Lessons From Surah Ar Rahman
By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-09T12:24:32.397214+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Lessons From Surah Ar-Rahman
Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan
Opening and Introduction
Opening Dua and Greetings
الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على سيد الأنبياء .As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu والمرسلين، وعلى آله وصحبه ومن استن بسنته إلى يوم الدين. اللهم اجعلنا منهم ومن الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات، وتواصوا بالحق، وتواصوا بالصبر ، آمین یا رب العالمین
"[And advised one another to truth and advised one another to patience.]"
ثم أما بعد So today, insha'Allah ta'ala, first of all I'd like to express how honored and overwhelmed I feel and the team that's following with me feel at the amazing hospitality and just the number of people that are here, masha'Allah.
Humility and Purpose of Gathering
I want to use this opportunity to remind myself, first and foremost, and then all of you, that all of us, whether we are sitting in the audience trying to listen, or we are volunteers at the doors, or speaking on stage, we're all servants of Allah and no one is better than anybody else.
The deen of Allah does not need us. We need Allah's deen. We're going to come and we're going to go, but the deen of Allah will move on. We just pray that Allah accepts the effort that we put in and the gatherings that we have to get closer to Him and that all of us are rewarded and the barakah and the blessings that come from these kinds of gatherings are able to benefit us in our lives here and our next lives and also benefit our families in particular.
Why Surah Ar-Rahman
Tonight, insha'Allah ta'ala, I chose to speak to you about a surah that's very close to my heart, surah ar- Rahman. Obviously this time that we have is very limited and I won't be able to talk to you about the entire surah. Some of you that are familiar with my work know that usually I give a khutbah about one ayah. So there's no way I'm going to do surah ar-Rahman with you tonight unless we're going to be here until fajr, which is not going to happen.
What I will do is give you an introduction to this surah and at least talk to you about the first few ayahs of this surah, which are just incredibly powerful and I think every Muslim should have an emotional relationship with these ayahs. They're so easy, they're so small, they're so famous also, you listen to the recitation of surah ar-Rahman all the time. This is another reason I chose this surah - it's so easy for you to memorize.
The Three Elements of Effective Communication
Introduction to Communication Theory
There are three elements - three ingredients of effective communication. How many ingredients are there of effective communication? Three.
First Element: Content
The first of them is content. What are you going to say? You should say something that is meaningful, purposeful. You should say something that is true. You should say something that is beneficial to somebody else.
All of you have friends, hopefully. Sometimes your friends talk a lot, but they don't say anything meaningful. Or you're on the phone with somebody for an hour, but they actually haven't said anything. There is something missing in the content.
For example, I spend a lot of time listening to preachers of other religions on the radio in Texas. It's a hobby I have. I try to listen very carefully for content. But after half an hour, I realize they actually haven't said anything yet. But the crowd loves it.
Another example of content that I think is easy to understand is in the United States, very recently we had an economic crisis. In the economic crisis, they had these corporate executives that were responsible for all kinds of unethical deals. They were brought to Congress to testify. They were asked very simple questions: "Did you sign these documents?"
When you ask a question like, did you sign these documents, the answer takes one second, less than one second. You say yes, or you say no. But the guy starts by saying, "You know, when I was a child, my favorite lollipop was red." And then he goes on for 45 minutes until the Congress session is over. So he's trying to give you useless content, so he doesn't have to testify.
Content is the first key to effective communication.
Second Element: Style
The second key is style. It is not only what you say, it's how you say it. It's not just what you say, it's how you say it.
I can testify to this myself. Every khutbah that's given has something good in it as far as content. There is probably an ayah of the Quran in the khutbah. There's probably a hadith of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in the khutbah. Isn't that true? Which means that there is nothing wrong with the content.
But sometimes the khatib can be so boring. It's like he's releasing sleeping gas from his mouth when he's talking. People get some of the best sleep of their life in the khutbah. The only time they wake up is when
he says (أقيموا الصلاة). They're like, oh, okay. And then they get up.
So sometimes the content is good, but the style is a problem. You have to have a style that gets people's attention. You have to have a style that keeps people awake.
Example of Style in Family Life
It's not just about public speaking even inside your home. How many people here have teenage children?
"[(We belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return)]"
- if you have teenage children and you tell them to come to the table for dinner, how many times you call Zubair? How many times you call Muhammad? One time? "Zubair, come for dinner." Immediately, yes sir. And he's there. No.
"Zubair, come for dinner. Zubair, come for... Zubair." And you have to keep going. Because clearly talking to him once or talking to him nicely... talking to Zubair nicely is not the style that works for him. You need some other style for Zubair.
Style in Marriage
Some of you, it'll save your marriage. There are different ways of saying things. It's the same content. Maybe your wife made dinner. She put a lot of work into it. She was spending her day at work. She came home early. She cooked dinner for you, your favorite meal. She had it on the table before you even got there.
You're about to start eating and you notice it's a little less salt than you're used to. You could use a little bit more salt. So what you want to say is, "I want more salt." But there are different styles of saying that.
You could say, "This is the most amazing dinner I have ever had. This is the food from Jannah. If I added some salt, it would be from the seventh level of Jannah. Can I have some salt?" That's one way of doing it.
Another way of doing it is, "Woman, is the economy that bad? You couldn't put some more salt in this food? By the way, I hate your mother." You're saying the same thing - the food needs salt. But there's different ways of saying it. Same content. Different what? Style.
One style will make your life easy. And the other style, you'll sleep outside.
Third Element: Audience
Finally, and this is probably one of the most important ingredients, you have to know who you're talking to. You cannot talk to two different people the same way.
