Rediscovering the Qur an
By Abu Eesa Niamatullah | 2026-01-10T12:31:50.320233+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Rediscovering the Qur'an - Sh. Abu Eesa Niamatullah
Opening
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family and companions.
O Allah, nothing is easy except what You make easy, and You make sadness easy. Firstly, I don't really want to give detail on this night, especially after the Dua of Khatm-ul-Qur'an and the fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us this night and Mubarak, this blessed evening, an opportunity for us to get close to Him individually and not by me speaking to you and telling you something that you already know. But I just wanted to maybe share some of my thoughts and hopefully ask everyone, including myself, more so than anyone else, to reflect upon a few points.
The Importance of Reflection
Because that's the only thing that we forget to do, that's to reflect. Because in terms of knowledge, in terms of the issues surrounding Islam and Ramadan and Siyam and Dua and Istighfar, that is a very simple formula. We are people who are accountable for our actions, we are constantly deficient in our actions and we ask Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala for forgiveness, to make up our deficiency.
It's that simple a formula. But the problem is where we fail every time, every year, every time this opportunity comes, it's because we become heedless, because we forget, because we do not know how to reflect. And so I will just take this opportunity to mention a few things.
The Mercy of Allah
Number one, have you noticed, especially those who are listening to the Dua, the beautiful Dua given by Imam Abdullah, that the Asr of our Dua, and I want you to think about this point, you may be busy in the purpose of the food and wanting to leave, but don't forget this point, maybe it is the most valuable lesson that you will ever hear, that without the Rahmah of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, not a single one of us will go to heaven. And this is the Asr of this Dua, that our A'mal, whatever we do, however big they are, however amazing they become, and however, whenever, whatever, we will never ever get to paradise by that, except by the Rahmah of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala.
And this is back in the same of the Prophetsallallahu alaihi wa sallam, who said that no one will enter the paradise by his actions, not a single soul.
And this was the Prophet of Allah, Muhammadsallallahu alaihi wa sallam, who said that. And so then we realize, if you recognize this point, that none of us are going to go anywhere, get any salvation, except by the mercy of Allah, then you realize where we are at this moment, what an opportunity we have. That's the benefit of reflection.
Laylatul Qadr and the Qur'an
If you just stop to think for one minute, and realize that this is Laylatul Qadr, out of the Shahr of Allah,
subhanahu wa ta'ala says that this is Laylatul Qadr in Surah Al-Qadr, and then in Surah Al-Baqarah, that this is a night from the month of Ramadan,
In which the Qur'an has been revealed, a night of guidance, a criterion for us, and a guidance for between the two, from misguidance and guidance. This is the opportunity that we have on a night like this, this is the opportunity that we have in a month like this. The question though, do we feel too safe with our actions? Are we practicing our Islam in a correct, sufficient, and sincere way? Does anyone feel safe from the Makar of Allah? Does anyone feel safe from the Qadr of Allah? Does anyone feel safe that they will die upon Iman? Does anyone feel safe that their actions will be accepted? That their Istighfar will be accepted? That their intentions are pure? Who feels safe? What is the Qadr of Laylatul Qadr? The basis of Laylatul Qadr is the Qur'an.
What is Laylatul Qadr? But the night in which the entire Qur'an was revealed in one go. And from this night then, the prophetshallallahu alaihi wasallam divided it upon his nation, and then to us in 23 years, bit part by bit part according to scenarios to set us up, to give us an understanding about how Deen is practiced. It's a great night and it's also in the Qur'an.
Our Connection to the Qur'an
So we should ask ourselves, what is our connection to the Qur'an? What is our relationship to the Qur'an? And we should be worried, Ya Ikhwah. We should be worried. You know why? Ibn Taymiyyah said, discussing the Qur'an, I'm Laylatul Qadr.
You know what he said? He said when you think about the hadith of the prophetshallallahu alaihi wasallam, when he said that the Baniba is like a citrus fruit, like an orange, when he recites the Qur'an, you look at him, he's nice, beautiful, to look at, smell beautiful, when he tastes, beautiful. And then he described the four categories. And what did he say about the Monafia? The Monafia is the one who recites the Qur'an.
What did he say about him? You look at him, he looks nice and beautiful, smell beautiful, like an orange. It's like a puzzle. You look at it, it smells nice, but when you taste it, it's bitter.
When you taste it, it's bitter. So what is this? The Monafia is the one whose actions are all on the outside, but the A'malul Qulub, the Ikhlas, is empty. The person is hollow.
The person is shallow. And that person is Monafia. A person who could be praying all night, making Dua all night, learning Qur'an, memorizing Qur'an.
