[Ramadan] Hold on to the Quran

Hold on to the Quran

Nouman Ali Khan - Quran Weekly

The Balanced Approach to Quranic Understanding

On the one hand, the Quran demands that we understand it. And it demands that we understand it very, very well. And so, these duroos and these halaqat of tafsir are very important. And they're good.

But at the same time, I feel like sometimes it turns us into couch potatoes. So we just listen to a lecture about the Quran. And that is our getting closer to the Quran.

Well, that's only one part of it. And the other parts of it that are equally, I would argue, even if not more important, are memorizing the Quran, reciting the Quran every day, trying to make sure that you're reciting it in a way that's better and better. This is the practical dimension of our relationship with the Quran.

First Advice: Establish Daily Recitation

And so when somebody really wants to prepare for Ramadan very, very well, I mean, the first basic piece of advice I would give you... I mean, I'm talking to so many different kinds of people right now. Some of you are mothers, some of you are students, some of you are employees. You have different kinds of schedules and different kinds of obligations.

So you have to figure this piece of advice out for yourself, how it's going to work specifically. But making time to recite the Quran every day, like put everything else down. And I'm not just talking about the Quran you've already memorized.

I'm talking about picking a time in the day, preferably after one of the prayers, like after Fajr, after Isha, good nice times, or after Maghrib even. And this is not after Ramadan starts, but this is from now. And just sitting with the Book of Allah and reciting.

If you can't handle a lot, then at least a couple of pages. And you'll notice that you get lazy very quickly. Like you recite a little bit and you start yawning, or you start feeling like, I gotta do something else.

Active Engagement vs Passive Listening

It's not the couch potato, because you're actively doing it yourself. You're not just sitting back and listening, and you can tune out or tune in. You actually actively have to put an effort in to reciting the Quran.

And this is really where your personal litmus test is going to come to play. How much time really do I enjoy spending with this book? And if you don't get in the habit of reciting it regularly, the next step that I'm trying to advise you of, which is going to be to try and memorize it, that's never even gonna start. Forget that road.

So the first thing is get into the habit of reciting the Quran every day. I'm not saying this as a replacement of the lectures and the talks and other stuff. I'm saying this as a basic practical starting point in your own personal journey with the Quran.

Universal Need for Quranic Recitation

And it's something that the scholars among us, the speakers among us, those who don't know much at all about Arabic or Quran or Tafsir, all of them are in the same boat when it comes to this. This is something we equally have to give importance to. So just because I've been trying to study at least the Quran for the last decade, doesn't mean that I'm exempt for having to recite the Quran, you know, a decent amount of it every single day.

It doesn't make me exempt. It's something I need as much as you need and even my teachers need. It's not something that anybody will graduate beyond.

That's the beauty of this book, that we're never past it. We can't just say, oh, I already recited that page. Oh, I already recited this surah.

It doesn't work like that. And Ramadan is a great opportunity for instilling and reinforcing those good habits, inshallah ta'ala. So my first two bits of advice, get in the habit of reciting Quran regularly from now until the beginning of Ramadan, manageable amounts.

Avoiding Ramadan Burnout

You know, that's the other thing that I was mentioning in this khutbah of mine last week, is Ramadan comes and we go overboard, right? So there's a person who doesn't even pray. If they pray, maybe they pray at home. And then in Ramadan for 30 straight days, they come to the masjid and they're there for 8 or 20 taraweeh, exhausting themselves.

Halfway into it, they can't even wait for Ramadan to be over. Like they can go back to normal again. This is unhealthy, actually.

I'm not saying you shouldn't make 20 taraweeh or 8 taraweeh. Please go ahead. But get into good habits that you can keep alive, or bring to life before Ramadan starts, and you can keep them alive after Ramadan is over.

So yes, when Ramadan starts, recite a whole juz everyday, two juz a day if you can. Go ahead. But if you can't handle that after Ramadan is done, then start with something far more manageable.

