Dr. Pasha's Arabic Language and Cultural Immersion Sessions -- Lesson 29

Your Relationship with the Qur'an --
Both Physical and Beyond!

Ibadat basically means conducting yourself like a fully owned Slave of Allah.

So, Ibadat is a full-time job. 

And that is precisely what Allah says in the Qur'an;

"The sole purpose of your presence on earth is 
to conduct yourself all the time like a Slave."

Wa Maa Khalaqtul Jinna Wal Insa Illaa Liya'budoon.

But Allah, being Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim, makes things easy for you. After all, Allah promised you in the Qur'an that he will surely make everything about the Qur'an easy: 

Reading the Qur'an; 
Learning the Qur'an; 
Memorizing the Qur'an; 
Understanding the Qur'an; 
And practicing the Qur'an.

And, finally, working to establish the Qur'an 
in the world as a Living System of Universal 
Truth and Justice, and Freedom and Opportunity, 
for all of Allah's Creation.

Hear the Qur'an say it:

Wa La-Qad Yassarnal Qur'ana Lidh-Dhikr!

And one way in which Allah makes things easy for you is by giving you all kinds of opportunities that you can't even imagine. 

And by giving you latitude in everything that you never thought was possible.

And here is an example of it. 

Once you believe Qur'an is from Allah -- you have Iman that is -- then your entire physical relationship with your Qur'an turns into your Ibadah.

You do Wudu with the intention of reading the Qur'an. And it does not matter whether you are a strong, fast, good reader or just a beginner struggling with your reading.

And you pick up a copy of the Qur'an -- Mushaf. 

Remember, only Arabic is Qur'an. Translations are not Qur'an. They are just translations: human attempts to mimic the Qur'an and render it intelligible to those who have, for reasons of their own, not yet learned the Language of the Qur'an Arabic. 

Whatever their reason or excuse.

So, you make the Intention to make Wudu to read the Qur'an, your account with Allah gets activated. And then when you actually make Wudu, the meter is running.

Then you reach for the Mushaf and pick it up. You are raking in more Thawaab.

Then you open the Qur'an. Even more Thawaab.

Then you begin to focus and start looking at certain Aayats of the Qur'an. Thawaab is rolling in.

Then you start reading and reciting the Aayaat, the gentle stream of Thawaab is fast turning into a raging waterfall.

If you are a strong reader, then there is no accounting how much Thawaab you will get. It will be beyond anyone's imagination or calculation.

But if you are a beginner, and are still struggling with it, and stuttering with words and with pronunciation, then, listen to this: 

You Will Get Twice the normal Thawaab!

Can anyone wrap their heads around it, as they say in America?

And then you take the next step and cross into the world of meaning, what the Qur'an is actually saying to you, your waterfall of Thawaab is leaving Victoria and Niagara and all other great big waterfalls of the world behind.

But that is not all of it. 

Now, you start wondering what it is that God Almighty is saying to you in the Qur'an. What is it that God wants you to know and to understand -- and to do?

For, Qur'an is God talking to you -- Direct! To every man, woman and child, whether they are good people or bad, and whether they are Muslim or not.

No intermediaries of any kind. No priests; no Rabbis; no Mowlanas. 

It is just you and your Qur'an, which means it is just you and your Maker and Master, God Almighty.

Now, you are transported out of this Physical Universe -- Aalam Al-Shahaadha -- and connected directly to Aalam Al-Ghayib. A very different Stratosphere of meaning, spiritual experience and contact and negotiation with the Divine, with your Creator, the Master of the Worlds, Rabbul Aalameen, the one who sent down the Qur'an into this Physical Universe.

At that stage, I don't know what happens to your Thawaab Train. I guess you are basically told to write your own ticket and name your own price.

Iqbal, a man who understood Islam and Qur'an, and who understood language, and who evidently also had a very special relationship with God, and with the Qur'an, and with Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, said it best. 

He said, and I am broadly paraphrasing it here:

Always conduct yourself in such a way that, 
whenever God is about to decide your Fate or Destiny, 
God will ask you: 

My Slave!
I am about to decide your fate, 
and write your future.
Tell me, how would you like me to write it?"

I have no comment on this. Do you?

END