4 Guided Steps in the Quran for Self Transformation

By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-09T14:23:47.861859+00:00 | Topic: Quran

Personal Journey and Background

I'm really grateful for those of you that had already attended it and are getting a review of the lecture that I gave. I hope to cover everything that I did in the live webinar that I covered before. And I'll follow, Inshallah, as much as I can the same exact format.

I'd like to start with a personal experience and then explain to you exactly the structure of this brief lecture, Inshallah. When I started learning about religion and got interested in Islam in my college days, there were many avenues to take. I mean, you could have studied Islam any number of ways. And depending on which way you start learning, your entire view of Islam gets shaped by your, in a sense, your first impression. And New York, where I started learning about Islam, was a pretty crazy place. Depending on which masjid you go, you get a different brand of Islam, pretty much.

The Transformative Ramadan Experience

And I was really eager to just acquire everything that I could from anywhere that I could. And I just have this habit, when I get into it, I just really, really entirely give myself to one thing. And I did that.

I studied Islam with one group, then another, then another, then another, one scholar, then another, then another, just completely giving myself, truly trying to understand the point of view, until I stumbled upon one thing that... And when I experienced it, I knew that something inside me had completely changed. It happened in Ramadan, early on in my journey, when I didn't even know much about the Arabic language at all. And I attended a program where my teacher, who happens to be my Arabic teacher, my first Quran teacher, Dr. Abdus Sami, was covering the entire Quran in translation.

The Power of Quranic Connection

And when he was covering it in translation, and giving a brief synopsis of every ayah, presenting it as a conversation, it was the first time that I actually felt that I can connect with the Quran as a book that personally speaks to me. Up until then, I tried reading the Quran in translation. I found myself disengaged with it very easily.

I found myself confused about many things that it had to say very easily. If you want to study a particular topic in Islam, fine, you can go ask a scholar, read an article, maybe get a book. But if you wanted to get a good grasp of what is this surah about, or what is this ayah talking about, or what are these passages about, etc.

It seemed like you have to go a lot farther than translation to really get it. And the materials that are available beyond translation, what we call tafsir easily, seem pretty complicated. It's not something that you can easily just study and grasp.

The Life-Changing Experience

So I felt like there's a disconnect between myself and the Quran, even though it's the primary text of Islam. But in this Ramadan experience, it was the first time that I truly, truly felt connected with the word of Allah. These sessions would be like, I don't know, two, three hours long, and half an hour in, 20 minutes in even, I'd lose sight of the fact that I'm in a lecture.

I'd feel like Allah is talking to me. And it was so powerful an experience, that at the end of that series, I went to him, he didn't know who I was, went up to him and I literally asked him, I really want to do what you do. And I meant two things by that.

I want to teach what you teach, because it's so meaningful what you've taught. And I want to be able to contribute in that way. But more importantly, I want to be able to take from the wellspring that you take.

The Journey Continues

I want to be able to learn like you've learned. And he's the one who then inspired me to become a student of the Quran and of the Arabic language. And that journey then continued, that snowballed into things I didn't expect.

I was just a kid trying to learn more about the Quran. And somehow, some of the few things I taught friends and family, maybe gave a khutbah here and there, it snowballed into podcasts that started getting downloaded in the millions, and speaking requests all over the world, and a phenomenal opportunity to meet remarkable scholars from everywhere to learn from. And now, Bayyinah Institute has been around nearly a decade, or actually more than a decade now.

So, alhamdulillah, things transpired from there, but it all began with that Ramadan Quran experience. And that brings me to what this webinar is about.

Introduction to Surah Al-Jumu'ah

This is a webinar about the beginning of the 62nd surah, surah al-Jumu'ah. And these ayahs in the course of my study, when I studied these particular ayahs, they resonated with me in a very special way. Because I felt like they summarized my own journey into the Quran, and in a sense into Islam itself. Like how I felt transformed from within, and how my outlook on life changed, was a process.

And that process of change was actually very beautifully articulated in these opening ayahs of surah al-Jumu'ah. And that's my intention today to share with you.

Structure of the Discussion

And so I'll get right into now, just some things about the discussion I'm gonna have with you. And hopefully, insha'Allah, you'll be able to stick with me, and go through it in a systematic way. And I hope to keep things organized so that you can keep things in your mind. I'm interested not just in giving a lecture, but in sharing something with you that you internalize so well, you can share it in your own words with somebody else, insha'Allah.

The first thing I'm gonna try to do is give you an introduction to surah al-Jumu'ah, the 62nd surah of the Quran, just say a few introductory comments about it. The second thing I hope to do is to cover four names of Allah. The first ayah of this surah describes Allah with four of His names.

Very beautiful, profound names in a certain special order. So we're gonna talk about those four names a little bit, and that order, and what it signifies. Then we're gonna talk in the second ayah, about the task given to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Our Messenger was given the greatest mission ever given to a human being.

And that entire mission has been summarized in the second ayah by four tasks. These are the four things the Prophet had to do (صلى الله عليه وسلم) to bring about the kind of transformation that he did. And at the end of this discussion, the final discussion I'll have with you, is what does all of that mean for my and your own self-transformation? These four guided steps in the Quran for self-transformation, that's what I called this webinar, that's what they're about at the end.

The Musabbihat Surahs

We learn these lessons from the Quran, and then extract from them at the end what applies to ourselves. So let's begin with that introduction, the first discussion, a brief introduction to surah al-Jumu'ah. It belongs to a group of surahs called the Musabbihat.

That's a big Arabic word, you may not know what it means, so let me tell you briefly. Musabbihat actually means those that declare Allah's perfection. What these surahs have in common, is all of them begin with either:

or:

Everything in the heavens and the earth, has been declaring Allah's perfection, and will continue to declare Allah's perfection, and is already declaring Allah's perfection.

Comparison Between Creation and Believers

These are the declarations at the beginning of this group of Madani surahs, within which this surah belongs, surah al-Jumu'ah belongs. But, the other thing that these surahs have in common that should be noted, is that all of them first begin with, the heavens and the earth declare Allah's perfection, and then they compare the heavens and the earth, to the believers living in Medina, after the Prophet had migrated, and the new community of Muslims was formed in Medina, it compares the state of the Muslims to the heavens and the earth. Essentially saying, the skies and the earth do what they're told, Allah created them, and they submit before Allah, and declare His perfection.

