Cure for the Hearts

When Allah talks about reflection on the Qur'an, the ability to reflect on the Qur'an, the ability to contemplate the Qur'an. Allah did not say:

أَفَلَا يَقْرَؤُونَ الْقُرْآنَ

"Do they not read the Qur'an or do they have locks on their hearts?"

You know why? Because if you can't even bring yourself to read the Qur'an, your heart is not just locked, it's dead. It needs complete revival.

It needs to be completely brought back to life. But in order to draw from the Qur'an, to make it a source of inspiration for you, you have to remove those locks. And you know what I would argue that the greatest locks in our day and age are? They're intellectual locks.

The Du'a for Trust and Submission

Seriously, they're intellectual locks. Because we've become so accustomed to actually taking apart the Qur'an and deciding to agree and disagree with certain parts of it, that the Qur'an no longer is going to be that book of inspiration for us.

And there's a very beautiful du'a that the Prophet ﷺ taught us. One of the du'as that the Prophet taught us, whenever we are facing sorrow and distress, and the Prophet said that this du'a in particular is a source of stress relief. It's a way of getting rid of depression. It's a way of bringing about happiness in our lives.

When we say:

"O Allah, I am Your slave, the son of Your slave, the son of Your female slave. My forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is carried out, Your decree over me is just."

Listen to this. Oh Allah, I am your slave. I am the son of your slave. I am the son of my mother, who is also a slave. And you know I was looking through the different translations.

And it literally would mean that my forehead is in your hands. Which means that I am under your complete control. But not only that, it's not that I'm under your complete control and I'm calling upon you because I have to.

I'm calling upon you because I've been forced to, because love cannot be imposed. And it's not because I don't trust you and I have no choice, no. Then you say to Allah:

"Your judgment upon me is assured."

You are saying that it is already happening. Your judgment upon me is ensured.

"And your qada, your decree concerning me is just."

You know the number one reason why people can't benefit from the Qur'an? Because they don't trust Allah. So how are they gonna trust the word of Allah? Whenever you are not looking to Allah and saying that His qada with you, His decree with you, is not just with you. And you have that accusation towards Allah.

And how come I never got a fair shot at life? And then let me go read the Qur'an so it can make me feel better. You're missing the point. This is all before you can even approach the Qur'an properly.

Making the Qur'an the Spring of Your Heart

And so you say:

"I ask You by every name that You have named Yourself with, or that You taught to any of Your creation, or that You revealed in Your book, or that You have kept to Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You, to make the Qur'an the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness, and the reliever of my distress." [Musnad Ahmad 3712]

I'm asking you by every single one of your names. Maybe you named yourself with that name. Or maybe you taught one of your servants that name. Or maybe you hid that name with you in the unseen. Or maybe you revealed that name in the scripture.

Maybe you actually revealed that name to us. I'm asking you by all of those names. Subhanallah, you're asking Allah.

You're saying, I'm removing those locks. I'm removing the mistrust. I'm removing all of those sins.

I'm removing all of those barriers between me and you. And I'm asking you, O Allah, to make the Qur'an the spring of my heart. وَنُورَ صَدْرِي - And the light of my chest.

And the banisher of my sadness. And you're asking Allah to make it the reliever of your distress. Subhanallah.

Before you can even ask Allah to make the Qur'an all of those things for you, where's your trust in Allah? You have to submit your head, your brain, submit your heart, submit your intellect. Submit it all to Allah.

And say, I trust you.

Now make the Qur'an the reliever of my distress. Now make the Qur'an the spring of my heart. Now make the Qur'an the light of my chest.

The Example of the Sahaba

So it reflects that trust that we're supposed to have in Allah. And what makes the sahaba so amazing is that not only did they read the Qur'an much, not only did they educate the societies around them with Qur'an, whenever something happened to them, these people who were scholars of the recitation of the Qur'an, the tafsir of the Qur'an, the translations of the Qur'an throughout the world, when something happened to them, they immediately went back to the Qur'an. Because it was a part of their everyday lives.

And so you find Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه when he comes back to his city, they tell him that your son has passed away. You know what he does? Immediately he takes to the side and he prays two rak'ahs. I mean this is devastating news, your son is dead.

And the first thing he does is he pulls himself to the side and he prays two rak'ahs. And when he finishes praying two rak'ahs, he says:

"We did what our Lord commanded us to do."

"And give good tidings to the patient." [Quran 2:155]

Subhanallah, you see that? He automatically went back to the Qur'an. We did what Allah commanded us to do and Allah says in Surah Al-Baqarah:

"And give good tidings to the patient."

Right away:

"Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return." [Quran 2:156]

And then he went, he expressed that he's returning to Allah, again that's a sense of trust.

The Qur'anic Responses to Life

And you know what's amazing? When something good happens to us, what are we supposed to say?

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - that's from the Qur'an. And when something bad happens to us, what are we supposed to say?

