Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to Qur'an Convos. This is a podcast where we are exploring the different ways in which you can connect to the Qur'an. In this first season, as you've seen, we are covering the theme of tadabbur, or how to reflect deeply on the Qur'an. We are doing this based on the works of Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahu Allah, specifically the 10 inward acts for the recitation of the Qur'an. I do have some exciting news, Alhamdulillah. Today we have two awesome guests. You are familiar with them. We have Alhamdulillah, Dr. Nazir and we have Dr. Tasneem. Welcome. Before we get started, I do have a really important question to ask, which is, when we are talking about the instances in which you connect to the Qur'an, what are the times, maybe we can start with Dr. Tasneem, in which you felt you're listening to the Qur'an and there was a deep emotional reaction in the context of tadabbur, specifically? Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. I'm very excited to join you guys all here today on one of probably my favorite topics. And the one thing that I was thinking about when I was reflecting on some of the ayats that have had really an emotional impact on me was back in undergrad when I did a study abroad. It was a few weeks, we were in Granada, Spain, and it's an incredibly beautiful city. And one of the weekends with the students, we organized a trip to go see Alhamra. And if you've never seen it before, I mean, it's absolutely incredible, right? Where the actual palace built by a Muslim empire near the end of the golden age in Spain, it's atop of this mountain, it's this elaborate palace, it's known for its calligraphy and its architecture.
But what it's also very famous for is that there's gardens throughout the entire palace, essentially, that you're walking through and almost every main section, it opens up into this beautiful garden with trees and water and ponds and all of this stuff. And so I'll never forget, we had a tour guide by the name of Abu Bakr. And this man, he knew what he was talking about, he was clearly very passionate. And I'll never forget, because you're in this sort of setting, right? Where to even get into Alhamra, you're on top of this, essentially a mountain, you're going through trees to get into the palace area, and then you're opening up constantly into all of these different garden areas. And the tour guide, he said it with so much confidence that it really resonated with me. He looked around as he's pointing to the beautiful garden and the beautiful scenery, despite the quote unquote man-made structure that makes up Alhamra, he goes, هذا خلق الله فاروني ماذا خلق الذين من دونه He goes with, he looks around with all this confidence and says, هذا خلق الله هذا خلق الله This is the creation of Allah. Show me what others have managed to do. Show me what anyone else can create. And that moment was so powerful, because if you think about it, when you know, being there looking at all this creation, I thought to myself, there is nothing in the world that is as beautiful as the actual nature itself. And every single time that I've gone in, and this is why I love to spend time in nature, anytime I've traveled, I've gone, you know, hiking or outdoors, I always look around to myself. And I think to my, you know, I think of this, I say to myself, sometimes out loud, you know, هذا خلق الله This is the creation of Allah. And nothing will ever come close to it. I live in downtown, I live in cities, I've traveled everywhere, no skyscraper, no, you know, building has ever come to the nearness of that beauty. And it always resonates and just gives me the shivers every time I, you know, think of it, looking around that Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala is really the creator of the heavens and the earth. And even today,
despite everything that happens in the world today, we humans can still acknowledge the power, the beauty of nature. And that is what Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala has created. And that is something that we can connect to on a day to day basis. Jazakum Allah khairan, barakAllahu fikum. Dr. Tasneem, may Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala reward you. SubhanAllah, we have these experiences in which oftentimes, walking in different places or experiencing nature in different ways, the more familiar we are with the Quran, the more likely we are to connect it to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala. Dr. Nazer, would you like to share an example as well? BarakAllahu fikum. Yeah, SubhanAllah, that reflection Dr. Tasneem shared, it just reminded me of how it's amazing when we think about certain verses, we can almost, you know, take ourselves back to the exact moment and exactly what we were witnessing and experiencing at the time that we were reflecting on this verse. And SubhanAllah, I can remember, you know, one of my most vivid memories is the memory of finishing memorizing the Quran and the verses that I was reciting at that time, SubhanAllah. You know, I remember, so it was basically after my first year of undergraduate studies and things were getting really busy for me. I was taking summer courses at that time, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish my memorization. And I had just, you know, these two months to dedicate to finish memorization, and I was really struggling on that goal. And SubhanAllah, what happened was I had previously memorized the Quran from the back, and then I memorized from the front. So I met in the middle, right? And the last surah that I memorized was Surat An-Nahl, and the last page that I memorized was the last page of Surat An-Nahl. And the surah is talking about gratitude to Allah SubhanAllah, right? The verse in Surat An-Nahl, وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تَحْسُوهَا
If you were to try to count the blessings of Allah SubhanAllah, you will not be able to count them. And I remember when I finished memorizing that last page, I was just so overwhelmed with emotion that the greatest blessing is the blessing of being able to connect to the Quran and being able to learn and act upon the guidance of the Quran, and feeling that immense responsibility and privilege that Allah SubhanAllah has given me the opportunity to learn His divine speech. How am I going to use this? And at that moment, I can remember exactly where I was in the masjid, just falling down into sujood and crying. And one of the last verses that I memorized was the verse, أُدْعُوَ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِذَةِ الْحَسْنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ The famous verse about da'wah, right? The famous verse about inviting others to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching. And that was one of the verses on my mind at that moment. And I just felt like I needed to dedicate myself to conveying the message of Islam and sharing its beautiful teachings in a time when it's been so misunderstood and misrepresented. And so that was a lesson that I carried through with me at that verse. Jazakum Allah khayran, Jazakum Allah khayran, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept from you. You know, you gave me an idea, perhaps we should do a series in which we are interviewing those who completed their memorization of the Qur'an and what experiences they had as they were finishing, but a series for another time inshaAllah ta'ala. Jazakum Allah khayran. We're now in the final two weeks of the show, and we've spent a lot of different, we've utilized a lot of different facets of Imam Al-Ghazali's work. We spent a lot of time thinking about the different angles of approaching the Qur'an and understanding the Qur'an, how to reflect on the Qur'an. The inward acts are important and they need to be reviewed frequently,