Why do you have levels of faith, some of you very committed, some of you not committed at all, some of you even hypocritical, some of you very weak in their conviction, there's this variation, and so Allah is actually raising the level of faith, and hoping to transform everybody, through the messages in these surahs, in these musabbihat. Now, part of that group, once again, is surah al-Jumu'ah. But surah al-Jumu'ah, even within this small group of surahs in the Quran, stands in a unique place.

The Unique Nature of Surah Al-Jumu'ah

Why? Because there's two reasons, one, first and foremost, is because in every other surah, Allah would describe the skies and the earth, and what they do, and they're supposed to:

And since the skies and the earth do what they're supposed to do, the believers are then criticized, why don't you do what you're supposed to do?

Why don't you do what, you know, why do you say what you don't do?

He's the one who made you - among you are those who disbelieve, among you there are those who believe. Why is there a discrepancy among human beings, and among the believing community, when there's no discrepancy in the skies? But this surah is unique, as soon as Allah describes the skies and the earth, and they do what they're supposed to, he comes to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) instead of criticizing us, he comes to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and describes that he does what he's supposed to.

Like just as the heavens follow the order, heavenly order of Allah, the Prophet himself (صلى الله عليه وسلم) executed the heavenly order of Allah.

There's a harmony between the skies and the earth, and what our Prophet himself did (صلى الله عليه وسلم) which is a beautiful unique quality of this surah. In addition to the fact that, instead of mentioning two of Allah's names, it mentions four of his names, we'll get to that in the second discussion.

The Message of Change and Transformation

Now before we get into the topic of the first ayah, and the four names of Allah that I was gonna talk to you about, I wanna talk to you about the overall message of, not just this webinar, but this entire surah.

Its message is essentially change. And to understand that, you have to understand a parable, an analogy that is very common in the Quran. Quran compares itself, on a number of occasions, to water raining from the sky.

That's the comparison that's made. And that's an important comparison to understand. Water comes from the sky, the Quran came from the sky. Water is pure, the Quran is pure. Water gives life to the earth that was previously dead. It had the potential for life when it was previously dead.

The same way the Quran gives life to the hearts that were previously dead. They had potential in them, but that potential hadn't been activated yet inside. Or they had the seed inside of goodness, but it hadn't been given an opportunity to blossom and to bloom.

The Water-Quran Analogy

So the water and Quran analogy is a very powerful one, because it's actually an analogy of transformation itself. We are, in a sense, being compared to the earth. Just like the earth can be transformed by water, you won't recognize the land after the greenery comes, after the rain has done its effect, and before it looks like two different places, the same is true of human beings when the effect of revelation takes place.

So now let's talk about that transformation, that how did human beings transform? Like the earth transforms, how did human beings transform? What was that change that the Quran brought about? Just looking at it from a historical point of view.

The Historical Revolution

The revelation of the Quran starts when the Prophet is at the age of 40, and it discontinues when he's at the age of 63. So that's a 23 year very brief period. And in this period, an incredible revolution took place in this unknown part of the world map. In the middle of that desert, where there was no massive empire, and no grand historians and scholars and things like that. In the middle of that completely unknown place, a revolution took place.

A revolution that changed individuals from within. Everything about them changed, how they looked at life, how they thought about happiness and sadness, what their priorities were, practically everything changed about the way they eat, the way they sleep, how they get married, who they get married to, how they get divorced, what they think about life and death, how they clean themselves, how they spend their time, what should their priorities in a day and in their year and their life be, what should they love and what should they hate. Everything about them, emotionally, practically, in their daily habits transformed.

Societal Transformation

It's an incredible individual transformation, but it's not just an individual transformation. It was also a societal transformation. The way business is conducted changed forever. The way the economy is organized changed. The way people deal with each other. What are the rights of men and women? And how should they interact with one another in society? How do people of different economic classes deal with each other? How do governments deal with people and people deal with governments? What are the norms and values that govern the behavior of a society? What are even the ethics of war? How is even war conducted?

Meaning, even at a societal level, the value system was completely revolutionized within these 23 years. It's actually from a historical point of view, an unprecedented kind of change within one group of people, within one society. Add to that, if you think about the fact that these people had a culture and a tradition that was thousands of years old. And when people follow a tradition that's centuries old, then they're very set in their ways.

The Unprecedented Change

It's not easy to change them. But something happened in this time that changed them in a way that no other change in human history even compares. And that's not enough.

Not only that little small portion of the world map changed, but as a result of it in just a few years until to this day, the map of the world itself has changed forever. You know, you and I, many of us are Muslim today because of what happened in those 23 years. It's an incredible, incredible change that continues to transform the world as we speak today.

The Root of All Change

And it started then and the effect still continues. But if you look at it from the Quran's point of view, yes, this is from a historical point of view, a political scientist point of view, from a sociologist point of view, from an economist point of view, they can see and measure these changes and look at how the map changed, and how politics changed, how Islam spread and all of it. But if you look at it from the Quran's point of view, the most incredible change that happened was one change.

It was change inside people's hearts. Something inside people transformed. You could talk about how green the earth is on the outside. The Quran is saying it's that seed within that transformed. That's the root of all of that change and that's what we're gonna try to get at in today's webinar. These were my few comments about the introduction to the surah and the subject matter that we're gonna be dealing with.

Now I have three more discussions to share with you just briefly outlining them once again. The first thing I'm gonna talk to you about now is gonna be the four names of Allah from the first ayah. Then I'll talk to you about the four tasks given to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in the second ayah. And then thirdly, we'll tie it all together and try to understand something about transforming ourselves, self- transformation.

The Four Names of Allah

So let's begin with the first ayah, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.

Everything in the skies and in the earth declares Allah's perfection and will continue to do so. The King, the Pure, the Authority, the Wise. This is a simplified translation in which I'm going to emphasize the four names of Allah that have been mentioned.

And then we'll dig a little bit deeper. Once again in brief translation, everything in the skies and everything in the earth continues to declare and will continue to declare the perfection of Allah who is the King, the Pure, the Authority, the Wise. In that order, the King, the Pure, the Authority, the Wise.

Imam Fakhruddin Ar-Razi's Commentary

Okay. So let's now talk about each one of these names a little bit. And what I want to start with is actually an observation of Imam Fakhruddin Ar Razi, rahimahullah, who pondered over these four names of Allah in this package together.

