Maryam Amir – The Crowning Venture Women Who have Memorized the Quran. Saadia Mian interview
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of memorizing the Quran and finding a teacher to practice it, as it is crucial for personal growth and self-esteem. They stress the benefits of learning to interpret the Quran and finding the right words to write in a prayer, setting aside time to prepare for the Quran, and celebrating the 50th Joe birthday. They also encourage others to read and share the Quran.
AI: Summary ©
Sona Rahel, Rahim, Salamu alaykum. We're still working on getting
live on Facebook, but Alhamdulillah, we have started on
Instagram.
Salamu alaykum, Bismillah. Rahman Rahim, alhamdulillahi Rasulillah.
Thank you so much for joining. So excited to see you, and very
excited to Inshallah, start having this conversation, this
conversation. Dr Sadia, Inshallah,
we are just working on getting the load. Having trouble loading. Ah,
okay, Bismillah, so we're
gonna do some troubleshooting. Bismillah Here we go. Cool.
Sweet that you were excited. Munira Salam, to all the people
waving like,
Dr Sadia, how are you? How are you? I'm gonna doing well, give us
one second. Friends on this side, we're also going live on Facebook.
So Doctor Sadia join us on Facebook. Inshallah, okay, let's
see. I'm very new to this. I don't do that many lies. Yes, we all
are. It's a process for everyone. Well, me anyway, it's a process
for me. But in the meantime, we're going to say Allah, have even in
Muhammad while to those of you who are joining on Facebook, thank you
for joining us. So excited to have a conversation about the
Quran this morning inshallah. Allah Muhammad, where are you guys
coming from? From Facebook and Instagram? Are you all also at 8am
in California, or are you later on in the day? Oh,
okay, here we go.
Um,
I don't see the request button,
so join the Facebook Live. Oh, Chicago, the UK, Utah, oh,
mashallah, Georgia, also the UK, Puerto Rico, that is amazing.
Oh, mashallah, London. How exciting. Mashallah, so many
different places. It's such a gift to me, all of you, Indonesia,
Allahu, Akbar, the Netherlands,
Toronto, wide awake. Oh, Chinese in the UAE, so cool. Scotland.
Wow. MashaAllah, wow.
What a gift to me. All of you. Thank you so much. Barnacle of
ficom for saying salam and joining.
Okay, um, I apologize I'm not seeing where I can join the
Facebook Live from. Okay, so go on to my page. Yeah. And do you see
me having a, starting a live Yes, okay, click on it. Okay. Yep. I'm
I have the live up. Can you comment say, salam, yeah, or
anything, yeah.
Cameroon, masha Allah, this incredible you from all over the
world to Barak. Allah,
look at this like family wallet, because I'm walking to where I can
too.
Did you send a comment yet here?
So, Smilla,
we are,
I don't know. I can't add you. Yeah, I'm not sure. It's not
really, it's not showing me a place to join you.
Okay, so what we're going to do then inshallah is our dear friends
on Facebook, walaik, Asmaa, Ketu, I am so sorry. We are having
technical difficulties, like from Saudi
Inshallah, we are going to post the conversation we have on
Instagram, onto Facebook and Inshallah, next time we have this
interview, we're going to figure out how to make sure that.
Inshallah, this doesn't happen. I'm so sorry. I know so many
people were excited to hear about the book, the crowning venture
interviewing women who've memorized the Quran and the tips
and tricks of memorizing the Quran. Inshallah, we're going to
continue this conversation at the Miriam and mirror on Instagram.
Inshallah, posted over here and Inshallah, we'll have a different
conversation on Facebook soon. Inshallah, I'm so sorry to leave
you all, but thank you so much for being a part of this for a very
short amount of time. Please keep us in your
da Salam here on Instagram. Sorry about that. Oh, yeah, no, it's
not, it's all, it's so it's a work in progress, process, okay? Dr
Sadia, masha Allah is an endocrinologist, and on top of
that, she's memorized the Quran, and she's actively working. She's
a board member of Robocop. She studied in Syria. She has her
ijazza In Tajweed, and she's going to get in his SubhanAllah. That is
like.
Super, super exciting for all of us, and especially because you are
both doing career and memorization of the Quran. So many times we
hear that, you know, memorization of the Quran is just you go to
Syria and you stay there forever. Oh May Allah protect and blessed
people of Syria and help all of the brothers and sisters in our
Ummah everywhere. So a lot of times we don't hear about how you
can balance both of these two areas of your life. So Dr Sadia,
can you tell us your story about how you started the journey, what
made you want to memorize the Quran and Mashallah? Your book is
so beautiful. I shared with Dr Sadia that I was gifted her book
and the Halakha was giving. There's a professor attending who
was so mashallah, like
kind that she gave to me this book. I got it right before I took
a trip to Alhamdulillah, to Jerusalem, to mesh, and to Mecca
and Medina, and I took it with me through all of these blessed
places. But I didn't have the chance to read it there. So I came
back and I started reading it. And subhanAllah, reading your story,
reading stories of other women who memorize the Quran just uplifted
me and gave me so much, you know, a re inspiration, like sometimes
when you memorize, you memorize at some time you you even if you
finish the memorization, you're going through your review, you go
through the slumps sometimes. And hearing from people who've done it
is just super exciting. So, can you tell us what your journey was
like? Why did you even start memorizing the Quran? How did you
go to medical school and go to Syria? What was the process like
for you?
Okay, so first of all, I'm happy that my book went to those blessed
lands,
even though.
But thank you. You know it just did something to me when you told
me that
my journey was very unexpected, I did not start out at all thinking
that, Oh, I'm going to memorize the Quran in my life. In fact, it
was. It was not even on my radar. I had I didn't know many women who
had memorized the Quran. My journey started after I finished
undergrad, and I had about eight months before I was going to be
starting medical school, and so I decided to take a trip to Syria,
which was only supposed to be three weeks, and with the purpose
of learning Arabic, that was it. Wow, just a three week trip to
learn Arabic in Syria. Yeah, that's exactly what the plan was.
I was going with two other sisters. There was a whole long
backstory to how that even came about, but it was going to be
three weeks. And once I got there, though, this whole world opened up
for me that I didn't even know existed. I met so
I saw all these girls who had all memorized the Quran I saw that it
was I
I remember that my teachers and one of the Nancy Tamara, she
listened to all of us. There was a bunch of us who came from the
States, from Canada. One day she asked us all to recite some Quran.
And I had started working at the dweeb a few months before I went
to Syria. So when she heard me recite, she said, if you can
extend your trip a little bit, then you might be able to get any
Jazza in dijde weed. So at that point, I decided to extend my
trip. I extended it maybe by a month, and then I remember, I
started working on it. I still needed more time. I kept on
extending it until I ended up being four and a half months, and
I spent the entire summer. Once I made that decision, I put Arabic a
little bit to the side and just focusing on Quran,
I worked on a fetz. Me. I went through the entire Quran with
interweed, with a teacher. I went through all these stages of
testing and then, literally, my day and night. I was devoted to
working on my Tajweed, reciting to my teacher. Four days before I
came back from Syria, I went to see the sheik, which Sheik al
Kurdi Allah and the see him for the purpose of getting tested.
And, Alhamdulillah, I got tested. I got my jazz up, you know, yeah,
Alhamdulillah, that was four days before I came back. And it was
such a whirlwind.
Came back and, you know, Alhamdulillah, I had my sister
here who was kind of taking care of my paperwork for medical
school, found me a place to stay, found me a roommate. She did so
much for me. God bless her. This is my older sister and I just I
started medical school. Like four days after that, I was still jet
lagged. No, it was like I went from this world of being
completely immersed in Quran to the.
World of being immersed in medical school, you know, which is from
anatomy, physiology, just the world of the body. So it was kind
of in a way, like jumping into an ice cold bath of water or
something.
So, Alhamdulillah, what I will say about how did this end up with me
memorizing is one of the most important things that happened
that summer was I developed such a strong connection with the Quran
and a deep love for it because I spent some time with it,
and it was just anybody who has spent time with the Quran. You
realize the more you recite, the more time you spend it, spend with
it, the more time you want to spend with it, and the more you
want to understand it, the more you just want it to be inside of
your heart. And that's exactly happened.
I i fell so in love with the Quran, and I yearned to memorize.
And I, of course, I still want to go, wanted to go to medical
school.
So I still had this dream, though, that I want to be able to memorize
inshallah. And so in my second year. So my first year of medical
school was kind of a whirlwind blur. My second year, I started
memorizing Surah Baqarah. I found a local teacher, Alhamdulillah.
There was somebody who was actually from Syria, who had her
age as a memorization and so that year, I spent just memorizing
Surah Baqarah, even if it was just a page a week. Sometimes,
sometimes it was less when I had exams. But by the end of the year,
I had completed my memorization of Surah Baqarah. And during that
time, then I also, you know, talked with my parents about
taking a year off from medical school to go back to Syria and,
you know, subhanAllah with,
you know, my mom was a little bit nervous, but eventually she was
like, if you really want this, you know, go ahead, like, I'll support
you. What a gift, yeah, from the last so I took my step one board
exam and, like, I didn't even know my result yet, and I was playing
to Syria again.
I think the key lesson from that whole
is that
the journey of memorizing the Quran. It's a journey of love.
And I remember in one of the interviews that I did, my friend
who memorized said, You will not be able to memorize the Quran if
you don't love it. So do whatever it takes, love it. And for some
people, that might be just, I didn't know a lot of Arabic, you
know, I just started learning Arabic when I went back to
memorize. I took Arabic classes simultaneously from the LA, but I
fell in love with the recitation, the sounds, what it what it did to
my heart.
And but for some people, they fall in love with the grammar. Some,
another person might fall in love with the the seed.
For some it's all of them. I would say, for me, I all of it is, is
now that is, you know, something that I really want to focus on.
But it's not, you know, only something you can intellectualize.
And that's why a lot of times people can't really,
you know, imagine that this is something that they would do,
you know, because it's not something you can just think
about, and then, okay, I'm going to do it. You You have to love the
Quran. And so my advice for people is, start out, you know, find a
teacher. Work on the DJed because the dweed is what is far dying for
us. It's a duty upon each one of us to be able to recite the Quran
properly, if we have the means to learn right? And so that's
starting point. Don't even, you don't even have to start thinking
that, Oh, I'm going to memorize the whole Quran and oh my god. And
also realizing that, although it would be beautiful if everybody in
the world could memorize the Quran, but it's not a journey that
everybody will do completely. Maybe some people will memorize a
portion, and that's still great. Alhamdulillah, you are. You are
half of that of what you have memorized. And you know, some
people will go all the way to memorizing the entire thing, but
the most important thing is to, number one, make sure that we work
on Earth and tweets so that we can recite it properly. And number two
is, have some kind of relationship with the Quran, whatever that
means. Have some portion of the Quran that you recite daily,
whether it's one ayah, whether it's one page, certain suwad Have
some kind of relationship. It could be delving into the Tafseer.
I still, no matter what else you do, I still do believe that some
portion.
Daily recitation is important.
But then there's other things that you can do with or you can study
the grammar study that the seed, I have some relationship with it,
where you spend a part of your day, even if it's 10 minutes an
hour, however much it is with the Quran, and when you miss it, you
you feel like you're missing something. Yes, definitely,
subhanAllah, definitely. When you feel like you miss it, you feel
like you miss it when so a few questions for you. When you say
loving the Quran. Obviously, we're Muslims. We you know we want to
love the Quran. We love the Quran, but sometimes, like the love that
you feel for the Quran is different from other times. Like,
there might be times where you're like in nakka, and you're
listening to the recitation, and your email is so high, like, Oh, I
love the Quran so much. And you come back in the middle of medical
school, you're busy with your family, there's so many other
responsibilities, and you might remember that feeling you've had
at one point, but you don't necessarily feel all the love in
that same strength. How would you tell someone who is just busy and
just maybe they're even taking a class with a teacher every week
and they're doing Tajweed, they maybe feel like there is some sort
of stagnation in their relationship with loving the
Quran. They know they love it, but the the all encompassing. You know
you're falling in love all over again. Feeling is sometimes not
there. What kind of what kind of suggestions would you give someone
like
that? So that's a good question. With feelings. Ultimately, we we
have to be careful, even though I said how it's so important to
love? Love the Quran. Feel change. Feelings come and go. They're not
always consistent, and that's natural. There are times even the
Sahaba, you know, they said, we feel differently when we're with
you, Ya Rasulullah, then when we're not,
of course, he said, that's normal, you know. And the same thing goes
with the Quran. So to think that this is a fairy tale journey, and
oh my god, once I fell in love with it, and everything was just
nice and smooth, definitely there. That's not the case. There are ups
and downs, but in general, I would say, in life and also in our Quran
journey that we
practice not being people who live according to our feelings only.
That's so powerful. Allahu, Akbar, yeah, so there are days where I I
will be honest, um, there are days I feel like doing review. There
are days I don't feel like it, but then I ask myself what my values
are, and that's there for us to have clear values and have a clear
vision in everything we do, in life, in general, and in any
endeavor that we undertake like, what are my values? And my values
are that I I'm, it's my duty to review.
You know, once we once I've memorized whether I want to say
duty or I don't feel like that word because it seems very forced.
But, that's an important one. Yeah, it's a commitment. I should
say it's a commitment. I'm committed to the Quran. I'm
committed to review.
One way to
sort of stick to a commitment, especially when you're struggling,
what really helps is maybe not measure by, like, how much in a
day. So not like, Okay, I have to do this many pages a day, but this
is how much time in the morning I'm committed to spending with the
Quran every day. And one person that actually I'm reciting to
right now suggested make make it. You know, with your busy life,
pick a something that you can stick with consistently. And you
know that person said 20 minutes
a day, and you know, considering everything else that we do in the
morning time, you know, there's other like, Aida and everything,
so 20 minutes, yeah, I mean, it doesn't sound like a lot, but when
you do it consistently,
and you realize that you don't want to pick a number that you
can't stick with, right? So that's, that's what I would say
there that, you know, don't become a person of feelings only, like,
who's weighed what you feel like doing that day, what you don't
feel like doing? You know, there are days, probably, you know,
people who have children, there are days you don't feel like
changing your baby's diaper, but you are committed to your child.
