Preparing for Ramadan: Strengthening Our Connection with the Quran

Preparing for Ramadan: Building Our Connection with the Quran

The Du'a of the Prophet ﷺ at the Start of Rajab

When the month of Rajab would commence, then the Prophet ﷺ would make du'a to Allah:

"O Allah, You grant us barakah, You grant us blessings in this month of Rajab and in the upcoming month of Sha'ban, and You allow us to see, You allow us to witness the mubarak, the blessed month of Ramadan."

We learn two things from this du'a of the Prophet ﷺ.

Number one is that we have no guarantee that we will see the month of Ramadan. That just because a person makes it to the month of Rajab doesn't guarantee him life to the month of Ramadan. As we see today, we have a janaza after Salatul Jumu'ah, and there are many other janazas which will also take place between now and the month of Ramadan from the Muslim Ummah. Many individuals whose names have been decreed to leave this world will leave this world, and hence Rasulullah ﷺ is teaching us to particularly make this du'a to Allah — وَبَلِّغْنَا رَمَضَانَ — Ya Allah, You allow us to see the month of Ramadan, take us to the month of Ramadan.

The second point that we learn from this du'a of the Prophet ﷺ is the importance of preparing for the month of Ramadan — starting our preparations for the month of Ramadan well in advance from this month of Rajab itself. For the more a person will prepare himself for something, insha'Allah the better, the more smooth that thing, that event will go.

The Importance of Preparation: An Example

By way of example, you have a student in the academic sphere who knows he has exams coming up. Now you have different types of students. You have those individuals who months in advance, or perhaps weeks in advance, they will already start preparing. They will go over their notes, they will fill in whatever they are missing, whatever missing information there is. Then you have other students who will delay, who will procrastinate right up until the week of the exams, or perhaps even the night before, and they will try to pull off an all-nighter and study everything in that one night.

Now obviously that student who put in the effort all semester long, all quarter long, who made the effort of going over his notes, of reviewing — insha'Allah it is hoped that that individual will do very well. He will ace the exams because he prepared well in advance. But that individual who the week of, or the night before, is trying to pull it off and is trying to cram all the information of the entire semester into his mind — he is setting himself up for failure.

Likewise, a person who will simply just go into the month of Ramadan without any preparation in advance — insha'Allah he too will benefit, but the benefit that he will derive will be minimum in comparison to that individual who takes out time in the month of Sha'ban and in this month of Rajab to start preparing himself for the month of Ramadan.

Ramadan and the Quran: An Inseparable Connection

Now one thing which we can all do, one aspect in which we can start and begin our preparation for the month of Ramadan, is with regards to our ta'alluq — our relationship, our connection — with the Book of Allah.

In the entire Quran, you only find one ayah where Allah mentions the word Ramadan, and that is in Surah al-Baqarah in the second juz'. Now in this one ayah where Ramadan has been mentioned by name — what does Allah pair it up with? What description comes after that about this month? Allah mentions that this is the month wherein the Quran was revealed. When two things have been paired together, then there is some connection, some correlation between the two things. So we learn from this ayah that there is a connection — a very clear connection — between the month of Ramadan and the Quran, the Book of Allah.

Now if a person gets to the month of Ramadan and then on the first of Ramadan he decides, "You know what, this month of Ramadan I want to complete five khatams, or three khatams, or even one khatam" — at the beginning of the month he will find this motivation within himself. He will be extremely, extremely motivated to recite large amounts of Quran. But as the days go by, that motivation will very quickly wane away if he did not build up that stamina before the month of Ramadan.

But if from this month of Rajab itself he already starts working on his relationship with the Quran — perhaps he wasn't in the habit of reciting much Quran, but then he takes it upon himself that okay, in this month of Rajab I will start with perhaps half a page, from there I'll work my way up to one page, two pages, five pages, half a juz' — and he builds this stamina within him of reciting the Quran, then insha'Allah by the time the month of Ramadan comes, he will find that it will be very easy for him to recite large amounts of Quran without getting tired, without giving up.

For it will be extremely, extremely unfortunate if a person has the good fortune of witnessing the month of Ramadan and yet he is unable to develop any bond, any connection, with the Book of Allah.

The Complaint of the Prophet ﷺ Regarding the Abandonment of the Quran

It was the complaint of our beloved Nabi ﷺ to Allah in the Quran:

Some mufassirun say this complaint took place in the dunya; others mention that this is a complaint which will take place on the Day of Qiyamah. And the Nabi ﷺ is complaining to Allah that — إِنَّ قَوْمِي — "Indeed, my people, my nation, they have abandoned the Quran, they have forsaken the Quran."