The Principle of Consistency

What's manageable and sustainable is far better for you. What's little and is enough. The best of deeds are the ones that are the most constant.

(Bukhari hadith 6464)

"The most beloved of deeds to Allah are those done consistently, even if they are small"

And the most constant deeds are the ones that are the most manageable. They're the ones that you wouldn't have to go out of your way to maintain. So first bit of advice, recite Quran regularly from now on every single day.

Benefits of Morning Recitation

My personal recommended time is after Fajr. It's a particularly peaceful time, and there's an enjoyment in the Quran, and the barakah of it, you'll enjoy the rest of your day. The blessings of that, you'll feel the effects of it at your work, at school, and whatever you carry yourself doing.

You're gonna see the benefits of it. And that's one more point on the side that I wanted to make before I share with you the next bit of advice. And that is that we often don't realize the spiritual benefits of praying in the masjid, of reciting the Quran, of ibadah itself, active acts of worship, extra prayers, nawafil.

The Tangible Effects of Worship

Actually, you guys will know the difference between a prayer that's just a hit and run, literally like you bang your head on the floor a couple of times and made sajdah and got the salat out of the way, or you took your time and prayed peacefully. You will notice the difference not only in the prayer, but how you feel that day after the prayer. The day you make it to the masjid to pray fajr, the day you make it to the masjid to pray isha, you're gonna feel different.

You're gonna be at a peace that you haven't enjoyed before. And you can, from your past experience, already testify to those differences. It does make in fact a difference.

And these are some of the joys of Islam. One of the joys of our iman is that we get to taste its fruits even in this life. You don't have to be an advanced scholar or a zahid of some really high spiritual status to enjoy these things.

Even if you're not in the habit of regularly praying in the masjid or reciting a lot of Quran, you get started now, you'll start tasting the sweetness of it right away. It's not something you're gonna have to wait for. So I pray that all of you get to enjoy that sweetness and get in that beautiful habit inshaAllah ta'ala.

Second Advice: Ramadan as an Opportunity for Da'wah

That's my first bit of advice. The second bit of advice that I wanna share with you, about the month of Ramadan, Again, keeping in mind that there are all kinds of audiences that are listening to this talk. You have different family situations, social situations that I can't even imagine.

But I do wanna make an educated guess that a lot of you belong to families where there are significant family members that aren't interested in religion. They're not very, quote-unquote, religious. And they don't necessarily care for learning the religion more, learning Islam more, or worshipping more.

But even those kinds of members of the family, when it comes to Ramadan, they kinda turn towards the deen a little more than usual. I mean the most they'll become religious will be in this month. And I see that as a golden opportunity not to complain about those people.

Welcoming Occasional Worshippers

Usually what happens in the khutbah is in the Eid khutbah or the last khutbah of Ramadan, the khatib is angry at the crowd and says, don't just come here every Ramadan and then disappear. Come here every single night of the prayer or whatever. I only see you at the Eid prayer, etc, etc.

Instead of using that as an opportunity to vent your frustrations, in fact that's an opportunity to invite people as guests. These people have come. They don't normally come.

So the fact that they even show up is a favor. It's not something we should complain about. We should look at it the other way.

These are people that otherwise have little or nothing to do with the faith now. They're barely, barely holding on to the faith. So take it as an opportunity to invite them.

Creating Religious Conversations

So what I wanted to tell you then is in your family, if you have a hard time bringing up deen, bringing up a religious conversation, maybe the value, the beauty of prayer, maybe something you recited from the Quran or you heard something being explained about the Quran that you found particularly beautiful, Ramadan is a really nice opportunity when you go over to Iftar at your cousin's house and you go get invited to that friend's house or then you invite them over to your house when you never actually get a healthy opportunity to talk about the religion, now you get an opportunity.

Now you've got like a disarmed, you know, a non-confrontational opportunity to speak to your friends and family in a way that's not going to create an argument. You don't want to have arguments and debates in Ramadan. Don't fall into those debates and don't allow those debates to become dominant in your conversation with others.

Ramadan is about getting closer to Allah and maybe doing your part in helping somebody else get closer to Allah. What you've come to appreciate, you help somebody else appreciate alongside, right? That's what you want to be able to do.

Third Advice: Avoiding Religious Arguments

So on that note, I want to take you to my third and my final bit of advice that again I think applies to myself and I'd like to share that with you also, inshallah.

And that is that, you know, when you talk to folks, you're going to get an opportunity to interact with folks in Ramadan that you don't normally see the rest of the year or you don't, like I said, you don't normally get to talk to them about their religion the rest of the year. But you know what those kinds of people, they have all kinds of interesting and weird opinions about Islam. And they're members of your family, it could be your uncle, it could be your cousin, it could be your grandfather or whatever.

So when you do talk about the deen, they'll bring up these tangent, weird ideas of theirs and then they'll ask you your opinion about that. You know, they'll start, maybe one of your relatives will start criticizing, ah, hadith is all made up, what does that mean anyway? We should just follow the Quran. Or some other will say, you know, well, the Quran talks about alcohol, but you know, it's not the same as beer, so it's okay.

Patience and Wisdom in Family Interactions

And you'll be sitting there going, what are you talking about? Why are you talking like this? And it'll make you upset, because obviously these are some very basic things in the religion, and these people are bringing them up almost as a joke. Or they're bringing up really absurd, ridiculous understandings of the religion that can boil your blood. Here I'm particularly talking to the young in the audience that feel like they have to defend their faith at any cost, even if it means severing family ties.

That's the point where you have to take, put the brakes on your tongue, hold yourself back, and allow the conversation to be steered back in a good direction. I just wanted to talk about getting closer to Allah. I just wanted to talk about, you know, how great the recitation of Quran was the other night.

Change the subject. Don't go into debates. Don't go into religious arguments.

This is not the month to do it. That's not the time to do it. Everybody should walk away with a good taste in their mouth after a conversation about deen in this month.

Yes, those issues should be hashed out and they should be discussed, but you find another time to do them. This shaitan is out of the picture right now. These people are ripe for da'wah and that will entirely depend on your mannerism and your patience and your courtesy with them in trying to deliver that message.

Special Advice for Spouses and Parents

And some of you, some of the sisters that are listening right now will have to do that with their husbands who are averse to the religion. There are some husbands whose wives don't really like anything to do with Islam. They think that you've become too religious.

This will be the opportunity to soften those hearts. There may be your parents. Your parents think you've become too religious.

You're fanatic. And they're upset with you. They criticize you all the time.

And this will be a chance for you to not respond to those things impulsively and become reactionary, but rather to be very, very patient, very calm in your reaction to them and keep the atmosphere positive and good.

Inviting Friends to Religious Activities

Another bit of advice that's tied to this. This was with family. Another bit of advice is with friends. All of us have friends that aren't very religious. Or maybe they're old friends from college or even high school.

Or they're friends now. And you keep in touch, but you don't really... If you do talk about things, then maybe you talk about sports. You talk about a movie that just came out.

You talk about video games. Whatever you talk about, you don't talk about deen. This is the month to try to invite one of your friends.

Hey, come over for iftaar. Let's go to the masjid and pray. And just hang out with them.

And just pray. You don't last the entire 20. Just go for isha and bring them back or something.

And you don't even have to preach a word. Just try to bring them into that environment. Just that environment.

And then let Allah do the rest. Maybe they'll just... Just being in a masjid after so long will do something to their heart. It happens.

It really does. So you and I are not in charge of changing people's hearts. But we can certainly try to bring them to a good positive environment.

And then if there's goodness in them, and I'm sure there is, it's gonna flourish. Allah will allow it to flourish, subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the month to try and do that.

To mend family ties. To help friends come to closer or better company. In sha Allah wa ta'ala.

Personal Development Goals for Ramadan

And for you personally, as I started my talk with, for you and me, we should have memorized more Quran at the end of this Ramadan than we knew going in. We should have recited more Quran than we had come in with. We have these perfectionist ideas, I'm gonna finish the entire Quran three times in Ramadan.

