Mufti Menk - Simple Miracles Part 1

The Concept of Tayammum

Why do I say to a degree? Because there are times when perhaps water is not available, there is a different type of cleanliness. I was telling those earlier today at another venue here in Glasgow. I was telling them about how those who struggle with OCD need to know that actually the bacteria and the presence of bacteria does not render you unclean always.

What do you mean? You know, when you wash, and then you wash again, and you wash a third time. If you think you're doing it for the sake of Allah, you're actually not. Meaning if you're just doing it because of this OCD that you have, right? May Allah grant us all cure. Look, it's something, it's a phase, it happens to people.

But why I say this is because, think for a moment, if the water wasn't available, what would you do? There's something known as, tayammum. Tayammum means to just use dust. Dust to do what? To wash yourself. Okay. So how do I do it? Well, I just tap my hands on it, and I do, you know, my hands, my face, etc.

And I know for a fact, this is dust, there's bacteria here. Allah says, don't worry, you've arrived at a level of cleanliness that has readied you and prepared you to begin your prayer. SubhanAllah.

That proves that you know what? I know for a fact there's bacteria, there's a bit of dirt, there's a bit of this. Allah says, ignore that. It's irrelevant for now because you didn't have the water.

"You know, a little bit of it is excused. It's excusable."

You cannot be 100% pure in terms of physical purity, cleanliness. There's gonna be a little droplet here, a little splash there, a small thing. Yes, if you can see it with your eyes and you know about it, clean it. And how do you clean it? Do it how Allah told you to do it and you're done. After that, don't worry about it. Move on, just move on.

Do your prayer, it will be accepted. Did you hear what I just said? May Allah grant us ease. I hope those who needed to hear that would actually benefit from it, right?

The Wisdom of Arabic in Salah

I tell you, now that we are all uniform and we are got to the masjid and we're standing to fulfill the salah, imagine if we were allowed to start our salah and to use... I'm not gonna use the term prayer because now you know what I'm talking about. Prayer, according to what I believe, is a terminology that's only used to refer to salah which is not actually translated as prayer in its whole sense, okay? Can I explain that a little bit earlier?

So, imagine if we were allowed to have that in all our languages. So, how would we translate Allahu Akbar? Can someone say it? Someone say it? Allah is the greatest, that's one. And secondly, Allah is greater, that's another one. Akbar, akbaru means greater. It can refer to the greatest. Allah is the greatest, okay? Allahu Akbar, okay?

Someone might say, Well, let's analyze the term Allah as well. You know, why should I say Allah is the greatest? You know, I'd rather say, my maker is the greatest. But actually that's a wrong translation. But I could say, the worshipped one is the greatest. Because, Al-Ma'luhu Huwa Allahu. You go back to the Arabic language, Allah is the worshipped one. Who is the worshipped one? Whoever made me.

So I can say, whoever made me is the worshipped one and the worshipped one is the greatest. We would argue all night about what exactly to say. Solve your problem, just say Allahu Akbar and everything is done.

Okay? Secondly, what would happen to the Quran? The Quran is the word of Allah. Right? That's what we believe. It's the word of Allah. But the English language translation is only man's attempt to explain to you what he believes is the closest to that which Allah meant by His words. That's all.

That's the reason why generally when you find a translation Quran, it is very strongly encouraged to have the Arabic on one side and the English in order to act as an indemnity to say, you know what, listen to this. This is the word of Allah. This is just my attempt to explain to you what I believe is the closest explanation for that word of Allah. I could be wrong. Man's translation can be wrong, but the word of Allah is never wrong.

This is why today someone was asking me, what's the best translation? And I said, you know what's Sahih International? Together with the explanations of the context of the revelation of the verses plus an explanation of those verses that are not easily understood by the people with a little commentary. And that would be much better than just a word for word translation.

Just like the Bible. I've read the Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament. And I can tell you something, there is a lot that can be misunderstood from it. If you don't know the context, you don't know how to understand it, you don't know the deeper knowledge of it, you won't understand it in its totality. The same applies to the Quran. You may not understand it.

You will need explanation. Some of those verses, a lot of them you'll understand. But mashaAllah, if you want to derive benefit, you're going to need to learn from someone. You're going to need to ask questions. I mean, you will see verses that have a context that is very different from what people are trying to make it seem sometimes. Different context.

So my brothers and sisters, if I were to read in a different language, we would argue over the meaning of:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. That's what most would say, right? Someone would say, no, no, no, you can't say that. You actually... And then we would start arguing and so on. Instead of getting on with

our prayer, we would be debating over what exactly is the meaning, the precise meaning, okay?

