Transcription of Nouman Ali Khan’s talk by Imama Mufti and Umm Zahra
There are two kinds of requirements for understanding the Quran or let’s just say benefitting from the Quran. The first kind of requirement is called academic. Learning the Arabic language, studying Tafseer, understanding the linguistic analysis and the tradition. They require you to study.
But more important than the academic requirements, are certain psychological requirements. If you don’t want to use the word ‘psychological’, you can even call them spiritual requirements benefitting from the Quran. And those are the harder ones.
As a matter of fact, somebody who is intelligent can learn the Arabic language, study Tafseer, memorize and understand and know a lot about Allah’s (swt) book in very little time. But the psychological requirements, and the attitude requirements in really benefitting from the Quran, are a life long struggle.
You may meet these set of requirements at one point in your life and lose at a later point in your life. They are not something you get to keep. They are something you have to fight to maintain and you have to more than anything else fight yourself.
I can tell you that ten years ago, I knew a lot less about the Quran. As the days, and the months, and the years went by, I knew more and more about the Quran. And even though in the grand scheme of things, I still know very little about the Quran. I still have to struggle with those original requirements that are psychological in nature.
It’s not like I graduated and I met those requirements, like you take prerequisites in college, you meet the prerequisite and that’s it, you don’t have to go back to it anymore. That’s not the case with Quran. These requirements, are of a different nature.
First requirement
It is understanding and reminding oneself every single time: “Why am I learning this? Why am I reading Tafseer? Why am I learning Arabic? Why am I memorizing these Ayat? What is the point and intention behind all of this?”
All of you know the cliché answer which is: ‘This is so I can have guidance. Quran is guidance and we study it for guidance.’, But that term is used so often that we actually don’t understand what that really means anymore.
What does it mean that I’m asking Allah (swt) for guidance? What that means is that every single moment of my day, I will be presented with choices. Should I stay in bed, or should I wake up? Should I look there, or should I look down? Should I talk back, or should I stay quiet?
Should I earn my money this way, or should I find another job? Should I pursue this, or should I meet those friends? Should I hang out with them, or should I not hang out? Should I respond back to the text message or not? Choices, all the time.
When we ask Allah (swt) for guidance, we are actually asking Allah (swt) for the strength to make the right choices. That Allah (swt) empowers us because of His word (through the understanding of the Glorious Quran) to enable us to make the right choices. That’s what Guidance of the Quran, means. When you are ready and you are strong enough to make the right choice.
A sister came up to me and said: “I want to wear the Hijab but I can’t. I’m not ready yet.” I asked her: “You have to tell me what that means when you say you are not ready yet. I’m not belittling your concern, I just want to understand” She said: “I feel like I’m not a good enough person. If you wear Hijab, everybody thinks you are a good person and I don’t want to give the impression that I’m such a righteous person. I want to be who I really am, so when I’m a better person then I’m going to wear it.” I replied: “There is not going to ever come a day in your life when you’ll wake up and look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, I’m a good person today, finally, I’ve been waiting all this time to become a better person.”
That would mean you’re self-righteous and self-righteous people are the worst kinds of people. You and I will never be good enough to obey Allah (swt). We still have to do it. If you are convinced about something that you have to do, you can’t put it off.
If I accept this book as guidance, I’m going to have to change the way I make my choices. I’m used to making bad choices. I just do it all the time. I don’t even think twice about it. I even start telling myself what Shaitan keeps telling me. I have started telling myself: “What’s the big deal? You’re messed up anyway. Might as well just go on partying. You’re going to burn anyway, still might as well live it up for the little time you have left.” Shaitan tells you that enough times that he leaves you on auto-pilot and now you can tell yourself. He’s not even planting ‘Waswasa’ to you anymore. You are enough to do ‘Waswasa’ to yourself.
But let me teach you some other good things. Your good deeds should compensate for those bad things. Just do it, and don’t worry about it. That is why we have to recite the Quran and reflect on the Quran regularly, to fight those temptations, to fight those inclinations, to fight those voices inside us that lead us to failure. That led me to failure and led you to failure and it doesn’t matter if you are a student of knowledge, it doesn’t matter if you are a scholar, a teacher, a student, an expert and novice, doesn’t matter. This will happen to all of us. The size and colour of your Hijab doesn’t matter, the size of your beard doesn’t matter, your age doesn’t matter. Shaitan will not spare any of us, he will come. And our Merciful Lord Allah (swt) Al Hafeez, offers us His protection when we recite Quran and we say:
أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ
فَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْانَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيم
Whenever we are going to recite Quran, we are commanded to seek Allah’s (swt) refuge from Shaitan because of two reasons:
- If we don’t seek refuge of Allah (swt) from Shaitan while we’re reciting the Quran, he will mess up our recitation of the Quran. He will put ‘Waswasa’ in it and distract us. We won’t get the benefit we seek.
- One of the reasons why Allah (swt) gave us this book was to have a relationship with it. It’s not when I’m listening to a lecture, or memorizing the Quran. It’s when I’m standing in Salah and reciting it or when I’m standing in Salah and I’m listening to it being recited by the Imam.
The relationship we have with the Quran happens five times a day at least. That is, if somebody’s Salah is fine, their Quran is good. And if somebody’s not engaging with the Quran in their Salah, then their relationship with the Quran is entirely artificial, it means nothing, it is entirely an academic and a superficial exercise.
Everything I learn about this book, whether its Tajweed, or its language, or its Tafseer, or memorizing its Ayat, all of it boils down to; improving my Salah. If I will not have a better Salah, all of this is in vain. None of it matters because Salah is officially when you stop talking to everybody else and start talking to Allah (swt) in words that He taught us. That’s the conversation that matters.
Try to learn one line at a time if you have to with the intention and effort to recite in your Salah and understand it for your own application Bi Izn Allah.
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