it, not only in our

00:33:29 --> 00:33:32

minds, but to carry it in our hearts. Inshallah,

00:33:33 --> 00:33:38

so incredible and interesting. So there's no way that we would in

00:33:38 --> 00:33:42

the United States be able to have. We don't have, like a system to

00:33:42 --> 00:33:47

see who memorize, how many people memorize. So, so you're, you're,

00:33:47 --> 00:33:51

you're, is it like expected that any person who finishes memorizing

00:33:51 --> 00:33:54

with their teacher, they go to this board, and then the board

00:33:54 --> 00:33:57

will kind of keep a record of all the have felt in the whole country

00:33:58 --> 00:34:03

that is yes, yes, yes. And not only that, you kind of have these

00:34:03 --> 00:34:07

kind of periods of your memorization process. So the first

00:34:07 --> 00:34:11

period is like just memorizing, learning the whole Quran by heart.

00:34:12 --> 00:34:15

And then the second kind of step of the process is to get your hips

00:34:15 --> 00:34:21

so strong that you can recite two Jesus of the Quran in one hour or

00:34:21 --> 00:34:24

in one hour and a half. So you'd have to kind of get just really

00:34:24 --> 00:34:25

good.

00:34:26 --> 00:34:30

Not everyone can go to that board and kind of just recite after they

00:34:30 --> 00:34:34

finish, etc. So it is challenging. It is really stressful for the

00:34:34 --> 00:34:38

HAFA, but it is really worth it, because when someone goes to the

00:34:39 --> 00:34:43

board and they recite the Quran in these 15 or days or less, for some

00:34:44 --> 00:34:49

they kind of their hips. You know that their hips is on a level. You

00:34:49 --> 00:34:52

know that it is a really strong cubes that they not cannot, you

00:34:52 --> 00:34:58

kind of are you can lean on their hips, etc. So, yeah, so the first

00:34:58 --> 00:34:59

kind of goal.

00:35:00 --> 00:35:03

Is to finish the Quran in front of your teacher. And then the second

00:35:03 --> 00:35:06

one is to finish it in front of this board. And yes, they keep the

00:35:06 --> 00:35:13

record of how many have finished it in each year. And kind of,

00:35:13 --> 00:35:18

yeah, there are eight of them. Unfortunately, we are missing a

00:35:18 --> 00:35:20

woman in the board, but Inshallah, it's going to be

00:35:21 --> 00:35:26

inshallah. It's going to be one day. So let's hope to it inshallah

00:35:26 --> 00:35:31

that it gets soon that we have nine member boards, of the members

00:35:31 --> 00:35:36

of the board, etc. So it is a really, really prestige title here

00:35:36 --> 00:35:39

in Bosnia to be a hassle. And you know that someone, when someone

00:35:39 --> 00:35:43

recites that in front of the in front of this board, that you know

00:35:43 --> 00:35:47

that he's a really good half feels, that his half his really

00:35:47 --> 00:35:52

strong, and that, yeah, we can, you can just end like it's with a

00:35:52 --> 00:35:56

prayer that he, that he continues to to kind of maintain his, his

00:35:56 --> 00:36:00

his as strong as it was during that period. And then later on we

00:36:00 --> 00:36:04

have kind of a gather, gathering that where we kind of,

00:36:05 --> 00:36:10

kind of congratulate the the new Hefa, that they're the they're

00:36:10 --> 00:36:13

finished their realization of the heaves. And then, yeah, that's

00:36:13 --> 00:36:18

kind of, that's kind of it so. And then we can just pray that they

00:36:18 --> 00:36:22

have stays the same strong during their whole life. So that's kind

00:36:22 --> 00:36:23

of their process of, of

00:36:25 --> 00:36:30

of learning the Quran here, so beautiful Mashallah. It's like

00:36:30 --> 00:36:33

people who memorize Quran are so honored. And are, you know, it's,

00:36:33 --> 00:36:36

it's something that people seriously, take it seriously the

00:36:36 --> 00:36:40

way that they memorize Masha Allah, um, can you give us any

00:36:40 --> 00:36:43

advice, because mashallah, you've already given us so much, so many

00:36:43 --> 00:36:47

gems and so much advice in the way that you are speaking about

00:36:47 --> 00:36:51

approaching Arabic and approaching Quran. What if someone like you

00:36:51 --> 00:36:55

starts the Arabic letters and they're like, oh, no, I just

00:36:55 --> 00:36:58

can't. I don't want to keep going. Or they start memorizing and they

00:36:58 --> 00:37:00

say, Oh, this is just so difficult. I've been trying for

00:37:00 --> 00:37:04

three years. I can't I can't do it. What advice do you have for

00:37:04 --> 00:37:06

them to keep going, to feel motivated? How do they keep

00:37:06 --> 00:37:09

feeling motivated to go to the Quran?