And the thing that he felt ties them all together is the fact that each one of these names in its own way draws you closer to Allah. Each one of these names attracts you to Allah and keeps you in close company of Allah. And he wanted to describe that. And so I'm taking some excerpts from his commentary.

The King (Al-Malik)

I'll start with his commentary on the name, the King.

When you're sitting in the company of someone great, in this case, in the company of the King, it's improper protocol for you to just walk away. You can't just, you know, you've been given the honor of being in the company of royalty, being invited to the castle, being invited to the inner quarters of a King. You're not sitting in a restaurant, you're not sitting at a train station or in a movie theater or something, you just get up and walk away. There's an actual, you know, proper etiquette, respect and protocol that has to be observed because you are in the presence of royalty.

I actually have experience with this to an extent in the human sense. I've had the opportunity to meet with presidents and, you know, in some cases, members of royal families in different countries, etc. And before you meet them, there's always a protocol team that tells you, here's how you're gonna meet the president, here's how you greet the King, here's where you're gonna sit, here's how you're gonna... You let him eat first, then you eat this, that, the other... You know, there's all this stuff.

You can't just like in the middle of the conversation, pick up the phone and say, hey, excuse me King, I gotta take a phone call. That's not gonna happen. What he's trying to get at is, when you get introduced to Allah, you are in awe of the fact that you're in the presence of royalty.

And you're going to feel ashamed, embarrassed, walking away from that presence, that grand presence. You're so honored that you got to be there, why would you want to leave that presence? You'll be reluctant to leave that presence. So, this first name of Allah, draws you in and keeps you there out of reverence for Allah.

The Pure (Al-Quddus)

The second name of Allah, al-Quddus, which I simply translated as, the pure. He says about it:

He is someone who is free from flaws. And because they're free from flaws, they're refined, pure individuals, such a person and such an entity, their company is desired.

Let me put that in simple words for you. People like refined company. We like people that are pure in their speech, in their mannerisms, in their behavior. Their kindness is pure, their advice is pure, their sincerity is pure. You're gravitating towards those kinds of people, truthful people, honest people, people that are genuine with you. Those are the kinds of people that you want to be around.

So, human beings naturally are drawn towards truthfulness, and cleanliness, and pure kinds of company. But even in the physical sense, if you live in a polluted area, where there's smoke, and smog, and dust, and all of that, human beings want to move away from that towards what? A natural environment, a pure environment where they can breathe fresh air, where they can drink pure water. Purity is something that attracts people in the personal, emotional sense, but even physically, we are drawn towards purity and cleanliness.

We want to get away from filth and dirtiness. That's a human inclination Allah put inside of us. So in a sense, when you get introduced to Allah is the ultimately pure. Being in His company starts purifying you, and thus you feel a change inside of you, and you don't want to leave that company. That's attractive in and of itself. So two names of Allah, so far so good.

The quick recap would be the king, that's the first name. The pure, that would be the second name.

The Authority (Al-Aziz)

The third name of Allah is the authority, Al-Aziz. He says about it:

Those who are around the authority, and by the way, let me translate that a little better. I'm keeping it simple with the words, the king, the pure, the authority, the wise. Now we're on authority, the third one.

But let me just give you a little bit more about the word Al-Aziz from the Arabic language. It actually combines two meanings. It combines the meaning of authority, which I've already translated. But it also includes the meaning of honor and dignity and respect. And if you combine those two, the notion that comes from Al-Aziz is an authority that commands respect. That's an important distinction because there are people and there are entities that have authority but they don't have any respect.

There are neighborhoods in which the police have a lot of authority but the community doesn't respect them. That happens. There may be an institution, there may be people that people respect, like a teacher may be respected but he has no authority. That might happen. But Al-Aziz is someone who has authority and that authority is also respected. And so he says then, why is this name attractive?

Because to Imam Razi, all these names are attractive in some way, right? They're drawing you in closer to Allah. He says it's similar to the king. An authority, a noble respected authority has invited you, you're in their company, you walking away from that company is not degrading them, it's degrading you. You missed out on an honor.

You got invited by somebody noble. You got invited by the authority. So you showing your loyalty, you coming up and showing up and staying there is a means of dignifying yourself. So one actually becomes dignified in the company of Al-Aziz. They get Izzah because they're in the company of Al-Aziz.

The Wise (Al-Hakim)

And finally, I quickly get to the final name in this list, Al-Malik, Al-Quddus, Al-Aziz and finally Al-Hakim. The king, the pure, the authority and finally the wise, Al-Hakim.

Beautifully said. When you're in the company of someone wise, every moment you miss out on getting wisdom from them is a loss for you.

Every moment you wanna take the most of it. I mean I have personal experience with this and you might too. There are people, very few people in our life are a source of real wisdom. And if you have those kinds of people, you know that they're very sought after company. So you getting their undivided attention is not easy. And if you do get it, you wanna cherish every moment that you possibly can to capture whatever wisdom they have to offer you.

There are some teachers in different parts of the world that I look up to. I'll travel and not to go and give a talk or a speech. I'll just travel to go see them and ask them questions. And if they can give me an hour of their time, 20 minutes of their time, I'll be grateful. Because those 20 minutes are more valuable to me than 5-6 hours of studying on my own. That wisdom to me is priceless.

That company is priceless. So with the wise, every moment is precious and it's a close, intimate relationship with a teacher, a mentor, an elder, someone who cares and loves for you and therefore gives you wisdom. Okay.

Further Analysis: Pairing the Names

So these are the four names of Allah that are described inside of this ayah. The king, the pure, the authority, and the wise. This was some things about Imam Razi and how he framed these names together.

I wanna add some of my own observations to that observation. And I'd like to share with you that these four names of Allah can be further paired up. There are four of them. You can divide them into two pairs. And those two pairs will be the first and the third name are similar. And the second and the fourth name have something in common.

So one and three, two and four. Now let me put words to that. That would mean that the king and the authority have something in common. And the pure and the wise have something in common.

Names of Distance and Authority

So let's talk about that. On the one hand, it should be obvious to many of you, what are the king and the authority have in common? A king is an authority. And a king ideally is also a respected authority. They

Names of Allah

have a lot in common. And they both demand loyalty.

They are authorities that have to be respected. They have to be obeyed. You have to recognize that they're up here and you're down here. An authority is superior. A king is superior. They're royal and you're a subject. You're down here. These names of Allah, what effect do they have? The effect they have is, they make me loyal to Allah, obedient to Allah, humble before Allah. They make me afraid of Allah.