but oftentimes this question arises. Understanding something intellectually or linguistically is not the same as feeling moved by it emotionally. And so the question that arises, and we do hear this and we do hear this often from different parts of the community, is it possible or acceptable for someone to understand the verses of the Qur'an, but not to have an emotional reaction to them? It's a beautiful question, really important question. I think we can actually appreciate the importance of this topic even more when we look at the life of Imam Al-Ghazali, Rahimahullah himself, whose writings we're reflecting upon. One of the things that we have to realize is that when we pick up the Qur'an, it's not like picking up a manual of information and data or reading a rule book. We're not just reading the Qur'an to just get a set of facts or a set of data or information, but rather when we read the Qur'an, we are engaged in a conversation with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we are deeply connecting through an act of worship. And this is something when we look at the life of Imam Al-Ghazali, Rahimahullah, we see this importance, you know, psychologists today call it the difference between propositional knowledge, or knowing that something, knowing a set of facts, and participatory knowledge, where you are participating, experiencing, directly involved, emotionally, psychologically invested in what you're doing. And there's a different type of knowledge that comes out from that, in comparison to just learning a set of facts. And Imam Al-Ghazali's life story really shows the difference between these two modes of knowledge. In his time, the philosophical sciences were quite dominant, and he had mastered the philosophical sciences and basically followed them till the furthest path that they lead, and he realized that
something was still missing from that viewpoint. No matter how far you follow that viewpoint, if you don't undergo spiritual development and personal transformation, it can only lead you so far. And that was a personal journey that he experienced, and it showed the importance of not just taking matters of faith as just abstract information or theoretical information, but being emotionally involved and emotionally connected. So when we come to his writings on this topic, he's talking about how we can be personally transformed by our recitation of the Qur'an, how we can be emotionally connected and emotionally invested in the Qur'an, and that's what's going to bring about spiritual purification. There's a difference between, you know, some academic approaching the Qur'an from a very detached perspective, just kind of looking at it as a book of history, versus a believer recognizing that this is the divine speech of Allah, a guidance sent for my heart and for your heart to transform us, to become the best worshippers of Allah, the best servants of Allah, caring for his creation. So this is, you know, one of the objectives of the Qur'an is emotionally connecting, and that's something you can get, you know, a certain level of understanding just reading the verse, but when you are emotionally connected, Allah opens up to your heart, different, deeper reflections and realizations that you wouldn't otherwise be able to acquire. Jazakum Allah khairan, barakallahu feekum. You reminded me of one of my teachers in our Ulum al-Qur'an class was talking about how it's important for us to show others, especially our children specifically, how the Qur'an causes us to connect to different emotions, a wide spectrum of emotions. And so oftentimes, you come across ayats that remind you about the reunions of family in Jannah, or ayat about meeting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or the ayat that instill some kind of fear as a deterrence from something harmful. These ayats allow us to feel and channel
these emotions and reference Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through them, and there are a number of different notes, and every single one of them will cause us to react a specific way. And so for those who are trying to connect to the Qur'an emotionally, it is a positive thing to connect emotionally, but it's important as well to recognize the spectrum of emotions. It's not like you're always going to recite the Qur'an and feel sad. The increase in iman here is not always connected to khashiyah alone, for instance. And so on that note, we can say that one of the most common themes of the Qur'an is the powerful imagery of the afterlife. So there's a lot of emotion involved, especially amongst the people of Jannah and their conversations, the people of the Hellfire, their conversations. And so when we read about paradise and Hellfire, may Allah grant us paradise and protect us from the fire, we receive the same kind of question. Are we expected to always feel hope? And when we read verses about the Hellfire, are we expected to always feel fear? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. Dr. Tasneem, if you can take this one. BarakAllahu feekum. So I think when we're reading ayats, verses about paradise and Hellfire, hope and fear are absolutely necessary. It's almost innate in us to have those reactions. But I think moving beyond that, it should also be a source of motivation. That what's so incredible about these ayats, when you're talking about the paradise and Hellfire, what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does, it's like an inbuilt structure to evoke that emotion, is that he brings these stories to life. When you think about the verses of Hellfire, he's giving us imagery as to those people who are going to be in Hellfire. The conversations that they're having, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, he's telling them, stop arguing, because you have all of these different fractions of the people of Hellfire. The people who are arrogant in this world are talking to the people who were weak and who followed them in this world. No, you did this to me. No, you did that to me. No,
you be punished more. That there's these conversations that are honestly, they're gut-wrenching that yes, they evoke a sense of fear, but that should also evoke a sense of motivation. I don't want to be a part of these people. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't just bring to life the voices of these people who are fighting in Hellfire, who are expressing this intense regret from their actions, but he also brings to life our thoughts, our bodies, that our skins, our body parts, our hands, our arms, our eyes are all going to be now talking on this day on behalf of what we did. One of the most powerful verses is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is bringing to life us, that individual, our thoughts, that we're going to think to ourselves, oh my God, I wasted so much, the opportunities I lost in remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in fulfilling what we were supposed to do. All of those opportunities, we're going to be pulling our hairs out, thinking if only I did one more Salah, if only I listened to him in this one regard, that that is going to be the sensation. And that shouldn't just be fear, but that should be telling us motivation that you know what, I'm alive today, and I still have another second to breathe, I still have another moment in my life that I'm going to take advantage of it. And the way that that ayah ends in the particular, that not only I'm going to have the sense of regret that I could have done more, I should have done more, I wasn't just not doing enough, but I was being, I was mocking everything, I was being sarcastic that oh yeah, those people that those they pray, you know, those conservatives, those religious people, ha ha ha, you know, and we do it so naturally, even for people who are, you know, myself, I find myself doing it too, and I consider myself to be relatively religious, that oh you know, they're spending their whole weekend just doing Qur'an, mashallah, like these people are saying, so that we're going to go have a good time.
