In Surah al-Baqarah, Allah introduces three categories of people (the believers, the disbelievers, and the hypocrites) and three categories of creation (angels, jinns, and humans). Through the stories of Bani Isra’il, Allah draws parallels between these categories, the state of our hearts, and what truly separates believers from everyone else.

Hosts Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro are joined by Imam Tom Facchine in this year’s first episode of Qur’an 30for30 to take a new look at Juz 1 to help us reconstruct our worldview and make the most out of this Ramadan.

Download our FREE eBook “Qur’an 30for30: Judgment Day Edition”.

0:00 - Introduction
4:47 - Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on three categories of people in Surah al-Baqarah
7:45 - The three categories of creation (angels, humans, and jinn)
10:24 - The parallels between the two categorizations
11:42 - The difference between the questioning of Bani Isra’il and of the angels
13:24 - Sh. Abdullah Oduro reflects on the story behind the name of the second chapter - “al-Baqarah"
17:13 - Allah’s categorization of rocks and how they relate to hearts of humans
19:50 - How to soften your heart in Ramadan
21:08 - The parallels between the categorizations of people and their hearts
22:34 - Imam Tom reflects on the pitfalls of taking faith as identity
25:28 - The central problem of Bani Isra’il
28:42 - Extreme focus on identity can be a type of tribalism
30:00 - What it really means to have faith