Maryam Amir – Quran Recitation, Reflection and Women in Knowledge Ustada Taimiyyah Zubair
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Muhammad Allah, Muhammad Allah Musallam, Muhammad, Allah,
Muhammad, sallarekum, Allahu, Musa Ali wa sallam, Alabama, said that,
Allah, have you been in Muhammad,
Allah Muhammad instead of him? Yet,
if you could just say just send me a request, and then Inshallah,
we'll get you in why they come. Assalamualai, what I can to Barak
ala fikum for joining. Super excited to have you all. Just
akumalah Here. Allahumma, sabi wa salam. Ala Adina habili na
Muhammad,
yes. Inshallah,
I like my salam alaikum. Super excited to have you guys why they
come to library. Get to I like Muslim library. Get to alike as
well. I get
Subhanallah, with him today. Allah, may. Allah, bless you.
Baraka. Lo fiko, so excited for this session too. There we go,
this letter. Hanahim,
oh, if you messaged me, send a message to me again, I don't get
all of them. Salaam, Alaikum, yeah.
How are you doing?
So honored. So incredible speaking with you. It's such a blessing to
see you for joining us, for having me. I'm so excited to talk to you
again.
Always, always a pleasure to be in your company.
You're taking the words right about to paddle. I had the immense
honor of meeting the satay Mia. It was, I think, when we were in
Toronto, or 2017 maybe for the conference, the being me
conference, I think so, yeah, yeah. And it was a blessing to be
in her presence. And Subhan Allah ascetate, Mia has such a
background in knowledge and in scholarship. And mashallah, you
know, being being blessed with being able to study parents from
such a young age as being scholars and the founders of El hood
Institute, but then also continuing your own studies and
mashallah being an instructor with them, and with Al makhnib and
teaching the Quran And subhanAllah, you have such a
background in this space where so many hear about scholars, but they
don't necessarily always get the opportunity to study with them and
learn from them. And today, Inshallah, we would love to hear
about your personal journey with scholarship, with the Quran, and
your advice for all of us. But I would love to start by just asking
you this panel. So many people are the children of you know,
activists or scholars, but don't choose to follow that path. What
was it personally that caused you to feel like you want to continue
studying the Quran for yourself, and why do you choose to continue
to teach it?
First of all, I would like to clarify. I'm not a big scholar at
all.
I am. You won't let me call no seriously. I think it's very
important to be honest, and I don't want anybody to have a false
image about me or false understanding of me, because it
is,
you know, like Abu Bakr Al dalhorn, who he used to make dar
that when somebody would praise him, that, Oh, Allah, forgive me
for what they don't know, right, and make me better than what they
think about me, right? I mean, so
with regards to your question about, you know, what? What is it
that has motivated me to study the Quran, especially, you know, given
that my parents have been doing this for so long, teaching it,
I think personally, I I benefited a lot from
studying the Quran
at a very young age. I was, I was a teenager, right? And as
teenagers, you know you, you go through a lot of emotional
turmoil, right, even if Allah subhanahu has protected you, and
you know you don't, you don't have that many, you know, challenges or
difficulties in your life, just simply getting along with your
parents, understanding yourself that itself is such a difficult
time of your life, right? I don't want to undermine anyone's you
know, difficulties. Everybody has their own.
Journey has their own, you know, challenges along the way. But I
was only 15, actually, and my mom, what she does, what she did,
Inshallah, I'm going to talk about Abu DHA,
that she started teaching tafsir of the Quran, all right?
And I would sit through her classes sometimes, because, you
know, in the summer, you got nothing to do. So yes, sometimes I
would go along with her, sit in her classes, and I would find them
interesting. But I remember one day when she was
starting a new a new program, and she was going to, you know, meet
the students for the first time,
I was asked if I could just help out a little, right? And I was
like, Sure, you know, I'm home. It's summer, might as well. And I
went along. And I was helping out, you know, with putting the papers
here and there, and taking the admission, you know, tests, etc,
and then, I don't know what got into me. I was like, You know
what? Let me fill a form as well and just get into the queue and go
in for my interview. And I did. And I remember when I went inside
in front of my mom, she was like, her face was red. I think she was
happy, and at the same time she was concerned that she needs to be
in school, right? So
it was, you know, the only condition on which I got the
admission was that I would continue with school. And
Alhamdulillah did that, but that program, so this is
at my time. It was a one year long, full time program in which
we studied the entire tafsir of the Quran. And I cannot tell you
how healing that was, how empowering that was, how
fulfilling that was, right? It really helped me understand who I
am. It really helped me have, you know, confidence in myself,
because, you know, coming from a religious family, you would assume
that everything's going to be so easy for you, but it's not right.
