Ramadan: The Month of the Qur'an

The Caller of Ramadan

And a caller calls: "Oh, one who seeks to do good — come near, come near." Oh, one who desires good, oh, one who wants to do something positive in this limited time, in this blessed month — come near.

"Oh, one who seeks to do evil" — if you seek to do harm, if you're trying to do something bad in this limited time — stay away. Stop, don't come near.

And then he says, sallallahu alayhi wasallam: that Allah has people whom He frees from the Fire — every single night in the blessed month of Ramadan. There are people whom Allah says: "I'm going to free you. You're not going to be punished. You're going to be saved. You're going to reach the state of salvation." May Allah make us from these people. Allahumma ameen.

And I want to ask the brothers — they're filling up — if we could just fill in the gaps, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى, and come and try to find a spot.

Renewing Our Intentions for Ramadan

Now, as this great month — the greatest month, the most blessed month of Ramadan — comes upon us as it does annually, I want to remind myself and all of you to renew our intentions. We've set goals, inshallah. And if we haven't, I urge you to do so by tonight at Maghrib. At least give it a couple of days where you write it down, you think about it, and you share it with your friends — or maybe an accountability partner or two.

Maybe we've set goals about fasting. This might be the first time we fast — as new Muslims, or as Muslims who've come of age and are now adults. Some of our younger brothers and sisters might say, "You know what, this Ramadan I'm going to fast from Asr to Maghrib and break my fast with my family," or from Zuhr to Maghrib — half a day. Or, as I heard recently, some subhanallah in upper elementary fast from Fajr to Zuhr, break their fast, and then from Zuhr to Maghrib. These are of course young people for whom it is not fard — they are training so that they can fast the full month of Ramadan properly like us adults.

Some of us might have goals related to prayer, to salah — making sure we get in our five, making sure we get them in on time, making sure we're doing our sunan — the daily sunan for every single prayer — making sure we're going to the masjid. "I don't usually go — I'm going to try to go once a day, or twice a day, or three times a day," or "I have a little break on the weekend, I'm going to go for Zuhr, I'm going to go for Asr." Some of us are going to be attending Taraweeh — maybe for the first time. Or last year you stayed for two a little after Isha and then left — no, now you're going to go for four. Or you left before the khatira — no, now you're going to stay for the khatira and then two more. Or you stayed for eight — now you're going to do ten. Let's push ourselves and increase ourselves.

Some of us are going to say, "You know what — I'm waking up for suhoor anyway, I'm going to pray tahajjud — two short raka'at." Or last year you prayed two, so now you're going to lengthen them a little bit. All of us are pushing ourselves. I'm going to make more du'a. I'm going to make more dhikr. I'm going to make more i'tikaf and I'm going to have the niyyah even after every prayer to just stay a little bit longer. I gave in charity last year — mashallah — I'm going to give more. And increasing in other acts of worship, like the ties of kinship — I'm going to call my parents and my relatives more. I'm going to visit the sick. I'm going to watch myself physically — I'm going to watch my calories so I don't engorge myself at iftar, because that's not the whole purpose of Ramadan. I'm going to watch my eyes and what I see, my ears and what I hear, my tongue and what I say.

The Focus: Personal Recitation of the Qur'an

Inshallah, the focus of this khutbah is on one of these blessed acts in Shahru'l-Qur'an — the month of Ramadan — which is the personal recitation of the Qur'an.

Rasool Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, says: whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah, he's going to be credited with a good deed. And by the way, he says one good deed is equal to ten. And then he adds, sallallahu alayhi wasallam — he said, "I want to make this super clear: I don't say that الم is one letter, but rather أَلِف is one letter, and لَام is one letter, and مِيم is one letter." So that's 30 minimum.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2910)

And the ulama, having looked at all the Qur'an and Sunnah, have said that the deeds in Ramadan are emphasized even more than that. We pray that it could be 700 times, it could be even more — wallahu alam — but we seek it from Allah. I saw that there are over three hundred thousand letters in the Qur'an, meaning minimum — minimum — three million hasanat from reciting the Qur'an. Three million hasanat, or many times more.

Addressing Objections: "I Can't Read Arabic"

Now, as we talk about the recitation of the Qur'an — and this has been a conversation in the past few weeks — some people might object. The first objection is: "I can't read Arabic. I don't know how to read Arabic. So how am I supposed to benefit from this?"

There is the listening of the Qur'an, there's the reading of the transliteration — even a little bit. But I want to tell you a story, subhanallah, that I heard many years ago from one of my teachers. I used to take hadith classes with him. He's a scholar from Damascus, Syria. He said that one new Muslim — fairly new convert to Islam — came to him and told him, "Can you, Sheikh, give me a wird? Can you give me something that I can say on a daily basis — a sort of dhikr?" He was expecting maybe the sheikh would tell him subhanallah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, allahu akbar, sallallahu 'ala Muhammad — something like that. But he told him, "Okay, your wird is: you're going to read a page of Qur'an."

He told the sheikh, "I don't know how to read Arabic." He said, "That's not my problem. If you want to do the wird, and you want to take me as your sheikh and your teacher — and this sheikh, mashallah, has the ten recitations of the Qur'an all memorized — then you have to read a page of Qur'an. Learn Arabic."

