Pyari Ustazah,
Assalamu alaikum,
Hearing and seeing has a major impact on the level of our imaan and our understanding of Qur’an.
This morning I woke up with severe pain in my lower back. I felt so sick in my stomach too that I felt I was going to throw up. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t lay down. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me and what I was suppose to do about it. Somehow I managed to sleep, half sitting up and half lying down only to wake up late and almost missing my ride to Al Huda. As were driving I thought, maybe I should have stayed home today. I can always listen to the class online. It’s only for one day and just two hours at that. I am really sick; I have a genuine excuse. As I climbed up the stairs and into the school, I stumbled and dropped my things. I started to cry and complain in my head over the pain, over being late and over my things. Alhamdulillah Allah inspired me to gain some strength and bring myself together, every woman goes through this, I am not alone. I will experience this every month; will I sit at home all the time? What about Deen? Didn’t I say I want to work for Deen? Astaghfirullah How can I miss the bigger picture. With some encouragement I made way into Dawra-e-Qur’an class, and again I was overflowed with negative thoughts, its very cold in here, the chair doesn’t give back support, my back still hurts. Before I would feel any worse, Ustazah began the class with the verse,

“And even if We had sent down to them the angels [with the message] and the dead spoke to them [of it’ and We gathered together every [created] thing in front of them, they would not believe unless Allah should will. But most of them, [of that], are ignorant.” [Qur’an, 6:111]

I felt so ashamed hearing these words as the polytheists placed wildly unreasonable demands and foolish demands in order to believe. They wanted to see the angels, for the dead to speak to them, to have everything. That was them but even today we have really nonsensical expectations in order to learn Qur’an. For starters, we want to have all the time in the world, we want to be in perfect health, we want all our work – dishes, beds, laundry, meetings projects all to be finished well in advance before we go listen to Qur’an. We want to make everyone happy first, we want everyone to understand why we are going, we want our children to be looked after and entertained and the list is endless. Realistically speaking, are all these things ever possible in our lifetime? There will always be dishes to wash, laundry to fold. We will always have some meeting pending, some work piled up. Someone will be upset, the children will be bored but all of this has never stopped us from going to the mall? From going to a party? Then why do we make small, almost laughable things, hurdles in our way to listen to and learn the Qur’an?
She continued with the verse,

“And thus We have made for every prophet an enemy – devils from mankind and jinn, inspiring to one another decorative speech in delusion. But if your Lord had willed, they would not have done it, so leave them and that which they invent.” [6:112]

SubhanAllah, can you imagine? All the dissenting, pessimistic thoughts that hold us back from coming to a Qur’an class are actually from our enemy shaytan. Shaytan persistently reminds us of all the 101 things that we need to complete over and over again until we give up the idea of listening to the Qur’an. Shaytan uses decorated speech, You are sick, your back is hurting. It is too cold today, you will freeze. How can you sit in that heat, you would suffocate. All these people are depending on you for the meeting, what about your kids? Who will make iftaar? Shaytan comes to us through our weakness, he hits us where it hurts and we give in quickly.
Then another verse struck a cord in my heart,

“And this is the path of your Lord, [leading] straight. We have detailed the verses for a people who remember.”[6:126]

What is the path of Allah? Kitchen? Bedroom? A conference room? A park? Where exactly can find detailed verses about Allah that remind us of Him and lead us to Him? Only Qur’an. There just isn’t any other place, thing or person. So can we not take out some time from our day, everyday, at least in Ramadan to remember Allah? To read His detailed verses and relearn the straight path that leads to Him?
In verse 153 I heard the path of Alalh is the path of righteousness. By adhering to His way alone, can I become Mutaqai – truly Allah conscious. In verse 155 I heard that the Qru’an is a blessed Book, if it is followed with Allah consciousness then I will receive mercy. SubhanAllah I am astounded, this is exactly what I want, to be aware of Allah presence always and to receive His mercy in everything that I do. How can then ever miss a single Qur’an class? Had I not attended Dawra-e-Qur’an today hearing and seeing the teacher and text, I would have completely missed out on these points.

We say that our

“living and dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds” [6:162]

but are we really commitment to the classes where Qur’an is read and explained? Qur’an must be our priority. What good is our cooking and cleaning, sorting and organizing if we are not remembering Allah, especially in Ramadan with Qur’an.

JazakAllahu khairan Ustazah for this lifetime holy opportunity.
Wasssalam,
Asfiyah Irfan