That intention lasts about what? A week? And then you run out of gaps. Then you say, okay, at least I'll recite the whole Quran once. In the month of Ramadan.

And you start out like that, but then again you run out of steam. Why? Because you're not in that habit. Which means you have to get started from now.

You have to get yourself in that habit from now, in sha Allah wa ta'ala. And I really hope that you do that, that I do that and you do that, and you don't get lazy this Ramadan. The worst thing you can do is Ramadan came to an end, and you look back and you say, man, another Ramadan went and I didn't really fully take advantage of it.

I ran out of steam too early. You don't want that to happen to you this Ramadan. This is not the Ramadan that you and I are gonna allow that to happen.

In sha Allah, we're gonna get ourselves in gear ahead of time.

Importance of Sunnah Prayers

I know my time is pretty much up because I have to go and prepare for another class. But as parting advice, what I wanted to share with you, especially for the young in the audience, in sha Allah, is take care of your sunnah prayers.

Like, pray the sunnah before the fardh prayers, pray the sunnah after the fardh prayers, pray them in the masjid or come home and pray them, but take care of them. That is a huge part of reaping the spiritual benefits of ibadah. And it'll get rid of laziness from you.

You'll become active in doing worship. Because Ramadan is a time of extra worship, and if you're even barely making the energy to do the fardh, the obligatory prayers, then in Ramadan, you're gonna really, honestly, you're just gonna run out of steam very, very quickly. You're not gonna have the energy to do much, and it's gonna be an opportunity wasted.

So, you wanna take advantage of, you know, adding a little bit more ibadah than usual from now on. Make sure you make those two rakahs after maghrib, make sure you pray your sunnahs after dhuhr, make sure that you complete all the sunnah, and even the nawafil after isha and things like that. Just make sure you take care of those extra acts of worship, and you sit and you make dua by yourself.

Self-Improvement and Personal Growth

You put yourself in that situation, so you're trained to really, really take advantage of this Ramadan. I pray that you and I are able to learn a lot about the Quran, and memorize, and recite. I pray that all of us are able to worship Allah in a way that we haven't done before, or we've gotten too lazy to do, that, you know, we don't compare ourselves to the person praying next to us, but we should at least compare ourselves to our own selves, from before Ramadan started, or from yesterday to today.

At least we should have that comparison. I should be a better Muslim today than I was yesterday. I'm just gonna wrap up, inshallah ta'ala.

Practical Ramadan Advice

I'm very optimistic about this Ramadan. I think it's gonna be a beautiful, beautiful month for all Muslims, especially us here in the US, inshallah ta'ala. I wanted to extend my salams to all of you and your families, and make dua that they're fasting, and their worship is all accepted by Allah azza wa jal, and that they make most of it.

You know, Ramadan is gonna be late nights all across the country. Isha is gonna be really late, which means Taraweeh is gonna be extra late after that, which means guys, I'm specifically talking to the guys now, don't hang out after prayer, go to sleep. Go to sleep, because it's gonna ruin your Fajr.

What's the point of praying 20 Taraweeh and you can't even wake up for Fajr? It's an exercise in futility. So make your worship, but make sure you have a healthy sleep schedule. Make sure you don't overdo it, so you can stay on course, and be productive inshallah ta'ala throughout the entire month.

Concluding Du'a

So these are a few bits of advice that I wanted to remind myself of, and remind all of you of, in getting ready for the beautiful month of Ramadan. May Allah azza wa jal make this a month where we are closer to the Quran than we've ever been, and may Allah azza wa jal help you and I understand this book, enjoy this book, love this book, memorize this book, and act on this book as it deserves to be acted on.

"May Allah bless me and you with the Wise Quran, and benefit me and you with its verses and wisdom. I say what I have said and seek forgiveness from Allah for me and you, so seek His forgiveness, for He is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. And peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings."