# How To Really Revere the Qur’an | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 9

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Servants of the Most Merciful
**Published:** 2026-02-02
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/z29aqNIbfvI
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/how-to-really-revere-the-quran-servants-of-the-most-merciful-episode-9
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Summary
In this ninth session of the 'Ibadur Rahman (Servants of the Most Merciful) series, the speaker reflects on the penultimate characteristic of the servants of Ar-Rahman as described in Surah Al-Furqan: that when the verses of their Lord are recited to them, they do not fall upon those verses deaf and blind. The lecture draws a contrast between the mushrikeen of early Mecca — who would deliberately drown out the Qur'an to avoid being moved by it — and the true believer who receives the Qur'an with full presence, humility, and openness. The speaker explains that the same senses (hearing, sight, and comprehension) can either draw a person closer to Allah or distance them, depending on how they are used. He identifies four barriers to receptivity: listening only to refute, listening to weaponize verses against Muslims (as the Khawarij did), listening only for confirmation bias, and listening only until it becomes uncomfortable. The Qur'an is described as the ultimate diagnostic tool of the heart — the more a person can sit with it attentively, the healthier their spiritual state. The speaker warns against consuming the Qur'an like background content or social media, and emphasizes that sins corrupt individual organs, blocking the blessings of hearing, sight, and speech. He shares personal anecdotes, including a moving account of a dying woman of Qur'an who could see angels enter the room only during live recitation, and the story of 'Umar ibn Al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه) whose entire character was transformed the moment he opened his heart to Surah Taha. The lecture concludes with the hopeful message that heeding the ayat of Ar-Rahman is the master key to attaining all the qualities of Ibadur Rahman, and that the Qur'an has the power to resuscitate even a dead heart.

## Key Points
- The Ibadur Rahman verses alternate between positive qualities to embody and negative qualities to avoid, teaching character-building through both good examples and cautionary ones.
- The mushrikeen of early Mecca would deliberately raise their voices to drown out Qur'anic recitation, forming a spiritual barrier between themselves and the revelation — believers are warned not to replicate this attitude.
- Hearing, sight, and comprehension are described as 'wasa'il al-ma'arif' (means of knowing Allah), and these blessings can either draw a person closer to Allah or distance them depending on how they are used.
- There are four types of spiritually deaf and blind listeners: those who listen to refute, those who use verses against Muslims, those who seek only confirmation bias, and those who listen only until it becomes uncomfortable.
- The Qur'an is the clearest diagnostic tool of the heart — a person's ability to sit with it attentively and be moved by it reflects the current state of their faith.
- Sins corrupt individual organs: training the ears on gossip, the eyes on others' faults, or the tongue on foul speech blocks those same organs from receiving the blessings of the Qur'an.
- Believers should never receive the Qur'anic reminder with resistance, saying 'I already know this' or 'this doesn't apply to me,' but should always seek a corrective benefit.
- The Qur'an should not be reduced to background noise or consumed like social media content; there must be moments of full, undistracted presence with the words of Allah.
- Live, heartfelt human recitation of the Qur'an carries a special spiritual power, illustrated by the account of a dying woman who could see angels enter the room only during live recitation.
- The Qur'an is the master key to all qualities of Ibadur Rahman — as demonstrated by 'Umar ibn Al-Khattab's instant transformation upon hearing Surah Taha — and can resuscitate even a dead heart.

## Chapters
- 0:00 Recap of the qualities of Ibad ar-Rahman
- 5:15 How you become desensitized to the Qur’an
- 10:16 The spiritually blind and deaf
- 17:05 Levels of listening to the Qur’an
- 24:30 Hearts that are moved by Allah’s signs
- 28:58 Training your senses and humility
- 35:16 Don’t consume the Qur’an passively
- 42:47 Preserving your dignity and setting your direction
- 46:42 Surah Taha and Umar (ra)’s conversion to Islam

## Transcript
**[0:00]** I want to welcome you all back now to Alhamdulillah the ninth halaqa of Ibadur Rahman. We ask Allah

**[0:17]** Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. That means that we have only one more left insha'Allah Ta'ala next week. The good news is that it also means that Ramadan is around the corner. So many of you have asked, do we have a Ramadan series this year? Yes we do.

**[0:32]** It is extremely special. Special in so many ways and insha'Allah Ta'ala we look forward to engaging you all with the Ramadan series bi'idhnillahi Ta'ala. But as we come to the last two halaqas, the last two characteristics of Ibadur Rahman, you'll notice that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala

**[0:52]** in these 10 verses gives us two things that are very unique. For one, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala defines Ibadur Rahman in half of the ayat. If you literally divide them by half. Half of the ayat by what they are and half of them by what they're not. Which actually shows you that a very

**[1:11]** powerful function of how to build character is to tell someone be like this person, don't be like that person. And that's why the believer doesn't just learn from the gems and the virtues of others. They also learn from other people's vices. They pay attention to those that

**[1:26]** have fallen so that they don't embody the characteristics that cause them to fall. And the Quran of course gives us the examples of people that fell and nations that fell. So that we don't embody those characteristics. So you're going to find this constant switch between what

**[1:45]** you are and what you shouldn't be. What you are and what you shouldn't be. The second thing is the visual of the body. It's incredible subhanAllah that you see in every single one of these verses the entire believer's body and essence is being spoken about. How they're responding to things.

**[2:03]** Heart, tongue, mind, body. And so I want you to think as we're now at the ninth halaqa. I want you to go through. This is like a diagnosis, a self-diagnosis as we get into Ramadan. And check the box in your head if it applies and if not then put an x insha'Allah Ta'ala in your mental space.

