DARS-E-QURAN: LESSON 2

firstly, extremely sorry for the delay.

those who speak against the prophet(SAW) or any of his companions(RAU)are not worthy of friendship for the prophet(SAW) is Allah's beloved and should be dearest to a muslim more than his parents, family, wealth and evrything. when you hold someone this dear, how can you bear to hear someone talking disrespectfully about him. talking disrespectfully about the prophet(SAW) also means negating khatam-e-nabuvvat and denying his(SAW) status as the final and last prophet. Allah himself is so conscious of the regard of his beloved(SAW) that addressing the sahabat in the quran, He says that do not raise your voice above that of the prophet(SAW) lest all your deeds go wasted and you dont even realize. this shows that the respect of the prophet(SAW)is so dear to Allah Himself that even the sahabahs, who were so loyal and dedicated to the prophet(SAW) were warned to be careful when it came to the matter of the prophet(SAW). Then who are we to speak so carelessly and casually about the prophet(SAW), disregarding the boundaries of respect. disrespect of the prophet(SAW) also means to say anything against the wives of the prophet(SAW) (umhaat-ul-moqmineen). they are the mothers of the muslim ummah and while a simple mother holds so much respect in islam, the level of respect for these pious ladies should be of even greater level. a son, no matter how nonpractising a muslim he may be, cannot tolerate anything said against his mother, his pride and ghairat doesnt allow him to, so how can he tolerate to hear something against the prophet(SAW), his companions(RAU) or family when his islam is incomplete unless he holds the prophet(SAW) dearest than everything else in this world!!!? when a son hits someone out of anger that he said something abusive about his mother, we can understand, but when someone gets emotional and aggressive because someone said something disrespectful about the prophet(SAW)(nauuzubillah), we fail to understand his reaction and label him as intolerant and jahill!this is because we ourselves do not have that relation with our prophet(SAW) where we love him to such a level that we cannot tolerate a word said against his status and stature. its one thing to be sophisticated and civilized and quite another to be bayghairat! we are being fooled into thinking that we should be tolerant in all matters, even when it comes to the prophet(SAW) and let everyone speak what they feel like. that is where we should set the line and knowing that when Allah himself is so sensitive about his prophet(SAW), how can we be all cool and unaffected when something is said against him(SAW). at least have that relation and association with your prophet(SAW) that your heart aches at such things and you condemn them. dont have such a dead heart that doesnt even realize or feel any such emotions.
thirdly respect for the prophet(SAW) also means respect for all his(SAW) companions. they were the most fortunate and blessed ones in the ummah for they had the good fortune to avail the personal company of the prophet(SAW), see him(SAW) with their very eyes, touch him(SAW) with their hands, listen to him (SAW), breathe in the same air!!!!they were extremely dear to the prophet(SAW) and numerous were given the confirmation of jannah , then how can we begin to point fingers at them!!!?we, the nonpractising, weak faithed, terrible sinners, so far apart from the glorious time of the prophet(SAW). where do we stand to hold the authority to criticize the sahabah and what they did/didnt do!!!?we are drowned in sins and they were given approval by Allah (Allah pleased with them and they pleased with Allah). where does this leave us with any authority whatsoever then to question their personality or ways? yes, we should understand why and how things happened but do so very carefully, never forgetting for a second the status of ALL the sahabahs and the reprimand we will face if we indulge in any disrespect.just like poison drunk by mistake will have same effect as poison drunk by choice, similarly disrespect of the prophet(SAW) can have disastrous impact on us, throwing us in the depths of misery, rottening our souls and whats worse is, we may be too ignorant to even realize that we've indulged in it. what may have happened in ignorance, seek forgiveness for that, and for the future, be very careful and respectful when it comes to the matters of the prophet(SAW)
may Allah grant us the sight to realize the great status of the prophet(SAW) and Allah's fondness for him(SAW) and give us the ability to feel that love for him(SAW) without which we cannot be called muslims!

to convert one non-believer to islam is better than killing a 1000 non-believers. such is the spirit of islam. the prophet(SAW) loved all human beings, he was sent to all mankind and so he felt for all creation of Allah. His heart ached for all and since the realities of heaven and hell had been unveiled before him(SAW), he knew what awaited non-believers and wished for noone to end up in hell. the message and invitation is all there, it is just a matter of our personal decision and choice!whether we choose the way of the prophet(SAW)that takes to heaven or of the devil, that takes to hell. we and we alone ruin our destiny and we and we alone make it.
yes Allah's knowledge exceeds the limits of time, so He knows what i will choose, but I DONT!!!!this is a very important point. many people blame fate for their mistakes and sins but they dont realize that it was their own choice that led them there. if a teacher, having taught her students for years, knows his strengths and weaknesses and thus can gauge how he will perform in his exams, can the studnet blame her for his grades???no! just because Allah knows what choice i will make, doesnt mean I can put it all on fate and shed off all responsibility. what does His knowledge have to do with our actions and decisions?Allah is not dependent on time that unless a thing happens, He wouldnt know about it! He is ultimate supreme and has ultimate knowledge

quran ABSOLUTELY Cannot be understood without hadith. we cannot flaunt our own philosophy, grip on Arabic to claim that we can understand quran on our own, without consulting the hadith.

Allah is aware of everything and this has been mentioned time and again in the quran to keep people conscious of Allah's presence at all times. this life is an opportunity given by Allah and should be spent as per His will. come to think of it, what really is ours and ours alone!? nothing! not our life, not our organs, family, food, health, wealth. all has been given by Allah, all are His blessings, then how can we forget Him and use all these against His will!?we are so strict on our maids that if they do anything against our will we take them to task right then and there! Allah is our lord and we are His servants yet He is so merciful that even when we do, He doesnt immediately check us or takes these away from us, but gives us the opportunity to repent and turn to Him. He puts us through rough and good times to test our faith and to make us reach out to Him. we tend to reach out to Allah more in troubling times as it is then when we realize our true worth and know that only He can take us out of difficulities. hence, at such times,, these troubles are a great blessing in disguise for they bring us on the right path and keep us from going astray.

the door of repentance never closes and Allah is so forgiving that even when a person, all drenched in sins, hated by all for his deeds, turns to Allah in true sincerity and seeks forgiveness, Allah forgives him.  our faith is weak so we have doubts about the promises of Allah, where He has promised rewards for those who repent, stand firm in the way of islam, or give away in the way of Allah. but our faith is weak....

what is ehsaan? it is to pray as if you are watching Allah or that Allah is watching you. if we apply this simple rule in our life, our entire life will get on track for in whatever we do or so, we will have firm faith that Allah is seeing us and thus will refrain from worng, or  repent if we commit a sin for to err is human.

when one has utter faith that he is not alone, he gets confidence and courage to step up for what is right,  fears no one and looks at no one for assistance but Allah. he develops such beautiful balance in his personality that there is dignity yet humility, fear yet hope. dignity of his status equal to that of other human beings, holding no expectation or hope from any man. humility that all men are servants of Allah, deserve respect and may be of better virtues than them, fear of upsetting Allah and hope of being granted His forgiveness.

real knowledge is that which reflects in our character and does not stay mere words alone.

all men have been bestowed the sense of right and wrong

Allah is most (ghayoor) sensitive for His prophet(SAW) and islam

how can it be that quran is the word of Allah yet it fails to touch the heart!!!? no! it is our hearts that have gone rusty and have lost the capacity to receive the rays/signals of the divine revelation otherwise who can listen to the quran and not be moved by it!!!?what has gone wrong with our hearts? as said in the quran about the various status of the heart. their hearts are blind, their hearts are in the dark, in ignorance. then we need to awaken our hearts, open their eyes so that they can see the realities of the hereafter before it comes, of death before it dawns for then it would be too late! to make your heart receptive, enlighten it with the rememberance of Allah. according to prophet(SAW), there is a polish for everything, and the polish for heart is the remembrance of Allah. remember Allah in your heart, be conscious of His presence, of Him watching you whatever you do, remember Him with recitation, with your actions, pray to Him to give your heart the capacity to receive His bounties. it is beautiful that you can pray to Allah for anything and everything and feel no shame in that for when you do this do you realize your real worth that you are capable of nothing if it werent for Him. you couldnt even blink your eyes if He didnt will so understand your position and realize His greatness and ask Him for the smallest to the biggest, ask Him for worldly to heavenly, for hidayat to maghfirat, from whats possible to you to whats impossible for you(As nothing is impossible for Him)

ask Him for the most humanly imaginable impossible things. you have nothing to lose. either u will get it, or He will give you something better or He will save you from something bad or you will be compensated for the unanswered prayer in the hereafter. in all cases, it is a win-win situation.

DARS-E-QURAN: LESSON 1

being Rabb is one of Allah's greatest quality which means that He takes care of all the needs of all His creation at all times and places. accepting Allah as your lord in the true spirit means that you love, fear, hold hope and have faith/trust in noone as much as you have in Allah and that should be evident not only by your words, but also by your heart and reflected in your actions. When a moment comes where you have to choose between the word/command of Allah and your personal will choice or that of a loved one, you should opt for Allah for He deserves your full commitment and submission. we have no idea of how merciful Allah has been to us, not only has He blessed us in terms of worldly blessings but by sending Prophet Muhammad (SAW), He gave us the opportunity to get to know Him, know His likes and dislikes and the path that would lead us to Him. He has been unfair to no one for He gave His realization to all ruuhs(spirits) in Aalim-e-arwaah where He asked,'Am i not your Rabb?" and we all replied in the positive. All people have thus been given the capacity to recognize their Allah, Allah has instilled this need, desire and drive in us to seek the truth, He gives us opportunities to reach out to Him, turn back to Him, by putting us through times good and rough. The decision to do so, is only left to us, whether we choose to reach out to Him or go further astray. He is most fair and we are most cruel for we ourselves call disaster upon ourselves by going against His commands. His knowledge exceeds past, present, future and the boundaries of this world and beyond. That is why when we dont understand why some things happen to us the way they do, He knows that in the greater scheme of things, its the best for us. An apparent loss may be a hidden benefit for us but due to our short sightedness we fail to see the wisdom in His ways. He is Rahman and Raheem, Rahman meaning His quality of being giving and blessing everyone in this world, irrespective of His religion and Raheem meaning His quality of being merciful forever and ever which is specified for muslims only. in surah-e-fatiha, there is a very important point where we pray that lead us onto the right path. what does that WE mean? and why WE has been used there?Allah is so merciful that He Himself has taught us how to pray to Him. knowing our weaknesses, He has been so kind that He has guided us how to pray to Him. By using WE instead of me here, He has added all muslims together, the weak ones with the strong ones, the stumbling ones with the strong footed ones, joining us with the jamaat of the sahabah, shohadah and saleheen. Us, the weak, non practising, always stumbling, non persistent ones have been blessed by this dua that unites us with the group of highly pious muslims.

Quran is not a book to be read once. it is the word of Allah. Kalam-e-elahi, literally the very words of Allah, His personal quotes and statements and He has been so kind that He blessed us with so many of them. He could've jsut sent a single quote and that too wouldve been sufficient to test our faith in Him but He was so generous that He sent this beautiful book to guide us in every walk and step of life, yet we dont take guidance from it.  many of us dont even bother to read it except for the one time where we employ a qari sahab to teach us to read it. many read it for sawab for we have known since forever that we get 10 naikis for reciting one word of the quran. some read it for wazaif, to get success in their worldly affairs such as job, marriage, etc. these are undoubtedly the many benefits of reciting the quran, but quran is meant for much more than that. we keep saying quran is a complete code of life yet we harldy take guidance from it for our daily life. Be it the role of a mother, father, daughter, son, sister, neighbour, employer, trader, son-in-law, Quran guides us in all relations and situations but we have restricted islam to ibadat only, neglecting the practising of it in our daily dealings. we hold grudges, indulge in backbiting, lie, cheat, take unfair advantage of our age, position, etc and then seek inner peace!
one major propaganda on the media these days is that aalims on the media are challenging the importance of hadith and sunnah of the prophet(SAW). many of the debates start and end at the point that has so and so matter been mentioned in the quran and if they say it hasnt, then they dont bother referring to hadith to counter check when infact at numerous places in the quran, Allah has asked believers to follow the way of the prophet (SAW) to reach Allah for who introduced us to Allah in the first place?it was prophet(SAW)! we did not individually receive revelations or got introduced to Allah all by ourselves. it was prophet(SAW) who took us out of darkness and gave us the sense to know our Allah. then how can we sideline him(SAW) and become experts on the quran and its message? it is only the status of the prophet(SAW) alone to give us the true understanding of the quran for only he(SAW) knew the meaning as was intended by Allah. in arabic, one word can have a 100 meanings, then who is to specify which word means what? if we take it upon ourselves or leave it to the so-called ullma, they can play around with the meanings of the quran, leading us all to utter misguidance. it has been mentioned in the quran to be beware of those who will sell away fatwas for a few pennies.
we are aware that Allah has taken it upon Himself to secure the quran until the end of this world, now that does not mean only the words of the quran will be secure but its meaning, as was intended by Allah and told by the prophet(SAW) will also be taken care of, for if the meaning is left to be interpreted by anyone who desires, million interpretations can come causing confusion and conflict.
whatever it is that you need, ask for it from Allah, dont be shy in asking for the smallest of things, for He likes it when his men ask from Him as that means that they realize their true status, that being mans inability to call upon any benefit or harm upon him without the will of Allah, his helplessness and powerlessness before His mightiness and powerlessness. that is why when you feel that you need guidance to take up the path of Allah or you need perseverance to keep you from going weak every now and then, ask for it.ask for guidance, ask for strong-footed faith, tell Him i am weak, whatever little i am able to do is also Your giving, for without You willing for me to do it, i wouldnt have been able to do it. You blessed me so i could pray to You, You gave me the taufeeq to remember You and now i ask for the strength to keep me on the right path for i am very weak and fear that i might go astray.

self-opinion is a disease when it comes to religion and this disease is very widespread today. people dont bother to open the quran and refer to the hadith and very casually comment on the commands of Allah giving their own interpretation. we often hear people saying, 'i dont think we have to observe pardah like this or i dont believe that interest is haram or that there are boundaries of interaction with non-muslims!? noone bothers to seek the right answer for everyone already has has or her own right answer and noone wants to know what Allah or his prophet(SAW) has to say about it.

taqwa means a relation so strong and precious that you fear doing anything to damage it. it not just plain fear that you may have of a principal or boss, one without any love or compassion but it is that kind of fear that you have when you dont want to hurt or disappoint someone you truly love. you feel that my Allah is so kind to me, He loves me so much, blesses me so much and only asks of me to live according to His rules, enjoy everything within His set limits and what do i do?i go off and break His rules and He still continues to bless me, How can i damage my relation with my so loving and forgiving Allah?

a man once came to prophet(SAW) and accpeted islam. he asked the prophet(SAW) have all my sins been forgiven? the prophet(SAW) replied ,yes. the man turned to leave and then came back and asked, was my Allah watching me when i was committing all those sins? the prophet (SAW) said, yes. the man, overwhelmed by shame, dropped dead that very moment!
every moment before death is an opportunity to repent and the moment of death may be right now!

people who make new amendments and inventions in the religion are worse than non-muslims for they at least declare themselves to be non-muslims unlike those who claim to be muslims yet distort the true picture of the faith.

hudallil muttaqeen