It's so difficult to fit in. It is so difficult to be accepted by
your friends, right? It's so difficult to, you know, even
identify with different people. I remember for the longest time, I
was the only hijab wearing girl in my school, right? The only one.
And I'm talking about Pakistan. I grew up in Pakistan, right? A
Muslim country, and it was extremely difficult, right? But,
Alhamdulillah, studying the Quran really, it really helped me, and
since then, I've just never wanted to leave it like no matter what
happens. And this is only by Allah SWT, right, that Allah gives you
the ability and and that love that you want to continue with this.
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, so that that that entryway to the
Quran for you. Where did it go for you? From there?
So at the you know, when the first time that you study the Quran,
right? You basically, in the program, we were taught the word
for word meaning, and also tafsir, right?
Now, the tafsir was great. It was amazing. But there was always that
feeling of, oh, I, you know, the class was too short. I still have
questions, right? Why is it like this? And why is it like that,
right? And how come this word is coming in this form here, and, you
know, a similar word came in another Sula, you know, you, you
have all of these questions. You become really curious, right? And
Alhamdulillah, my parents really helped me. You know that they I
remember my mom showed me different books. My dad also
showed me different books. Every single time I would ask them a
question, right? My mom would never be like, Yeah, this is the
answer. Okay, bring that book. You see, you see that bookshelf over
there? See the third row, right? Bring the red book to me. Allah,
okay, open it up and she, this is how she taught me, right? She, she
taught me to be an independent learner. Alhamdulillah. They never
spoon fed us. Never, Alhamdulillah. So you know that
that curiosity was really fed, I can say, and I remember, at the
beginning, I was fascinated by,
you know, the vocabulary of the Quran grammar was like my passion.
Yeah,
I absolutely love, I still do all right Arabic grammar. But then
there came a point where, you know, you realize that people
don't get you, you know when, when you're talking about mafur Maduro,
you know, mudlafina, even simple Arabic terms, people don't get
you, right? And I remember, like.
Like, you know, my mom would always talk about how the Quran is
for everybody, right? It is for everybody. One of the things that
we say at all that is, Quran is for all right, Quran for all
right, it's, it's for everybody. So you have to make it, you know,
easy to understand and relatable. And I think this has also been my
my mom's journey, my parents journey. Let me tell you a little
bit about their about their background,
my mom
and my dad, both of them, they actually met when they were doing
their master's degree in Arabic, all right, and my dad has a very
traditional Hadith background. His his father was a
was a hadith, was a muhadis. You could say people from all over the
world would come to take a jazz and Hadith from him in Pakistan,
if you have heard of
actually, anyway. So,
you know, Shah wali Allah, maybe you've heard it's a famous name
when you when you study about Hadith, right? So he's got his
isnad. So, Alhamdulillah, you know, my father grew up with that,
you know. And my mom, on the other hand, her her father was very
active in in Jamaat Islami in Pakistan, right? So she actually
grew up
in the Hanafi school of thought, all right? That's what she was
taught that. That's what she knew. My dad had a very strong Hadith
background, right? And both of them were really passionate about
learning Islam, studying. And after their master's degree,
actually, they tried to go to the Middle East, right? Different
countries, different places. You know, they applied in different
places. They couldn't get in anywhere.
And subhanAllah, they applied for a PhD in Glasgow University. And
Alhamdulillah, both of them got in. So they went to study abroad.
That's when I was born and And Alhamdulillah, they were very
fortunate that they got some of the best mentors. One of their
show you, that they studied from personally, was Sheik Seri
badinjukki. He's from Syria. He was nervous from karma. Forgive
him. Have mercy on him. He was from Syria. Amazing. Sheik, right?
A man of knowledge, like
amazing. I have so many stories about him to tell you. But anyway,
my parents, they had a very strong traditional Islamic background,
and now they also had a very, you know, they had been in academia,
right? When they returned to Pakistan, they taught, you know,
at the Islamic University for several years. But,
you know, you always see that gap between religious understanding
and action or spirituality, right? Either we we make religious
knowledge to academic, right, or to, I know it's only for the
scholars, right? You know that that spirituality is lacking, or
it's so difficult for people to learn right now, everybody does
not have the opportunity to go to to travel to the Middle East and
study, right? Everybody does not have access to scholars, right?
But the Quran is supposed to be for everybody. So my mom, she, you
know, she would teach Halakha, you know, where she would teach the
seed of, you know, different verses. And when she was in mat
leave, once, she's like, You know what? I'm going to take advantage
of this, and I'm going to teach the seed of the entire Quran in
one year. Because for mat leave, she could only extend it to one
year, right?
He's doing this while she's just having a newborn going in the
process of all of that.
