# Build Your Relationship With the Qur’an Before Ramadan | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek

**Author:** Dr. Tesneem Alkiek
**Series:** Real Talk Series
**Published:** 2026-02-04
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/1ntGWuLu4Sk
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/build-your-relationship-with-the-quran-before-ramadan-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek
**Topics:** Allah, Faith, Family & Community, Marriage

## Summary
In this conversation, Dr. Tesneem Alkiek addresses common challenges Muslims face when trying to build a relationship with the Qur'an, particularly before Ramadan. She begins by introducing the concept of a 'God image' — how one perceives Allah — explaining that it is shaped both by explicit religious teachings (the mind) and by early attachment experiences with parents (the heart). A negative God image can make engaging with the Qur'an feel overwhelming, but Dr. Alkiek offers practical remedies: seeking righteous companionship, learning about the Prophet's (ﷺ) character, and most importantly, studying Allah's names and attributes as He describes Himself in the Qur'an, including who He loves. She addresses difficult verses about punishment by contextualizing them through real-world injustice, arguing that Allah's justice is something to appreciate, not fear. She shares personal examples from her research on divorce verses and Surah At-Tawbah, showing how paying attention to the divine names mentioned at the end of legal verses reveals Allah's presence, care, and awareness. On building a practical relationship with the Qur'an, Dr. Alkiek strongly advises against the 'all-or-nothing' approach of dropping everything to memorize, instead advocating for starting small — even two pages a day — and gradually building a consistent daily habit. She memorized the Qur'an herself over several years using this incremental method. She also highlights worldly benefits of Qur'anic engagement, including improved memory, focus, discipline, and emotional self-regulation, drawing on the book 'Deep Work' to illustrate how memorization trains the brain. A personal story about forgiving a friend illustrates how knowing Allah's attributes — such as al-Halim (the Forbearing) and al-Ghafur (the Forgiving) — transforms one's character and interactions. She concludes by citing a hadith that each verse recited earns a rank in paradise, and another that entire communities are uplifted or brought low based on their relationship with the Qur'an.

## Key Points
- The concept of a 'God image' — how one perceives Allah — is shaped by both explicit religious teaching (the mind) and early parental attachment styles (the heart), and can be positive or negative.
- A negative God image can be addressed through righteous companionship, learning about the Prophet's (ﷺ) character, and deeply studying Allah's names, attributes, and who He says He loves in the Qur'an.
- Difficult verses about punishment can be reframed positively: they reflect Allah's perfect justice, which becomes meaningful when one witnesses real-world oppression and injustice.
- Paying attention to the divine names Allah uses at the end of legal verses (e.g., divorce verses) reveals His presence, knowledge, and care for those going through hardship.
- The Qur'an is unique among scriptures in being considered the literal, word-for-word speech of Allah — direct access to it is a privilege that sparked a revolution in other faith traditions.
- The du'a of the Tabi'i Sa'id ibn Jubayr — 'Allahumma inni as'aluka husna dhanni bika' (O Allah, I ask You for a good image of You) — is a recommended supplication for improving one's perception of Allah.
- Building a relationship with the Qur'an should be a daily habit integrated into life, not a separate phase that requires stopping everything — starting with as little as two pages or even two verses a day is encouraged.
- Engaging with the Qur'an has significant worldly benefits, including improved memory, focus, discipline, and emotional self-regulation, in addition to its spiritual rewards.
- Knowing Allah's attributes transforms personal character: understanding that Allah is al-Halim (Forbearing) and al-Ghafur (Forgiving) naturally inspires one to embody those qualities toward others.
- A hadith states that on the Day of Judgment, the person who had a relationship with the Qur'an will be told to recite and ascend a rank in paradise for every verse — and another hadith affirms that Allah uplifts entire communities through this book.

## Chapters
- 0:00 Overwhelmed by the Quran: A Common Struggle
- 1:23 Understanding God Before His Book
- 1:54 The Impact of Parenting on God Image
- 3:42 Rebuilding a Positive Image of God
- 7:40 Engaging with the Quran in Daily Life
- 16:56 Practical Benefits of Memorizing the Quran
- 24:21 Staying Motivated and Connected

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Sometimes I get really overwhelmed when I read the Qur'an.

**[0:23]** And I think to myself, it's just too much. I agree, I think it can feel very overwhelming, but I also think I can convince you that it's worth it.

