Transcription
So last week we starting talking about, "How can we prepare ourself for the month of Ramadan?" And we said the most important thing is to prepare your heart for Ramadan. And we talked about some points last time. Today, just continue to that topic, and we said in the end of that lesson, "Quran, Ramadan is Quran." So when Allah wants to define the define the Ramadan, he said, "Ramadan." So what is Ramadan? The month where Allah descended the Quran. That means that means Ramadan and Quran is something always together.
This relationship started from the beginning, from the first night that was received the revelation. That's that's the night of. He used to go to a mountain of in a small cave called. He knew that these, no doubt, they are wrong. They worship idols. They fight each other for nothing. There's a lot of injustice. But he didn't know where's the absolute truth. So he used to go to that cave just to contemplate, to reflect, to ponder upon this universe. And one night, Gibl came to him.
First question is, why at night? Why the revelation start at night? And why Allah, when he talked to MS, also that was at night? And when he called him to talk to him in that 40 days, he didn't say 40 days, he said 40 nights. He even emphasized that 13 nights, then we increase it 10 nights, not days. Because night is the time where everyone is sleeping. Only those who have something, they love something more than sleeping, more than anything else, will awake that time. In our dunya, if someone loves someone, he will stay at night all the night just chatting or all the night sending messages. Everyone is sleeping. Why is he awake? That's love.
So night, number one, it's about only those who have that love will awake. They will leave their beds and they will come and have a special meeting with their Lord. That's why Allah, when he described this type of people, he said in Arabic language, "That's amazing." "Is their beds," means their backs. It seems they don't like their beds. When they sleep few hours, they just waiting for that moment when they wake up and stand before their Lord. Why? Because they love Allah more than anything else.
Night is when everyone, when there is a peace. When you recite something at night, you will be focused. The day, you are busy with a lot of stuff. Everyone is awake during the day. But at night, there's peace. There's silence. That's why Allah wala said, "Prayer at night is a is when you put your feet on the ground so that you will leave a mark on the ground." So also, when you recite Quran at night, you leave a mark in your heart. You never forget what you recited at night because of that silence, peace.
Night also is where Allah wa ta'ala told us that he calls the human being every single night. "If there is anyone who wants forgiveness, stand up and pray. If anyone, anyone has any problems, I will solve it to him or her. If there is anyone has any h, any need, I will give it to him or her." That is night. So that's why Quran revealed at night. In another word, means your night should also always be full of Quran. If you sleep from Isha till Fajr, that means you don't give the Quran its right. Should have a portion of night every single night in your life. Portion of that night is for Quran. That's why it's revealed at night. That some of the they said, when a man crosses any village in that time, he will in the in the end of the night, he will hear the people reciting Quran in a way you may think this is the day because they know Quran is revealed at night. I went to a few places in my country, Mauritania, to study where the whole village wakes up before Fajr. Everyone, the children, the eldest, the the males, the females, they all wake up before. And you see a masjid is full, not in no one hour before, because this is a place where they are seeking knowledge.
So night, Allah chose night for many reasons. And in that night, Gibl came to that small cave. Why mountain? And why small cave? Mountain, Allah talks about mountain. He said, "One of the functions of mountains is that it makes this earth firm. The earth will not shake with you." Tamid. So also, that's the function of the revelation also. Revelation makes us steadfastness, makes us very firm. Then the desires, the doubts will not shake us. That's why Allah talked to MS next to the mountain and revealed to in the mountain and also completed this revelation next to mountain of Arafa.
Why a small cave? A small cave, like the light that will lighten the whole world came from a small place. That's the miracle here. When you have that big room in the past, and there's a small light here, they put it in that window, and then that light will bring the light for the whole room. Also, the whole humanity was waiting for that light, and it started there in a small cave. That just also maybe a metaphor also that our heart is very small, but when it, our hearts carry the light of guidance, it can spread this guidance around the world. And we took that from Quran. "All the in heavens or earth have one source." But when he talks here, you think about vastness and our heavens and earth, and suddenly the picture now goes very narrow. Just a small place in a window in the room. That's the mishkat. Why do you go from the vastness to a small narrowness? Because that's mishk is just an example or parable for the heart. The evidence for that when Allah said in the end of the ayah, "Allah guides whatever He will to this guidance." Means that that light is in the heart. So human being, when they walk on this earth, if they have that light, it's just that the cave of will light in a lot of places. Muslim also, when that light is very strong in his heart, whenever he comes to any city, to any village, to any university, to any workplace, he'll spread that light.
