Nouman Ali Khan – How to Study the Quran Q&A

			because Arabic is the key to Islamic Studies. Yeah. Right. But you you cannot get Arabic until you
have the right motivation. Yeah. And getting that run through the entire Quran will give you I'm
telling you lifelong motivation. Yeah. Talking about this in theory said no, no, you know what I'm
already motivated, I'm gonna go to the Arabic, I'll see you in a month when you quit. And that's
what I feel my role is for younger people like what I did over a decade and a half you can do in a
year you can do in six months. Yeah. And I become the stepping stone for your progression
progression. Yeah, right. But the, the reason my work isn't an alternative to the study of the
		

			Quran, I see it as a stepping stone to the study of not.
		

			So stead for an average Muslim, what would you say is a good path for learning?
		

			It's a good question, I look my experience, sort of limited to study of the Quran. And then the rest
of Islam kind of started falling into place for me as I was studying the Quran. So I can only
recommend what I experienced, and maybe somebody else will have a very different recommendation than
I will. But
		

			what's cool about my recommendation plan is that more and more scholars that I look up to and that
I've admired, that are more like diversified in their knowledge than I am, across multiple sciences,
now endorse my view on this. So I feel much more validated in making this recommendation. And that
is that I think, the thing that the message that changed the world that the Prophet brought
fundamentally was the Quran. And then the practice of the proposition is an application of the
Quran. So it's as if the application, you know, when you're studying a chapter, and then there's
examples. Yeah, so the Quran is like the chapter and the Prophetic practice. So the Sunnah is the
		

			examples. Right? It's putting that to practice so. So you shouldn't you can't be studying the
examples. Without without knowing what are the examples of you see what I'm saying? So getting a
comprehensive view of the Quran is a really powerful starting point. Yeah. And then as the Quran
gets studied, the Prophetic practice keeps getting touched on. Yeah. And it builds in my view, it
builds your appreciation of the Sunnah in the shade of the Quran. So and therefore you get a
comprehensive picture of the religion. Yeah, so the real question is, how do you properly study the
Quran? And for the average Muslim? That's really what the question. Yeah. So in my head, there's
		

			like a three four step. process. I don't think you should start with Arabic. Yeah, I don't think so.
Because you're not motivated enough to keep going, okay? Like, you're gonna be investment of
investment, you're gonna be fired up in the beginning, and then you're not gonna feel the
motivation, you're gonna taper off and you're gonna quit. Yeah, so you kind of ended before you even
started. So don't don't stop there. Yeah, so you don't start with Arabic? It's just a bit I know
you. You're lazy. This is not a good idea for you just don't do it. Yeah.
		

			So what I did what I tried to do as well, how can I help the average Muslim get started with the
Quran? Because the problem is, when you're reading translation, you guys tell me what problems do
you face? When you read an English translation of the Quran? It's not like it's quite the English is
quite difficult to understand. Okay, and you're an English major.
		

			Experiencing, I guess, someone else's version of how they've understood the so you feel a disconnect
from the direct language. Also, it doesn't give like a full definition, for example, 100 level
Barlaam. In finance, Praise be to Allah, you're missing some of it. Thanks, faith, Allah as well.
Right. So there's, there's only one glimpse of meaning and several facets are missing, right? Other
folks have identified like, I don't see how things are connected. Or I don't see how this subject
was followed by that subject. But I don't see why there's so much repetition, etc. So you get these
challenges when you're trying to read the translation, then you say, okay, you know what, I'm just
		

			gonna study tafsir. Right. And first of all, in English or other languages that I've seen resources
are limited. But even if they're not limited, they seem sometimes too complicated. Yeah. Like it's
not, it's not. Because we're talking about the average Muslim. Yeah. Many movers who didn't write
their work with the average Muslim in mind. Yeah, they wrote it for their students. Yeah. Right. So
which is a different category of people? Yeah. Right. So my work became, okay, how do I take it? How
do I give folks more than translation? do justice to the fear without using AFCD language? So that
becomes a bridge to where they get intermediate enough, that when they do go to the tough series,
		

			they can Okay, now that makes sense. Okay, now I'm not intimidated. So there's an intermediate step
necessary for which translation wasn't enough, right? That's at least how I saw it. Yeah. So I did a
commentary on the entire Quran kind of like, I like to compare it as what to a video game
walkthrough. Right you know,
		

			members that make a walk, turn left here, right here, you're gonna see this boss, you can't if you
don't upgrade this weapon, you're not gonna get back.
		

			So I did like a basic walkthrough through the entire Quran and like, Hey, here's the thing that's
commonly misunderstood when you read the translation. Here's something that people commonly ask when
they get to this idea, but not getting super hardcore on every detail, just kind of let's walk
through that the whole thing, right? I call that a concise commentary. Yeah. So I put that together
and put it on being a TV and that and my recommendation to anybody who says, Hey, what do you
recommend? Well, I recommend take advantage of the years of work. So here's how, how about you start
with that maybe 20 minutes a day, on your commute to work on you're just kind of kind of take a
		

			year, take a year and a half, get through the whole thing. It's about 300 hours, right? Just get
through it. But no, no does. You're not taking notes, you're not listening to an audiobook
		

			or a podcast. So this is your Quran podcast, you're gonna you're gonna turn the Quran into your
podcast, you're gonna go through the whole thing briefly. And even as you're listening, you might
say, hey, he didn't go into detail here. But I have questions. Yeah, he didn't answer those. Right.
So what what that will do is it will generate a real thirst in you about certain places in the
Quran. Right, and curiosities. And it will also over time, it will make you more and more
dissatisfied with the dependency on me. Yeah, like, Why do I have to, like, experience it through?
Through me? I want to do it myself. How can I how can I get what he already has? I want it for
		

			myself. Yeah. Not vicariously through him. Yeah, that will generate the real drive and energy that
you will need to study. Arabic. Because Arabic is the key to Islamic Studies. Yeah. Right. But you
you cannot get Arabic until you have the right motivation. Yeah. And getting that run through the
entire Quran will give you I'm telling you lifelong motivation. Yeah. Talking about this in theory
said no, no, you know what, I'm already motivated. I'm gonna go to the Arabic I'll see you in a
month when you quit. Let's do this. And we'll have a first of all, you have an intellectual bond
with the Quran. And second of all, you will have the thirst to want to connect with it personally.
		

			Right? Yeah. And that's when you get into the Arabic studies. Now once you get into Arabic studies,
there's the next challenge. The next challenge is there are complicated issues in the Quran
sometimes. How do I deal with them? And I'm telling you 15 No, not 20 something years of studying
the Quran now, there are issues I haven't dealt with yet in the Quran that I'm going to need time to
be able to process them for myself to my at a basic level, I could talk about it, but at a deep
level, I'm dissatisfied with what I know. Yeah. Right.
		

			So then that's why I did the deeper look series. Okay. Here are the solos where I have taken a
deeper dive. Yeah, maybe I can help you here. And as your Arabic progresses, you can fact check what
I'm saying with the Mufasa rune and with your own reading, because you know, you have Arabic to the
access to the Arabic Right, yeah. And so I took advantage of the life work of several other people
the life work of a shout out to Mr. Allah double life work of Dr. Sol Rahman.
		

			And even when we read that the fears were taking the advantage advantage of the life work of
someone. Yeah, like we're reading in 20 minutes, what they what they,
		

			you know, that Surah mystery was taken in six months. And I could do it in five hours. Yeah. Right.
So. And that's what I feel my role is, for younger people, like, what I did over a decade and a
half, you can do in a year, you can do in six months. Yeah. And I become the stepping stone for your
progression progression. Yeah, right. But the the reason why my work isn't an alternative to the
study of the Quran, I see it as a stepping stone to the study of the right. And then you you might
find yourself having learned from me and disagreeing with me on many, many things. Yeah. And, in
fact, I celebrate that, that progression, because that's what I'm a product of, I'm a product of
		

			disagreement, product of inquisitive thinking, asking questions. And just because I arrived at a
certain conclusion that I find candidates number one, and you are free to arrive to a different
lens, so long as your loyalty is to the text, your loyalty is to the truth. Yeah. Then you're right
to explore and be convinced and find better argument. And, you know, that's actually what the Quran
deserves. Because your loyalty is not to you, to me, it's actually
		

			you know, you must become more independent as a student and brave, in fact, yeah, so this is one of
the things that are so cool about my own journey that I really, I can't think ally enough, I became
famous for whatever reason, and
		

			I got access to some very powerful scholarship around the world because of my fame that I probably
never would have had, like WhatsApp direct message access to otherwise, and now I get to ask those
people at the top of their fields
		

			Yeah, really unabashed, unfiltered questions about what? Because I have a safe space with them.
Yeah, for my own exploration. Yeah, right. I think that's one of the biggest blessings in my life.
So the hugest blessing, I don't have to have reservations about what I'm exploring, you know, in
this study, so, and that's why I want to do the best that I can with it, because I do see it as a
responsibility. But what excites me is actually this young generation of people that are coming,
that are going to see my work as not the endpoint, but like the endpoint, the endpoint of my life,
is just a starting point for them. That's what I see is really, really exciting. That's why I
		

			decided that this work that I'm doing is not even, I don't think it's smart of me to do it myself. I
need collaboration, I need to work with others, and study as a group. So I just developed
collaborative learning models for myself for Quran study. So it's a group of scholars group of
students that work together and study any thought on that we're working on. And I think so, to come
back to the question. Take us like a systematic journey through the Quran. Yeah, let me help you for
a year or two, then get into Arabic. If you can't afford to go to Egypt or Jordan or wherever else,
then do it online with me. And if not, would be with someone else. But just do it finish at least
		

			master the Arabic sciences after that, because you'll have the motivation to see it through. And
then as you're navigating the Quran, thick Hadith, Surely all of that will start coming into play as
you're navigating. This is a part of like the journey itself. Yeah, yes. Who truly puts the Quran at
the center, which it's supposed to be Yeah, yeah.