The Prophetshallallahu alaihi wasallam said, he is the Monafia who reads the Qur'an. The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam mentioned in the hadith, he is the Monafia who reads and learns the Qur'an. So this is that person.
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
This could be one of us. This could be all of us. And if it is, what will be our end? Because our crying and our tears and our Dua, and everyone coming to Ayatul Qadr, will be washed away.
Because this is all on the outside. If we have not made Isra, and reform was on the inside, A'malul Qulub, that's the question we have to ask ourselves. If this is Ayatul Qadr, the Layla of the Qur'an itself, then let's ask ourselves, How are we with the Qur'an? We may read it, we may listen to it.
How much have we understood from the Qur'an? We have finished 30 chapters of the Qur'an tonight. How much of the Qur'an can everyone here stand and say that they have understood? Forget about memorize and heard, I know that surah, I know that ayah. How much of the Qur'an can we say now, of the 27 nights and 30 chapters, can we say that we have understood? If it's nothing, then be afraid.
Because if it's nothing, then you are a person who heard the Qur'an go in one ear and out of the other. Because the A'malul Qulub are not, they are asking to the heart, I'm not there to listen to the Qur'an. The heart is there to take in the Qur'an and act upon the Qur'an.
Because it changes the intentions. It changes the internal. And if the internal has not been affected, and your sincerity has not been affected, and you have not changed, and you have not left the sifat of the empty people, the characteristics of empty people, then you are in the category according to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, of nifaat.
And the munafiqeen, as Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala says, are in the bottom of the hellfire, under the kuffar. That's the problem. That's the issue at hand.
The Reality of Public vs Private Worship
That's what we should be reflecting upon in a night like this. And think about it, the munafiqeen are what? Appearing at the right times. Making PR at the right times.
Looking good at the right times. Showing the right kind of haiqa, the right kind of stature. Always there where it might matter in public.
But public is not what this deen is about. This deen is about the relationship between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And if you're lacking there, which is why in the dua, as our Imam said, Oh Allah, make our actions the same in our private as in our public.
To account as the same. Because you know and I know when you're in public, it all comes out. But when you're in your private, it all disappears.
When you're hidden behind the door, your salat is like this, and up and down. When you're in public, then you can sit and relax and make rahul sujood as if you have all day. You have to ask yourself, who are you practicing this Islam for? What is the quality of your Islam? Think about this final point.
Look at that time. A time of few people, but much taqwa. A time of few scholars, all of them though.
The State of Our Community
The level of Iman and Islam. Something which when we think about ourselves here in Manchester, 100,000 Muslims. How many scholars can you name to me in Manchester that you would say he is the real Ali? How many Urbaad? How many Muftiqeen can you think of at this time? How many people can we refer to and hope that we will be protected because of them? What do I mean because of them? There are people in this society, in this community who are protecting us.
There are Muslims, that by them, we are being protected. Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala said,
(Quran 8:33), and I will not punish them, I will not punish them, but there are some people from them making istighfar. I don't think it's me.
I don't think it's many of you. There will be a few people out there who are from Ikhlas, are making a real istighfar, a real pure istighfar, like the way of the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, where every night, Allah gives a day for Father. Every night is a night, which they act upon the prophetic hadith, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala descends from the highest Heaven down to the lowest Heaven and asks His slaves, Where are you so that you can ask me so that I may give you? Where are those seeking forgiveness so I can forgive? There are those who react accordingly to the sunnah and the command of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala.
Part-Time Islam vs Full Commitment
They're not part-time Muslims. This is not a part-time religion. If this Islam was about turning up on one night, it would be fabulous, but it's not.
Because the people are not made in one night. Nations are not built in one night. Nations are built upon foundation and strength.
A man is not made in one night with one prayer, in one salah, in finishing one Quran once every year. This is not the deen of men. This is the deen of cowards.
It's the deen of kuffar, not the deen of Muslims. That's why the Prophetsallallahu alaihi wa sallam says that the best of actions, the best of actions are continuous, small, take it steady, deal with it, develop something, build something, study, learn, take it easy, but keep it committed. Not spurts and burps up here and there, just lips, just like this, like this is not the way of Islam.
Why We Are in This State
And that is why we are in the condition that we are. This is why the community is in the state that it is in. This is why we are afraid even in our millions and billions.
We are under a threat every day. We are being slaughtered every day. We are being humiliated every day.
Why? Because we invite it. Because we have not even put our defenses up against the force of kuffar, the ideology of kuffar, and the desires of our own souls. That triangle, last thing, the desires of our own soul.
We are not able to fight that and defend ourselves against it. These are the kinds of things that we should be reflecting upon at a time such as this. And specifically in a night such as this, which has been credited for changing the lives of many, many great people.
