A Thematic Commentary On The Quran #00 Introduction
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Channel: Moutasem al-Hameedy
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AI Generated Summary ©
The title "Art on the Bible" is a combination of a text book and a series of surahs, with each Surah having a central theme. The benefits of the Quran include unlocking people's knowledge, achieving happiness, and reducing the risk of death. Pr practicing the Bible is key to achieving understanding, and individuals are encouraged to engage in the program to improve their understanding of the Bible. The importance of learning the Quran is emphasized, and individuals are encouraged to practice and set goals for the course.AI Generated Transcript ©
Smilla Rahmanir Rahim hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ad he was heavy in order to do.
So.
For a while now we've been debating as to since we were done with the Sierra or the life of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, which I believe took us 66 helicopters. Right, so about a year and a half close to two years actually, with the gaps. So Hamdulillah I think it was, generally speaking a successful palapa in terms of the feedback we got in terms of the consistency consistency of the attendance. And
I think we made quite a bit of reflections on the events. Now, there was a few topics on the table. And
I had to use my
my authority here and use sort of choose a topic to my liking.
So we're going to
try to have an do a commentary on the Quran. Inshallah, we chose to do a commentary on the Quran. It's more like a tafsir class, but it's not tafsir in the technical meaning of the word. Okay, so it's a commentary on the Quran, but it's quite different in the sense and I will explain what how
the idea came from. There's a great book written by someone, one of them Muslims, scholars, would have done a few 100 years back,
he wrote a book called novel novel Medora fita, Nashville area, it was sold, not Madurai to Nashville, it was sold. So he said, he says basically threading,
the old piecing the, the pieces, or bringing the pieces together,
making sort of the beads like the beads that we know
by showing the consistency and the connection between the verses of the Quran to each other, and the sorrows, how they are connected to each other. So it's about this internal consistency, if you like, of the Quran, how the verses connect with each other, how the order is actually perfect, and how the flow of ideas is beautifully put together, and how even the order of the sewers is meaningful. So everything in the Quran is meaningful. It's not just a text like a text book, which you taken is sort of just words that indicate meanings, which is actually part of the Quran, but another part of the Quran Well, that's sort of one dimension of how the Quran communicates. Another dimension you
find in the Quran is
you know, the, the flow and the shifts in ideas and in the style of speech and in the approach and in the topics and in the choice of the length of the verses and
even the the endings of the verses, and how they connect with each other. And then a beautiful aspect, which is another dimension of the Quran is the
thematic unity in every surah.
Although when you read the Quran, sometimes you might they might seem to be quite random, the meanings seem to be quite random at times, like you say, why did the Quran shift from this to this? And seems that one surah is covering a lot of topics randomly.
But if you dig deeper, you will actually find beautiful flow, a beautiful consistency and that everything in the Quran every shift is purposeful.
So there's nothing random, no abrupt sort of verses or words in the Quran. It all flows beautifully.
And we want to see that we want to look at that it helps us actually see how each Surah has one central theme. And this central theme is represented in one of those verses. So each Surah almost each surah in the Quran has one central theme that is represented in one verse, one of its verses. And the beauty about the central theme is that every other sub theme in the same Surah feeds into it.
Every other sub theme, and we have actually more than one level of themes, we have a central theme. We have sub themes, we have sub sub themes as well. So as we get go, let's say through Sawtell Bakara, we will focus first we'll take the level of analysis or
of the overall score was the central theme of Sora. And what is its central verse. And we will connect this to the reasons for revelation, the reasons for revelation. And then we will go
a little bit more high resolution as to the sub themes of the solo.
Show, you'll find in sort of the Bacala, maybe around 10, to 12 sub themes.
And they make the biggest chunks of social Bukhara, so you can actually divide Surah Baqarah into sub themes, main ones. And then within these sub themes, there are sub sub themes, or supporting ideas and arguments. And the for example, the sub themes don't appear in one unity, you'll find it here. But then Allah makes a shift to another sub theme. But then Allah will come back to that previous sub thing, how, and why there are reasons, and there are secrets. So we'll try to dig them out, we'll try to connect them. And when this happens, I tried this a couple of years ago, because it still was you read the Quran, you try to reflect it, sometimes it puzzles you, sometimes you feel
that randomness, but as we said, it's just
it's a perceived randomness rather than real one.
So I've tried to see the connectedness of tried to see which of the scholars spoke about these, some of the books that have co present some of those ideas, connecting ideas. But the like, that doesn't happen often. But the book of Iran will be pi, which is not Medora. He actually, that's what the whole book is dedicated to. And the book is about, if I'm not mistaken, it's about eight volumes. It's a huge collection of or it's a huge collection. It's big, it's really big. And it's quite an encyclopedic work. And he went into details.
So when you start to see this connectedness, all of a sudden, what seemed at one point to be a fragmented surah, in quite huge Surah actually sort of yields itself to you. And you can see, you can sort of identify, you sort of figure it out, in essence, and it becomes much more manageable, much more accessible. And it makes more sense. So when you're reading through the Surah, you know what, which level of analysis you on which level of sub themes you are, and you can see how it connects to the central theme. And you can see the central theme is reinforced throughout this throughout the surah. And that's the beauty of the Quran. So if you start to analyze the colonic
texts that level, man, you're having great time with it, traveling through it, such a beauty, such a joy to read as long Surah because, because you can can see how everything is purposeful. And there's a lot of meanings, there's a lot of, you know, gems to pick up and learn as you're dealing with the surah like this. And
a byproduct of this is actually
contemporary understanding of the Quran. So often times when Muslims read the Quran, they think they're more connected more to the life of the prophets, Allah Allah and He will learn more to universal abstract principles, right? But we don't seem to make the connection between our times our challenges our personal life. And you know, the the lifestyle that we have these days with these verses of the Quran. So, what are
as we go through this Inshallah, you will start to see how the Quran really addresses and it seems as if it actually is dissolved, it's, it's, it's said in a way or it's put in a way that actually addresses contemporary issues. So that brings the Quran to life, it brings it to our lives. And that's by the way, we're our interest lies. Humans are interested in things that have an impact on your life. Once you realize something is helpful in your life, some something that's going to help you out in your personal life professional life, or something that coincides with your interests, all of a sudden you develop an interest in it. And that's what we call value or utility. So in the
Quran, we find the utility in the verses of the Quran, and the meanings of the Quran, all of a sudden becomes irrelevant. All of a sudden, it becomes you know, we feel that relevance, and we feel that connectedness to the Quran. And I intend this.