The way I talk to my child is not the way I talk to my father. It's not the same. Even if I tell them the same thing. Even if I say, "I'm going to the masjid. Come with me." If I say, "Come with me" to my father, it's not the same as when I say, "Come with me" to my son. The content is the same. But depending on who I'm talking to, I change.
The same is true of a classroom. Your teacher, or if you're a teacher, you don't talk to all the students the same way. There are some students that listen very carefully, very quickly, immediately. You call them over and you tell them in their ear once and it's done. There are some students, you have to talk to them differently. And there's another language that we use in the Muslim ummah besides talking, to communicate with students sometimes.
Because there's different kinds of students. You have to know who you're talking to.
The Quran as Perfect Communication
Allah's Perfect Speech
The Quran, the book of Allah, the speech of Allah, is perfect speech. It is the best communication in existence. Nobody communicates better than Allah. We communicate, but all of our communication was taught by Allah. Our teacher is Allah. Nobody speaks on this earth except that Allah taught them. So when He speaks, you cannot compete with it. There's no comparison.
When Allah has perfect speech, what does that mean? That means He has the best content. Number one, He has the best content. What's number two? He has the best style. And He's always considerate. He's always very accurate about His audience.
Allah's Customized Messages
Every surah in the Quran, even sometimes passages in the Quran have a very specific audience. Allah talks to one audience one way. Allah talks to another audience another way. Allah talks to Jews one way. Allah talks to Christians another way. Allah talks to mushrikun in the first year of the seerah one way. And Allah talks to the mushrikun in the tenth year of the seerah another way. The audience is different.
The people who come to visit Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), Allah gives ayat to tell them. There's different ayat. Allah does not say to the messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) "I already revealed tawheed to you, pick one of the surahs and tell them." No. He gives them a special ayah, special surah for them. Because they need a special message.
Understanding Surah Ar-Rahman's Audience
The Late Makki Period Context
When we talk about surah ar-Rahman today, we have to understand something about its content. But if you really want to understand its content, you have to understand its style. And if you want to understand its style, you first and foremost, before anything else, you have to understand its audience.
Who was Allah talking to when surah ar-Rahman was revealed? Most accounts are that surah ar-Rahman is either early Madani and most are that it's actually late Makki. From the style of the surah, it appears to
be a Makki surah. It's a late Makki surah.
The Stubborn Opposition
What was happening in late Mecca? The mushrikun had become extremely stubborn. They did not want to hear the message of Islam. They said, "We've been listening to this for 10 years. It's the same speech over and over again."
"We keep changing the ayat." The message doesn't change, the ayat change. And they say, "We've heard everything already. Stop. We don't want to hear this anymore. We're not interested."
It's not enough that they're not interested, they start attacking the messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم). وإذا علم من آياتنا شيئا اتخذها هزوا
"Every time he came to know something about the Quran, something about our ayat, he tried to make a joke out of it."
So it's not only that they're not interested, now they make fun of the Quran when the Quran is recited. لا تسمعوا لهذا القرآن والغوا فيه لعلهم يرجعون
"Don't listen to this Quran. Make noise when the Quran is being recited."
The believer is told, فإذا قرئ القرآن فاستمعوا له وأنصطوا
"Listen carefully"
أنطوا "And stop talking and listen."
أنطوا in Arabic means two things. Number one, stop talking. And number two, listen, both. And they said, "Don't listen to this Quran, make a lot of noise." This is what they said. In other words, they became extremely stubborn.
The Repetitive Style for Stubborn People
I have two minutes left. When teenagers are playing football, hanging out and somebody bumps into you. Teenagers have very hot temper. They're ready to fight. When they're about to fight, the friend holds you back, "No, no, no, it's okay, it's okay, let me go." And he doesn't want to, he wants to fight.
So your friend who's holding you back says to you, "Calm down." Your friend says to you, calm down how many times? One time? When your friend says calm down, you say, "Oh, I didn't realize that I should calm down. I should sit down and sip on some tea now." You don't do that.
Because you're crazy at that time, he says, "Calm down, calm down. Hey, calm down. Hey, listen to me, listen to me. Calm down, relax, relax." He says it 10 times. And you are so angry at the time, maybe you heard it one time. Maybe. And then you listen. Because at that time you are stubborn.
When you are stubborn, you cannot be told something one time, you have to be told lots of times. The people of Makkah had become what? Stubborn. So Allah says فبأي آلاء ربكما تكذبان فبأي آلاء ربكما تكذبان
The Structure of Surah Ar-Rahman and Al-Waqi'ah
Five Topics of Surah Al-Waqi'ah
I'm a student of the order of surahs of the Quran also and how Allah organizes lessons in the Quran. I want to talk to you now about the next surah, a little bit. What is the next surah? Surah al-Waqi'ah.
Surah al-Waqi'ah has five main topics:
The first and the foremost, the people in Jannah. Allah talks about them first.
The people of the right hand. People of the right hand are also people of Jannah, but Allah first talks about (السَّٰبِقُونَ السَّٰبِقُونَ - alsabiquna alsabiqun) meaning the premium package. The higher level, the best people. Then He talks about everybody else who also made it on board.
The people of the left hand. The people of the left hand are in danger.
4. The creations of Allah - Allah makes a list of some of the things that only Allah can do. Are you planting seeds? Are you making the plants grow? Are you making the crop come out? Are you sending the water from the sky? These are some of the creations of Allah that can only be creations of Allah, they cannot be creations of ourselves.
It is a passage about the Quran itself. How Quran is awesome. It's actually one of the most beautiful places that describes the power of the Quran.
Five Topics of Surah Ar-Rahman (In Reverse Order)
Surah ar-Rahman also has five subjects:
- The greatness of the Quran - That's the greatness of the Quran being talked about.