This is something that, and I read this ayah, and I think to myself that you've got to watch yourself, you've got to catch yourself, that you don't, you don't want to be of the people who are mocking. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings to life the imagery of Paradise and Hellfire, he brings to life the conversations of thoughts that we have today, and it's a reminder that to to think of yourself now, am I one of the people who are making fun of things, that I'm always laughing at people who choose to spend their time, you know, in doing Qur'an, in pursuing, really Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, versus like, versus, you know, spending their time studying, or having a social life, or going out, and obviously there's a balance to it all, but am I one, someone who's mocking, am I someone who is telling to the people who are, you know, weaker than me in terms of status, or power, or whatever it is, am I one among those who are arrogant, am I the one who is talking down to the people who are weaker, am I calling people to things that are not bad, so there are just endless stories Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses to bring to life the people of Hellfire, and same goes with the people of Paradise, that the people of Paradise, there's a whole, you know, just imagery, that there's the mala'ik, the angels are going to be surrounding Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's throne, that the people of Jannah are going to say, these people are going to be in Jannah, and they're going to be looking around with the amount of content and pleasure that, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed us to be among these people, that we were among the people who remembered Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that we did good, so when you think of these verses, and you recognize how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is bringing to life these moments, this should evoke hope and fear, but motivation to bring it to your life, that think about what is it that I want to be saying on the Day of Judgment, where do I want to be, do I want to be of those who are going to be fighting in Hellfire, literally burning from regret, or do I want to be among those people, imagine yourself, you know, making it to Jannah,
and thinking to yourself with the amount of content you'll never feel in this world, that Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guided us, we were steadfast, we did what we were told, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was so merciful to reward us for that. So think of those stories, think, bring that, those stories to life in your, in your mind, and connect it to your day-to-day life as to where you want to be, and in that sense, it will be able to provide you that emotional connection, but if, if you think about it in that, that framework would also provide you the motivation to, to not just connect, continue to connect with the Qur'an, but also to improve your day-to-day life, inshaAllah. Jazakumullahu khairan. Dr. Tasneem, you reminded me of something that happened a few years ago in a seminar I was teaching about, we were covering Sahih Muslim, but there was this kind of self-development angle to it, and one of the activities as I was doing research on how people think ahead about their future and change because of it, so the change psychology that sometimes we don't notice in ourselves, so one of the common activities that a lot of people do or have seen before is the idea of thinking 10 years ahead, all these goals that you wrote down, how would you feel if it was, let's say, here, you know, 2032, you're looking at your list of goals, and you accomplished everything, or you accomplished different goals, but at a similar standard, and obviously, you know, goals change, and objectives change over time, and the feeling of, of the students in the class was one of happiness, celebration, so grateful that I actually ended up doing it, and likewise, the pain of regret, 10 years go by, you do absolutely nothing at all, you just wasted your life, how would you feel, and I thought it was very interesting because from a secular perspective, most of the attention was on the feeling of these goals with regards to the time in this life, and it wasn't, obviously, the general approach with self-development wasn't really religious, so from the Islamic approach, we noticed that if we're looking at this motif of
pain, and deterrence, and regret, the example you gave, or the many examples of, or the examples of, if only I did not do such and such, or I wish I prepared for my afterlife, we see this is common throughout the Qur'an when referencing paradise and hellfire, and it should cause us to think about the fear of future regret, and the pain of future regret, versus the joy of future celebration, now. We can't deny that this is a part of our psychological makeup as human beings. In addition to this, of course, a reminder for those who are seeking the mercy of Allah, which is that, إِنَّ رَحْمَةَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبُ مِنَ الْمُحْسَنِينَ The mercy of Allah is close to those who do good, and those who repent, and those who seek forgiveness from Allah, it's linked to the people of Jannah, it's linked to the reward of the afterlife, and so there's always a way back as well, so long as you take advantage today, as was mentioned, tomorrow's not guaranteed. But on that note, if you're okay answering this, Dr. Tasneem, I think you brought us to, especially at the end, you brought us to a really important transition. Sometimes we read stories about some of the predecessors, some of the Salaf from the first generations, who are reading the Qur'an, or reciting the Qur'an, and oftentimes you'd hear about someone who would recite so emotionally and passionately, that some of them would faint. And this was stated to one of the Tabi'een, and they didn't like this. They were told that so-and-so always faints when they read the Qur'an. He said, well in that case, let them sit on a high wall and recite the Qur'an from there, meaning, if they're really fainting, then they'll fall. But if they're doing this for show, then they won't, because some people were going to extremes in this, and obviously this is an extreme example, but on the note of the righteous people before us, and during our times as well, may Allah make us all better than what others see in public, what is it that we can take from their emotional reactions to the Qur'an?
