Qur’an Articles

Ukhti Fi Eman

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم

And as for women past child-bearing who do not expect wed-lock, it is no sin on them if they discard their (outer) clothing in such a way as not to show their adornment. But to refrain (i.e. not to discard their outer clothing) is better for them. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (An-Nur:60)

Sa`id bin Jubayr said, “They should not make a wanton display of themselves by removing their outer garment so that their adornment maybe seen.” (Tafsir ibn Kathir)

(But to refrain is better for them) means, not removing their outer-garment, even though that is permissible for them, is better for them. (Tafsir ibn Kathir)

Knowledge is only through study

While some knowledge can be gained from reading or casually listening to lectures, the best means to gain knowledge is through qualified teachers and then setting up a systematic program of learning. Picking up a book or reading an article and trying to figure things out on our own is no substitute for learning from those who have a direct link to our living tradition (The Scholars).

A man came to Abu Darda (radi Allahu anhu) while he was in Damascus. Abu Darda asked him, “What has brought you here my brother?” He replied, “A hadith which you relate from the Prophet (salla lahu alayhi wa salaam).

” Abu Darda asked, “Have you come for some worldly need?” He replied, “No.” “You have come only to seek this hadith?” He replied, “Yes.” Abu Darda then said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah salla lahu alayhi wa salaam say:

“Whoever treads a path due to which he seeks knowledge, Allah will make him tread one of the paths towards Paradise. The angels lower their wings out of contentment for the seeker of knowledge; the inhabitants of the Heavens and the Earth, even the fish in the depths of the sea ask forgiveness for the learned man. The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like the virtue of the moon on the night when it is full, over all of the stars. Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets, and the prophets do not leave behind dinar nor dirham, but rather, they leave behind knowledge. So whoever takes it, has acquired an abundant portion”

(Abu Dawud & Tirmidhi)

Shame on You!

Author: Shaikh Muhammad Sa’eed Raslaan (hafithahuAllah)

Translator: Abu Yesmean Moslem Bin Usama

www.SalafyInk.com

Oh slaves of Allah — Oh Ummah of Muhammad (SallallAllahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam):

The Qur’aan is your honor and prestige! The Qur’aan is your dunya (world)! The Qur’aan is your aakhira (afterlife)! The Glorious Qur’aan is the reason for your pride! The Glorious Qur’aan is the reason for your elevation! Oh slaves of Allah: if you put The Glorious Qur’aan behind you, you would be in a state of humiliation and poverty! …Because surely, it’s the rope of Allah!

“..And hold on to the rope of Allah, and do not separate… ” (Aali ‘Imraan: 102)

The rope of Allah is His religion, and His Qur’aan, as in the most apparent sayings of the interpreters of The Qur’aan!

Shame (on you) and how can the English language enter (upon you) so blatantly, as you have learned it from its people and those who have been born and bred upon its letters and its grammar!

Shame on you! …you learn a language or two languages from the languages of the obfuscates, and you don’t even put the effort into learning your own Arabic language, not even able to construct a single sentence so that someone who seeks to understand you can understand you, and so that the eloquent can understand your speech!

Shame on you! …shame on you for turning your back upon the reason for your pride while holding onto the reason for your misguidance!

Shame on you! …this can only be a testament to the laziness of the onlooker, and a testament to his narrow-sightedness.

Shame on you! …in that you have the book of Allah in your house, between your

hands, and (in most cases) even dust has over-stepped it!

Shame on you! …in that you only return to The Book of Allah in times

that travesty has befallen you; only when your arm is twisted behind your back!

Shame on you! …in that you only return to The Book of Allah when your become ill and incapacitated!

Shame on you! …in that you don’t reflect upon the blessing that Allah has bestowed upon you!

Shame on you! …in that you leave The Qur’aan so blatantly behind you as if you’re really mesmerized by it, and you don’t even look in it, in the day or in the night.

Shame on you! …in that your heart isn’t even effected by a short chapter from The Book of Allah!

Shame on you! …in that your tongue doesn’t pronounce the words of your Lord, (Jalla wa ‘Alaa)!

Oh Slaves of Allah: it’s obligatory upon us to obey Allah; and it’s obligatory upon us to use our intellects and to be mindful of our duties! It’s obligatory upon us to

safeguard that which benefits us, for our enemy surely won’t safeguard it for us. …and if we don’t wake up to safeguarding our honor (our deen), then it’s not safe from our enemies! …and if we don’t protect our deen, ourselves, then indeed Allah will send upon us rain of destruction from the sky, and he will replace all of us, and dispel all of us, hidden and apparent!