- Allah's creations
- Judgment day, criminals that will end up in the hellfire
- Allah gives two jannahs to people who feared Him. He starts describing a jannah.
- And above and beyond that, there's even a better jannah. So He talks about jannah two times. One time a beautiful jannah. Then He says, "I got even a better jannah for you."
The Teaching Pattern
This is how Allah teaches lessons. Those of you that are teachers in the audience, sometimes when you teach a lesson, and it's got five parts, a chapter has five lessons. When you review it, what do you do? Sometimes a good way to review a lesson is go in reverse. Five, four, three, two, one.
This technique is something Allah Himself teaches us in the Quran. If you can remember the five lessons of Surah ar-Rahman, you will already look for the five lessons repeated again in reverse order, in perfection in Surah al-Waqi'ah.
The Opening Ayah: Ar-Rahman
The Unique Structure
This surah is unique for many reasons. One of them is that Allah began this surah with one single word that is an ayah by itself, but it's not from the mutashabihat. You know, Alif Laam Meem is an ayah. I don't know what that means, you don't know what that means, (الله أعلم - Allahu a'lam) Allah knows. But that's one ayah. (الرحمن - Ar-Rahman) is one ayah. It's one ayah. But it's not like only Allah knows what that means. He taught us what (الرحمن - Ar-Rahman) means.
For those of you that are students of language, (الرحمن علم القرآن - ar-rahman 'allamal quran) is actually one sentence. It's one sentence. But Allah broke it up. So Allah took one sentence and put it in two ayahs.
Why the Division?
One of the reasons Allah does that, Allah tells us Himself in His book, He says, (ليتذكر أولو الألباب - lī-yadhakkara ūlū l-albāb) (Quran 38:29) - "So people could do deep thinking about each and every one of His ayahs."
If it was one sentence, then we would think about the whole sentence as one ayah. But Allah wants me to think about it and you to think about it. He wants us to think about just (الرحمن - ar-rahman) by itself. Before you think about (علم القرآن - 'allamal quran). You should not think about (علم القرآن - 'allamal quran) until you stop and reflect and think about just (الرحمن - ar-rahman).
We would not have stopped and thought about (الرحمن - ar-rahman) by itself if it was one ayah. We would have just said (الرحمن علم القرآن - ar-rahman 'allamal quran). But He said (الرحمن - ar-rahman). Stop. This is an ayah. This is an ayah by itself. We have to stop and think about this word.
The Meaning of Ar-Rahman
What does it mean? We use this word all the time. We say (بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم - bismillahir rahmanir raheem). We say Fatiha all the time. (الحمد لله رب العالمين الرحمن الرحيم - alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin ar-rahmanir raheem) (Quran 1:1-3) We use the word all the time. But what does it mean?
Some people use Beneficent, Compassionate, Merciful. The purpose of translation is so you and I can understand. Translation should be with words that you can actually use, that you actually relate to. If you translate with words that you can't relate to, then it defeats the purpose of translation.
The Root and Etymology
(الرحمن - ar-rahman) in Arabic comes from a few things. One of them is - (الرحم - ar-rahim) is the womb of the mother. When a woman is pregnant, her womb is called (رحم - rahim). It's called (رحم - rahim) because that baby is taken care of in every way. The child inside the (رحم - rahim) of the mother is taken care of in every way.
There's a relationship between the mother and the child. Does the child know the mother? No. Does the mother already know the child? Does she already have love for the child? Does the child have love for the mother yet? No. Is the mother taking care of the child already? Yes. In every way. The entire world of the child is taken care of by the mother.
The child has no idea that he is loved so much, that the mother is willing to do so much for this child and protect it from every danger. A mother, before she protects anything else, what will she protect? Her stomach, when she's expecting. She's gonna be extra careful not to walk in a narrow place or to stay away from corners at the table. She's gonna take extra caution.
Rahman vs. Mercy
That word gives birth to the word (رحم - rahim). (رحم - rahim) is not the same as mercy. Because mercy in English is used when you spare someone. Like for example, I was gonna beat you up but I showed you mercy. Which means you were expecting punishment and when I decided not to punish you, that means I showed you mercy.
In the English language, most of the time when we use the word mercy, we're actually thinking about punishment. And then the punishment went away and we thought about mercy. But the word rahma has nothing to do with punishment. The word shouldn't even cross your mind.
It has to do with complete care and love. Someone who shows you rahma is someone who has compassion towards you. Someone who wants to be soft and easy with you. Someone who wants to make things delicate for you. They understand that you should be handled with care.
The Intensive Form
Another thing here is (الرحمن - ar-rahman), the word itself is what's called (صيغة المبالغة - sighatul mubalagha) in the Arabic language. What that means is something that is excessive and unusual. Like if you are thirsty, if you're thirsty, that's one thing - (عطش - 'atish). But if you say (عطشان - 'atshan) that means you are dying of thirst. That means if you don't drink, you're going to die. You could not be thirstier, any more thirsty than this and you will be dead.
(غاضب - ghadib) is angry in Arabic. When you say (غضبان - ghadban) that means if you get any angrier than that, you'll explode. Allah says (الرحمن - ar-rahman). You know what that means? You cannot be more merciful than that. That is the nth, the most extreme, unlimited form of mercy. Extreme mercy, beyond imagination.
Present Tense Reality
The other thing that comes from the language of this word, (الرحمن - ar-rahman) because it's (صيغة المبالغة - sighatul mubalagha). Some grammarians argue that it's happening right now. It's one thing to say Allah cares. It's one thing to say Allah is loving. It's one thing to say Allah protects. But it's another to say Allah is protecting me when? Right now. He's caring about me right now. He's concerned with me right now. He is delicate with my situation right now. That is the realization inside (الرحمن - ar-rahman).