**[0:45]** When I read the Qur'an, there's a lot of things that I don't understand. And then when I engage with the translation of the Qur'an, there are some verses that probably make some of us uncomfortable. What do I do? Do I just not engage with it? I think it's important to recognize that when you're reading the Qur'an, you're ultimately

**[1:04]** reading the words of Allah. That is something that is unique to the Qur'an and unique to our faith tradition. No other faith tradition claims that their scripture is the divine word for word of God.

**[1:20]** I think that we need to have a step back sometimes. Let's talk about how we understand God before we understand His book. And there's an important study that we ran at Yaqeen, and it's about your God image. What's a God image? God image is this idea like, how do I perceive Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in my life?

**[1:38]** Not obviously not like a physical imagination or anything like that, but like, how do I understand who He is? How do I understand His names, attributes, like His manifestation in my life? So like negative or positive? Yes. So you either have a negative image of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, a positive, maybe somewhere in between, and there's two ways of getting that.

**[1:56]** And this is important because I think we all need to sit down and have this assessment, right? Number one, you've got the mind. What is the mind? The mind is this idea that you were taught something explicit about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You were taught by a parent, you were taught by teachers, you were taught by someone that

**[2:13]** God is omnipotent, that God is merciful, that God is just, that God punishes and forgives. These are all things you're explicitly taught about God, right? Then you have the heart. This is interesting because this is more of like an intrinsic understanding of Allah subhanahu

**[2:30]** wa ta'ala. The heart is this idea that the way your parents taught you, or the way even like your teachers taught you, the attachment style, not what they actually taught you, but the style actually influences how you understand Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

**[2:46]** So let me give you an example. If your parent was authoritative, right? Would sort of like issue commands without explanations, was unjust, was, you know, there's a whole list of styles you could go through, insecure, anxious, like all the different parenting attachment styles that we have.

**[3:02]** If you had that type of attachment with your parent, you are implicitly, so it's indirect, almost like subconsciously, you end up having that relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so that's really important because sometimes it's not even in your control directly how

**[3:18]** you understand Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but like it's infused in your life. Because you're learning from your parents. You're learning from your parents. And so I think it's important to say like, wait, wait, let's just stop. Let's ask ourselves, like, what was my relationship with my parents and did that, it's not always going to happen, but did that affect my understanding of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

**[3:35]** Does that affect how I approach the Qur'an? Does that affect like my understanding of my relationship? And it starts really with that assessment. And what if I struggle with seeing God positively? Like it's just one of my struggles in life that I'm unable to see God positively. That's really important, right?

**[3:51]** Because I think people are probably listening like, oh, I'm that one person that has a negative God image. Unfortunately, that's not the case, right? A lot of people struggle with this. And I think that there's various ways, right? We can talk about maybe finding righteous companionship, finding good, you know, a group

**[4:06]** of friends who can help you rebuild that connection. Maybe it is finding a good teacher. Maybe it's learning about the character of the Prophet (ﷺ), who had like impeccable character, the way he treated others, the way that he taught and thinking to yourself, like, you know, rebuilding that knowledge base.

**[4:23]** And then of course, most importantly for us is learning how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes Himself. Like, what are the names, what are the attributes Allah describes of Himself? He tells us who He is, right? Talks about like the fact that we say for every surah, right?

**[4:39]** Every time we start Surah Al-Fatihah, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, that in the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Beneficent. What does that even mean, right? What does it mean that Allah is the Most Compassionate? What does it mean that Allah is the Most Just? What like all of these ways that He's describing Himself, like learn about who He says He is.

**[4:59]** Also learn about who He loves. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has like in the Qur'an, various people He explicitly says, and like, God loves those who do X, Y, Z. God loves those, those who seek justice. What does that tell you about God when He says, I love those who are just, like,

**[5:16]** I love that my Lord loves justice and that He will ask for justice for people who wronged others. I love that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I love those who are good people, muhsinin, they try to always have excellence in their lives. Like, wow, like God loves that I push myself.

**[5:33]** God loves that I'm trying, right? God loves those who purify themselves. Like all the different ways God even describes who He loves. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes who He loves. Like, hmm, I want to be that person and I love that my Lord wants that for me, right? So it does trigger this cycle of understanding Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this positive light

**[5:53]** when you know who He is and you know what He appreciates. But Tasneem, there are a lot of verses of punishment and torment and sometimes it's difficult to get past those verses to then cling on to the mercy of Allah. Those instances require looking for, I wouldn't even say the silver lining

**[6:12]** because I feel like that just feels like a bare minimum. No, but really looking for the good in these verses, right? I remember reading verses on punishment, right? There are some very descriptive ayahs in the Qur'an that talk about the punishment for those who disbelieve, those who oppress, those who reject Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's message

**[6:29]** and act in a way contrary to it. And it's very, very gruesome to the point where it's like, not only is your body tortured, but it's then your body is given back to you so it can happen again and again and again. And I remember thinking, like, how do you reconcile this with a merciful God, right?

**[6:47]** And then, you know, years go on and you start to observe the world. Like, I think of the Syrians under the Assad regime. I think of, most importantly in time, in history right now, Gaza. I think of Kashmiris. I think of Uyghurs. I think of all the people who've gone through, like,

**[7:03]** the type of violence and torture that honestly is... Unthinkable. It's unthinkable. It makes your stomach churn just simply thinking about it. And there's nothing more I want to see than know that those oppressors get their rightful place. Right? So sometimes it's like, that ayah, just like, I can't wrap my head around it.

**[7:20]** And then, life happens and you see, like, you're sort of exposed to something different and you think to yourself, that ayah makes complete, perfect sense. And I appreciate God more for it. And that's what makes God the Most Just. And that's what makes life comprehensible.

**[7:35]** And so I think in any case, you can always find that, like, the beauty in every verse. And so just to clarify then, do I need to know the Qur'an to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Yeah, I think that's really important. It's, you can't separate the two, right? If you want to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[7:50]** the best way to know Him is through the way He describes Himself, right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, like, just think about it for a second. The Protestant Reformation, like, all of Christianity fundamentally changed with the, through the Protestant Reformation, when Martin Luther and other Christians sought to rebel against the Catholic Church,

**[8:08]** because why? The Catholic Church refused to give them direct access to scripture. It's not even that scripture was a divine word, but like, you can't read it. You can't engage with it. You have to go through clergy. You have to go through a scholar to even access the divine word of God, to even communicate with God, right?

**[8:24]** And as Muslims, like, that's really, like, we need to understand, a whole revolution was sparked in Christianity for this reason. But no, we have the direct access to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's words. That's a big deal. And so, absolutely, you need to engage with that, because that is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, how He's communicating with us.

**[8:41]** But like, it's not going to be sort of this overnight experience, especially for those who are struggling with a negative God image, right? I think of the du'a that the Tabi'i Sa'id ibn Jubayr used to make. He would consistently make a du'a, Allahumma inni as'aluka husna dhanni bika

**[8:57]** Oh Allah, I ask You for a good image of You. Like, make it easy for me. Make it easy for me to understand You in a positive light. Make it easy for me to connect with You. Like, this is a successor, right? The Prophet (ﷺ) says that among the best generations that ever exist,

**[9:14]** that includes the Tabi'in, the successors, and he's making this du'a. So like, I think it's really just understanding that to have this impression can take time, and it requires du'a in many cases. Like, you don't have to, like, even if you have a positive God image,

**[9:30]** we know that Sa'id ibn Jubayr is going to have a positive God image. You still make this du'a. I make this du'a all the time, right? And then it shifts something inside of you. Like, then you start to read Qur'anic ayat, which, like, I'll give you an example, right? My whole area of focus is divorce in Islamic law.

**[9:47]** And so that's where my dissertation research was. That's what I'm very interested in. So I know the ayat on divorce very well. Like, I had to, you know, every single ayah, you name it, I can, you know, I can tell you all about it. And I remember when I first started engaging these verses, it felt very direct.

**[10:04]** It's law, right? This is what you do. This is what you don't do. This is your right. This is not your right. This is your responsibility, right? Like, law, right? It's very direct, and it's going to tell you how to sort of navigate divorce. And it's a difficult subject. It's a difficult subject, right?

**[10:20]** And I always took them as that, just legal verses, direct. And that was about it, right? Then I started to notice something. I started to pay attention to how these verses ended. And I, like, I started to pay attention to, like,

**[10:36]** how the Prophet (ﷺ) describes Himself in these verses. And there was a pattern. Khabir, He has that information as to everything that's happening. 'Alim, Hakim, like, He has that knowledge. He knows exactly what happened. Hakim, He's wise. Like, He knows what laws He has.