They may even be intimidating to me. They're overwhelming to me about the power and the grandeur of Allah and my insignificance. That's what these names highlight. What two names? Al-Malik and Al-Aziz. They are about the greatness of Allah and therefore how minuscule and insignificant I am. I become (عَبْد - ʿabd), you know. I become humbled before these two names.

Names of Closeness and Intimacy

But if you look at the other two names, Al-Quddus and Al-Hakeem. The pure and the wise. Well, purity, refinement, cannot be experienced from a distance like those first two names. Purity and refinement is when you get close to someone and you see their mannerisms. Wisdom is something that when someone puts their hand over your shoulder and gives you advice and understands your situation and then gives you exactly relevant counsel pertaining to your situation.

I'm reminded particularly in the matter of Al-Hakeem, of the story of Luqman in the Quran. Luqman lovingly gives advice to his son. And Allah says:

"We gave Luqman wisdom and then he imparts that wisdom onto his son. That intimate, close, loving relationship, part of that is imparting wisdom. You can't just get wisdom from a distance. You have to develop a relationship with somebody for them to impart wisdom relevant to your life to you.

So on the first side, Al-Quddus, refined company, pure company, company whose presence makes you feel better about yourself, brings you peace. In a sense, you can think of it, I like to think of Al-Quddus and Al-Hakeem paired also in a sense that when you're in the company of someone pure, your heart starts getting purified. And when you're in the company of someone wise, your mind starts getting purified with their wisdom.

So it's hearts and minds that are being refined by the Al-Quddus and Al-Hakeem, the pure and the wise. So two names are distant, royal, grand, even intimidating. And two names are close and friendly and they bring you near.

The Balance of Distance and Closeness

That kind of makes it seem like these four names are near, or rather far, then near, then far, then near. There's a push and a pull going on as far as how I'm to react to these names between myself and Allah.

That dichotomy and that tension is actually something beautifully articulated in the Quran.

And they're both necessary components of my relationship with Allah. The distance and the closeness with Allah. First I want to give you an example of it. And the example, my favorite example of it, among many, is the example of Musa alayhi as-salam. Moses, when he saw the fire, he was with his family, and he saw a fire up top the mountain. He told his family, you stay here, I see a fire, maybe I'll get some directions there.

Little did he know, he's gonna be meeting with Allah when he goes up there. When he gets there, what's the first experience he has? Allah says:

There is no doubt, I am your master, take your shoes off then. You are no doubt in the sacred valley of Tuwa.

He's intimidated. Allah has established his mastery over him. He's just a slave. Take your shoes off, show proper etiquette. This is an intimidating relationship. And immediately following that, what does Allah say?

I have chosen you. I've selected you. Listen carefully to the inspiration being given. Like Allah is saying, I see good in you, that's why this choice has been made. He's making him feel comfortable now all of a sudden. It's closeness with him. And immediately following that:

I am no doubt Allah. There is nothing to be worshipped and obeyed besides me. Be my slave. Enslave yourself to me. Worship me. That's again mastery and slavery. An intimidating, a powerful relationship.

And immediately following that, a close relationship:

Establish the salah so you can remember me. Remembrance of Allah of course is a matter of the heart and a matter of closeness with Allah.

Following that again, he scares him and says, the hour is coming:

The hour is coming. I'm keeping it hidden so every person gets paid, gets compensated in accordance with the efforts they made. Don't let anybody distract you, especially the one who doesn't believe in it.

Distract you from it. And they follow their own way and fall off a cliff. Literally he says, (فَتَرْدَىٰ - fatarda) because he's standing on a cliff. So he says, they fall off a cliff figuratively, you might fall literally.

As Musa is terrified of judgment day, he says:

What is in your right hand there, Musa? What's that in your right hand? Like a casual conversation, bringing him close again.

The Necessity of Balance

I wanted to highlight this because this happens all over the Quran, but now it's important to understand, why? Why does that happen? Why are some names intimidating us, scaring us, establishing Allah's authority, and other names making him a friend and a close ally, you know. Even someone we love and who loves us.

Those two things don't go hand in hand. How are they always there together? You see, if you only have a relationship with Allah about authority, then you're gonna be so scared of Allah and so terrified of Allah that you will lose all hope. If you have a relationship with Allah that's all friendship and love. Allah loves me, He knows what I'm going through, I love Him, He's my best friend, etc. etc. You know what happens with friends? Friends don't have authority over each other.

Friends start saying, yeah, I crossed the line, but so what? He's my friend, He loves me too much. If we became entirely connected to Allah through His authority, we would become hopeless and fearful only. It would be a very depressing outlook on our relationship with Allah.

If our relationship with Allah was only about closeness, only about friendship and intimacy, we would end up taking advantage of that relationship and disobeying Him and not regarding His guidelines. Allah keeps that balance between those two things just like He does between hope and fear. It's between authority and closeness that He maintains that balance and that balance is so beautifully knit together in the first ayah of this surah:

The King, the Pure, the Authority, the Wise, they're close and far, close and far, over and over again, subhanAllah.

The Four Tasks of the Prophet

So now we're ready, now that I've given you a recap of these four names, the King, the Pure, the Authority, and the Wise, now I'd like to talk to you about my second discussion which is about the

Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and the four tasks Allah gave him. I wanna share first of all the ayah with you and then we'll discuss it in some detail and I'll briefly translate it for you too.

He is the one who appointed among the illiterate ones a messenger from among them who recites unto them, who narrates unto them his miracles, his ayaat, his revelations or miracles, you can call the ayaat.

وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ

Here is what they are. He teaches them, he recites the ayaat unto them, he narrates unto them or introduces them to the miracles, he purifies them, he teaches them the law and the wisdom. That's the fourth thing.

وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ

Even though from much before they had been immersed in obvious misguidance. These people were lost for many, many centuries, many, many generations, obviously lost worshipping all kinds of false gods and pagan idols. So that's the commentary made in this ayah.

The Four Tasks Identified

Here once again, four tasks have been highlighted:

1. Reciting the ayaat
2. Purification - the messenger purifies
3. وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ - He teaches them the law
4. He teaches them wisdom

The Unique Burden of the Final Prophet

In order to understand these four tasks, the first thing I want to share with you is the fact that the Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم among all of the other prophets carries a unique burden. Being the last messenger isn't just the fact that you're last on the list.