And we should try and make ourselves from those great people. We shouldn't be those people who, you know, we see every year. There are people year by year that I see once a year.
I give them a hug and say, how are you doing bro? Are you alright? MashaAllah, how is things? You know, how is work? How is life? How is holidays? Yeah, yeah, I've been there. I've been there. I've been doing this.
I've been doing that. I'm great. And I'll see them again next year.
And then, you know, I might go somewhere else. You know, I might be the one that's coming to the mosque. I might be the one that comes again on the 27th.
It's not just a reminder for you, it's a reminder for me. But this is the point. Is this the kind of Islam we want to practice every Friday, every Eid, every Taraweeh, every Ramadan? Because if that's the kind of practice now that we want, this is the kind of level that we want for ourselves, then we have to expect a reward accordingly.
The Divine System of Justice
And Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala is not that concerned. Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala is not stupid, or ignorant, or foolish. Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala is perfect and He knows everything.
He knows every single intention in His body. He knows what every single person is capable of. And He knows how people crumble to their desires.
He knows that because He is the one who gave us all desires. And He is the one who gave us these tests. He understands system imperfection.
So you are only fooling yourselves. We are the only ones who will lose out in such a scenario. So the very minimum that we should do in the remainder of this night is just to stop and think.
We don't need massive Quran, we don't need huge Quran, we don't need... We just need some commitment. We just need some sincerity. Just understand who we are.
And only, only, when you change, make that little difference in yourself, will Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala change the condition of the nations and the community as a whole. That's a promise from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran.
That He will not change their condition until they change the conditions in their own souls.
Taking Responsibility
That is what we are waiting for as a community, for us. Because at the end of this point, people look around and they say, but I'm just stressed, why am I attacked, where is the Nasr, where is the victory, where is the help in terms of Allah and so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said
, if you help Allah, Allah will help you. In terms of Allah, in, this word in Arabic is establishing a condition, if you help Allah, if you support the deen of Allah, if you be Muslims that you are meant to be, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will then help you.
Which means what? Why are we looking for help? Why? Because we have not helped the deen. We are not deserving of Nasr. We are not deserving of Nasr.
We are living exactly according to how we should be. We are not being punished more. We are not being given anything anymore.
We are absolutely exactly how we deserve. This is what we are waiting to get. So when we see you around, when you have a complaint, your mom's like that, brother ripped me off, he's a cheater, he fought me, we're being killed here.
You see anything negative about your life or your community? No. There's only one person responsible, that's you. Understand this point.
And the day and the second that you make your change, you take away this responsibility, you break from this kind of trap. So think about this, my dear brothers and sisters. This is a reminder to myself, more so than anyone else.
This is not about signaling people ideas and mosques to individuals. This is about the fact that we ourselves become so needless. And it just so and so happens that on a night such as the 27th, a lot of us come together and it's an opportunity to remind ourselves.
The Cycle of Ramadan
And that's what it is, it's a reminder. But if you let this night just go away and then, you know, you're good for a few more days and we have a great eve and a party and everything and then for a couple of weeks, everything's pretty good and then it just filters off and then Christmas comes and then you just get a little worse and then New Year comes and you just go away. Mosque, you know, visit on a Friday here or there and just get up to the same old routine and then we wait for Ramadan to come again and then just say, I need Ramadan so much, I need Ramadan so much.
I'm suffering, I need Iman, Iman, and Iman goes to Iman, and Iman goes to Iman, You know, there's something wrong, there's something very, very wrong. Try and find it now. We've come to the end of Ramadan, that's it.
We've come to the end of our religious siyam. Stop and think right back to the very first day when you started to read through And You Heard The Verse Of Siyam
Siyam Has Been Prescribed Upon You, As It Was Prescribed To The People Before You, So That You May Become People Of Taqwa, Okay Well The Month Is Up Now, The Month Is Up, Ask Yourself The Question, After One Month Have We Become People Of Taqwa, Have We Become People Who Have This Consciousness Taqwa Of Allah, This Fear Of Allah, This Awareness Of Allah, That's What Taqwa Is, Whenever You Are About To Make A Single Action, Say A Single Thing, Make A Decision, You Think Of Allah First, That'S Taqwa, That'S The Definition Of Taqwa, You Don'T Need Another One, Again Fear And Scare And Consciousness, This Is It, Before You Do Anything, Anything Out Of Deen Or Dunya, Good Or Bad, You Immediately Think Of Allah First, Once You Reach That Stage, You Have Attained Taqwa, This Is The Reality, Have We Reached It?