You've made a commitment to this child by having this child, that
what you're going to take care of this child, you're not going to
neglect, neglect this child and leave them in a dirty diaper.
And one of my friends actually that I interviewed, and I think
it's in the book also, she she likened it to having children, you
know.
There, as, once you've memorized, sometimes there is this feeling of
this heavy responsibility. You know, it does feel like it's
sometimes it just feels like, Oh, my God. What did I do? But, you
know, people who have children feel like that too. Sometimes
like, God, what did I do? You know?
But, you know, now, I mean, you've had these children, and there's
good days and there's bad days, you know, and but you're committed
to them, and the same thing goes with the Quran. So I thought that
was a really beautiful metaphor.
And
trying to think, I think that's essentially what I would say, even
when it comes to feelings, my teachers used to say, be careful
that you don't become addicted to the feelings of ibadah. Only you
know that's a gift that Allah gives us. So we pray our five
daily prayers, whether we feel them or not because we're
committed to them. It's our responsibility, and sometimes
Allah, especially in the beginning of our path, it's a gift he gives
us that we experience immense, deep feelings of love,
and we feel things in our hearts, but sometimes those feelings
aren't there, but we still do, still pray, you know, and we wait,
okay, you know, I'm I might be gifted those feelings again
someday. I might not, you know, but, but it is a commitment upon
Allah that was so powerful. I mean, if you're doing it because
of the feeling, are you really doing it because of the feeling,
or are you doing it because this is something that you know speaks
to your core, that you're doing this for the sake of Allah's
pantal, and I think that's one of the issues with worship in
general. I hear this question all the time, I no longer feel sola
when I pray. I don't really feel it. I don't really feel hijab. I
don't really feel it when I'm fasting and Ramadan. And that's
really the question, do we do it because of the feeling, or do we
do it because this is part of our like you mentioned, our our
compass internally, that we that we need grounding for that. That
example with children was really interesting. I mean, you're
definitely, you know, you make a commitment to this job. You're not
going to leave them. And that's so similar to, you know, this
commitment you make with the Quran that you maintain, that we have a
few questions from people before we keep going. The first one is,
what do you do right now with your own review schedule? Because
you're, you know, mashallah, you work as a doctor. So what is your
schedule like?
Great question. It's questions that I get. So I, like I said,
definitely my life has is always, I don't like the word busy, but it
is, for lack of a better word, let's just say it's a very full
schedule. You know, I have, I work full time as an endocrinologist. I
just recently completed the bots teacher certification. So I've
been
taking, I've been taking classes for years,
and those take time as well. And then it's also very important in
this journey to remember that, you know, obviously I have a full
schedule, but also part of that schedule needs to include giving
time to loved ones and connecting with people and doing things that
are that are joyful to the heart. You know, we can't forget that
part either,
you know. And so
that's that's why the advice that was given to me by the person that
I'm reciting to right now, where, even if it's a small amount, make
it consistent,
I try to stick to those at least 20 minutes. Sometimes it's more,
sometimes on the weekends, it might be more. Am I somebody who I
will tell you right now? Disclaimer, I am not where I would
like to be with my review?
No, I think that just speaks to your commitment. Because anyone
who's working with Quran, we're never where we want to be. I
shouldn't laugh about that. That's not a joke. That's yeah, it's
just, it's such a process, yeah. I mean, you know, at the same time,
at the same time, one thing that we tend to do, and I don't know if
we do it more as women,
we are like professional self flagellators,
you know, for lack of a better weight, but we're really hard on
ourselves, and while we should definitely have commitment and
rigor In our lives and be people you know who are organized and
committed, but sometimes, when we beat ourselves too much, it's
almost paralyzing. So
where I would like to be at all with my review, but I also, and
this is something that I remind.
People in my classes, or anytime I have workshops, that
as long as you are, you know, connecting with the Quran on a
daily basis, and you are trying, sincerely, you are putting in 100%
effort. That's what we are responsible for. We responsible
for the results, yes, effort and so be honest with yourself, are
you putting in 100% effort?
Do is my effort always 100% maybe sometimes it's 80, maybe sometimes
it's 70, sometimes maybe it's lost. Maybe sometimes it is 100%
as long as we're doing that, then what is our view of Allah? Do we
think that, Allah, if I miss, you know, a day that I'm going to walk
outside and he's going to strike me down with lightning, you know?
No, I mean, Allah, if you're a person who is sincerely trying and
you're struggling because of all, you know, the other
responsibilities you have in life and that you care, that's
important thing. Here are you trying? I see Allah, he is. He's
merciful, you know. And sometimes we just have this view that
if I, if I am not perfect, if I don't, you know, do this much
every single day, you know, Allah is going to be displeased with me.
But instead of, okay, I'm, I'm doing something every day. I'm
trying, you know, right? And so
I think just that balance and realizing it's a life,
right? It's a lifelong journey, yeah, it's a lifelong journey. I
and that's why even my students, I, instead of, you know, having
them track like, how much they've done, which, that's fine, it's
good to track amounts too, but I have them time themselves. Like,
how much time did you work today on? Like, either whether it's
they're working on their did we or they're working on memorization.
Look at how many minutes did you spend. Try to make that
consistent, because that also shows you a mirror. Like,
sometimes we think we're doing more than we're doing,
and we're really not, like, you know, consistent with our time. Or
sometimes we get pleasantly surprised, like, Oh, I really am
spending a lot of time with this and tracking.
Yeah, yeah, so and in fact, heads up for everybody here,
extra, extra here, all about it
soon in Shaw Allah, there is going to be a companion crowning,
venture crowning, venture planner that it has all of that in there,
charts to track, Quranic recitation, memorization, time
spent with Quran other, Aida, all of that that's very and
and it just shows, you know, sometimes, like when you don't
track you, like, days go by, Weeks go by months, years, and we don't
really realize, like, how much we're doing or not doing, right?
So
Pamela, one of the issues that people tell me about, they're
like, I want to start memorizing the Quran, but I'm already in my
30s or my 40s or my 50s, and, you know, I think span a lot. If you
are going to continue to say, I wish, but I'm too old, I wish, but
I'm too old, you're going to become 60, 7080, and wish, but if
you're too old, but instead, if you start now, and even if it
takes you 15 years, you can say, I spent 15 years memorizing the
Quran. I spent 15 years on this journey. And when it's consistent
and small, it's possible with all the other like responsibilities
that you have
when you started your experience with memorization and learning the
Quran and wanting to continue. You didn't just do it for yourself.
You decided that you wanted this to be something that is accessible
to other women, and you wrote a book about it. What caused you to
even think about writing this book, and what was the journey for
you like in the process of writing a book about memorizing and
reviewing the Quran.