It means you have the heaviest load that has ever been given. No other prophet is coming to guide humanity. So what he has been given, and what he must deliver in those 23 years, isn't just necessary that it transforms his immediate audience.

He has to be given something that is going to continue to transform humanity until the day of judgment, the way prophets used to transform people. The job that was done previously by prophets must now be done by this one prophet for every nation, every ethnicity, every generation, every society to come until

judgment day. That's the burden on our messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. And on top of all of that, you know messengers used to be given this miracles, grand miracles to be able to bring about their changes, to be able to convince people like Musa and the staff.

He's only going to be given the Quran. He's not going to be given anything else.

The Ambassador Analogy

But in order to understand the beauty of these and the flow of these four tasks in depth, I'd like to start this discussion with an analogy. And I think it ties in some of the key concepts that are being communicated here in these ayat. Imagine that there's a town that's kind of backwards as a village, not very civilized. People live there. They don't have much in the way of law or infrastructure or refinement. And one day, they see an entourage of horses. Back in the day, horses decked out, soldiers in uniforms and an ambassador coming with them.

And the ambassador is dressed in clothes they've never seen before. Clearly, these people are not from around here. And he opens up this grand scroll and starts reading them a message from a king who would like to annex their village. He'd like to take over their village and offer them the benefits of being part of their kingdom and starts giving them all of this message from this king. And these people look at him and say, First of all, it's obvious you're not from here. But how do we know you're actually here from a king? What proof do you have?

So he shows them coins. He shows them treasures that can only possibly belong to a king. He gives them some kind of indication that he represents royalty. If they're convinced, they say, you know what, we'll hear him out. We want to hear what this king has to say. You know, we're kind of impressed with the entourage and everything he brought and the proofs of his grand royalty. We're going to give him a shot.

If you're going to go to that company of that king, you're going to go meet him, then you're going to have to dress your best. You're going to have to dress for the occasion and observe proper protocol. You're going to have to refine yourself. You're going to have to purify yourself. Keep in track. Keep in line what we're talking about in the ayat.

يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ

You go meet this king and the king says, if you want to be part of my kingdom, here are the laws you have to follow. Here are the regulations you must now adapt. This will become your constitution.

And he over time develops these people and they implement more and more of the laws of the kingdom until they themselves become a very refined, well-developed, well-established, sophisticated society. And only as they develop and grow, do they start learning the advantages of becoming a more sophisticated nation. They didn't see the wisdom in some of that law before, but now they start seeing that wisdom. They went through this process of refinement.

Applying the Analogy

I wanted to give you that analogy because it's kind of like what the messenger did, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. But there are some differences. The commonality however, is that those people that the prophet came to have not had a message from their king for many, many generations.

The first thing, what did the messenger do? He recited Allah's ayat.

People heard the message of the Quran and he's claiming that this is from God, it's from Allah. They said, how do you know it's from Allah? How do we know? What proof do you have that this is from Allah? The words of Allah were so powerful, were so grand, were so inimitable. You couldn't produce something like them. You were so overwhelmed by them that the audience that would hear it would know immediately that those words don't belong to a human being.

The Power of Quranic Recitation

They were experiencing the miracle of Allah's words directly and that alone was humbling them. There were instances where people came to debate with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he would recite ayat and he would get to an ayah where Allah commands everyone fall into sajdah. Disbelievers, the entire congregation of them would fall in prostration.

That happened. The Quran, Quran's words overpowered them and that's the first thing the Prophet did, introduce people to the miraculous power of the Quran.

He's introducing them and while he's introducing them, they are in awe that this does not belong to this human being. This is coming from a much more grand, much more royal, much more powerful source.

The Process of Purification

Then some people were in so much awe of that word that they wanted to accept that word and recognize that they want to now become purified. These were the people that then accompanied the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They came all around him, they hovered around him, they formed a society around him and he would give them constant reminder.

Remind if reminder has any benefit.

Continuous reminder is going to benefit believers.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would continuously give them reminder through the word of Allah and through that reminder two things happened. Their hearts start being purified of greed, of jealousy, of materialism, of want and worry about worldly things. Their hearts start becoming more and more connected to Allah and less and less connected to material things.

They start seeing things in a more refined and beautiful way but their minds start getting refined too. Their thought process starts changing. They start criticizing things they previously didn't criticize. They start appreciating things previously they didn't appreciate. A purification is happening because of their constant exposure to revelation. This Quran is transforming them with this regular exposure.

This is (وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ - He's purifying them).

The Teaching of the Law

And when they reached the point of purification, their hearts and minds were completely submitted before Allah after they were in all of Allah's miracles already. These became the strongest of people, people that were willing to leave everything behind.

And when Allah gave them laws, finally when Allah started giving them laws, when He started telling them that certain foods that you've been eating your whole life you can no longer eat. Certain drinks that are addictive in nature, wine and alcohol, addictive in nature, that you've been enjoying your entire life, today is the day you stop drinking, that's it. Certain clothing, you know, women that loved beautifying themselves and dressing up and going out in social gatherings and doing all of that. And then Quran comes and says, no, from today on you're gonna dress like this. And gave them laws.

When Allah gave those laws, these people were immediately ready to implement those laws. Why did that happen? Because two things had already happened over a long period of time.

They were in all of Allah's miracle, they were humbled by Allah's words, and they were constantly being purified by reminder. And then finally they were ready to learn the law.

Aisha's Profound Observation

I'm reminded, I always repeat it because it's such epic words by Aisha radiAllahu anha:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4993)

She says, if the first thing ever revealed was, don't drink alcohol, we would have said, Wallahi, we will never stop the consumption of alcohol ever. We will never give it up. Because we weren't purified yet. That's the point that she's making.

So here (يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ - actually) (وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ - teaches them the book). It's a very very powerful reminder that we have to internalize that laws, the regulations of Islam, aren't just taught just like that. Do this, don't do this. This is what we do with our children nowadays. This is haram, this is haram, this is haram.

If you really want them to transform, then they have to go through the same process that the Quran identified here.

The Endless Journey of Wisdom

Now, finally is the endless journey. (وَالْحِكْمَةَ - And He teaches them the wisdom). Why do I call that the endless journey? See, laws are a finite set of regulations. It's a number of rules. This is prohibited, this is prohibited, this is prohibited. This is a mandatory requirement. This is what you must. You must pray five times a day. If you can afford to, you must go to hajj. You must fast in the month of Ramadan. Laws are finite and regulated. There's not an infinite number of laws in Islam.