Why are people able to have such strong reactions to the Qur'an? BarakAllahu feekum. I think this question transitions really well from the last one, in that, when you're connecting with the Qur'an, when you're building that connection, it's all about bringing the stories, the ma'ila, the warnings, the reminders to life. And so when you have a connection with the Qur'an, such that you're reading it every single day, and it's not something that you pick up only on Ramadan, only on Fridays, but you've created this sort of habit that you're doing it, even if it's five, ten minutes a day, is that what's naturally going to happen is you're going to end up bringing your own challenges, your worries, your anxieties, your joy into your reading of the Qur'an. And in many ways, it's a good thing, right? Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala tells us time and time again throughout the Qur'an, think, reflect on these words, bring, you know, have tadabbur, really what this podcast is, is that have this deep connection with the Qur'an. And one powerful way to do that is to bring your life experiences as you read through the Qur'an. Bring your life really to life by reading through the Qur'an. And so I can speak from experience here is that if I know that there's one thing I'm going to do every single day of my life is going to spend a few minutes reading Qur'an, that the days that I'm happy, the days that I'm sad, those days are also going to be days in which I read Qur'an. And naturally, if I have just experienced a loss of wealth or family or this big transition in my life, and I'm feeling really burnt out, or I'm feeling exhausted, I'm picking up the Qur'an, reading it, I'm going to read it in light of those challenges. And I've had this happen so many times where, you know, I was under a lot of pressure to complete a project at one point, and I would read the ayats, the verse in the Qur'an talking about sort of the temporariness of this life. And it put things into perspective, because as I'm reading, I'm thinking in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, I have so much to do, I don't think I can do this. And, you know, all of these things that are naturally going to be in our subconscious, whether or not we're putting them to the side.
But then I'm going and I'm reading the Qur'an. And here it is, Allah SWT talking about sort of the pleasures of the next life, of the type of contentment, of sakinah that you feel with the remembrance of Allah SWT. And it put things into perspective for me that, you know what, this doesn't even matter, that at the end of the day, my purpose in life is not to finish these projects. It's not about work. My end goal is to please Allah SWT. And by having that daily connection, that daily dose of Qur'an, and then, you know, reading my experiences into the Qur'an as a means of reflection, that's going to build a connection that is really is an unbreakable bond. And to go back to what Dr. Nazer said for that first point, right, that when you think about bringing that emotional connection to the Qur'an, bringing to life, I mean, I study Islamic studies for a living. And if it was not for the Qur'an, I don't know where I would be. Because it gets dry, things get dry when you're debating law, you're looking at court records and fiqh and this and that, looking, you know, having all these, as you mentioned, sort of these philosophical debates. None of it matters when you go back to the Qur'an and you build that connection with Allah SWT. Because at the end of the day, that's the divine word of Allah SWT. And when you have that sensation, that emotional connection, that's the only thing that's going to get you through that. And of course, du'a and tawakkur ala Allah. And so I encourage everyone to really make it a habit in your life to have that connection, because what you'll end up seeing, whether you do it intentionally or not, is that you'll bring your own experiences into your reading of the Qur'an, and you'll see that Allah SWT talks back to you. And every occasion is going to be different, that you'll read the same surah ten times over. But that one time you bring, you know, your moments of difficulty or hardship to that, to the same surah you read a hundred times over, you'll read it in an entirely different light. And so build a connection with the Qur'an by reading it consistently. And it will come to life for you just as it came to life for the predecessors, inshallah. Mashallah, that point about thinking about your own struggles and, you know,
bringing it home to what you're dealing with in your own life, I think is really important, because a person shouldn't be worried about, like, comparing themselves to others, right? Imagine you're thinking, oh, you know, last Ramadan, that brother in the front row was crying so loudly. Next Ramadan, I want to be crying louder than him. That's not a real goal, right? Your goal is not to be the person crying loudest in the masjid. Your goal is to reflect and connect with the message of the Qur'an, connect with the guidance. And the emotional reaction is what comes after that, right? You know, Allah SWT mentions in Surah Az-Zumar, which, you know, we were quoting from, taqash'iru minhu juludu allatheena yakhshauna rabbahum, right? You have that khash, you have that reverence of Allah SWT, then it brings out that physical reaction, that emotional reaction as well. And, you know, I remember this somewhat humorous story of a brother who is leading salah in the masjid in Tarawih, and he was, he got stuck. He couldn't remember the next verse, and there's nobody behind him to correct him. There's nobody with the mushaf, no hufadh behind him, and he's completely stuck. And he just panicked and he got so overwhelmed. He's like, oh, what are they going to do? I'm never going to be able to lead Tarawih again. And he starts crying. He's not crying because of the verses. He's just crying because he's messed up. And the people behind him, they think he's just emotionally overwhelmed by the message of the verses. And they start crying and the whole congregation is crying. This guy is the best, mashaAllah. And he just got stuck, right? So, subhanAllah, we shouldn't worry about the outward reaction. We should worry about our inward state. And as Dr. Tasneem mentioned, you know, think about not just past struggles, but even think about the future realities of life. The Qur'an reminds us of our mortality and those verses in Surat al-Zumar, you know, which we recited, talking about the regret a person will feel on the day of judgment. Like it's a reality we should think about in the future. What is going to be my situation at the time of my passing?