So considering that I, like many women, have severe case of
imposter syndrome, I would have said, volunteered to write this
book. It's just even though I remember shortly after my journey,
thinking, Gosh, it'd be really cool to have a book like this that
has, you know, tips and
stories. Or at least time I thought it'd be cool to share my
story, but I never would have put myself out there at all. And the
way it came about is I
went to a women's conference with
and another friend of ours, friend of mine, and the three of us, we
were on our way back from Sweden, sitting in the plane, and I'm not
sure why, but.
Of course, you know, when our teachers say something, it's spot
on. And she said, you know, why don't you write a book about
memorizing, put it on so
and I remember, actually, years ago, another teacher of mine had
suggested that I write my story. But again, I at that time, I
didn't for some reason, I'm not sure why. And so I was sitting
there on the plane, I pulled out my phone, and I wrote out an
outline of what I thought every chapter should be about, and then
I wrote an intro sitting there, like before we even, I mean,
right, probably within the hour. And
I think that the fact that I just started right away, without even
having a chance to think about it or overthink it about yourself,
yes, oh, it's like, okay, well, I started this book now, yeah. And
it was really helpful, actually, to break it down by chapters, like
the topics that I thought were important
at that point, I don't remember. I'll have to look back at the
initial outline. I don't know if I had included other women's
stories, but I wrote my story out, you know. And I mean, that was a
difficult process, because I didn't journal or anything while I
was there, and I thought, How am I going to remember anything? How's
it going to feel like, you know, it's, it's like, it's happening
right there. But I just started writing Amazing how things came
back to me. And I am, I tend to be on the introverted side, and I'm a
very private person. So, you know, writing this book, I
I had so many moments where I just thought, oh my gosh, I cannot This
is too personal. Yes, yeah. It also because my teachers, they
always taught us that your most personal, private moments with Ola
Spada, don't share them with the world like keep them for yourself,
yeah. And
so I
really struggled with writing, my personal feelings.
Many times I just want to stop and, you know, my editor the GMs
field, you know, and she was like, just keep on writing. Just don't
worry, we're going to edit it. Don't think about it. Just keep
going. Keep on writing, you know, if anything sounds like it's, you
know, too personal, we can just, we'll take it out. We'll change
it, you know, so it doesn't sound like, you know, she was
just like, don't worry about it. So I just kept on writing. And
then after I finished my story, I thought, okay,
I, you know, for me, and I see there's a question here about how
important it was for you to go to the bubble of Syria to seal the
deal, I'm committing to the Quran. You know, I realized that I had
that opportunity, and not everybody's going to have that
opportunity. And I didn't want people to read my story and say,
Okay, I can't relate to this, because I can't go to Syria, or I
have, you know, four kids now. I can't, I don't have the time, or,
you know, whatever reasons there might be. So I wanted to find
women who were from all different backgrounds, had all different
kinds of experiences, some who never left the US. Some who
there's a there's a convert, and her story, you know. So coming
back to the age issue, she,
well, she she was a for her story. She was a convert. Didn't even
know how to read the letters. Didn't know the letters. She just
started listening to jazamna. And just by listening, She memorized
the whole 30th Jos. She talks about how she loved the Quran so
much. I found one Khadi, one lady who was 60 years old when she
started and mashallah she she was, did it? She didn't, you know, this
was after she had children, so maybe she went through mommy
brain. I found another person who was almost 40, had four kids, and
she was an administrator for a whole school district, and she
was, you know, taking time off from her job or something. I think
she had lost her job, and she joined a class with young children
like she and she writes about how there was, like, six and eight
year olds running circles around her and making fun of her.
You know, I wanted to share all these stories so that everybody,
anybody who reads that book, they might be able to relate with, with
one, one of the stories there.
Yeah, so, you know, there's like, I wanted to find somebody who was
older when she did it. It's so true. One of my teachers, my first
teacher. In fact, she said how, like in her community, she had a
student who kept on putting it off, kept on putting she put it
off for 10 years, saying, I can't do it. But then she started, and
then she was like, you know, she noticed that somehow she's able to
do it. And she realized, if I had started 10 years earlier, I would
have been done by now, you know, or I would have been on my side.
An order view or so, you know, it's like with anything we can
talk ourselves out of doing anything good.
You just have to, like, throw yourself in there, say Bismillah.
Stop thinking, you know, and just stop thinking it just your
intention. Intention, Ya Allah, you know, I want a relationship
with the Quran. I want to be able to be able to recite it. You can
even intend if you want to memorize it. And just say, Okay,
I'm going to start and then trust Ella panosada And stop thinking,
Yeah, you know, just move forward, take a step and let the pathway,
you know, just become clear as you go. It might not even become
clear. I don't know if you remember Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade where he's crossing, you know, he there's empty space,
and he has to cross over,
you know, it's, there's like a riddle. And so he just closes his
eyes and puts his foot forward, and he should have fallen into,
you know, a pit. But then, right then, like the path starts. So
with each step, the next step comes that
it's an old movie,
so definitely heard of that. I just haven't seen it.
Yeah, I mean, it's a nice visual, and, you know, and I don't know if
we do this more as women, where we overthink things,
you know, I keep on saying that as women, we do certain things. Of
course, not everybody is the same, but you know, sometimes women do,
I would say people overthink things. Sure, sometimes
absolutely, yeah, stop thinking and just, you know, do, yes.
Subhanallah,
yeah, one of the things that I really appreciated about me Quran
Sheik Subhan Allah, anytime he does,
every year, he does like a banquet for anyone who's memorized the
Quran and any amount of Quran that they memorize, if it's one, just
if it's six, you know, whatever would be amount, it's to celebrate
it. And every time he has this celebration, he makes sure that he
includes his students from all different backgrounds. And you can
actually watch in my highlights, one of the one of the banquets
that I went to and see this. It's so beautiful to see because he has
students who are, you know, one of his students was, you know,
subhanAllah, really struggling to walk. I don't know if she was like
in her 80s or 90s, but Subhanallah, there she was having
had memorized the Quran with him as his very first student. She had
been a custodian in the masjid, and she kept going and memorizing
with him. And then we have, you know, women whose children are
young couples, who memorize together, those who are disabled
or have different varied abilities. There was a boy who's
blind who was memorizing with him, Mashallah. And then, you know,
converts. There's people who have all different backgrounds, all
different ages, all different life circumstances. And he has all of
these different people recite in front of everyone. And it's so
beautiful because he never says something like he never explicitly
says, Oh, the Quran is for everyone. Look at all these
different people, but just that Subhanallah like he ensures that
people from all backgrounds, you know, whether it's your every just
absolutely everything is included in visually seeing that people are
memorizing the Quran, regardless of their age or their background
or whatever it is. And that's relatable to you when you can do
it too. And one of the things that I was talking to someone who was
saying that, I think she was in her 40s or 50s when she started
the memorization. Maybe in her 40s, she started memorizing, and
it's been, like, 10 years, and she hasn't finished yet. And she was
telling me that, oh, I, you know, I don't even know if I'm ever
going to finish before my time is done. And subhanAllah, the
beautiful thing about Allah is that he writes your intentions as
you intend them. So even if you pass before you complete your
memorization, Allah will still write you as someone who has
memorized the Quran, because that was your intention, and that was
your your your effort, that that you were trying to get there and
Subhanallah, maybe you're supposed to complete it with the angels
SubhanAllah. But it's such a gift that Allah panchala gives us.