**[2:22]** And then say this is a Ramadan goal to work on. So we started off with They tread the earth lightly. So as we said the very first description of Ibadur Rahman is how they walk. And we mentioned that this is not just the physical steps that they take

**[2:42]** but the physical presence that they have. Is it an arrogant physical presence? The tone of your voice, the way that you walk, your posture, the way that you are with the believers, your body language. Right? We went through all the advices of Luqman al-Hakim alayhis salaam to his son. So much

**[2:58]** about body language. So is my body language humble? Do you respond with grace? When someone agitates you, what's your trigger? What's your response?

**[3:13]** Is it a response of grace or is it a response in the gutter? In the exact same way. Do you bark back at a dog or do you keep yourself dignified when someone approaches you aggressively? So the first thing is do you tread the earth humbly? Secondly when someone tests that humility, do you

**[3:32]** stay humble? Or does the fasad quickly reveal itself that the whole walking with humility is just an act? Because the minute that someone actually tested that humility, your haqiqah, your real self came out. And then we mentioned

**[3:50]** They like staying home. Especially in a time of fitna, they enjoy seclusion. Do you enjoy seclusion? Do you find that your house is sufficient of a space to sit and to calibrate? Do you spend your nights in prostration and in standing? So look at all the body

**[4:11]** language so far. The exterior that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has covered. And then Allah took us to They refuse to even bear witness to evil. To bear witness to backbiting. To bear witness to gossip.

**[4:27]** So when you're in a gathering, when you're with people, or when you're on your phone and you're scrolling and you see something that is evil in its nature, do you sit with it or do you immediately forsake it? And then if they accidentally come across

**[4:46]** something that is filthy, they leave with dignity. They proceed with dignity. Because as the world becomes more tainted with corruption, then the inevitability of you taking part in that corruption grows. And so when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions your share of riba,

**[5:01]** the dust of riba, your share of zina, it grows. Because the world becomes drenched in these vices. Therefore, you have to pass through and quickly get away from it without it tainting your essence. Without it corrupting the fitrah. And so here Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala takes us back to

**[5:20]** what they don't do. One of the verses of what they don't do. Which is very interesting because Allah Azawajal could have mentioned to us the beautiful ways in which we interact with the Quran. But instead Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala gives us the blueprint of what not to do when

**[5:43]** Allah is mentioned and when the verses of the Quran are mentioned. And so we come to this verse Those who when they are reminded with the verses of their Lord, the language is so powerful.

**[6:02]** They don't fall upon those verses deaf and blind. So think of it this way. You get caught by surprise by things that are undignified, by falsehood. How do you react? Okay what happens when you're

**[6:19]** not scrolling your feed? Because this is the most relevant example because we scroll our feeds. What happens when we're not scrolling our feed and getting filth but you actually got the Quran? You know SubhanAllah I mentioned this I believe early on that one of the modern tools of

**[6:36]** desensitization is that think about what happened over the last two years. You scrolled dying baby in Gaza and then funny video. Dying baby in Gaza funny video. Dying baby in Gaza ghiba.

**[6:52]** You know some sort of garbage. And there were times perhaps may Allah forgive us all that you weren't in the mood for dying baby. So you said let me just indulge the funny. And so when the dying baby showed up you said you know I can't handle this right now let me quickly scroll away. This is

**[7:10]** such a tool of removing our humanity like removing our bare fitrah here. Like who does that right? If you think about this in real life. But at the end of the day this is what is happening to our senses right? The war on the mind, the war on the sight, the war on our hearing, the war on our hearts, the

**[7:29]** war on our souls. That first they become desensitized and then they become completely debased. And so we have to protect our souls, protect our senses. And so Allah Azawajal uses these powerful words. Now in some ways remember these ayat are they Mecca or Madani? We're in the ninth

**[7:48]** halaqa now if you can't answer this question if you've been here for nine weeks we have a problem. Mecca or Madani? Mecca. Early Mecca right? So you have agitating believers you don't have a masjid you don't have someone reading the Quran like an imam out loud where people can come and listen to it

**[8:04]** publicly. You have some attempts right? Like you have the story of Abu Bakr in his courtyard and people coming to listen around his courtyard. But it's not like a licensed sanctioned gathering. The Quran is recited in people's homes, it's recited in secret gatherings. You might accidentally fall

**[8:20]** upon a group of people behind a mountain or in Dar Al-Arqam or somewhere reading the Quran to each other trying to capture the deep meaning of these verses. And the mushrikeen are listening to these verses but with the intent of refuting them. With the intent of discrediting the Prophet

**[8:41]** Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now some of them their hearts are starting to get into this. They're enjoying the qira'ah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. They're enjoying the Quran but they can't admit it because of the thickness of the layer of their ego. They're putting barriers between them and the revelation. They've never heard anything like this. Like can you imagine, can you imagine

**[9:01]** putting your ear to the door of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and Khadijah Radhiya Allahu Anha and hearing him Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam recite his qira'ah and not being completely moved? So they did that and they purposely had to form a layer and dilute their senses so that they could

**[9:21]** justify their transgression. So Allah Azawajal is speaking about those people and how sick and twisted and strange they were. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is saying to the believers don't be like them. And Allah Azawajal mentions that they would say

**[9:36]** la tasma'u li hadha al-qur'ani wal-ghaw fihi The same root word is used of lahw. Don't listen to this Quran when it's being recited and raise your voices when it's being recited. So agitate. If you hear someone start to read the Quran amongst the believers, if the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam or Abu Bakr or Ali or may Allah be pleased with them all,

**[9:55]** the companions start to read the Quran, hurry up and drown it out. Turn the volume of the noise up so that it doesn't affect you and it doesn't affect others. So Allah Azawajal says those who when the verses of the Quran are recited they don't fall upon those verses deaf and blind.