What is going to be my situation at the time of my family members passing? Rather than living my life in a state of heedlessness and calling out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just at those times, I should be reflecting on that from now and thinking about how I can bring myself closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and, you know, undergo that spiritual preparedness and spiritual readiness to be in a situation where, you know, I feel I'm closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at those times. SubhanAllah, Dr. Nazer, JazakAllah khair. I've experienced or seen the opposite example as well, where somebody was reciting in Salah and they got emotional. So they were, you know, trying to take their breath and they were maybe trying not to cry in front of others, but they were trying to take a breath. They were getting emotional. And then like 20 or 30 people started correcting them, Allahumma sta'an. SubhanAllah. But I really like the example that you gave of ensuring that your focus, when it comes to the emotional state of the Qur'an, is not never an external thing, never about other people, never about what is seen. And that's why we have so many examples of actually the very first thing that I mentioned about some of the Tabi'een who didn't like to hear, oh, that so and so fainted when they read the Qur'an. In fact, it was stated to Abdullah bin Umar radiAllahu anhuma, when he was walking by, when he saw a man was supposedly unconscious, he asked, what's wrong with this man? So some people said when the Qur'an is recited to him or he hears remembrance of Allah, he immediately falls unconscious out of khashiya. He said, we fear Allah and we don't drop unconscious. And Asmaa bint Abi Bakr, she was asked a similar question. Did any of the Salaf used to faint when they used to hear the Qur'an or when they had fear of Allah? She said, no, but they used to cry. And crying is referenced throughout the receipt of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, the biographies of the companions and the Tabi'een. And so it's really important for us to think about what it is that causes a person behind the scenes, when nobody is watching, for you to shed a tear for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
will place you amongst those who are shaded on the Day of Judgment. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst them. In addition to this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, innama almu'minoona allatheena itha dhukirallahu wajilat quloobuhum wa itha tuliyat alayhim ayatuhu zadathum imana wa ala rabbihim yatawakkaloon. The second ayah of Surah Al-Anfal, verily the believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned or referenced to them, their hearts are moved, wajilat quloobuhum. And when the Quran is recited upon them, zadathum imana, their iman increases and they put their trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sufyan al-Thawri, rahimahullah, he mentioned from one of the scholars of the time, he said, this is like the example of a person who is about to commit a sin. And then he was told, fear Allah. So when he heard it, taqilla, fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, have some God consciousness, be mindful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he stopped, meaning he didn't commit this and he abandoned it. So the khashya here, when you hear Allah's name, when you hear the Quran, is that you have some haya with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that it moves something internally. And truly, truly, truly in this day and age, when so many people are so heavily invested in a lot of argumentation and the dry philosophical topics, interfaith, intrafaith and everything else, at times as Muslims, we should be cautious not to stray away from our Quranic worldview and the Quran in general, because of what we see in terms of its impact on the state of the heart or on the fitrah that needs to be rejuvenated through it. SubhanAllah, we have a long seminar that I've been teaching about atheism and the pursuit of truth, and it seemed to students at first like it might be a dry seminar. The very end of the class are actually the verses that Dr. Tasneem was referencing and Dr. Nazir as well from Surah Az-Zumar. So I had selected this passage because it touches on so many important notes that really bring us back to the purpose of life, bring us back to the fitrah that we pray is constantly purified.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to keep our hearts connected to the Quran. Allahumma ameen. Sometimes people mention that they feel very tired or unmotivated to read the Quran deeply, to ponder on its meanings. And at times they might not even feel like they're at a certain place with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, where they feel worthy of reading the Quran, or they might trick themselves into saying, you know what, it's better for me not to read the Quran at all because I don't have my full energy and attention at this time. Is this the correct response? And what should we do when we don't feel motivated to read the Quran or to ponder upon the Quran for being motivated? Upon the Quran from different angles? Dr. Nazer, if you can take this one, barakallahu fikum. Yeah, that's a really important question. And there's a few things I want to say about that. The first is that no matter how disconnected you feel from the Quran, the Quran will always welcome you back. Right. The Quran will always welcome you back. If there's been a time where you haven't picked up the Quran and recited it in some time and now you're feeling that anxiousness about going back, the Quran will be there for you as soon as you start to read the verses and you make the effort. Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala opens up the emotions for you and opens up that spiritual development for you. So don't be afraid or shy of turning back to the Quran and reconnecting with the Quran. The second thing, you know, that I want to mention is we have to value quality over quantity. It's not about, you know, oh, you know, I want to be the person who recites this many ajza every day and whatever. It's about the quality. And Imam al-Ghazali in these writings that we're discussing, he quotes a statement from Ali ibn al-Tarib, radhiAllahu anhu, that says, la khayra fee ibadatin la fiqhah feeha, wala fee qiraatin la tadabbara feeha. And these series are on tadabbar, right?