“And if you turn away (from Islam and the obedience of Allah), He will exchange you for some other people, and they will not be your likes.”

(Muhammad: 38)

How long will you remain lost!

How long will you remain isolated!

How long will you remain astray!

How long will you remain reclined!

How long will you remain lying down!

How long will this coma last, oh slaves of Allah! …and while the Glorious Qur’aan

calls the adhaan of the hearts, day comes and night comes, and no one answers!

And the Prophet (SallallAllahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam) complained about you to his Lord! When the Messenger (SallallAllahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam) said,

“Yaa Rubb (oh my Lord), my people have indeed abandoned this Qur’aan!”

(Furqaan: 30)

Learn The Book of Allah, and don’t let a day pass without looking into The Glorious Qur’aan!

Shame on You!

Question: Concerning the verse “If a faasiq (sinner) comes to you with news then verify it” [1] – can we deduce from this verse that if it is not a faasiq then we do not need to verify it (the news)?

Answer: The verse explains that the news of a faasiq must be checked as more often than not, he tells a lie. However, in matters of dispute where the dispute is before a judge, then an individual regardless of who he is should have some form of character reference. This is why when a person goes in front of a judge there must be some verification to say that this person is an upright individual.

The Shaykh حفظه الله gave the example of a person who came to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab رضي الله عنه and wanted to be a character reference for a man, he asked him, “Did you travel with him?” He said “No.” He asked if he was a neighbour to him and he said “No” He asked if he had some business transaction with him with dinaar or dirham (units of money)? He said “No”. He said “Then you don’t know him.” So the person who is going to be a character reference for someone must know the individual that he is talking about and recommending.

The verse may be misunderstood because the implied understanding is not something that is general. In normal circumstances, if an individual comes e.g. Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmaan, ‘Ali or someone like that who is trustworthy, then unless there is something to prove otherwise, their word is accepted.

Answered by: Shaykh Abdullah Al Ghuydaan

Title of lecture: Tafseer Surah Al-Hujuraat, Class #3

Date answered: 3rd February 2007

A Woman Scholar of the Quran

(Verily Knowledge is taken away by the Death of the Scholars)

Umm Al-Sa’ad Al-Askandariyyah (Alexandria)

[D. 17th Ramadhan 1427(Around October 10th, 2006)]

After Umm Al-Sa’ad completed her memorization of the Quran at the age of 15 she went to the Shaykha Nufaysa bint Abu Al-Alaa, who was known as “The Shaykha of her time” to request from her to learn the 10 Qira’aat (recitations) . Nufaysa agreed on an peculiar condition; that Umm Al-Sa’ad never marry. She used to refuse to teach girls because they would marry, become busy(with husband and kids), and neglect the Quran.

What was even more amazing was that Umm Al-Sa’ad accepted the condition from her Shaykha who was known for her strictness and harshness against those whom she did not feel were proper for this honorable task. But Umm Al-Sa’ad was encouraged by the fact that her Shaykha herself had never married, even though there were many of the great scholars who had sought her hand, and she died in that state while in her eighties, having secluded herself to the Quran!

Umm Al-Sa’ad said, “It is from the blessings of my Lord that anyone who has obtained an ijaaza in the Quran, in any Qiraa’ah, in Alexandria either received it directly from me (munaawala) or from someone whom I had given an ijaaza to.”

And what proved her unique status was that she was the only woman to whom recitors and huffadh of the Quran would travel to receive ijaaza in the ten qira’aat.

Umm Al-Sa’ad Ali Najm,age 77, is considered to be the most well known woman in the world of recitations of the Quran. The only woman to specialize in the ten qira’aat, and has spent over fifty years granting ijaazas in the ten qira’aat.

Waves of people could be seen entering and leaving her humble apartment, students who dreamed of memorizing the Quran, comprised of different age groups and both genders.

Classes for the women and girls would begin from 8 AM until 2 PM after which the classes for men and boys would start until 8 PM. Umm Al-Sa’ad would continue all day with no breaks except for salah and a light meal to sustain her.

Umm Al-Sa’ad was born into a poor family in a town called Bandaariya, one of the towns of the larger city Munofiyya (north of Cairo). She was afflicted by blindness shortly after her first year and, as was the practice of many in rural areas in dealing with blindness, her family sent her to learn the Quran. She completed her memorization in Alexandria at the age of 15. She then completed the memorization of the ten recitations of the Quran from Shaykha Nufaysa when she had reached the age of 23.