But wisdom is an entirely different entity. Wisdom is an endless, lifelong pursuit. The Quran didn't just come here to give us laws. The Quran came to give us endless, lifelong wisdom. My entire life will be spent exploring the wisdom of the Quran and I will leave this world having only captured a few drops. That's the nature of wisdom.

And so Allah (عز وجل) says that, finally He teaches them the wisdom. He teaches them a way to engage with this book and draw more and more and more treasures from it. And this is done by means of reflection and contemplation.

Don't they ponder deeply upon the Quran. This is the process that was given.

And by the way, one more thing about wisdom is that wisdom also starts teaching you the wisdom behind the laws. It starts actually showing you that Islam isn't just a bunch of regulations. It's actually a moral code. It's a spiritual code. These laws have a spiritual benefit, a moral benefit, you know. That's wisdom behind the laws that starts becoming manifest as you study.

The Perfect Correspondence

These are the four steps of transformation that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was given. Now I get to one of my favorite parts in this presentation. And that is how these four parts that I just shared with you were able to transform that society that had been lost for many, many, many generations.

Allah is telling us that the Quran cannot be underestimated. The Quran cannot be, it's not just a book that you read. The Quran is a book that you use to be completely transformed.

These four tasks of the Prophet, I remind you again, he recites the ayat, he purifies them, he teaches them the law, he teaches them the wisdom, are actually perfectly superimposed on the four names of Allah that I started this discussion with. This is one of my favorite parts of this presentation. You know, Allah (عز وجل) will say, I remind you of those four names, the king, the pure, the authority, the wise.

The King and the Signs

Go back to the king. The king is known by, when people came and saw this ambassador, they were skeptical, are you really from a king? What did he have to show them? Proof. What are the ayat? When the messenger recites the ayat onto the people, when he shows them the miracles, what is he actually doing? He's now showing them the proof that this can only be from Allah, through the ayat, they get to know their king.

Notice also even in the introduction to the Quran, one of the first introductions to Allah:

This closeness in (الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ) and the kingdom of Allah, the king of the day of judgment, the master and the owner of the day of judgment. Now, the king is known by his signs:

That's how people will be in awe of Allah when they're introduced to the miracle of the Quran.

The Pure and Purification

The second name of Allah was (الْقُدُّوسِ الْقُدُّوسِ) means what? The pure. Think about what is the second task of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in the second ayah.

And he purifies them. The pure is the name of Allah, and inspired by that name, this is what your messenger does. He purifies people by bringing them closer to the pure. This name and this task of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) are corresponding to each other.

This is what the Prophet is doing. He's bringing these four names of Allah into people's hearts. He's instilling them into people's hearts.

The Authority and the Law

If you look at the third name, or the third name of Allah was (العزيز) the ultimate authority, the authority that should be respected. And what is an authority if not the lawgiver? An authority is the lawgiver. The messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) then teaches the law.

The law on behalf of who? On behalf of the authority whose authority should be respected until you develop an awe and respect for that authority. Until you don't realize that everything that authority does is there to purify you, you will not be able to implement that law. You will not be able to live by that law the way you're supposed to.

So because he's (العزيز) the messenger fulfills that (عزة) of Allah by teaching the people the law of (الْعَزِيزِ) the constitution of that authority.

The Wise and Wisdom

Then finally, Allah's last name in the first ayah was (الحكيم) the wise. And what is the name of Allah that (الحكيم) corresponding to in the activity of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) the task of the Prophet (صلی الله عليه وسلم)? He says:

(سبحانه وتعالى) - He teaches them wisdom.

It is Allah, the ultimately wise who will now teach his messenger to inspire wisdom into his followers, into the subjects, those who will accept this call and accept this faith. (سبحان الله) Four names of Allah directly superimposed on the four tasks given to the messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

Harmony with Creation

This is the incredible, incredible journey of the Quran that people went through to instill those names that the heavens and the earth recognize when they declare his perfection. What Allah is saying is if you can internalize these names, you will be in harmony with the heavens and the earth. That's what the Prophet came to do, is to bring to you the order that is already all around you.

Allah will say for example:

The star and the tree do sajda. Why is he telling us the star and the tree do sajda? Or the birds do tasbih. Allah says the birds do tasbih.

Everything declares Allah's perfection but you can't understand it? Now we're gonna be in harmony with the rest of creation around us.

Self-Transformation for All Generations

Having said all of that, now I get to the juicy part. How do we think about self-transformation? The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was given... It's an interesting question before I get to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. You know, we think of this amazing transformation that happened and since I was little, maybe you've heard this too.

If you've been attending khutbahs and sermons your whole life, how great those companions were. How amazing their change was. What incredible transformation they went through. And what amazing submission to Allah they demonstrated. And you keep hearing about them and you keep asking yourself, yeah, that was them, what about me? I mean, they were awesome, I get it. I'm clearly not.

Am I capable of that kind of transformation? Is the Quran only talking to me about an incredible historical transformation? Or is it telling me something I myself am capable of? Look at the third ayah. Look at what Allah says:

There are other than them, those who are not from the Arabs, and others than them could also mean other generations, that haven't yet joined them. This is the third ayah. There are other than themselves who haven't yet joined them.

And he's the ultimate authority always. Allah is already saying this incredible moral, ethical revolution is not limited to these few people in the company of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. This is something that is meant to continue because he is the final messenger.

Others haven't yet joined them, they will never have met their Prophet, but they'll meet the Quran. They'll never have met the companions, but they'll meet the same transformation. They're coming, they're on the way.

The Companions' Question

By saying that, even the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم were like, others? Who are these others? (مَنْ هَؤُلاءِ؟ - man ha'ula'i?) We were sitting in the company of the Prophet, they say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4897)

We were sitting in the company of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِ سُورَةُ الْجُمْعَةِ The Surah of Jum'ah came down. This Surah came down. And when he started reciting, he recited, others haven't yet joined them.

They haven't joined them yet. And when they heard this ayah, they're like:

Who are these people? And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم... He looks at Salman al-Farsi.

The Story of Salman Al-Farsi

And before I tell you what happens next, you need to know something about Salman al-Farsi. If you don't know, for those of you who don't know, his name is Salman the Persian. Tells you where he's from. He's from Persia. He was born and raised in a Zoroastrian fire-worshipping priestly family. His family was part of the religious clergy of fire-worship.