Alhamdulillah, so she knows that was her pilot program, basically
that in one year, she thought that, if you have the Quran, and
then after that, she never went back to the university, she never
went back to academia. And she's like, You know what? This is my
passion. This is what I'm gonna do. And Alhamdulillah, you know so
many women have benefited from that program because it really
makes the knowledge of the Quran accessible, right, and practical
at the same time, if you walk into any you know class at all Huda,
You will see such diversity of students, all right, people who
are very knowledgeable, people who are just beginning, you know, in
their journey, people from such diverse backgrounds.
Alhamdulillah, everybody is welcome. You know, we've even had
some non Muslims take the course.
As part of their research. And, yeah, Alhamdulillah, so it's, this
is, this is the main thing about Al Huda that we want to make the
knowledge of the Quran accessible, yes, right to to women, especially
women,
right? Because so many women suffer because religion is used
against them, right? Or or they're told that they don't have this is
the message that we're taught, right, that we don't have any
worse, unless and until we are good wives, good mothers, right?
So there's so many,
you know, challenges we face as women, and my mom's experience in
dealing with different people her own, you know, life as well. This
is what she has, what she strongly believes in, that every woman
especially deserves to learn the Quran
That's so great. So this is, this is the story about all the right,
and this is, this is what I do. I love this path. And Alhamdulillah,
this is, this is my passion, to make the Quran accessible,
relatable,
especially to women. Yeah, love about what I've heard in lectures.
I have totally listened to your lectures, is that you talk about
this, like the meaning, and you talk about understanding and how
to implement it into our lives. And I think so much of the Quran
that we've been taught is not about meaning, in a way, but
really it's not so relevant to going through which kind of what
you've, you're, talking about like, sometimes we have scholars
and then we have knowledge, but we have this disconnect, and brings
that together. How do people sign up and study with Al Huda
Institute? How do people come with the program? I'll just get there.
But you know what you mentioned about the focus at all on being
the meaning of the Quran, right?
I remember I read this in a book once about how Tada bu right,
reflecting upon the Quran is the main reason why Allah subhanaw
taala reveal the Quran. Right,
kitabun and zalahu ilaika, Leah da bu ayatihi mubarakum, Leah
ayatihi, right that this is a blessed Book which We have
revealed in order that people may reflect on its verses. Yes, so
absolutely the Quran has to be recited. Absolutely it has to be
memorized, Alhamdulillah. But to really benefit from the Quran, we
also need to reflect upon it, right, upon its meaning. And the
only way that we can reflect upon the meaning is if we first
understand it right now, of course, there's levels of
understanding, right? There's there's basic understanding. You
can go deep and deep into it, right? You could there. You could
go from the city book to succeed book. There's so much to learn,
right? There's so much to learn friends, yes, but at least there
should be a basic understanding of what the verses are saying, so
that then you can go to the next step of relating it with your
life, yes, right. So
this is, this is what we do at all, that we want people to be
able to understand the meaning, so that they can, you know, reflect,
reflect upon it. Because if, if we just reflect upon the Quran
without understanding the meaning, it can actually be quite
dangerous, right, right? We could be, we could be making a mistake,
right? So, so,
so this is what the whole program is about. And you asked about how
people can sign up for it. Alhamdulillah, you know, it's,
it's actually being offered in Urdu and English. And I believe
there is also one of my mom students who's been doing it in
German,
Alhamdulillah, and some local languages that are spoken in
Pakistan. You just go on a whole website, and you just find out
which course is best for you. And you sign up for that, yeah. And
then h, u, D, A, yes, a L, H U D, A, O, that institute.ca is the one
that's based in Canada.
I believe it's abuda us, the one that's for United States. So yeah,
Alhamdulillah, can you share with me a little bit about your journey
to recitation of the Quran. So many people do understand what
they're reading, but the recitation is a totally different
process. And I and mashallah, your recitation is very powerful.
Where, what? What was your journey in that process? Like.
My journey in learning the recitation of the Quran is, I
think, a very fortunate one.
I have truly been blessed by one of the best teachers at a very
young age. Alhamdulillah,
you know, at the when my mom was
teaching at the university in Islamabad in Pakistan. There was a
a clerk, all right, somebody who used to work as a clerk at the
university, at the office,
and
I don't know how, but my mom happened to listen to his Quran
recitation,
and my mom was like, This is good recitation, and she asked him that
you have to teach my children.
And because my mom was really afraid of just bringing any random
person over, right? Because there's that reputation of, you
know, children being beaten, you know, things like that. My mom was
really scared. That's amazing, right? Or something like that. So
I remember every day after school,
he would come at 330 All right? And for one hour, we would sit
with him, and he taught us the Quran, and he made me go through,
you know, the niranikara, right? The where he learned the basic
sounds, etc. He made me go through with like, I think, 30 times.