**[10:53]** Sami', Basir, He can see, He can hear. And I thought, like, I noticed a pattern. Because anyone who's gone through divorce, you know exactly how difficult it is. And even if you haven't gone through it yourself, like, you've seen someone go through it, a family member, community member, you know how, even if it's the nicest of divorces,

**[11:10]** it's extremely difficult. And I thought to myself, like, how incredible is it that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in these verses is saying, I know it's difficult. I hear you, I see you. I know he wronged you, she wronged you, but I have all the knowledge and I will hold these people accountable.

**[11:25]** I know it's difficult. I'm here for, like, and it's like, this is fascinating how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes Himself. And now verses that were so direct and legal, were like, no, no, no, Allah's present. I'm here. I know what's happening. I've got your back. And it totally shifted my perspective on these verses, right?

**[11:42]** I think of also Surah At-Tawbah. Surah At-Tawbah is, talks a lot about war. Talks a lot about the ethics of war, conduct with the disbelievers, like engaging with disbelievers. And of course, very direct and sometimes can be a difficult subject,

**[11:59]** especially if you're far removed from these conversations, right? And then I think to myself, like, I noticed a pattern. There are so many instances which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about, muttaqin in At-Tawbah, those who are conscious of God. Wa'alamu anna Allaha ma'al muttaqin.

**[12:15]** Know that God is with those who are conscious of Him. And it's like, how incredible. You're talking about the ethics of war, because if there's one thing you need to remember during war, is God is there. And you better fear Him and be conscious of Him, right?

**[12:31]** Because that moment you transgress, that's when problems rise, right? And God, ayah after ayah, like pay attention, ayah after ayah, there's so many that end with reference to those who fear God. And now it's like suddenly like this very difficult like topic of violence and war,

**[12:48]** and now it suddenly feels curbed and protected and there's boundaries and there's lines and God is always in the picture. So Tasneem, what advice do you have for someone who wants to start building a relationship with the Qur'an? I'll tell you something that you probably won't expect to hear, because I have so many people who come up to me and say, Tasneem, that's it.

**[13:05]** I'm dropping everything, I'm picking up, I'm going to, you know, overseas, I'm gonna go to this private school, I'm gonna spend the next year memorizing the Qur'an. That was me. That was you? I had that intention, I'm like, I'm taking a sabbatical off work and I'm going to memorize the Qur'an. And I think it works for some people.

**[13:21]** Not all the time. I don't want to discount for those who just like need that head start and that focus and then they'll do it. But it's that mentality that gets me, because you are now stopping your life to make room for Qur'an. That's not how it should be.

**[13:36]** And what happens when you resume your life? Yeah, exactly, what happens when you resume your life? When you resume your life, then it's like, wait, Qur'an is not part of my worldly life. Like, Qur'an is not part of my life when I have a career and family. That was just that thing that I did, like I had time for that then.

**[13:53]** Qur'an needs to, like the mentality that we need to have, Qur'an is part and parcel of your daily life. You don't stop it to memorize it, you don't stop it to have the relationship with it. And that's not supposed to discourage you, that's supposed to be inspiring. That you know what, you right now who's listening, I don't care what you're doing, I don't care what you're going through in your life,

**[14:08]** you have that opportunity. You don't need to stop anything. This is an invitation day in and day out. And I think a lot of times the excitement of wanting to stop and memorize, which again is very noble and for some people, very befitting. But I think. Overall, we need to have this attitude shift that no, no.

**[14:24]** Even if you're trying to memorize the Qur'an, you make this a daily habit and that's what changes your life. And how do you curb your enthusiasm to just go all in? Yeah, do you go all in? No, I think this is what's important as well. Because that's a good point. Then it's like, all right, fine, I'm all in. And I'm all in today, right? That's not going to, often is not going to fare well, right?

**[14:42]** I think what's important is that we start small and really just take it easy, start small. I think about it, subhanAllah. When I first started, when I took it seriously, where I thought to myself, like I really want to build a relationship with the Qur'an. I remember starting off with reading just two pages a day.