"To Allah we belong, and to Him we return."

These are Qur'anic phrases. These are things that come from the Qur'an. And both of them are expressions of trust. Both of them are expressions of confidence in Allah.

Whether it's in ease or whether it is in hardship. You never lose trust in Allah. And so when you approach the Qur'an, those words come to you as words of comfort because you recognize that this is a personalized letter from Allah to you.

Allah does not want you to read the Qur'an as if it was just revealed to Rasulullah. And you are reading the conversation, the transcript of the conversation between Allah and the Messenger. He wants you to read it as if it was revealed to you.

He wants you to read it as if this is a personalized letter from Allah to you. You know when you miss someone, you read their words, you can't wait to see someone, you keep reading those text messages, you read those emails. This is Allah's words.

A Story of Qur'anic Comfort

So you go to that and you're comforted. Al-Fudayl ibn Ayyad رحمه الله listen to what he said. He said that, when I feel distress, when I feel distress and I open the book of Allah, I don't have to come to an ayah that addresses distress in order for the distress to be removed because just reading the words of Allah is enough of a reliever.

Just saying, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, I have something from Allah, just reading the words of Allah is enough to do away with it. And then when you come to the ayahs about distress, then it's a form of reassurance.

I wanna tell you guys a story because we draw inspiration from the Qur'an particularly in the times of distress.

- "It is a cure for that which is in the chest."

The Story of Three Companions

This is a story that takes place involving three companions of the Messenger: Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas رضي الله عنه Uthman ibn Affan رضي الله عنه

And this is an authentic narration. Umar is the Khalifa. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas رضي الله عنه walks by Uthman ibn Affan رضي الله عنه one day and he says:

And Uthman didn't answer him.

So Sa'd was like, what's that all about? I just said السلام عليكم to Uthman ibn Affan, he didn't even answer me. So he goes to Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه and he asks him, he says, "Has anything changed in Islam? Is there any change in... Did something happen, you know, concerning the salam, the greeting?"

And he said, no. He said, "Well, why would you even ask that?" He said, "Because I said السلام عليكم to Uthman and he didn't even answer me."

So Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه said, "Let's go talk to Uthman and see why he didn't answer you." So they go to Uthman and I want you to imagine these three people are people that are from the 10 guaranteed paradise. And Sa'd is with Umar.

And Umar says to Uthman, "Why didn't you say وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلام to Sa'd when he gave you salam?" Uthman said, "What are you talking about?" Sa'd said, "You remember when I said salam to you?" Uthman said, "I don't remember that, you never said salam to me."

Sa'd said, "You remember when I came to you in this place and at that time and I said salamu alaykum to you?" And he said, "No, I don't remember it." And eventually after speaking amongst themselves, Uthman رضي الله عنه picked up and he remembered.

And he said to Sa'd, "I remember now." And he started to apologize to him. And he told him, "I was so deeply engrossed in a thought, trying to remember something, that I forgot to even say وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلام to you."

The Du'a of Yunus

Uthman رضي الله عنه said, "I was trying to remember a du'a that the Prophet taught us to say in our times of hardship. The best du'a."

And Sa'ad رضي الله عنه said, "I will tell you what that du'a is." He said, "I remember when we were sitting with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

And we were with the Prophet ﷺ and Rasulullah said, 'Shall I not tell you what the best du'a to say in your times of hardship is?' And when the Prophet said that, there came a Bedouin and interrupted the Prophet and started talking to him about something else. And so the Prophet never told him the du'a. Prophet got distracted.

And Sa'ad رضي الله عنه was reminding Uthman of that gathering. And then the Prophet got up and went home. And Sa'ad رضي الله عنه said I followed the Prophet home, but I kept the distance because I didn't want to bother him.

And he said, 'I was hoping he'd notice me behind him. And just as he was about to enter his house,, he said, I started to make some noises. I started to stomp my feet a little bit, clear my throat, make some kind of noises so that he'd notice I was right behind him.

Then the Prophet ﷺ turned around and he said, 'What is it, O Sa'ad? Is there something that you need?' Sa'ad رضي الله عنه said, 'Ya Rasulullah, you never finish telling us what the du'a was.' And Rasulullah said, 'The best du'a to say at your time of hardship is what? The du'a of Yunus عليه السلام

"There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers." [Quran 21:87]

That there is no God worthy of worship or unconditional obedience except for you. How perfect are you and how imperfect am I? I was from the transgressors. Verily I was from the transgressors.

Can you imagine? Subhanallah. The du'a that Yunus عليه السلام made from the stomach of a whale. Talk about an awkward place to make du'a, right? The stomach of a whale and calls upon Allah, Oh Allah, I don't think anyone's ever called you from here before.

You know, someone might have called you from, you know, at a time of war, in some gutters, you know, somewhere. People have called you from all different places. But Yunus عليه السلام was calling upon Allah from the darkness of the stomach of a whale.