Then he came and said, "Iqra." Why Iqra is the beginning of revelation? Because and we know that he can't read and write. And that's very common in Arabs that time. They don't read and write. They're very clever, but they all their culture are oral, not by reading and writing. Why then is the beginning? Because this is the last message for humanity. It's not only for Arabs. And this message will transform the Arabs first in a way you can't imagine. People they don't read and write. It's just after 150, if you see how many books that time in Muslim countries, you'll see what's the miracle here. That Quran transformed these people in a way that you can't imagine. Because the first thing is knowledge. Without proper knowledge, your salah will become just without a proper knowledge, your dawa become in a way that you people turn away from dawa because of your style. Knowledge is everything. But it's not just because all the civilizations before they know, they have some type of knowledge. But it's here. That's the secret here. It's a knowledge but by the name of Allah. And that changes everything. Because with the knowledge came by the name of Allah, that person will become a special person. Quran produces people that treat humanity in a way that no one knew it in the entire history. That a man who just recites the Quran at night, and during the day, he will deal with people with a lot of kindness, a lot of justice, a lot of passion. Why? Because he read at night that Allah is watching him. So he deals with people literally, but actually he deals with Allah, not with them. He has very big fear that when he treats people bad, Allah will punish him. So he never cheats or deceives them or lies to them. Not because he's afraid of them, but because Allah is watching him. That's how Quran produced these people.
So that's why knowledge here is different. That this type of knowledge, when it comes to a people, they don't read and write, they become people who adore reading and writing. And adore, they come to people, they treat the orphans very badly. They don't give the woman their share of inheritance. And now to a people that they compete each other, who will protect that orphan, who will spend his money in that orphan or that widow, that vulnerable. How? Just words. But it's the words of Allah. It's then when he said to him, said, "Very simply, I don't know how to." Then he sees him, squeezes him three times. Maybe he wants him to know this is not a dream. This is real. Maybe he wants him to not forget this moment in his entire life. That seizing or squeezing that moment. The humanity after that moment is not like a humanity after that moment. Maybe that's squeezing for this also. And then he revealed to him just few ayat. That's out of wisdom of this revelation. It came down gradually. Why? Because this revelation is not just for recitation. It's for to recite, reflect, and then apply what you just recited. That's why he chose ayat. That's a unique word that Arabs were impressed by this word. He didn't. Yet is not like Quran is to read the Quran. But yet has two meanings in Arabic. It means recite, and it means to follow. Means whenever you recite something, follow it, apply it, implement it. So that's why it's few. You just take ayat and they implement it. Not like the generation after that, they memorized the whole Quran, but no implementation. Sahaba, they read just a portion and then applied it. Small portion, just five ayat. Just five. But in that five short verses, there are five words. Allah repeated each one of these words twice. Only these five words, and every one of them twice. That's a deep meaning. There are only two nouns, "insan" and "rabb". And that's enough. The last message is from your Lord to to the insan, to the all human being, regardless of their races, their genders, their age, in the whole humanity. This book is for everyone. From who? From. He didn't say Allah in the beginning. Your Lord. Why? The one who takes care of you. The one who raises you. The one who takes care of you when you are in the womb of your mother. Do you think he will take care of you in the womb of your mother and then he will abandon you after that? He created you for a purpose. So he sent this book for you to guide you. From. So this is two nouns, from your Lord to the human being. And three verbs. The first one is to answer the question, why? Why I should listen to my Lord? Because your Lord is the only one who created you. No one can claim that he created you. The one who created is the one who has the right to say, to give commands to you. What about twice also? Allah. He created everything, but he created a special creation. He made him special. The evidence for that is he taught the human being. When he created Adam, he gave them that special knowledge over the angels. And then he created the human being by taught them how to write by pen. So they can transform the civilizations and the information. So is that's special for insan. What does my Lord want from the insan? Is just one thing. Make all your life in the name of Allah. When you learn, when you apply, when you treat people, when anything in this life, in the name of Allah.
Wassallam came to then the revelation starts slowly. Second revelation is "Muzzammil." "Cover me. Cover me." Then in that in that status, Allah descended the second revelation. "Muzzammil" means someone who has wrapped himself with clothes. Why? Why not? And that happened twice, and only in the beginning of revelation. Number two, number three is the same thing. "Wrap yourself." But more than is just to cover yourself. But is to wrap yourself tightly. So in the first one, "Cover yourself." "Stand up." That's not the time to sleep. You have a heavy mission. You'll spread the ma, last message to the all human being. There's no time for sleeping. "Stand up." "Warn people." Means wake up a human being. How can one person wake up all this humanity? It seems impossible. It's just one. He gives them the tools. He said, "The secret is the more you glorify your Lord, the more you'll see this mission very easy." Because your Lord, he can in one moment say, he can open the hearts in one moment. Just rely on him. Then he sees all these enemies around him. He said, "Before you see the external enemies, focus on internal enemy first. Purify your soul." Sometimes internal enemy, your ego, is more dangerous than external enemy. Purify your soul. When your soul is purified, it will receive the revelation purely. Then he talks about the external enemy. "Leave them here is anything that calls you against Allah." In the beginning, just leave them. Be quiet. You are still in the beginning. You are you and your companions are a minority in Mecca. Then just leave them. Don't change what appears in front of you. 360 idols. Leave them. That's not the problem. That's the symptoms. The roots of the problem is in the minds and hearts of a human being. When you change the hearts, everything will change. So leave all the symptoms. Leave the places, the way they, the place of Zina in Mecca. The place of idols next to Kaaba. The all these are symptoms. When you change the minds and the hearts, you will come and conquer Mecca and you will smash all these idols in one moment in front of them. But after you destroy the idea in their hearts and minds. So when you call people to Allah, don't think you have favor upon them. Don't wait for a favor from them because you guide them. Don't wait for favor from someone you guide because you do that for the sake of Allah. It's a long journey. Be patient. Still this is now too much. So it's still another think that another call again. It seems after the second one, he's none more afraid now about this. What's going on? So he tied and wrapped himself tightly, then stand up. But this time, not to call people. This time is to purify yourself. Because if you are strong from inside, you can face everyone outside. It's all about inward dimension.
So that's what he said, "You know, the night I descended the revelation upon you at night." So night is the time of recitation. Half night, less than that, a bit more than that, should be a long time. Many people when they listen to this ayah, they think it's about it's about it's about and it's not about this. This is the first revelation. It's proper Arabic. You will not send to him to say to him and is not about is Quran. It's about slow down. Try to taste every single word. Try to reflect upon every single verse. That's so slow down. Means don't treat Quran as normal words. No, these words can transform human beings, can change your mindset, can revive your heart. "Will send a heavy speech." Means this can change a human being. And it did change the Sahabah first. And Sahaba after that spread this Quran around the world. This Quran is heavy. Heavy that Allah said, "If Allah descended this Quran upon the mountains, mountains will crush or upon the earth, earth will move. Or if Allah descended that Quran upon the dead people, they will become alive." But Allah sent that Quran to the human being who is still alive to revive their hearts, to transform them from toy, from from dead spiritually to alive spiritually. So that's the mission of this Quran.
And just look at the Sahabah, those who who used to worship idols or bury their daughters in very young age. And now when some of them has daughters, he realized this is a big honor. Allah will protect me from hellfire. I will take care of my daughters. I will do my best. This is big. That's a transformation. That when their all goals or their ultimate goals is just to go with this friend in this to have some alcohol or to fight the tribe, fight each other, another tribe. To a way that think about, "If the road is not straight in Iraq, Allah will ask me. I am the Khalifa. I should facilitate everything to the people in the homeland, in the whole Islamic state." How can Omar change from someone just fighting people in the market of till Omar, the one who cares about the whole ummah? That's the Quran. How can Quran change Als poet that she cried because her brother Sakah died in Jahiliyyah, very nice poetry, all crying. And then Als S when she became Muslim, she lost four sons, not brothers, her own sons, in one moment in Karbala. And she didn't crush. She said, "I prepared them for this moment." That's how Quran changed people. So and then he starts after that and he gives them the first one of the first names in Quran revealed to. The first name is "Iqra." The second is "Muzzammil." But it came here as an adjective. But the second name came as a name: "Rely on your Lord." It seems you'll face humanity. How can I face all the people? Just take your Rabb as. When you trust someone, you don't care about anything else. So trust Allah. He will solve every problem. He will facilitate every difficulty. And who is?
So brothers and sisters, Quran, which the Ramadan defines, that Quran is something heavy. Something heavy that we should prepare ourselves to revive or revisit our relationship with Quran. Is it just a recitation? Or as the Sahaba received it, that it will change their minds? Especially when you recite it every night. Imagine every night you recite and talk about Jannah and about Jahannam and about the hereafter. Talk about the conflict between Iblis and between truth and falsehood, between good and evil. Every night. Then during the day, you never have doubts. Some people nowadays when they receive an email or they attend a video on YouTube, they come and they say, "I have some doubts about Quran." These doubts because Quran is not your companion. If Quran is your companion every single night, it's not about information now. It's about certainty. It's about something you can't doubt. Even the whole world doubts Quran, you will never doubt it. That's why that what did with with Sahabah and the the people after him is this, that certainty. That every night you are with Jannah and you are with Jahannam. Then will you see the life now significant? Will you cry just because uh one um uh football player he just lost the goal or or because a certain match? They will you will you will that your your priority? And you every night read about people in Jannah and people in Jahannam. But when you read Quran just monthly, once a month or once a year, yes, no certainty, a lot of doubts. Dunya is everything in your life. But when Quran always one of the main things that Quran shifts. Quran shifts our focus from dunya. Dunya puts in its place. Dunya is just a bridge. We should take care of dunya because this is a bridge. This is a chance, but not to be heedless in this dunya. Someone who reads Quran every day, he can't be that. Impossible. Because if you repeat something every night, that means that will shape your priority. And then Quran also, when you treat people, your spouse, your parents, your neighbor, Muslim, non-Muslim, anyone, you treat them kindly. Why? Because every night you read that in Quran. Every night, every single night, Allah take care of your parents, take care of the neighbors, take care of. And you listen every night. So during the day, what motivates you is those ayat you recited at night. That's how Quran shaped the Sahaba.
So now the Quran revealed to for all these 23 years until the end. The last Ramadan, used to revise the whole Quran with with Jibril. What revealed from Quran? Jibril will come in the last 10 nights. But in the 10th of Hijra, Jibril came down 20 nights with. He he revised the whole Quran. That's a sign that this is the. And asallam to give us flavor that Ramadan is Quran. He never prayed as in congregation. He said, "Tawaf, everyone pray with each other. Then let some with your with your parents, with your family, with individually." But in the end of his life, he prayed only three nights. Maybe he wants to give us also, what does prayer at night in Ramadan look like? Is it look like a 15 minutes in some mosques? And the strange thing, you will see those mosques around the Muslim world who spend 15 only minutes in, he'll find a lot of cars. They will block the street because everyone wants this type of. What's the of look like then? He prays just three nights because he's only prayed with himself. But in the 23rd, after Isha, when people left and some Sahaba is still there, he came and he prayed after. And he prayed just after he started and he finished in the first third of night. So third of night he prayed. Then 24th, Masjid is full because they heard last night what happened. Didn't come. 25th, he came after mid. Masjid is was full. He prayed from till the half of the night. That's. And when he finished, said, "If you continue till the how they taste the Quran?" So he said, "No, whoever prays with Im till the Im finishes, Allah will give you the whole the whole night." And then 26th, the Masjid full. Allah didn't come. And he say, "In I saw that you are full and you are waiting for me. I'm afraid that will be obligatory for you. I don't want difficulty for ummah." But this night, 27th, I will pray. And he informed his wives. Masjid is full and the street outside the Masjid, it was a special night. And wasallam prayed after till he just give them a time for it. It seems he just wants to teach us Ramadan. So if you have a time or you are in the weekend, you don't have a work, then go to a mosque that will pray long time to taste even once how's Ramadan Quran look like. If you have a work or if you have universities, that's fine. Won't easy for us. If if you don't have time, then even 1 hour, even half an hour, but with equality, with your heart. But if you are in the weekend, bring your family and try to go to a mosque that will pray for a long time, because that's what is Ramadan.
In the end, all this Quran is not even about also. If you make with no transformation, that's not the message of the Quran. There are 114 surahs in Quran. Only one of them named after Quran. Means Quran. Allah said, "That Surah ends with the characteristics of Iman, the servants of Allah." Why end with characteristics of Iman? That's the message. Quran should change our character. Quran came to change our manners. Quran came to produce a people when the people, when human beings see them, they say, "This is how the Quran is." Quran. And we are in this country, we should take care of this more than anyone else. Because the people here, they don't know what is Islam. They know it by media. And you know what is in media about Islam? False image. Islamophobia. How are they going to know what Islam is? Through our manners and characters. They will not come to our Masjid to see how the prayer is. But they will see us during the day when we treat them, when we buy from them, when we are in workplace or university campus, or we are as neighbors. They will see, "Did the Quran change our character? Did that prayer at night transform and shape our manners?" When we treat them in the best way, then they will ask, "What's your secret? Why you are unique? Why you are special?" Then in that moment, we'll talk about Quran. That's how Quran changed this.
So may Allah give us ability to attend Ramadan. Give us life to allow us to fast and pray at night in Ramadan. Give us ability to accept that. May Allah accept that from us. And may Allah wa ta'ala raise the status of this ummah and make after Ramadan ummah more. May Allah guide us to the straight path.