When are we to Understand?

By Muhammad Alshareef

Should they make him a king or should they kill him? The Mushrikeen of

Makkah did not know what to become of this phenomenon sweeping their

ranks, dividing - as they claimed - between a man and his son, between a

man and his wife. It had to end.

Abu Al-Waleed Utbah ibn al-Mugheerah said, "Let me finish this once and

for all." He found Rasul Allah - sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam - sitting

near the Ka'bah and approached.

He said, "O Muhammad." Rasul Allah turned to him, acknowledged

Al-Waleed and listened attentively.

Al-Waleed began, "Why do you persist in this message you are calling to?

Is it riches you desire? Is so, we shall make you the richest amongst

us. Is it women you desire? If so, we shall marry you to the fairest of

our women. Do you find illness in your mind? If so, we shall afford you

with the best of doctors."

When Al-Waleed had exhausted the offers, Rasul Allah - sal Allaahu

alayhi wa sallam - asked him politely, "Have you completed what you

wanted to say?" Al-Waleed said, "yes."

Then, in the sweetest of recitation, Rasul Allah - sal Allaahu alayhi wa

sallam - began reciting from the beginning of Surah Fussilat:

[Haa-Meem / A revelation from (Allah) the Merciful, the

Mercy-Giving / A book whose verses have been spelled out - a Qur'an in

Arabic for people who know / (Sent as) Good news and warning, but most

of them turn away, so they hear not / And they say: "Our hearts are

under covering (screened) from that to which you invite us; and in our

ears is deafness, and between us and you is a screen, so work (on your
way), verily we are working (on our way).]

Abu Al-Waleed's eyes widened as he listened point blank to the

recitation of he whom the Qur'an was revealed to. Rasul Allah - sal

Allaahu alayhi wa sallam - continued to recite until he came to the

verse: [But if they turn away, then say: "I warn you of a destructive,

awful torment, such as the destructive awful torment of (the tribes of)

'Aad and Thamud."]

Al-Waleed leaped forward and covered the mouth of Rasul Allah - sal

Allaahu alayhi wa sallam - for fear that the Saa'iqah (destructive awful

torment) would befall them right then and there.

Now, come back to the 21st century. You turn on your computer and a

signal flashes on your screen: You have 1 message waiting. Is it your

friend? Has that online order been shipped? You can't wait to find out.

Or is that 'annoying' mailing list that sends out a verse-a-day that

many delete without looking twice?

Dear brothers and sisters, there is an unread message waiting for us. It

is Al-Qur'an al-Kareem, the Noble Recitation. And its author is our

Creator!

Let us randomly ask Muslim communities around the world the following

question: Why did Allah reveal the Qur'an? Many a community will

respond without hesitation, "The Qur'an was revealed to bless us." But

is that the correct response?

The Qur'an is blessed and blessed is he who recites it. However, listen

carefully to the following verse, for we shall find out that this

'blessedness' is not the reason the Qur'an was revealed:

Allah ta'ala says: [(This is) a blessed Book which We have revealed to

you, (O Muhammad), that they might reflect upon its verses and that
those of understanding would be reminded.] - 38/29

Barakah is a characteristic of the Qur'an, not the purpose of

revelation. The purpose of revelation is so that "its verses will be

contemplated and acted upon!"

The misconception that the place of Qur'an in our lives is one of

'Barakah' and 'Barakah' only, has many manifestations. We find many

Muslim families bent on the desire to have their children read the

Qur'an in Arabic once, yes ONCE, in their lifetime.

We find communities that print their Qur'ans in 30 separate parts so

that they can recite it when someone dies - this is a well known fact.

Or when they some wealthy person dies, they donate $100,000 of their

inheritance (money that belongs to their children) to print a million

copies of pocketsize Surah Yaa-Seen (not Surah Maai'idah or any Surah,

just Surah Yaa-Seen) so that they can get the 'barakah' of people who

read for 'barakah'.

Nay, we've misunderstood the role of the Qur'an in our lives and the

message is still waiting to be read. This is our topic for today: When

are we to understand Allah's message?

Do you know which language the Qur'an would have been revealed in had

the majority of speakers been taken into account? No, not English. It

would have been a Mandarin Chinese Qur'an! But the Qur'anic language is

not open to the whims of humans.

Nay, Allah ta'ala chose a pure and blessed Arabic. It is we that must

strive to understand it:

[A book whereof the verses are explained in detail - a Qur'an in

Arabic for people who know] - Surah Fussilat

The Qur'an is truth in its purest form. Falsehood cannot touch it.
Allah ta'ala says: [Falsehood cannot approach it from in front,

nor from behind. It is a revelation from one Wise and Praised.] - 41/42

The Qur'an is the Siraat alMustaqeem, the straight path which we ask for

every day in Salah:

[Guide us to the Straight Path]

All we have to do is turn the very next page, and we'll discover the

straight path. Allah ta'ala begins speaking about this Book wherein

there is no doubt, and then characterizes it: "Hudan lilMuttaqeen! - A

guide (what we were asking for) for the God-Fearing."

Ali - radi Allaahu 'anhu - said, "AsSiraat alMustaqeem, the straight

path, is the Qur'an!"

The Qur'an is the rope of Allah that we ordered to hold fast to:

[And hold firmly to the rope of Allah, and be not divided] -

3/103

Ibn Abbas said, "Hold firmly to the rope of Allah, for verily the rope

of Allah is the Qur'an" - Ibn Katheer

The Qur'an is the best speech

[Allah has sent down the best of statements, a Book, its parts

resembling each other in goodness and truth, oft-repeated] - 39/23

I want you to try and picture ancient Makkah right now. Picture what

kind of things you would see. I picture the city getting darker as the

sun sets, there are no streetlights. I see a small market place, Arabs

selling dates, honey, meats, bread. I do not hear the sound of clocks

ticking or distant cars. I hear pigeons squawking, donkeys whining, and

Arabs chatting. I do not feel the softness of cotton and acrylic that I

wear now. My skin is very harsh, deeply tanned; I recline on hard mud

floors, and sleep under the moon.

In that condition, a man is claiming that he is the Prophet of Allah.

As-Saadiq, Al-Ameen; The truthful one, the trustworthy Muhammad.

Imagine yourself in this state ... you've believed in him and you go to

hear the guidance of the Qur'an - recitation from he whom the Qur'an was

revealed to.

I ask you dear brothers and sisters, how deeply would you listen to the

message in such a state? What has happened to us that we do not want to

hear Allah's message with such passion.

During Ramadan, we have good brothers here at Dar-us-Salaam who lead the

Taraweeh. They recite the Qur'an and make the dua and once in a while,

tears overtake the words they recite. Brother Yusuf (one of our

school's bus drivers) came up to me with a sheet of paper and pen

already in his hands, his eyes misty.

He said, "Muhammad, I want you to translate for me everything the Imam

is saying in his dua." Caught off guard, I shrugged and said 'You want

me to translate the whole thing here in the hallway?"

He replied, "Yes, because we're Muslim too. If it makes the Imam cry,

it would make us cry too ... if we only knew what it meant!"

As he spoke, tears overtook him. The words locked in my mind, "If only

we knew what it meant."

Allah ta'ala says in the Qur'an:

[And the Messenger has said, "O my Lord, indeed my people have

taken this Qur'an as a thing (abandoned)".] - 25/30

How is the Qur'an abandoned?

1. The Qur'an is abandoned in our lives when we do not believe in it

anymore. When we prefer listening and watching 135 channels by

satellite, but if the Qur'an were to accidentally play, we would not

listen to it or perhaps rush to shut it off (of course after one

complete Ayah - can't be disrespectful now can we).

2. The Qur'an is abandoned when a person does not care to learn Allah's

message in the Qu'ran.

3. The Qur'an is abandoned when we leave its laws and instead turn to

the laws of the British and the Italian to dictate justice to us.

This will be the Prophet's charge, what are we doing to create an alibi?

"My heart is hard as a rock. I do not feel any spirituality." This is a

statement we hear over and over again in our communities. Dear brothers

and sisters, I am going to shock you now with a verse of Qur'an. It's

going to tell us the reason why our hearts have become like this:

[Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts

humble to the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth?

And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and

a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of

them are defiantly disobedient.] - 57/16

Notice that it is an admonishment from Allah that our hearts are not

humbling to the Qur'an. Dear brothers and sisters, Allah is telling us

that it is OUR FAULT when we do not feel that spirituality. How much

time has passed since we have not contemplated the Qur'an? 20 years? 50?

When are we to understand?

Ibn Katheer comments: In this verse, Allah is forbidding us from

imitating those that were charged with carrying Allah's books before us,

the Jews and the Christians. The time they spent away from the books

went on and on until they changed the books...put it behind their backs,

and turned to their priests and monks whom their worshipped instead of

Allah. It was then that their hearts rusted away.

As a poet said:

AlQur'an, the key to happiness' door / AlQur'an, the only rope of

salvation

Don't leave it or abandon it / Allah will forget you if you forget Him

Part II: Introduction to AlMaghrib Institute

If any of us are planning to watch TV all summer long, let me tell you

TV guide's best bet: It's called the OFF button! Our time is too

valuable for that. How can we waste our time when we know for a fact

that when we get up to pray the 2 Raka'aat of Jumu'ah, more then 85% of

the congregation will not know what the verses mean?

Language is such a blessed thing, indeed the variations of our tongues

is one of the signs of Allah ta'ala. Humans took this divine gift and

created languages for those that cannot vocalize a single vowel: sign

language. They devised a language of dots and dashes: Morse code.

Yet, if we look at the most illiterate countries of the world, we will

find most of them being Muslim majority countries - our own backyard.

All this in disregard to the fact that the first word revealed to us by

Allah was: "Read."

"To move the world, we must first move ourselves"

Narrated Ahmad, Muslim and Abu Dawood, 'Uqbah ibn Aamir - radi Allaahu

'anhu - recalls: Rasulullah - sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam - once came

to us while we were sitting on the Suffah and asked, "Would any of you

like to go to the market of But-haan or Aqeeq (two market places that

sold camels near Madinah) and fetch from there two she-camels of the

finest breed without committing any sin or severing a tie of kinship?"

We replied, "Every one of us would love to do so."

Rasulullah - sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam - then said, "Going to the

Masjid and reciting or teaching two ayaat of the Qur'an is more precious

than two she-camels; three ayaat are most precious than three

she-camels. And that similarly reciting or teaching of four ayaat is

better than four she-camels and an equal number of camels."

Here in the United States, Allah ta'ala has blessed our community with

many professionals and educated people. With all our wealth,

conveniences, and intelligence, we have no excuse but to excel in our

drive to learn Islam and learn it properly.

Dear brothers and sisters, today I have exciting news! I'm sure you

caught a glimpse of the posters on the entrance to Dar-us-Salaam. Today

is the grand opening of our hope for a new standard in quality Islamic

education in the West: AlMaghrib Institute. A project of Dar-us-Salaam,

AlMaghrib Institute shall be under my direction and it shall specialize

in our own engineered double-weekend accredited intensive seminars.

Alhamdulillah, the American Open University has accredited the seminars,

so our seminars will count towards the student's Bachelors degree in the

Islamic Sciences.

Based on the surveys that we conducted after Jumu'ah a while back, the

first double-weekend accredited intensive AlMaghrib Institute shall

offer is a course that won the highest votes: Tafseer Al-Qur'an

al-Kareem.

So, beginnnig with Surah Iqra and following the order of revelation

throughout the 30th Juz', this upcoming 2-weekend intensive seminar

shall teach the meaning of those Surahs we recite most often in Salah;

July 19-21 and July 26-28.

Whether you are a parent, a Muslim schoolteacher hoping to enrich

herself, a University student striving to sight Allah's message, or

someone who simply desires to decipher what is said in Salah, then you

cannot miss this event.

Over one month of dedicated research and intense preparation goes into

each AlMaghrib seminar. This is our humble effort to raise the quality

of Islamic Instruction by being examples for others. In sha Allah

ta'ala, Al-Maghrib Institute will impress you in a way no other

religious classes have before.

Registration for this seminar shall close once the 60 seats have filled

up. Don't be put on the waiting list, invest in your spiritual future

and enroll now (Well not right now, please wait till after Jumu'ah).

To learn more about AlMaghrib Institute, a project by Muhammad

Alshareef, visit our website at www.alMaghrib.org

<http://www.almaghrib.org/>