These are his words, I mean. And can you imagine that you're
literally saying the words of Allah with your own tongue, in
your own with your Subhan Allah? It's just too powerful. Allah,
Allahu, Akbar, seriously, I wanted to ask you, when you're writing
the crowning venture, and you were meeting all these different women
who were memorizing, was there also any type of like, story of
change, you know, the Quran changes us, of course, memorizing
it, reviewing it, it's all critical for that process and that
relationship. If that's what you're working for, like you
mentioned earlier, your relationship can be reading
tafsir, reading an ayah. It doesn't necessarily have to be
memorizing and review, but for those who are working in
memorization and review, obviously the action is the most important.
You implementing the Quran is much more important than you know.
Memorizing and.
And being rude to this person, and angry and just constantly, you
know, hurting people and all of those things. And I mean angry
like towards other people, not necessarily like you can't be
angry. I just mean like having this demeanor. And I remember,
actually one time when I was so blessed, Alhamdulillah, to go to
Mecca. One of the leaders in our group was just very harsh.
Everything was just so harsh. And there was a sister with us who
had, who had just started learning about Islam, and she wanted to ask
how to do the Telia, and she's asking, Can we see the Telia out
loud together? Can we say the Telia? And the sister who's
supposed to be like, you know, teaching, she was like, if you
didn't know it before you came, then you should have learned it.
And that was it. And that was shocked that this is someone who's
supposed to be somebody who is teaching, and she's telling
someone who's just coming into, you know, this beautiful space
that if you should have, if you wanted to come, you should have
learned before you came. Like that's not, you know, that's not
the character of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa send them. So
we see people who have knowledge, but not necessarily an
understanding of how to implement that knowledge. Did you find in
your interviews and your process of you know, your own process? How
did you see that actually change a woman and their stories or change
yourself and your story?
Yeah, so one of the themes that I
found throughout most of the interviews is that women did not
want people to know that they had memorized the Quran. They did not
want the label of happy law. They for many of them, it was different
reasons. For some it was because, again, the whole, I don't feel
like I am where I should be in my memorizing, right?
For some, it was like, okay, then people, you know, they're
intimidated by me. They expect me to be perfect.
You know, one sister said to how, after she had memorized and she
made a joke and laughed or something, and one of her friends
said, Oh my God, you know, I'm so, like, relieved that you still
laugh.
So, I mean, I think definitely, you know, there was the sentiments
that put on.
You know, people will say it changed me. And then I some will
say that it made me more patient, it made me
more like made me feel closer to El Espada, I don't, made me closer
to El smile. I should say, one girl put it like, I feel like
Ella's got my back, you know,
but at the same time realizing that it's a big responsibility,
because that's it sort of like. Now there's this
feeling that this person can never do wrong, or that they're
they should be absolutely perfect, but we know that there's nobody
who's absolutely who is a perfect human being, other than the
prophets, the closest perfection. And so I think just,
you know, people did talk about a lot of those kind of sentiments,
like, I just don't want people to know because of this. And so while
I do think that definitely people of knowledge and people of the
Quran should have the best of character and should be role
models and examples, but at the same time realizing that no human
being should ever be put on a pedestal like that, because nobody
is perfect, and the story that you're telling that's, I mean,
horrendous. It's horrific. And that's an extreme, though, I can't
even, even a person who's not a scholar, just a person who's who's
human and recognizes humanity,
wouldn't, wouldn't say something like that, in my opinion, yeah,
subhanAllah and even Washington,
yeah, that's just kind of common sense to me. You don't have to be,
you know, to treat somebody like that ever you know, that's not the
spirit of the journey, and it's not the spirit, it's not the
spirit of how the Prophet saw the top people, right? Sub Allah, he
was SubhanAllah. SubhanAllah. I know that we have so many more
questions, but we're also getting questions from people, and I want
to give time for both. So can you end by telling us any advice that
you'd like to share with us? And then also, how can people learn
about what you do? Get in contact with you, take your classes, and
then, Inshallah, after that, we'll go ahead and open it up for
general Q and A, Inshallah, sure. Okay,
so general advice, you know, from the book, I would say the first
most important piece of advice in general, is intention. So always
just start out with a very clear intention. And that's where I
always start with people in my classes and my workshops, is be
very clear about what your intention is. And then on top of
that, I have people write down their intention. So if your
intention, yeah, and you know, when you write when we write
things down, it's a little.
So be clear. Like, as your intention. If your intention is to
memorize the Quran, like, write it down, and then write down your
why. Like, why? Why do you want to do this? You know, because a lot
of times people start the journey for for different reasons,
because, even if it's because you fell in love with the Quran. But
ultimately,
you know, we ask ourselves, what is our why? And as we go, you keep
on asking yourself your why, and tell what is our why for anything
in this, in our lives, it's it all comes down to, down to Allah,
Allah. And so being very clear with that, the second thing, once
you have your intention clear, is to find a teacher, and nowadays
with the Internet. So if you can't find a local teacher, which is
obviously the, probably the better way to find somebody in person, if
you can't, I mean, the world has shrunk. You know, the whole
shrunk, and now you can get find a teacher the country of your
choice, and you can, you know, meet with them, online
teacher, and then just be consistent. Usually, you know, I
recommend starting out with the Jubilee before going into
memorization and perfect working. Even I recommend doing a whole
khizmi in de Jui, the whole recitation with a certified
teacher.
And that will just open up so many doors once you are reciting
proper. Spent so much time with the Quran. It after that, it's
like, naturally, one feels like, Okay, I want to memorize now. I
want to have this in my heart. I want to be able to recite,
yeah, it's just it, just step by step process. But
sometimes that the memorization, it just once you've done step one
and two three, it just naturally flows into it so it doesn't seem
like turtle. I'm so sorry I didn't realize I was cutting off. Okay.
Are
you done? Yeah, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. That was so awkward. I
think there was like a lag, and I didn't realize you were still
speaking. I wanted to tell you that it's so interesting that you
said to complete, like, for example, do one whole reading of
the Quran just, you know, working on tejuit. Because for me, when I
first started, I went to and she was like, Do you want to memorize
it or memorize it correctly? And I was like, just memorize it. That's
all I want to do. And she's like, what's the point of that? And I
was like, okay, correctly. So we started with titchweed, and she
had me do the first, she had me do, like, you know, first it was
like, the car done doing, you know, all of these, you know, just
the book.