**[10:16]** Now let's continue insha'Allah Ta'ala in all of the benefits that we can take from this while connecting it to the previous verses. In the last halaqa we talked about the importance of having selective hearing, selective sight. That when you see gossip and garbage, become deaf to it.

**[10:36]** Become blind to it. I don't want to see it. I don't want to hear it. I want to tune it out. And so the same people that refuse to sit with garbage now lean into sitting with the Quran. So it's one thing to guard your eyes and to guard your ears and to guard your tongues in public

**[10:55]** spaces. But now what do you open your eyes and your ears and your heart to? You have to fill it with something. And so what you want to do is you want to develop such a relationship with the Quran

**[11:12]** that when the other stuff comes up you have already satisfied, filled the void with the Quran so that the other stuff appears less appealing. SubhanAllah especially as we come into Ramadan. Think about it. Say this especially to the brothers and sisters that are like all right

**[11:29]** in Ramadan I'm gonna stop listening to this stuff and I'm gonna listen to the Quran and the Ramadan series. Right? But in the Quran I'm gonna turn that I mean in Ramadan I'm gonna turn this off and I'm gonna turn this on. How weird does it feel on the day of Eid when you put that track back on?

**[11:47]** Like what does your soul feel? What does your heart feel? Do you go alhamdulillah I miss this song so much? No. It's like you're forming a barrier once again. It's like you cleaned it up, cleaned the, got the filth off and then let me throw it right back on there. Right? I won't watch

**[12:06]** this in Ramadan. I won't listen to this in Ramadan. The goal is that in Ramadan you fill your heart and your soul with the Quran with these things to where once Eid comes around those things no longer have appeal to you anymore. So empty the vessel and then fill it. And so the previous ayat were about

**[12:27]** emptying the vessel, turning away from gossip, averting the eyes from slander, distancing yourself from moral filth and now leaning into revelation. The ulama also say that the virtue or the reason why Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala uses summan wa umyana, deaf and blind is because these are

**[12:45]** known as wasa'il al-ma'arif, the means by which you get to know Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, your faculties. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala gave you your hearing, your seeing and your perception.

**[13:05]** How little are you grateful. Now, as-sam' wal-basar. If a person is missing one but has the other they still have enough to perceive if they have al-af'idah, if they have the ability to

**[13:20]** comprehend, comprehension right. If they have as-sam' wal-basar, if they have hearing and seeing but they don't have al-af'idah, they don't have the ability to comprehend then they are already people of 'udhr, they're people who are excused right. So there's as-sam' wal-basar, there's hearing and

**[13:37]** seeing in the physical sense and then there's hearing and seeing in the spiritual sense and Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala distinguishes between the two. But the ulama mention here that the coherence of Ibadur Rahman or the verses about Ibadur Rahman is that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala

**[13:55]** is talking about how different people use the same blessings either for evil or for good. So for example when Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala talked about money, Ibadur Rahman lam yusrifu,

**[14:10]** they don't they're not extravagant nor do they put themselves into destruction right. The way that they spend, some people have money they spend it in evil, other people have money they spend it in good. And on the day of judgment the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam mentioned that of the questions

**[14:27]** yus'alu 'an jismihi fee maa ablaa, that a person will be asked about their body and how they consumed their body. wa yus'alu 'an maalihi min ayna iktasabahu wa fee maa anfaqahu. And he'll be asked about his money how he earned it and how he spent it. So of the value of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala using

**[14:45]** hearing and seeing here is that these are blessings that can either be used to come close to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala or they can be used to distance yourself from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And in that process you can become spiritually blind and you can become spiritually deaf. So you

**[15:04]** can hear the Quran but you could still be deaf and you could see the signs of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala but you could still be blind because it all comes back to the state of the heart. And as the ulama mention this is about receptivity. Do you want to receive rightful guidance? If you ask any Muslim

**[15:27]** do you want to be guided? They'll say yes of course I want to be guided. But then by the way this Quran says this and you're doing the opposite of it. Wait I don't want to be that guided. No one says that right but they effectively say that. Like that's a little

**[15:42]** too much. Don't give me too much hidayah. Give me just enough of the Quran to where it sounds good I still can you know use it like some spiritual medicine and some you know ruqyah and I can hear it in the background but I don't want you to actually change my ways here. I like the Quran

**[16:02]** the way that people like the Bible in church right on Sundays. The prosperity pastor that only reads the verses that sound like any secular motivational speaking infomercial right but he throws in the name of Jesus on there and I don't feel challenged I don't feel like I'm

**[16:20]** actually having to do anything different with my life so I like that I like approaching the Quran that way right I love Surat Ad-Duha but let's not touch Surat At-Tawbah I love you know Surat Maryam Surat An-Nisa never mind I don't like the verses that actually

**[16:44]** challenge me right and this is one of the ways that a person rejects receptivity and when a person approaches the Quran with an intentional partial deafness or partial blindness Allah

**[17:00]** Subhanahu wa Ta'ala punishes them with full deafness and full blindness and so of the ways that the scholars mentioned this they said that there are those that listen that read the only to refute the verses there are and these are the kuffar right they would listen