The series is well to be an opportunity because I know many people would like to go over the diff zero for Quanah. And as I said this, this halacha is not going to be tafsir in the technical sense of the word, but there is a lot of tafsir in it. So those who would like to go over the Tafseer of the Quran.
They will have an opportunity to follow the same piece with this HELOC
and I was thinking of doing something we haven't done before. I think it might work. So we're going to have two levels of the Halacha at the same time you
I'd like to, in one,
by one get one free.
So we have the general approach that we described. But for us, for a special number of students who would like who choose to also work at the other level, simultaneously is that we'll give them homework. So every week, I'll give them a number of verses to read. And they have to choose that sphere to follow. So either they choose the ceramic Ethier or, or the concise lengthier
which the English is actually the English translation is a concise version, as an abridged version of everything you do, it's not the full version, or to seal a Saturday, which I believe was translated a couple of years ago.
Or any other tips here. So we'll give them a homework that they, they actually before they come before we talk about these verses, they've already read it, I've said, already read it of sale. And then I was thinking maybe monthly or BI monthly, and we have a special session for those students are following the second level, or fall in both levels, to have a more in depth discussion.
And I I, I expect that every two months
will we will be able to cover a juicer, every two months, we'll be able to cover a juice, I'm aiming at that pace. So every so hopefully, inshallah over a year, we'll be able to cover about, say five to six Jews Inshallah,
over a five to six years. And again, just sort of, I see this as an opportunity to, you know, to have some sort of a unique access into the Quran. And since it's a group together, it makes it easy for those who want to do their self study on tafsir to make this easy for them in sha Allah. And I'll see maybe the second group is will who will do the both levels at the same time, we might create some kind of online platform where we could maybe have some discussions, answer questions, and share experiences, and you know, some points of benefit. So that should help as well because once you're part of a team, it makes it easy Inshallah, for those who want to follow.
So I thought today's halacha we're going to just talk about how to approach the Quran, how to approach the Quran in a way that makes it relevant or times, it makes it have great utility, and where it can really enlighten us. And literally the Quran, if we try, if we approach it the right way, it can add a lot to your wisdom, it can add a lot to your understanding of life and it can help you in your personal life,
in your public life. And it can help you you know, even with your daily habits, and he can
can illuminate you know, your your say your your approach to life and how it will really inform you even at times of difficult decisions that you have to make, you will find a lot of the principles that you have created a background of principles or a framework of principles that will come in handy that will inform you how to handle different situations in life. And again people usually people you know take the hold on at a very basic level where they think the Quran is only direct instruction.
That's only one way the Quran works with us direct instructions. But the more profound. I would say impact of the Quran is how the Quran helps you create a framework. It helps you build a mindset and personality. And that's what Allah Samantha says you can hit metemma Yasha on the youth and hate metaphor for duty hyaluron cathedral Allah gives wisdom to whomever he wills and whoever is given wisdom, they are given a great share. They are given a great
blessing from Allah subhanho wa taala. And if you have the Quran word, just only straightforward, then would would be done with the Quran by the time of the Prophet saw some of the companions will be
right because the President gave clear instantly like explanations of the Quran, the companions will the allowing them expounded. And they gave that kind of explanation and the early books have sailed would be enough.
But the treasures of the Quran are limitless. And the benefits of the Quran the fruits of the Quran are infinite. And the more you put on the Quran, the more reveals to you that's why the Scholars have always been digging out those treasures from from the Quran. And this is part of the wisdom of the Quran is that it really some of the most profound impacts of the Quran are actually when it helps you create a mindset
is a framework, an inbuilt standard in the background, you don't feel it on a day like you don't feel that it grows on a daily basis. But over time, you realize it's actually it has created, as I said, a background that will, that will make you solid and will make you more stable, that will make you stronger, wiser and more insightful and to life. That's really that rubs off on you. So I'd say the nature of the Quran rubs off on you rubs off on you. That's why we need to deal with the Quran not at a very superficial level basic level of direct instruction as if it's a manual book. And there are some times we tend to give the example or the analogy that the Quran is a manual book, it
might help with a certain argument but it's quite limiting the Quran is not only a manual book, it's a book that transforms you it's it has a life of its own. So our relationship with the Quran should be organic in the sense we should engage with the Quran at a deeper level, a more dynamic and dynamic, more organic level where
and that's the way the companions are the lower number described as to how they actually
how they dealt with the Quran. And this is something that the scholars called Fit who Neff sin, for pull ups fit who laughs is mentioned
a lot by the scholars it and for neffs it means understanding and self and doesn't mean understanding of the self it means an understanding that has become natural.
So you sort of develop an understanding of life and of Islam itself the system of Islam and of everything
that
has you have observed you have absorbed that understanding you have developed that understanding within you and it's from the Quran is from the console, the logic the inner logic of the Quran, if you like very loose expression here, the inner logic of the Quran you have internalized it
you have internalized it as is shaped you that shaped you and that's really what we want the Quran inshallah to do for us, even Allah to hell, I'm gonna share with you a
story from one of the great probably the greatest Professor after Abdullah
is Mujahid.
mudra had a loving Allah
if you read the books of tafsir on those of you who are going to pick for example, even atheists, you're going to find the name of Mujahid popping up most of the time, more Jahad what is his interpretation of this verse with his almost with every verse, you will find his interpretation
mudra had said
I sat with a bass and I recited and I read the Quran to him three times in full
the whole Quran he said out of tune Khurana bass fella Arthur how Bots
as aloof equally Albertan and clearly a
so I recited the Quran to him or her bass three times.
