Achieving True Greatness Through Association With The Qur'an

The Qur'an and Its Association with Greatness

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem.

O you who have believed, fasting has been decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may be righteous.

The month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was revealed is a guidance for the people and clear signs of guidance and discernment.

My dear respected brothers, elders and sisters, Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

It's no secret that we live in the age of social media, where if someone desires, they can publicize their entire life on the internet. And due to the times we live in, a common phenomenon we observe is the obsession people have with what and who they are associated with.

Generally, people prefer to be associated with a higher class of living, with people of a higher social status, and people make any changes necessary to their lives to meet that criteria. Whether it be the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the way they carry themselves, the people they associate themselves with. And the reason they make all these changes is because they believe that once people see them to be from that social status, from that position, they'll have more value in the eyes of people.

However, as Muslims, Allah teaches us that what we should be obsessed with is being associated with the Qur'an. Because the nature of the speech of Allah is such that whatever it comes into contact with, it pushes that thing to its pinnacle — and it makes it the best of its kind.

Individuals Associated with the Qur'an

Now if we take the things that are associated with the Qur'an and split them into two broad categories — we have individuals and we have events. When it comes to individuals, the angel that brought this Qur'an, Jibreel alayhis salam, he is considered the best of angels.

The prophet that received this Qur'an, our master Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he is considered the best of prophets. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam himself said, "I am the best of the children of Adam. And this is not something I'm saying out of boastfulness."

Similarly, the nation that received this Qur'an is considered the best of nations. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3001)

That you are coming at the end of 70 nations, and you are considered the best and the most honorable in the sight of Allah. And if we go even deeper, in this great nation and ummah, the one who has the most association with the Qur'an is considered even the best amongst us.

We're all aware of the famous narration of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5027)

That the best of you are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it. Similarly, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 215)

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that Allah has certain family members from the people. When he was asked, "Who are these individuals?" the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "They are the people of the Qur'an — they are the special people of Allah."

To the extent that it comes regarding the Battle of Uhud — and we're all aware of the casualties that the Muslims suffered in that battle. The casualties were so many in number that the Muslims were forced to bury multiple people in one grave. At this time, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said — it is a narration of Hisham ibn Amir radiyallahu anhu, whose father also passed away in that battle — he said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 1713)

That bury two or three in one grave, and put the one who knows the most Qur'an in the front.

And the virtue of the Qur'an is such that it does not stay restricted to the individual — rather, it has an effect on those around him. We all hear the famous narration, perhaps we heard it when we were young, and that's why our parents put us into hifz, or that's why maybe we put our own children into hifz, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2905)

That a person who recites the Qur'an, and commits it to memory, and acts upon it — then through this Qur'an, Allah will enter him into paradise. And He will accept his intercession for ten such people, all of whom were decreed to go to hellfire.

Events Associated with the Qur'an

And if we move on to the second category — which is events, and perhaps is more interesting to us right now — the month the Qur'an was revealed in, the month of Ramadan, is considered the best of months. And if we go deeper, the specific night it was revealed in is considered the best of nights: the Night of Power, Laylatul Qadr.

Why Ramadan? The Value of Devotion Before Revelation

Now, one thing we have to realize is that the speech of Allah is not a cheap gift. It is not something that Allah just hands over without any effort from our part. We all know what is upon us.

We are quite literally at the doorstep of a very, very momentous time — a time in which two major events coincide. One is the tradition of fasting, where Allah says, as mentioned in the verse at the beginning, that O you who believe, fasting has been ordained upon you just as it was ordained on the people before you, in hopes that you will inculcate God-fearingness. So Allah in this month revives an ancient tradition He had with other nations — a very specific form of devotion by sacrificing our material needs: our food, our water, our cardinal desires. The second event that takes place in this month, as we spoke about, is the revelation of the Qur'an.

Now the obvious question that arises is: why this month? Allah Himself says:

That Allah says there are twelve months, and four of them are sacred. Ramadan is not one of those months. Why not one of those months? Why not the beginning of the year? Why not the end of the year?