Every time he would make me start it from the beginning. I get so
upset, but he's like, No, you have to do it. You have to do it. He
made me do it over and over and over again. And Alhamdulillah,
every single day he would come, and every single day we would
recite the Quran with him. My sister actually went on to
memorize the Quran with him as well. She began her memorization
with him, and then Alhamdulillah, she completed it somewhere else.
But yeah, he I've, I've learned from him, mainly.
And this happened throughout school years. So even when I was
done reciting the Quran, I still had to recite it. Yes, there was,
there was never this concept of, you know, okay, now you are done
reciting the Quran, let's have a fancy party, and that's it. No, it
didn't matter. Every single day we had to recite the Quran with Yes,
and mashallah said it
was
Alhamdulillah listening as well. And when she was with us, she
recited Quran. And so many women afterwards messaged me and were
like, how do I learn the Quran? How do I recite like this? Would
you honor us with first, please? Okay, sure, I can do that. I had a
hunch that you were going to ask me. And I was like, I don't know.
Be prepared first.
It was the session
on Facebook.
Yeah. And I was just blown away, because
I feel like Pamela so many times when we hear women's recitations,
they're so beautiful and so different. Each person has such a
different way to recite. And I, as soon as I heard you, I was like
Pamela, your way is so different from other reciters as well. So
it's such an such an exciting
Alhamdulillah. You know, I wanted to mention this to you that I'm so
happy that you have started this foremothers campaign, because it
is so important for women to be able to hear other women recite
the Quran.
Alhamdulillah, I'm truly blessed. It was never strange for me to
listen to women reciting the Quran, because, you know at all
the it's so normal, right? You you hear women reciting the Quran all
the time, right? You have female instructors. You know my Quran
teacher, actually our Quran Sheik he, he taught at Al Huda as well
for a very long time, so many other you know, women have learned
from him directly. And
you know, sometimes you walk into al Huda,
especially in Pakistan, and you see,
you know, a classroom, you know, with 300 students, maybe 500
students, everyone reciting together,
everyone reciting together, it is, oh, my God. It is next level. It's
so powerful. Last time that I visited, I remember I wanted to
take a video. But of course, you know, there's so many sisters you
you can't just, you know, invade people's privacy like that. So I,
I didn't know what to do, but as I was walking inside, I just turned
my, you know, camera on, and you can see my feet in the video, but
you can hear the the women reciting the Quran. And it's so
powerful, you know. And it.
So encouraging, so encouraging. Because Masha Allah, you will see
people, you know, walking into a and you know, at the beginning
their Quran recitation, they're struggling right to even recognize
the letters. But alhamdulillah, by the end of the program, they're
they have improved so much. Alhamdulillah,
so healing and talents and a
voice
absolutely and with that, we're excited for yours. Inshallah,
okay.
Inshallah, you mean a Shay upon your warji, Bismillah.
Bismillahir, rahmanir, Rahim,
wala po Dona elay,
Kum
ayati, mubaina team,
Mina la Dina, hola homie, oblikum,
wa, Matala, Mina, la di na, Hola, ho
melikum, wa, Maury, WA, Ta, Lil
mutaki,
Abu Nuru Sama, WA, ti wala ka.
Kabu do
na hakagoon,
do they
you?
Ad
you?
Adumi shajala, go be
to have you now. Nuru nalanu Ya dillahu linuri, he may show
why Abu Asmaa,
hubi, kulishay in Ali fibutin, Abu has smooth. You said, Be hula
hoop, we will Let to he,
him, Teacher, one.
Yahoo, Abu
Sal Lee Ya junalu Ya
fouli Abu
me,
hopefully, One love,
we'll be
right close
with Allah SWT you and your family and everyone that you love and
bless us with joining in the highest paradise. Those verses are
beautiful and so powerful. Why did you choose those ayat to recite?
Um, this morning, when I was reciting these verses, II recited
them in the morning, and I was like, Okay, if she asks me to
recite, this is what I will recite, because I absolutely love
these verses. Yes, right? These verses talk about the * of
Allah, right? The the light of Allah, that Allah is the Light of
the heavens and the earth, right? That he is the the source of
light, right? There, there is no light without him, Yes, and you
know, light is what it's it's a source of comfort, right? It's a
source of guidance.
If ever you're driving in the dark, it is so scary, right? You
find yourself.
Lost completely, right? I remember driving in the States, in a few
places, subhanAllah, it is Carrie, right? You don't know what is in
front of you, Allahu, Akbar, any this is, this is what light is,
all right? And in this ayah, of course, the the light, the example
of the light that's given. One of the interpretations is that it's
referring to the light of iman, yes, the light of faith, right,
that Allah subhanahu puts in the in the chest of the believer,
right? And the example of the light is like that of a niche,
right, with within which is a lamp, right? And the lamp, it is
as it's, it's
commission, right, which is in a glass case. And that glass case is
so sparkly. It's pearly, right? Yeah, it's Pearl, like it's, it's
so beautiful, right? And then the lamp itself has been lit with oil
that is from the olive tree, right, which is neither Eastern
nor Western, right? And any it's such a beautiful example of light.
