Shakiel Humayun – Let the Quran Move You Friday Sermon at University of South Florida
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AI: Transcript ©
Throughout
time,
Allah Subhanahu
sent prophets and messengers
to this world
with messages
and guidance.
And when these prophets and messengers came,
they were met a lot of the times
with
rejection and doubt.
People
doubted and said,
how can a human being guide us?
The logic was that since you're a human
being and I'm a human being,
how can you have connection
with the creed of the universe and I
don't have this connection?
So Allah Subhanahu with these messages
and with these revelations,
Allah sent miracles to these prophets and messengers
to validate
that those messages.
And these miracles weren't just some supernatural
apps because during those times, magicians and sorcerers
were flying in the air and doing sorcery
and doing supernatural acts.
But when these miracles came, they came for
a specific
purpose.
And that specific purpose was
that this miracle is coming as a challenge
to you.
And so when Moses alaihis
salam threw down his staff, that was a
challenge. It was just not
an ordinary supernatural
act, but it was a challenge
that those who
doubted that that this message was from God
almighty
had to meet this challenge.
And so, throughout time, these miracles that came
as challenges
were unmet and it validated the message
that these prophets and messengers brought.
But when it came to the time of
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
Allah
combined the message and the miracle into 1.
The message
became the miracle.
And so the Quran
was not just a revelation and a guidance,
but a miracle as well.
And so,
when the challenge of this miracle was to
produce
a chapter close to it, something close, not
equal,
not like it, something close to it.
The top scholars of the Choreish, the polytheists,
they got together speaking about
these verses that were revealed.
And amongst them was one of
the top ones, his name was Aluwaleed ibn
Maghir. He was a noble,
a scholar,
an entrepreneur,
and he said, I'm gonna go
to Muhammad
and
see what he has to say.
So he went to the prophet Muhammad
and said,
you know, tell me
read to me, recite to me what you
got.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam recited
That surely God enjoins
justice,
grace,
courtesy to your near relatives.
And he forbids
indecency,
evil, and aggression.
He instructs you with this so that you
may be mindful. Now, the English translation does
no justice
to what it sounds like, what it feels
like, what it means in the Arabic language.
Al Walid ibn Mughira, when he heard this
verse being recited,
he was overwhelmed.
He was a man of knowledge.
He understood
an amazing piece of material when he heard
it.
So, he said to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam,
repeat it again.
And so, the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam recited that verse again to
him.
And Walid ibn Mughira was processing
these amazing words,
analyzing it on a scholarly level.
Of course, this sermon here is no time
to go into details
of this verse, but just to throw out
some
snippets,
the verse has contrast, the beginning with the
end. The verse is balanced in its weight.
The verse has a flow.
The verse is not just a bunch of
words, but has deep meaning that can be
broken down and chapters can be written just
on this one verse.
So Al Waleed, who was a scholar, was
processing and analyzing all this.
And then he said,
Inna lawu lahala wa
inna alayhi raqalawah.
He said,
this Quran
has sweetness
and there is delight
and a charm
to these words.
And he walked away. Not able
to come, he didn't dare to recite
or create
another set of verses. He walked away.
And so then people started to hear that
Al Waleed went to the prophet Muhammad
and he was moved by the Quran.
Abu Jahl could not tolerate this.
Abu Jahl rushed to Al Waleed and said:
Hey, listen, we have gathered so much wealth
for you.
Alwaleed said, don't you know that I am
the most wealthy in town?
He said, listen,
we don't want the people
to think that you were moved by the
Quran.
Please publicly
denounce it,
disparage the prophet Muhammad and the Quran. Say
something negative.
Al Uyid Al Muzira,
he said, what do you want me to
say?
A man cannot
create these verses. A man can't come up
with these statements. He knew.
He said, what do you want me to
say? At that time, on the streets, people
were saying that he
made these verses up, he fabricated them.
And Alwaleed al Mulkira was concerned about his
reputation, that if he said something stupid like
that, the other scholars would laugh at him
that this is not possible. So, Alwaleed said,
look, I am the most knowledgeable
in poetry,
in ballads.
I am the most knowledgeable even when it
comes to the poetry of the jinn. I
know that better than all of you,
and this is not
the fabrication of a human being. What do
you want me to say? Abu Jair was
so desperate.
He said, say something negative. Just say something.
Al Ueli said, let me think about it.
Because he knew he couldn't say something stupid.
And so he said,
seharu yotha. But this is seha, it's magic.
If he said it was
a fabrication, he knew
he would not look good. If he said
the prophet Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wa sallam was
a liar, he knew that everyone knew that
the prophet Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wa sallam was
the most honest person.
But the thing that was
least explainable is this phenomenon of magic and
sorcery and so he said, I'm gonna label
it as such and he walked away with
that.
But deep down inside he knew
that this
was not sorcery or magic because Alwuri
knew what sehr was, he knew what magic
was. And he knew
that this was something
that came beyond this world.
My dear brothers and sisters,
this Quran
moved
this human being
who is not a muslim
Simply
from one angle
because he understood
the Arabic language.
He was a scholar
of the Arabic language.
He understood its merits,
it penetrated, hit him
and he was not able to come up
with any other
verse
to meet the challenge.
It's something for us to ponder
about
When Tamia said that understanding
the Quran
and the sunnah, the hadith
is an obligation
And they cannot be understood
properly and correctly
except in the Arabic language.
Because in reality, they're just so much lost
in translation.
So much.
And I'll give you one small example.
In the English language, the word generous
is a term
that is used, and we all know what
it means.
But in the Arabic language,
there are multiple words for the term generous.
And so when the Arabic word is being
used
in the English translation, when we read the
English translation, all we see or read is
the word generous.
So there's a lot lost in translation.
For example,
the word
in Arabic means generous.
The word al Jawad means generous.
The word al kareem means generous.
What's the difference?
Asaghih, the first one, means generous
but this is applied to someone who's generous
when you ask him for something.
When you ask him for something, he'll be
generous and he'll give.
Al Jawad, the second term,
on the other hand,
is someone who's generous
without you having to ask. The person sees
that you're in need or you need help
or there's something
that
can benefit you out of his generosity without
you asking, he will give.
That's called al Jabad.
Al Kareem is also translated as generous but
it's at higher level than al Jawad.
So when we see the English, all we're
seeing is generous but we're not realizing what
kind of generosity we're talking about.
And this is why one of Allah's names
is not As Sakeem, the first one,
which means you're generous when you're asked.
But his name is Al Jawad, that he's
generous without you having to ask him. And
he's Al Karim, that he's generous on a
super high level.
So amongst his name is Al Jawad and
Al Karim. So there's a lot lost in
translation with the meanings of the word. And
then in the Arabic language, there's something called
which is the science of eloquence and it
is
gonna be impossible to explain that here.
But in a nutshell,
what Al Balaha basically basically does, there are
principles that actually induce
emotions
in you when you read a certain sequence
or format or word structure.
And in English,
you can't translate that. You can't translate emotions
of the word structure, of the sequence of
the words.
So when Aluwaleed ibn Muhkhirah was analyzing these
words,
he was analyzing the composition,
the word structure, the word selection, the sequence,
the meaning, the depth, the topic, the subject,
all of that,
And that can truly be appreciated
in the Arabic language.
So if we wanna have a powerful relationship
with the book of Allah,
if we want the book of Allah to
move us,
then let us learn
the Arabic language.
Imagine Alawwili ibn Mokhida was moved and he
was a polytheist.
Imagine yourself with faith in Allah
learning Arabic then reading the Quran,
it will blow your mind away.
I can tell you from my personal experience.
After I learned the Arabic language and read
the Quran, it was like
I never read the Quran before.
And then when I learned the science of
eloquence
and read the Quran again,
it was like I've never I still never
read the Quran before.
It's a whole completely different level.
This
relationship with the Quran
is a relationship
with our creator
because it is his words. Look at the
impact
it has.
That if the Quran was to be revealed
on mountains,
you would see it being humbled and split
out of awe
because of what you would understand
of its meanings.
If we
see not just the creation of the mountains
and nature
or human beings but also the jinn world.
That when they heard the Quran, they said,
we have heard an amazing Quran. It moved
them, those jinn who knew the Arabic language.
Jabaib al Mutaim
who was a polytheist
one time was passing by when
the prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam was leading salatul Maghrib, was
leading the prayer,
and in the prayer he recited certain verses
from Atur
where he said,
again,
if I translate
it does not do justice, the impact, the
sequence,
the word
stops that it has in the structure.
He recited what Allah subhanahu said,
were they created by nothing
or are they the creators?
Did they create the heavens and the earth,
but they have no certainty?
This polytheist
was passing by and heard these verses. Jubeir
heard these verses being recited.
Those verses
penetrated his heart.
He's not a Muslim
because he knew and understood the Arabic language.
And he said,
he said, when I heard these these words,
my heart was about to fly out of
my chest.
This is the impact.
This is how much it moved
this polytheist.
My dear brothers and sisters, imagine
what would happen to our iman
if we learn the Arabic language.
Imagine all those of Ramadan
and the Taraweeh prayers
when the verses are being recited and if
we are able to understand
every single verse, what impact it will have
on our faith.
Imagine for all the Fajr and Mochirr ibn
Isha prayers we make in the masjid,
and we are able to understand
what the imam is reciting,
how it will change our day. It will
remove depression, remove anxiety,
will increase
confidence,
it will increase happiness in our lives. Imagine
the opportunity cost of not knowing the Arabic
language.
Imagine a life
with this close relationship to the Quran where
you don't have to depend on translation,
where you don't have to depend on what
people
will tell you what the verse means because
now you can directly read the Quran for
itself, you can now have access to the
tafasir,
you have access to this huge immense
amount of knowledge,
and you get rid of the handicap of
translations.
Imagine what a life like that would be.
Imagine you being
a spouse and knowing the Quran. Imagine you
being a parent and that impact it will
have on your parenting.
I personally can tell you
that it was one of the best
things I did in my life,
which was to go learn the Arabic language.
To make us amongst those who are proficient
in the Arabic language, give us a and
beneficial knowledge
and enable us to have a close and
strong attachment to the Quran
so we can understand his message and his
guidance.