Reflection 12 - Denial

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاء رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?- 55:49

Today the imam recited this surah in the taraweeh. It mentioned all the bounties of Allah this world and hereafter. Had the imam mentioned this verse one more time, I would been in tears! What an ungrateful slave am I? How many times have I heard/recited this surah, and I'm still not thankful.

Mufti Shafi in Maariful Quran says the verse is repeated (31 times) deliberately in order to awaken people and urge them to give thanks to Allah. The repetition serves the deliberate purpose of 'emphasis'.

Why has my heart hardened? Why don't I wake up?

No repetition in the Quran is redundant. The Speech of Allah is too Pure. The repetition in Surah Kafiroon² serves a unique purpose. The repetition in Surah Rahman, according to Mufti Shafi, is each related to a new subject, and having its own significance.

Allama Suyuti terms this repetition as At-tardid.

References:

1. English-MaarifulQuran-MuftiShafiUsmaniRA-Vol-8-Page-227-282
2. Surah Kafirun on SunniPath Blog

Reflection 11 - Dua

Came across this dua in my recitation today:

رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا

O my Lord! Grant unto us spouses and offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and give us (the grace) to lead the righteous [الفرقان :74]

:)

Tajweed - Quranic Miracle - 2

It's that time of the week again! Tajweed Time. Very similar to my previous miracle post, just a different surah.

وَالْعَادِيَاتِ ضَبْحًا (100:1
فَالْمُورِيَاتِ قَدْحًا (100:2
فَالْمُغِيرَاتِ صُبْحًا (100:3

The above three verses end in letter ح. From my first tajweed post we recall, ح is from the ‘Al-Huruf al-Halqiyah’.

فَأَثَرْنَ بِهِ نَقْعًا (100:4
فَوَسَطْنَ بِهِ جَمْعًا (100:5

The above two verses end in letter ع . ع too is from the ‘Al-Huruf al-Halqiyah’ group.

Since the two letters - ع and ح are pronounced from the same position – from the throat, you’ll realize the five verses rhyme. Had we not know this tajweed rule, we wouldn’t have noticed it.

إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لِرَبِّهِ لَكَنُودٌ (100:6
وَإِنَّهُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ لَشَهِيدٌ (100:7
وَإِنَّهُ لِحُبِّ الْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ (100:8

If you carefully observe the three verses above, you’ll notice a couple of similarities. All verses end in د And د is from the Qalqala group.

The other similarity in these verses is that they end in hurfe madda. (discussed in our first tajweed post). The ي and the و preceded by their appropriate short vowels.

أَفَلَا يَعْلَمُ إِذَا بُعْثِرَ مَا فِي الْقُبُورِ (100:9
وَحُصِّلَ مَا فِي الصُّدُورِ (100:10

Finally, the last set of verses end in ر. This is a rule we haven’t mentioned yet. Once you understand the rules mentioned below, you’ll notice that the verses end in a thick ر, thus creating a rhyme. So, here it is:

A ر with a fatha or dammah should be pronounced heavily or with a full mouth, regardless of whether it has a shadda or not. The same is true if the ر has tanween of fat-ha or dammah. It is pronounced with heaviness. This is similar to the “r” in the English word “raw”.

When a fat-ha or dammah appears before a Raa Sakin ر the Raa Sakin will be pronounced with a full mouth. Sometimes, the Raa Sakin ر is a result of stopping (waqf) at the end of a verse. If the letter before it also has a sukun then look at the letter before that

Source: ReadWithTajweed

إِنَّ رَبَّهُم بِهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّخَبِيرٌ (100:11

A ر with a kasra should be pronounced lightly/sharply or with an empty mouth, regardless of whether it has a shadda or not. The same is true if the J has tanween of kasra. It is pronounced lightly. This is similar to the “r” in the English word “rather”.

If a kasra appears before a ر, the Raa Sakin will be read with an empty mouth. Sometimes, the Raa Sakin (ر) is a result of stopping (waqf) at the end of a verse. Even if the Raa has a kasra with Tanween, if you stop, it becomes a Raa Sakin therefore how it is pronounced will depend on the letter before it.

Tajweed - Al-Qalqalah-The Echo

We'll use this rule for the next Miracle post, insha Allah

> القلقلة is an echoing sound.

There are five letters in the quran that are: Qaaf, taa, baa, jeem and daal (ق ط ب ج د )- قطب جد
Rule: Only when there is a sukoon on any of these letters, or if you stop at them.
In the Qur’an: an echoing sound that follows the ق ط ب ج د, in their “sukoon” form only (or if you cause it to have a ‘sukoon’, as in stopping at the word that ends with one of these letters).
The reason for qalqala is to make sure the letter is heard perfectly.

