Yasir Qadhi – Embracing The Quran
AI: Summary ©
The Prophet Muhammad's teachings, including the importance of not believing in Islam, the need for people to not believe in Islam, and potential systemic reforms, are discussed in context of Islam. The importance of memorizing the Quran for routine and the holy combination of words is emphasized, along with the importance of pride and learning to understand the Quran. The speaker emphasizes their past surahs and struggles, including their difficulty memorizing the Quran and surahs, and their success as a teacher and upcoming interview with a representative. They also mention their honor as a star program and encourage others to find their own voice.
AI: Summary ©
Bestowed upon us by Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And so Insha'Allah without too much delay.
I want to talk to you guys about
Today's topic and insha'Allah Sheikh Yassir will
take it away once he arrives Embracing the
Quran our topic is embracing the Quran as
Students of knowledge.
What does it mean?
Where do we stand and what should our
relationship be with the Quran and how should
it impact us and change us insha'Allah?
These are all things that he will address
us Elaborate on insha'Allah, but without Any
further delay.
I'm going to start the program by calling
our sister Zayna Davis to Do our opening
recitation, okay insha'Allah I'm gonna call upon
Musa Musa to do our first recitation insha
'Allah.
Please come on up One Recitation from the
brother side one from the sister side and
then insha'Allah will will ask Sheikh Yassir
to come up, please Recitation
from the brother side Recitation
from the sister side Recitation
from the brother side Recitation from the sister
side May Allah protect you preserve you and
increase you Musa.
Say Ameen.
Say Ameen.
Thank you Insha'Allah next we'll call upon
our dear sister Layla Davis to recite some
ayat for us insha'Allah Zayna I'm sorry,
forgive me insha'Allah One of the sisters
insha'Allah sister Zayna Davis to recite some
ayat for us insha'Allah I
ask Allah SWT to allow for us lessons
by which we can reflect upon and which
we can act upon so that we can
become companions of the Qur'an and so
I call upon our beloved Dr. Yasir to
say some words insha'Allah by which we
can benefit Assalamualaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Alhamdulillahi wahdah wassalatu wassalamu ala man
la nabiya Firstly I apologize I've been speaking
quite a lot over the weekend so my
voice is a little bit hoarse but insha
'Allah you can understand me Can you imagine
being in Mecca and the Prophet ﷺ is
walking in your midst Can you imagine being
in that time frame and you have the
icons of Islam Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar
al-Khattab Uthman ibn Affan r.a Ali
ibn Abi Talib, you have all of these
and on the other side you have those
evil people of the Quraysh you have Abu
Lahab, you have Abu Jahl you have all
of these evil people and the Qur'an
tells us one of the conversations one of
the back and forth that took place the
Qur'an tells us that these Quraysh, Abu
Jahl and others, they came to the Prophet
ﷺ and they said how do we know
that you are a Prophet of Allah show
us some miracles and the Qur'an records
some of what they said so for example,
Allah says in the Qur'an that وَقَالُوا
لَنُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنبُوعَ
We're never gonna believe you until you just
point your finger and water should come from
the ground in front of us or you
snap your hands and create a big garden
or send down some treasures from the heavens
or even تُنَزِّلْ عَلَيْنَا كِتَابًا نَقْرَأُهُ bring down
an actual book so that we see it
from our eyes coming down so they're challenging
the Prophet ﷺ to show them a what
is the English word?
a what?
a miracle they're challenging to show the Prophet
ﷺ a miracle, show us a miracle and
by the way Allah mentions in the Qur
'an that even if we had revealed that
type of miracle even if these amazing things
happened they wouldn't accept Allah says in the
Qur'an that's وَلَوْ أَنَّنَا نَزَّلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ
وَكَلَّمَهُمُ الْمَوْتَى وَحَشَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ قُبُلًا مَا
كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا Allah says you know this is
just talk if we actually sent all of
the angels down and they saw it with
their eyes if we resurrected the dead and
the dead said to them believe in the
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ the most amazing miracles Allah
says in reality مَا كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا they wouldn't
actually believe, it's just arrogance, they're challenging but
still Allah wanted to show them the one
miracle that should convince anybody who is sincere
Allah wanted to give at least one magnificent
miracle so that their mouth should be quiet
so that anybody who is sincere will be
able to see and say okay this man
is a true Rasulullah ﷺ Allah has actually
sent him and Allah mentions in the Quran
وَقَالُوا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ آيَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِ they
say why don't we see miracles we want
to see miracles Allah then says أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِهِمْ
أَنَّا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ يُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ isn't it
enough of a miracle that we have sent
down to them the book that the tilawa
is done of the tilawa of the Quran
is the miracle that Allah has revealed, the
tilawa of the Quran that you guys are
doing day and night, the recitation of the
Quran that we just listened to, the beauty
of the Quran that is the miracle that
is bigger than the miracle of sending all
the angels it is bigger than the miracle
of resurrecting the dead, it is bigger than
the miracle of causing water to come out
and to gardens to form, the Quran the
tilawa of the Quran the recitation of the
Quran it is the biggest miracle that indicates
that our Prophet ﷺ was a true Prophet
and in fact when you grow older another
question will come to mind people are going
to come to you when you go to
university non-Muslims are going to come and
they are going to say to you how
do you know Islam is true you were
just born a Muslim, you went to madrasa,
your parents sent you to madrasa and your
response is going to be memorize this, I
know Islam is true because I have the
miracle of the Quran the Quran is the
miracle, the Quran demonstrates and proves that this
religion is true the Prophet ﷺ is true,
that my deen is correct and the Quran
explicitly mentions this in so many verses you
are memorizing these verses, Allah says in the
Quran that do you believe do they say
that he has fabricated the Quran do they
say that he is writing it himself Allah
says that bring one surah like it and
get all the help you want get your
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the leaders and the thinkers and the intellectuals
and the professors and Allah says bring even
one surah like it in another verse Allah
says bring ten surahs like it in another
verse Allah says bring a book like the
Quran and by the way some scholars say
that Allah wanted to show how incapable they
are, how weak they are, so Allah first
said bring a book, they couldn't do it
then Allah said bring ten surahs they couldn't
do it, Allah says bring even one surah,
they couldn't do it and then Allah revealed
surah al-baqarah which is the last of
these surahs when it comes to these verses,
by the way for the you know students
studying Islam there's five verses like this in
the Quran these are called the verses of
challenge ayatul tahaddi, the verses of challenge, there's
five verses like this in the Quran, four
of them were revealed in Mecca, one of
them was revealed in Medina, one of them,
the last one and that is in surah
al-baqarah what is the verse that challenges
mankind to produce the Quran surah al-baqarah,
some of you know who's gonna say it
the verse that challenges mankind to produce something
like the Quran surah al-baqarah you can
hear my sipping right from the microphone I
know some of you know this I'm not
gonna move on until one of you tells
me, because it's right at the very beginning
of surah al-baqarah the first few pages
I'm not gonna move on, this is a
challenge to all of you now yes, be
brave, sisters be brave yes excellent, but what's
the beginning you're right, but the beginning you
gave me the end of the I want
the beginning yes excellent our sister gets it
right, this is the last of the verses
that came down, if you have any doubt
about the Quran, then bring one surah similar
to it and then Allah seals the challenge
this is the sealing of the challenge Allah
says then what's the difference between lam
and lan, I'll teach you some Arabic if
you cannot do it, lam wa lan, and
you shall never be able to do it
in the future if you cannot do it
in the past, up until now, wa lan
and you shall not, this is a prediction
lam is for the past lan for the
future if you haven't done it then Allah
says a statement of fact and you shall
never be able to do it then Allah
says you are rejecting the truth that is
known to you, so beware of the punishment
of Allah, now my talk today therefore is
to help us appreciate to make us understand
the job that all of us and especially
all of you are doing you are helping
to preserve the miracle of the Quran you
are living the miracle of the Quran you
are demonstrating that the Quran is the ultimate
miracle given to our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
how is the Quran miraculous what is so
miraculous about the Quran there's many things, I'm
just going to mention three or four and
then finish off inshallah with the one that
is the most important for all of you
over here, of course of the most obvious
miracles of the Quran of the most obvious
miracles is how powerful, how beautiful, how eloquent
it is there's no other speech like it
that is similar to it in its beauty,
and there's so many stories from our seerah,
from the interactions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, have you heard the name of Khalid
ibn Walid you know the famous companion Khalid
ibn Walid his father, who's name was what
was his father's name louder Al Walid, obviously
very good Khalid ibn Walid Al Walid, yes
Al Walid ibn Al Mughira the sisters are
winning the brothers, you guys need to up
your game, mashallah, good job for your sisters,
Al Walid ibn Al Mughira and who was
Al Walid ibn Al Mughira, he was the
chieftain of the most popular and the most
famous and the most rich tribe, he was
a politician Al Walid ibn Al Mughira and
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was reciting Quran
in front of the Kaaba and Al Walid
walked by and Al Walid was the most
respected poet of the Quraysh, he was a
politician and an author and a poet, a
very respected intellectual when he heard the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam reciting the Quran, he paused,
he stopped walking, and he was in a
trance, can you imagine the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam is in front of the Kaaba, he's
doing his tilawa, by the way, imagine your
favorite Qari, right, imagine your favorite Qari, and
how we love listening to our favorite Qari
can you imagine listening to the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam's qira'ah, can you imagine that
beauty, inshallah one day we hope in Jannah
we hope to listen to the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, all of these Qaris that you
love, good for them, we all love them,
but we miss the one voice that would've
been the queen of all voices, and inshallah
we hope inshallah in Jannah to hear that
voice, so can you imagine, Al Walid is
listening to the qira'ah of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam directly he's in a trance
as if he's transported to a different time
and place, and the whole Quraysh are looking
at him because they see he's been affected
by the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's recitation, then
the whole rumors began to spread is he
gonna convert, has he been influenced, is he
gonna become Muslim and Abu Jahl who was
his cousin, Abu Jahl comes to him, and
Abu Jahl who was younger than him, he's
an older man, Al Walid, Abu Jahl says,
your whole tribe is in fear, they're shaking,
are you gonna convert, and of course he'd
never convert, he goes, no no I'm not
gonna convert, so Abu Jahl says, but you
were affected by the Qur'an you were
affected, and he said, why should I not
be affected I have never heard anything more
eloquent than the Qur'an this is somebody
who is a enemy outside of Islam, who
is the best and he even said to
Abu Jahl, you know that I am your
best poet, you know that nobody can compete
when it comes to poetry and yet I
have never heard anything like the Qur'an
this is the father of the father of
who guys, Khalid Ibn Al Walid, this is
the father of Khalid Ibn Al Walid Abu
Jahl says, no we will not let you
leave in public until you say something against
the Qur'an until you say something against
the Qur'an, Abu Jahl is threatening him
because people are scared and so here's the
beauty of the Qur'an itself, I'm telling
you something that goes back to the Qur
'an itself this is a private conversation between
Abu Jahl and between Al Walid Ibn Al
Mughir, nobody is there nobody is there and
Abu Jahl says Al Walid says, let me
think what can I say, let me think,
leave me leave me alone, and let me
think about what I can say, and Al
Walid then begins walking in his house, all
alone, nobody is there Al Walid begins walking
his face is frown, he's thinking what should
I say, what should I say what should
I say, and Subhanallah listen to the story
before Al Walid comes out of his house
to tell the people what he was about
to say Allah revealed in the Qur'an
exactly describing what had just happened, and saying
what he would say before he said it
so when he came out not knowing Allah
had revealed in the Qur'an, subhanallah it
was another miracle from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala through the Qur'an, and who can
tell me which surah Allah revealed yes very
good, at least the brothers have won guys,
mashallah, 1 to 2 right now the score
is 1 to 2 don't worry I'll give
you more opportunities you can up the game,
surah Mudathir which section of surah Mudathir which
section of surah Mudathir tell me the ayah
yes sister raise your voice excellent, but go
to the beginning, excellent, you got, again to
the middle go to the, where does the
the scene begin where does the scene begin,
yes yeah the sister says something similar, you're
right, keep on going dharnee waman khalaqtu waheeda
waja'altu lahu maalan ma'asaw Al Walid
said, leave me alone to Abu Jahl, leave
me, I need to think, Allah says, leave
me alone with Al Walid, I will take
care of him, he quoted Al Walid against
him, dharnee waman khalaqtu waheeda, waja'altu lahu
maalan mamdooda, wabaneena shuhooda wama hattu lahu tamheeda,
thumma yatma'un azeeda, kalla innahu kana li
ayatina aneeda, and then Allah describes Al Walid
in the privacy of his house, innahu fakra
wa qaddar, faqutila kayfa qaddar thumma nazar, thumma
abasa wa basar thumma adbar wa istakbar, faqala
in hada illa suhrun yu'thar, in hada illa
qulul bashar, in other words and by the
way, the beauty of these verses itself is
a miracle, you don't even need to know
Arabic just to listen, you all love surah
mudathir, because it has these powerful verses, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala used his words against
him and Allah quoted him against him, and
Allah described him in the privacy of his
house, he's walking around he's in a frown,
he's thinking, he doesn't know what to say,
and the max he can say, in hada
illa suhrun yu'thar, this must be some type
of magic I don't understand, so when he
exited the house, he was gonna say this
is a magic I don't understand too late,
Allah had already revealed the Quran, and Allah
had exposed what he was gonna say do
you see the miracle of the Quran?
do you see how powerful the Quran is?
that Allah describes his own inner thoughts, and
Allah describes in his own household, and Allah
describes what he was gonna say before he
says it, in a language far more eloquent
than anything humans can produce, and this is
just one story out of hundreds and thousands
the Quran is a miracle, now how is
the Quran a miracle?
so we said one of the ways the
Quran is a miracle is that, it is
in its most beautiful language, the eloquence, the
rhetoric, the balaga of the Quran, the words
Allah uses and if you listen to any
scholar doing tafsir, you will come across this
that, why did Allah use this word?
why did Allah azawajal choose this phrase?
what is the beauty of this sentence structure?
and that is, you know, it's a ocean
that has no shores, you keep on going
and going and going, so that's one aspect
of the miracle, another aspect of the miracle
of the Quran, we just gave it in
the story, Allah is describing knowledge that no
one can know, except Allah Allah is describing
ilm al ghayb, Allah is describing something no
human can ever understand, no human can ever
have access to, and in fact can you
imagine, before there was internet before there was
cell phones, imagine a hundred years ago, can
you imagine if an explorer went into the
jungles of Brazil, the jungles of Africa and
this is a tribe that has been cut
off from the whole world and that tribe
has current information about what is happening around
the world that tribe seems to have knowledge
of your civilization, and of your histories, even
though it is cut off and it has
no mechanism of communication you would wonder, how
is this happening you have to understand the
Quran exemplifies, it illustrates this miracle when it
came down the stories of the Quran, the
realities of the Quran, the descriptions the Quran
is giving of other civilizations remember, there was
no cell phone there is no internet, Arabia
Mecca, Medina, this is disconnected from the rest
of the world there are no, even if
a traveler came from, you know Syria, it
would take six weeks, two months, and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is revealing literally knowledge
as it happens, between the Romans and the
Persians, there was a battle that took place
and the day of the battle the same
day of the battle minutes after the battle
finished Alif Lam Mim Ghulibatil Room, Fi Adnal
Ardi, Wahum Min Ba'di Ghalibihim Sayaghliboon, Allah told
us the results of the battle, and then
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala predicted, don't worry,
right now the Romans have been defeated, but
the next battle, the Romans will win and
that's exactly what happened, nine years later this
is well known in history, you can look
it up nine years later, the Romans attack
the Persians, and like Allah predicted, Fi Bida
'i Sineen it's just a matter of a
few years, they're gonna win again also the
stories, remember again it's difficult for us to
understand you guys are born in the era
of cell phones and internet, you can't imagine
a world without communication, this is all new
I grew up and there was no cell
phones, this is absolutely new, and there was
no communication and there was no printed books,
when the processor was there there's no library,
there's not a single library in all of
Arabia the Bible had not been translated into
Arabic, nobody knew the Bible in Arabic, and
the Quran is giving you stories of Jesus,
of Moses, of Abraham the Quran is giving
a whole story of Yusuf Alayhis Salaam, and
Allah is saying that you were not there
you were not there when Zakaria was casting
the lots, you were not there when Isa,
you were not there when we spoke to
Musa Allah is telling us Allah is describing
to us events that happened on Mount Joudi
on Mount Tur, Allah is describing in vivid
detail, and this is another miracle of the
Quran, where does that knowledge come from?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, no human in
Mecca could have had that knowledge the way
that we have it in the Quran, the
third miracle of the Quran the third miracle
of the Quran is that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala tells us in the Quran that
when you read the Quran, the Quran is
internally consistent, there's no contradiction, anybody who would
write a book over 23 years describing realities
talking about aspects, you would find contradiction, and
Allah is saying there's no contradiction in the
Quran the fourth miracle, there's so many miracles
we can do, the fourth miracle that we
can say, and Allah mentions this in the
Quran as well, is the effect the Quran
has on those who listen to it وَإِذَا
سَمِعُوا مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ تَرَى أَعْيُنُهُمْ تَفِيضُوا
مِنَ الدَّمْعِ مِمَّا عُرَفُوا مِنَ الْحَقِّ when they
listen to the Quran وَإِذَا تُولِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ
زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا to listen to the Quran is
a source of comfort and a source of
peace you don't even know the words so
many of you in this audience are not
Arab, I am not Arab, and by the
way even the Arabs, you don't understand the
Arabic of the Quran, you and I both
know this, right?
your Amiya, your Masriya, your Shamiya your what
not, your Maghribiya, your Darija it's totally disconnected
and you don't understand the Quran the way
that it was and yet still, the impact
on you even though you don't understand the
Quran the tilawat, the beautiful tilawat of our
brother and our sister that just recited right
now it impacted all of you even though
you don't fully understand the words no other,
I mean give it a try, go listen
to some poetry in a language you don't
understand it might sound good, it's not gonna
affect the heart your heart is not gonna
go soaring in the clouds, it's not gonna
be impacted at that level, why?
because the Quran is not the speech of
a human the Quran is the speech of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so when Allah
speaks, the heart is attracted, when Allah speaks,
the heart is impacted when Allah speaks, the
heart is connected, even if you don't understand
the words, and that's a miracle, that every
one of you understands and appreciates simply because
the impact of the tilawat is so powerful,
and we have this again from the seerah,
so many stories from the seerah the famous
story of the companion, Jubayr ibn Mut'im
Jubayr ibn Mut'im his father was Mut
'im ibn Adi I have a whole lecture
about Mut'im ibn Adi, you can listen
to it Jubayr ibn Mut'im was taken
a prisoner, and he was taken to Medina,
in the battle of Badr and he was
taken a prisoner, and they didn't have a
jail in Medina, so where would the prisoners
be, the prisoners would be in the masjid
that's literally in the back of the masjid,
you had all the prisoners of Badr there
was no jail in Medina and they stayed
there for a few days Jubayr ibn Mut
'im said that he came, you know, in
the day of the battle of Badr, he
came back to Medina, he was a prisoner
and he said the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
came into the masjid to lead us for
Salatul Maghrib, to lead the sahaba, he's not
a companion at the time to lead the
sahaba for Salatul Maghrib and he said, he
recited Surat At-Tur Surat At-Tur Jubayr
ibn Mut'im said that, as I heard
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam recite, my heart
began feeling a sense it had never felt
before because he had never heard the Quran
he had never heard the Quran they're rejecting
Islam without even knowing what it is and
he said, I heard the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam recite Surat At-Tur, until when he
came to the ending of the Surah أَمْ
خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْهُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ أَمْ خُلِقُوا
مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْهُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ and if you
read Surat At-Tur, again it's building up
to a magnificent ending it's a crescendo we
call it, right you literally build up hype
it's asking questions, right this, that, this, that,
one question after another who created you?
were you created out of nothing?
or did you create yourselves?
rather Allah created you and imagine the process
of reciting Surat At-Tur and Salatul Maghrib
Jubair said my heart felt it was about
to break open my chest and fly into
the air and that was when Iman first
entered my heart to listen to the tilawa
of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam reciting the
Quran goes back to the miracle that we're
talking about again much can be said, I
want to finish on one point and leave
some time for Q&A as well of
the miracles of the Quran and I want
to finish on this point of the miracles
of the Quran is the miracle that all
of you are a part of a miracle
that is so miraculous no other book no
other poem no other literature even can compete
in any category and that is the miracle
of how easy it is to memorize the
Quran sentence by sentence word by word letter
by letter, haraka by haraka pause by pause
now you guys take it for granted as
I took it for granted when I was
your age you don't even understand that it's
like drinking water, literally you all know this
that once you get in the swing of
things, once you learn how to do it
you memorize a page a day two pages
a day, then you move on to the
next sabah, then the next sabah, then the
next sabah next thing you know mashallah you
finished a juz next thing you know ten
juz, next thing you know the whole Quran
sure, little bit of effort yes, but very
doable you've already graduated hundreds of hufadh, you
are another batch another batches will come after
you because it's common, you take it for
granted because you're doing it you don't even
realize it's a miracle now think about it
if I were to give you a 600
page book in ancient Japanese and say hey,
memorize this word for word letter for letter,
haraka for haraka who could do it?
impossible it's impossible, it's not possible to do
you guys literally are living the miracle that's
what I'm trying to impress upon you you
are demonstrating the miracle of the Quran you're
living it, because there is no other book
on earth that is memorized like the Quran
the Christians don't memorize the Old Testament the
New Testament, the Jews don't memorize the haraka
and the the mishnah, the Hindus don't memorize
the Gitas, you know they don't do that,
sure you'll find one person out of a
billion that you know he has that memory
he might do it, but it's not a
tradition is what I'm trying to say it's
not something that is done in every single
masjid from Alaska all the way to Indonesia,
it's not done only in our religion, with
our culture and our faith and our holy
book the fact that you can memorize, you
don't even know what you're memorizing you don't
even understand what it is, and yet mashallah
tabarakallah, you recite the entire Quran with minimal
mistakes, you do some murajah, we all make
mistakes, it is human nature, but yes once
you make it pakka mashallah, then khalas it
is pakka, right and I want to impress
upon you that you doing this frankly is
a proof that our religion is from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala you are a living
miracle appreciate this Allah is using you to
prove the truth of this religion, because it's
not possible to memorize this book cover to
cover unless it is a real divine book
do you guys understand what I'm saying do
you understand what I'm saying yes or no
you all need to feel a sense of
honor and pride, Allah has chosen you I
know some of you would rather at this
stage not be chosen I get it, I
know some of you would be here because
of your parents, right you don't understand, it's
fine it's fine to feel that right now
but when you grow older inshallah inshallah ta
'ala you will appreciate this blessing because not
everybody is a hafidh, not everybody has memorized
the Quran, in fact our sister who recited
the tilawah she reminds us that Allah chooses
those who He wants to memorize the Quran,
what did our sister recite that demonstrates this
come on, I literally am pointing at what
she recited, so give me the verse she
recited that proves this point yes, our young
brother, yes so sisters two for two, sorry
ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ثُمَّ
أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ now I know by the way,
many of you don't know Arabic, that's fine,
I'm kind of teasing you to encourage you,
the goal is to make you realize, I
will tell you this because inshallah ta'ala,
I have the right to tell you this,
memorizing the Quran is a very important thing
be happy, be proud, be humble but it's
just the beginning I know your parents think
it's the end, that's because your parents, good
for them I will tell you, it's just
the beginning that's just kindergarten, that's just grade
one, memorizing the Quran is just the beginning
of a life long study you don't have
to go full time Islamic studies I'm not
saying you have to do that but you
have to study yourself the Quran even if
you become an engineer a doctor, a nurse
or a professor, doesn't matter you will never
stop studying the Quran and a part of
that study is to understand it and appreciate
it a part of that study is to
understand what Allah is saying so our brother
correctly pointed out ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا
مِنْ عِبَادِنَا we gave this book to those
whom we chose from our servants اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ
عِبَادِنَا Allah has chosen you and given you
this book Allah has اصْطَفَ, you know the
name of our Prophet مُصْطَفَ, مُصْطَفَ مُجْتَبَ what
does مُصْطَفَ mean the one whom Allah chose
مُصْطَفَ and Allah uses the same adjective for
those who memorize the Quran ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ
الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا so right now I
get it you think you'd rather be on
the outside playing you know I don't know
the latest games I'm sorry is it Xbox
or is it something beyond that what is
the latest one huh PS5 I remember PS3
from some years ago is that outdated now
you don't know PS3 okay PS5 okay so
I know you know what do you guys
want to play instead I don't know but
whatever it is you want to do something
outside and you're like oh my god those
kids are lucky I wish we could do
this and I get it I'm asking you
to trust your parents and your elders and
to trust me as well this phase will