00:37:11 --> 00:37:16

Oh, subhanAllah, I think it's something that it is individual.

00:37:16 --> 00:37:18

Each person kind of has its own,

00:37:19 --> 00:37:24

his his or her zone, like motives or inspirations, or motivations

00:37:24 --> 00:37:25

from the Quran,

00:37:26 --> 00:37:32

I think in my previous period, one of my main motivations was to when

00:37:32 --> 00:37:36

I when I kind of get to through the struggles of, how am I going

00:37:36 --> 00:37:39

to going to finish, when I'm going to finish, and I have so much to

00:37:39 --> 00:37:44

left to to learn I was my my motive or my motivation would

00:37:44 --> 00:37:47

always be like remembering that on the Day of Judgment, my parents

00:37:47 --> 00:37:51

are going to wear a crown on their heads. And it was a really

00:37:51 --> 00:37:55

motivating thing for me, and I really enjoyed it. However, when

00:37:55 --> 00:37:59

the time passes on and when I was thinking about it more thoroughly,

00:37:59 --> 00:38:01

I just came to a realization that

00:38:03 --> 00:38:06

it is beautiful that your parents are going to bear the crown or the

00:38:06 --> 00:38:11

crown on the Day of Judgment. However, I kind of see it now more

00:38:11 --> 00:38:17

as a result, not the reason, if I have explained it well meaning,

00:38:17 --> 00:38:23

like I want to learn the Quran in order to be myself closer to to

00:38:23 --> 00:38:28

Allah, because the Quran is first of all going to benefit you, and

00:38:28 --> 00:38:32

you should first of all learn it for Allah. And kind of

00:38:33 --> 00:38:38

the second thing is like, remember whose word you're memorizing,

00:38:38 --> 00:38:43

SubhanAllah. You remember that he chose, that he chose. He is the

00:38:43 --> 00:38:46

one who taught you, and he's the one who chose you to even be able

00:38:46 --> 00:38:50

to read it, even to be able to be to remember, to kind of be more

00:38:51 --> 00:38:54

inspired or motivated to learn even the letters. There are so

00:38:54 --> 00:38:59

many people who do not, who maybe were not even like thinking about

00:38:59 --> 00:39:02

learning even the letters. So who is the one who gave you the

00:39:02 --> 00:39:06

inspiration to even learn the letters, and who is the one who

00:39:06 --> 00:39:11

gives you like the world in a to even read it in translation, etc?

00:39:12 --> 00:39:17

So pray to Him to kind of make it easy for you to learn it by heart

00:39:17 --> 00:39:21

and continue with your recitations, because it is first

00:39:21 --> 00:39:25

of all benefit, beneficial for you and me. It is first of all

00:39:25 --> 00:39:27

beneficial because it's going to

00:39:29 --> 00:39:34

your heart is going to be melted by its meaning and by its words,

00:39:34 --> 00:39:40

by only reading it if you if you know whose words are those, if you

00:39:40 --> 00:39:45

if you know that it is he who who takes care of you every day. He it

00:39:45 --> 00:39:47

is if you know that he, it is He Who

00:39:49 --> 00:39:54

gave you life in this earth, who has given you, who has been with

00:39:54 --> 00:39:58

you through all of your struggles, through all of your the best and

00:39:58 --> 00:39:59

the worst times in your life and.