Yeah, this light is so bright, it is so beautiful, it is so
comforting. And this is how sacred knowledge is supposed to be,
right? Not, not something that should frighten us or burden us or
make us feel horrible about ourselves, right? It's it's
supposed to be comforting,
right? And I think this is what the Quran does, that you could,
you could study different things absolutely, every single
knowledge, every single science, has its own place, absolutely.
But there is a different level that the Quran has, right? It is
better than everything else that people gather
absolutely SubhanAllah.
When women talk to me about to understand the Quran, or
memorizing the Quran, or just their process of trying to see how
it fits into their life, I've frequently been told that they've
been been told by or a person in the community or an imam they've
approached, they shouldn't rely out loud because they say the
mahatj incorrectly, or they shouldn't. You know, what's really
the point of them memorizing? Because when they're adults,
they're going to probably be mothers and forget everything.
Yeah, what? Women who are facing words like that, like even from
people who are supposed knowledge, turning them away from. And what
advice people who feel just so turned away from? Yeah, you know,
one of the reasons why I continued in
studying the meaning of the Quran more than perfecting my recitation
and memorization is because
when I, when I moved to Canada, I actually tried multiple times to
find someone to study more,
to read with right to study more, you know, to to improve my
recitation more.
I know I have never felt comfortable in any classroom.
I have felt
extremely discouraged
in you. So much so so much so that I actually was afraid to recite
the Quran right. I was afraid because I remember I actually went
to a certain teacher, and she did not even let me complete a verse,
and because my recitation was not acceptable, even it was not good
enough for her,
and that really hurt me. It really and you know what? It really
discouraged me. It really discouraged me,
you know, And Alhamdulillah. Then eventually I did find one teacher,
Alhamdulillah, who was excellent, excellent. Alhamdulillah. She
really helped me, you know, she she pinpointed some specific, you
know, mistakes that I was making, and she helped me fix them. But
even now, if you hear my recitation, I'm not my my
recitation is not like yours. Masha, Allah, your tajid is, you
know, on point. My Tajik is not on point. I know that that is a life
process, but you're seeing exactly.
So that's the thing. I know. How it is to be discouraged to
you know, where you're made to feel like you're not even worthy
of reciting the Quran, right? You don't even know how to do it. You
have a long way to go, and it's.
It's going to be extremely difficult, or you are given Arabic
poems to memorize, right, right, right?
I remember a friend of mine, I told her to join one of the
classes to learn to read, because I was like, Look, I don't know. I
don't have, I don't know if this is my strength, right? This might
be your strength, so why don't you try it? And she's like, you know,
I went to learn to read, not to memorize some Arabic poetry that I
don't even understand. I mean, that's excellent. You know that
that option should be there, sure, for those, not for beginners, you
know, not for beginners. And that's not the only way of of
learning how to recite the Quran, right? The way our teacher taught
us is literally by he would recite to us, right? He would recite to
us, and we would have to recite to him, and he would correct our
recitation, and then we would have to practice it right over and
over, and then read it back to him. So you know, the Prophet
sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam. So when he taught the Quran, how did
he teach the Quran? Right? He didn't say, okay, memorize this
poem first. Right? I will do an explanation. And then, of course,
this, this science, has been developed, you know, over time. It
has its place, absolutely. But I'm talking about the average person.
You know, the Quran is not just for experts, it's for all of us,
right? And so I know how it is to, you know, go from teacher to
teacher, to go from one class to another, and you have to keep
trying until you find, you know the right fit, right, but, but
don't give up, right? And don't believe the people who discourage
you. Don't believe them, because the Quran is for all of us, right?
When we, when we look at the companions of the Prophet
salallahu, Alam, for all types of people, right? Arabs and non
Arabs, right? And, and all of them learned how to recite the Quran,
yes, some of them became experts in recitation, and others were
not. But everyone had a share, right? So, so I think it's very
important to,
first of all, not compare ourselves to other people, right?
And secondly, remember that this is, this is a lifelong journey,
right? It's, it's a process that that must continue, maybe right
now you cannot, you know, find someone to help you improve your
recitation. But that doesn't mean you cannot recite at all, yes,
right? Just because a letter that you are, you know, pronouncing has
a has a bit of hums in it. It doesn't mean that you are being
sinful, yeah, right. There's levels of mistakes, right? And
mashallah, majority of the people, the kind of, you know, Tajik,
mistakes that they make, they're, they're not such that, that that
they make them sinful, right? Right? Meaning, people have, you
know, learned from, you know, a Quran teacher, even for a few
years. Alhamdulillah, any recitation should be acceptable.