You know what Allah says? You have to do it in the Arabic language. Number one, we promised that we're going to preserve the book. One of the ways of preserving the book is to make sure that every Muslim on earth, whether they speak Arabic or not, memorizes at least three short chapters that won't take you longer than 24 hours to memorize, in order for them to be able to fulfill this prayer the way we want them to fulfill it.

So that every Muslim on earth will have contributed towards the preservation of the Quran by knowing a minimum of three chapters of this Quran off by heart, without even knowing its meaning at times. But they know the pronunciation.

Look at this young boy, do you speak Arabic? You don't. He read Surat Al-Fatiha. He read it eloquently, clearly. He read it with the rules and regulations, almost all of them. And he doesn't know Arabic. Isn't this book preserved? How is it preserved? The non-Arabs are reading it at times better than the Arabs.

And you know what? They know it. And they don't speak the language. They've contributed towards it.

Learning the Meaning Enhances the Experience

I've had the same sister. I told her, Sister, it won't take you long to learn Al-Fatiha. Which are the two favorite surahs of the people who are quite, you know, want to be quick in salah.

What's the first thing that comes to your mind? Please. Right? Am I right? Come on, just be honest. I mean, it comes to my mind too. Let's be honest. Come on. Right? Yeah.

And what's the... In the second:

What comes to your mind? And they're already half down. And someone says:

is a little bit, you know, tricky. Because people confuse it with وَالْفَجْرِ sometimes, you know. I had a friend called Omar Regan, and he says he was shouted at. Because one day as an imam, he made a mistake at the end of the surah, you know. Because when you say:

This one says, so, when he says something else. Someone screamed at the back. You know, and he was like, Oh, I almost got a shock. You know.

I don't know if you've seen him explaining that. He's a comedian, so he dramatized it a lot, you know. And I'm like, He almost dropped. I said, Whoa, I dropped listening to you, man. I wonder how it must have been in real life.

My brothers and sisters, it's a miracle. It's a gift of Allah. I don't even want to ask you the question because I know the same hands would actually go up or down. We would know these three surahs or at least three short ones.

How long did it take you? The problem with us is, we haven't made an effort to learn the meanings. It's not difficult. People ask me, How can I concentrate in prayer? And I tell them, Do you know what? You just need to concentrate on the meanings of what you're saying. You'll be fine. Concentrate on what you're saying.

You know, imagine when you're saying Allahu Akbar, you're saying, The one who made me, the worshipped one is the greatest. And then you're starting with your short, you know, duas, little supplications in there, little praise of Allah and some of the surahs. And if you know the meanings of it, it's not difficult. It's not difficult at all.

So, if I were to ask you, and you were to answer, you would realize that every one of you has contributed towards preserving the Quran by memorizing at least surah al-Fatiha. You see what I mean? And by memorizing another two, three surahs to say the least as a minimum. That's a miracle.

So, if you look at this, subhanAllah, Allah says, we will preserve the Quran. So the rules and regulations that He laid automatically preserve the Quran. I promise you, if we had to read the Bible prior to the Quran, if we had to read the Bible in Aramaic as it was revealed in the language of the Prophet Jesus, may peace be upon him.

And it was given such importance that every prayer had to be read and they had a specific salah where they had to read it in the Aramaic. Perhaps, perhaps, who knows? Allah knows best. It might have been preserved in a similar way.

But Allah wanted the Quran to remain unquestionable, undoubted. I saw a little video that someone sent me showing how they believe that this Quran has been altered and changed and whatever. And someone told me, will you make a video to respond to it? And I said, I don't need to because the whole world's Muslims know the same Quran.

There's no point to try and prove to a person who went out looking for a needle that didn't exist in the haystack and pretended like they found it. That was part of the hay. It might have been a bit of a sharp piece that pricked you. It's not a needle. Did you get what I just said? It's not a needle. There's nothing wrong. There's no contradictions, nothing. It's not there. It's just you've not understood it. That's what it is. You haven't known the context of revelation.

People say, why in one place of the Quran Allah says, Oh, regarding alcohol that, you know, when you're getting to pray, make sure that you're not intoxicated. That's what Allah says in one place. So, does that mean we're allowed to drink? Water, yes. To be honest, in another place Allah says, Stay far from it. It's the handiwork of the devil. Abomination from the handiwork of the devil, right? So Allah says, stay far from it.

If you don't know what's the meaning of abrogation and how the Quran was revealed over a long period of time, you would never understand. To you, it would seem like a contradiction, but it's not a contradiction. If you read some of the verses in the Quran without knowing the context, you're going to understand something way beyond what it actually is saying to you. May Allah grant us an understanding.

This is why I say it's our duty. Beyond just knowing the Arabic, which was part of preservation and congratulations to everyone, no matter who you are, you know, congratulations to you, knowingly or unknowingly, you have contributed towards the preserving of the book. SubhanAllah, you have.