And then after that, it was doing a couple of just, just, you know,
recitation. And once I did two just recitation, she started me in
memorization. So just Amma was actually the last just I
memorized. Because, like you mentioned,
once she had me just reciting, then she took me to social
bokhaara. So I started with social bokhaara for the reciting. Baklava
for the memorization. But my tajita Social Baqarah was not
good. I mean, it was very, very basic. But by the time I got
further and further into the Quran, of course, the more you
memorize and the more you're being corrected, the more your Tajweed
is going to improve. And so her method and I was only looking for
very short time before I moved on to other teachers, but they
consistently had me continue to memorize, and that when I go back
to the to the ones I've already memorized for review, then my
church we go already at that point, have corrected so that I
would recite the previous ones correctly. Definitely, when I
memorized, you know, jazama As a kid, I didn't finish it even as a
kid, but the suras that I did, it took me time to rework those ones,
but by then, I had already starting at baklava. I already had
some Kaji. So when I went back, it was like I re corrected whatever
mistakes I made. So I just wanted to share that, because it was such
a different, different approach. It was like two completely
opposite
ideas on the spectrum. But one of the things that I loved about what
you said is that you are going to naturally progress into wanting to
memorize if you're already working on just the Taji and wanting to
get to the next step. What do you do with the Quran? Just like any
relationship, where do you naturally want to go with this
relationship? Do you want to get to know you know this person more?
What are you going to do you can spend more time with them. How are
you going to spend more time with them? Is it just going to be over
the phone? Are you going to spend time with them in person? And very
similar? Very similarly, with the Quran, like, what are you going to
do to maintain and continue and amplify relationship with the
Quran? That's such an important point. Thank you. And I think
that brings the point a really important issue, is that realizing
that there's no one right way to do it. And, you know, even though,
especially for a lot of us who went, you know, to Syria at that
time, we went through and did a whole khasna In Tajweed, because
we were getting Ijaz is in Tajweed to come back
at that time, there wasn't a lot. There wasn't an overabundance of
people who were.
Applied to teach the dweeb, and they felt it
sort of, there was an urgency to like, a
responsibility.
And I, I still believe that there's, there's a lot of benefit
to that, but again, like there's no there's not only one right way
to do things. And for some people, they do it the way you your
teacher recommended, and that's totally fine, as long as you don't
memorize things so incorrectly that it's hard to change it. You
know the reason why my teachers focus on, okay, do a whole kismet,
and at least you, you have done a whole kismet, and right? You might
1015, 20 years in memorization, but you've done that. That one
fits myth. But you know your weight, that's some people do it
like that, and it totally works too. So, and the same thing goes
with memorization and review. There's so many different ways
that people recommend. Some will say, okay, as as you go through
review at the same time. Some of my teachers recommend just go
through the whole thing and then start. When you finish, you just
start again. You go through again, and then go through again, and
then, and then you might, you know, then, like, start connecting
for the purpose of the Jazz at laid, you know, five at a time. So
there's so many different ways. There's different methods, like,
down to, okay, every page that you memorize, recite it 50 times
before you move on to the next one. Right? There's some, there's
all of those. I mean, there's nothing that's set in stone. These
are just recommendations from from people who have tried different
things that have worked for them, right? Right? So it's nice to be
to have all those options. But there's, there's no one, like, you
know, correct way. So is that okay for sharing that?
And I know you asked, like, Well, how did the name the crowning
venture come up? And I think, asked that, and somebody else
asked that as well. How did you think of that name that's so
powerful, mashallah,
so, you know, when it comes to, you know, there's the Hadith about
how, when you memorize the Quran like you, you will crown your
parents in the akhira. That was one, one reason, because that
visual of this crown you know, that you're earning for your
parents. The other thing was, when I was in Syria, anytime somebody
like, you know, got their ijazah, either a you know, and memorizing,
or in tijuea, they would throw a huge party to celebrate. And both
the girls are the women, they were put in, like white robes and with
a crown. And so just that too,
it's they, they made it a point to really celebrate this
accomplishment. Because sometimes we celebrate so many other
everything else, right? We sell the max. You know, when it comes
to, like, graduations, weddings, baby showers, Britain showers,
like we will go all out. But when it comes to the Quran, some, you
know, sometimes people even say, Well, why are you having a party?
You know, right,
right? Yeah. And so when we were, you know, it was my editor and
Nancy tower and I, we were brainstorming and coming up with
it so many different kinds of titles, like, don't give up, or
like,
landed. And I think just in going through that, I think it might
have been Nancy Tamara who said, Oh, how about you know that
something to do with the crown. And then it was just, oh, the
crowning venture, and it's stuck. Beautiful mats, really beautiful.
And how can people get in contact with you? Take classes with you
learn about workshops you do.
So I teach through robots, a Quran memorization class, and that's
[email protected]
that's r, I D, a a [email protected]
and there's actually a full Quran program, starting from like the
Urania all the way up to the memorization class there. There's
the dweed. Oh, thank you, Nadia, she added it. I actually said it
wrong. Oh, thank you. I heard that. And I was like, Is this an
email? Oh, got it, yes. Thank you. I put the email. Yeah. So that's
the website. Um, also I will be teaching a workshop on Quranic
memorization, September 13. And the registration link is in my
bio, in my Instagram, which is sabia Mia, MD, and other ways to
contact. I can also be contacted through my website, through
Instagram,
and I'm also on Facebook. I have a author page. So yeah, those are
some of the ways that you can contact me. But yes, I will be
doing the most upcoming thing right now is a workshop, and then
after that, actually my memorization class will start.
Yeah.
Inshallah, just a we have a few, very few more minutes, three
minutes that we want to get through, a few questions that
we've been beautifully asked, Should our intention when
memorizing any of Quran be to memorize the whole thing
eventually? Is this the ultimate goal? Always?
Okay, that's a good question. So I did mention that a little bit how
some people, well, memorize the whole thing. And for some people,
um, it might not end up being the whole thing. I we can always go in
with that intention, as long as that intention is not going to
paralyze us or or keep us from so you know yourself and know what
your like mode of operation is, how do you work best? So for you,
if, if that's how you work best, like, okay, that's my goal, and
it's, that's what's going to keep you going great.
But also, like, if you're more like, Okay, I'm just going to, I
want to memorize five. It's up. You know, that's fine. Set that as
your goal. I mean, once you complete that, you might add on
another five. So whatever works for you. Yes, if a person
memorized the Quran, does that mean they should also know how to
write down the verses.
That's okay. So
I mean writing
one thing, one of the biggest pieces of advice that I got when I
started my memorization journey was to write down every page
without looking before I move on to the next one. Wow. And could I
do that now? Probably not, you know, not in like, the details of
like, you know, every single like, you know, harekats or every single
haraka Every single symbol,
yeah. I mean, of course, that's a beautiful goal, to be able to
write it out, but yeah, a requirement when you memorize. I
mean, because, you know, it's the difference between like an oral
tradition and a written tradition. And hamdada that we have, the
written must have. But if you remember, remember back Quran was
an oral tradition to begin with. So yeah, it's okay, you know, if
you have, if you have memorized but can't write it. And also, an
important note for those of us who are not out of like when I was
studying Arabic and I was studying Quran at the same time, I was just
learning how to write Arabic, and I would try to write out the
verses. And if you don't know how to write Arabic already, when
you're listening and reciting, you not know. You don't necessarily
know how to spell those words or how to you know, it's just, it's a
very it's, it's a different portion of the language. So I
think writing really helps you embed the the information, like it
helps you know the verses even more strongly. But then you also
need to know how to write Arabic correctly. So it's, it's a very
it's a, definitely an undertaking. We have another question, Should
we memorize first or learn tips here first? Feel like I'm stalling
because I don't know the meaning.