**[17:15]** to it so that they could refute the verses so that they could try to discredit the message of Islam number two those that would listen to the verses of the Quran so that they could use them against Muslims so that they could use them against the believers and this was the state of the Khawarij right they could read the Quran but they were listening for the verses that they could apply harshly towards the believers and this comes second only to trying to be harsh with the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and ruin the da'wah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam is to ruin the harmony of the Muslim community and to destroy your brother or sister right so that's also a disease in the heart there are those that listen only to confirm themselves that's ego

**[17:58]** right the verses that make me right mashallah like and subhanAllah with ChatGPT only a third right like people have arguments ChatGPT give me a verse of the Quran that proves this point of mine right and if the verse

**[18:14]** doesn't exist ChatGPT will make it up for you wa itha qeela lahum ta'alaw ila ma anzalAllah wa ila ar-rasul qalu hasbuna ma wajadna 'alayhi aba'ana right like it'll give you a verse it'll tell you what you want to hear but the point is like on a serious note can't you all see that happening in the course of

**[18:30]** argument give me a verse that proves this point so you're going to the Quran for confirmation bias and the last one of the barriers that the scholars mentioned of deafness and blindness is to listen only until it becomes

**[18:45]** uncomfortable to listen to the Quran only to the point of comfort now on that note the Quran is the diagnostic tool of the heart if you want to know where

**[19:01]** your heart is with Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala the clearest diagnostic tool of the heart is the Quran because Ibadur Rahman they receive it as a reminder from their Lord not as you know some sort of background noise and not as just

**[19:17]** something that exists out there what is the proof of that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says alladheena idha dhukira Allahu wajilat qulubuhum those who when Allah is mentioned their hearts tremble wa idha tuliyat

**[19:32]** 'alayhim ayatuhu zadat-hum imana wa 'ala rabbihim yatawakkalun and when the verses of the Quran are recited upon them their faith increases and they depend fully on their Lord now something very powerful about this ayah

**[19:49]** is that Allah Azawajal mentions idha dhukira Allahu before wa idha tuliyat 'alayhim ayatuhu those who when Allah is mentioned before when the verses are recited upon that person and I want you to think about this you know we live

**[20:07]** in an age where God is mocked and this is part of the normalization of filth by the way you're watching a cartoon and then they start mocking God they show God we laugh about God we make jokes about God this is kufr right it is disbelief it is mockery of Allah it's mockery of God and when you get used to

**[20:29]** that stuff and you normalize it and you just pass it on and say that's okay I was not desensitized by that you are again increasing your tolerance your moral tolerance for the greatest of immoralities it's not who we are right

**[20:48]** so the believer hates when Allah is mocked you know how takadu as-samawati yatafattarna minhu wa tanshaqqu al-ardu wa takhirru al-jibalu haddan an da'aw lir-Rahmani walada that they attributed to Allah a son right like the believer has a certain

**[21:05]** type of protectiveness of the mention of the Lord and so when Allah is mentioned there's a stillness that overcomes them we're talking about not someone who's important we're talking about the most important who makes anyone that is

**[21:23]** important important we're talking about Allah Azawajal and so when Allah is mentioned there is a reverence that overcomes the heart it's like by the way you know when you think about the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and Imam Malik rahimahullah Ta'ala becoming upset when he was walking with someone and the man starts like talking about hadiths while they're walking

**[21:41]** he's like I didn't know that you were such a lowly person to talk about the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam or mention his hadith in this way in this manner where's the haybah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam in your heart that when the messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam is mentioned in your presence like you don't feel a sense of awe the most beloved human being in the

**[22:00]** world to you Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and the most bakheel person stingy person is the one in whose presence his name is mentioned Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and they don't even find it in them to say salawat and it's weird like people having conversations you know the Prophet said

**[22:16]** or Muhammad said who are you talking about not talking about your neighbor you're talking about the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam what about the one who sent Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam so when Allah is mentioned there's protectiveness and reverence so what does that reverence look like it

**[22:36]** looks like when the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam was with his family and he was fully present and then the adhan went off and it was as if he didn't even know us anymore Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar something got him caught him Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam he immediately went to the salah

**[22:52]** immediately was caught and went to the prayer it's when you are you know sitting with people or when you come across the Quran or let's even put the Quran to the side but Allah is brought up in any gathering and what a

**[23:08]** miserable gathering in which Allah is not brought up at all but Allah is brought up in a gathering and you immediately like humble yourself there's reverence. Al-Imam Ibn Jurayj this is also attributed to Sufyan ath-Thawri rahimahullah Ta'ala but I found it more authentic to Ibn Jurayj he said that I

**[23:25]** knew people they would be silent for the adhan the way that you are silent for the Quran meaning like you're decent enough to where when the Quran is mentioned you go quiet but these people when the adhan went off they went quiet how

**[23:46]** desensitized have we become to the mention of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and so the ulama mentioned that this is tadarruj there's a graduality and there are darajat and there are levels right if you get to the point to where even the mention of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala

**[24:04]** brings you a sense of reverence then how will it be when the words of Allah Azawajal are recited when his actual words are recited you say kalam rabbi my Lord is talking right now everything else can wait right so there is a level

**[24:21]** here of reverence that the believer wants to bear in terms of the mention of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala before even the words of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala come and this is the exact opposite of how Allah Azawajal mentions the disbelievers that when Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says

**[24:37]** wa idha ma unzilat suratun fa-minhum man yaqulu ayyukum zadat-hu hadhihi imana when a surah comes down upon them some of them say so which one of you guys actually was increased in faith they bark which one of you guys got affected