And therefore, nobody can debate. I told you and I started off with the question. If you were to travel to a destination of your choice, and they were to read the Quran, you would be able to tell the major blunders that they would be making without knowing that particular language. Isn't that a miracle? May Allah grant us a deep understanding.

The Miracle of Different Recitations

So my duty is to learn a bit more, to make a slightly a bigger effort, to learn a bit more. When I was young, alhamdulillah, I memorized the entire Quran. I spoke a bit of Arabic, but it wasn't enough to understand the meanings of the Quran. Just like the Arabs at times, they would read the Quran, they wouldn't know the deeper meanings of the Quran just because they spoke Arabic, you know.

I mean, you go to Egypt, they'll tell you something, and you don't even know what they're saying. And that's supposed to be Arabic. I mean, come on, may Allah forgive us, right? Am I right? Amazing, amazing.

So, my brothers and sisters, consider yourselves fortunate to have been chosen by Allah to preserve the book. It's a beautiful book. It is the word of Allah. It has in it cure.

So much so, that there have been experiments performed on individuals who have calmed down simply by listening to the melodious verses of the Quran being recited in a beautiful way. It has in it an effect of calming. Such that you cannot explain.

A believer achieves greater calmness, contentment, and inner peace than those who don't believe. But even those who don't believe and the other creatures of the Almighty are impacted by the recitation of the word of Allah without a doubt. You can go and check it. Today we have a lot of information online. You can google it, it's fine. No problem.

You check it out and you'll see what I'm saying. SubhanAllah.

"Do you know what that means? Allah says, those who believe achieve true contentment in their hearts by the remembrance of Allah. For indeed, it is only by the remembrance of Allah that the hearts will achieve contentment."

What's the remembrance of Allah? It starts off with the Quran. It's the highest level of remembrance of Allah is the recitation of the Quran. If someone says, I want you to engage in some dhikr and you open the Quran. And you know what? You started reading, that would be dhikr. It would be remembrance of Allah.

It doesn't mean that you need to do anything else before you start off with the Quran. May Allah grant us the understanding. Yes, there are other adhkar that are very important. But the Quran is the word of Allah. Nothing compares, nothing substitutes it. It will calm you down.

And you know what? I tell people who are into all sorts of music. I tell them, you know what? Substitute it with the Quran. Listen to the various reciters. You'll find the recital that will be soothing to your own nature, to your liking. Tailor-made literally to what soothes you.

If I were to ask you, who's your favorite reciter? Let me ask you the question. Just say it loudly. Who's your favorite reciter? Let's hear some names. Abdullah Basfar, who else? Ra'd Al-Kurdi, who else? Mahir Al- Mu'ayqili, who else? Ajami, who else? Say it again. Yasir Qadhi. Yasir Al-Dawsiri. You got me surprised. I was saying, is he a reciter? SubhanAllah. But yeah, you're right. Dawsiri, Yasir Al-Dawsiri. Who else? Shatri, Fateh, mashallah.

All these names. Now, do you agree that every one of them reads differently? You know why we have a favorite reciter? You know, I had a friend who told me, You know what? You heard what brother Farooq said at the beginning, we're all here for the sake of Allah. That's correct. I agree. We have to be here for the sake of Allah.

Okay. Moments later he said, I want to introduce you to the reason why you're here. Did you hear him say that? Isn't there a contradiction? No, there isn't. You're allowed to come for the sake of Allah to listen to your favorite speaker. There's no shirk in there.

I heard one scholar say, it's shirk. You know why? Because nobody attends his talks. I promise you. He says, it's shirk to attend a specific scholar's talks. You must attend all the talks. Brother, I don't want to attend your talks. You doom me. I feel the heat of Jahannam on my back when you talk. And as for these other guys, when they speak, I feel encouraged. I want to attend.

So don't come and lie to me that it's shirk. And I've heard decent scholars say that. And the real reason is because they don't get a good attendance. There's no other reason. If they had a brilliant attendance, they wouldn't say that.

I believe that you are allowed to have a favorite Quranic reciter for the sake of Allah because that recitation soothes you. And therefore, nobody can debate. I told you and I started off with the question. If you were to travel to a destination of your choice, and they were to read the Quran, you would be able to tell the major blunders that they would be making without knowing that particular language.

Isn't that a miracle? May Allah grant us a deep understanding. So my duty is to learn a bit more, to make a slightly a bigger effort, to learn a bit more. When I was young, alhamdulillah, I memorized the entire

Quran.

I spoke a bit of Arabic, but it wasn't enough to understand the meanings of the Quran. Just like the Arabs at times, they would read the Quran, they wouldn't know the deeper meanings of the Quran just because they spoke Arabic, you know. I mean, you go to Egypt, they'll tell you something and you don't even know what they're saying.

