Zakaullah Saleem – Btm Beyond The Mimbar
AI: Summary ©
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AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, wa bihi nasta'eenu ala
umuri al-dunya wa al-deen, wa as
-salatu wa as-salamu ala al-maghrufi rahmatan
lil'alameen, nabina muhammadin wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi wa man sa'ara ala nahjihi, wa
qtafa atharuhu wa ahtada bi hadihi ila yawm
al-deeni thumma ma ba'd.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Welcome, brothers and sisters, to the first event
of this series, which is entitled Beyond the
Minbar Live.
As was announced, we will be hosting guests
where we get to know them a bit
more.
Of course, today, as you can see, we
have our shaykh, our imam, the shaykh qari,
Zaka'ullah Salim, Hafizullah.
I'm sure all of you know who he
is, but I'm sure many of you don't
know much about him.
And so the point of this event, and
we will do this, inshallah, on a regular
basis with different guests, gives us the opportunity
to get to know them a bit more,
inshallah ta'ala.
And so, without further ado, we'll make a
start.
Shaykh, ready?
Inshallah.
You sure?
Inshallah.
Bismillah.
Alhamdulillah.
Firstly, how are you, shaykh?
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Alhamdulillah.
I'm fine.
What about yourself?
Alhamdulillah.
Very good.
Very good.
Alhamdulillah.
Excited?
Excited about this event, yeah?
Alhamdulillah.
Qayyim, first question.
What was your childhood like?
How was Qara Zakarullah as a child?
Naughty, mashallah, on the plane.
How was your childhood?
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Regarding my childhood, I'm not sure if some
of you, probably many of you have already
seen a podcast when Greenland started Beyond the
Mimble podcast a few years ago.
And this started with me.
I was the first one who was interviewed.
And all the details are already there, available
on YouTube, but I can repeat that bit
again.
As my childhood, alhamdulillah, I was born in
a religious practicing family.
My father, rahimahullah, he was the imam and
the khateeb of the masjid.
And he wanted me and the rest of
my brothers to be connected to the Qur
'an, to memorize the Qur'an.
Not only memorize the Qur'an, to be
connected to the deen of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So from a very young age, we were
given the tarbiyah by our parents to stay
in touch with the Qur'an.
So there is a particular story, I'm not
going to repeat it today, that again is
available on YouTube.
A particular incident when I was very young,
only the age of three.
Obviously I don't remember anything, but my father,
rahimahullah, used to tell me that I called
myself at that young age, qari.
And there was a particular incident that was
the reason for calling myself qari.
And from that day onwards, it is as
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had written for
me.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave me
tawfiq to memorize the Qur'an and to
recite the Qur'an.
Alhamdulillah.
Sheikh, I like how you kind of avoided
the last question.
How were you as a child?
Do you think you were well behaved?
Were you one of those who were difficult
to handle?
I don't think I was naughty.
I don't think anyone, even if someone is
naughty, obviously, mostly, I would say, they won't
admit that they were naughty.
But I wasn't naughty and I wasn't a
mischievous child in my childhood.
In fact, I was very quiet and always
shy.
And I used to keep to myself.
Not going into too much trouble.
Alhamdulillah.
How was it like in Pakistan growing up
as a child?
And how do you think is different from
growing up here in the UK?
Yeah, obviously, growing up as a child in
Pakistan is different.
It was different over 40 years ago.
We didn't have all these gadgets and all
these distractions.
So, Alhamdulillah, the life was very simple.
And growing up in Pakistan and growing up
in a family that was practicing, Alhamdulillah, a
religious family.
And not, I would say, not a wealthy
family either.
So there were some struggles in childhood.
One of them was that I became an
orphan when I was only 12 years old.
My father, Rahimullah, passed away.
And that was a big struggle for the
next few years.
But Alhamdulillah, by the help of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, went through that struggle.
And Allah's mercy and Allah's help was always
there.
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
I don't know if you guys noticed, he
very slightly there gave a hint towards his
age.
He said over 40 years ago.
Over 40.
It's open.
He lived over 40.
It could be anything, 50, 60.
I don't understand.
Yeah, you can guess inshallah.
BarakAllahu feekum.
BarakAllahu feekum.