go away and within a few years you
will be so grateful and thankful to Allah
and then to your parents and your teachers
who encouraged you to take on the magnificent
job of preserving the living miracle of the
Qur'an because you are an elite group
that doesn't mean you should feel arrogant you
should feel humble you are an elite group
Allah says I chose you اَسْتَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا
Allah chose you so Allah chose you appreciate
that thank Allah that your parents wanted you
to come here thank Allah your teachers are
spending this time with you thank Allah you're
in this environment that is mashallah one of
the premier Qur'an teaching academies in this
country thank Allah Allah has chosen you and
inshallah as you grow older you will begin
to appreciate more and more this great responsibility
that you have and that responsibility is to
demonstrate the beauty of our religion to demonstrate
that Allah has given us the best book
sent us the best prophet chosen us with
the best faith and we know this because
the Qur'an is a miracle and we
know the Qur'an is a miracle because
of many factors one of them every one
of you is demonstrating the Qur'an is
a miracle do you understand this point do
you understand how yes yes inshallah ok with
that bismillah let's open up the floor for
some questions inshallah and then we'll send you
back to your tahfil classes renewed with greater
energy and feeling a sense of accomplishment and
pride and humility inshallah so who's going to
ask the first question bismillah and whatever questions
you want no problem bismillah open all questions
are all fine sisters brothers who's going to
break the ice yes speak loudly so that
I can hear you my case was different
than yours firstly I'm a little bit older
than you so I did this in the
early and mid 80's when when you were
not even born any of you here and
your parents were maybe at my age some
of your parents were even younger than me
I'm getting old I did this in the
80's I began 1984 part time so I
did not give up school you guys gave
up school mashallah I did not give up
school I began memorizing part time while going
to school my father would bring them to
our house and I think I said this
story last time as well when my father
said to me that I want you to
memorize the Quran I threw a tantrum and
said no I'm not going to do it
I began to cry throwing a teenage tantrum
I want to go out and play I
don't want to memorize the Quran and my
father was gentle and kind and goes no
no you have to do it bismillah and
you know it is what it is you
have to do what you have to do
and I did not want to do it
at all and now I thank Allah for
having been blessed with such parents that facilitated
memorizing the Quran for me so I started
in 1984 I did part time on and
off until 89 90 and then I took
a year off from my studies my school
between my high school and university I took
a year off I had 15 Jews no
no no 16 17 Jews left at that
time so in one year I did 17
Jews in 10 months I did 17 Jews
that was when I took full time I
did 17 Jews this is 1990 and I
finished I even have the date somewhere I
finished March something 1991 I finished March whatever
1991 I finished and you know I'm from
a Pakistani background so I did not speak
Arabic so I did not understand what I
was memorizing I was just you know doing
my everything so Alhamdulillah memorized the Quran then
when I got accepted to the University of
Medina I you know did my Masters sorry
my Bachelors decided to go to Medina then
I found a Shaykh who came and visited
us Shaykh Qari Bashir he came to EPIC
I'm very honored that he came here and
I sat with him a year and a
half to do my first Ijazah in Hafs
and Asim our Shaykh was is still alive
Alhamdulillah he is a very strict teacher you
think your Mawlvi Sahibs are strict you haven't
seen Shaykh Bashir you think Hafs Sahib is
strict no he is a piece of cake
compared to Qari Bashir Qari Bashir I had
to spend a week and a half in
Surah Al-Fatiha Surah Al-Fatiha he wouldn't
pass me a week and a half and
even then he's like okay we'll let it
go for now let's just move on to
Baqarah he wasn't happy with my Fatiha after
a week and a half he is so
strict in his pronunciation and what not so
and then I got my Ijazah and then
I did some more Qirat and then moved
on to other topics but yeah so it
took as I said part time and then
one year full time InshaAllah other questions before
we conclude sisters I want to give you
opportunity questions don't be shy this is your
opportunity Bismillah going once you had a tie
now win the tie with some questions going
twice twice and a half no one okay
back to the brothers yes you first go
ahead you'll have to speak louder what university
did I go to my first university is
University of Houston four hours away from here
my parents are from Houston well my father
you know lived in Houston 50 something 55
years he lived in Houston 50 something years
he lived in Houston so I grew up
in Houston went to University of Houston and
then after that I decided to go to
University of Medina in Saudi Arabia to study
Islamic studies but my first degree is in
engineering and I do encourage all of you
to get some education in this part of
the world in some discipline then if you
want to go Islamic studies go Islamic studies
my advice generally speaking is you have something
of a degree or education then you can
decide what you want to do that's my
advice yes brother how did they know the
eye came down because Jibreel came to the
Prophet ﷺ so the Sahaba already knew it
before Al-Waleed said anything the Sahaba already
knew what he would say before Al-Waleed
said something does that make sense right because
Jibreel came down while he was in his
house right Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic he's
thinking he's going to say something and by
the time he comes out the Prophet ﷺ
has already recited the whole scenario to the
Sahaba in Mecca okay good question sisters another
yes go ahead if somebody what so she's
asking a fiqh question if a non Ahli
Kitab gives you food is it permissible realize
when Allah says the food of Ahli Kitab
is permissible what Allah is saying is when
they sacrifice animals according to the rituals of
their law then it is permissible as for
vegetarian as for non meat items it doesn't
matter where it comes from we can eat
the non meat items anywhere we find them
so if somebody bakes cookies that doesn't have
any you know haram elements in it somebody
makes a cake if somebody gives you dal
chawal no problem go ahead and eat dal
chawal yes but when it comes to chicken
or beef or goat or lamb when it
comes to meat products non fish because fish
you don't need to sacrifice then we need
to follow a routine and that routine means
you mention the name of Allah and if
you're a Christian or a Jew you can
say in the name of God you have
to say something and you sacrifice it properly
so when they sacrifice it properly which they
don't do anymore they used to do that
then that meat would be permissible for us
otherwise the meat is not permissible for us
okay other questions bismillah yes again you have
to raise your voice what was the biggest
difficulty I faced when trying to complete my
hifdh you're talking about the full time phase
yeah the biggest personal issue for me and
it's a personal question I don't mind you
know because it's important to say this even
there were times when I felt that my
friends are getting ahead of me in life
I did feel that because I was the
only one who did hifdh of my class
because remember I didn't go to a madrasa
I didn't go to an Islamic school I
went to regular school and I did hifdh
on the side and then it took a
year off and I did hifdh at home
because there was no madrasa that I could
have gone to back then so the maulvi
sahib would come to my house while I
was doing hifdh that one year all of
my friends had gone on to university and
all of them were moving up in life
and obviously and I want to be you
know you are all in the same boat
and I'm your older brother so I'm going
to be honest here it's natural to feel
that others are getting more than I am
it's natural but I am telling you give
it some time and the script will be
flipped I'm telling you this be patient and
if you are sincere and you are inshallah
mature which inshallah all of you are without
a doubt you will win the race how
can any of you choose Allah and then
Allah doesn't bless you with extra how can
you choose the Quran and Allah doesn't show
the barakah of the Quran in your life
impossible impossible and I said this last time
to most of you here I said this
last time as well don't trivialize even from
a worldly perspective what memorizing the Quran does
of course there's spiritual of course there's barakah
even from a worldly perspective your memories are
a thousand times better than non hufadh your
dedication you've done something that 1% of
the ummah does 99% don't do that
you are showing that hey give me a
task I can do it and when you
get to the world corporate when you get
to other and again I went to engineering
college University of Houston is a very difficult
university engineering is not an easy discipline and
I found it not I'm not going to
say easy but it wasn't difficult I mean
I could do it I earned top grades
why because memorizing the Quran gives you dedication
it gives you memory it gives you routine
like to wake up every single day and
to do what you need to do you
are learning discipline right so do not trivialize
the fact that even from a worldly perspective
you shall be blessed inshallah ta'ala only
thing is you have to have the niya
so very personal question and I'll tell you
honestly at the time shaitan comes to you
you know come on I'm a teenager right
and all of my friends are already university
I see them they're sending me pictures you
know we had something called literally picture they
had to print it out and send it
we didn't have iPhones right they're sending me
pictures oh in this university one of my
friends went to London another goes to America
another is like here I'm doing this I'm
going here Eiffel Tower this and that and
I'm sitting at home doing my sabaq how
do you think I'm going to feel and
I remember that you know it's like you
feel a sense of like depriving you know
like it's it is what it is but
you know subhanallah every one of those friends
now every one of them now the respect
has changed the table they call me now
you know sheikh yaar said not that we
want that but I'm saying deen and dunya,
izzah everything it has flipped the script everything
and the same will not that it should
not be your aim of course it should
not be your aim but when you choose
Allah, Allah will choose you when you prefer
Allah Allah will bless you so don't ever
think that you're sacrificing anything no you are
winning and you will win if your niya
is right inshallah okay let's finish up question
from the sisters two questions, bismillah first you
then you go ahead she
is asking did the teachers beat me up
when I was a kid what's going on
here no beating allowed no beatings allowed we're
living in the United States of America you
know when I was growing up in the
80s it was legal to physically discipline children
even in America okay the world has changed
radically radically the first madrasa my father sent
me to there was physical disciplining and I
threw a massive tantrum at my dad back
in the day and I said I'm not
gonna go to this madrasa because you know
they would they would beat the students I
mean this is back in the day you
know I'm saying like this is you are
you should be grateful that that has changed
but it was legal it was allowed it
was the norm that there was physical disciplining
if you made any mistake and I don't
believe in this now that I'm an adult
forget it hurts and people that's not the
way you teach a child you don't physically
beat a child if they make a mistake
in the Quran that's not that's not nice
it's not Islamic it's not Tarbiyah so I
did go through I forgot how long a
month or so and I told my father
I cannot do this if you want me
to do it then at least send Amulvi
sahab at home so then that's what the
compromise was so I was not beaten for
more than a few but I was made
a Murgha once or twice does anybody want
to demonstrate or let's leave that aside that's
me yes 1985 86 yes that was me
sitting in the corner like that it's just
not I don't think this is healthy Wallahi
it's not healthy and I'm grateful that we
live in a time and a place that
you know does that answer your question?