Because If We Haven'T, Then Siyam Would Just Went In There And Out That Way, Just In The Mouth And Thought, Yeah, I'LI Forget This, It'S Going To Keep Happening. And That's What I Really Wanted To Say, You Know, I Didn'T Want To Give A Lecture Out Of What Always Turns Out To Be A Lecture Anyway, Just A Few Points To Reflect Upon, Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala To Benefit Myself And Yourself With These Points, Just A Reflection, Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala To Give Us Something, To Give Us Just Something From This Night, Even One Percent From This Night, We Will Be Happy With That.
Quality Over Quantity
I Leave You With This Point And It Was One Of My Teachers, One Of The Scholars, He'S A Great Aalim And He Was Praying, He Was Praying In A Masjid, And I Was Praying In A Masjid, And He Was Reciting And He Was Praying In A Masjid That Was Doing, I Don'T Know, Maybe Two Or Three Juz'ah Of The Quran In The Entire Month. So What Does That Make, That Makes It Like About A Fifth Of A Juz'ah Every Night, Yeah? A Few Ayahs, A Few Pages Basically. So I Said To Him, Ya Sheikh, Can You Give Us A Few Nights And You Know, I'M Thinking What'S Going On, Zayi, Zayi, Zayi, And I Said, Sheikh, We Should Be Reading The Quran Totally, Fully, At Least.
He Said, If Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala Accepts From Me Just These Two Pages Of Ramadan, I Will See It A Success. He Said That If Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala Accepts Just Two Pages From This Quran, They Are Clothed With Their Sincerity Of Real Quality. By Allah, This Is Better For You Than The World And What It Can Take.
And You Know Something, I Never Understood That Until Very Recently. For Years I Thought, You Know, I Just Couldn'T Understand That. Just Very Recently, A Matter Of Days, May I Add, Have I Understood Now What My Sheikh Was Trying To Say.
We Come For One Month, We Stand For One And A Half Hours And The Only Thing That We Think Of Is When Is He Going To Say Allah Hu Akbar. Ask Yourself, True Or True? You Are Thinking To Myself, I Am Falling, I Will Just Balance Myself For The Other Day. And Everyone, Instead Of Putting The Shoulder Forward, They Put The Shoulder Back, So That He Is Behind Him, So If You Tip Him, You Know, He Is Kind Of Holding You.
So If You Are Thinking Like That, Which We Are, Then The Question For You, This Is The Kind Of Man, You Have To See The Sun, Who Wants To Learn And Connect With The Quran. I Mean, Come On, Who Are You Trying To Call Here? And How Much Did We Get Ready For The Taraweeh That Are Coming? What Did We Get Ready? Got Home, Ate, Then Ate Some More, Then Relaxed, Lied Down Maybe, Then Ate Some More, Then Come For Salah. Great, Just Die And Go To Sleep There And There, But I Am Going To Stand For An Hour And A Half.
What Are You Trying To Do To Yourself? Make It As Difficult As Possible, Yeah. This Is Exactly What We Are Trying To Do, Make It As Difficult As Possible. What Did You Read From The Translation? What Did You Read From The Tafsir? Nothing.
Living the Qur'an
Where Is The Glass? Now When You Think About This Point, Imagine If You Had Two Pages Written For You As A Person, You Heard Two Pages, Affected By The Two Pages, The Two Pages Made You Think, And Then You Went Home And You Thought, And The Next Day You Were Thinking, The Ayah Was Strangling On The Ayah, What Is The Ayah Trying To Say To Me? Three Days Later, He Goes, Ask Another Ayah, I Heard This One And I Couldn'T Understand It. He Thinks About It, He Thinks About More, Then He Thinks About That Ayah. This Is Being Affected By The Quran. He Is Living The Quran. Then We Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala In Duaa Al-Dinai, Ya Allah, Make It The Source Of Our Life, Make It A Life Source, A Spring, Make It Part Of Ourselves, Make It That Which We Are Based Upon, We Are Dependent Upon, Make It Our Life. This Is What The Duaa Is, And We Won'T Say Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, Do You Know What Saying Ameen To? This Is A Problem.
Just Think, Just Think, This Is All. Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala, Again In The Day Of Quran, Before His Punishment, He Gives The Ameen, A Chance. He Always Says, These Are The Ayahs, These Are The Ayahs
For People Who Reflect, These Are Verses And Signs For People Who Want To Think.
So Let'S Do That. Let'S Think, Sit Down And Think About Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala And His Majesty, About His Majesty, About His Transcendence Above All Of Creation, About How Magnificent He Is, And How Desperate We Are For His Rahmah, And How Desperate We Are For His Istighfar, And Maybe If We Did That One Moment, And We Just Connected For Just One Second, Maybe We Have Got Enough To Make The Quran What We Want. That'S Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala, Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala, Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala.