The First Ayah - إقرأ

The First Ayah — إقرأ

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and there is no partner for Him. I bear witness that we live and die for Him, and that we meet Allah through Him. On the Day when neither wealth nor children will benefit, except those who come to Allah with a sound heart.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him and all his family and companions.

O ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims.

The Night in the Cave of Hira

A knight in Mecca, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was by himself on the mountain of Al-Nur, thinking and reflecting on the creation of Allah, the Almighty — who thinks in the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Our Lord, You have not created this in vain. Exalted are You. Protect us from the punishment of the Fire.

Thinking that there is no way that those idols surrounding the Ka'bah — 360 idols made by humans, that people used to worship — it does not make sense to Rasulullah ﷺ that this is the right way. So he kept, by the guidance of Allah, going to that mountain every year thinking, waiting for a solution for this problem of the people of Mecca. He did not know that he would receive the light which would cover not only the people of Mecca, but would cover the whole earth, ﷺ.

The earth was so thirsty for this type of guidance. Jibreel, peace be upon him, had been away from coming down to any human after Isa, peace be upon him, for about 500 years. Then, while he was thinking inside of that cave by himself, suddenly Jibreel, peace be upon him, came down to Rasulullah and hugged him in a hard way, saying:

SubhanAllah — any human who faces a situation like this will be afraid. اقرأ — two times — and Rasulullah ﷺ is responding: "What do you want me to read?" Then the third time, he said, ما اقرأ — "What do you want me to read?" Then the first ayah came down to Rasulullah ﷺ:

Why Was اقرأ the First Ayah?

Brothers and sisters, did you ever think about why Allah is giving the first ayah to this ummah? اقرأ. It was not salli, it was not "go and do Hajj," it was not "give Zakah" — it was اقرأ. As if Allah is telling Rasulullah ﷺ and teaching us as the Muslim ummah, followers of Muhammad ﷺ: Read, recite, educate yourself, increase your knowledge, seek the help from Allah. Your salah with no اقرأ is not going to be completed.

Your ibadah with no knowledge and اقرأ is not going to be right. Even your jihad in the way of Allah with no اقرأ is going to be extreme and will not bring the right results. SubhanAllah.

اقرأ is the key to success in the dunya and in the akhira. Allah is telling us:

Allah is telling us that the people of knowledge are different from the people who have no knowledge.

The Prophet ﷺ — The Greatest Teacher

Rasulullah ﷺ — the orphan, the ummi, the one who did not know how to read and write — was the best teacher for both the people of knowledge and the people who were ignorant. Rasulullah ﷺ, the orphan who came into this world and did not see his father — اللهم صلِّ على رسول الله — he became the best teacher for human beings on how to be good, kind, and nice to the orphans around them. He says ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5304)

"I and the one who sponsors an orphan will be like this in Jannah" — indicating with his index finger and middle finger together.

The person who became a prophet ﷺ receiving اقرأ was the best husband on earth to his wives. The person who received اقرأ was the best teacher for business people — how to educate themselves, how to be kind, truthful, and trustworthy in their dealings with one another. ﷺ.

So that night, even if it was dark in the cave of Hira, the light of it would cover the whole earth. اللهم صلِّ على رسول الله.

Deen and Dunya Together

So Rasulullah ﷺ, as soon as he received this — as if Allah is telling us: the first ayah in your deen, in your book, in your mushaf, in your revelation — is اقرأ. So we have to know that the deen and the dunya should go together. The deen without the dunya will not be complete, and the dunya without the deen will not be complete — and both together will bring success for the ummah in this life and the life after.

Wallahi, we feel shy when we see the Muslim ummah behind other nations, and we have the first ayah revealed to us — اقرأ. We don't read. And if we read, we don't understand. And sometimes if we understand, we don't follow what we understood. This is the problem, or the weakness, of our ummah these days. May Allah forgive us all.

The Virtue of Seeking Knowledge

If you look at the teachings of Islam, Rasulullah ﷺ is telling us that whoever seeks knowledge, Allah will show him a way to Jannah. Allah, the angels, and the creation around us are giving salam and making du'a for the person who teaches others.

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 3641; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2682)

Rasulullah ﷺ told us clearly in this hadith — even the fish inside of the ocean are making istighfar for the person who teaches people knowledge and ilm. And when we say ilm, we are not talking about only the ilm of the dunya or only the ilm of the akhira. We are not talking about only the ilm of the Quran and the Sunnah. We are talking about the ilm of the dunya and the ilm of the akhira.

It is not good for a Muslim brother or sister to have the certificate — we call it in Arabic shahada — the shahada of any worldly field while losing the shahada of لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله. So we want to combine them.

Rasulullah ﷺ told us that the people of knowledge, if they have faith and belief, will serve Islam far better than the people who have no knowledge. And the one who worships Allah with knowledge is like the prophet compared to others. May Allah increase our knowledge and grant us hikmah.

Think and reflect about the creation of Allah. Think about the sun, the planets, the stars, the night, the day — even about yourself, the people around you, the creation of Allah. If you see a doctor performing surgery on somebody — there are many doctors who were the reason for some people to remain alive, and then the doctor himself loses his life. This is the choice of Allah. Allah is with us. Allah knows everything, and Allah wants us to seek knowledge, to understand our book, the Quran, to follow the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Look at the ayat — the best thing in our life to recite and read is the Quran, the book of Allah. If we read it and try our best to understand it, and try to teach it to others, and to apply it in our lives, we will gain so much barakah. The Quran itself is telling us to be kind to our parents, to be nice to the people around us — even if they are not Muslims, as long as they are not harming our deen.

So Islam, the Quran, and the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ are teaching us how to be successful in the dunya and in the akhira.

Lesson One: Connect to the Book of Allah

Brothers and sisters, I would like to end with the first lesson — it is good to connect ourselves to the book of Allah, the book of guidance, the book of hidayah. Allah is telling us in Surah Al-Muzzammil — and by the way, Al-Muzzammil came down to Rasulullah ﷺ a few days after he received the first ayat. He was afraid ﷺ and ran home, scared, and covered himself. Allah then told him — at the end of that surah — telling Rasulullah ﷺ and telling this ummah: be connected to the book of Allah.

Each letter of the Quran will bring you ten hasanat, according to the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2910)

Then Allah gave us three different situations in Surah Al-Muzzammil, telling us: O Muslims, even if you are going through any situation, be connected to the Quran. Allah knows that there are people who are ill, people who are traveling, people who are working, and people who are fighting in the way of Allah — even so, be connected to the book of Allah and recite some of its ayat.

What about the people who have no problems? We should thank Allah. Wallahi, as Muslim communities in America, we should thank Allah and ask Him to keep His blessings upon us. May Allah protect us in dunya and akhira.

Alhamdulillah, we have the chance to sit in the masjid and recite the Quran. We have the chance to listen to the book of Allah on our way. We have the chance to teach our children the book of Allah and to have a hafiz who understands the Quran and applies the Quran in his or her life in this community. May Allah increase the blessings in our community.

So the first lesson from this ayah: be connected to knowledge — educate yourself, try to learn, increase your knowledge.

Lesson Two: Fill Your Home with Love, Peace, and Tranquility

The second lesson from what happened to Rasulullah ﷺ on the first day of revelation — as we said at the beginning, it was dark, he was alone. Suddenly he started receiving the revelation. He ran home to find in front of him Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her. He said to her: "I was afraid. What happened to me? I was alone and somebody came to me." Then she said the most beautiful statement ever from a wife who has the best relationship with her husband:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 160)

"No, by Allah, Allah will never put you down. You are good to your relatives, you care for the weak, you are generous to your guests, and you support those who stand for truth." Allah will not put you down — the person who has the best of akhlaq. I know you are connected to your relatives, you are good to the poor people, you are so kind to everybody — so Allah will not put you down, ever.

Then Rasulullah ﷺ started talking to her about his situation. And the lesson which we are going to talk about in these few minutes — I would love to say it again and again — try your best to keep your house full of love, peace, and tranquility.

There are three pillars Allah mentioned in the Quran. If we have them in our homes, inshallah we will live a good life and inshallah we will be, as spouses, in Jannah together:

The first one is sakinah — tranquility and peace. Then He says: mawaddah — love. And rahmah — mercy. If we have these three pillars in our homes, our children will live as if they are in Jannah, and the relationship between us as spouses will be the best relationship according to the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Closing: Balance and Connection

I would like to end with this, brothers and sisters. As we try our best to educate ourselves and increase our knowledge related to the dunya and the akhira, we do not want to have so much knowledge related to the dunya and no knowledge about the akhira. It is not good for a Muslim who has a PhD certificate in something and does not know how to recite Al-Fatihah or how to perform salah. So we have to balance them as much as we can.

There is no way for the Quran to disappoint the person who is connected to it. We should also try our best to be good and kind to our families and to our Muslim brothers and sisters around us. If we do this, insha'Allah, we will have the nourishment of our souls and the love between each other — and if we live like this, this is a beautiful life.