And so — he's based in the UK — he told us the story. He said, after several weeks, he called him on the phone — this was back in the day. He said, "I learned the letters, hamdulillah." And then he learned the tashkeel. And then he called him and said, "I finished my first page." He said, "Okay. Now do the next page. Now do the next page. Now do the next page." And several years went by. He said, "Until this day, he calls me every few weeks and says, 'Sheikh, I just finished the khatmah of the Qur'an — I just completed the recitation of the Qur'an.'" He said, "Good. Do another one. Do another one. Do another one." And keep this recitation of the Holy Book of Allah going — so your tongue is wet with this great dhikr from Him.

"I Can Read Arabic, But Not Well"

Some people say, "Okay, I can read Arabic, but not well." You can read to someone and say, "Hey, just a page, just an ayah, just a couple of lines — can I read to you and you correct me?" Great. Mashallah. There's also the Tarteel app — I just heard about this recently — and I'm sure there are many other apps like it. Open up the mushaf, and as you're reading, open up the app and start reading, and it'll tell you, "Oh, you've made a mistake." And you can stop yourself, listen to it, get it right, and keep going.

And the other thing is — we all know the hadith where the Nabi, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4937; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 798)

The one who recites the Qur'an and is very proficient — mashallah, good to read, everything is accurate, all of the letters — then he is with these honorable scribes, the angels, at a very high status. But the one who is on the journey, the one who is reading and finds it really difficult — then that person gets two rewards on that journey. So as you recite, if you're not doing very well right now, I promise you: if you recite Qur'an every single day from this Sunday night for 30 days, you are going to get better, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى.

For Those Memorizing the Qur'an

Some people have said, "I'm memorizing the Qur'an" — especially some of our younger brothers and sisters. "I'm in a hifz program right now. I might have a week off, but we're still doing class." Great. Do not stop that — continue memorizing the Qur'an. But you've already memorized some Qur'an, and reading what you've memorized from the mushaf is going to be much easier for you. And subhanallah, may Allah grant our younger community members being huffadh of the Qur'an and hamileen of the Qur'an — so they understand it and they practice it.

Okay, you've already finished 10 ajza' — those are going to be easy for you. Then the next 20 — you have 30 days. Bismillah, recite them. It's still a positive thing. When you're alone, recite loudly so you can get the reward of hearing the Qur'an and also reciting the Qur'an — double the reward. But when you're around others, like in the masjid — and this happens, right, where one of us might be reciting very loudly and there are 10, 20 other people in the masjid trying to pray, trying to recite silently — then the ulama say keep your voice down so you don't bother them. Not that we're going to be bothered by the words of Allah, but they said don't make it something disliked to them. So kind of keep your voice down so that you can hear yourself but not so loud. If you're alone in your home — that's different.

Practical Tips for Qur'an Recitation This Ramadan

Another piece of advice: share your goals with your family. What are you going to go for? Eventually, we would love that everyone here in our community finishes reciting the Qur'an personally at least one time. But let's say this year it could be half, it could be a quarter, it could be one page a day — 30 pages — whatever it is, share it with a few people. And make it something where it's you and your friends, or you and your family as well. Make a time where everyone reads together. That's one idea.

After Asr or after Fajr as a family — 15 minutes — everyone is reading by themselves. Make it a habit to read a little bit after each prayer. One brother was just saying this the other day: if you're reading from the old Madinah mushaf — like four pages after every salah, you just sit down for a little bit, read four pages — you're done. You're going to finish the Qur'an in 30 days.

Carry around a small mushaf so that it's convenient. And you can visualize this — you can say, "Okay, I'm a third of the way done with the Qur'an. Now I'm half. Now I'm three-fourths. Now I'm completely done."

Spend time understanding it — stay for the khatira. Tune into Yaqeen Institute's Qur'an 30 for 30. Download the previous episodes or see previous episodes. There are so many masajid that have a 10-minute summary of the juz' — so many online programs. Tune into one of them so that you can get the emotions flowing as well, or just read a translation — something so you can get that interaction with the Qur'an, that love of the Qur'an — you can build that.

And lastly — build a habit that you take with you post-Ramadan. Don't let this be something where you recite all this Qur'an and then cold turkey, you just stop right after Ramadan. Say, "Hey, you know what — right now let me just be honest with myself: in Sha'ban I was reciting no Qur'an daily. So my goal is after Ramadan, I commit to a page a day, two pages a day, two and a half pages, five pages, a hizb, ten pages, twenty pages" — something where you set that goal and then you continue that habit. That way all of our goals when we level up in Ramadan, we keep a little bit until the next year, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى.

Our Brothers and Sisters in Gaza: A Lesson in Connection to the Qur'an

I want to mention our brothers and sisters in Gaza, because I don't want us to forget them. May Allah protect them and our brothers and sisters in Palestine and our brothers and sisters who are oppressed everywhere.