Practical Application
It forces me to think and it forces you to think, how is Allah showing me love right now? Immediately. Not tomorrow, not later. Every one of us has problems. Maybe you have family problems. Maybe you have husband problems. Maybe you have wife problems. Maybe you have children problems, parent problems, in-law problems, boss problems, worker problems, government problems, immigration problems, economic - you got problems.
We think about our problems all the time. And we don't think about (الرحمن - ar-rahman) all the time. We only think about the problems. We don't think how many problems Allah saved us from. Somebody gets allergies and they complain about their allergies, but they don't think the nose is still on my face. That's Allah taking care of you. It could be so much worse.
The Example of Children
When a child is born, how many things can go wrong? For those of us that have healthy children, we complain about the grades of our children. They don't pay attention in school. They don't do their homework on time. Parents complain and complain. If you say, what do you say about your child? And they'll give you a list of complaints.
But if you ever talk to parents who lost a child, you know what they say about their child? They never say, "he never did his homework, he was always late to school." They say, "my child was perfect. He was so perfect. He was the best." They only remember the good things.
Why is that? A day before, you were complaining. Because that's human nature. We don't appreciate the things that we have until they're gone. When they're gone, we remember. Now, right now, we're not thanking Allah. We're not realizing how much love He's showing us.
Humility with Parents
Your parents get angry at you. Those of you that are teenage boys, your father gets mad at you. He's gonna yell at you. But Alhamdulillah, he's alive. You have an opportunity to show sabr to him and respect to him so you can earn Jannah with Allah.
If you want to know if you're humble or not, see how you are to your parents. If you have an attitude with your parents, don't think about Islam. You're not ready for what Islam demands for your personality. Allah wants us to be humble. But humble does not mean you make salat like a perfect believer but you show attitude to your father and your mother.
Allah says, we made the last home for people who don't want to act up in this world. They don't show attitude.
We have to learn to be humble to our parents even if you think they're unfair. That's part of appreciating the mercy and the love of Allah in our lives. This is something that one should think about every day. Just stop in (الرحمن - ar-rahman). Just stop. And just think, what does that mean? What is Allah doing for me?
The Connection Between Beginning and End
Barakah in Allah's Name
I want to tell you something so beautiful about this surah. The last ayah of this surah - anybody know the last ayah of this surah? (تبارك اسم ربك ذي الجلال والإكرام - tabaraka ismu rabbika dhi aljalali wal ikram) (Quran 55:78) - The last ayah of this surah, Allah says that the name of Allah, the name of your Rabb, who is full of jalal, meaning jalal means glory that is not given to anybody else. The word jalal is not used except for Allah. Allah says in that last ayah that the name of Allah is full of barakah.
(تبارك اسم ربك - tabaraka ismu rabbika) - The lazim form here means something that is full of barakah. By the way, when Allah says, "the name of your master is full of barakah," did this surah begin with the name of Allah? Which name did it begin with? So Allah is telling us something about the word (الرحمن - ar-rahman) at the end of the surah. He's concluding with the beginning. He's telling us, this name of Allah that I began with is full of barakah.
The Meaning of Barakah
What does barakah mean? They say in Arabic, (البركة النماء والزيادة - al-barakatu an-nama'u wa az-ziyadah) - Barakah first of all means growth. Something that rises. Progress. Something that goes further and further. And increase (فوق التوقع - fauqa at-tawaqqu') - Above expectation.
If you put a seed in the ground, how many trees do you expect? One, you put a seed in the ground, you get 10 trees. That's not expected. That's what you call barakah. Barakah means logic says, "I should get one tree." But I got a whole forest. How did that come? That's barakah.
Barakah also in the Arabic language is used (إذا أناخ الجمل - idha anakha al-jamal) - When the camel settles and it doesn't move. Which is beautiful. Because when you grow something and you grow it too much, if you make a really tall
Personal Application of Barakah
When we say Allah's name, (الرَّحْمَٰنِ), and we do something in Allah's name, with Allah's name, calling on the barakah of Allah's name, then whatever we do will produce good, but it will produce good more than expected and the growth will continue and will not disappear. It will keep going and going.
Because of this one ayah, every Muslim is supposed to be an optimist. We should, we can never be pessimists. Whatever you do, maybe you're a Quran teacher and you don't have thousands of students, you have one student. You opened up your madrasa, you sat in the masjid, then one student came to you.
You might think, "One guy shows up, what's the point?" But actually, this is just what you and I see. The barakah in teaching one person, the barakah in helping one person, the barakah in doing one good deed after you say, (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ). The results of that, you cannot calculate because they are from Allah. And they will grow and grow beyond human expectation.
You don't know if that one child that you taught alif and ba to, that one child is going to be the next mujaddid of this ummah. That millions of people will take shahada because of his da'wah. And you started him on his journey. You don't know that.
Personal Story of Barakah
I can tell you personally a story of barakah. When I started learning the Arabic language, I was curious about the Quran. I decided, I found a teacher that can learn Arabic with me. When we were in the Arabic class, there were 10 students in the Arabic class at the masjid after Ramadan. 10 students on the first day.
10 students the first day, 9 students the second day, 6 students the third day, 3 students the fourth day. And I look around and I'm like, "Should I also leave?" The teacher on the third or fourth day, he said, "Look, people will come and go. And even if none of you come, I will still be here waiting for you. You know why? Because when we do something for Allah, then we don't expect from people. We only expect from Allah. I get paid from Allah, not from you. I'm here for Allah."