**[14:59]** Why two pages? Because I knew two pages a day was something I could 100% do. I could do it on my busiest days. I can do it on like, I don't know, non-motivational days. And I was just like, okay, that's fine, let's start it. I got into the rhythm, two pages down, great.

**[15:15]** In the mornings? Whatever, I didn't even have a set a time. It would have been fantastic if I set a time, right? At that point, I was just like, I can do it any time of the day, right? And it's like, I got really comfortable. I switched to five pages a day, just reading five pages a day. A few months later, I switched to like half of juz, 10 pages every single day. I was like, you know what? I'm getting really comfortable with this rhythm.

**[15:31]** I'm getting comfortable with the idea of dedicating time every single day. Dedicate to memorizing, just to reading. I said to myself, like, I should probably push myself. Let me try memorizing, right? And then I would do a line, two lines, a half a page over time. This is way over time. This is not overnight, right? This is months are going by.

**[15:48]** And then eventually, I was memorizing a page a day. And then I broke my leg. That's a different story. You're memorizing five pages a day. And then, like, over that much time. And then, like, before you knew it, it took years. Wasn't a one year like affair. It took years. And then I memorized the Qur'an, right? And I think that's so important

**[16:03]** because people always hear the stories of like, wow, that's, you know, I went overseas. I stopped my life. And that, it's like, oh, I can't stop my life. That's unrelatable. Everyone has the potential. I don't care where you are in your life. It can take five minutes a day. It can take a minute a day.

**[16:18]** So there's no perfect situation. Life is never perfect, right? And I think, again, it's just the attitude shift that everyone should be inspired to start small and think of a long, like, what's the end game here? Because say you start small. Say you start with, like, I'm gonna read two ayat

**[16:33]** every single day. If you have the intention of one day memorizing the Qur'an and you put in that time and effort, right? And you say, when you meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, whether it's tomorrow or 60 years ago, 60 years later, when you reach your goal, the intention's all that matters.

**[16:48]** Like, what does that say about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Like, about His mercy, His generosity? It's all incredible, and it really just starts with that small amount every single day. And so when I make that effort to engage with the Qur'an, does it only improve my relationship or my perception of Allah? Okay, this is what's incredible.

**[17:05]** You start to learn more about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and suddenly, you start to become a better person because of it. What? I know, it's interesting, right? Because I'll give you a story. This was years ago. I had a really close friend. Very, very close, and they were struggling.

**[17:21]** And so obviously, it was difficult to watch them struggle. And I think every single day, for months on end, over a year, I would remind them, hey, listen, I know you're going through something difficult but you gotta change. The ball's in your court, you need to make a difference

**[17:38]** or there's gonna be consequences at the end. Obviously, I didn't say it like that. This is not gonna end well. You need to change day after day after day, right? And in this particular situation, if the person didn't change because we had such a close relationship,

**[17:53]** it was gonna affect me too. So I mean, I had something in it for me, right? A year goes by and exactly what I feared would happen, happened. And I remember that moment of getting that news. I remember thinking to myself,

**[18:08]** I wanted to pull out every hair in my head. And I just went to my room, put my head in a pillow and screamed for like five minutes. I'm like, this is exactly what I told you. I told you so. Everything, exactly what I predicted happened, happened. And I was so angry, like the blood was boiling.

**[18:25]** And a few minutes in, I kind of stopped. I was like, huh, wait a minute. This sounds familiar. This is what I do to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala like all the time. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is always there telling me, like, listen, I love you. I want the best for you. This is what you need to do.

**[18:40]** Please, I love you. This is the best. Do what you need to do, right? Reminder after reminder after reminder. And then suddenly, here I am, after a thousand reminders from God, yeah, Allah, please forgive me. I really screwed up this time. And Allah forgives me.

**[18:55]** Like Allah promises us, just ask for forgiveness and I'll give it to you. And He forgives us. I never thought about it that way. Right, and how many times, right? If at minimum, all of us in Ramadan are like, yeah, we kind of probably didn't do a good job this year. Please forgive us, God, right?

**[19:10]** And I thought to myself, like, if God does this to me on such a regular basis, who am I to not be able to forgive this person? Who am I not to be able to express, like, forbearance, hilm, like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is al-Halim, He's forbearant. Like, He has all the patience in the world

**[19:26]** to be able to deal with us. Who am I not to be grateful for the person of how little they tried, when Allah's grateful for our effort? Who am I not to forgive this person? When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is al-Ghafur, the One Who forgives, right? And I thought to myself, like, at that moment, my emotions, like, totally faded.