And he lived with him and I bass for such a long time. He was a lifelong student. He learned from him like he said, as a fellow
as a little goofy
goofy, yeah. And
so I recited the Quran to him and I burst something in my mind said it wasn't no matter what. Okay, fair inshallah. I hope I'm right.
I three times each time I asked him about every verse, but every verse in the Quran, every verse in the Quran, how many verses we have a level on above 6000? So he asked him, you know, at best three times, that's not like he did that in a month. He did that over a lifetime. And I would say, why would someone like him, like read the Quran and ask about each verse? Why? Because each time he grew, and each time he learned that, the Tafseer and the meaning and the, the reasons for revelation and everything about these verses of the Quran, and he reflected upon that, and he learned that properly, it helped him grow as a person and in his knowledge, and when he was sort of moved on to
the next level and his understanding, new questions emerged, because that's a new level of understanding. So that's why for a second time you also asked even a bass about each verse
because that was a new level of knowledge for him. So his questions developed his, the state of his inquiry or the nature of his inquiry into the Quran has moved up as moved up to the next another level.
So it was a completely different, it was a completely different type of asking questions. Right. And the third time as well. Third time, as well. So that's why
you find the companies or the allow a lot of people like Mujahid and above.
And a bit earlier, a lot of those people would actually had, like, at some point, they had been slaves, literally slaves, Malik, they were owned by other people.
And they used to do hard work, like I will earlier he was, he was a slave and he wasn't a Muslim. But he saw the companions in Iraq, in Kufa, he saw the Companions he said, we used to, like serve our like masters in their homes, and see how much they were attached to the Quran. We fell in love with the Quran before becoming Muslim.
Because the level of attachment to the Quran, the companions were so much into it, reading it, reciting it, and living it and learning from it.
So they said we became attached to the Quran. And then when we saw all of that we just, we became Muslim, and we became Muslim. We started learning the Quran. So we started learning the Quran.
And he said, so we memorized it. And he said, we used to read the Quran once every day,
once every day, and he said it was too much for us to do it. And do you know, all the work that we had during the daytime was difficult for us, we were not getting enough sleep. So we came and complained to some of the companions and they said, you know, read it, at least every two days, not every day. So we started doing that, but it was still difficult. So they said the companion said, read it every three days. And we did that. It just still was difficult for us. So then we were given the advice to read it once a week,
once a week, and we did that and it worked out and we could do our daily work. And we can still read the Quran once a week, and we can still get enough sleep.
And then it will it becomes one of the greatest scholars.
We just call us to the point that even at basl, the Allahu anhu, when he was the Emir on Iraq with Al bussola, was the Emir of Buster, the governor of Basra. I think that was at the time of Alumina butala, probably Allah.
He would bring a bull Alia and make him sit next to him right next to him. Like some of the the,
the companions and some of the taburiente would say like, why are you bringing the slave, obviously about his past, like he will, he had been asleep, to bring this slave and put him like, give him this honorable position, this higher position higher than everyone else who bring them the closest to you. And he says, have an enemy alpha, Allah, who will be he acquired, we will be here. This is knowledge, Allah raises some people throw it on law puts other people down, due to lack of it.
So not knowledge raises people.
So and then, we'll earlier read the Hadith of the Prophet SAW, and so on and so forth.
So Subhanallah, the companions of the Allahu anhu, as you said, their connection to the Quran, it wasn't like a text, just merely a text that they would read. It was something that would take to heart there is life in the Quran, and you can't sort of arrive that lively liveliness of the Quran, that power of the Quran, the potential of the Quran, unless you invest in it, if you read it, just as a text is not going to yield itself to you. It's just not you have to unlock it. You have to unlock the Quran, how do you unlock it? As much attention and investment you put in that there is no other way. There is no other way. There's no app that gets you dip into the Quran, by the way,
literally, this is hard work that you have to do it. And it's not hard work not solely physical. It's about you giving the Quran your most valuable commodity.
As your attention your focus, you have to give it you wrapped focus.
But you have to really dig deep into it as if your life depends on it because it does. Because it does.
And Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran, will be Fabula he will be like Matthew He, for me, then he can find your file will be made in solid. Jonas, Allah Subhan Allah says, say to them, tell them with the
blessings of Allah. The great blessings of Allah befuddle Allah
and the mercy of Allah. Let them rejoice. That's the real reason for happiness. That's that's the only real reason for happiness, and the amorphous serene from the companions of the Allahu Anhu. And he said, fugly Allah
Kitab Oh Kalam, the great blessings of Allah Allah, His words are on
Mati he and his mercy is the fact that he guided you to His words.
So the only reason to rejoice is that Allah revealed His Verses his words, and he guided us to believe in them and accept them. So the more you have of this, the more you have rights to be really happy and to rejoice. So, so I said, again, what I what I would say,
the Quran is really an opportunity is really an opportunity.
And most of us just don't appreciate it. It's just like someone has a gem, or they have some precious stones, and they they've inherited them. And because there is dust on them, they just don't realize their value. They have them somewhere in the closet, or someone in the storage room, and they don't realize the real value. And they live their life without tapping into that value. Their life could change. If they really realize the value of these gems, precious stones, and they put them to use that's exactly what we're doing with the Quran. We don't realize its real value.
The early generations that's what they did with the Quran they invested in it they invested in and the prophets of salaam says how that Kitab Allah
Who hablo line Mateen
Bala for end Hola Hola. Hola. Hola Herbie AD,
the book of Allah. This is the rope of Allah, one end of it is with Allah and the other end is in your hands.
Simple, that's the way to Allah.
And again this look at the nature of the Quran. The nature of the Quran is divine.
The nature of the Quran is divine. That's why the Sunnah believe
Al Quran Cunnamulla Heelys.
That the Quran. These are the words spoken words of Allah, they're not created. They're not the creation of Allah.
So the Quran has divine qualities. And we're talking about divine qualities. That means it's not like anything of the creation. So why the Quran, which is the speech of Allah is one of the attributes of Allah. It's one of the attributes of Allah subhana wa Tada. And
another beauty about of the Quran is that
there's nothing, there's nothing that resonates. There's nothing that matches
the essence of human nature Agricola
Allah says in surah to level off, he says about himself, Hola Hola. Hola. Como, el amor, to Allah belong to the creation, which is the design of the creation, Unto Allah belong the Revelation.
Revelation,
both revelation is from Allah is the spoken word of Allah. And the creation is the actions of Allah or the the the results of the actions of Allah the action of creation, creating.
And since both are from Allah,
that means there has to be consistency.
So the Quran is the
it possesses the secrets of human nature. And human nature seeks the truth, human nature seeks that's why by the way, people are like, why are people you know, so drawn to?
Technology today? To information is the information age, right? Why are people drawn into this information? This data? Why? Because the nature of the human heart that it seeks answers. humans seek answers, human nature has this void within it, this emptiness within it. And but the structure that the human humans were designed is that humans recognize the need for that, for that information for that data for that knowledge. So it has this first one on just like our bodies recognize the need for food, you know, when a baby is first born, the first few seconds, if you put the baby to the breast of their mother, they start sucking the milk, right? How did they? How did the child even
like Where on earth did this child know that they can do that or they should do that or they need to do that. It's this structure is that Photron that physical structure requires and it seeks that kind of nutrition as designed in a way to, to seek it and to try to have it and to capture it.
That's why the child sucks on the breast of their mother because they want to get that nutrition. The same thing, our spiritual nature, our spiritual football, the nature of our hearts, it seeks that information. That's why if you can't find a child does not curious
children have, like, if you spend some time with a child, like if it's your own child, or if you're a teacher or someone or like maybe your nephew or your niece or
you know, a friend's child, you try to spend 10 minutes with with them. If your child is healthy, emotionally healthy, what's going to happen?
You're going to hear 100,000 questions in 10 minutes, right? What's this? What's that? Why is this? Why is that? Why do you think children get this inquisitive nature?
Allah gave it to them. That's human nature. So if a child is not curious and inquisitive, there's something wrong with him, something's blocking this nature. So our hearts are seeking answers. That's why humans are so much into information.
This is why people get curious and nosy is well, why because it's human nature. So if you and the problem with us is that we actually seeking the wrong sources to fill that void.
But the answers that we seeking are actually in
are actually in the law.
And, but the problem is, as Allah Allah says, holy you can insert or
holy Collinson of an agile, man was created of haste, like the very fabric of humans, part of their makeup.
Part of the
elements is haste.
We're impatient. We're impatient. But usually valuable things reveal themselves after some time after a while.
So this is why the Quran does not reveal itself so easily to people who are hasty. You need to invest in it.
Just like that's the nature of everything of value.
Anything of utility does not reveal itself easily, you have to earn it, you have to earn it. And that's a real, that's by the way corresponds with the human nature because we human humans don't really speak if something comes about easily. We don't appreciate it.
That's it. That's human nature. If something comes about easily, we underestimated
it. We say that in everyday language, when we say we take it for granted.
We take it for granted. So this is why Allah subhanaw taala could have revealed the Quran. So straightforward, right? direct instructions. What Allah needs us to know, here they are filthy rulings, here they are clear, right? Like it's just a definitive, clear statement. Right? Allah doesn't do this. Why?
Because Allah wants us to struggle, Allah wants us to dig deep. Because once we invest, once we put in the effort, and the attention, and we struggled to get
to get the answers, that's when we appreciate them.
That's when we appreciate them. But if they come about easily, we won't appreciate them.
And that's what you find, actually, sometimes, let's say, you find it among people who grew up in an Arab country where they speak the Arabic language, okay, for the most part, you've, and you're someone who's trying to learn the Arabic language and learn the Quran. And you look at a lot of those people who grew up in an Arab country and the Arabic is their first language. You are amazed that and you're puzzled that? Like, Hey, you guys have the tools, why aren't you using it? Right? Why don't you appreciate what you what you have? I'm trying to learn Arabic, I'm trying to learn the Quran. And I'm struggling with this. And you guys don't seem to have an appreciation of what you
already have. Why? Because it came about easy.
And there are people obviously who are
who appreciate the Quran, and who were born in Arab countries, and we speak the Arabic language. But again, they, they they value the Quran for other reasons. But you'll find usually people who have something the easy way, they tend not to appreciate it.
And humans understand that at a very intuitive level,
at a very intuitive level, automatically, and this is one of the mentor. This is called a mental bias by the way.
And social sciences this call what is one of the mental biases is that when something is readily available, it's not
malleable. And that's one reason why teenagers
tend not to appreciate the adults around them.
Teenagers because I mean, teenage years are generally adolescents, generally speaking, and roughly it's, it's from about 12 to 24, technically speaking,
humans or teenagers develop or adolescent adolescents, they, they, they have certain changes, emotional psychological changes that take place within them. One of those is that they start seeking novelty, new things and more independence. And they rebel against tradition in general. So they want something new, they want a break from tradition.
And
they want independence. That's why they usually rebelled against the authority of the parents or the teachers, and they subdue themselves to the authority
of external people, people outside the family, people outside their tradition.
So it's an expected thing to happen. It's an expected thing to happen. Why? Because, you know, when you offer them, whatever you have, and as a parent, you're readily available. And that's why it's advisable. And you if you, if you look at the last year, there was, I think, the richest person in India,
richest person in India, he had his son, I think he was turning 16 or 18 years old. And the guy is a billionaire. He's one of the richest people in the world. And he built himself his wealth from scratch from zero.
And
he got his son
to start from scratch.
And he was I think he was interviewed by a lot of the like, a lot of the newspapers and journals and magazines, as to why did he do this and his son actually in about I think, in about two years, he became a millionaire himself.
He built himself up financially. So when he was asked, Why did you do this with your son, he said, because when money comes easy, you can spend it so easy, I'm going to waste it and you won't be able to keep it. But if money comes the hard way, then you appreciate it. nature of humans, right? Look it up richest man in India. And now we dealt with his son, he said, I want my son to learn life, I don't want to, I don't want to lie to my son and fool him and just offer him this money, because that's not how life works. And if he doesn't earn his money, he would not appreciate it.
So before he's able to inherit this wealth, wealth, he has to earn his own money.
And that's profound. Now, I'm not saying this is I mean, do this with your sons, or that's the right way to approach it. But I'm just speaking, I'm just taking that aspect of appreciation that when things come easily to us, we usually don't appreciate them, we take them for granted. So it's good that with you're generally speaking for parents,
that you don't.
If your children can do something for themselves, don't do it for them.
Let them struggle to get things. And you're not being vicious. By doing that, by the way, you're just giving them some kind of exposure to what real life is. Because if you just offer them whatever they want, whatever, whatever they desire,
you are telling them a lie about life.
Because in life, if you desire something, it doesn't come to you. If you want something, it doesn't, you know, offer itself to you, you have to earn it.
And how you You are the world to your son, as parents, you are the world to son, we actually filter the external world to our children, we are their small world. And they build their assumptions and their understanding and their map of the world.
From their interactions with us of how we treat them, what's the environment we create for them. So if we just make everything the thing they want, we just give it to them. They're going to assume that that's how life works. Because they don't, they don't know any better. They don't have any other other source of learning. That's all they know. You are the summary of the world. You are the you are representative of the world.
And that's what spoiling is. So when they go out in the real world, they'll be shocked. They'll be broken. And guess what? They will blame you.
They will blame you for spoiling them. They'll blame you for being nice to them, right? You think I've done I've given them everything they wanted? Well, that's exactly what's going to turn them resentful
because you took away from them the chance
and the right to learn what the real world is and how it works.
So again, so Allah subhanaw taala he could have just made the Quran so straightforward here it is instructions one plus one equals two that's it get the answer is readily available.
Why didn't Allah who could Allah do this?
He could. Absolutely. In Allah, Allah Khalifa and Kadir Allah is capable of everything. Why didn't Allah do it must be a reason. There must be a reason why did Allah Subhana Allah allow the Muslims to go into differences and the using an illogical reasoning? And the using the yes, the using HD had and they're trying to dig deeper for the meanings, right? They're trying to learn the Arabic language and see how the artwork the Arabs mean by this and by that, and then on a specific topic, get the verses that talk about this, either directly or indirectly, then get the statements from the Prophet sallallahu when he will send them and bring those and see what is the final, you know, the
final understanding of this, right.
And then you will find another scholar who will actually, you know, get the same kind of, of ingredients, but they will arrive at a different conclusion.
And the Muslims keep debating about this, why that's involvement. And it's necessary and it's important. It's important for us, because that's how humans get motivated. Because when you are part of the process, you develop ownership, you ownership and Allah wants us to own our experience with the Quran and our experience with Islam Allah wants to own it loves to get involved in it.
And that's what we want to do with the Quran. We want to own our experience with the Quran.
So when we invest in it, it starts unlocking itself. There's no other way.
There's no other way. And that's the beauty of it. You don't want a beautiful story.
So in the lesson would that totally lie
where the Prophet SAW Selim and the companions went out,
and and the millet on our military expedition, and
they had some kind of a skirmish with the enemy. And then the enemy ran away and the Muslims came back and one of those
one of those non Muslims, I think his wife got injured because she somehow was in the in, in the battlefield, etc.
So as collateral damage, she was injured, and he wasn't there. So when he came, he saw his wife was injured. He made an offer. He said, I'm going to I will not come back home until I shed Muslim blood.
So he chases the Muslim army and Muslim army were heading back to Medina. They were camping at night, the Prophet Solomon one night they were camping between in the valley between two mountains between two hills. And the Prophet Sam says many hills wanna Laila, who would call us tonight. Two of the companions said we will do that one from the Mahajan one from the onset.
So they would take turns.
And the person chose between two hills because there's only it's protected except from one area, the opening of the entrance into that valley. So we don't need a lot of people to sort of Goddess it's only two people is enough. So those two people they took turns. So the unsalted, the Mahajan, one from an ensemble from Nigeria.
They said, Okay, who shall God and the early part of the night and the other girl goes to sleep. And then in the middle of the night, that person wakes up his companion. He starts going and the other one goes to sleep because they have to travel during the day.
So they want the one from them or hygiene. He said I will go to the first part of the night. I will sleep.
So the Ansari goes to sleep.
The one from the Mohan Julian, he's standing up there and he says he's standing up there. And we're just gonna pray.
And he was praying, still observing the way
so he was praying, that guy who wanted to retaliate.
He was watching the Muslims. And he saw this figure standing and he saw an opportunity. He said his his oath was to shed Muslim blood. That's it. If he cut some Muslim in the finger, that's enough for him. So he sees this figure standing. He shoots an arrow
and he hits him
while praying, the Muslim I don't say these stories
We would not believe them had they not come to us through crisp chains of narration that we know for sure they're real.
He's hit with an arrow, he takes it out, he pulls it out, which is extremely dangerous, by the way, because if you hit with an arrow, the arrow still, you know, it cuts through through the body. But the problem is, if you remove it, you allow the bleeding to, to become more perfused. And that's dangerous. So he takes it out.
He's reciting, he's willing.
The guy shoots another arrow, and he hits him, he takes it out. And third, where he does he goes down to quickly down to sujood. And he wakes up his companion.
The other command looks at him and he says the blood and he says Why didn't you wake me up? Like he saw three? Three arrows. Why didn't you wake me up? He said Allah He went to across the middle Quran.
countries across North America while healthy and then he had a 30 Min thought in Islam.
Lama Kobato karate, he says Allah He I was reciting a surah from the Quran. Had it not been for my fear that I would betray the Muslims by not guarding them. By just being so busy with my prayer, right and focusing on my prayer and not telling him about this threat that is coming, then I wouldn't have cut off my recitation.
Do you imagine the pain of someone being hit with an arrow
not once, not twice, three times, three times and then the guy runs away.
He said I could not disengage. Basically, I'm paraphrasing from the beauty that I was experiencing in my recitation of the Quran.
I wasn't willing to do that. But I feared that I might die or something might happen to me or there could be an army that's attacking us and I'm not and I felt one one the Muslims and the taken by surprise, I don't want to take the sin of that. As the only thing that made him cut off his recitation and finish his prayer quickly.
What level of beauty is that?
You can you can tell this person was really this competitor was enjoying the Quran has such a level that was profound about earlier that we spoke about.
The Tabby will Alia that we would add it for example, he recited the Quran to ignore a bass he recited the Quran in the presence of Amana hubub. He read the whole Quran terminal Nakata with Alana himself. He was he can scribed himself on a military expedition. He's he used to do that regularly.
And he was checked medically, medically by a doctor, which was the rule of the time to make sure that he was fit. And the the doctor realized he had gangrene in his in his ankle.
Which was obviously going to eat up his his neck.
And the doctor said we have to chop off your leg.
And he said, Well, if you have to do it, go ahead and do it.
He said, but we have to give you this kind of intoxicant.
In order to sort of, you know, numb you down, like numb you down. And so you don't feel the pain because we're going to saw through your leg to the bones and the flesh, right?
And he said, No, no, no, I'm not going to do that. I'll tell you what, he said, Bring me someone who recites properly and beautifully.
And let me listen to him. And when you see my eyes are wide open, and I'm completely into it, you start sewing up my leg.
And it's an authentic story, by the way, this one.
And that's exactly what they did.
And the doctors like this doctor was what was she like was shocked. You did not display any sign of pain.
And as I said, had these stories not come through authentic chains of narration, we would not believe in them.
But it's possible that you know, and that's the power of the human spirit that when humans are engaged with something as such a high level, we transcend sometimes our physical nature.
So he said he said I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel anything.
And that's true. I mean, we can experience that at a basic level. Let me tell you how. Sometimes you might be hungry, or you might have some kind of pain or headache. And if you're someone who reads
novels, for example,
and you enjoy you enjoy reading
For example, and you're reading, you actually you will be completely taken away from your pain, you want to experience it, it's there.
But you just don't feel it.
Why? Because you're fully engaged, your life energy is directed in a completely different part of your being that you don't feel you're disconnected from the physical pain.
Something more more relatable.
You're experiencing some kind of pain in your body, they say, pain in your body, and any any part of your body.
And a situation comes up when you receive the news, for example of the passing of your uncle or your father or your son.
You're temporarily numbed out completely of the pain, you don't feel it.
You don't feel it. Or let's say you're walking down the street and you have this toothache.
And as you're walking down the street, there is this struck that where the driver lost control at a crazy speed. And it's really heading to like directly heading towards you.
All of a sudden, your survival mode kicks in, and you run everywhere, and so on and so forth, right? For probably for about 1520 minutes. In this rush of adrenaline in a ways your toothache is gone, you don't feel it.
So these kinds of experiences are readily available to humans. And honestly, it doesn't have to be like a pressing situation. But it seems that these companions were able to access that kind of beings state of being or existence, because they're so connected to the one. What makes the Prophet sallallahu sallam, you know, pray at night. And in one locker recite Surah Al Baqarah Surah Nisa Surah
to the point that his own feet and his own heels crack the skin cracks and bleeds.
And then when his wife actually Ilona asks, on Messenger of Allah, why do you do this? Allah has forgiven you, he's a fellow, shall I not be thankful service. That means the program was entering an area or a state of being that will transcend that physical limitation.
And that's the engagement that we want with the Quran.
Is it only like, is it not accessible to us? I would argue it's accessible, why not? Why not.
But we're just not investing in it. And I tell you, some people experienced this as they play video games.
As they play video games, some some kids stay up for two consecutive three consecutive days.
And like they don't realize it, right, especially with those online games that you're playing with other other people like life write fortnight, and
you just don't realize you don't even feel the passing of the type of time.
You're entering an area of complete full engagement.
And again, there's a one of I think, a tablet in the lobby,
who is known as well, he used to, again can ascribe himself with Muslim expeditions. And one day at night. And by the way, this is something again, because we seem to be trapped in our times. By the way. Yesterday, I read the title of an article that in the last 45 years, we humans killed.
I can't remember the percentage Exactly. But we killed about 70% of wildlife on Earth, the last 45 years.
By the way, Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula was full of lions, tigers,
and wild cats.
The same applies to a sham Iraq, even Iran, Pakistan, India, there's a lot of wildlife. So so let's not forget our standards on history. So Abdullah in Africa, he was with the Muslim army and they would leave him at night to he would God that's like the companion probably Allah I know. And one day they were in the woods and they hear this like a lion is around they can hear the roar of a lion.
People automatically took to shelters, so they knew how to handle that. I don't know they would. They would seek some kind of shelter or whatever. This guy was praying, family.
And he would not move and people could see him from their shelters like, what's this crazy man doing? Like you could be eaten by a lion.
This guy is there and when the danger was gone,
like they're amazing. They said like, why didn't you move?
He said, Allah in Nina esta Haman, Allah and the halfa hadn't see why he says I feel so shy of Allah that I feel other than Him.
And that's the level of engagement we're talking about. And again, the plan offers the offers us this, it does offer us that. And the Quran is just as we said, is just identical to our nature. It corresponds, that resonates with our nature, but it's just we're not allowing that full match. We're not allowed you know, when you buy, when you buy a new watch,
what do you do first thing you do, there is a piece of plastic they have to remove right.
And once you remove it, the clock starts or the watch starts ticking. Why?
So that piece of plastic was holding the battery from the from being connected to the circuit.