When he said that, he believes in barakah. When Allah puts barakah in something, that's not up to us. When I look back from since 1999 to now, in an accurate estimation, I would say, till now, live audience, I must have taught at least 70,000-80,000 people. And I did not... That's not from me. That's when Allah decides He'll give some barakah. That's up to Him.
Don't underestimate the value of the things that you do. That's up to Allah. When He puts barakah in it, it will come beyond your expectations.
Allah will provide from where you can't even imagine.
The Second Ayah: Guidance Before Creation
The Unusual Order
Second ayah.
So many people here know this surah. Allah says in surah Al-A'la,
- He talks about Himself, then He says, He created. And in the next ayah He says, (وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَىٰ) He says He created, and then He guided. So what was mentioned first? Creation was mentioned first. Then He talked about guidance.
Ibrahim (peace be upon him) says
- "Allah is the one who created me, and He is the one who guides me." What was mentioned first? Creation, then guidance.
Surah Rahman does not say.
No. This time guidance is mentioned first, creation is mentioned second. It's unusual.
Because the order of things is, Allah created me first, Allah created you first, and then He guided us. He guided us second, if you look at the order of things. But Allah breaks that order in this surah.
The Best Teacher and the Best Curriculum
The Teaching Analogy
In a classroom, this is not a classroom, this is a lecture. Some of you are on Facebook right now, some of you are getting the best sleep of your life, some of you are just looking around. This is not a classroom. Because in a classroom, I check everyone. "Hey, what did I just say? Hey you, tell me what I just said. Hey, let's have a test right now." That's what I do in a class. I constantly test.
This is a lecture, you can get away with anything. But you know what? When you're in a class, then the teacher's job is to make sure every student understands. Right? But sometimes there are some students, I still remember, I can give you an example.
I prepared a lecture about Arabic, one of the lessons of Arabic grammar. I go to my class and I teach the lesson. I spent two hours at night, "How am I gonna teach this lesson? This is gonna be such an amazing lesson." So I teach this lesson. And I am so proud of myself. Students are happy.
One student raises his hand, he goes, after one hour, he goes, "Uh, ustadh?" I was like, "Yeah?" "Uh, I don't understand." "What don't you understand?" "Uh, anything." "Okay, you don't understand anything. So let me start over. Let me give you the entire dars again. This time I will only make eye contact with you. Every two minutes I'll say, you okay? You okay?"
One whole hour goes by, I say, "Alhamdulillah." All the other students are like, "Why are we doing this again?" But then this student raises his hand again, "Ustadh? I have a question." "Yeah, please ask your question." "I still don't get it."
Now if you have ever been in a classroom, math class, English class, Islamic studies class. And a student does that. After the whole class is done, "I don't understand." And he does it a second time. Is the teacher happy? We can't do that stuff in America. But I know... In Pakistan, in Bangladesh, in India. We give our students a different kind of lesson after that.
So, the students, and then I say, "You know what? School is over. All the kids are going home. Why don't you stay in the office? I will sit in the office. I will not have lunch today. I will explain it to you again. Another way." I sit him down. I explain it to him again.
If the first way didn't work, and the second way didn't work, I'll find a third way to explain it to you. I finish explaining, and he says, "Ustadh? I don't know if teaching is the right profession for you. Because I still, I don't understand. I don't get it. Have you tried taxi driving or anything else?"
The Perfect Teacher and Curriculum
Now Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) was the best teacher ever in human history. And not just history, even in the future of humanity, there will never be a better teacher than Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). In education, you need an excellent teacher, and you need an excellent curriculum. And there will be never a better curriculum than the Quran.
So you have the best teacher, and you have the best curriculum. And the students were Quraysh. The students were all of Quraysh. And the lessons were easy. The lessons were not calculus. The lessons were not quantum physics. The lessons were simple.
If I was talking to seven-year-old children, and I was told, "Summarize the Meccan Quran" - Meccan Quran is two-thirds of the Quran - "Summarize it to these seven-year-old children in five minutes." I say, "I don't need five minutes, I need one minute. Allah is One. Don't be like previous nations who didn't believe in Allah, believe in His messengers, believe in the Akhirah, be a servant and slave to Allah." What else is there? It's done. Everything is covered. That's the entire Meccan Quran. The lessons are not hard.
The Stubborn Students
But how many years is the messenger of Allah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) told to teach the same people, the same Quraysh? How many years he's teaching them? Twelve years, over a decade. He's teaching the same people over and over again. And they hear the best lessons ever to be taught. And they listen to it in their custom language. Allah made it for them especially.
For that person who's talking to Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) an ayah came from above to talk to that guy. And he says, "I don't get it. Give me something else. I'm not impressed. Give me something else."
Does Allah have a right to be angry? Allah has a right to be angry. Any normal teacher will be angry. Now even go a little step further. They don't just say, "I don't understand." I told you they become stubborn. And when they become stubborn, they want to make fun of the ayahs. And they make fun of the teacher Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). They make fun of him.
Does that make Allah angry? Yeah, it makes Allah very angry. And when Allah gets angry, what does He have the power to do? Has He done it with previous nations before? He's done it.
The Ultimate Challenge
But I want to tell you one of the last most offensive things that the Quraysh came up with. In the beginning, they called him a liar (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). Then they called him crazy. They called him insane. They called him possessed by a jinn. They said that he's stealing from the Jews and the Christians. They came up with all kinds of things.
But at the end of it all, you know what they said? They said, "You keep talking about Yawmul Qiyamah. You keep talking about Jahannam. You keep talking about Jannah. You keep talking about angels. You keep talking about Allah. You keep talking about all this stuff that we can't see. Show me something. Bring the dead back to life. Turn this mountain into gold. Let's see the Day of Judgment. Let's see this punishment you keep talking about."
- The Quran tells us.