This statement is that there is no goodness in a ritual acts of worship that are devoid, completely devoid of understanding. And there is no goodness in simply reciting without any reflection whatsoever. A person should remember that the goal of the Quran is guidance. The goal of the Quran is guidance. And so connecting with the Quran through our recitation is a means of attaining that guidance. And reflecting on the meanings of the verse will allow a person to bring back that motivation. If they're feeling demotivated and they're not feeling able to connect, that one of the things they can do, it's not always just about reciting. It's also about, you can listen to recitation. You can read from a book of translation or tafsir. You know, there are different ways to connect to the Quran. You can listen to a lecture explaining some verses of the Quran. So there are different ways to connect to the Quran and bring back that emotional motivation. And, you know, listen to a reciter with a beautiful voice. I prayed behind Sheikh Suleiman and, mashaAllah, he has a very beautiful voice. So you find a reciter whose heart allows that emotions to stir within you. And this is another thing that relates to people's spiritual personality types. You know, we have an article on yaqeen about spiritual personality. And you can take a quiz and find out your spiritual personality. People connect with different acts of worship, right? And our scholars of Islam have mentioned this, like Imam Malik and others said. Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala has made some people more inclined to some acts of worship than others. And the beauty of the Quran is that it accommodates all those differences. So there are different ways in which we can connect with the Quran and increase our relationship with the Quran. And I'd also just like to add in that regard, sometimes we're always looking for sort of this motivation to read Quran, right? Like today I'm going to feel great and I'm going to pick up the Quran. And, you know, today's the day that I'm going to read the Quran. That we're going to wake up one day and we're going to just be overwhelmed by this emotion,
this motivation to read the Quran. And a lot of us get that motivation in Ramadan. And that's a great thing, right? We want to always take advantage of motivation. But when your motivation wanes, that's when the discipline needs to kick in. That we can't rely always on motivation. That sometimes you are going to be feeling down or blah or you're not really sort of in the quote unquote mood to read the Quran. And then what happens is that you go and pick up the Quran, you think to yourself, what's the point? Because I'm sort of reading this mindlessly. I'm not really there. I'm just going to wait until the next time I have that, you know, that really exciting feeling of motivation. So that at least when I read the Quran, I'm going to be connected. But besides the fact that we want to be able to create this discipline to read this Quran, to read the Quran, because again, it's about having a day to day habit. Because as I mentioned earlier, once you have that day to day habit, what's going to happen is that your personal experiences are going to bring the Quran to life, even when you're not expecting it. And Ibn Ata'illah, he has a hikmah, he has a wisdom that it says that don't leave the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And here the remembrance can be the Quran. Don't leave the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because you lack that sort of presence while you're reading the Quran, because you reading the Quran without really being there, without really feeling motivated is better than you not reading the Quran at all. Because one day maybe Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will switch that that sort of heedlessness, that like absent mindedness when you're reading the Quran, and he'll put your, he'll bring to life sort of your connection and that presence. It'll just take an instant. It just takes one ayah, one moment, one connection to a life experience that you'll find yourself crying. For every hour of Quran I spend reading, I might sense just one minute of, you know what, that really made sense or, oh, that connects back to, you know, that conversation I had or that, you know, that answer I was looking to. I could spend hours of my life, days of my life reading the Quran and maybe from all of that time spent with the Quran,
I have one moment of falling down in tears and crying and in connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That moment is going to be worth more than anything. Right. So as you read the Quran, do it with discipline, do it every day, even when you don't, you know, quote unquote, feel like doing it. Because if you can create that type of discipline and you have that connection with the Quran, that make dua, that one of these days, you know what, I don't feel like I'm into it today. But one of these days, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because of my discipline, because I've asked him to, I'm going to have that sense of connection, that sense of emotion that's going to overwhelm me. I'm waiting for it. And as you're reading the Quran, it almost becomes like a challenge that let's see, you know, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to grant me that insight, grant me that opportunity to connect with him. And it becomes exciting and it brings life into your day to day reading. And once you sense that, once you get that experience, that sense of connection, of really I'm reading the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're going to have zero regrets for spending all of those days with that discipline, building that connection with the Quran. Zak Mokhin, Dr. Tasneem, I think a really good gem that can be taken from what you just said is nobody who reads the Quran sincerely in this life will regret it in the next life. So read the Quran in proportion to how much you want to celebrate in the next life. Truly, when we think about the lack of motivation to connect to the Quran, we should pay very close attention, because during the last two and a half years or so, subhanahu wa ta'ala, we're in the third year of this pandemic. But during the last two and a half years or so, most of the world over now know some of the basic symptoms of something like COVID-19, like the loss of smell or taste, for example. And the reason I'm sharing this is because oftentimes when there's a symptom of an illness, we tend to look for a solution. A lot of people, unfortunately, go online and they start diagnosing themselves and they find out that they're diagnosed with something completely wrong. But oftentimes when there's a physical problem, we tend to look for a solution. What is the healing? What is the shifa that I need for this problem?
