Rekindling Our Relationship With The Qur'an - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. My Lord, open for me my breast and ease for me my affair. And remove the knot from my tongue, so that my speech will remain.

Glory be to You, there is no knowledge for us except what You have taught us. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad and upon the family of our Master Muhammad, and bless and send peace.

Allah, the Exalted, said in the Glorious Qur'an, after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And the Messenger said: "O my Lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur'an as something abandoned."

"Indeed We have sent down to you a Book wherein is your remembrance. Do you not understand?"

My respected elders, my dear brothers, mothers, and sisters, and young students — peace be upon you.

The Purpose Behind All of Creation

Allah, the Exalted — our Lord, our Creator, Nourisher, Provider, the Most High, the Most Sublime, the Owner of all attributes, of all the best of attributes, the One who has the keys to the entire treasures of this world and the next, the One who introduces Himself throughout the Qur'an, speaking about His greatness and magnificence — this whole world in reality is a mere manifestation of His greatness. The whole maqsad and the purpose of every invention, of every progression, every movement, in reality is to show Allah's power and might.

From the movement of a small mosquito to the movement of the massive sun in its orbit, all say one thing. From the tiny eggs that hatch somewhere below a tree to a large animal that is being eaten up by another animal, all are speaking one thing. Thousands of people becoming ill and sick and thousands of people being cured, all say one thing. Thousands of young boys and girls, infants being born into the world, and thousands dying and leaving this world, all say one thing. Every single one of these things speaks about Allah's oneness, Allah's might, Allah's power, Allah's strength, Allah's wisdom.

Allah, respected friends, has not created you and I without a purpose.

"We haven't created the heavens and the earth without a purpose. This is the assumption of the disbelievers." As Muslims, every action that we do and every command of Allah that we welcome, we need to know very well that there is a message behind each and every one of those things. Fasting and Qiyam and Tarawih and Laylatul Qadr — every single thing, there is a hukm of Allah behind that. Lucky is that individual who is able to read between the lines, who is able to understand the message that Allah is communicating with him, communicating to him via these commands, via these incidents.

For example, Allah says:

Chaos has spread all over the earth and land and sea — بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ — because of the actions of people.

Allah also says:

Whatever affliction comes to you, it is because of your own actions, a retribution for your own actions — وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ — and He forgives many types of sins, meaning He does not hold you accountable for everything.

My respected brothers and sisters, every action around us is speaking and is inviting us for tadabbur and tafakkur — to ponder and to think about why is this happening. We need to, we always wonder why. Children ask questions of why; we also ask questions why. The answer is very clear: Allah wants it that way. Why did Allah want it that way? Because He has, for example, asked us to be obedient to Him and we haven't. Or He has given this problem or difficulty as a means of us getting closer to Him, because we haven't done 'ibadah, so through patience we get close to Allah.

Ramadan — The Month of Revelation

Respected elders, brothers, mothers and sisters, the message of Allah is coming to you and I through the Qur'an, and this is the message of Ramadan. Ramadan is that month — yes we fast and yes we do so many other beautiful things in this month — but one of the most important aspects of this month is that this is shahru al-wahy, this is the month of revelation.

The previous scriptures — whether the scriptures of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), the scriptures of Musa (peace be upon him), or the scriptures of other prophets — were revealed in this month. And the Qur'an as well was revealed in this month. From the preserved tablet to the first heavens, in its entirety Allah revealed this Qur'an. And then over a period of 23 years, bit by bit as was required and as was needed, Allah revealed it to the Prophet ﷺ. So Ramadan is shahru al-wahy. It is a month of revelation — all the previous revelations as well as the Qur'an having been revealed in this month.

Allah clearly says:

This ayah we all know, we've heard it from Suratul Baqarah. "The month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was revealed — هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ — in it lies guidance for people. وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِّنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ — in it lies very clear signs, and in it lies the criterion through which you differentiate between falsehood and truth, between right and between wrong."

Tadabbur — Reflecting on the Qur'an

My brothers and sisters, the message of Ramadan is for you and I to reflect on the Qur'an — to see what extent is the Qur'an in my life. And this is genuinely a true call to action for me and for all of us present here listening. Alhamdulillah, we are about to complete the recitation of the Qur'an in Tarawih. Most of you have listened to the entire Qur'an or a good portion of it in Tarawih. Many of us are now quickly moving forward to try to complete our rounds of Qur'an in this month. We hope we are all able to do so, insha'Allah.

But my brothers and sisters, this month is not merely for listening to the Qur'an in Tarawih. Nor is it a month only for us to recite through it or even read a translation of the Qur'an. But more importantly, it is a month of tadabbur. It is a month of us reflecting on the verses and the teachings of the Qur'an to see: where am I with the call of the Qur'an?

When Allah so beautifully asks us — يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — all over: "O people who have already believed, O all of you who have said لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, O those of you who have willingly submitted yourself to Allah and His Rasul and to the Qur'an — I am asking you to do the following things."

For example, آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ — "I want you to renew your faith." For example, Allah says:

"Do not raise your voice over the voice of the Prophet ﷺ." For example, Allah will tell us:

"None of you should backbite one another." Allah for example says:

"None of you should mock and belittle one another." Allah for example asks us to ensure that we become from amongst those who give our zakah, who perform our salah, who guard — and:

"Tell the believing men and the believing women to lower their gazes, and to protect their private parts."

Allah, respected friends, asks us:

"Enter into Islam with totality. Completely submit yourself to Islam."

Respected friends, there were people previously who had a habit of taking from the Qur'an what they liked — what met their fancy — and what they didn't like or went against their desires, they left it. Allah says:

They believe in some portions of the book, and then they leave certain other portions and they belie it. Allah doesn't speak favorably about such people, who would take the Qur'an as their own book and tear out whatever they don't want and keep whatever they want. Respected friends, this is not the method of dealing with the Qur'an. Allah has given you and I this beautiful book for reflection and for tatbiq — to put into our practice.

The Parable of the Bullet and the Barrel

I've commonly shared a simple story, but it has beautiful meaning to it — of a village that had a problem of predatory animals attacking in the night. And so the villagers decided that they would have people on guard. But these men who would be guarding the village at night were scared because they would be seeing that the predatory cats of the jungle would be coming out at night, attacking their animals and possibly even attacking human life. So someone said, "Go to the city, and there is now new technology called the shotgun. You go purchase that, and you will be able to knock out even a raging, charging elephant."

So they went ahead and purchased this from the city, and came back, and they gave it to the man who was on guard for the night, and said, "Use this to protect the community and ourselves from the onslaught of this animal or any animal that comes at night." The next day they go to see, and lo and behold they see that the man who had the shotgun in his hand is about to pass away — he's about to die, his body is torn up into pieces. And they are shocked that this hadn't happened before. Why is it now that he has a shotgun, he is now almost losing his life?

So they asked him, as he's breathing his last, "What did you do? We gave you a shotgun, how did you end up in a situation like this?" And he said, "I'm angry at you — things have become worse than before, it was never this bad." They said, "What did you do?" He said, "I did as you told me. You told me that if I were to use this bullet, this will even kill a charging elephant. So when I saw the lion or the tiger coming out of the jungle, one after another I start taking out bullets, and I started propelling it with my hand at the lion. And instead of looking the other way, it began to look at me and it charged against me. And it did this to me as you see."

So the villagers said, "What a fool! This is not what we have told you. We have told you that the bullet itself is not going to do much. The bullet is going to attract the attention and actually end up in a situation that you are in today. You were supposed to have placed this bullet in the barrel of the gun, and then released it — and you would see what it had done."

Look at that, my brothers — that same bullet which was so powerful to destroy an elephant, became a means of the death of this individual because it was simply placed in the wrong place. The book of Allah needs to be placed in its barrel. And a barrel is not a bookshelf, it's not an app, it's not the phone — it is our hearts, minds and bodies. When the book of Allah is acted upon in a person's life, then amazing things will happen.

As the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Indeed Allah raises up nations through the book of Allah." People who were slaves, people who were barbaric — people who were so barbaric that outsiders did not want to even rule over them. But because of the book of Allah, Allah brought the treasures that had been stored up for thousands of years to their feet. Allah brought very so-called civilized nations and made them their servants — through the book of Allah.