- They're telling you, "Hurry up and bring the punishment. Let's have it. I've been listening about it for 10 years now. I'm tired of it. You said it's near. I don't see it near. Let's see it. Let's see some action already."
You know what that means? There's a saying we have in America. They say, "I'll believe it when I see it." That's what they said. "If you don't have something to show me, don't waste my time. I don't want to hear this Quran stuff. I'll believe it when I see it."
The Answer: Humans Are Not Animals
The Traffic Example
This surah, this beginning is the answer to that problem. Let me tell you, you guys have traffic problems in Malaysia, yes? Does the news, the radio tell you about traffic problems? So you're driving on the highway and it's no traffic, zero traffic. You're flooring the car and you don't see any car in front of you.
You turn the radio on and it says "Two kilometers ahead of you. Two kilometers ahead of you. There's an accident. There's really bad traffic. If you can take an exit, take the exit." That's what the radio tells you.
Do you see the accident? No. You don't see the accident. But do you take the exit? If you listen to the radio and it says an accident, it's a five-hour delay. Will you take the exit or no? You'll take the exit.
You know why? Because news came to you from a reliable source. The reporter sees something that you don't see and you trust him. You don't say, "These radio people, I will believe it when I see it." And you will go and get stuck in traffic. "I believe now. There really is an accident." What's the point now?
Human vs Animal Intelligence
Allah created human beings, right? And human beings are able to think and understand things even if they haven't seen them. Animals are not like that. If, for example, we made an announcement, "Brothers and sisters, please leave the building from this exit." If we made that announcement, we would start leaving from this exit.
But if there was a cat in the building, if there was a fly in the building, if there was a dog, it wouldn't leave. Why not? It doesn't have the ability to understand speech. But if an animal sees a fire, will it leave? When it sees a danger, will it leave? An animal will only behave when it sees. But a human being can behave when he understands, when she understands.
The Quran as Sufficient Evidence
Allah says that He taught the Quran and He didn't give you anything else to believe. He gave you Quran enough. Quran is enough for you. There are other small miracles here and there. But the main message of Islam is the Quran itself. The miracle is Quran itself. Why? Because human beings are human beings. They're not animals.
You don't have to see to believe. You can think about it and you can believe. That's why He says
and what?
He taught the Quran because He created the human being.
You people aren't animals. If you say, "I will only believe when I'll see," you're acting like a goat. You're acting like a cow. You're acting like a monkey, but you're not acting like a human. A human being can reason. The Quran is appealing to reason.
Allah's Mercy in Teaching
The Teacher's Right to Anger
Now, the final bit of this
connection. I told you a teacher will get angry, right? A teacher will get angry. But this teacher, because he calls himself,
- taught the Quran. So he's a teacher. Allah
took the role of Mu'allim in this ayah.
A teacher has a right to get angry, but he called himself الرحمن first. He is a kind of teacher that has the kind of love and care and concern and mercy on top of all of that even for the people who hate his messenger, even for them. And he taught them the Quran even when they insulted his messenger.
He taught them the Quran even when they tried to kill the messenger. He taught them the Quran when they killed innocent people in front of him, when they made fun of the ayat, when they rejected one surah, he revealed another and another and another and another.
And because he kept on revealing, that is proof that he is الرحمن. Because if he was not الرحمنthis would not have happened. You would have been killed a long time ago. You would have been dead. You would not have been around.
The Quran as an Act of Love
What we are learning in this surah from the very beginning is the Quran came down as an act of Allah's love. There is so much propaganda against Islam today. When people think about the Quran, non- Muslims unfortunately, when they think about the Quran, they think about violence, they think about hate, they think about hell, they think about a God that punishes.
And you know what's even more unfortunate? When Muslims today think about the Quran, they think about, "Oh, Quran just says everything is haram. Quran just says people will go to hellfire. Quran just says that we're not good enough."
You have to understand something about Allah introducing the Quran. The Quran is an act of Allah's love, is an act of Allah's care. You want to get to know Allah's love and care, study the Quran. You want to know how He shows you love, learn the Quran. And you will learn something about Allah you didn't know before. It'll move you to tears. It'll move you get to know Allah like you never did before.
Personal Messages from Allah
To put things in perspective. If I wrote you an email, how many of you are here? How much am I gonna write? How am I gonna personalize an email? Allah gave us an entire set of letters (رِسَالَةُ رَبِّي - risalatu rabbi) Quran calls it. Letters from Allah, messages from Allah, personalized for us, each and every one of us. 600 pages worth, Allah talking to me and Allah talking to you, personally.
Nobody cries when they think about someone else, they cry when they think about themselves. The people who cry when they make salah is because they heard something about themselves. Allah is sending you a personal guidance, Allah gives me a personal guidance.
My message to you tonight because of الرحمن is that we have to build a personal relationship with the Quran. It has to be that way. If you want to experience what الرحمن means then you have to become a
student of the Quran.
Learning the Quran Gradually
The Meaning of علم
Let's talk about (عِلْمُ الْقُرْآن - 'ilm al-quran) a little bit. You know the word (عِلْم - 'ilm) in Arabic, (تَفْعِيل - taf'eel) it actually means to deliver knowledge over a long period of time, a long period of time. There is no rush, you don't have to learn the whole Quran right now, not this month, you don't have to do that. Just learn a little bit at a time, but continuously.
The best student of the Quran in history is Rasulullah himself (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). He is also the best teacher and also the best student. And as a student, Allah taught him for how long? 23 years, He taught him the Quran.
We're not in a hurry, we can take our time. Don't feel intimidated, "I don't know all the surahs, I haven't read the whole thing, I don't know all of tafsir." It's okay, that's not the point. The point is you start somewhere, start memorizing a little bit, start learning a little bit, a little bit at a time. That's all that Allah is asking from us.