**[24:54]** by all that religion nonsense who actually felt some sort of movement Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says as for those who believe they were increased in faith with the recitation of the Quran

**[25:09]** and they receive the glad tidings of the Quran and as for those who have a disease in their heart then they were increased with filth upon filth it's the diagnostic tool now why do I say it this way as the diagnostic tool of like

**[25:28]** if you want to know where your heart is right now with faith how sick do you get of the recitation of the Quran how much do you pay attention to it how much of a part of your life is it how much time do you spend with it everything comes back to the Quran we are not the kuffar and the hypocrites being described in these verses

**[25:47]** but you know who used these verses as a diagnostic tool for themselves companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam who were the furthest from hypocrisy so Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu once he was sitting in a group from Yemen came

**[26:02]** and they were a delegation and they asked for some recitation like let us hear some of the verses of the Quran I mean this is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and so they recited some verses of the Quran to them and then this delegation broke down into tears

**[26:19]** and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu he looked at that and he moaned and he said this is how we used to be and then the hearts became hard we got used to the Quran it's like when someone converts to Islam

**[26:36]** and they're saying the shahada and they're weeping and they're like I've been saying it all these years and I don't weep this person is weeping over the shahada weeping over the most basic verses of the Quran I remember I was listening to

**[26:52]** Malcolm X talking about his first exposure to Sunni Islam and he said and I heard him say no one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself very standard hadith and he said it completely occupied my mind mind-blowing hadith like I hear

**[27:10]** that hadith all the time say it all the time right so the Quran is the diagnostic tool and Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was saying I remember when we used to be that way that when the Prophet ﷺ first received those revelations we heard it and we immediately

**[27:26]** wept Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu who would weep so much that his weeping while reciting the Quran would move the hearts of the people around and that's why they would surround his courtyard even the women and the children of the disbelievers to hear him recite the Quran

**[27:43]** because of his emotion when reading the Quran but he held himself to a higher standard he said I remember when we used to be that way I remember when the Quran used to move our hearts that way Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhum he said

**[27:59]** if the hearts are pure they never become too full of the words of Allah ﷻ it's your diagnostic tool so you go back and you say how much of the Quran do I receive how much can I sit with it and that is a sign of your spiritual cardio right now that's your spiritual cardio level

**[28:19]** diagnose it before Ramadan and then build it in Ramadan and then keep it going after but then you have to ask yourself well if my cardio is low if the vessels are blocked why are they blocked and that's why we looked at last halaqa people that don't eavesdrop people that don't fixate on

**[28:37]** the sins of others people that don't enjoy tearing other people down instead they listen to the words of Allah ﷻ they receive the admonition carefully they want to be rectified they're listening to the Quran and hanging on to every letter and word and saying how does this challenge me how does this

**[28:56]** grow me and so the ulama mention that there is the general diminishing of the ability to enjoy your good deeds that comes from sins sins remove the sweetness of good deeds there's the general

**[29:14]** sense and then you have to look in every single one of your senses if you train your ears on gossip then you'll find it harder to listen to that which actually challenges your flaws if you listen

**[29:31]** to the whine of the devil right if you listen to horrible filthy lyrics you can't just suddenly use that same ear and be gifted to listen to the word of Allah ﷻ and receive it in the exact same ways if you train your eyes on the faults of others then your internal ability to look at your own

**[29:50]** faults will be diminished right so there is the sins that block memory and then there are the sins that block the individual organs the blessings of those organs and so a person that uses their tongue foully will not be blessed with a tongue that is a tongue of dhikr of Allah ﷻ and a

**[30:10]** person that uses their eyes and their ears in a foul manner will not be blessed to be able to use those things in ways that are blessed in ways that are beneficial there is ear pollution there's eye pollution so you look at the sins of every organ and say why isn't Allah ﷻ kuntu sam'ahu alladhi yasma'u bihi wa basarahu alladhi yubsiru bihi

**[30:28]** I am the hearing with which he hears the sight with which he sees that means that I only hear what is pleasing to Allah I only see what is pleasing to Allah I only physically move towards that which is pleasing to Allah ﷻ why is Allah ﷻ blocking the blessing of these individual

**[30:45]** organs and you will find that there's too much pollution there's too much corruption at play and so what does attentive reception look like Allah ﷻ says

**[31:04]** the same word is used that the descendants of the prophets and those who are favored by Allah ﷻ the believers when the verses of Ar-Rahman are recited upon them they fall in prostration and then they cry the external here is called

**[31:24]** the external submission the prostration the internal is called the receiving of the admonition and the heart's moving and the crying that happens as a result of that before you can lose the other one entirely you have to chip away at the other you lose some

**[31:44]** of the other they go hand in hand external submission internal humility and that's why Allah ﷻ says that there came after them a people they lost the prayer meaning the externals Bani Israel started to pray not on time anymore they'd rush in their equivalent of their Asr

**[32:04]** right in the last few minutes if even caught in the last few minutes or in the beginning of the equivalent of their Maghrib so there was no external submission therefore they followed their desires instead of khushu' instead of their hearts following the words of Allah ﷻ so the believers fall in sujud and they weep the humility of the

**[32:24]** limbs and the humility of the heart there is alignment it's not performance of emotion there is alignment of the external and the internal healing leads to hearing leads to humility seeing leads to submission understanding leads to acting okay so that's one number two

**[32:43]** the ulama mentioned that the believers never receive the reminder with resistance they never receive the reminder with resistance what does that mean you know you might hear a verse and you say well I already know this