I don't think that one should
put off memorization until you have learned all of the seed,
because the seed is the old lifelong journey, you know, to
really study the Quran in detail. And they both supplement each
other, if you have the option to do both, and you're going along,
you know, Alhamdulillah. But I've learned, I've noticed that now,
when I'm I'm in a subsid class, sort of
that because I'm memorized, even though I, like I said, I'm not
where I wish I could be with my memorization and my review, but I
feel like it's helping me so much in the seed and vice versa, that
the seed is helping me in my review. They go and so when the
teacher talks about ayats, and she's just like, oh, remember
this? Surah says this, and it's like, I know that. Aya, at least,
you know I know, like I buddy who has not,
it's not there's that familiarity is not there. And that's another
important point, is that, yeah, my goal, I wish that I could stand up
and recite the entire Quran in my prayer like lead that a week and
every day do it just and that, Oh, that would be my dream.
But did I benefit from having even, even after the first
memorization, there is something that, something different that
happens with your relationship with the Quran. I remember one of
teachers saying that you can until you memorize you, you cannot get
to I think she said the third, the third dimension. She said, you
know, until you memorize your you're in the first and second
dimension of understanding, Horizon you've decided and Aya, so
many times, so many times over and over again. It you there's
something special. You go into another dimension with it and
make it a point for people to realize that as as Muslims, it
let's say somebody came up to somebody who is not but there, and
believe me, there are, there are people who are not Muslim out
there who have studied the Quran more than we have. Their Arabic is
better. They may have even memorized the whole thing. And yet
their goal is what is to you?
You know, they're enemies of some so came up to you and made up an
ayah. Would you know, as would you, as a Muslim know, if that's
in the Quran, or that's not, or this person is making, let me tell
you,
you know, as much as i Yes, definitely. I wish that I was way
farther ahead in my review. But you have this sense that, okay,
I'm familiar with the Quran, and, nope, that that's not in the
Quran. Yeah. So there's a lot, yes, you can never really go wrong
by doing a memorizing, you know, by going through and memorizing,
if you just, you do it one time, and then you struggle the rest of
your life to review. There's,
there's so much benefit in it, and it's going to help you with Arabic
too. Yes, you know,
for example, you you can make connections with the Quran, and
then vice versa. It's beautiful, yeshan Allah, definitely. Even,
you know, when it comes to being a woman, for example, there's so
many times where someone says, Well, in the Quran, it says, woman
can't do this. And it's like, but it doesn't say that in the Quran,
actually. So it's so important to just have that knowledge for your
own self, and grounding and being able to you know when people come
to you with things that make you doubt your religion, it's, it's
very helpful to know No, that's where are you even getting that
from? And subhanAllah,
it's so,
oh, oh, subhanAllah, I see Sherman al Shami is here Mashallah.
We studied in Egypt together.
Yes, they tested us in Asmaa with written and oral Oh, man
SubhanAllah. It was, it's written at such different level. For also
for tips here, I also didn't know what I was reciting until I
learned Arabic. And I think it was really helpful for me to just have
a translation. It's not necessarily it's not necessarily
like I would go to tips here sometimes to really know more
about the verse, But just having a translation with you is really
helpful to just know what you're memorizing and help you remember
the ayat. Okay, so let's take maybe like two more questions,
because we're already past the time. Thank you so much for being
with us. This has been so inspiring. Mashallah, okay, so we
have, do we celebrate our daughters who haven't got the
ijaza but have memorized it and need advice on how to motivate
them to retain it?
Um, definitely, it's a huge accomplishment. The ijaza is it's
a certificate, and the the ijaza is important when it comes to like
teaching, it's not our goal that, oh, I want to get this, you know,
certificate. Our goal is to memorize the Quran and to know it
well. And the ultimate goal is to be able to recite it in our salah.
You know, if we think about it, why do we remember? We want to be
able to recite it in our prayer. And so somebody who has memorized
the Quran, even if she has not gotten you jazz that she might
never have the opportunity to get new Jazza. But definitely sense,
yes, definitely celebrate her. And
you know it's so important for not only for her, because it's going
to affect her relationship with the Quran, and,
you know, with your with your parents, and just her idea of,
like, what, what are we all, man or woman, we are, ultimately, in
this dunya. We are servants to Allah, first and for foremost. And
you know, to really celebrate that, because she's gonna have
tons of other things that are celebrated in her life. But, you
know, to really show her that, look, this is, this is who you
are,
you know, you are a servant of Allah. And then for other people
to see that,
you know, look, this is a great that's how I realized that, oh,
women can do this, girls can do this. Is these parties, you know,
I said, Oh my Yes. Girls lined up like, yes,
that, you know,
and it's, um, so that's really important, um, so definitely, even
even smaller parties along the way celebrate, you know, if your child
completed, you know, the 30th Joe's, if they did 510, like the
landmarks, you know, celebrate,
yes, but days we celebrate a child graduating from kindergarten, oh,
and then third grade. And then, you know, I'm like, how many, and
every everybody really does, right? But, yeah, I mean, it's, it
can be challenging. It's, it's something, you know, that is
definitely something to celebrate. And if you have time for a story,
there was actually in my second book, which is going to be assist
part two of crowning venture, which is
women and teachers helping children memorize so sort of the
point of view of children. And, you know, people even ask the
question, should my child memorize so address a lot of that those
questions, and they're one of the interviews that I did. You know
this lady, she told me how there was a Quran program at her
daughter's school, and her daughter was in this program. She
was the only girl, and then there was, like, I think, three boys,
and she had.
Been memorizing since she was very young. She finished before the
boys finished. And,
you know, at the end of the year assembly, they called the boys up
and they celebrated them. And she was saying that with her mom. She
said, you know, Mama, why? Why didn't they call me up there and
not
to be recognized, but she had, you know, she had completed her
memorization, right? So this mom, you know, she's not somebody to
take anything lightly. She went up to the administrator and said, Why
isn't my daughter here too? She did it too. And administrator,
well, girls don't, they don't leave that away. So we're not
going to celebrate them. They don't. And,
yeah, even after she went up there and said that to them, they still
didn't call her up there. And you know,
for these boys, and you know, then she was like, why am I not getting
that same blah? So, I mean, it's really important to and it just,
you can celebrate. It doesn't have to be there. Just have some kind
of a party, whether you know, like, I say, Hey, have a nice
party of women, you know, women and girls and really celebrate
these accomplishments.