But we're not always in tune with our hearts. We're not always in tune with the symptoms that I'm not connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala during this phase of my life or during the last few months. And some of these symptoms are connected to our interaction with the Quran. So someone who used to have a habit, for example, of always reading Quran or having a daily juz or a daily minimum or listening to the Quran regularly or feeling like they're interested just in the Quran in general and then noticing a phase in their lives in which they have no motivation towards the Quran at all. While it may be difficult to get yourself started, it is the very healing for the problem that you're seeing, which is that you're not connected to the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, فَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ أَمْ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَلُهَا And as you can see, I'm cooking in my microwave oven, or if I use my microwave, I fuck up the all-ape, so I have a difficult side to aOut. While I'm cooking in the microwave, If I use my microwave alone, I can't fall asleep during the day, but then I can wake up at 9am in the morning and I witness breakfast happening. It's literally no connection at all. It's on my nerves and my Department of Family Affairs is like aالحمادات. It's gone. Do they not reflect تَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ Do they not reflect upon the Quran or are there locks upon their hearts? And it's a really frightening ayah and some of the scholars would comment on this ayah and Surah Muhammad ayah 24, I believe, in detail because of how frightening it could be if you are noticing this symptom long term, and you're not doing anything about it. The thing is, as was stated before, the Quran always welcomes you back. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always wants you to turn back to the Quran. And so as you start to overcome that initial discomfort in terms of reading, in terms of listening, in terms of tafseer, in terms of a gathering in which you're just sitting on the outskirts and you're listening in the masjid, it is that very act of sincerity in wanting to overcome the shackle of the heart or a disconnect between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that will perhaps lead to the moments that are highs compared to others. The moments that Dr. Tasneem is referencing in which really on a particular day or a particular time, you're reading the Quran and you're just doing your parts daily minimum daily connection, daily purification. But then there was something you really needed on that day. And so it might lead you to a strong emotional reaction, might lead you to an insight, might lead you to changing something in your life that needed to be changed.
But that doesn't happen if we're not always connecting to the Quran and putting forth the effort. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the life of the heart that we are in need of through the Quran, make the Quran the spring of our lives and the light of our chests. Allahumma ameen. Reminds me of a brother who was imprisoned. And there are a lot of examples like this. He was in prison and it was unjust and alhamdulillah he's free now. But one of the things that he shared was he's making a lot of dua, he's going through torture and a lot of other people are being tortured. And he says one day they were passing out, I guess, books and board games and many other things. And a lot of these are secular things. They're not Islamic, including the board game. I think it was a trivia game. He pulled out a random card and that card said, basically asked a question about Suratul Dhuha. ma wadaaka rabbuka wa ma qala. Your Lord did not abandon you, nor does He hate you. He said, I started to cry as though Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was speaking to me. And as he went through the rest of the trivia questions, that was the only question that referenced in ayah of the Quran. Oftentimes we're not even listening. We're not paying attention. We're not present enough to take anything from it. And then we wonder why am I not motivated to connect to it? Put in the effort and you will, inshallah ta'ala, see the fruits of it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to move forward. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to aid us in that, to give us the strength and the guidance to do so. Allahumma ameen. As we wrap up this episode, Jazakumullahu khayran Dr. Nazim, Dr. Tasneem. We want to ask just maybe one more question, inshallah ta'ala. A very brief question. Maybe this time we'll start with Dr. Nazim. Can you share one verse or a passage from the Quran that you feel captures some of the linguistic beauty? I know it's something we can talk about and we have maybe for hours, but if there's one particular thing we can leave the audience with, inshallah ta'ala, what might that be? Yes, subhanAllah. This really is something that we could do, inshallah, another future series just on this topic. But subhanAllah, there are so many different ways to look at the verses of the Quran.