He denounced his religion. Couldn't take it. Didn't make sense to him. He sought the one true God. And he was persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, because of his belief. He was an embarrassment to his family.

He escapes prison. Runs off, seeking truth. And ends up in the mentorship of a Christian monk who teaches him previous scripture, the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. And he teaches him the message of Isa a.s., Jesus. Also teaches him the signs of a final coming prophet who's gonna come in the land of Medina.

So Salman al-Farsi says, I need to go there. If there's a sign, any hope that a final prophet is coming, I wanna go and see. So he goes and actually gets caught up, gets enslaved, ends up in Medina as a slave, and remains there, waiting in anticipation for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم finally came to Medina, he presented himself and said, this is how I've come. I came seeking you.

The Prophet's Response

I come back to the story. This is a Persian who was in an environment that had nothing to do with Islam, had no message, no preaching to him. He sought the truth himself and ended up in the company, at the footsteps of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . This is the man.

People asked the Prophet when this ayah came. Others haven't yet joined. Who are they? He pointed at Salman al-Farsi and said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4897)

If faith were so far, it was on planet Jupiter. رِجَالٌ مِّنْ هَؤُلَاءِ لَنَالُوهُ Men like him, people like him, would have reached it.

There are people that are going to be on a quest no matter where they are in the world, how far away from Islam they are, how they have no idea what (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - la ilaha illallah) is, they have no knowledge of the Arabic language, or of Muslim society, or nothing. They don't know what Quran is, they don't know what revelation is, nothing.

They have no clue whatsoever. And those people are going to find Allah. And he says, these are the people that Allah is talking about in this journey.

The Universal Message

In other words, that transformation did not stop with that generation. It continues by pointing at Salman al-Farsi, the Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم,was in fact pointing at all of us. He was telling us the transformation that you and I are capable of.

And so we need to understand what it means to engage in that journey of transformation. This is what I want to share with you now towards the conclusion. I don't want you to just experience or just hear this theory of transformation. I want to let you know that I've turned that sort of into a mission of my own. How can I help myself and others engage in that journey of self-transformation?

The Bayyinah TV Journey

We feel that we have a solution to implement the lessons that I've taught to you today in this ayah, through something we call Bayyinah TV. Some of you are familiar with it, but I'd like to introduce to you how Bayyinah TV operates, and what we're hoping to accomplish for yourselves in it. It is at the end of the day my life mission. Everything I try to do is to create this resource, so people can experience the transformation that I myself am so inspired by. And I hope that you'll accept this journey from me.

Understanding the Bayyinah TV Approach

What I told you about the tasks of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمlet's go back to that. Actually before that, let me tell you what Bayyinah TV is about. It's about you going on a journey through the entire Quran, in a way that brings light into your life, in a way that you can manage.

I know people are busy, some of you are moms, some of you are working professionals, college students, you have different engagements in life. We're always going to be busy. We need to have an engagement with the Quran.

For those who cannot drop everything and just study the Quran full time, we need an engagement with the Quran that we can systematically, continuously, and seriously make progress with the Quran on our own schedule.

Step 1: Study of Al-Fatiha

So here's our plan for you. The first plan for you is to study just the Fatiha, number one. That's all I'd like you to do is study the Fatiha. We've put a recording of the Fatiha together. I delivered it some years ago.

And the purpose of this Fatiha isn't just to introduce you to the Quran. Of course, the best introduction to Allah and to the Quran itself is Allah's own introduction which is the first surah, the Fatiha. But the way I present it is to highlight how is it actually so beautiful it can only be divine.

Like, I'm not just translating it and teaching you some of the lessons inside the Fatiha. I'm trying to highlight its miraculous beauty and power. That's what I'm trying to do.

I really love this dars particularly. I have a special bond with it because I've met people who used to be pastors and people who followed other faiths who came to Islam because they heard this dars, they heard this explanation of the Fatiha. So I feel that that's an important start and an important part of our contribution for you, the study of the Fatiha.

Step 2: Divine Speech

Once you're done with the study of the Fatiha, my hope is that you're now curious about the rest of the Quran. If Fatiha is so unique, so beautiful, so remarkable, what else have I been missing out in the Quran? What else does it have to offer? And that's where I'd like you to take you to Divine Speech.

Divine Speech is a program I put together many years ago. I traveled many parts of the world teaching this seminar and it's been recorded now alhamdulillah and available on Bayyinah TV. I'll tell you simply the purpose of Divine Speech and the way I like to define the purpose of Divine Speech is what happens at the end of Divine Speech. When you're done with Divine Speech, you're supposed to be able to come out and say, wow, this is definitely from Allah.

This is not the word of a human being. That's all. I'm not even trying to convince you. I'm just trying to show you what makes the Quran remarkably inexplicably beautiful. Just humbling, overpowering. That's all I'm trying to do.

I traveled with it and I taught this seminar sometimes even in universities and other places and non- Muslims attended and to my count, at least in front of me, 15 people that I know took shahada at this program. They were transformed. I didn't do this. I'm just explaining what I've come to understand about the power and beauty of the Quran through this second step called Divine Speech.

Step 3: Thematic Overview

Here, now that you've done you're in awe of the Quran now, you want to take that next step. That third step is going to be to get a picture of what the message of the Quran is all about. An overview. An overview, a thematic overview of the Quran, the major subject matters in the Quran. The way that this

course was put together is I took passages from the Quran that represent some of the main concepts in the Quran.

If you visualize the Quran as a building, these are the pillars holding it together. So if you study these few passages, you have a pretty good idea of the subject matter of the Quran. So no matter where in the Quran you're studying, you can tie it to one of these passages.

That's the notion behind it. So before you study the entire Quran, you get kind of a bird's eye view and a pretty decent notion of the major subject matter within it. That's the overview of the Quran, a thematic overview of the Quran.

Step 4: Concise Commentary

From there, now you're actually ready to embark on a step-by-step journey into the entire Quran. But I don't want you to do that too in-depth yet. I want you to have a good view of the entire, a good read, a guided read of the entire book.