Umm Al-Sa’ad mentioned that when she had completed her memorization of the qira’aat the number of huffaadh were few. Families used to request from her, as they had requested from her Shaykha before her, to recite Quran for them at occasions and religious festivals. It was acceptable at that time for a woman to recite the Quran with tajweed in the presence of men who- as she recounted- used to praise her recitation and the beauty of her tajweed. She mentioned however that this practice disappeared after Quranic recitors became widespread, as well as the spread of radios and televisions, and the most that could be done by a female recitor now is to recite at occasions that were females only. She believed that the real reason for this however was the belief that had increased in the recent years that the voice of the woman is awrah.

She had one of the highest Isnaads (chains of narration) in the world. Her isnaad in the recitation of Hafs from Aasim had 27 Shaykhs in between her and the Messenger of Allah Sal Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam. This put her on the same level with well known Shuyukh of recitation such as Shaykh Abdul Basit Hashim and Shaykh Muhammad Abd Alhameed Abdullah.

Many different types of people would return to her, seeking the completion of the Quran or ijaazah in a Qiraa’ah, from all ages and levels in society. In a day she would teach old and young students, men and women, engineers, doctors, teachers, university professors, college students, high school students, etc.

She would single out for each student a time, not more than an hour in a day, in which the student would recite what they had memorized and she would correct their mistakes bit by bit, until they memorize the Quran in one of it’s qira’aat.

Umm Al-Sa’ad once commented:

“Sixty years of memorizing the Quran and it’s recitations has made me unable to forget any of it. I can recall every ayah, it’s surah and its juz, I know the ayaat that are similar (mutashabih) and how to recite the same ayah in different qira’aat. I feel like I know the Quran like my name, I cannot imagine forgetting a letter of it or making a mistake in it. I don’t know anything other than the Quran and its recitations. I never learned a science, listened to a lecture, or memorized anything other than the Quran and the mutoon that were related to the Quran and tajweed. I don’t know anything other than that.”

Her students:

When asked about her students Umm Al-Sa’ad said:

“I remember every one of them, there were some who received Ijaaza in one of the recitations, and there were some (and they were very few) who received ijaaza in all ten recitations. They are the ones who receive an ijaaza with a special seal that I have that I always keep with me, I never give it to anyone no matter how much I have trust in them.”

The happiest days for Umm Al-Sa’ad are the days of khatma, when she would grant a student an ijaaza, even though she has experienced this day over 300 times! She keeps a copy of every ijaaza, the most recent one being to a sister in the recitation of Qaloon from Nafi’.

On the day of khatma, a waleema is normally done, or a tea party with sweets. The student who is receiving the ijaaza normally gives a gift to the Shaykha; a jilbab, a ring, golden earrings, all according to what they can afford. As for the most beautiful gift that the Shaykha received was a Hajj and Umrah trip accompanied with being hosted in Saudia for an entire year! The best part of the trip, after the hajj and umrah, was that she reviewed the Quran, and granted ijaazas in all ten recitations to students from all over the world; Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Chad, Afghanistan…

The most beloved of those ijaazas that she granted was to a student from Saudi Arabia who received it when she was seventeen years old!

The wives of her students become jealous…

And from the most interesting things that Umm Al-Sa’ad recounts is that some of the wives of her students became jealous and fearful that she might “snatch” their husbands. Especially since their husbands would continually speak about their Shaykha with pride and endearment. To the extent that some of the wives would accompany their husbands to the class to ensure that their fear had no real cause, for the Shaykha was old and blind!

“And some of the men hesitated to recite to me considering that I’m a woman, and some refused, but Shaykh Muhammad Isma’eel (the most well known shaykh of Qur’an and Sunnah in Alexandria) gave a fatwa that they could when he learned of my age, and he sent his entire family to me to recite to me!”

And what about her marriage?

When she was asked about the closest student to her, she replied “My husband, Shaykh Muhammad Fareed Nu’man.”

Shaykh Muhammad Fareed, who- before his death some years ago-was the most well known recitor on Alexandria radio. He was also the first one to receive an ijaaza from Umm Al-Sa’ad.

She said about the story of her marriage, “I was not able to keep my promise to my Shaykha Nufaysa. He used to recite to me the Quran in all ten recitations, I became comfortable with him, and he was like me in that he was blind and memorized the Quran at an early age. I taught him for five years, and when he finished he asked me for my hand in marriage and I accepted.”

She was married to him for forty years and had no children.

But she had students who were huffadh and recitors of the Quran, so all praise is due to Allah.

She commentated on that saying, “Alhamdullilah, I feel like Allah chooses for me the good always. Maybe if I had children I would have become busy with them and neglected the Quran or forgot it.”

Taken from: http://www.albaseer ah.org/forum/ archive/index. php?t-3514. html