But that du'a contained an acknowledgement of Allah's perfection and an acknowledgement of his own imperfection. You know what it meant? Oh Allah, I'm ready to trust you. Subhanallah, think about it.

Yunus عليه السلام,and obviously Yunus عليه السلام never lost tawakkul, but Yunus عليه السلام gave up temporarily. And when he called upon Allah with that du'a, it was an expression of confidence and trust. I messed up, I'm ready to trust you.

I trust you, Oh Allah. You are perfect, I am imperfect. That's from the Qur'an.

The Story of the 70-Year-Old Woman

How many of you have heard of the name Umar al-Asqar, Shaykh Umar al-Asqar, raise your hand. رحمه الله, maybe some of you have read his book on Islamic creed, his series on Islamic creed. A very beautiful series on Islamic creed, probably the best in English, summarizing the different forms of aqeedah, the different pillars of iman.

Shaykh Umar al-Asqar رحمه الله is a beloved teacher of mine. He passed away the previous Ramadan of last year, not this year. رحمه الله

His brother Muhammad al-Asqar was a great scholar in fiqh also, jurisprudence. And he tells the story about his mother. His mother was illiterate at the age of 70 years old.

Now if you guys aren't paying attention, just pay attention to this part. 70 years old, she's illiterate, she can't read or write, and she comes to her kids, and she says to her kids, "I want to learn how to read Qur'an and I want to memorize it."

Can you imagine a 70 year old that knows how to read saying, I'm gonna memorize the Qur'an? It's pretty extraordinary, right? The older you get, the more difficult it gets, right?

This woman is 70 years old and tells her kids, "I want to memorize the Quran now. And I'm illiterate, so teach me how to read."

So they first taught her to read the word Allah. So they would read the Quran to her, and she would follow along, and when she would see Allah, she'd get excited. Say, "There it is."

She knew how to recognize Allah. Then they taught her the name of the Prophet. Then they taught her how to read the shahada.

Then they taught her:

"Indeed, those who believed..."

Then they started to teach her some of the frequent phrases in the Quran. And she kept on catching on, and catching on, and catching on. She'd be so excited when she recognized what she was reading.

Once she learned how to read, she started her memorization. Now I'm not gonna tell you she memorized the Quran in one year. I'm not gonna say that.

I'm going to say that this woman started off at the age of 70 years old, learning how to read and memorize the Quran at the age of 75 years old. Subhanallah. A 75 year old woman memorized the Quran.

And you know what? There's nothing sweeter. Because the recitation of the Quran in and of itself, this is a narration from Ahmad رحمه الله also, the very famous dream that he had, where he asked his creator, should a person read the Quran without understanding even if they don't understand it yet? Yes, they should. But they should learn understanding simultaneously.

The Sweetness of Completion

Dear brothers and sisters, how many of you are huffadh in here? Raise your hands, please. I want to see some hands. How many of you memorized the Quran in here?

MashaAllah. Any of you who have memorized the Quran know that the sweetest moment of your life is when you come to surah an-Nas, for the time when you finish your khatm, your first khatm of Quran, your first completion of the Quran. When you have finished memorizing the Quran and you're reading surah an-Nas.

It is such an emotional moment. It is such an amazing moment because you realize that you've just finished over 600 pages of memorization and you're coming to surah an-Nas. And subhanAllah, I've seen people whenever they're finishing their memorization of the Quran, when they're reading surah an-Nas, they can't even get through it.

You know, Shaykh Umar al-Ashqar رحمه اللهhe said that his mother took longer to read surah an-Nas than she took to read surah al-Baqarah because of how emotional she was.

Just the recitation of the Quran, just being a companion of the Quran is a relief of your heart. Wallahi, just having its recitation always playing, just always being around it, just always occupying yourself with the Quran is a relief in and of itself.

Becoming People of the Qur'an

When you can add on to that a trust in Allah, a willingness to submit yourself intellectually, spiritually, submit your brain and submit your heart to Allah and put your trust in Allah and make the Quran the reliever of your distress, that's when you become from ahl al-Quran.

And I ask Allah to make you and I, all of us, from ahl al-Quran. اللهم آمين

And dear brothers and sisters, the Prophet ﷺ did not fear, you know, the degeneration of the ummah would not be when people stop reading Quran. It's whenever they stop, when they stop reflecting on the Quran, when they stop looking to the Quran for what it should be as a book of guidance.

A Practical Challenge

Dear brothers and sisters, the point is, honestly, wallahi, I'm challenging each and every single one of you.

And this is, you know, a practical step from this convention. Find a Quran buddy. Find a Quran buddy.

Start memorizing together. Even if it's a few ayat a day. Read, reflect, acquaint yourself with the tafsir of the Quran, and make sure that when you open the Quran to start reading it, you're reading it as a personalized letter from Allah to you.

We ask Allah to make us from the people of Quran.

Closing

جزاكم الله خيرا

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

الفاتحة