Yes, yes. And another thing is that if you keep listening, right,
listen to Quran recitation a lot, yes, right, and you won't even
realize it, and it's, it's going to start flowing from your mouth,
Inshallah,
better you love listening to other than yourself. Of course,
I actually, I grew up listening to Ramadi. Sarda, Ramadi,
I don't know. I just absolutely loved his recitation.
Sometimes I would wonder, was he sitting in our tassir class when
he recited these verses?
But yes, sarda lamadi And then, of course, I listened to mashari a
lot as well,
sudais
and
Abu Bakr Shati, yes, yeah,
yeah, these, of course, I love listening to them. Yes,
now you are in a different stage. Sorry. One more person, my sister.
I love listening to my sister's recitation.
Marshall, yeah, her recitation, mashaAllah is at another level.
MashaAllah, and where do you get to hear her? Like, when she's
she's with you, at home, or like, where So alhamdulillah, she, she
got to study,
she Mashallah. She memorized the Quran, and she also got to study
tajit at a higher level, Alhamdulillah, and she started
teaching at Al Huda, actually. So everyday is, you know, lesson. So,
so, for example, we would do half a page of the Quran right in
tafsir. So those same set of verses that we were going to cover
in tafsir, first, she would make the entire class recite those
verses. You.
Beautiful, So alhamdulillah.
So she's there, you know, leading this recitation of women. And
there's
maybe 10, maybe, maybe 400 women, all reciting at the same time,
yes, Alhamdulillah,
SubhanAllah. So when you're listening to her, and somebody
comes to you and they're like, you know, I want my friend to be on
the same path as yours, and you are a mother as well. How do you
give them advice? Knowing that not all children want to follow this
path, and not all children have been
that help of this, and maybe their parents want to push them towards
it, but also maybe their parents have done pushed them farther away
from it.
Advice do you give to someone in that situation?
I think
the first thing we need to understand is that, as parents, we
can only influence our children, right? We cannot control,
you know, who they become or what they do.
So you only have the power to influence, not to control the
results. Yes, right? So when it comes to the influence that you
can make on your children, right? There's a lot, right? First, you
know you lead by example, because whatever you do, right, whatever
you are passionate about, whatever you spend your time doing, your
children are going to develop the same interests. Yes,
you know you see little girls being so interested in makeup,
and, you know, hear things and lipstick and things like that.
Why? Because you know that. You know that's what you see your mom
doing, right? And it's fine. But what I mean is that, you know,
children will automatically
have an interest in what they see you doing that very young age,
very influenced by just seeing you. Yes, yeah, I remember,
I used to watch Imam Sohaib Webb's stories a lot before, remember, he
would do a lot of Q A on his Snapchat, right? So my daughter,
at the time, was only three years old, right? And she and she used
to love watching with me. I don't think she understood much of it,
because it was generally just Q A, but I remember a few times she
came up to me, she's like, let's watch Imam Sohaib Webb,
you know, I don't know what she said, but let's watch Imam Sohaib
Webb, right.
She was only like, two or three years old, but you she, she wanted
to do that, because that's what she found me doing every other
day, you know, yeah, so it's, it's very,
very normal for kids to do that.
I remember a friend of mine, she wanted her son to memorize the
Quran, right? So she took her son to the Quran memorization school,
and they said that, okay, we will test him, but we will all also
test you right? We want to see how your recitation is. Wow.
And she's like, but I don't know how to recite the Quran, and she
didn't know at the time.
And they're like, well, then we can't, we can't have your son join
the program. She's like, I want him to memorize the Quran. I'm not
here to memorize the Quran. They're like, Yeah, but for him to
memorize the Quran, you need to be able to listen to his recitation,
and you need to be able to correct his recitation. You need to be
able to help him.
And she was like, but I don't know. They're like, Okay, come
next year or next term, right? See if you can learn. And that really
got into her, right? She's like, my son, cannot memorize the Quran
until I know how to recite the Quran. And Alhamdulillah. She
found a teacher, and she started learning recitation with her. And
then finally, her son, you know, got into that hip program. But
when she mentioned that to me, I was, I was so amazed. I was like,
you know, sometimes we want to fulfill our dreams through our
children, right? But what about what about us, right? So, so this
is the thing. I mean, whatever you want your children to do, start
doing that yourself first, right? If you, if you want your children
to, you know, learn to recite the Quran, or memorize the Quran or
understand its meaning. They have to see you doing it. They have to
believe that it is important and it is worth doing right. And they
will only be able to believe that once, when they see you doing it.
So.