00:40:00 --> 00:40:03

Has never given up on you, then you should know that it is an

00:40:03 --> 00:40:07

honor to be able to read his book, and it is an honor, and it is

00:40:07 --> 00:40:11

something that we should do in order to be kind of, it is a sign

00:40:11 --> 00:40:15

of a gratefulness towards our Lord to learn his book by heart, kind

00:40:15 --> 00:40:19

of to say, Allah, I'm learning this because I'm grateful to you

00:40:19 --> 00:40:22

that you have given me my life. Allah, I'm learning this book

00:40:22 --> 00:40:25

because I'm so happy to be

00:40:27 --> 00:40:31

honored to be your slave. I'm so happy to learn this book because I

00:40:31 --> 00:40:34

just want to see your your face, your

00:40:35 --> 00:40:39

to see you on the Day of Judgment. There's nothing else it needs you

00:40:39 --> 00:40:43

to, kind of to give you more motivation than this, your Lord,

00:40:43 --> 00:40:47

your God, who is the one with who is always with you through all the

00:40:47 --> 00:40:54

times. So no not. There is no bigger motivation in our lives

00:40:54 --> 00:40:58

than he to kind of his closeness to us, to motivate us in our

00:40:58 --> 00:41:02

everyday life. So if that is something that motivates you on

00:41:02 --> 00:41:06

your why you're doing good deeds, why believing, etc, then it is

00:41:06 --> 00:41:11

something that should motivate you in your reading process. So yeah,

00:41:11 --> 00:41:14

that's it. I'm not going to I don't want to kind of get too

00:41:14 --> 00:41:16

long. I'm sorry if this is too much.

00:41:18 --> 00:41:21

Hey, all of us are just crying. Masha, Allah, the love that you

00:41:21 --> 00:41:26

speak about doing this for the love of Allah, just out of this

00:41:26 --> 00:41:30

pure desire to just know Him and be grateful to him, is just so

00:41:30 --> 00:41:33

powerful and so beautiful and so inspirational. Subhanallah, may

00:41:33 --> 00:41:38

Allah bless you and honor you and allow us to feel that same love

00:41:38 --> 00:41:40

that you're talking about and increase you and that Allah, Amin,

00:41:41 --> 00:41:45

I love to also ask you about your studies. You are studying

00:41:47 --> 00:41:50

Mashallah. You're doing your masters in Islam in Europe. What?

00:41:50 --> 00:41:52

What exactly is your studies about? Because that's something

00:41:52 --> 00:41:57

that you know, there's so much history for Muslims in so many

00:41:57 --> 00:42:00

different parts of the world, and being able to learn about Islamic

00:42:00 --> 00:42:04

history in those parts, allows us as Muslims, wherever we are, to

00:42:04 --> 00:42:08

feel more connected to our whole ummah. So can you share with us a

00:42:08 --> 00:42:09

little bit about that as well?

00:42:11 --> 00:42:15

So Islam in Europe as a Master of Studies here in Bosnia, in the at

00:42:15 --> 00:42:18

the Faculty of Islamic Studies is something that is a new program,

00:42:18 --> 00:42:22

master program here in Bosnia, and it is in English. It is the first

00:42:22 --> 00:42:26

masters masters program in English. So anyone here who is

00:42:26 --> 00:42:30

like, even from the United States or from the Europe, pardon, and

00:42:30 --> 00:42:33

who wants to join this masters can can join it. I think there is

00:42:33 --> 00:42:37

like, if you, if you like, visit the f i n.pa

00:42:38 --> 00:42:41

This is the website, www, f i n.ba,

00:42:43 --> 00:42:46

so you can visit there, and you can kind of check out the more

00:42:46 --> 00:42:47

information. So what it meant to me?