Otherwise, it is it is ready, the batteries is full is ready to feed,
you know, electricity, or the electric current into the system under the the circuitry.
But that piece was holding it back it was it was blocking it. And that's exactly what we are doing our the Quran is like that battery and our souls and ourselves and our minds. And our human system is just like the watch that would run on that live feed from the battery from the Quran. But we're not allowing it to come together.
We're not allowing it to come together. That's the whole point. We putting that barrier in. And that barrier is our desires, our attachment to this dunya our assumptions that we have in our minds, and our insistence and persistence to be
overly intellectual. Even with the Quran, we're not allowing ourselves to flow with it.
You know, the Prophet SAW Selim as the Quran as Jabri was revealing the Quran to him.
The Prophet sallallahu sallam, he wanted to make sure that he's not going to forget any of the Quran that he's he was able to recite it as Jabril recited it and he was trying to repeat it and to bring was reciting it. You know, sometimes you pray and you know, some people want to recite Surah Fatiha for the Imam starts reading the other Surah right. And it gets annoying, right? Because they're rushing through it. And
sometimes they make this noise because they're so careful. They want to get it the Prophet SAW Selim was doing something similar because he really was reciting. And the person was reciting it with him or after him because because he doesn't want to lose it. He sort of wants to train his tongue or rehearse it through his tongue. So at least he catches it. What is the last one that says that to her to be here is an Achilles
in Lena
says that to heart rate behavior, don't move your tongue don't sort of recite, like rush through the Wizard of Oz do breed is reciting the tragedy. So you're just you're trying to be hasty to catch it fully. And make sure you don't forget it.
In early you know, Jim Khurana it's upon us to put it together, bring it together.
And to teach you how to recite it and teach you it's meanings going to teach it to you. So we'll make you receptive
for either follow up now, for
when we have combined it together, or when we have revealed it to you follow it, you'll be able to follow it.
So Allah Sandra was saying to the Prophet Salam do not engage in this trying to catch it.
Again, we're reciting the Quran, we try and soak carefully, just
I mean, there's nothing wrong by the way, the fixing the recitation and committed read and the Mahajan, all that stuff. There's nothing wrong with memorizing the Quran. There's nothing wrong with understanding intellectual autoplan means, but there is an experience of the Quran where you have to engage with it at the heart level, the level of your heart you saw, where you have to have just flow with it. Allow yourself the luxury to be there to flow with the Quran.
So Allah, Allah was saying to the person, do not get into the technicalities. Now, don't just rush through these technicalities open up to it be receptive. So so the opposite of trying to repeat after Gibreel on Instagram was to do what
you're receptive. Pay attention. Just like in the classroom, you find students trying to catch every word and law or they want to type everywhere, they don't want to miss anything. Right? Especially, you know, previously when they didn't have the tools to sort of record video, audio, etc. And that wasn't very common, like a lucky person would have one of the
Those are cassette recorders, smaller ones, and they would put them on a table when the speaker was there.
But most people didn't have the luxury so they would take notes.
And so people would do that. And in the in the rush to take the notes, they would miss out on the class. You're not engaged because you have a limited capacity for attention. You're given all of that to the words
and you're missing out on the experience. Again, the word is experienced, you're missing out on the experience, you can experientially learn by being present.
Being present by opening up you can recite the Quran and just listen to yourself as you recite
and experience the Quran.
Something we usually don't learn
or most often we don't learn that.
But that's really how the whole answer recited and there's different types of reciting Quran.
You can recite the Quran to correct your recitation.
You can there's another type of decision. So the Quran to understand the meanings intellectually, there is a recitation of Quran where you you spiritually experienced the Quran
there is a recitation where you
memorize the Quran
allow yourself different types of recitation. So again, we want to experience the one so last month I told the professor salam to not rush through it, have the full experience have the full experience and the prophets of Solomon he was asked about a way KPIT colourway problem says
he only a teeny Castle solitary jealous, like the the the like the sound of a bell like the ringing of a bell.
Face Off slim Oh, honey waka do it too.
Then when it's done, when it leaves me that kind of banging sound, when it leaves me, I sort of come back to my senses having memorized the revelation.
So the problem was going through levels of consciousness during the revelation process. So he was experiencing it at a different level. So again, sometimes we need to offer ourselves to, to experience the Quran at that level. So again, so to recap, so inshallah the Halacha
is going to be we're going to take some sort of,
like slightly different approach to what we are used to, to the Quran, where we are going to see, I would say, the internal consistency of the Quran, and the thematic unity of the sores in the Quran, that will help us by the way, because
it's very helpful for us to understand the central theme, then the sub themes and the sub sub themes. And so when you see it as a tree of meanings of themes, everything is interconnected. It's a web of connection, and that's when our understanding deepens, and that is conducive
for our spiritual experience of life. So Inshallah, that's what we're going to do.
I won't call it an FCM Halacha, but I would call it a commentary, a commentary on the Quran. So we will go through this journey together in sha Allah. And I said, it's an opportunity for those who want to go over tafseer that they pick one tafseer that is available to them, those who have access to the Arabic language, I would recommend tafsir Ibn katheer or tafseer Sadie. And again, those who don't have access, both of them are translated into English. So I would recommend you actually,
it's quite an investment. So if you have the book, perfect, if you want to purchase it, it is a great investment. If you don't want to do that, I think you can download it. And again, a disclaimer, I'm not saying it's okay to download or any or anything like that I don't take like, I don't take any responsibility for this. I do acknowledge that people who do effort, they have a right to reap the fruits of their effort to be able to sustain it. But again, if something is available, or if the author allows with the publisher allows that you download the stuff and many publishers actually do allow the download of their of their publications. So I would, I would say,
Take that. If something hasn't permission, then take that and give it preference because that's Baraka That's *.
So whatever is available to you, it's a great investment to have it. It's an opportunity for you to go over Tafseer as I said, we won't go over the tafsir verse by verse, we'll go over set the main themes want to see how the themes connect, and how the shifts happen in the Quran. So hopefully this will we'll see the smooth
flow
Have the meanings and the themes in the source of the Quran. And this should give us a map, we can actually map out a sewer afterwards like once we're done with the Surah, it becomes very easy for us to map it out and see how the different elements connect with each other, and how they all you know, feed into the central theme and we see then there's no randomness in the book of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada.
And there is no abrupt kind of shifts as we study, I would recommend as well, those
those who just want to take the class LD halacha the basic level, if you guys can have access to one of the translations of the Quran, I do prefer one of them, which is quite easy. And that's the clear Quran. The clear Quran is named the clear Quran, and it's done by Dr. Mustafa, he's the Imam of Anatolia masjid, he's done quite a bit of work, may Allah reward him, it's very accessible. It's in almost everyday English, almost anyone can relate to it, even if they don't have, you know, if they have basic level of education, most people can even like children are able to understand it and relate to it. That's actually helpful. So if you can get your copy,
I think they're sold even for $1, a copy they sold for $1, copy, Canadian copy, I believe that's quite affordable for everyone. And it's a good thing to have, by the way. So because we will be like, I'll tell you how many verses are what are the verses that we will cover for next week, and so on and so forth. It's better to do the homework when you come having read, you know, the verses we're going to cover, your experience will be completely different, honestly, because you have a headstart, you know what we're talking about, you start building on it, and it will make much more sense than at the basic level, those who want to go at a deeper level. And they want to, as I said,
Follow our pace, as they do their own set of the Quran Shala we probably have a monthly meeting or a bimonthly meeting with those
that I hope will be consistent, and inshallah we can go into deeper issues of Tafseer and consent so they can and maybe I'll see if it's available or if it's doable, that we have some kind of an online platform, where there's an exchange of ideas and questions, and we have another learning experience. So hopefully, inshallah we'll do this. So I'll stop here and take a few questions if there is any.
Okay, it's good. You asked this question because it reminded me of something. Along with this, we're going to take some of the principles of tafsir so some of ossola tafsir. So we have a small book by shaking Islam, Tamia resigned a few scientists here, small book, or a treatise on the principles of Tafseer. There's also a book by coadjutor Hassan, effective CDIO Cron. The beautiful rules for the interpretation of the Quran by Imam is Sadie Inshallah, we're gonna we're gonna sprinkle those over the hellos. So, it adds a variety to the Hello by itself and our background to sort of what we are doing as well as we are talking about some of the meanings.
So for next week, Inshallah, we're going to have some kind of an introduction.
And depending,
this rests with you. So if we have the numbers, so the Halacha starts at 730. So if there's a good turn up at 730, there's a good number,
then we'll most likely start talking about sorting fattier. So we have an introduction and we'll talk about a little bit of the principles of Tafseer and then we'll get into sawtry Fatiha if there is not enough numbers that's going to slow us down by the way. So it's gonna slow us down there's no numbers have to wait 10 minutes 15 minutes, then we will start we'll try to go slow to give people more opportunity to join the class. So again, your your your arrival at 730 is going to help the class a lot. It's going to help make it a more of a rewarding experience inshallah for everyone.
I will try to make use of the time as much as possible. So again, if we have a good number at 730 Inshallah, we will be able to get into Surah infatti Bugnet Allah Jaya, okay
okay to experience the Quran the same level as the companions that we talked about
I would say.
So there are things that are direct that directly sort of help us
or help promote us into the state or this kind of experience with the Quran. And there are things that indirectly get us there. So directly and indirectly, I will say the indirect
reasons that should help us or create a background for that. And moreover, a base course for this is obviously memorizing Quran, learning how to recite it
read reading the Tafseer on understanding the meanings, and obviously learning the Arabic language. So these are these, these things build the foundation.
And the things that would directly get us into this state, I would say is mainly.
And I would recommend this and I will keep recommending it through the Halacha is to develop a routine, you can start weekly on the weekends, I would say Friday and Saturday, pray to like our family. And if you if you haven't memorized enough of the Quran to do that you can hold the most half because okay, I'm late, it's okay, hold the most half and read and have this regular, consistent. And if you can, able to move that to do it on a daily basis, where you start to experience the colonies, you're standing alone at night and avoid distractions, if you have kids, if you have siblings, etc, you know, I would definitely recommend you go into
you know, your own room or
a room where there's no disturbance or interruptions and dim the lights. And, again, my preference would be you could either read or which I don't recommend you know, technology I would say hold a small bus half and get one of those you know, small lights for for the books, what do they call them, they emanate
reading lights, yeah, those reading lights, get one of those. And I know you can get some of them cheap.
I would recommend this or having a small dim light that's where if you have one of those spotlights that's just on the most half were you able to read without cuz
the time of the night as the last one that says internationally at the lady here shouldn't do up unworkable Maquila that the time of the night brings closeness or sort of shortens the distance between the tongue and the heart.
And you don't want to spoil the darkness of the night and the the tranquility and the peace that it brings with so much light.
So I would say the direct the direct tools to get us there is that kind of experiential approach to the Quran, more spiritual approach to the world, where you just read the Quran,
to let it flow into your heart.
Read the Quran, to let it flow into your heart.
It probably takes time to start to know what that actually means and to experience that, but it is something real, it is there and we look at the Prophet life The Prophet said and his experience the compensatory Allah.
So I would say
also, like apart from family having time, I would say allocating time regularly to just read the Quran in that in that way.
So these are the direct and indirect ones I would say generally speaking.
Yeah, one more question.
Okay, so Inshallah, see you next week again, 730. Please. I mean, if you have friends, if you have family members who would be interested, we think you'd be interested in this. Let them know, let them know about it. It's 730 Every Friday insha Allah and
I would say it's better to start right from the beginning than you know, try to catch up later on. It just makes it a little bit harder for people to catch on later on. Okay, so see you next week. Sure. Allah Subhana Allah Morbihan decrescendo Allah, Allah and stuff, look over to Blake