It now, I don't, don't delay,
get, get connected with the Quran in, in whatever way that you can.
And personally, you know, I have always seen my mom and my dad do
do this as well. This has been of immense importance to them.
Like my mom left her job, right? She left, you know, her, her
career, basically, right, in order to teach the Quran,
and no matter how hard it was for her, because, you know, in being
in Pakistan, where you don't generally see women doing these
kind of things. And Alhamdulillah, very soon her talks were on the
radio. They were on television. And, you know, there were times
when people came to the television station right outside and they're
like, turn this woman's voice, or else we're going to do this to the
building and that to the building. There have been incidents like
this, right? It's, it's been a very hard journey, but also a very
rewarding journey. That's such an important point that you bring up
that being a woman, sometimes,
first woman to do something in a certain area sometimes comes with
a lot of pushback and a lot of pain and a lot of isolation, and
even though men as scholars and Quran reciters this like huge
amount of like in these powerful positions since the time of the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, right now, because of so
many political factors, so many different factors, we are as an
ummah, and You're a mother may Allah,
who have studied under her school and her program
years. And I remember hearing about her,
maybe in college. Someone mentioned her name. That was the
first time I came to know about it
being one of the first woman herself. And now you, you're, you
may not be the founder, part of that wave of women who are
creating these types of institutes for other women reciting Quran.
How is your how? What kind of what do you do when people give you
pushback, or when you hear the pushback like, What is your
response to that? Does it ever bring you down? You process that
being a woman and being told as a woman, you shouldn't be doing
these things. What is your response and reaction?
It has been extremely painful. I can say where you know, for
example, my mom's scholarship is discredited, or,
you know, her background is discredited, or what she's
teaching is,
you know, because all that is a Women's Institute primarily. And
my mom has has been teaching women only, like her, classes are women
only, right?
There's a lot of things that or a lot of assumptions that people
make based on things that they have heard right about her, or
based on things that they have heard,
you know, from from other people, and these assumptions are
completely baseless. I remember
once I taught one of my emotive classes in the UK,
and right after the class, a sister came up to me, and she's
like, you know, I really enjoyed the class. I'm like, Okay, I'm
glad that you benefited from it. And she's like, but I have to tell
you something like, okay? And she's like, you know, I, I didn't
know who you were. And she said that I registered for the class
because I found the, you know, the I found it interesting. And then
later on, I found out that you are the daughter of Dr farhashi. And
she said, when I found out, I wanted a refund.
And I'm like, why she said? Because I have heard things which
are, you know, really infuriating, very upsetting. I don't want to be
near this person.
And I'm like, okay, may I know what those assumptions are. She
said, You know what? All of them are gone now, now that I have
heard you, I know that all of those things that I heard about
her were untrue.
So, you know, this is very, very common. I come across people who
you know. The moment they find out who I am, they start treating me
differently
because of things that they have heard. I have heard from my own
ears, people saying things about my mom which are not true, right?
Not true. It happens, you know, and I think over time, you develop
a thick skin, right, to be able to put up with it. But every now and
then I get really.
Upset. I'm like, you know, I wonder if
she was a man, if people would say the same kind of things about her,
right? Subhanallah, I was listening to this to Shu and they
were like, talking about, why? About women's recitation in the
Quran. And
they did a single, you know, narration of the Prophet
sallallahu else. No, nothing
about how a woman turns them on. Yeah, well, I'm like any woman
talking about this issue brings up IR
like we have to do so much more work to be
men's recitation is attractive
for anything just because of our just being, just because we're
women,
we all have mother who's creating an entire genders who are teaching
their daughters the Quran they're taking
her daughters are
teaching. And you know, the thing is that you can always have
difference of opinion, right? You can always disagree with someone,
absolutely you can. And Alhamdulillah, through albuda, you
know, we've had so many people come and teach our students, and
these are people of knowledge. And yes, we don't always agree on
every single matter, but you know, we respect you, you know. And
Alhamdulillah,
there have been many people who have been supportive
while having difference of opinion. And I think this is how
it should be. You can disagree with someone, but you don't have
to discredit them. You don't have to, you know, spread lies about
them. You don't have to bring them down to to show your own
credibility. Yes, right? This is very annoying, very irritating, I
think. But you just learn to kind of ignore it and focus on what,
what you have to do. And this has been my mom's way, that regardless
of what people are saying, what they're thinking, she's just so
focused on her own work that she doesn't quite care about I mean,
of course it hurts, but, you know, like Aisha de la horna, you know,
yesterday I was teaching in one of the amore classes, the evening
sessions that we started family first. And I did the story of Te
amo where Aisha, adilo hornada lost her necklace. Yes, right, and
how some people went and complained to Abu Bakar al di
Lahore
that Don't you know what Aisha has done. She has lost her necklace,
and because of her, everyone has been delayed. We don't have any
water, and there is no water nearby, and we don't know how
we're going to pray salah. They, they did not spare Aisha,
right? And they, they complained to Abu Bakr Al Adila Haru so much
that he actually got upset. And he went, and he's called it Aisha
Rana, and the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam, he was not upset
with Aisha rahana. Why are you so irresponsible? And why did you
have to bring a necklace? And you women, nothing like that is
right. But one thing I was reflecting over was the fact that
people did not even spare Aisha, the one whom the Prophet
sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam loved so much, right? So if people did
not spare her,
what? About you? And I like, it's it's gonna have this is part of
life, right? You are going to hear hurtful things from people you you
are going to to hear things like that.