Allah's promise is with anyone. Whoever chooses to take the book of Allah seriously and put it in front of him, قَادَهُ وَسَاقَهُ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ — Allah ensures that this mushaf, this book of Allah, will pull you towards paradise. And whoever, no matter who his father, mother, grandfather, grandparents may have been, respected elders and brothers — and no matter how much wealth that person may have — but whoever جَعَلَهُ خَلْفَ ظَهْرِهِ — whoever puts it behind his back — Allah will ensure سَاقَهُ إِلَى النَّارِ — it will push this individual, nay, the entire community towards hellfire.

The book of Allah is that unstoppable engine. When put into the front, it will put you in that direction. When put in the back, it will tow you away in the other direction. There is no stopping to the book of Allah.

The Qur'an Is the Attribute of Allah

Respected friends, how can there be a stopping to the book of Allah, when the book of Allah is not a creation of Allah? If you think the sun is mighty, if you think a tsunami is mighty, if you think the waves of a massive ocean are mighty, if you think that the huge multi-mile mountains are mighty, if you think that the never-ending cosmos and the billions of light-years-away stars and the billions-of-degrees-hot stars are mighty — respected friends, all of this is a creation of Allah. And a creation will always remain a creation. It can never compete with a Creator. It will always still be insignificant in front of the Creator.

But one thing that is not the creation of Allah, but rather is the indispensable, the uncreated word of Allah — this is an attribute of Allah. Most definitely, this is the most valuable thing that exists. This is the greatest thing that is out there.

And Allah has said: "With it lies guidance." "Within it lies nur." Allah says: "With it lies guidance for those who have taqwa." Allah says: "Nur has come to you, and a very clear book has come to you." Allah says: "This is a book in which you are mentioned" — or: "This is a book in which you are being reminded about your purpose."

Three Categories of People with the Qur'an

Allah says in Surah Al-Fatir that there are different types of people who deal with the Qur'an at different levels:

"We have made our chosen servants as the inheritors of this book." Allah does not need to give this to anyone. This is an honor for this ummah that Allah is using the word wirasah — "I have made you an inheritor of My word. I have made you an inheritor of My book. I have made you an inheritor of My attribute."

Allah says, however, there are three groups of people. I have chosen all of you, I've given it to you:

1. The One Who Oppresses Himself — ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ

The first are those who oppress themselves. There are those who choose to shoot themselves in the leg and who turn away from the book of Allah. Their entire lives are spent and they have become experts in all sorts of fields. But unfortunately, they have not decided to spend some time to learn Surah Al-Fatihah to be recited properly. They have spent years studying all sorts of other sciences. But when asked, they may not even know the translation of that opening chapter of the Qur'an which we recite tens of times a day.

Whose fault is that, my brothers? Whose fault is that? When a person has so much energy, time, and effort put into various materialistic things, but a few moments of reflection over:

A few moments of reflection over the opening verses of Surah Yusuf — a person is deprived of that. A person has no idea what's going on. Yet for so many immigrants — a vast majority of immigrants of this country and a huge number of Muslims — most definitely they were not born with the English language. This was something that they learned and they mastered because that's what is required to earn money. And so they did it. But when it comes to the book of Allah — that sifah of Allah, the attribute of Allah — within it lies the keys to the success of entire humanity and jinn-kind, within it lies the success for this world and the next — how much time and effort have I dedicated to even understanding a portion of it? How much time have I dedicated to begin to at least recite it the way it was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ?

If I stand up here and speak in English with a non-American accent — what we call the "Fabish accent" — then even the immigrants would hear and say, "I don't know what he is saying. What is this guy saying?" I heard a story about my Sheikh, that he was in an elevator going up, and he had people around him — just random people, Muslims. So he said, "What floor?" He said, "I want you to press Taw." Taw. What does Taw mean? Taw. So they told him, "Maulana Sahib, this is called Two." They told him, "Maulana, this is not Taw, this is Two."