**[32:58]** I've heard this before you know so why am I being told this again and when you think about like the Prophet ﷺ khutbas Surah Qaf you could hear it over and over and over and over again but the reminder is not meant to inform it's meant to reform and to call you back to Allah ﷻ

**[33:20]** so the believer never says I already know this when they're reminded of Allah ﷻ I already heard this before why are you telling me something I already know right or doesn't say this doesn't apply to me this applies to someone else the believer hears the reminder from the Lord and

**[33:35]** immerses themselves in that reminder and takes something that is of benefit no matter what even if at face value this verse doesn't necessarily apply to you you never receive the verse with resistance you always receive it with acceptance let me find a way to grow from these

**[33:55]** verses right and this is the opposite of the hypocrites who of course you know they feel like every shout is about them like why are you talking about me anytime a bad quality you know it's really funny I'm gonna shout out my friends my beloved brother

**[34:10]** Aziz ash-Sha'ir from the Houston Texans mashallah who wore on his face paint stop the genocide right or end the genocide I forgot whether stop the genocide or end the genocide one of the two and then he got called for anti-semitism and anti-Israel hatred I was

**[34:26]** like aren't you admitting then that it's a genocide like how did this become he didn't say stop the Israeli genocide he just said stop the genocide and then you guys came after him aren't you admitting right yes but immediately everything they hear why are you talking about

**[34:42]** us they know it's about them because they know that those spiritual diseases they harbor them and so they get insecure let me put it to you this way your friend posts something beneficial and it's about a negative trait

**[34:57]** And you go, why is he talking about me? Why is she talking about me? You're kind of admitting that it's there. You're threatened by it because there's some level of truth to it. So it's important not to receive the verses with resistance in any way whatsoever. Now in the modern application as well,

**[35:19]** I'm gonna say something else. Don't consume the Quran like content. Don't consume the Quran like content. What do I mean by that? Ibadur Rahman, they don't hear the Quran somewhere in the background and just keep going.

**[35:34]** They sit with it. They read and they ponder and they sit with it. And this verse where Allah Azawajal says, wa idha quri'a al-qur'anu fastami'u lahu wa ansitu la'allakum turhamun When the Quran is recited,

**[35:50]** listen and be quiet so that you may receive mercy. Now, Ibadur Rahman obviously want to receive the rahmah of Ar-Rahman. Right? You can't be servants of the most merciful if you exclude yourself from receiving his mercy in the first place. How can you embody what you don't even receive?

**[36:06]** So Allah says if you want to be amongst those who have mercy upon them, then when the Quran is recited, listen and be quiet. Now for the amanah of the knowledge, right? For the trust of knowledge, there's a specific application of this verse and then there's a general benefit. The specific application of this verse

**[36:25]** is that Allah Azawajal prohibited at some point in the salah for people to talk to one another during the salah. Meaning in the initial revelation of the prayer, when people would come into the prayer,

**[36:42]** there was some speaking that was allowed in the salah, right? It's not a full-blown conversation. Like how was your lunch? Alhamdulillah. How was your dinner? Alhamdulillah. What are you doing tonight after Isha? It wasn't that. But salam, alhamdulillah, basic courtesies. Can you please move? Can you close the door? Basic courtesies, basic

**[37:01]** speaking was allowed, right? It's like the person that thinks that just because it's okay for you to talk in tawaf, because tawaf is like salah except that you can still talk in it, that you can do all seven rounds of tawaf with a selfie. Or

**[37:18]** actually facetiming someone who's in bed and not wearing hijab, right? Weirdest stuff that you see in tawaf. Look at the Kaaba. Don't you realize there are like 3,000 people looking at you right now, right? All right, catch this and let me make this picture.

**[37:35]** It's not the point. Salam alaikum, alaikum salam. How many rounds are we on? Basic conversation. It's not meant to be a full-on conversation, right? So at some point in salah, Allah Azawajal prohibited even speaking during salah.

**[37:53]** Can you imagine in the digital age if during the salah people could pull out their phones while they're praying and go, guess where I'm praying right now? You hear that? I mean we would do it and we know we would do it, right? Because sometimes you need a full-out prohibition in order to just raise us

**[38:12]** to our basic level of instinct, right? So the specific application of this verse is that Allah ansitu, be quiet, meant that there is no longer the ability to speak during the salah. That's the specific legal application of the verse. The general application, however,

**[38:31]** don't turn the Quran into background noise. Don't have the Quran playing in your car the whole time while you're just having conversations and speaking over it. Don't let the Quran just be this ambience because it will harden your heart towards it.

**[38:48]** Now, I want to be very clear. Someone says, what about playing the Quran in the house and things of that sort. That's good. Alhamdulillah. I'm talking about when you intentionally reduce it to something in the background. But I'll say one more thing. Wallahi, what I'm about to share with you, I experienced it myself, I think less than a month ago.

**[39:06]** Babar Ahmed. Please forgive me if you watch this and I did not receive your permission to share this goodness about your mother. May Allah have mercy on her, but I pray that it reaches her. Babar Ahmed was one of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay in Gitmo.

**[39:22]** Amazing brother. Some of you from the UK will know him. Amazing brother. Mashallah, tabarakallah. Amazing family. His mother, rahmatullahi alayha, was a woman of the Quran. The same day that we prayed janazah on brother Latif, who's the friend of Anthony Joshua, rahmatullahi alayhi.

**[39:41]** May Allah have mercy on Latif, the friend of AJ, big funeral in London. I went to visit Babar's house. He said, my mother is dying. She's in her last moments. Would you mind just coming and saying salaam? I said, absolutely.