The Impact on Youth
Every day, especially for the young people here, I am telling you, when you have a daily relationship with the Quran, with understanding, it'll change the way you think, it'll change the kind of friends you have, it'll change what you want to do with your spare time, it'll make you people of vision. We need young Muslims to be people of vision.
You need to be people that want to change society and make it better. You don't want to be people of video games and movies and sleep. Because first come video games and movies and sleep, then smoking, then drugs, then alcohol. And that's life wasted. These are lives, hundreds of thousands of lives wasted, not just of non-Muslims. These are problems of Muslim youth today.
Muslim youth have no purpose today. Why is that? Because the book that gives us purpose, we're disconnected from it. We're disconnected from that book. We have to reconnect with this book.
Our Responsibility to Others
This is a really serious obligation we have in the ummah to help the people come closer to this book and not scare people from this book and push them away from this book. This book is even inviting the hateful, stubborn people. It began with الرحمن. They were stubborn and Allah began with الرحمن
When people get angry at the youth that they're away from the deen, I don't get angry at them. I get angry at people like myself. We haven't done enough. They would not have gone away if they knew what
this was. And they don't know what this is because we're not doing our job.
Those of us that should be teaching should be teaching more. And those of you that are youth that are of concern become people of concern for others. There's a difference between a da'i and a alim. You don't have to be a alim. You don't have to be a faqih to share the Quran with somebody.
The Quran has some ayat that are very complicated. I'm not saying you should give a khutbah about inheritance law tomorrow. But when Allah says,
You can share that with your friends. You can say something nice about Allah and his messenger through Allah's book with each other. You can make it a means of reminder. That's what it was supposed to be.
The Honor of Being Allah's Students
University Pride Analogy
How many people are university students? There's one thing true about university students. And even graduates. They're very proud of their school. Whatever college you go to, you may hate it right now. But when you graduate and you get the diploma, you're gonna put it on the wall. You're gonna be proud that you graduated from this school. You're gonna feel a sense of accomplishment and prestige.
That's why the graduation ceremony is a ceremony where you are honored. Even in Islamic studies, when you get an ijazah, like you get an ijazah in tajweed, you're very proud that you got your ijazah from this sheikh or that sheikh, because it's a matter of prestige.
When people in the United States go to Harvard, or they go to Columbia, or they go to NYU, they go to these elite schools. They're very proud that they went to these colleges. People are proud to have a certain sheikh as a teacher. They're proud of that. It's a matter of honor.
Allah as Our Teacher
When Allah says (عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآن - 'allamal quran), who's the teacher? Allah is. And if he's the teacher, what does that make you and me? Students, how honored are you and me that our teacher is Allah? Our teacher is Allah.
And he didn't even say (عَلَّمَ النَّاسَ الْقُرْآن، عَلَّمَكُمْ الْقُرْآن، عَلَّمَ نَبِيَّهُ الْقُرْآن - 'allama nabiyyahu al-quran, 'allamakum al-quran, 'allama al-nas al-quran). He said, (عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآن - 'allama al-quran). He taught the Quran. Who did he teach? He didn't even limit it. So the invitation is open. Anybody who wants to learn. Anybody who wants to learn, come on and learn. Allah did not close that door.
Welcome to All Learners
If you're 50 years old in the audience and you don't know how to read Quran, it is okay. Start now, fine. Don't be ashamed. Start now. Start a little bit.
And other people in our community, when somebody comes to you at the masjid, or somebody comes to you privately and says, "Look, I'm a professional, I'm an accountant, I'm a doctor, I'm a dentist, I'm an
engineer, but I don't know anything about the Quran. I can't even read. Last time I read, I was 8 years old." Don't be angry at them and say, (أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّه - astaghfirullah), "How could you do that?"
Don't do that. They came to you. They came to you. Respect those people. Honor those people. Maybe Allah sees them as more valuable than what you've been doing. They made hijrah to Allah. They stepped on their pride. They're so educated in their field, but they admitted their ignorance of this in front of someone else. That's humility before Allah. Allah loves humility.
Caring for the Ummah
We have to honor those people. We have to invite those people, make them feel welcome. This is what we have to do. And our Muslim society is like that. Not all of us are literate in the Quran. Not everybody knows what the Quran means. Not everybody knows how to recite the Quran or even how to memorize.
It is the job of our masajid, and it is the job of our ulema and our du'at, and the young people that are students of deen. It is your job to make the deen inviting for everybody else. Don't be angry at those people that don't pray. Care for them. If you don't care about them, you will never bring them to this deen. You cannot be da'is if you don't care about people.
You have to care about society. Don't drive by the neighborhoods that have a bar, and a club, and a movie theater, and go (أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّه، أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّه، أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّه - astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah). You have to care about... That's your country. Those are your people. You have to care about them. You have to invite them.
One of your friends is going there, you say, "Hey bro, let's go play soccer. Let's play football. Let's play football instead. Let's go to the masjid and hang out. Let's go eat some prata. Let's do something else." You have to do that. Stop being angry at the people that are not in the masjid. They're also our people. They're also our ummah. They are just a lost sheep of (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - la ilaha illallah). That's who they are.
Allah did not close the invitation even to the worst kuffar. How can we close the invitation from our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters? How can we do that? How can those sisters here that are wearing hijab look with hateful eyes to the woman that doesn't wear hijab?
She doesn't wear hijab because maybe nobody taught her. Maybe she doesn't know why she should wear it. Maybe she asked her parents, "Why should I wear hijab?" And they didn't know how to answer her. And it's a fair question. It deserves an answer. Maybe they weren't able to answer. And she says, "Maybe there's no reason to do it. I don't have a good enough reason."