And one thing that's really interesting that I find just absolutely mind-blowing, you know, somebody, you may be reading a work by a scholar and they will point out something about a verse that you've recited for years and years and years. And you've never noticed that, that facet and you're just completely mind-blown. And one way that they, you know, there's a discipline within tafsir where you can compare verses in the Quran that are very similar and ask, why is it that this, the wording is slightly different here and slightly different there? And it goes back to the context. So I'll share one example, which I really like, which is there are two verses in the Quran which are almost identical, except the wording is just switched around in one place. And the first verse is in Surah An-Nisa, where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, Ya ayyuhalladheena aaminoo, koonoo qawwameena bilqisti shuhadaa lillaa walaw alaa anfusikum awilwalidayni walaqrabiin. O you who believe, stand firmly for justice as witnesses before Allah, even if it's against your parents or your family members, right? Or yourselves, your parents or your family members. Now in Surah Al-Ma'idah, a very similar wording is there, but Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la there says, Ya ayyuhalladheena aaminoo, koonoo qawwameena lillaa shuhadaa bilqisti O you who believe, stand firmly for Allah, stand as firmly for Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la as witnesses to justice. wa laa yajirimannakum shana'anu qawmin AAala an laa ta'didu And do not allow the animosity of your enemies to prevent you from doing justice. Now Abu Hayyan Al-Andalusi, he says, why is it that the wording is switched around? So when it's talking in Surah An-Nisa, first it mentions, stand firmly for justice as witnesses before Allah. And in Surah Al-Ma'idah, it says, stand firmly for Allah as witnesses to justice.
The answer goes back to the second part of the verse. So when it's talking in Surah An-Nisa, the very next phrase is about your loved ones, your family members. And so you don't need any extra motivation to give them everything. In fact, you may give them more than they're due, more than they're right. So there Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la mentions justice first, right? To give them what is due to them and to be just. When it's talking about enemies and the people who are showing animosity towards them, there you may not give them their right, right? You may find that animosity prevents you from giving them their right. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la first motivates you by mentioning, stand firmly for Allah. You're not doing it for them, you're doing it for Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And that's why you stand firmly for justice. So even the way the Qur'an talks about justice, it is cognizant of all of our social relationships and our psychological states as human beings. And it's incredible how just something as subtle as the word order brings about such a profound lesson, SubhanAllah. Jazakumullahu khairan, Dr. Nazer. And I agree 100%. This could be its own series. So take notes, inshaAllah ta'ala, the rest of the Qur'anic studies team. Beautiful reflection, Jazakumullahu khairan. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us amongst the people of justice consistently, Allahumma ameen. Dr. Tasneem, what is one piece of advice? I know you've given so many already, Jazakumullahu khairan. But what's one maybe short practical piece of advice that you'd give to someone who right now is considering opening the Qur'an app or reading from the Mus'haf today, inshaAllah? So I might sound like a broken record, but build a habit, right? Start small. Don't undermine anything. I think that's the one message that we really want to get across, that that opportunity for connection can come at a moment's notice. And so even spending a few minutes of the Qur'an reading every single day will take you, you know, so far. And I always share this example from my own personal life because it really speaks to me, is that before I started memorizing the Qur'an, I started off as, you know what? I'm going to start reading two pages every single day.
And I remember thinking when I told myself I'm going to do two pages a day, like, I mean, this is a joke, really. I know I could do so much more if I just put the time and I spend a few hours. I can do, you know, multiple ajza' and I told myself, you know what? No, just two pages every single day. And once I got really comfortable with two pages, I thought to myself, let me bump it up to five pages. I'm just going to read five pages every single day. I know I can do it. I started really small and there's no excuse. I'd have that every single day to read those five pages and I got comfortable, right? And then once I got comfortable, I pushed it. I upped the ante a bit, right? Eventually, I got to the point where I said, you know what? I'm going to start memorizing a few lines every day, a half a page, a page. And so I always encourage people to start small with the intention of always going big. That at one point, you know what? Maybe you want to be someone who memorizes the Qur'an. Maybe you want to be someone who reads just one juz' every single day. But you have a big goal at the end of the tunnel, but you're going to start small and you're going to stay small until you're very comfortable and you're going to push yourself because when you start small, you build the habit. Once you got the habit in place, you can really push yourself as far as you want to go. So don't undermine anything, even if it's just one ayah, even if it's just a few minutes. That is going to take you so far if you really have that intention and you stick with it and create that habit, inshallah. JazakumAllahu khayran, Dr. Tasneem. You touched on two different elements and advices from the Sunnah of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. The first was the act of consistency being extremely important and the most beloved form of worship to Allah. And the second advice of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, with specific acts of worship like Qiyam ul-Layl, for example, the night prayer. When you stand to pray, then start with two light rak'ahs as authentically reported. And so oftentimes this gives a person the momentum to continue and to build a habit long-term. So may Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala accept. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala keep us all consistent. Allahumma ameen. Brothers and sisters, jazakumAllahu khayran once again. This brings us to the end of another episode of Quran Convos. Alhamdulillah.
We had Dr. Nazer and Dr. Tasneem. I would love to, inshallah ta'ala, in future episodes, bring you back and ask you many more questions because you offered a lot of different gems and advices and insights for the global ummah, for the global community, for all of our brothers and sisters. We invite you once again, start your own habit today, inshallah ta'ala. Put in the sincere effort and the sincere intention and the effort, inshallah ta'ala, to start reading the Quran, to start reflecting more deeply, to start finding different resources that will keep you consistent long-term. But until next time, we'll see you, inshallah. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala accept from all of you. Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Salaam.