**[19:42]** I thought to myself, alhamdulillah, like, alhamdulillah for being able to realize that. And, like, I looked at this person, I thought to myself, I'm not angry. Like, even though I had every right to be angry, I'm like, how can I be angry when God is not angry with us, right? And so, like, it totally shifted my entire perspective on this issue.

**[19:59]** And this is exactly what happens. Like, you go out and you start to see the world in a different place. You see others, you interact with others. Like, I want to be ash-Shakur, like, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is ash-Shakur. He is grateful for things we do. I want to be grateful for others. Like, I want to express my gratitude to others. Like, He's just, He wants justice in this world.

**[20:15]** I want to go out and I want to ensure that there's justice in our society, right? Like, it starts to affect the way you interact, like, who you are and who you want to be. And it's so aspiring, it's so motivational. Like, there's so much more we can work towards. And it's not like, it feels natural.

**[20:31]** Like, I want to be better. I want to, you know, express these attributes and names. Just Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asked me to do. I don't know about you, but some of us don't understand the Qur'an. And then I need to be convinced. Why should I even engage with it? Why should I even care about the Qur'an

**[20:46]** if I don't understand it? Listen, I can do a lot of things. I can sit and explain to you all the spiritual rewards, everything Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala promises. And that's important and it has its place. And I think we need to emphasize that day in and day out. But I want to try something different here. What if I talked about,

**[21:04]** like, purely the worldly benefits? Because I think for me, that was the shocking part about memorizing or having a relationship with the Qur'an. Years back, I'm reading this book. It's called Deep Work, right? And the whole gist of the book is, our generation, we just can't focus.

**[21:21]** We can't really, like, hone into our work. And because of that, we're not really good at our work. We're not as efficient. We're not as productive. You know, the whole gist. And basically, one of the author's main claim to increasing our ability to deeply engage in our work,

**[21:38]** in our day-to-day lives, is we need to focus. We need to build our brains better for memorization. How do you go about that in your day-to-day? Well, his suggestion was, you take a deck of cards. And, like, you look through the deck of cards and you memorize the order of each one.

**[21:54]** So, and in order to, I mean, the deck of cards, if you're, obviously, it's very complicated, right? So his suggestion was, well, pretend like you're in a dark room. And then on the right, you see, like, the J of spades. And then you turn the room and then you see, like, an ace. And then, you know, like,

**[22:10]** it was like this whole complicated process. To memorize. To memorize, right? And I was like, this is fascinating to me. Like, since I was a child, I was encouraged to memorize Qur'an, right? Like, my brain was already set up as a child,

**[22:25]** not for any spiritual reward, but, like, I was already in a position that made me more productive and able to focus because, simply because of my capacity to memorize. And, like, I think about them, like, years later, I'm studying a new language, right? And, like, I never understood sort of the shock

**[22:42]** on the students, even, like, my professor's face. They pass out vocabulary sheets. And, like, I'd read the vocabulary sheet, like, one, two, I mean, three or four times. Like, it's not like I read it once, right? And at that point, I'd memorized, like, half the list. You were that person? I was that person in class. And I never, like, I didn't think

**[22:59]** I had, like, some special, like, ability to memorize. Like, I wasn't a language person. And I was like, this is so interesting. My professor was like, so, like, what are you doing? Like, can you encourage your classmates? And my classmates, like, have, like, a huge deck of, like, cards they're pulling out and it's, like, you know, complicated way to memorize.

**[23:15]** And I, it took me months before I realized, like, it was all those years of training my brain to focus and memorize Qur'an that suddenly, like, I could memorize. Like, even, like, again, we're not talking about religious. We're talking about myself in the classroom, right?

**[23:31]** Add to that the level of discipline it creates in your life, right? Because if you wanna, you wanna be serious and you wanna memorize the Qur'an, maybe you'll get up every morning at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., whatever before school you wanna do early morning, as the Prophet (ﷺ) recommends. And you start your day.

**[23:47]** Well, in order to start your day at 6 a.m., you gotta sleep early. And in order to sleep early, you gotta finish everything you need early, right? Like, it ends up, like, triggering this entire cycle in your life. And now, it's like, you're better suited to memorize. You have a better routine. You've got, you've built this habit.