00:42:49 --> 00:42:52

First of all, it was a new experience for me, because it was

00:42:52 --> 00:42:57

my first master's studies, that it was my first, like, official

00:42:57 --> 00:43:01

studies that I did in English. So this is we do not have, like the

00:43:01 --> 00:43:06

full time programs about Islam here in Bosnia in English. So it

00:43:06 --> 00:43:10

is like, Oh, I saw that this is an opportunity to learn Islam and to

00:43:10 --> 00:43:14

learn it in English, because I love English, and this is and I

00:43:14 --> 00:43:17

love, kind of using it in my everyday life, and I kind of see

00:43:17 --> 00:43:22

it as a really useful tool to kind of spread this beautiful message

00:43:22 --> 00:43:28

of Islam. So that was one of my like first thoughts when I saw

00:43:28 --> 00:43:33

this, like a fly, a flyer about the studies. The second thing is,

00:43:34 --> 00:43:39

when we say Islam in Europe, it is a really weird thing to think

00:43:39 --> 00:43:42

about, because when you see, like, you have friends, you have the UK,

00:43:42 --> 00:43:45

you have the state, you have, like, many different countries

00:43:45 --> 00:43:50

where, where Islam is not really like, recognizable by you cannot

00:43:50 --> 00:43:55

think about, you only like, see the Islamophobia part of these, of

00:43:55 --> 00:43:59

these, of these countries. So I kind of wanted to know, what does

00:43:59 --> 00:44:03

it mean to be a Muslim in Europe. What does it mean to understand

00:44:03 --> 00:44:08

Islam from a European perspective or from a European view? And then

00:44:08 --> 00:44:11

throughout, throughout that masters, I learned that

00:44:12 --> 00:44:16

that the translation, for example, of the Quran, happened so long

00:44:16 --> 00:44:20

time ago, and it was like in the Latin language, and it was like in

00:44:21 --> 00:44:24

from for all different reasons, and then it kind of brought me a

00:44:24 --> 00:44:27

new perspective of the Quran. People will, kind of,

00:44:28 --> 00:44:32

they will read the Quran, but it will not guide them. And we always

00:44:32 --> 00:44:35

asked ourselves, how is that? Some people read the Quran, but it

00:44:35 --> 00:44:39

doesn't guide them. It is by your intention that it is guiding you,

00:44:39 --> 00:44:43

or this guiding you, the Quran is like that. So there are, there

00:44:43 --> 00:44:48

were people in our history who recited the Quran, or who knew,

00:44:48 --> 00:44:52

who have read the Quran, they translated it into different

00:44:52 --> 00:44:57

languages, but they never became Muslims. Why? One of the reasons

00:44:57 --> 00:44:59

that I see is that they didn't want it to be.

00:45:00 --> 00:45:04

Guided by this book. They didn't try to find guidance in it. They

00:45:04 --> 00:45:09

just saw it as a piece of like a paper or a book that comes from

00:45:09 --> 00:45:13

the enemy, or for someone who we do not know, or someone who that

00:45:13 --> 00:45:13

we do not like.

00:45:15 --> 00:45:17

And I kind of always see it that

00:45:18 --> 00:45:23

Quran comes to you the way you want to come to it, the way you

00:45:23 --> 00:45:27

kind of it is always like on two two sides to it is a two way

00:45:27 --> 00:45:32

street, so to say, not only one. So what you expect from it, you

00:45:32 --> 00:45:35

will get from it. What you want give to it, you will get again

00:45:35 --> 00:45:35

from it.

00:45:36 --> 00:45:42

What else? Maybe. Another really nice part of this master studies

00:45:42 --> 00:45:45

is that you kind of get to know many international students. So we

00:45:45 --> 00:45:49

have students from Bangladesh, we had students from the US. We had

00:45:49 --> 00:45:53

so so many different students. And you kind of get to know new

00:45:53 --> 00:45:57

perspectives. You kind of don't think about how

00:45:58 --> 00:46:02

different is it is to be a Muslim in Bangladesh and in like India

00:46:02 --> 00:46:07

and in Bosnia, and then on the other way of the world, in the US.