And that's supposed to be Arabic. I mean, come on, may Allah forgive us, right? Am I right? Amazing, amazing. So, my brothers and sisters, consider yourselves fortunate to have been chosen by Allah to preserve the book.

It's a beautiful book. It is the word of Allah. It has in it cure.

The Diversity of Quranic Recitations

So much so, that there have been experiments performed on individuals who have calmed down simply by listening to the melodious verses of the Quran being recited in a beautiful way. It has in it an effect of calming. Such that you cannot explain.

A believer achieves greater calmness, contentment, and inner peace than those who don't believe. But even those who don't believe and the other creatures of the Almighty are impacted by the recitation of the word of Allah without a doubt. You can go and check it.

Today we have a lot of information online. You can google it, it's fine. No problem.

It's not shirk, you know. Al-Shuraim, how beautifully he reads. It's amazing.

And now we can actually watch, before we only used to hear the audio. And you watch this man, you know. How many of you were very surprised when you saw for the first time what Shaykh Ali Al-Hudhaifi looks like? Right? You're surprised because you've heard him, I heard him since I was a child.

When we saw him, I actually met him when I lived in Medina. I was fortunate enough. Let me not go into all of that. But I saw him, I said, wow, this is the same voice. Doesn't even look the same, right? But then you get used to it, okay?

We're so fortunate. Each one of us has a different temperament. Each one of us has a different, you know, mood. Sometimes, you know, you have Khalil Al-Husari, who is a powerful reciter. Really Shaykh-ul-Qurra. He's one of the top. He's the Shaykh of all the Qurra. Khalil, his name is Shaykh Mahmood. Shaykh Mahmood is his name. Khalil Al-Husari. You listen to him, amazing.

But some people are not really as moved by that. They can listen to, you know, a more melodious recitation of Shaykh Muhammad. Muhammad Ayyub. Shaykh Muhammad Ayyub, rahmatullahi alayh. He is sahibul maqam al-Hijazi. He reads in a specific way. And he has this maqam, this tune, you know. We heard the recital earlier. A beautiful tune.

Some people don't like the tunes. Some people want a loud, you know, straightforward recital. This is part of the miracle of Allah. I said earlier, you substitute that with this and see how your life changes. It's not difficult, you know.

Those people who are into heavy metal music, if you were to have a recital of someone, you know, Idrees Abkar, I think that would wake you up, you know. Who knows Idrees Abkar? Listen to his Suratul Isra. It will conquer any heart. If you go to YouTube and you search for Idrees Abkar Suratul Isra, I think that's one of the most fantastic recitations he has ever rendered.

Because you can have the same reciter and at times it's a little bit different based on their voice, based on the sound, based on the masjid, based on the environment. You could have the same reciter reading in a different way. SubhanAllah.

Isn't that a miracle? Miracle of the Quran. SubhanAllah. Amazing. So many different recitals. They're reading the same Quran but it sounds so different. It sounds like, you know, this melody is amazing.

If I were to imitate a few and ask you, who am I imitating? Would you know? You would know. Can we try it? Okay, let's try.

Say your name. Everyone's got it right, right? You wanna try someone else?

Say your name. Al-Hudhaifi.

Say your name. Ali Jabir. Abdullah Al-Matrood is similar but slower. You got it? Okay, what about this one?

Anyone heard that? Anyone heard that before? I see only the people in the first sakh know who it was. Please can you put up your hand at the back if you know that recitation, you recognize it. Put up your hands. Rahmatullahi Alayhi, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Subayli.

He was an Imam of Makkah, in the haram in Makkah for almost 50 years. SubhanAllah. Amazing, right? What about:

No, come on. An Imam in Makkah still called Salih Ibn Humaid. Do you agree? What about:

Anyone? Ahmed Talib, Muhammad Ayub.

The point I'm raising is, it's the same surah, it's the same Quran, it's the same words, but each one is soothing in its own way, impacting upon everyone in its own unique way.

"So Allah says, it is indeed the remembrance of Allah that will calm the heart of a believer. That's what calms the heart." Quran 13:28

May Allah grant us the calmness.

Conclusion

I've only touched on three or four different aspects of these miracles in a very unique interactive way. The reason is, when we talk about miracles within the Quran, the basics we haven't ever spoken about sometimes, right? And we don't appreciate it.

I was saying moments ago, there's nothing wrong in having a favorite reciter for the sake of Allah. If you came here for the sake of Allah to listen to someone who may move you, who will inspire you, there's nothing wrong. Even if it's only a specific person or a group of people or one or two of them, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with that.

May Allah grant us a deep understanding. May Allah bless every one of us.