Tayyib, as you alluded, you were born and
raised in this Qur'anic family and religious
family.
What was your journey like in terms of
Qur'an, studying Islam, Islamic studies and things
like that?
How was your journey?
My journey with the Qur'an began at
a very young age.
First of all, I started learning Qur'an
when I started school.
Year one, year two, you can say.
As we have a daily routine of the
children here in the UK, they spend the
entire day in the school.
In the evening, they attend the masjid or
the maktab for learning the Qur'an.
We used to do the same, myself and
my older brother.
Both of us, we used to go to
school.
In the afternoon, we used to come back
and our house was right next to the
masjid.
Because as I said, my father, he was
an imam.
So in the afternoon, there was a Qur
'an teacher who used to come and he
used to teach the Qur'an.
And I started memorizing the Qur'an at
a very young age.
By the grace of Allah, as young as
six years or even earlier.
Then, this was in one particular area in
Pakistan, towards the northern areas.
Those who are familiar with the country.
It was towards Rawalpindi, Wah Kent, Wah Factory
area.
And then, a few years later, when I
was only six or six and a half,
we moved to another area.
And when we moved to that area, that
wasn't that developed area and the environment was
completely different.
So my father, he enrolled me into one
of the local schools, government school.
I attended the school for a few months.
Then one of the days, I came back
home and I said to my father, I
don't want to go to school anymore.
He said, why?
I said, you know, the teachers, they don't
really teach anything.
They sit together in a group and they
keep wasting their time in having their own
laugh and chat.
And they don't teach anything.
And I waste my time there, so I
don't want to go there.
And all I hear from the teacher is
just shouting and screaming and swearing at children.
So I don't want to go back to
the school.
And my father said, you know, what do
you want to do then?
If you don't go to school, then what
would you do?
I said, I want to continue with my
hifadh of the Qur'an.
Because by then I was six and a
half and I had memorized, I remember I
had memorized nearly one and a half juz.
Juz Amma, all of it, and half of
Juz Tabarak.
So I said, I want to continue with
my hifadh.
And my father asked me, do you want
to memorize the Qur'an full time?
I said, yes, full time.
He said, then you have to go to
a boarding school, which is going to be
away from home.
So you're not going to stay home.
I said, fine.
So he enrolled me into a boarding school
at that age, six and a half.
So alhamdulillah, I was enrolled there.
And because, again, this was by the mercy
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
I wanted to memorize the Qur'an.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made it easy
for me.
So I started memorizing the Qur'an, alhamdulillah.
And within one and a half year, alhamdulillah,
I completed the hifadh of the Qur'an.
And when I completed the hifadh, my father
again asked me, what's your plan now?
Do you want to go back to school
now?
I said, no, I don't want to go
to school.
He said, so what do you want to
do?
I said, I need to go into Islamic
studies or learn more about Qur'an.
And probably to also polish my tajweed and
my pronunciation of the Qur'an as well.
The way the hifadh works usually in Pakistan
is the children memorize the Qur'an.
And then after they have completed the hifadh
of the Qur'an, then they are taught
the rules of tajweed in depth.
And this is, you know, for non-Arab
students, this is more appropriate, I think.
For the children at a very young age,
it is difficult for them to understand the
rules of tajweed.
If you start teaching them, you know, qalqala
and idgham and ikhfa and madd and this
and that, it becomes very difficult for them.
But if you, you know, this doesn't mean
that you ignore the rules of tajweed when
memorizing the Qur'an.
The teacher and the parent, anyone who is
helping the child to memorize the Qur'an,
they need to focus on the pronunciation.
But without telling them the actual rules, just
through the talqeen.
This is the classical way anyway.
So when I completed my hifadh, I said,
you know, I want to study tajweed in
depth.
So my father, again, he enrolled me into
another madrasa, into another boarding school, and where
I studied tajweed for two years.
For two entire years.
Where we memorized the tafd al-utfal and
al-jazariyyah and other books of tajweed as
well.
And our teacher, who just a few months
ago, he passed away, rahimahullah.
He was blind, but he was very strict
in his tajweed.
So, alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed
me to spend two years with him and
to benefit from him.
He was the hafidh of the Qur'an
and hafidh of the kutubu sitta.
Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Nisai, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah,
all six books of ahadith, he had memorized.
So he was very, very strict.
So, alhamdulillah, he helped us in learning the
tajweed for two years.
And when I completed the tajweed course for
two years, then my father asked me if
I wanted to go to school again.
Again, I said no.
Because I had no desire.
I was so fed up or disheartened from
the school environment.
So I said, I don't want to go
back to school at all.
He said, what to do now?
I said, I want to go and start
learning the Islamic studies.
And again, the Islamic studies course in Pakistan,
usually in those boarding schools, in the ma
'ahad or in the madaris, is of seven
or eighty years long aliminia program, you can
say.
So my father, alhamdulillah, enrolled me into that
aliminia program for seven years.
So although I was young, alhamdulillah, it's funny,
in one of the lessons, there was a
new teacher who came in the class.
And he saw me sitting in the class
first day.
He didn't say anything.
Next day he came in.
He didn't say anything.
Third day he came in.
He said, you know, oh young boy, what
are you doing in this class?
And he thought that, you know, I'm just
chilling out, I'm wasting time.
And the rest of the class, then they
said, you know, he's one of our mates
in the class.
Because I was so young, alhamdulillah.
So I continued and I completed the alimnia
program over the duration of seven years, alhamdulillah.
And then I started teaching within the same
institute, alhamdulillah.
Masha'Allah, tawbarakallah.
Now you've been an imam, you've been leading
salah for quite a number of years, I
believe.
How many exactly?
Here at Green Lane, 22 years.
And prior to that, for Taraweeh, altogether about
37.
37 years, alhamdulillah, for Taraweeh.
But being a regular imam, 22 years at
Green Lane and three years prior to that
when he was in Pakistan.
So altogether, say, 25 years, alhamdulillah.
Masha'Allah, another indication towards his age.
What have been the challenges leading salah for
so many years?
What have been the challenges?
When it comes to the challenging or something
that is challenging as becoming an imam or
being an imam.
For me personally, the most challenging thing is
to keep the intention pure and sincere.
That is the biggest challenge.
Especially when leading the loud prayer, reciting the
Quran.
And as Allah says in the Quran, Shaitan
is your clear enemy.
Shaitan does not miss any opportunity to attack
your iman or to destroy your deeds.
And as we have heard the statement of
Sufyan Thawri, the most difficult part in the
religion is the ikhlas.
Keeping your intention pure.
For me personally, the most challenging part has
always been to keep the intention pure when
leading the salah.
I think this point of ikhlas and sincerity
goes across with a lot of things.
So it is a very important part with
regards to sincerity.
May Allah grant us ikhlas.
Ameen, ameen.
Sheikh, a slightly different question with regards to
the imamah.
I don't know if brothers here, many brothers
here, they probably pray here a lot.
Taraweeh and so on and so forth.
And you have been doing it, like you
said, for such a long time.
And I am sure many of the brothers
here and the sisters, of course, have noticed
that you very rarely make mistakes.
What is the secret?
You mean mistake in recitation?
No, no.
I do make mistakes.
I am a human being.
I do make mistakes.
And if I don't make mistakes in recitation,
then nothing is from me.
It is only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It is Allah's help and Allah's assistance.
And without the help of Allah, you can't
avoid making mistakes in the recitation of the
Quran.
May Allah grant you success.
Thank you.
Another little curveball.
For those of us here who have prayed
behind you for more than 10, 15 years,
those of us who have realized, I don't
know if many of you have realized, but
about 20 years ago, you used to wear
a thobe and a shemagh when leading salah.
And then all of a sudden you changed
and started wearing a sarbar kameez and mashallah,
collar coordination on point, mashallah, tabarakallah.
What happened there, Sheikh?
You know, thobe, I used to wear thobe
many years ago.
I gave up on thobe many years ago.
And this had nothing to do with the
Pakistani dress.
I feel more comfortable in shalwar kameez.
It's more comfortable.
Than the thobe.
And also when it came to wearing the
thobe, I wore the thobe only in the
UK.
When I was in Pakistan, I never wore
the thobe.
When I came over here in the UK,
I saw everyone, most of the people wearing
the thobe.
I said, let's try.
So I tried for a number of years,
but it wasn't successful.
So I gave up.
Maybe try it again, Sheikh.
Good point.
Another bit of a weird question, I'd say.
Often we hear or we see that some
people, brothers and sisters, find it very difficult
to approach certain imams.
Because they might feel like this imam is
not very approachable.
He looks too serious.
I don't know if he's going to be
friendly and whether he's going to shout at
me.
Things like that.
They feel a bit intimidated by certain people
who look a certain way.
Especially as being imam.
I don't know if you've ever faced something
like this.
What is your take on this?
If you're asking about myself, I would say
I'm always approachable.
Anyone can approach me anytime, after any salah.
Yes, sometimes I do leave from that door.
But it doesn't mean that I'm not approachable.
That's the only easy way, basically.
Coming in and going out.
So people can always see me.
I hold question and answer sessions during the
week.
I'm available in the office.
And I think the imam has to be
of the personality that is approachable.
And if the imam is not approachable or
people feel hesitant to approach the imam, then
there is something wrong.
The imam needs to realize his responsibility and
his duty towards the congregation, towards the community.
Because when a person becomes an imam, he
takes up the role of the Prophet ï·º.
The Prophet ï·º was the imam.
And he always looked after his community and
his congregation.
Although there are various levels within being imam,
but imam at every level needs to be
approachable.
And if there is an individual, any particular
imam, who people think that he's not approachable,
or someone who is very serious, then such
imam needs to be advised.
For myself, I sometimes, I'm sure most of
you have seen me, sometimes other than the
Salah time, and especially when it is summer
and hot, I go out without a hat.
And sometimes people say, you know, imam, I
saw you for the first time without a
hat.
And it happened, and a funny thing, many
years ago someone saw me in Morrison doing
the shopping, and said, oh imam sahib, you're
doing the shopping?
I said, subhanallah, imam is a human being,
imam is not an angel.
And then it reminded me, the ayah in
the Quran, Allah says, about the people of
Mecca, they used to object to the Prophet,
they used to say, What's wrong with this
messenger?
What type of messenger is this?
That we see him walking in the streets,
and he eats as well.
He eats the food like we eat.
So their mindset was, the Rasul and the
Prophet and Messenger should be someone else, not
amongst the human beings.
So I told that brother, never say this
to anyone, any imam or any person of
knowledge, why are you walking in the street,
or in the market, or this and that.
They are human beings, so they need to
be like other people, and they need to
be approachable.
Jazakallah khair.
Shaykh, you mentioned the story of your father,
and how your father, rahimahullah, really cared about
the upbringing in terms of the relationship with
the Quran.
And mashallah, for those of us who know
you, you do the same, mashallah, tabarakallah, with
your children as well as some of them,
or many of them are hufadh, hafizahumallah, ubarakafihim.
What would be your advice, shaykh, to us
here who are parents, who want their children
to also memorise the Quran?
For those parents who want their children to
memorise the Quran, my first advice would be
for them to ask themselves, they should ask
themselves, about the objective and the reason behind
making their children memorise the Quran.
Is it because you want your child to
recite the Quran in a very nice voice,
that's it, and to compete with others?
You heard a famous reciter who had 2,
3, 4, 5, 10 million followers, and you
wanted your child to become like this?
If this is the case, then this is
not pure intention.
The very first thing for the parents is
to purify their intention.
The intention should be that your children memorise
the Quran, so that when you die and
you are in your grave, you continue receiving
the reward.
So you make them memorise the Quran, obviously
for their benefit, but for your benefit as
well.
And in order, secondly, a part of the
purity of the intention is that you make
your children to be part of that chain,
that blessed chain, that begins with who?
The chain of the Quran.
Where does that chain start from?
From Allah.
Allah, Jibreel, Muhammad ï·º.
So you want your child to become part
of that chain, chain of narrators, chain of
narrations of the Quran.
And if you purify your intention, if you
have that intention, then the second advice would
be to try your best to instil the
love for the Quran in the hearts of
your children, rather than forcing them, shouting at
them, punishing them for not memorising the Quran,
because all these things can push the children
away from the Quran, rather than bringing them
closer to the Quran.
The third advice for the parents is that
if you are sincere for your child, whether
son or daughter, to become Hafidh of the
Quran, then you need to bear in mind
that you yourself will need to make equal
efforts.
You need to make equal efforts throughout the
journey of memorisation of the Quran.
So you need to assist and you need
to help your child.
For example, when it comes to memorising new
Hafidh, a new lesson, as a father and
mother, you need to make efforts and sit
with your child and help them memorise the
new lesson.
Help them in revising those Surahs and those
Ajzas that they have already memorised.
And if you enroll them into a Hafidh
class, then you need to be committed and
you should give the Quran priority over everything
else.
You need to be punctual, you need to
be regular in your class, bringing your child
in the Quran class, and staying in touch
with the teacher and checking the progress of
your child.
What I have seen is that many parents,
they have that desire, they are so passionate
about their children to become Hafidh, but unfortunately
their children, they do not become Hafidh.
And there are many reasons for that, and
one of them is that the parents have
only that passion, that's it.
When it comes to the practical side, when
you ask the parents, when you ask the
father, have you made efforts in helping your
child to memorise the Quran, by sitting with
him every morning for half an hour, forty
minutes, one hour, as a mother, sitting with
your daughter for one hour every day, in
the morning or in the afternoon or evening.
Most of the parents would say, no, I'm
busy at my work, I don't have time,
this and that.
So it doesn't work like that.
So in order for you to help your
child to memorise the Quran, you need to
sacrifice your time, and you need to give
the Quran priority over everything.
Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will make
the path easy for you.
Now, for those students, or for those brothers
and sisters who have gone down this path
of memorising the Quran, so they are students
of the Quran, what would your advice be
to those?
Those who are memorising the Quran, or those
who would like to memorise the Quran, my
advice for them, always one single, one single
advice, that Quran needs your dedication.
That's all.
And, unfortunately, majority of the people, they fail
in this.
That is why they keep struggling with memorising
the Quran, with their religion or whatever, for
many, many years.
Dedication.
Dedication needs to be so strong that, for
example, if you decide to give half an
hour to the Quran every single day, you
will not be missing it even on the
day of Eid.
Even on the day of Eid.
If Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sees that
dedication from you, Allah will assist you.
How much you memorise on a daily basis,
how to memorise, and various techniques of memorising,
and utilising various methods of memorising the Quran,
or doing your revision and retaining whatever you
have memorised, is everything comes after dedication.
So, I always advise that you need to
have a dedication.
Decide the best time for the Quran for
you.
You know your daily routine better than anyone
else.
Whether in the morning, afternoon, evening, on a
daily basis, spend half an hour.
If you decide to spend half an hour,
stick to that.
Never, ever compromise on that time.
The best time, obviously, is the morning time,
after Fajr.
And nowadays, even before Fajr, the time of
Tahajjud, Suhoor, Sahar time.
They are so blessed.
And if you were to make efforts to
wake up and spend only half an hour,
whatever you can do within that half an
hour, that is sufficient.
Whatever much you have memorised, you don't need
to be sad that you couldn't memorise five,
six, seven lines today.
Even if you memorise only one single line,
you spent your half an hour.
Because if you spend half an hour and
you dedicate that half an hour to the
Quran, you will be going over one single
line, revising and reading it, repeating it again
and again for thirty minutes.
Even if it takes you thirty minutes, you
will be rewarded anyway.
For every single letter, are we not rewarded
ten times?
There is no wastage of time.
When it comes to reading the Quran, that
is the biggest advantage of keeping yourself attached
to the Quran, that whenever you recite and
whatever amount you recite, there is no wastage
of time.
You can never regret that I wasted time
repeating this ayah twenty times, fifty times, hundred
times.
No, you can't say that you wasted your
time because you are rewarded.
And always bear in mind the hadith of
the Prophet in which he said The one
who is well versed with the Quran, the
one who is expert in the recitation of
the Quran, in the sight of Allah, is
like the noble angels.
As for the person who tries to read
the Quran but he stutters and he finds
it difficult.
He can't pronounce the letters or the words
properly and he keeps repeating those words and
letters again and again.
And it becomes very difficult for him to
read the Quran.
The Prophet s.a.w. said Such person
gets double reward.
He gets double reward.
The reward of reading and the reward of
the hassle and the struggle and the difficulty
that he has faced.
So, dedication, this may never ever compromise on
that time that you have dedicated for the
Quran and never ever give up.