Imagine what pain and what grief must have been in the heart of Rasulullah ﷺ to make this complaint in the court of Allah. In this world, you won't see a father taking his own son to the court or to the lawyer. Whatever it is, he'd rather forgive him. He'd rather just let it go — "My own flesh and blood, how can I take him to the court? How can I be a means of getting him into trouble? How can I be a means of him being sentenced to jail?" He won't take his own son to court.

Imagine the Nabi of Allah ﷺ who had far more love for his Ummah than any father can have for his son or for his children — and now, despite that love the Prophet ﷺ had, he is lodging this complaint in the court of Allah. This shows the significance of this, how important, how much the Quran meant to the Prophet ﷺ.

And this can be understood, for the Nabi ﷺ didn't just receive this Quran for free. It wasn't just given to him. It was given to him with so much difficulty. Allah mentions that if this Quran was to be revealed upon a mountain, you would see the entire mountain would crumble — it would turn into dust; it wouldn't be able to bear the weight of wahi, of revelation. But that same wahi, that same Quran, was revealed to the mubarak heart of the Prophet ﷺ.

Aisha رضي الله عنها mentions that on a cold night, in the winter, she would notice that when revelation would begin, when revelation would start to come to the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ would begin to sweat from the colossal weight of the wahi.

Zaid ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه mentions that on one occasion the mubarak head of the Prophet ﷺ was resting on his thigh, and just then revelation began to descend. He says it was as if he felt as if his thigh was about to split from how heavy the wahi was.

Allah himself mentions:

"Indeed We are going to reveal upon you a Quran, a wahi, a revelation which is extremely, extremely heavy."

So now, after all of this sacrifice, after all of this difficulty that the Prophet ﷺ had to endure in order to receive this wahi — to see his own people just leaving it, to see his own people not having any care, any concern, not wanting to develop any connection, any ta'alluq, to the Book of Allah — this is something which was so painful that the Nabi ﷺ complained to Allah that "My people have abandoned the Quran."

The Four Levels of Abandoning the Quran — Ibn Kathir's Tafsir

Now Ibn Kathir رحمه الله mentions in his Tafsir that generally this ayah is understood to be with regards to, or with reference to, the kuffar and those who disbelieve in the Quran. But then he writes that هِجْرَانُ الْقُرْآنِ صُوَرٌ — there are many, many different forms of abandoning the Quran, that what is really meant by this word which we translate as "to forsake" or "to abandon."

The first is the obvious meaning — that a person doesn't even believe in the Quran. Like how the mushrikun of Mecca — you had the likes of Utbah, who mentioned after he heard the Quran from the Prophet ﷺ, "I swear by Allah, this is not shi'r, this is not sihr — this is something which is divine." Yet these leaders of Quraish, who were masters of the Arabic language, despite them realizing, despite them understanding that this is wahi, something divine, something that they could not reproduce — they still chose to deny.

In fact, Allah challenges time and again in the Quran: bring about a book like this, if you claim that Rasulullah ﷺ fabricated it. Then you should also be able to make something of the same nature. So Allah gives them the challenge — bring something like the Quran. They were unable to do it. So Allah made their job a little bit easier: you can't bring something like the entire Quran — just bring ten surahs like the surahs you find in the Quran. Even that they were unable to do. So Allah made it even easier for them:

Allah said: if you are still in doubt — you couldn't bring anything like the Quran, you couldn't even bring ten surahs like those found in the Quran — just bring one surah. One surah, one chapter. Just bring that. And even that these people were unable to do, which shows that this Quran is from Allah.

Allah told His Nabi ﷺ: just hold firm, hold fast to this Book of Allah, to what has been revealed to you — definitely you are upon the straight path, the correct path.

Then Ibn Kathir رحمه الله mentions the second form of abandoning the Quran — when a person leaves out the tilawah of the Quran. That there is no portion, no time in his day which is allotted to the tilawah of the Quran. He has time for everything, but he doesn't have any time to recite the Book of Allah.

It's a common misconception that people think: "If I can't understand the Quran, why should I even recite it?" But rather, these are two separate things. Reciting the Quran — the tilawah of the Quran — is one thing, and understanding the Quran is a separate thing. Of course we should try for both, but if a person is unable to understand the Quran, it doesn't mean that he should leave out reciting the Quran. For Rasulullah ﷺ mentions in the hadith:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2910)

That one who will recite even one letter of the Quran, then Allah will give him ten rewards for every single letter that he recites. And then the Prophet ﷺ goes on to mention that "I don't say الم is one letter — it's not that a person recites الم and now he's going to get ten rewards. But rather, أَلِف is one letter, لَام is a separate one, and مِيم is a separate one." So just by a person reciting الم, Allah will grant him thirty hasanat. This is the mercy of Allah.

So imagine if a person is to recite the entire Quran — how much reward will he be able to gain? It's something we can't calculate. You can take the calculators, the scientific calculators, the graphing calculators, the most advanced of technology, and try to calculate how much sawab a person will get for reciting the entire Book of Allah — it's something which remains unknown to us. Such a reward which Allah will give to its reciter on the Day of Qiyamah.

Then Ibn Kathir رحمه الله mentions the third level of hijran — of abandoning the Quran — that a person doesn't reflect over, doesn't do tadabbur over, what is in the Quran. One is mere recitation, which is good, which is meritorious — a person will definitely be rewarded. But now a person wants to take that to the next step: "Okay, I've been reading the Quran for so many years of my life, perhaps for so many decades of my life. But how much of the Quran do I understand? How much of the Quran am I able to ponder over?" That this is the message of my Allah — hadha kalamu Rabbi — this is the kalam of Allah. It's a question that we have to ask ourselves. So many years of life Allah has given us, but how much time have we dedicated to tadabbur, to reflecting over the Quran, to trying to understand what my Allah is telling me?

This is the very purpose for which the Quran was revealed. Allah clearly mentions:

So that you can do tadabbur over the verses of the Quran. Allah asks the question:

"Don't you people reflect over the Quran, or are there locks upon your hearts?" And what we understand from this ayah is that when a person will do tadabbur — will make an effort, it may be slow, it may be difficult for him to understand much, but he makes that effort to try and understand what is in the Quran — then those locks which are on the heart will be opened up, and insha'Allah Allah will make it easy for him.

And then the fourth level which Ibn Kathir رحمه الله has mentioned — that another form of abandoning the Quran is to leave out making amal upon what is in the Quran. That a person is reciting the Quran day in and day out, maybe he is even reflecting over it, maybe he understands the verses of the Quran, he understands the Arabic language, he understands the message of the Quran — but despite that he is not making amal upon what is in the Quran. His life is completely and totally contrary to what is in the Book of Allah. This is also a form of abandoning the Book of Allah.

The Ahlul Quran — The Special Servants of Allah

I conclude with a very beautiful hadith of the Prophet ﷺ where he mentions:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 215)

Indeed Allah has some very close, some very special servants from amongst mankind. So the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم — ever thirsty for knowledge — immediately asked: "Who are these individuals? Tell us about these selected individuals who are so close, who are so beloved in the eyes of Allah? We also want to be, we also aspire to be from amongst them." So the Prophet ﷺ told them: "These are those individuals who dedicate themselves to the Book of Allah — who will build, who will develop this relationship, this connection, between them and the Quran."

I make du'a that Allah makes us all from the Ahlul Quran. Ameen ya Rabbal 'Alameen.

Wa akhiru da'wana anil hamdu lillahi Rabbil 'Alameen.

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Road to Ramadan Series — Ramadan Reflections of Our Pious Predecessors: This will take place on Friday, February 2nd insha'Allah after Salatul Isha with Mawlana Farhan Sharif.

No-Tech Retreat — Connecting with the Creator: Please save the date for this event, which will take place from February 17th to February 18th with Mawlana Zakaria Padela, who is the Imam of Masjid al-Taqwa in Toronto.

Tafheem Weekend Islamic Studies Program — Spring 2024: Enrollment is open. Classes are online and on-site every single weekend. The Saturday track includes the Fiqh of Salah Part 2, Seerah of the Meccan Period, and the Forty Ahadith. The Sunday track includes the Fiqh of Purification, Aqaid Part 2, as well as Islamic Etiquettes. You can enroll insha'Allah on the Masjid Darussalam website.

Weekly Programs: Team Fajr will continue tomorrow — Saturday Fajr Iqamah is at 6:15am insha'Allah. Tafseer of Surah al-Qasas continues on Tuesday after Isha Salah — Iqamah is at 7:30pm. Weekly Salawat and Khatira every Thursday after Salatul Isha. Sisters' program: online weekly Tafseer in Urdu on Thursdays from 12 to 1pm — you can register at the Masjid Darussalam website.

Special Sisters' Program: There is a special program for community sisters today, January 26th, from 2:30pm to 4:30pm, by visiting scholar Ustadha Shamira Ahmad from Rahma Foundation. She will be speaking on the topic "Scholarship in Islam: Exceptional Women in Our Tradition." Sisters of all ages are welcome to join.

Monthly Darussalam: The monthly Darussalam on the first Sunday of every month is followed by lunch from 12 to 2:30pm. The upcoming Darussalam will be on February 4th. This is for sisters.

Girls Youth Program Kickoff: For girls ages 13 and up — join us for a day of activities and halaqat on February 3rd from 1:15pm to 4pm. Activities include an art workshop, games, competition, and inspirational speakers.

Du'a Request: For brothers and sisters in Palestine — may Allah grant them ease and 'afiyah.

After the Salah, insha'Allah there will be a Salatul Janazah which will take place in the gym. Everyone is humbly requested to stay behind.