00:46:07 --> 00:46:12

When you get to know these people, you kind of get get to know more

00:46:12 --> 00:46:17

of the beauty of Islam. How, how so many, there are so many people

00:46:17 --> 00:46:23

who try to live this, this, this religion, this faith, and they

00:46:23 --> 00:46:26

love it, but they live, they live it, maybe in a completely

00:46:27 --> 00:46:30

different way than you how you see it today, and you have, like, the

00:46:30 --> 00:46:33

same things that that were shared in common, like the prayers, like

00:46:33 --> 00:46:38

the fast, the basics of Islam. However, for example, they their

00:46:38 --> 00:46:40

the look of their hijab is completely different. And then how

00:46:40 --> 00:46:45

the men are like covering and how they are dressed. It is completely

00:46:45 --> 00:46:49

different, but it is all a part of our religion. It is all a part of

00:46:49 --> 00:46:53

our beautiful faith, and it kind of gives you the kind of a

00:46:53 --> 00:46:57

perspective that Subhanallah, this is what Allah promises in the

00:46:57 --> 00:47:02

Quran Wa jalnakum, Kaba, or open waqabah In a little arafu

00:47:02 --> 00:47:06

Subhanallah, so that we can know each other more. And by knowing

00:47:06 --> 00:47:11

each other more, you will get aware of Allah more, because we

00:47:11 --> 00:47:15

will know that this is that's what Allah has created. It is not by

00:47:15 --> 00:47:17

someone else. It is he who

00:47:18 --> 00:47:23

kind of joined us together, and it is He who made a decision to kind

00:47:23 --> 00:47:27

of create us differently. He if he wanted, we can we could all be the

00:47:27 --> 00:47:31

same, we could all look the same, we could always the same, but he

00:47:31 --> 00:47:36

didn't want it. So it is His mercy and it is his wisdom to create us

00:47:36 --> 00:47:39

differently, and we have to respect those differences, and we

00:47:39 --> 00:47:43

have to kind of try to find a matching point for all of us to,

00:47:43 --> 00:47:43

kind of

00:47:45 --> 00:47:51

to find a aid or a place or a thought or a.or that connects us

00:47:51 --> 00:47:56

together, if we, if we manage to find this.or this place, this

00:47:56 --> 00:48:00

topic, this opinion, that kind of gets, gets us all together, then

00:48:00 --> 00:48:05

we can come over all differences. And if you go to a Muslim in

00:48:05 --> 00:48:07

Europe, you go to a Muslim in

00:48:08 --> 00:48:12

in Asia, in the US, in every part of the world, if you ask them, Do

00:48:12 --> 00:48:16

you believe in Allah? Of course they will say, they do. Do you

00:48:16 --> 00:48:19

believe in in the Prophet sallallahu, sallam? Of course they

00:48:19 --> 00:48:24

will say they do so if you share this point of view at the

00:48:24 --> 00:48:28

beginning, if you if they believe in Allah, they if they say Laila,

00:48:28 --> 00:48:32

illallah, Muhammad or Rasulullah, then it is, it is the most

00:48:32 --> 00:48:35

important basic point that you can

00:48:36 --> 00:48:40

that you can start from, if you want to kind of build this sense

00:48:40 --> 00:48:44

of uniqueness and kind of to feel like the part of one Ummah, one

00:48:44 --> 00:48:51

like one community that is all over the world. So this belief of

00:48:51 --> 00:48:56

having Allah and having his messenger in our lives is a

00:48:56 --> 00:49:01

treasure. It is a gem. It is something that is so beautiful and

00:49:01 --> 00:49:03

worthy for all of the Muslims.

00:49:04 --> 00:49:07

And that is something that we should all kind of remind

00:49:07 --> 00:49:13

ourselves, if we share this basic belief together Inshallah, then we

00:49:13 --> 00:49:18

can overcome all of our differences in our opinions, etc,

00:49:18 --> 00:49:23

because we respect each other based on this. So yes, the way

00:49:23 --> 00:49:26

that you speak so much love for the Quran, so much love for Allah,

00:49:26 --> 00:49:29

so much love for this ummah, and it's something so beautiful to

00:49:29 --> 00:49:33

witness, because so many times when we see people talking about

00:49:33 --> 00:49:37

Islam, it's kind of this, like, very negative, like, we have so

00:49:37 --> 00:49:41

many problems, we're so far away. But the way that you talk about is

00:49:42 --> 00:49:46

he's there for us, and we can, you know, reach him, and we can reach

00:49:46 --> 00:49:49

one another through him. It's just so beautiful. Masha Allah,

00:49:49 --> 00:49:53

JazakAllah, khayr, for so such uplifting message and so much

00:49:53 --> 00:49:57

hope. Masha Allah, in our final few minutes that we have,

00:49:58 --> 00:49:59

if somebody.

00:50:00 --> 00:50:02

Is really struggling with their relationship with Allah, because

00:50:02 --> 00:50:05

the way you're speaking about Allah is really based in so much

00:50:05 --> 00:50:09

love, you know, what if? What if they don't feel that same love?

