The journey..

Like a healer, like a guardian.

A healer for the broken heart; a comfort for their brokenness to come together. Like a spring of happiness for the sad and depressed. A source of healing for the bodily sick, and for the ill soul. Guides you when lost, guides you when unlost.

Like a savior, like a guide.

It makes your perspective of life change; more focused, more conscious; diligent. When its natural to be faced with dilemmas in life, it clears your mind to focus on that which is your priority first; that for which you will be held accountable for first. Also a clear proof for the misguided.

Like a lover, like a friend.

Makes you get addicted to it once you make a connection with it. No matter what, if it opens up to you, you will make time for it every day. And it will open up its treasure chest of reminders, its ocean depth knowledge and wisdom, to guide you through life. Like a light; a lantern that guides through darkness..

A solution; a remedy– for everything, every problem of the world. Every challenge of the soul.

The Qur’an; The truth. The words of Allah SWT; protected and preserved for centuries till today, being what it is for every single being: A companion. 

Although a lot of articles talk about ways of establishing a connection with the Qur’an, I believe its a very unique process for every individual for connecting to it in their own ways. And basically for some, it may not go beyond their beautiful recitation so they need to spend more time with it.  For some, it may not go beyond their knowledge in understanding it unless they humble themselves before it, and for some, even a little of it stirs belief and increases them in obedient worship…

Many strive to bring the Qur’an into their lives; via recitation, via memorization, or by just reading its translation. How beautiful is it, that what matters to Allah SWT is each of our journey to it.

Aishah (رضي الله عنها) reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “The one who is proficient in the recitation of the Qur’an will be with the honourable and obedient scribes (angels) and he who recites the Qur’an and finds it difficult to recite, doing his best to recite it in the best way possible, will have a double reward.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

If He showers us with this much mercy just for the one striving to recite,  then what about the one striving to contemplate and the one striving to live it?  :’)

And when the thought of giving up paves an obstacle in your path, when you feel overwhelmed that everyone else knows much more about it while it is hard for you to understand and make it part of your life, Don’t give up yet. And hold on to it even with that weak rope, because it is only bound to become stronger slowly. For Allah سبحانه وتعالى has promised that He has made ‘the Qur’an easy to remember’ repeatedly in Surah Qamar. And He will fulfill His promise.

‘And We have certainly made the Qur’an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?’ [Surah Qamar, verses 17]

Increases humility…

When we get to it, one cannot fathom being blessed by Allah سبحانه وتعالى, being granted His permission to memorize His Noble verses. The fear that even a little pride in it or telling anyone about it would make us lose it all, increases our  humility and gratefulness to Him.

Organizes a messy life..

Making sure one dedicates a specific time for the Qur’an and their Qur’anic goals will help to learn how to prioritize the important things in life, and push them to try not to be lazy and messy, and instead be organized and clear.

When we slack..

Sometimes, the momentum will go down, and we will slack off. But then the heart which was getting its food, will remind us of its hunger and thirst. It will remind us with guilt that its alright to slack one or two days, and to use those days instead for all the revision (in case of memorizing students), or reflection (for the reciting students)  and then COME BACK! Don’t go away. The honest desire and aim to be from the people of the Qu’ran, will push us back again.

I Paste this in my Qur’an bookmark and it serves as a reminder and motivates me  when I slack – “Recite and Rise”

‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr رضي الله عنه narrated that the Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “It will be said to the companion of the Quran: Recite and rise in status, recite as you used to recite in the world, for your status will be at the last verse that you recite.” [Tirmidhi/Abu Dawud]

When in contemplation…

It is not how much you know that matters, but it is the journey to knowing. It is in ‘how much you want to learn’ that you will keep learning.  The Qur’an treasures an ocean depth of knowledge and actually even deeper. Every time you put your feet in it, you will come out with a few drops of light from it. And never will it leave you without something, for as long as you go to it with a yearning humble heart.

I say this often, and it has been a mantra for life –‘Little by little one travels far’. Even when you haven’t memorized much (for example), it will feel like you’ve come much farther in the past few days than you would have if you started in bulk with a mindset to finish it all in one go.. And it will also feel like you have miles and miles to go, yet you won’t give up, bi ithnillah. Few verses per day, every day, will be more beneficial than a bulk of verses per week. And will also automatically open your heart to its gems, and make you contemplate on the verses; only constant touch with it will get it to trust you enough to reveal to you its secrets. It will only speak to an intent listener.

Sheikh ʿAbdur-Raḥmān as-Saʿdī  was asked, “How do I reach a point where I can do tadabbur of the Qurʾan (reflect on the Qurʾan)?” He simply said, ‘You continue to read and read and read… until Allah opens your heart to tadabbur.’

It will overwhelm you..

It definitely will. The Qur’an will also make us feel overwhelmed with its place in our hearts; with the way it impacts our days and the happenings of our days. Because honestly, it is lost somewhere today and when it really is impacting our lives, we will find a difference, a different sort of peace. A different sort of feeling in the heart, a sense of possessiveness that you’ll want to keep for yourself. A different sort of beautiful. It’ll make you fall in love with it, yet fear the loss of it…

When the heart is in a  constant struggle learning to settle with the Qur’an, is when the heart is ready to fill its vessels with its jewels, and the Qur’an also would know if it.

Hold on to it tightly, coz again, its the journey that matters; and its always going to be a journey.