Never give up.
Don't say that I've tried memorizing the Quran
for past 10 years, 15 years, 20 years.
I couldn't memorize so I gave up.
No, never gave up.
Even if you memorize only one single line
a day.
Only one single line.
And if you were to memorize one line
every day, so over the duration of one
year, you will end up memorizing how many
lines?
365 lines.
Okay, and you can go back and count
how many Adzai this become.
And just imagine if you were to have
that dedication and continue, everyone can become easily
Hafiz inshallah.
Jazakallah Khair.
Those who have memorized the Quran the day
they've read the last ayah to yourself as
a teacher, what would you advise such student?
Those who have memorized the Quran already, they
need to realize that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala has gifted them something very special.
And by memorizing the Quran, they have been
included into Ahlul Quran.
The people of Quran.
And the people of Quran are, as Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Ahlullahi Wa Khasatuh.
They are the Ahl of Allah, they are
the family of Allah, and they are the
chosen people of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Someone who has memorized the Quran needs to
appreciate their blessing.
That many people are deprived from that blessing
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And as the Salaf used to say, the
person who has memorized the Quran, the reciter
of the Quran, the Hafidh of the Quran,
or the Hamilul Quran, if such person believes
himself lower or lesser than others, then such
person does not have good thoughts about Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because, no matter how wealthy other people are,
how much power other people have, the person
of the Quran is the best individual because
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has said that.
The best amongst you is the one who
has learned the Quran.
The one who has learned the Quran.
So those who have memorized the Quran, first
of all, they need to realize, they need
to appreciate the blessings of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala that Allah has blessed them with
the Hafidh of the Quran which is something
that is so great and so special.
Secondly, they need to keep their duty towards
the Quran.
And their duty towards the Quran first and
foremost is to keep revising it on a
daily basis.
Amongst the Hufadh, those who have memorized the
Quran are those who are known as Ramadaniyoon.
Those Hufadh, those who start panicking in the
month of Sha'ban.
When they know now Ramadan is very close
and now they will be asked to lead
Salatul Tarawih.
And some even, they have the anxiety throughout
the month of Ramadan.
And I, myself, I have seen some Hufadh
who spend hours and hours during the month
of Ramadan going through that juice that they
need to recite in Tarawih that particular night.
Why?
Because they abandon the Quran for the entire
year.
And this is something that does not befit
the Hafidh of the Quran.
Someone who has memorized the Quran, he needs
to continue with revising the Quran on a
daily basis.
Without a miss.
I was listening to one of the famous
reciters of our time and he was talking
about his daily routine of the Ajza that
he recites and he said sometime what happens
that he becomes so busy traveling or giving
lectures or teaching and sometime he doesn't get
enough time to go over the number of
Ajza that he should be revising on a
daily basis.
Then he says by the end of the
week I calculate if I have revised all
those Ajza for the entire week.
If I have not revised those Ajza then
at the end of the week I make
sure that I revise them before the next
week begins.
And this is how the dedication towards the
Quran and that type of connection with the
Quran needs to be there for the Hufaf,
for those who have memorized the Quran.
First of all appreciating the blessing of Allah,
secondly keep revising it, and thirdly third responsibility
is to now start understanding the Quran.
Reciting the Quran without knowing the meaning is
not that useful.
I am not saying that you don't get
the reward, you do get the reward, but
when it comes to reciting the Quran you
should and you must know the meaning.
You must know the meaning.
Without knowing the meaning you can't really find
that sweetness of the Quran.
And the Quran, the impact of the Quran
cannot be there.
Quran cannot impact you unless and until you
understand the meaning And number four is when
you start understanding you need to act upon
it.
The Hafidh of the Quran should be the
role model for the rest of his family,
for his relatives, for his community.
The Hafidh of the Quran because as I
said he is someone who is blessed by
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
And Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala chose him to
become amongst Ahlullah, the people of Allah.
So the way he talks, the way he
interacts with people and the way he behaves,
the way he conducts, everything.
He is amongst the Ahlullah.
So he needs to be seen as walking
Quran as Aisha said about the Prophet and
finally fifth advice for the Hafidh of the
Quran is that once you have learned the
Quran, now you should teach others as well.
Don't keep it to yourself.
If you want to become amongst the best
people according to the Hadith of the Prophet,
then you have to teach as well.
Because the Prophet did not say the best
amongst you is the one who learns the
Quran or the one who teaches the Quran.
Rather he said the best amongst you is
the one who learns and teaches both.
And those Hafidh, those who have memorized the
Quran but they don't teach, they deprive themselves
from the khair of the dunya and the
akhirah.
May Allah give us the ability to appreciate
that blessing of Allah.
May Allah give us the ability to act
upon whatever we hear and whatever we say.
May Allah give us the ability to act
upon whatever we hear and whatever we say.
May Allah upon whatever we hear and whatever
we say.
May Allah the ability to act upon
whatever we hear and whatever May
Allah give us the ability to act whatever
we hear and whatever May Allah give us
the ability to act upon whatever May Allah
the ability to act whatever we hear and
whatever May Allah the ability to act Allah
has granted me the ability to act upon
whatever I hear and whatever we hear.
Allah the ability to act whatever impacted me,
I feel that it hasn't.
It's not because of the Qur'an, it
is because of me.
Because I'm a sinning person, I commit mistakes,
I commit sins, but the Qur'an, the
Kalam of Allah, there is no doubt in
the power and in the impact of the
Qur'an and the book of Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala.
And I make dua to Allah that Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala enable me to benefit from
the Qur'an the way I need to
benefit.
And I ask Allah that Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala makes the Qur'an impact on me
the way it should be impacting.
Again another personal question.
What would your advice be to a younger
Qari Zakarullah, a 15 year old Zakarullah Salim?
What would your advice be?
I would say, I always say to myself,
if only I would have learned more about
the Qur'an.
And there was time in my childhood when
I had time, I didn't have family, I
didn't have these many responsibilities of children and
family and this and that.
I had time, but I probably didn't make
the most of my time.
I didn't utilize it in the best way.
So I would say for those young youth
brothers and sisters, if Allah has given you
the opportunity now to memorize and to learn
the Qur'an, try to dive down and
go into the depth of the Qur'an
in terms of not only the recitation, not
only learning the various modes of reciting the
Qur'an, the riwayat and the different qiraat,
as well as the tafseer also.
The Qur'an is an ocean, is an
ocean.
If Allah gives you the age of Nuh
a.s. that won't be even enough to
go through the tafseer of the Qur'an
and to learn about the Qur'an.
The gems and the benefits and the lessons
that Allah has put in the Qur'an
for us, so many.
And I always say to myself in my
young age, if only I had learned the
riwayat and the qiraat, they could have helped
me understanding the Qur'an better.
Jazakallah Khair Sheikh.
Before we complete, before we end, a few
rapid questions.
Any rapid answer, quick answer questions inshallah.
Yes or no?
A bit more than yes or no.
Favorite hobby?
Favorite hobby?
Favorite hobby is listening to the reciters, the
good reciters.
I would say the imams in the Qur
'an, such as Sheikh Mohammad Siddiq al-Manshawi,
rahimahullah.
I really love his recitation.
Worst pet peeve?
Worst pet peeve?
Things that annoy you the most?
What annoys me the most?
Again, if I say about the Qur'an,
what annoys me the most when I see
someone making the fun of the Qur'an.
And I'm not referring to the enemies of
the Qur'an.
And I'm not referring to the general masses
amongst the Muslims.
Rather I'm referring to those reciters of the
Qur'an who make the fun of the
Qur'an.
You know what do I mean by this?
The reciters who make the fun of the
Qur'an?
Someone who recites the Qur'an like, you
must have seen, the Fara'i imam, yeah?
Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen ar-rahman ar-rahmanikum, na
'udhu billah min zalik, na'udhu billah.
Such a person, Allah knows best, if such
a person is going to be saved from
the punishment of Allah, where he made the
fun of the Qur'an.
And unfortunately this is the case in many
masajids during the month of Ramadan.
Even some of the masajids, they particularly choose
an imam for their tarawih, someone who can
quickly recite the Qur'an, quickly recite the
Qur'an.
Okay, the one who can recite the Qur
'an faster, they appoint him as an imam.
Or, another way of making fun of the
Qur'an is when I see people trying
to recite the Qur'an like music, and
there are people out there unfortunately, who teach
how to recite the Qur'an like music,
okay?
They teach like this unfortunately.
This is making fun of the Qur'an.
Okay, this is something that annoys me the
most.
Pakistan or UK?
Pakistan or UK?
Okay, Pakistan.
Chicken Salad or Meat Salad?
Chicken or Meat?
Lamb, Spring Lamb.
Biryani or Pilau?
Pilau.
Favorite Food?
Lamb with Vegetable.
Samosa or Pakora?
None.
Kabab?
Coffee or Tea?
None.
Water?
I'm not a fan of sweets.
Halwa?
Sometimes.
Now I'm not a big fan of halwa
either.
Android or iPhone?
Android.
That's all but it's Android.
Favorite App?
Favorite App?
And nowadays favorite app is the app is
called al-Mushaf, Mushaf al-Taysir, basically the
app that has all the different qiraat.
Yes, that's the most favorite nowadays.
Mushaf, yes.
Mushaf al-Taysir.
Mushaf al-Taysir, good to know.
Cricket or Football?
None.
Badminton?
*, Mashallah.
You're learning more and more about the shaykh
now.
Favorite Ayah?
Favorite Ayah?
It's hard to say favorite ayah.
There's many.
You have to pick after Surah al-Fatiha
and Surah al-Ikhlas, both.
After these two would be the second ayah
of Surah al-Anfal.
Arabic May Allah make us as Muslims.
Okay, do you translate, Sheikh?
In the second ayah of Surah al-Anfal,
in which Allah says, the true believers are
those that Arabic When Allah is mentioned before
them, their hearts start trembling.
Arabic And when the verses of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala are recited unto them, Arabic
Those verses increase their iman.
Arabic And only on their Lord they put
their trust.
Favorite Sahabi and why?
Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.
Why?
Because he is the best of the creation
after the Prophets.
As it is a part of Ahlul Sunnah,
it's the iman of Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama
'ah and the belief of Ahlul Sunnah wal
Jama'ah.
The best human being after the Prophets and
Messengers is Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased
with him.
Because he was the most beloved man to
the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with him,
as well.
May Allah be pleased with him.
Which scholar, after the Sahaba now, which scholar
inspired you the most and why?
From the past or?
There are many.
This is a very difficult to choose one.
I would say Imam Bukhari, may Allah have
mercy on him.
Why?
There are a number of reasons.
One of them is that he was an
orphan.
And his dedication to the Hadith of the
Prophet, may Allah be pleased with him, as
well.
And also, due to his efforts that he
made towards seeking the knowledge of the Hadith
of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with
him.
And because of that, the acceptance that Allah,
subhanahu wa ta'ala, has given him in
the entire world.
Shuraym or Sudeis?
Shuraym or Sudeis?
If I say none, then what?
Because we remember back in the days, you
used to recite similarly to Shuraym.
Yes, I used to.
But not anymore.
We will skip that one, inshallah.
So you say, in the past, it was
Shuraym.
Hafizahullah.
Favourite book after the Quran?
Favourite book after the Quran is Bukhari.
Sahih Bukhari.
Whenever I want to go through the books
of our Hadith, any book of our Hadith,
Sahih Bukhari is the best book.
Mecca or Medina?
Mecca.
Why?
Mecca is the most sacred place.
It is the best place.
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and due to
the reward as well.
While you are in Mecca, you offer one
single Salah, it is better than one hundred
thousand.
Medina, no doubt, Medina is the city of
the Prophet, it is sacred and beloved to
us.
But Medina comes second.
Because the reward in Medina, offering the Salah
in Medina, as the Prophet said, one single
Salah in Masjid al-Nabawi is better than
one thousand.
In Mecca, it is one hundred thousand.
If you say the environment, then everyone says
Medina.
The calmness and the environment in Medina is
different, no doubt.
When it comes to reward, then definitely Mecca.
Jazakum Allah khair.
May Allah grant us all the ability to
go and visit Mecca and Medina.
Jazakum Allah khair.
May Allah reward you for having us, giving
us the ability to get to know you
more.
Jazakum Allah khair, brothers and sisters for attending.
As we said, this is something that we
will do on a regular basis.
So please do come and benefit.