00:50:09 --> 00:50:12

What if they're struggling with feeling love for Allah? They know

00:50:12 --> 00:50:15

they believe in him, but they don't. They haven't developed that

00:50:15 --> 00:50:18

love yet. How to develop that love? What do you recommend for

00:50:18 --> 00:50:20

someone to develop that

00:50:22 --> 00:50:27

they always say, like, in order to kind of accept someone or to

00:50:27 --> 00:50:33

respect someone, you should first of all get to know him. So my

00:50:33 --> 00:50:36

first advice to anyone there who is struggling in their own

00:50:36 --> 00:50:39

relationship to Allah, and this is something that all we get, all of

00:50:39 --> 00:50:42

us get through. This is something that none of us kind of was

00:50:45 --> 00:50:48

saved from. I'm getting through these troubles as well. I think

00:50:48 --> 00:50:52

you do, you start. I hope I think that you are, because this is

00:50:52 --> 00:50:55

something that we, all of the people who want to get to, Allah,

00:50:55 --> 00:51:00

they have these periods of time in their lives where just they do not

00:51:00 --> 00:51:04

feel it they have like it is, like it is as if there is a barrier

00:51:04 --> 00:51:07

between them and Allah, that something that something stopping

00:51:07 --> 00:51:11

them to get there, to get to feel the deepness of that relationship.