But it's important for women and girls to see that this is
something that is important for us, too. And you know, another
person that I interviewed, she said, you know, her, her two boys
had memorized, and when it came to her daughter, she was just
exhausted. It wasn't even like, you know, I don't want to do this
for my because she was driving her sons around. And it takes a lot,
you know, and that's a lot of that I'm going to address in the book,
how a lot of it is something that the mothers end up doing, time
wise, you
know, to the masjid and here and there. And she was just exhausted
by the time it came to her daughter, who was her youngest
child. But she said, how can i On the day of judgment,
answer in and tell, you know, have my daughter like,
say, you know, why didn't you give me this opportunity? You know?
Then when you see, we're gonna see in the after that people are gonna
ascend according to how much they of the Quran they've learned, and
that there's no mention that it's only you know the manner, it's
only from. It's both, right? So, really, just supporting daughters
if they want to, want to do this journey alone. Stan, and this is
one of the reasons why right now, like, there's so much focus on
hijab, like the conversation on, you know, a lot of women are
struggling with hijab, and I understand. I'm doing something
called the hijab series, if anyone wants to, like focus on hijab
specifically. But why I wanted to mention this right now is because
we put such an emphasis on modesty, which is so important in
our religion, but then we don't give our women, our daughters, the
tools to love or to see, or to, you know, to even see themselves
in spaces where this is part of their like, they're celebrated for
memorizing the Quran. You know, like, how much more, what more
pious of an act Do you want your daughter to do than memorize the
Quran? But from babyhood, we'll be talking about she should wear
hijab, but we're not giving that same emphasis to she should
memorize the Quran. And unfortunately, when we give that
dichotomy constantly for women, then we're not giving, you know,
this all encompassing, you know, holistic view of how to be a
believer. We just focus on one act which is important in an
obligation, instead of looking at as an entire, holistic believer.
How can we make, you know, our daughters. How can we help our
daughters love Allah, and part of that is loving his book and
celebrating her love for that book and SubhanAllah. I wish that I
could say that that's a shocking story, but I have heard that exact
same scenario from women who have told me about their own
experiences as children and memorizing the Quran, and how the
older they got and the more that they got excited about the Quran,
the more they were told this is really only for men. And I know
that sounds silly. You know, for us, sometimes we're like, come on,
people don't really do that anymore. But no, that's very real.
That's in the United States, that's happening in our
communities. And until we are willing to change that, doctor,
Sadie, you're doing something so important, you're changing Rubble
is doing something so important, it's changing an entire
generation's access to the Quran and access to women's scholarship.
And Inshallah, when we're able to make that not
Oh, it's such a rarity to find you know this, this Masha Allah, this
one sister who's memorized the Quran. When we can have 2030,
4050, women in a community who memorize the Quran all throughout
our communities, Inshallah, we will start seeing a shift in the
way that we have our you know, these conversations about women
and women in Islam, because it's our culture. You know, this
literacy is part of our culture, and that's the thing. It's not
just about the memorization. It's the way it's going to impact your
actions. It's the way it's going to impact.
Impact the way that you look at access to these actions. It's all
united Subhanallah, and it's it's so critical for us to be
comprehensive as communities, people who who build community,
but just hand off your side. Is there anything you want to end
with? I'm so sorry that we took 12 extra minutes from from your time,
but I've benefited so much from listening to you. I feel like all
I want to do right now just go start memory or reviewing right
away. Re reviewing, remembrance. Yeah, right away. Inshallah, what
do you have as tips for all of us? Or, sorry, not tips. Any advice.
Is the last advice before we end? I already asked you for advice. Is
there anything else you want to say? Well, I just wanted to add.
You know how one thing you had mentioned was when you memorized,
even though you didn't know Arabic at the time, but you looked at the
translation, I did the same thing. I always had a translation that I
would look at a page, read through the translation, and that helps my
Arabic too, yes, to add that part too. Don't ever let anything stop
you from embarking on this journey and saying, Okay, before I
memorize, I have to I would say the only thing is learn to tweet.
That's the only thing once you learn to read, if you could, you
know, especially if you can do that fitzwith, then go full force
ahead. Whether you don't know Arabic, yeah, whether you don't
know the seed, Allah has told us that, you know, he has made the
Quran easy for us, right? Yeah, it's, and there's something
beautiful about it, that it has, it is easy, easy to memorize. You
know that the rhythm, whatever, it's the miracle of the Quran,
yes, blessing. I could not memorize probably even one page in
English. I would struggle, you know, even language, but the
Quran, that's the miracle of it, that you don't have to even
understand it, and you can memorize it,
and you'll see the beauty and the barakah fall into your life from
doing that Inshallah, and then, so my advice would just be,
you know, let go of fear.
Stop overthinking. No, don't overthink things. Just make an
intention, and then make, you know, dua, and pray that you know
for Allah, Swat, just open the doors for you and guide you. And
then just, you know, make a commitment every day to set aside
a certain amount of time to the Quran and and just let things go
from there and do. Don't let yourself get paralyzed by by
overthinking or fear or feelings of inadequacy. You know, none of
us are adequate. Let me just tell you that. You know, yes, the
blessing from Allah, none of us. I mean, who really is,
you know, so don't so don't beat yourself up. Just make that
intention. And Inshallah, you know, I wish I could hear from all
of you to hear about all the amazing doors that are going to
open for you, that that open up for you, you know, maybe a year
from now, we can have, you know,
another Id live, and have you all come back and tell us about your
progress. Because,
you know, I know, Inshallah, when you make the intention, you know
you have a pure intention, doors are going to open. So open all the
doors. Quran,
because what you're doing is amazing. Your project of the four
mothers, you know, it's beautiful. Thank you for saying that a
servant to your to your community services. What you're doing for
women and girls is amazing. So male sponsor to continue, it's
been a beautiful I'm so I'm so grateful for all the women who are
participating and who are listening and encouraging it, and
and the men, as well as panel of so many scholars who have, who are
men who have reached out with this, with that, you know,
critical support and encouragement of just women act the same Quran.
So watercolofiki, for your time, for encouraging and inspiring and
motivating all of us to go back to the Quran. Inshallah, we will all
purchase the crowning venture, the crowning venture, and Inshallah,
we will all read it and implement it and share it with everyone and
create this whole new generation of women and men who love the
Quran and can't wait to read it and live it and implement it.
Inshallah, we will continue our conversations off line, but please
follow Dr Sadia. I don't know. Can I like type at the same time that
says this and that? Okay, so I'm going to tag her right now see
that you can follow her. Inshallah, oh, maybe actually,
never mind. You type, you type and say, send out or something. Oh,
okay, let me see you don't even know what I just said. Okay, okay.
You can, alright, follow there. Okay. So until you can follow her,
send her your questions. Bottle colo, fici, Dr Sadi. And to all of
you who joined from all over the world, it has been an honor to
share the space with you. I cannot believe that you're from so many
different places. Tabatical, may Allah bless you and every single
person that you love, wherever you are, and bless our Ummah,
Subhanahu wa take care. Now let's
awkwardly hang out here till I figure out how to get.
Office Subhanallah.