Because when you stop at one of these letters, you’re closing your airway, and the person listening cannot tell what the last letter was.

Qalqala needs a lot of practice to be said accurately; it doesn’t follow the harakah of the letter before it or after it.

There are Three different levels of Qalqalah:

Level 1 : The least strength is when it is in the middle of a word
“وخلقْناكم أزواجا”, “و لا تجْزون إلا ما كنتم
تعملون” or when you are connecting it with the next word “قدْ بينا الآيات لقوم
يوقنون”. Here the “echo” is very light.

Level 2: Middle strength, when the letter is in the end of a word, with no shaddah “والله من ورائهم محيط”, “بل هو قرآن مجيد”

Level 3: It has a shaddah and it comes at the end of an ayah. The strongest qalqalah is when the word is in the end, and has a shaddah, you drop the last harakah, and say it with qalqalah “قال رب احكم بالحقٌ”

Here you’d hold the qalqalah for a little bit, because it has shaddah and sukoon.
You drop the last harakah, and leave the shaddah as its part of the word, so if it is haqqi, you make it haqq.

Question : which level is the word “تب ” in first ayay in surat al masad?

(answer: Level 3)

Sources: From Karachi - “بعض المفيد في علم التجويد“, and few websites.

Tajweed - Quranic Miracle

[Aside: I debated if I should post this on SunniPath blog (with Miracle, and Miracle 2), Arabic-Learners or Me-Me (here). It seemed most appropriate to post it here - since the post doesn't relate to a SunniPath course, or the Arabic grammar.]

Without further ado/ Amma Ba'ad. As we all might have noticed that some Quranic verses rhyme. They rhyme can be due to the endings. For example the verses of Surah Ar-Rahman. The endings are on the same pattern - ending in alif-nun.

الرَّحْمَنُ (55:1
عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ (55:2
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ (55:3
عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ (55:4
الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ (55:5


There are also some verses in the Quran that rhyme due to similar pronunciation of letters. So if one is not observing the tajweed rules, they won't notice how beautiful the verses sound together. And also, disregarding the tajweed rules can change the meaning of the word. My tajweed teacher (may Allah reward her, ameen) explained this with two words - Qalb, and kalb. If the letters - Qa and ka are pronounced the same, then you are replacing heart with DOG! If the sin of changing the meaning doesn't convince one to learn tajweed, I'm hoping that the thought of being deprived from the beauty of Quran might convince you.

In my previous post on tajweed series, we learnt about hams. Let's consider Surah Al Qari'ah

الْقَارِعَةُ (101:1)

مَا الْقَارِعَةُ (101:2)

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْقَارِعَةُ (101:3)

يَوْمَ يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَرَاشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ (101:4)

وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنفُوشِ (101:5)

فَأَمَّا مَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ (101:6)

فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ (101:7)

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ (101:8)

فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ (101:9)

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ (101:10)

نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ (101:11)

Notice the endings.
They are all in the Hams category -.

All of these 10 letters are pronounced with a running of breath- thus creating a rhythm.

Don't believe me? Listen it to yourself: in the voice of A.Basit

P.S: The credit of this post goes to my tajweed partner - Fatima Asad. Jazak Allahu Khairan, Fatima!!

Tajweed Rules - Part 2

Moving on with our tajweed series, I'm aware that I'm skipping a few rules here. The reason I jumped to Hams is because I need it for my next post. Another miracle post.

The Whisper, defined linguistically as: the concealment

The applied definition of this characteristic is: Running on of breath when pronouncing the letter due to weakness in its origin, when weakening reliance on the letter at its articulation point of origin.

This means that when any of the letters that have the characteristic of , there is a flow of breath as it is pronounced. This weakens the letter as running of breath then weakens the strict reliance on the articulation point.

The letters that have this characteristic are the letters found in the group: . All of these 10 letters are pronounced with a running of breath. One letter to note in this group is the letter . If pronounced like the “f” in English, there will not be the needed air flow. The English “f” is articulated from the edges of the two upper front teeth and middle of the lower lip. The Arabic has the same articulation point, but the part of the lip used is more towards the inside. If a slight adjustment is made in the placement of the two front teeth on the lip, the air flow will then occur and the proper sound for the which includes air flow will be heard, insha’ Allah.

The two letters have running of the breath when they are pronounced, but they also have another characteristic of imprisonment of sound (not breath, but sound). We will discuss how to employ both these characteristics when we discuss the imprisonment of sound in the next tidbit lesson.

taken from AboutTajweed.com

Tajweed Rules - Part 1

I wanted to share my tajweed notes, but there's already so much online. I've linked the tajweed resources on AL (Arabic Learners) blog. Rather than repeat what's out there - I'll post a summary of the rules.

The Original Madda - Madda Asli (also called حُروف مدّ)

In Arabic, there are 3 letters that match the three haraka signs which are generally termed the vowels of Arabic. These three letters are (اوي) and the their matching haraka signs are kasra ( ِ ), dammah ( ُ) and fat-ha ( َ ) respectively.

When these three letters (اوي) have a sukun and they are preceded by a letter that has their matching haraka sign, then the letter with the haraka is elongated to two harakas. In such instances, the three letters (اوي) are known as the Madda Letters

Miracle

Yours Truly on SunniPath's Blog: Miracle

Inner Manners of Qur’an Recital

From Sh Faraz's Traditionalist - Islam, Law, & Spirituality:

In the Name Of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

1. One should understand the magnificent nature of the Qur’an. This is a divine gift from Allah, and a tremendous favor. One should bring to mind the favor of Allah and be thankful.

2. Magnification of the Speaker. Bring to mind the magnification of the One who is addressing us. The reciter will then remain conscious of the fact that this Book is the speech of Allah. So when one recites, it is not like reading any book, rather the very speech of Allah. Allah is speaking to the reciter through his recitation.

3. Paying attention to the Qur’an: One may avoid whisperings of the self. “Oh Yahya, take the book firmly,” which may be understood as … take the words contained in it with seriousness and sincerity.

4. Pondering over the verses. How? Recite it according to the Sunna with tarteel, a slow, measured, distinct manner. Tajweed helps in inward reflection. There’s a hadith from Nasai and ibn Majah that the Prophet, peace be upon him, prayed at night reciting one ayah repeatedly: “in tuaddhibhum fa ‘innahum ‘ibaaduk…” If You punish them, then they are Your servants, and if You forgive them, surely You are the Mighty, the Wise. (5:118)

5. Seek to understand the meanings. 1) in the linguistic sense - study a translation if you do not know Arabic, 2) and the deeper meanings found in tafsirs, 3) and with reflection. Studying ‘aqida helps, for example, reading verses about the power of Allah, and about His qadr. Don’t interpret it with your own opinion; go look it up in a tafsir.

6. Remove obstacles to understanding the Qur’an. There are four veils according to Imam Ghazali:

* Being overly concerned with outward recitation (this is one of the tricks of Shaytan to turn you away from reflecting on meanings). Find a middle path.

* Superimposing one’s ideas/perspectives/beliefs on the guidance of the Qur’an (ex: someone is a feminist, socialist, economist - reading the Qur’an according to his or her own perspective - preventing true spiritual benefit from the Qur’an.) Take guidance from the Qur’an itself with an open mind.

* Sin, both outward and inward. Sin creates darkness in the soul and clouds the mirror of the heart, so it doesn’t reflect the light of Divine guidance. How to polish the heart? With sincere and consistent repentance, and leaving sin. Keep doing this and striving until you leave those sins. This is a process: cleaning the heart and approaching Allah Most High.

* One finds sufficiency on finding how meanings relate to you from tafsir. However, this is an interpretation; these tafsirs shouldn’t take the place of personal reflection and application.

Take everything in the Qur’an as guidance for yourself because it is for all creation. When it talks about the oppressors, sinners, etc. look at your life, act on what’s implied relative to your life. “Fastaqim kama umirta,” be steadfast as you were commanded. Imagine how the Prophet, peace be upon him, applied the Qur’an to his life - his hair turned gray! His companions asked why his hair had turned white. He, peace be upon him, said, “Sura Hud and its sisters made my hair white.” He was upright and truthful in following the Qur’an. He took every address to apply to himself personally.

Feel the Qur’an when talking about Paradise, Hell, or anything, put yourself in tune with the Qur’an.

Rise in degrees of recitation. There are three grades of recitation. Any recitation is a tremendous grade.

* The lowest grade: one supposes one is reading the Qur’an to Allah, as if one is standing before Allah, in His Divine Presence, and Allah is listening to one’s recitation. This is an inward state of begging, entreating, and supplicating.

* The middle grade: When one beholds Allah and sees for themself that Allah is addressing us with His favor. He is bestowing His gifts, His mercy through the Qur’an. There is a sense of shame, modesty (haya) and magnification (ta’dhim). One seeks to understand and be more serious. Now it is from Allah to you! There’s also a feeling of ecstasy, thankfulness, and joy! One piece of dust like you is being addressed by the Lord of every speck of dust!