And that's why I put together a concise commentary on the Quran. This video series is just, you listen to 15-20 minutes of Quran every day, little by little by little, and as you keep going and making progress in your reading of the Quran, it doesn't matter if it takes you 2 years or 5 years, it doesn't even matter, but you're getting drops of the Quran in translation with brief explanation, especially the parts that are hard to understand, that are commonly misquoted or mistranslated, parts that are particularly confusing. I'll highlight in simple language, hey, this is what it actually means, or here are some of the lessons that come from this, but not too in-depth, it's not overwhelming.

The point of it is, you're getting your daily dose of Quran now. And you're going through the entire Quran this way, this is the Quran, a concise commentary.

Step 5: A Deeper Look

And then comes the final step. To me, my favorite step actually. And you don't want to jump the gun and get there first. I'd like you to go through this process and take your time with it. The final step is what we call a deeper look. And deeper look is what I decided to do myself, and you'll experience this too. Once you go through the Quran one end to the other, you'll realize there's so much more I want to learn.

It's like I touched the surface of the ocean, there's so much going on deeper. I want to go back and experience it again, and again, and again, and again. And so what I decided to do a few years ago is I restarted my study of the entire Quran.

I'm studying it like I'm assuming I've never studied it before, and I try to study it in more depth than I've ever tried to study it before. I've actually even put together in Bayyinah Al-Hamdul, I'm very grateful we have a research team put together, that helps me study the Quran in depth before the in-depth lectures

Connecting to the Prophet's Tasks

And that's what brings me to the conclusion of this webinar. These five items that I mentioned to you, starting with the Fatiha, doing divine speech, doing the overview, a thematic overview of the Quran, the concise commentary, and the deeper look. These five steps, you know what they're inspired by? They're inspired by those four tasks given to the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). That's what I wanna show you.

The first task of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was he introduces people to the miracles. He introduces people to the grand, the amazing word of Allah that humbles them before their king. That is actually the thought behind putting the Fatiha series and the divine speech series together.

You go through those two steps, because that's our way of giving you some taste of he introduces people to the miracles. That's the first task of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

Purification Through Consistent Reminder

The second task of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was He cleanses them. He purifies them. How did he purify them? Continuous, consistent reminder.

The thematic overview and then the concise commentary of the Quran. What are we hoping it is for you? Continuous, consistent reminder. It's a means by which we're hoping your hearts are purified, your minds are purified, you're listening to 15-20 minutes a day on your commute, and you're finding advice that will guide your day.

You're gonna find relevance more and more and more of the Quran in your life, because you're getting a daily dosage constantly. I don't actually expect you to sit with a pen and paper and do this. I just need you to get exposed, that's all.

That itself has a cleansing effect. But so, if you go back to the tasks of the Prophet, it was he introduces people to the miracles which is here, divine speech, Fatiha and divine speech. He purifies them. We're hoping through the constant reminder of the thematic overview and the concise commentary.

Teaching the Law and Wisdom

But then the Prophet Muhammad (shallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was given that latter task, which was he teaches them the law and the wisdom. And teaching obviously is when you become a student and you have a teacher. It's more in depth, it's engaging. Now you have to put pen and paper together. And that's where we put the deeper look together.

The deeper look study is looking at the Quran in depth so we can learn the law and learn some of the wisdom of the Quran to the best of our ability. That's the journey I'm recommending all of you take.

A Personal Appeal

I genuinely, if you were sitting, I'm talking to you through Facebook live. There may be thousands of miles between us. But please think of me as someone sitting in your living room right now. I genuinely mean well for you.

If you came to me personally, I met you at an airport, at a restaurant somewhere, and said, Ustadh, how do I study the Quran? This is the advice I give you. This is my personal advice to you. I can't, with no strings attached, I just like you to be part of this journey.

Don't delay it, don't procrastinate it, don't spend hundreds of hours doing this immediately. No, all I need is little by little by little.

Muslim 783

The best deeds are the ones that are the most consistent, even if they're a little. That's all that we're asked. We just need to be, if I can die in this journey through the Quran, I have succeeded. That's all I care about.

That's all I want for you. So if you trust my advice, this is the journey I want you to embark upon. Go to bayyinah.tv, don't delay, just sign up today. There's a two-week trial that I've put together with my team so you can get an idea of how things work. Give it a shot, you know, make some commitment that in the morning commute, you know, or in the afternoon or in the evening before you go to sleep, you'll take your daily dosage, just a little bit, just a little bit, just a little bit.

The Scattered vs. Organized Approach

And I'm hoping that through this, and some of you are familiar, there's thousands of videos of me on YouTube. There's tons of... I talk a lot, my mom tells me, right? There's tons of content all over the place. Yes, it is, but it's scattered. This is a plan of study.

This is like you've taken me as a tutor for your Quran studies. That's what this is. So with me and my colleagues, we're hoping you embark in this Quran journey.

Final Prayer and Intentions

And I honestly genuinely pray that each one of you is blessed in this journey, that you and I don't become lazy in this journey, that Allah brings rizq and beauty in our life and benefits and barakah to ourselves, our children, our loved ones, people around us are inspired because of the light that we continuously receive from Allah's book. My intention for putting this together is to make Him happy. Your intention should be to make Him happy, just to connect to His word.

Ya Allah, I just wanna understand Your word better. I wanna live by Your word better. I wanna be inspired inside of my heart with Your word better. That's all. That's all Bayyinah TV is about. I don't care about anything else.

If we did nothing else, this is all we did, I'd be happy. I'd be completely happy. And I'd be so happy for you if you give us the honor of embarking on this journey with you.

Practical Implementation

I hope to see you inshaAllah ta'ala in this two-week trial. Get started. Let friends and family know. I would even say let non-Muslim friends and family know about it. Get them a subscription. I have employees who gave the subscription to their parents, non-Muslim parents who've been listening to dars of Quran.

You know, Christian mothers, you know, that are going through Surah Ali'Imran and studying it. Why not? Let them be introduced to Allah's book. What better way for them to learn about Islam than the Quran itself? Let Allah speak to them directly.

So I'm hoping that this is a service that Allah accepts from all of us. I'm so grateful that all of you attended today. I'm really also very excited that we've also put an app together.

The Mobile App

So those of you that wanna listen to our stuff and can't watch the videos, you can actually download, it's downloadable audio within the app itself. So you can find it on the app store. You know, the iPhone app is available, and Android is also available.

So it's a neat way to be able to consume this stuff inshaAllah ta'ala even if you're on the go. I genuinely hope you take advantage.

Closing

Thanks so, so very much for listening today. Jazakumullahu khairan. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi ta'ala wabarakatuh.