Well, the reason for that is because Allah desires an extra form of devotion before He gives His revelation to someone. And this is something that can be observed in the life of the Prophet ﷺ. The famous narration regarding when the Prophet ﷺ first received wahy — we're all aware of it — comes in Bukhari. The narration starts that in the beginning the Prophet ﷺ had true dreams. And when the narration continues, it mentions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3)

That leading up to the moments and the days where the Prophet ﷺ was to receive prophethood and receive the Qur'an, seclusion was made very beloved to him. So we're all aware — he would go to the Cave of Hira, and he would spend days there and devote himself to Allah, doing his form of ibadah. And that is where the Qur'an was revealed upon him. It was not revealed in the bustling town of Makkah where trade is going on and people are worried about their livelihood. It was revealed after a period of specific devotion to Allah.

The Example of Musa Alayhis Salam

A similar case is observed when it comes to Musa alayhis salam. Now Musa alayhis salam — he's a prophet. He's already reached the highest station that any man can reach: prophethood. Despite this, before Allah gave him the Torah, he promised Him 30 days of devotion, of ibadah:

He promised 30 days to Allah, and then 10 days were increased — so 40 days he spent in the ibadah of Allah in solitude, after which he received the Torah. Why? To show the people who come afterwards the value of revelation — that even someone who has reached the highest level a man can reach is still expected to make some extra, some palpable increase before he receives the revelation.

The Prophet ﷺ in Ramadan

And if we come back to the Prophet ﷺ, specifically in the month of Ramadan — Ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhu says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6)

That the Prophet ﷺ was already the most generous of people. Anas radiyallahu anhu tells about him:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2312)

That the Prophet ﷺ was never asked of anything in relation to Islam — where someone would say, "If you want me to become Muslim, you have to give me this" — except that the Prophet ﷺ would give it. To the extent that when people became Muslim and received these things, they would go back to their nation and tell them, "You all should believe as well":

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2312)

That Muhammad ﷺ gives as someone who has no fear of poverty — that's how generous he was. Despite that, his generosity would increase even more in Ramadan:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6)

What's the reason for that? Because during Ramadan, the Prophet ﷺ would revise the Qur'an. So as a form of celebration of this revelation of Allah, and in an attempt to take as much benefit from it, even someone who was perfect — who had already reached the pinnacle of man — made an effort to go even higher to show his appreciation for the revelation of Allah.

The Nature of the Qur'an: Surah Az-Zumar

Now, what is the nature of this speech — this kalam of Allah that is so great that anything it comes into contact with, it makes the best of its kind? For this, I would just like us to ponder over one verse in Surah Az-Zumar. Obviously there are many verses that talk about the nature of the Qur'an and how glorious it is, but one verse I would like to mention is where Allah says:

Allah is the one who has revealed the best of speeches. The verse begins as such to implant in our minds that the first thing we should think — and the first thing that should cross our minds when we read the Qur'an — is: whose speech am I reading? Who is speaking to me right now?

This is why Imam Ghazali rahimahullah, in his work Ihya Ulum al-Din, has a chapter where he discusses the proper way of reciting the Qur'an and the manners a person should uphold. He discusses many physical aspects of it — that a person should be clean, should wear proper clothes, should sit properly. And then he discusses 10 points which pertain to the inner feeling a person should have when he reads the Qur'an. And the first two points he mentions are:

That a person has reverence of the speech in his heart — who is speaking to me right now? It is the Lord of the worlds, it is Allah. And that's exactly how this verse begins.

Mutashabih: The Permeating Beauty of the Qur'an

Then Allah continues and says: كِتَابًا مُّتَشَابِهًا — it is a book that is mutashabih. Mutashabih, when we hear it in other contexts, often means something that is ambiguous. And the reason for that is because mutashabih is quite literally where things resemble each other — and when many things resemble each other, it's hard to differentiate one from the other. So it is called ambiguous.

Now we're all aware that the Qur'an was revealed to 7th century Arabs who were known for their eloquence and how much devotion they had to poetry. And that's something they would boast about — they would have entire competitions where different tribes would get together and recite their poetry, and the person who won would be given the most honor.

But if we look into even the poetry of that time — whether a person is describing a garden, their horses, or even an individual — the way the poetry usually goes is that they would find a certain part of that garden or that individual and just start describing that. "Look, the trees are as such, this person's eyes are as such," etc. But what's the most beautiful thing? The most beautiful thing is where you don't know where the exact beauty is — it is permeated in every part of that thing. You don't know if it's the eyes or the nose. You don't know if it's the fruits or the tree.

So Allah is showing us here that this is the nature of the Qur'an — its beauty is in every single aspect, in every single letter.

Mathani: The Power of Repetition

And then Allah continues and says: مَّثَانِيَ — the nature of the Qur'an is such that it repeats itself. Ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhu used to say:

That the Qur'an, all of it is repetition — Allah repeats things. We had a discussion on Jannah here, five days later another discussion on Paradise. We had a discussion on the people of Aad here, a few days later another discussion on the people of Aad. Why? To leave a lasting effect on us.

A lot of times we hear something and it jolts us awake and we get chills on our spine. But by the time the individual moves on to the next point or the next sentence, we've forgotten that feeling — it doesn't last. But the nature of the Qur'an is such that it repeats itself in different themes, so these things are drilled within us and they sit with us.

The Chills of the God-Fearing

And the feeling that Allah described in this verse — تَقْشَعِرُّ مِنْهُ جُلُودُ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ — that those people who truly fear Allah, when they recite the Qur'an, it gives them chills. And this is how the sahabah would describe it. Asma bint Yazid radiyallahu anha says about the sahabah:

That the companions of the Prophet ﷺ were such that when they used to recite the Qur'an — when the Qur'an was recited to them — their eyes would weep and they would get chills.

And this is something that we can observe in the life of individual sahabah as well. Jubayr ibn Mut'im radiyallahu anhu talks about himself — and this is before he accepted Islam. He says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 765)

That I heard the Prophet ﷺ reciting Surah al-Tur in Maghrib salah. And he says:

He says: when the Prophet ﷺ reached this verse — in which Allah asks the disbelievers whether they were created from nothing, or whether they created themselves — though he had not yet verbally accepted Islam, he says: "I couldn't contain myself. I couldn't contain my heart." And he mentions: وَذَلِكَ أَوَّلُ مَا وَقَرَ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قَلْبِي — that was the first time faith settled in his heart.

A Call to Action: Honour the Qur'an This Ramadan

The point of mentioning all this is to realize that this gift that Allah has given this ummah — His Qur'an — is something that we should not take for granted. And especially in this month, the very month it was actually revealed in, to not give it any extra time is not just failing to celebrate it — it is almost a form of disrespect to it.

So what is being asked is simply a call to action: if we were only reading a few pages, or we were reading nothing, we increase that. If the person who was already at the peak — the Prophet ﷺ — made an actual increase in his actions, then at the very least we can try to do the same.

So I pray that Allah grants us the ability to act upon what has been said. Ameen.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said: the charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day.

Also please note — no curb parking. Please do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or on Swift Highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot. Please do not park in the condo's parking lot.

Also, starting from next Friday, March 15th, the first Jumu'ah will be at 1:00 PM and the second Jumu'ah will be at 2:10 PM. This is due to the Daylight Saving Time change.

Additionally, we have the Fiqh of Ramadan with Mufti Muhammad al-Hajji tonight after Isha salah.

Also, please register for our Ramadan programs at masjidds.org/ramadan, including I'tikaf, Community Iftar, Kids Tarawih Program, and Youth Programs. Please also sign up to sponsor Iftar dinners or any of the other many expenses incurred in Ramadan — gain the reward of a fasting person. Insha'Allah, your reward will be multiplied many times over. Please visit the office for more details.

Additionally, please join us for our weekly programs. We have Team Fajr, which will continue tomorrow. Fajr iqamah is at 5:45 AM. This is the last Team Fajr until after Ramadan.

Additionally, dates are available for sale. Please contact the food stall outside the archway entrance.

Du'a Requests

Please make du'a for the Muslims of Palestine. Additionally, one of our staff members — both of whose parents are undergoing angioplasty today — please make du'a for them. Brother Azhar from Shalimar is on a ventilator and fighting for his life — please make du'a for him. And the grandmother of Ibrahim Asif, one of our 5th year students, has passed away in Pakistan — please make du'a for her.

We make du'a that Allah forgives all those who have left this world and cures all those who are ill. Ameen.

A Joyous Occasion: A New Brother in Islam

Alhamdulillah, it is a very joyous occasion for all of us. Brother Isaac, who is currently in the lobby, had just previously accepted Islam right before Jumu'ah with Brother Khalid and myself. We request all the brothers to please meet him and congratulate him for this momentous occasion. Jazakallahu khayr. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.