* The highest grade: When one beholds the Speaker Himself and His Attributes. One does not see his own actions, but completely engrosses himself in beholding Allah Most High Himself. Then next, he sees the address of Allah Most High, then sees his own recitation.

10. Recite the Qur’an while knowing that there is no might or power except with Allah. Qul bifaDlillahi wa biraHmatihi… say by the Grace of Allah and His Mercy; in that let them rejoice - better than what they amass - whether (worldly or spiritual amassing).

Thank Allah upon good deeds. In addition, one always beholds one’s shortcoming in reciting it. And reminding ourselves that we are not being thankful enough, look even the Prophet’s hair turned gray…The soul is what turns to Allah…the body is just dust. We have infinite fear, and infinite hope in Allah… so turn to Allah and hope for His Pleasure.

Please also see the following links:

Etiquettes of Qur’anic Recitation

http://www.ghazali.org/books/rec-qur.pdf

Arabic

Some of you are looking forward to my Arabic blog. I apologize for the wait. I had emailed some 10 sisters asking 'em if they'd be interested. They are all prolly busy, and haven't got a chance to reply yet. I did receive some good suggestions from a friend.


Until then, I'll post some pointers here,



Imam Zaid Shakir mentioned in his commentary on Purification of the Soul : Al-Muhasibi's Risalah al-Mustarshideen:

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dhulumaat, darkness is mentioned as a plural in the Quran, while noor is always singular. This implies that darkness, evil, are many, but the noor, the TRUTH, Al HAQ is one!

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Coincidentally Fajr mentioned something similar - a different theory, but totally interesting - A hidden discord in plurality?

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If you look closely at the words in bold you’ll see there is a clear difference between the Arabic and the English. Light and Darkness are both usually singular, but in the ayah Allaah `azza wa jall has pluralized ‘darkness’ – dhulumaat. Why?

As explained by Shaykh Muhammad al-Maghaamisi, there is profound rhetoric behind this because it indicates that Allaah `azza wa jall (when comparing two opposites), He uses the singular of a word while pluralizing its comparative, to show
an element of tafdeel (preference), unity, strength and absolute truth
in that which He kept in the singular form. If something is singular, it is
unique and can never cause confusion, whereas if something is plural there are many faces to it, it comes from many different angles & it’s confusing to
distinguish one from the other etc.

So when Allaah says in the above verse that He “brings them out from darkness (many ‘darknesses’) into light (one unique light).” – He `azza wa jall is highlighting out the preference of the Light (guidance) over the darkness (misguidance) by simply pluralizing that which is inferior (darkness) to indicate a lack of جمع (unity, connection etc).

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Lesson - Safa and Marwa

Imam Anwar Awlaki mentions the story of Hajara (may Allah be pleased with her) running between Safa and Marwa. And when she ran between these two hills, she was worried, anxious, scared for her lil' one. She was searching for travellers - any sight of life - her food had run out, there was no water either. Her son was crying. The sun burning down on them. She was hungry and thirsty. Out of anxiety, she ran between the two hills.

And today, we repeat the same action - in her memory. Had she known that day that centuries later millions and millions will remember her, and honour her, and she would have happily ran between the hills.

These are the two hills between which she ran back and forth in search of water for her beloved infant son, while she was all alone according to the plan of God Himself.

"Behold! Safaa and Marwah are among the symbols of God. So if those who visit the House in the Season or at other times, should compass them round, it is no sin in them. And if any one obeys his own impulse to Good, be sure that God is He Who recognizes and knows."(Quran 2:158)
Source: Hajj and the Neglected Legacy of a Great Woman

MORAL time: Sometimes things seem hard, and impossible. But we should be patient, and continue to search for answers, 'coz Allah is the Best of Planners!

This post is dedicated to a close friend. She's been planning for something for a while, and has been running into issues. So, R____n, be patient. Everything happens for a reason :)

Blog on learning arabic - "Internals"

This one's very different than my favorite arabic blog - Arabic Gems.

Let's say, Arabic Gems - is more like a "WOW! Thats amazing" blog
Internals - is more like a "OH! that makes sense now" blog

The famous supplication Prophet Jonah (peace be upon him) made inside the whale:

La illaha illa anta Subhanaka inni kuntu mina-zwalaiymin
Translation: There is no Lord except you, glory be to you, I was one of the transgressors.

More here

Another blog to my list.

Learning Al Qur'aan
Encouraging each other, sharing advice and methods of learning the Book of Allah. "The best of you are the ones who learn the Qur'aan and teach it to others" (Saheeh Al Bukhaaree)