00:51:12 --> 00:51:16

And this is something that all we all feel that you are not the so

00:51:16 --> 00:51:19

you're not weird, you're not like different, you're not bad person

00:51:19 --> 00:51:23

because of that. It is just the way we do. It is the basics of our

00:51:23 --> 00:51:28

nature as humans. And when I get to these,

00:51:29 --> 00:51:32

when I have two things that I would recommend, and first one is,

00:51:32 --> 00:51:37

if you are in this, in this, in this spot in your life, then first

00:51:37 --> 00:51:42

of all, get to know your Lord. If you know Him, you will first of

00:51:42 --> 00:51:45

all respect him, and then you will love him. I know what I read

00:51:45 --> 00:51:51

Subhanallah, whenever I kind of try to increase my taqwa, and

00:51:51 --> 00:51:55

whenever I try to increase my awareness of Allah, and read about

00:51:55 --> 00:52:00

it, I first, I always felt like first, this the sense of

00:52:01 --> 00:52:03

a deep, deep kind of

00:52:04 --> 00:52:09

admire, admires of I admired Allah subhanho wa taala, first of all,

00:52:10 --> 00:52:17

kind of wow, what a beautiful creator he is. Wow, what a loving

00:52:17 --> 00:52:21

Creator he is, and how merciful he is. And I kind of always kind of

00:52:21 --> 00:52:27

felt this admire in my heart, in my heart, and then, of like, with

00:52:27 --> 00:52:31

so much respect towards him. And then, like after that respect, I

00:52:31 --> 00:52:36

kind of always felt Subhanallah, if anyone is worthy of being

00:52:36 --> 00:52:41

loved, then it is him, because he's nobody is like him, and

00:52:41 --> 00:52:45

nobody will is you can be compared to him. So kind of when I when we,

00:52:45 --> 00:52:50

when we get to know him better and not know him by information. It is

00:52:50 --> 00:52:54

not about I know about Allah. I know his 99 names. I know about

00:52:54 --> 00:52:58

what, how he creates. I know he created this, uh, he sent this

00:52:58 --> 00:53:03

book. I know he all of that. No to know it by heart, meaning like to

00:53:03 --> 00:53:06

internalize it and to feel it in your heart. Subhanallah, what does

00:53:06 --> 00:53:11

it mean that he is Al Kareem al Rahman al Rahim. What does it mean

00:53:11 --> 00:53:15

in your everyday life? How do you see this Allah's name in your

00:53:16 --> 00:53:21

everyday life? Subhanallah, if you see him his names in your life,

00:53:21 --> 00:53:25

then you will know Him better by your heart. And that's the main

00:53:25 --> 00:53:28

most important thing, and it is doesn't matter how many

00:53:28 --> 00:53:32

information you possess and how many things you know. The the most

00:53:32 --> 00:53:35

important thing is how quality of your information is not the

00:53:35 --> 00:53:39

quantity, not the amount, but of course, it is better to increase

00:53:39 --> 00:53:42

in it in the amount, but the quality is much better meaning

00:53:42 --> 00:53:46

when you learn something, try to internalize it in your heart, try

00:53:46 --> 00:53:51

to kind of connect to it, try to live it, and then go after it. And

00:53:51 --> 00:53:55

the second thing that kind of, that kind of always gets me, and

00:53:55 --> 00:54:00

gives me so much motivation in my everyday life, when I get into in

00:54:00 --> 00:54:03

the in the period. So I love Allah. I try to have the

00:54:03 --> 00:54:07

connection with him. But then this period comes when I feel, when

00:54:07 --> 00:54:11

there is a lot of stress in my life, and there is like we feel

00:54:11 --> 00:54:15

anxiety. We'd have so many obligations to do. We have so many

00:54:15 --> 00:54:19

things that are waiting for us. And we kind of decrease our

00:54:19 --> 00:54:23

relationship with Allah, we kind of decrease our awareness. We kind

00:54:23 --> 00:54:28

of become more like Rafi. I cannot remember the translation. We kind

00:54:28 --> 00:54:33

of do not think about it so much as we should, and as we kind of do

00:54:33 --> 00:54:36

when we are increasing our relationship with Allah. And then

00:54:37 --> 00:54:43

when that that period comes to me, I kind of always like to explain

00:54:43 --> 00:54:48

myself to Allah, meaning to kind of say, Allah, I'm struggling.

00:54:49 --> 00:54:54

Allah, having a really hard time. It is really hard for me. I cannot

00:54:54 --> 00:54:55

do this anymore.

00:54:56 --> 00:54:59

I I'm struggling. Is I'm not feeling you.

00:55:00 --> 00:55:04

Close as much as I wanted to, not kind of I feel so far from you,

00:55:04 --> 00:55:11

please, Allah, give me the way out from this. And when I kind of open

00:55:11 --> 00:55:14

my heart, it is like opening your heart towards Allah. When I,

00:55:14 --> 00:55:19

whenever I open my heart, I always feel like, oh, he has given me a

00:55:19 --> 00:55:23

way out. I always, at least like after, just right after the DUA,

00:55:24 --> 00:55:27

even though nothing was changed in my life, I always, I immediately

00:55:27 --> 00:55:32

feel like the sense of relief. I do not know it is what, how Allah

00:55:32 --> 00:55:35

gives it, but I immediately always feel like the sense of relief,

00:55:35 --> 00:55:39

because, oh, Allah will solve it. Everything is going to be fine. Do

00:55:39 --> 00:55:43

not panic. Not do not go like overboard, and then later on, if I

00:55:43 --> 00:55:47

keep on going with that, if I keep kind of trying to explain again,

00:55:47 --> 00:55:50

how am I going? How am I feeling? How am What am I going through to

00:55:50 --> 00:55:52

Allah, kind of

00:55:54 --> 00:55:58

through time. Everything goes on on the right place, not maybe

00:55:58 --> 00:56:02

always in the time when I want it, but on the time when Allah wants

00:56:02 --> 00:56:06

it and when it is with the best for me. So to kind of have that,

00:56:06 --> 00:56:10

not kind of expect respect from Allah, to kind of solve all of

00:56:10 --> 00:56:13

your problems and all of your sorrows when you want it. No,

00:56:13 --> 00:56:18

Allah doesn't work like that. He gives it to you when, when you

00:56:18 --> 00:56:21

when it is the best for you. And we have to accept it, even though

00:56:21 --> 00:56:26

it is not so easy for us all the time to kind of accept this, this

00:56:26 --> 00:56:31

way of thinking in our life. So may Allah, May Allah guide us to,

00:56:32 --> 00:56:35

first of all, remember him, to get to know Him, and to kind of when

00:56:35 --> 00:56:41

we know him, to to know him by our hearts, by our deeds, by what we

00:56:41 --> 00:56:45

are talking and where we are going, etc. The second is, may

00:56:45 --> 00:56:46

Allah give us

00:56:47 --> 00:56:51

when we come to the to the places and times when we do not feel him

00:56:51 --> 00:56:55

as close, may Allah give us open our hearts and our the doors to

00:56:55 --> 00:56:59

him, so that we do not get too much away from him, and that we do

00:56:59 --> 00:57:04

not kind of get that our heart doesn't stuck in that, in that

00:57:04 --> 00:57:09

like feeling of being being away from Allah, because there is not a

00:57:09 --> 00:57:10

greater

00:57:11 --> 00:57:16

hardship in our lives than being aware far from Allah, all of you

00:57:16 --> 00:57:19

can, kind of, you can kind of get all

00:57:20 --> 00:57:24

over, All of the things and all of the temptations and struggles in

00:57:24 --> 00:57:28

our in our lives. But if you are from far from Allah, you you can

00:57:28 --> 00:57:33

never, never be Yeah, I can never be happy. I think those periods

00:57:33 --> 00:57:36

when I feel far from Allah are the worst ones in my life. So may

00:57:36 --> 00:57:40

Allah save me and all of us from it. May Allah protect us from

00:57:40 --> 00:57:45

being away from him and kind of be neglected towards him. And May

00:57:45 --> 00:57:49

Allah guide, May Allah guide us to understand him, to understand his

00:57:49 --> 00:57:53

book and to understand its meanings and to kind of practice

00:57:53 --> 00:57:57

it in our day or day lives. That was so beautiful. And as you were

00:57:57 --> 00:58:00

talking about the names of Allah, there's a beautiful book called

00:58:00 --> 00:58:04

reflecting on the names of Allah, and it's by Gina and Yusuf, the

00:58:04 --> 00:58:08

Jina and Yusuf. And she actually has a journal that you can also

00:58:08 --> 00:58:11

purchase with it, that you can write your journey to the names of

00:58:11 --> 00:58:14

Allah and learning about his names and how they interact with your

00:58:14 --> 00:58:17

life. So I really recommend reflecting on the names of Allah,

00:58:17 --> 00:58:20

by Jinnah and Yusuf. And definitely, if you feel like you

00:58:20 --> 00:58:23

have spiritual trauma, definitely work with a therapist to process

00:58:23 --> 00:58:26

it so that, Inshallah, you can move forward. That is such a

00:58:26 --> 00:58:30

beautiful, beautiful way to close with such important advice for all

00:58:30 --> 00:58:33

of us. Bottle of Fiji, who said that, I mean, this was so

00:58:33 --> 00:58:37

beautiful. Masha Allah, it was just such a gift to hear your

00:58:37 --> 00:58:42

words and to learn about how to come closer to Las montalla. I

00:58:42 --> 00:58:45

know that we started talking about Quran, but as our conversation

00:58:45 --> 00:58:48

evolved, I just felt like there are so many different aspects that

00:58:48 --> 00:58:52

you can teach all of us, and we will continue to benefit from you.

00:58:52 --> 00:58:57

Your handle on Instagram is family, F, A, M, I, L, y, b, o, t,

00:58:57 --> 00:59:01

i, c, and if anyone wants to contact you can they send you a

00:59:01 --> 00:59:04

message through that account? Of course they can. Of course they

00:59:04 --> 00:59:08

can. They're very welcome. Yes, actually, my husband and I,

00:59:08 --> 00:59:12

together kind of use that account because I we do not use Instagram

00:59:12 --> 00:59:16

as much, so we kind of joined, join the accounts together. But if

00:59:16 --> 00:59:20

they are, they want, they can send me a message. And of course, I'm

00:59:20 --> 00:59:23

available on Facebook as well. So it is only my account on Facebook

00:59:23 --> 00:59:26

if they it, if it is easier for them, so we can send it

00:59:26 --> 00:59:28

afterwards, if it's okay.

00:59:29 --> 00:59:32

And mashallah, her husband, is also a huge dairy Masha Allah, He

00:59:33 --> 00:59:36

worker in Dawa, and someone who calls to Allah has shared his

00:59:36 --> 00:59:40

story just so powerful. And subhanAllah, you're a power

00:59:40 --> 00:59:43

couple. Who is calling people to Allah. May Allah bless you and

00:59:43 --> 00:59:45

your relationship. Bless your relationship with Allah, SWT,

00:59:45 --> 00:59:48

bless the work that you both do in calling people to him. Masha,

00:59:48 --> 00:59:53

Allah, I mean, I mean, may Allah use us. May Allah use us as his

00:59:53 --> 00:59:58

tool to kind of call people to him. May Allah uses as his tool.

00:59:58 --> 00:59:59

It is the most, the biggest.

01:00:00 --> 01:00:05

Honor. This whole earth is truly such a huge such honors panel

01:00:05 --> 01:00:09

about alofiki. Thank you so much. And Inshallah, we will see you

01:00:09 --> 01:00:10

again soon.

01:00:11 --> 01:00:13

Inshallah,

01:00:14 --> 01:00:18

for you to come to like Baraka lofiki, and thank you all for

01:00:18 --> 01:00:19

joining salam alaikum. You

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