right okay so this
is back in the 90s when the world
was again very different places literally 30 years
ago more than 30 years ago there were
no scholars in America that spoke English fluently
and I felt an emptiness to understand my
religion I've said this story many times actually
I'll never forget like you know one particular
night so I would for some weird reason
which I don't understand now as a college
student even though I had a house in
my father's house and my bed was there
I don't know why I would like to
sleep on the floor I would just have
a thin mattress or a blanket and I'd
like to sleep on the floor I don't
know why I want to think of it
it's just my habit to do that and
all of my books would be on the
floor and one day I saw these books
here and I saw organic chemistry and partial
differential equations and you know thermal transfers and
this and that all of these books this
big you know those massive books and a
sadness came to me that subhanallah I'm getting
an A in all of these classes and
I don't know the Quran what it means
and the Quran is this much and all
of these books are this much you know
and I just felt an emptiness like how
can I get an A in all of
these classes and I don't know what Allah
is saying in the Quran because I remember
I didn't speak Arabic I didn't speak Arabic
growing up and it just felt an emptiness
in me I wanted to and you know
at the time there weren't fluent English speaking
ulama in America there wasn't you had your
imams and murvisabs that came from Egypt or
from Pakistan and they didn't speak English fluently
may Allah bless them we needed them back
in the time and I met a few
people that had studied a little bit and
I was very impressed that wow Islam is
a because I didn't realize that Islam is
a rich tradition that Islam has a very
developed system I didn't realize this right and
when you realize that like you become curious
and so I decided that and at the
time I thought let me just go for
a year or two and then come back
to engineering it wasn't in my mind because
there was no such thing as a sheikh
in the western world or a celebrity preacher
you guys have to understand this was a
new world this was a very different world
30-35 years ago right there was nobody
who was a famous preacher and teacher and
full time alim who spoke English as a
mother tongue nobody we had part time duat
and preachers who you know imam siraj and
jamal by the way that I looked up
to at the time that we knew they
weren't scholars but they were like preachers you
know so one thing led to another and
my one year turned into 10 years in
Medina and then PhD and then the rest
as they say is history but yeah it
wasn't a conscious decision to take a path
where I would end up where I'm ending
up now no Allah just kept on opening
doors for me but the desire was to
understand the Quran and that led to many
other facts inshallah up till what time do
we have it's up to you you're the
teachers go ahead how old am I?
how old do you think I am?
70 what?
dudes you think I'm 77?
did you say 77?
70 something 48 mashallah
that's my age how did you know that?
just a random guess?
mashallah okay final questions before we finish off
yes what was the hardest surah to memorize?
you know honestly honestly there's no there was
no one surah that was more difficult than
any other per say I know the easiest
surahs for me were for some weird reason
I don't know why but like surah Maryam,
surah Kahaf surah Ibrahim huh?
surah Yasin obviously you're listening to it all
the time like I memorized surah Ibrahim in
like 2 days even though my sabak was
one page a day right at the time
but for some reason it's just like water
and of course surah Yusuf so easy just
memorized it and actually one of the easiest
surahs that surprised me was surah Baqarah surah
Baqarah was so easy but out of the
surahs I think surah Tawbah I found a
little bit difficult a little bit difficult but
not like super difficult just like a little
bit more difficult than the others you know
hmm?
believe it or not surah Nisa was very
easy for me I don't know why and
it still is relatively pakka compared to other
surahs you know it's like I thought the
fractions would be so difficult but it turned
out to be relatively easy I don't know
why but alhamdulillah it is what it is
inshallah anyways sisters and brothers brothers and sisters
mashallah tabarakallah I want to say that I
am really really proud of all of you
you are our star program here at EPIC
you are the ones that we sacrifice for
you are our premier educational program and you
are our genuine future leaders and that's why
I'm very honored anytime I can be in
track with any of you and also if
any of you need any advice any help
inshallah ta'ala I'm an older brother not
a grandfather yet okay I'm not a grandfather
yet inshallah an older brother and yes I
guess I'm an uncle as well okay no
problem but any advice you need anything you
need you can just approach the main office
and say you want office hours with me
I will I have office hours and especially
with any of you if you see me
in salah time just come up and say
I need to ask you something and we
can figure out a time and a place
inshallah I'm always here for all of you
keep up the good work and remember you
are demonstrating the living miracle of Allah every
one of you is a walking miracle every
one of you Allah has chosen you so
take that as an honor as a badge
of honor take that as a responsibility take
that as something to understand you are privileged
and with privilege comes responsibility so try your
best to act like a good Muslim to
have the humility of a good Muslim to
live the life of a good Muslim and
also remember once you memorize the Quran remember
what I said that is the beginning and
not the end of your journey it is
the beginning of a lifelong journey to understand
the Quran and with that may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala make the Quran the barakah
of our lives the coolness of our hearts
the comfort of our souls may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala make us of the people
of the Quran and to resurrect us by
reciting the Quran and cause us to enter
Jannah with the Quran may Allah make the
Quran a source of comfort for us in
this dunya in the qabar and in the
akhira may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make
us of those whom the Quran intercedes for
on the day of judgment may Allah make
us of the people of the Quran those
that are special to you and your people
inshallah with that may Allah reward you well
until next time salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakatuh Jazakallah
khair sheikh Yasir for such a beneficial talk
inshallah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make
it one that we are able to inculcate
into our lives and as a gesture of
admiration for sheikh Yasir we wanted to present
you with a small gift inshallah would you
accept?
please Hafiz Talha come on up and this
gift is for sheikh Sajjad as well would
you accept it sheikh?
inshallah everyone
believes in Allah and his angels and his
books and his messengers we do not separate
any of his messengers and they say we
have heard and obeyed your forgiveness our lord
and to you is the destination Allah does
not burden a soul except it is burdened
with what it has earned and upon it
is what it has earned our lord do
not take us if we forget or make
a mistake our lord and do not burden
us as you did with those before us
our lord forgive us and do not burden
us with what we have not been able
to bear and forgive us and forgive us
and have mercy on us you are our
lord so help us against the disbelieving people
imitate either one of us the fact that
you could just switch like this keep up
the good work but I want you to
find your own voice and not just imitate
we want to hear the real you inshallah
we are going to go upstairs very soon
but please remain seated for a few minutes
inshallah we are going to go upstairs class
by class so guys just remain seated inshallah
we are going to go upstairs class by
class