**[24:02]** And now, you've been set up for success in whatever worldly career you choose. And I think that, to me, is incredible. And it's amazing because you see it at a university level that people who've memorized the Qur'an are just much easier at, like, studying engineering or whatever degree they're doing. That, like, that's a two for the price of one.

**[24:19]** Two for the price of one, absolutely. But what advice, then, would you have to keep us motivated? That, I've decided I'm going to engage with the Qur'an. I've decided that I'm going to take these steps. But now, I need to stay motivated. What do I do? You know, it's fascinating.

**[24:35]** In the Qur'an, you've got over 1,300 verses, well over 1,000 verses that just talk about, not laws, the universe and creation. Literally about the water, the trees, everything around you. Get up and look.

**[24:50]** And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says so many verses. Like, if they could just only think and look and reflect. Like, all these different invitations to just stop what you're doing and look up, right? And I find that so beautiful because it's, what it is, is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is inviting us to imagine,

**[25:06]** to really think about the world around us. Like, think creatively. The idea that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes Jannah and Jahannam in such vivid detail. He shares so many stories of the past in such vivid detail. It's like this invitation, like, really think outside the box. And there's one hadith in particular

**[25:23]** that's related to this, where the Prophet (ﷺ) says that, yuqalu li sahib al-Qur'an, it will be told to the person who had a relationship with the Qur'an. On the Day of Judgment, read and recite, just as you used to recite in this world. And for every verse you used to recite in this world,

**[25:40]** you get to climb a rank in Paradise. You get to go up a whole rank in Paradise. And so I want you to imagine, the next time you're reading one, one verse is all it takes. Is like, I could be here, or I could be all the way up there. Like, that's where a verse will take you all.

**[25:57]** Like, and really physically lift your head, like, really, like, am I gonna stop at this verse? Like, I can't tell you how, like, inspiring that is. It's like, I'm exhausted, I just wanna go to sleep. And I'm like, eh, what's one more? What's one more? I mean, it's worth it, right?

**[26:12]** Like, and so I think sometimes when you talk about the Qur'an, like, it's just, think great. Like, think great of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And think great of His reward. We talked about this worldly benefit, but of course the spiritual benefits are endless. And that's what we shouldn't be in it for, right?

**[26:27]** I think about the fact, on a still selfish level, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, ala bi dhikri Allahi tatma'innu al-qulub. It's when you remember Me, when you, and what better way to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala than His own book? That brings your heart, like, tranquility.

**[26:42]** There is in it for you, both spiritually, and again, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is so merciful, He also gives us the worldly benefit. Like, self-regulation. Self-regulation, right? Like, I'll start my morning anxious, or stressed, or whatever, read my Qur'an, and it totally regulates me, right? It's like, okay, I can start my day now, right?

**[26:58]** And it's, again, like, I think that's the beauty of it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have made Qur'an entirely spiritual in the sense where it has no worldly benefits. But even the spiritual benefits, the core idea relating to the Qur'an is inherently good for you in this world and in the next.

**[27:16]** So, on an individual level, there's that it's ma'nan, that tranquility. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Prophet (ﷺ) says in another hadith that, bi hadha al-kitab, through this book, inna Allaha yarfa'u aqwaman, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will uplift communities just through this book, right? wa yada' bihi akharin,

**[27:31]** and others, He'll take down because of their lack of relationship or their disobedience to the book. Think to yourself, like, okay, on an individual level, I have that sort of, that benefits, that connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to become a better person, to have that tranquility. But at a community level, it's just as important.

**[27:47]** Your contribution, you are moving the needle as a community member for your entire community when you choose to have a relationship with the Qur'an. Think of that as like your mentality, that through this, your community is being uplifted. And that should be motivation, right?

**[28:04]** We have so, there's so much in it for us to build a relationship with the Qur'an, most importantly of which, of course, is that these are the words of God. Take advantage of it. Use it to come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to know who He is, and to become a better person because of it. I love how practical this was,

**[28:19]** because yes, there's all the spiritual benefits, but I love the worldly benefits, and I love the discipline that comes with it, and I'm definitely going to be more mindful of that. So tell us, how do you shift from reading the Qur'an purely out of obligation to actually connecting with it?

**[28:36]** Let us know in the comments. Thanks for watching!

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