**[39:57]** Subhanallah, qadarAllahu ma sha'a fa'al. I entered into the home like three or four minutes after she passed away, after she breathed her last, on shahada. This woman who used to teach the Quran on the floors of her home. And you know what, subhanallah,

**[40:13]** Babar said, said, shaykh, wallahi, over the last week, when we would recite Quran, and she has huffadh in her family, mashallah, that have raised grandchildren and things, they were reading the Quran to her. When we would recite the Quran,

**[40:28]** she would she would point this elderly woman, and she would say, there are angels that just entered the room. I can see them in the last few days of her life. I see them like lights. They're right there. Can't you see them? No. And you know what he said, subhanallah,

**[40:45]** that she told us, and she could barely speak in her last days, she told us that when we would simply play the Quran on the stereo, because sometimes they'd leave and just play it, that the angels would leave. But it was only when someone was physically reciting the Quran that she would see them, wallahi.

**[41:00]** He said this to me, and I ask Allah to have mercy on this woman of Quran and to bless this family of Quran. Allahumma Ameen. There's something special about the human recitation. Please, play the Quran in your homes. It's better than the other stuff that you're going to play.

**[41:17]** By all means, put it on your TV, have it on YouTube, playing, leave it on in your room. All of that is good. All of that is blessed. But there's something special about the Quran that comes from the heart. And that's recited in presence, with presence.

**[41:35]** You can't replace that. And so there have to be moments where when you sit with the Quran, you sit with nothing else. I'm going to tell you even, subhanallah, confession, my own confession. In Ramadan, I realized when I'm doing

**[41:52]** my reading on my phone that the notifications get in the way. And when I see a notification, just because I saw that someone messaged me, it takes me away from that page. Distracts me. And I realized, like, you know what? This has to go. Even if I have an iPad or something, it's okay, digital, but

**[42:09]** no notifications, no nothing. Because that constant, bing, let me go check the time. Bing, let me go check this. Let me check that notification. You're not being present with the Quran. That type of reading of the Quran is more transformative than anything else that you could do.

**[42:24]** Than anyone else that you could listen to. Than any speech that you could hear. Yes, than the Ramadan series. Than anything else is you yourself listening to the words of your Lord in quiet, if you don't understand Arabic, with the translation, with tafsir, but being present with the Quran.

**[42:42]** Nothing will have a greater impact on your heart than that. And so, again, dear brothers and sisters, in the previous lecture, what you turn away from preserves your dignity.

**[42:58]** What you lean into gives you your direction. What you turn away from preserves your dignity. What you lean into gives you your direction. And we are a summary of our inputs. It's like you are what you eat. You are spiritually what you eat. You're spiritually what you consume as well. So are you listening?

**[43:19]** Are the words of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala coming to you? Are you sitting with them presently? SubhanAllah, I don't want to go too far into stories, but I'll mention just two more stories because they're things that I myself witnessed. There was a brother who was telling me that he was struggling with quitting,

**[43:35]** consuming pornography. And subhanallah, look at how you have to intentionally ignore Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in order to be able to enjoy sin. He said that I had the Adhan thing on my computer, the Adhan app on my computer. But whenever I was about to start watching Haram, I would turn it off

**[43:53]** on purpose. I'd go in and turn it off because how awkward would it be for the Adhan to go off while I'm watching filth? You see, like there's fitrah there. By the way, there's fitrah there. There's something good there. It sounds hypocritical, weird, strange, and it is.

**[44:09]** But that's a sick heart, not a dead heart. That's a sick heart, not a dead heart. That's a heart that's struggling with a disease, not a heart that's dead. Still embarrassed, still humiliated. And he said, you know when I quit

**[44:24]** that one time that I forgot to turn off the Adhan, and in the middle of me consuming my fahisha, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, I thought I was going to have a stroke. And I quickly rushed to turn it off.

**[44:41]** And then I realized what I was doing to myself. Corruption of the soul, the corruption of the heart. Because the Quran cannot exist in the heart with other things that contradict it, that directly undermine it. It can exist in the ears.

**[44:59]** I know someone, you're like, who are all these people that you know? I feel like I have to swear with every single person. I'm not even that old and somehow I've met these very interesting people. I know someone that would drink wine while listening to Abdel Basit.

**[45:14]** I know that person would drink alcohol because he said, I love the way it sounds. He was Arab. He was, you know, he's Arabi. That's his first line. He was like, there's better than any song in the world. He listens to the Quran, he's like Abdel Basit, I love the way that he hits these tunes, and he would drink wine while listening to it.

**[45:32]** Okay, I'm going to give you a good example at the end though. But before I do that, here is the hope of this verse and why it comes at the end. Of the blessings, that the ulama mention, of the fawa'id. Of the blessings of this verse now coming at the end of the sequence of Ibadur Rahman.

**[45:50]** Is that if you go through all of the qualities that were mentioned of good and all of the qualities that were mentioned of evil, the way to cure yourself and to attain all those qualities of good and to rebound

**[46:09]** and remove all of those qualities of evil is to heed the ayat of Ar-Rahman, and in an instant you can become from Ibadur Rahman. It's like here is your safety net at the end. If you've been falling short with every other one of these verses,

**[46:28]** lend yourself to the Quran and the Quran will evoke something inside of you that can then go back and make reality every single one of the verses that came before. What's an example? Umar bin Al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.

**[46:45]** Who was Umar radiAllahu anhu when he marched into the house of his sister Fatima? RadiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And finally purified himself and read Surah Taha.