You know, something so special about them that you see in these videos is the role that the Qur'an plays in their lives. I remember when I wanted to study abroad many, many years ago — back in like 2010 — someone told me, "Tamim, you know, if you go to Gaza, there are great, great scholars who no one's heard of, and they're literally sitting there begging students of knowledge: 'Please, I just want to teach you. I just want to give you this knowledge — of Qur'an, of hadith, of fiqh, of 'aqeedah, of seerah, of Arabic, of everything.'" And they're just sitting there. There are so many scholars within this concentration camp who are passing on this knowledge, who are teaching the children from a very young age to love the Qur'an, to recite the Qur'an, to understand the Qur'an, to live the Qur'an.

And that's how — subhanallah — when you look at these ahwal, these states of being where bombs are falling and a person is reciting the Qur'an — what is that? This is a person who is so deeply connected to the Qur'an. This is a person who has this deep connection to Allah through His revealed book — the Qur'an — to the extent that they're able to achieve this. It didn't come overnight.

And so if we want to — yes, we're moving in the ballot boxes, and on the streets in protests, and online, and we're building institutions so that we can strengthen the ummah — but we should strengthen ourselves as well through the Qur'an.

I have a friend who came back a few weeks ago from Gaza — he's from Michigan, a childhood friend. He's a trauma surgeon. And after he came back, he said in an online interview I saw: "I gained more from the people of Gaza than anything I could give them." You know — working 20 hours a day with barely any sleep, just a small piece of bread — they're struggling to find food, and they're giving these American doctors, mashallah, everything that they have. He said, "I gained more from them." And so let's gain and learn from their relationship with Allah through the Qur'an.

The Story of Usayd ibn Hudayr: Angels Descend Upon the Recitation

I'll end with this one story that many of us know very well — as a reminder as we approach the month of the Qur'an, the month in which the Qur'an was revealed. I want you to think about yourself when you're reciting the Qur'an — when you're home, when you're alone, when you're in the masjid reciting alone. And by the way, if you see someone reciting in the masjid — especially in Ramadan — I urge you: don't tell them salam. You love them, but wait until they're done. You're going to interrupt their flow — they're in the zone right now.

Usayd ibn Hudayr, radiallahu anhu, narrates: he says one night, he was sitting down and he was reciting Surah al-Baqarah. His horse was tied behind him, and the horse suddenly started getting up — being troubled, startled, and afraid. So he stopped reciting the Qur'an, and the horse became quiet. Then he started reciting the Qur'an again, and the horse again — even though it's tied up — started being startled, troubled, afraid. Something was happening. Then he stopped reciting, and the horse calmed down.

And then a third time — and this is the love for the Qur'an that this sahabi had — he started to recite the Qur'an again. Again, the horse was jumping up, startled and frightened and troubled. And then he thought of his son Yahya. His son was near the horse. He thought, "I don't know — this huge animal might trample him, might kill my son by accident because it's so afraid." So he took the boy away. He said, "I looked up at the sky, and I couldn't see it." In the hadith, he says, "I couldn't see it."

Then the next morning, he came to Rasool Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and told him what happened. And what does the Rasool Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, say? And this is a reminder to all of us — he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5018; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 796)

"Recite, O Ibn Hudayr! Recite, O Ibn Hudayr!" — he repeated it twice for emphasis. Recite, recite from the Book of Allah.

And Ibn Hudayr said, "Ya Rasool Allah — my son Yahya was near the horse, and I was afraid it might trample him, crush him, kill him, or break his leg or something. And so I looked towards the sky and went to him." And he said, "When I looked at the sky, I saw something that was like a cloud, and it had lamps — like little lights that were hanging. I saw something like that, and so I went out — so I wouldn't see it."

And so Rasool Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, asked him — and this is in Sahih al-Bukhari: "Do you know what that was?" And Ibn Hudayr, radiallahu anhu, said, "No." The Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said: "Those were angels. Those were angels who came near to you for your voice. And if you, O Ibn Hudayr, had kept reciting until dawn — until Fajr — it would have remained there until morning, until everybody would have seen it."

Subhanallah. And this is what — this is the state of being when you're reciting Kalamullah — the word of Allah, the Qur'an al-Karim.

So again, if you haven't set your goals already for Ramadan, set them. But make a special one for the recitation of the Qur'an — the personal and private recitation of the Qur'an. May Allah bless us to reach Ramadan, to benefit from Ramadan, to be forgiven in Ramadan, to be elevated in Ramadan, to have reward in Ramadan, for our brothers and sisters to have ease and freedom and liberation in Ramadan, and for us to be reciters of the Qur'an in Ramadan. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.

Second Khutbah

Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen, qayyum as-samawati wal-ardeen. Wasalatu wasalamu 'ala rasoolillahi as-sadiq al-ameen. Ibadallah, ittaqullah. Wa yu'allimukumu Allahu wallahu bikulli shay'in 'aleem.

Allah says in His Book:

And Rasool Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said:

Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah.

Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen wa rabbil khalqi ajma'een. Wasalatu wassalamu 'ala rasoolillahi as-sadiq al-ameen. Ibadallah, ittaqullah. Wa yu'allimukumu Allahu wallahu bikulli shay'in 'aleem.

The Truth, the Most High, says in His Noble Book:

وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