But one thing is that that my mom has taught me, and this is what
she also does is that whenever there's any kind of criticism, she
doesn't just ignore it, right? In the sense that she doesn't just,
you know, say that, Oh, whatever. No, she she looks at what people
have said, Right? Is there something that I can improve?
Exactly right. And if there isn't, then, okay, yeah, ignore.
But you, you actually learn from your haters as well as 100 right?
You, you learn from your critics. It's
Alhamdulillah. It is a gift to be shown your mistakes before you
face Allah, so that you can change Inshallah, that is a blessing from
Allah. Part of our, I think
part of is that sometimes those critiques for women are so much
different for that we process,
we only have five more minutes at an hour. And while I still have
seen questions that.
Love to ask you, I know that so many people, when you were
reciting were just so connected to your recitation. Would you mind
reciting for us again? It could be
the that you wanted we would be so
I can continue where I left off. Yeah.
Okay.
Lahimina, Shay upon you. Roji,
wala, Dina ka
Fauci,
one anuma
hatta,
either,
ja Abu Lamya jidu Hu sheI, Abu Asmaa Wan
La
Bucha, a
wall
jiggy, Abu Shah, Mao
ju
Mojo,
hulami,
ah dihu la
Huma, Ruma, FISA,
we were
boyrus, be Ha, Wali, Moon, VI,
Ma,
use
Jesus.
Have
Allah,
use
Jesus, Rudy, Lalit, WA una zillumina sama
ini Ji, beli
fi Hani,
bawa di, for you, sleep
For you, sleep will be he May Asha,
way, us.
Layla one
in Russia, Allah, may Allah bless
us with loving the Quran and living the Quran and allow witness
for you on the Day of Judgment, for them, for us today. I mean, I
mean JazakAllah, khairan kathila. And I also want to thank you for
you know one thing that you mentioned that how it took you
seven years to memorize the Quran that that really helped me. I have
to say that, Alhamdulillah, because,
you know, there's things that you try and you're kind of scared
because of how people have reacted to it. You know, you're scared to
continue. But alhamdulillah, the seven year part, the seven year
journey, I'm like, You know what, even if it takes me a lifetime,
Inshallah, and I'm sure so many sisters feel like that. Mariam,
thank you so much for for helping us. All you know, feel that, yes,
this is possible. We can do it. Alhamdulillah. BarakAllahu. Fiki,
thank you so much.
Thank you. That means so much coming from you, someone that I
deeply admire and look up to. And may Allah, bless you, make you
better than will all of us think of you
so much for I mean,
I learned so much, and I feel so empowered after this conversation
and the session Inshallah, we're going
to take
right now, as we're ending, if, if those who are following, oh,
Instagram account, if you could please it, since it's going to be
so hard for both of us to just so that people can click on her
account name, and then, Inshallah, follow
work, and also you may sister and yourself. Do you have recordings
that we can listen to on absolutely so there's two types of
programs that I've taught when it comes to the seed. One is the
detailed subseed. So that takes about a year and a half to
complete easily,
full time course or on the weekends for about four years.
Or there's, there's also a brief tafsir, all right, which is
basically one Jews a day
in two hours. Alhamdulillah, we go through the entire translation and
brief, you know, reflections and practical points.
And that's called the FAMU Quran program. And there's only 30
episodes. Well, 31 because one is about why it's important to
connect with the Quran. Yes. And
you can, you know what, inshallah. I will put the link up to that in
my, in my link tree, inshallah.
Inshallah. It's, it's available on podcasts and on Apple podcast and
also on YouTube, okay? Inshallah, yeah,
your recitation, your your teaching, the to see it. And they
also just was able to type out instead of tape bears, um, account
name, T,
i,
y, y, a, H, E, U, B, A, I, oh, mashallah, you got it
grand Inshallah, and learn and work. And may also bless you and
increase you in every good blessing. JazakAllah, for your
time with us today. I love you for the sake of Allah. May Allah can't
wait to see you in person. Inshallah.
Subhanahu
Wah.