Maybe if somebody actually talked to her and respected her and treated her like a dignified human being, she would change her mind. You don't know that. So we have to have that attitude and concern. (وَاللَّه - wallah), this is the sunnah of our Messenger (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) to teach the Quran with love even to those who hate. To teach it with love even to those who hate.
The Final Ayah: خَلَقَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ
The Etymology of Insan
So then he says (خَلَقَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ - khalaqal insan) My final words to you guys, inshallah ta'ala.
(خَلَقَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ - khalaqal insan) You know the word (إِنسَان - insan). Ibn al-Faris argued it could be two origins. It could be (نِسْيَان - nisyan) means human beings are very forgetful. Or it could be from (أُنْس - uns) which means human beings are very loving.
Alligators are not very loving. Lions are not very loving. Other animals, they have some love but not like human beings. We can even show love to other animals. We can show love to other human beings. We can show love to strangers. We have that ability. So we have (أُنْس - uns) in us. They are (وَحْش - wahsh) and we are (أُنْس - uns).
So there's two meanings to the human being. One that we are forgetful and the second that we have love.
Perfect Message for Forgetful Beings
Allah chose this message perfectly for people who are forgetful. For people who are forgetful. Because when people forget, what do they need? Reminder. And one of the names of the Quran is reminder. كلا
Because we are (إِنسَان - insan). So he says, I taught the Quran because you're (إِنسَان - insan). You forget. That's why I gave you reminder. You keep forgetting. So I keep reminding you over and over again. That's why I did that.
The Search for Love
And the second is love. You don't just give love. You are looking for love. If you're looking for love and you have a hole in your heart that you need to fill, this word of Allah will fill it. This word of Allah will give you, you'll appreciate the love Allah has for you. The honor He's given us. How high His word is.
And yet that word of Allah, (أَنزَلَهُ - anzalahu) He sent it down. Can you imagine? The highest thing was sent down. For who? For you and me. That's what you call a gift. I don't deserve that gift and you don't deserve that gift. That is an act of love of Allah.
The Invitation to Learn
Who is going to accept that invitation from Allah? If Allah called himself a teacher, who will refuse to be a student? And if you start now, I don't care if you're 70 or 7. If you turn to Allah and say, "Ya Allah, I want
to learn your book. You called yourself a teacher and I want الرحمن to be my teacher so I'm ready to be his student."
Then it does not matter whether you know a little bit or you know a lot. Because you began with الرحمن there will be barakah in your learning. And when there's barakah in your learning, you will learn like you have never learned before. Never.
You are a bad student in mathematics. You are terrible in English class. You are horrible in history class. But when you turn to Allah's book and you want to learn Arabic which is a complicated language. You want to learn tafsir and tajweed and memorize. If your intentions are, "I want Allah's love and mercy." Then Allah will open doors in your brain you didn't know existed. And it will become easy for you like nothing else.
Personal Testimony
In college, I was a terrible student. Terrible. I was a bad student. I used to have... I only signed up for the courses in college that my friend took. Because he would take the notes. I slept on his shoulder for 4 years. I also have a lot of elbow marks on my arm because he tried to wake me up. I was a terrible student.
But when I started learning Quran and Arabic, I did not have to review twice. I learned something once and it came in my head. It's not because I'm smart because I know how dumb I am. I'm a witness to myself. Allah makes things easy.
"Allah makes it easy."
We don't make that easy. You make the intention and Allah will make that easy for you.
Conclusion and Call to Action
The Final Message
This is the message I want to share with all of you really. I want you to become students of this book. Students of this language. Don't be intimidated by it. Don't be intimidated by it.
I've dedicated myself to a project. My project is I want to try to help as many Muslims in the ummah that can speak English. If you can speak English, I want to be able to help you learn the language of the Quran and understand the Quran better than you do now.
Maybe I can become the first step for you in learning the Quran. And then when you get through that first step, you can start learning more advanced things from the ulema in your communities and other more advanced resources. But everybody needs a first step. Everybody needs something to get started with. I want to be able to offer that first step to you.
The Bayyinah Project
What I did in my own family, I decided to teach my daughter. I teach my daughter maybe 10-15 minutes of Arabic a day. And I record it. I record the class. And I put it up on our website, on bayyinah.tv. And subhanallah, at this point we have close to 7000 people that are learning Arabic with Husna.
I put up a translation of the entire Quran, a video translation of the entire Quran, briefly explaining the Quran. So at least your first exposure of the Quran is done with some guidance. Sometimes when you read translation, you get confused. What's this here? What does that mean? How does that apply? So at least giving it some context and helping you, kind of walk you through the Quran. A guided walk through the Quran. It's called cover to cover. We put that up on bayyinah.tv also.
I want eventually this to be a resource for Islamic schools, for parents, for children, for adults, for people that want to learn later on in life. I want it to be a library of videos that are consecutive, that you can do on your own time. Because I know people have different schedules, you have different obligations.
Final Prayer
So I'm requesting all of you inshallah ta'ala to if you get a chance to check out bayyinah.tv. I hope to see many of you tomorrow as well inshallah ta'ala.
But you know, I'd really rather say salams to you. I'd love to say salam to all of you and meet as many of you as I can. That's why we hope that we're gonna meet each other in Jannah. We got all the time in the world. Sit and talk. It's all good. We can put the day on pause and just talk.
And get to know one another. And we pray that Allah gathers us in a gathering much better than this gathering. That we can enjoy and remember the way we met each other in this way and how the company in Jannah will be so much better.
Thank you so very much for attending tonight