Maulana said, "Bhai, I know it's Two. I know it's Two. Look at how upset you got when I said Taw — because this is the number two in the English language. You don't like hearing it and you are correcting me. How do you think it is when you read الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ every single day to Allah? How do you think that is? You are reciting Allah's Kalam back to Allah — incorrectly? With the Ha instead of Ha, you're reading Ha. Instead of the Hamza and the 'Ain, you're reading it differently. The meaning is completely changing."

How do you think you take Allah's word, reciting it back to Allah and messing it up? We get so allergic when we hear English being mispronounced. But what about the book of Allah? How much effort have I done in trying to recite it? How much effort have you put on your kids? Probably a lot. Let's leave the kids right now — I'm asking about ourselves. Because every man has to go in the grave himself. Every woman has to go in the grave herself.

You are responsible for your children, that's right, but we're not going to get off the hook by saying, "MashaAllah, I send my kids to the summer program." No. Each person has to recite. Each person has to know his own Qur'an.

2. The One Who Takes the Middle Path — مُقْتَصِدٌ

Then there are those who follow the middle ground — mediocre. They stay away from the haram, they do the basics.

3. The Forerunner in Good — سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ

And then Allah says: وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ — then there are those who are the front runners. There are those who are the gold medalists. There are those who are at the very top, the premium class. سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ — they are way ahead of everyone else in good deeds. بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ — that is the great success and great honor from Allah.

These people will enter the paradise of Eden under which rivers flow. Allah will grant them ornaments, clothing of silk, ornaments of all sorts. And Allah says that they will be so grateful to Allah: الَّذِي أَحَلَّنَا دَارَ الْمُقَامَةِ مِن فَضْلِهِ — "Ya Allah, we are so grateful to You that You have given us this abode of eternity, abode of the Akhirah."

Because why? These people decided to take the book of Allah as a gift, not as a burden. Allah says in the Qur'an:

"I haven't revealed this Qur'an to you so that you can suffer."

Becoming a Practitioner of the Qur'an

The purpose of the Qur'an — not all of us have to become hafidh. And I mean it: not everyone of you has to make your child a hafidh of the Qur'an. It's not necessary. Absolutely not necessary. However, what is necessary for every son and daughter, and every man and woman, is to become 'amil bil-Qur'an — a practitioner of the Qur'an. That is what's going to count.

If a person memorizes the mere words of the Qur'an, but is indulged in riba, is indulged in interest, is indulged in drinking, is indulged in lying, is indulged in deceit, indulged in cheating in business, respected friends — is indulged in neglecting salah — then this Qur'an, as we said, will become حُجَّةٌ لَكَ أَوْ عَلَيْكَ — will become a proof for you or against you.

When a person says in a court of law, "You knew that you did this, you did X, Y, and Z, you ran through the light, you hit and run, you did this and that" — when a person says, "Yes, I know I broke all these rules, so what?" — my brothers and sisters, that's not going to help him; that's going to only make things worse. That you knew it, and yet you ran away from the accident scene — that's worse. If a person has memorized the book of Allah, or memorized a portion of it, but it's not in practice, I fear that this will become a very big burden for us — for me and for you — on the Day of Judgment, and in the qabar as well.

Rekindling Our Love for the Qur'an

Respected friends, the month of Ramadan is a month of rekindling our love for the Qur'an. Love for the Qur'an, so that we enjoy listening to its recitation. We get rid of the music from our lives, and we make Qur'an the music of our ears. We make Qur'an the hymning of our tongues. We make the Qur'an the music of our hearts. We make Qur'an our partner before we go to bed. It is not a movie, it's not a song, but it's Surah Al-Mulk and Surah Al-Sajdah. It's Ayatul Kursi. It is:

Our parting words for the night. In the morning, it is not what the news reports are mentioning, but it is Surah Al-Fatihah and Ayatul Kursi, as we are making preparations for wudu, to go for Salatul Fajr. That is tatbiqul 'amal — that is taking the Qur'an and putting it into the barrel.

Wallahi, when a Muslim is so powerful — the Prophet ﷺ said:

The Day of Judgment cannot come upon this earth until there is not even one person saying "Allah, Allah." That is the power of the Muslim. Each one of you sitting here is the peg upon which this whole world is running. You may not have a job right now. You may not be very educated right now. You may not be very liked by your friends. You may have problems at home. But know very well that the kalima in your heart is so beloved to Allah, is so beautiful in the eyes of Allah, that it is only that kalima because of which this whole world is running.

That is the barrel. When the book of Allah is placed in that barrel, amazing things can happen. You think, my brothers and sisters, that you're not going to be able to get halal income once you put the book of Allah in your life? You think your daughter won't get married once you put the book of Allah in your life? You think your son's marriage won't be saved if you put the book of Allah in your life? Do you think your own marriage won't be saved if you put the book of Allah in your own life? You don't think that, subhanAllah, those people who stop talking to you will start again, and your relationships with people will blossom, and that your life will become so much more enjoyable if you put the book of Allah in your life?

Nay — way beyond that. The entire world will come right. The animal kingdom, the jinn kingdom, the Muslim world, the non-Muslim world. Peace will reign over the entire world once you and I — this community here, the Muslim community — decides that enough is enough. The book of Allah is not to be only recited and heard in Tarawih and walked away from at the khatmah of Qur'an.

A Call to Action — Three Commitments

Nay — I am deciding on this blessed Friday, in the last 10 nights of Ramadan, that insha'Allah I will build a solid connection with the book of Allah. Say: insha'Allah.

First: Learn to Recite with Tajweed

That I will begin to learn how to recite it with tajweed — say: insha'Allah — and I will make an attempt to recite at least, at the very very very least, twice a year: once in the month of Ramadan, and once outside of Ramadan, in Arabic. Say: insha'Allah. There is nothing to feel ashamed of, nothing to feel shy. Allah loves when an old person — old lady, old man — comes to Him, repenting. If you don't know how to read Qur'an, alhamdulillah, the doors are open. There are so many opportunities to learn — whether here, other institutions, online, in the comfort of your home. There is no excuse. 24/7, based on your schedule, there are people available to teach online. Please take this initiative. Take this initiative that I will not allow another Ramadan to come without knowing how to recite the Qur'an properly. Say: insha'Allah.

Second: Go Through the Translation

Make this intention that I will learn — I will go through, at the very least, one minimum round of the translation of the Qur'an. To know what my Allah is saying. It's not sufficient to see, "Oh, the imam is very emotional when reading this — I wonder what he's saying." Don't you want to know what he's saying? Don't you want to know why that imam is crying at that ayah? Don't you want to know, subhanAllah, what it is? How little children, when their older brother is reading a storybook, everyone wants to know what happened in the story. Everyone wants to know what's in the latest news. What about — what is Allah trying to say to me? Not to him — to me. He is speaking to me. He is speaking to me individually. What is He trying to say?

If we cannot learn the Arabic language the way we have learned the English language, then at the very least let us go through a translation of the Qur'an. And let us attend tafsir sessions — whichever masajid or online — listen to the duroos of the ulama if we cannot read a tafsir on our own. Ma'arif al-Qur'an, for example, or Tafsir Ibn Kathir, which is available in English. Read that. If not, attend the tafsir duroos of our scholars in the community and beyond.

Third: Implement What Allah Commands

And lastly, and most importantly, make the intention that whatever my Lord says — if He asks us to do what He says, I am going to implement that. And what He has asked me to stay away from, I shall stay away from that. Because in it lies my success.

Du'a — Closing Supplication

I pray to Almighty Allah that this shahru Ramadan — may He truly make it a shahru al-Qur'an for all of us. May He truly make it an opportunity for us to rekindle our connection with the Qur'an. May Allah make Qur'an our best partner, our best friend in this world, in the grave, and in the Hereafter. May Allah make Qur'an our intercessor tomorrow on the Day of Judgment. May Allah make our tongues moist and busy with the recitation of the Qur'an. May Allah make our eyes moist as we read the Qur'an. May Allah allow our hearts to tremble as we recite and read the Qur'an. May Allah allow us to have full conviction on every single verse of the Qur'an. Ameen. Ameen. O Rabbul 'Alamin.