**[47:00]** In an instant the way Umar radiAllahu anhu walked into that house was not the same way that he walked out. The way his approach to the Prophet ﷺ was before he walked into that house and read the Quran was not the same as it was after. Every single one of these verses became his reality when he opened himself up to Taha

**[47:22]** ma anzalna 'alayka al-qur'ana li-tashqa illa tadhkiratan li-man yakhsha That's when he changed. When he finally opened his heart to the Quran. So the Quran has the power to make someone who is at the lowest of low and manifesting all of these evil qualities

**[47:44]** and ignoring all these good qualities into an Abdur Rahman like that. If they heed it properly because the Quran can resuscitate a dead heart. If that person seeks spiritual CPR,

**[47:59]** the Quran can resuscitate a dead heart. And SubhanAllah end with a good story as I told you. And this is a story about one of my uncles. May Allah have mercy on him. Khalid Dhafir Rahimahullah Ta'ala. I wrote about him when he passed away a few years ago.

**[48:15]** So I told you about my mom Allah yarhamha and her character about how she hated backbiting. She used to say hamdulillah I'm deaf. Can't hear the backbiting. Can't hear what they're saying. I could see the change in their face. Allah spared me from hearing people's gossip and their backbiting. She used to praise Allah for it.

**[48:31]** The person that was most similar to her in her akhlaq was this brother of hers Khalid Dhafir. But he wasn't a practicing Muslim until his late 70s, didn't pray, drink alcohol,

**[48:48]** really didn't have anything to do with religion. But his character I can remember him SubhanAllah growing up as a kid, even when he was smoking his cigar. When someone started to backbite about someone else he would stop.

**[49:04]** Stop. He'd wave it off. He hated ghiba, hated backbiting, hated people talking about other people. More than any religious person that I knew. SubhanAllah I was like what an amazing contradiction in front of me. This person who doesn't read Surat Al-Hujurat doesn't know the verse ayuhibbu ahadukum an ya'kula

**[49:24]** None of that. But his fitrah, his good character, he just hated backbiting so much and that's how my mom was. So he had that characteristic when anyone started talking about someone else's business khalas, bikafi. Talk about something else.

**[49:40]** It's the one time he would show anger. He was a very soft man. SubhanAllah very quiet, very soft. The only time he used to get mad is when he started talking bad about someone. I used to wonder like what is it about this person's character? SubhanAllah. His wife Khadijah passed away before him by a year.

**[49:59]** Suddenly he made that turn in his life. Started coming to Salat al-Jumu'ah every Friday. Allah Azawajal blessed him less than a year after with a death on Laylat al-Jumu'ah. And I gave the khutbah and then prayed janazah on him while they brought his casket in the middle of the masjid.

**[50:19]** Where he used to sit just for the last few months of his life. To receive the admonition from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And all of the signs of beauty, may Allah Azawajal accept them and have mercy on him, were in those moments. I said subhanAllah it may be that that good characteristic

**[50:38]** gifted him in the last year of his life to where he had such a sweet ending. Such a sweet ending. May Allah Azawajal allow it to cover for his beginning. Allahumma ameen and forgive him for everything that came before. And so I say this that we have to

**[50:54]** empty out a vessel in order to fill it properly. And so when the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam says whoever does not leave off qawl az-zur, we talked about la yashhadun az-zur. Doesn't leave off false speech. And acting in accordance with it. Allah Azawajal has no need of them leaving off their food and their drink.

**[51:14]** What's the point of you filling your vessel with taraweeh if you continue to fill it with that garbage and contradict it on the inside. Free it and then fill it. Free it and then fill it. Free it and then fill it.

**[51:30]** And every single time Allah Azawajal speaks in the Quran, even with the verse that seems completely irrelevant to you. Listen attentively and see if you can take a corrective benefit. Not just a benefit. A corrective benefit from it.

**[51:48]** Like I can reflect and say this verse is beautiful because of this, this is not. A corrective benefit for you because that's how the companions would read and listen to the Quran. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala make us from ahl al-Quran, Ibadur Rahman.

**[52:03]** May Allah Azawajal make us the people of the Quran and the servants of Ar-Rahman and the followers of Nabi ur-Rahmah and grant us his presence and his companionship in Al-Firdaws Al-A'la under the throne of Ar-Rahman.

**[52:18]** I will see you next week for the final lecture.

## Other Episodes in "Servants of the Most Merciful"
- [Du’a for Marriage and Children | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 10](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/servants-of-the-most-merciful-episode-10-dua-for-marriage-and-children.md)
- [Silence In The Face of Sin | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 8](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-8-silence-in-the-face-of-sin.md)
- [How To Wipe Out Your Sins | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 7](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/how-to-wipe-out-your-sins-servants-of-the-most-merciful-episode-7.md)
- [Understanding Major Sins in Islam | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 6](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/understanding-major-sins-in-islam-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-6.md)
- [What Your Spending Habits Say About You | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 5](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/what-your-spending-habits-say-about-you-servants-ep-5.md)
- [How Believers Protect Themselves from Pride | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 4](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/how-believers-protect-themselves-from-pride-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-4.md)
- [Those Who Bow When the World Sleeps | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 3](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/those-who-bow-when-the-world-sleeps-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-3.md)
- [Training Your Temper and Responding to Insults | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 2](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/training-your-temper-and-responding-to-insults-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-2.md)
- [Those Who Walk on the Earth Humbly | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 1](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/those-who-walk-on-the-earth-humbly-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-1.md)