This Ramadan, MuslimMatters reached out to our common (and not-so-regular) crew of writers asking them to share their reflections on varied ayahs/surahs of the Quran, ideally with a give attention to a particular juz – those who might have impacted them in some particular means or have influenced how they strategy each life and deen. Whereas some contributors are well-versed in no less than a part of the Quranic Sciences, not all essentially are, however mirror on their decisions as a means of illustrating that our Holy E-book is approachable from varied human views.
Introducing, A Ramadan Quran Journal: A MuslimMatters Collection
***
The Evening is Darkest Earlier than the Daybreak
Alhamdulillah, we’re at over 850 supporters. Assist us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small present from a reader such as you to maintain us going, for simply $2 / month.
The Prophet (SAW) has taught us one of the best of deeds are those who completed constantly, even when they’re small.
Click on right here to assist MuslimMatters with a month-to-month donation of $2 monthly. Set it and accumulate blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you are supporting with out serious about it.
by Naved Bakali
Introduction
Now effectively within the midst of the month of Ramadan, we’re reminded of the significance of our connection to the Quran. Ramadan is the month of the Quran. It was on this month that the Quran was revealed and based mostly on the examples of the Prophet , the Sahaba [ranhuma], and the pious predecessors of the previous, we perceive the significance of renewing our reference to the Quran throughout these blessed days. After I learn the Quran, I all the time attempt to remind myself that the teachings and tales contained in it are timeless, and simply as relevant now as they have been once they have been first recited from the blessed lips of the Prophet
. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate that, relying on the circumstances one is experiencing, the Quran will influence and communicate to you in several methods. For many people within the present second, our minds and hearts are with our brothers and sisters in Gaza, who’re enduring a genocidal onslaught and famine. It’s with our brothers and sisters in Palestine and all around the world enduring oppression that I share some reflections from the fifteenth Juz of the Quran.
The fifteenth Juz consists of two chapters; Surah Al ‘Israa (seventeenth chapter) in its entirety, and most of Surah Al Kahf (18th chapter). These surahs are complementary to at least one one other. Surah Al ‘Israa begins with the glorification of Allah and Surah Al Kahf begins with the reward of Allah
. Each surahs have been revealed in Makkah and their revelations communicate to the challenges and realities of that interval. Prolonged commentaries and tafseer have been written on these two chapters of the Quran. For the aim of this reflection, I’ll be selectively referring to temporary parts of those surahs in makes an attempt to attract classes from them. From Surah Al ‘Israa I’ll be discussing the primary verse and extra critically, the timing of the occasion that this verse describes. Thereafter, I’ll have interaction in a dialogue of Surah Al Kahf and one among tales therein.
Reflections on Surah Al ‘Israa
Background
Verse one among Surah Al ‘Israa states:
“Exalted is He who took His Servant by night time from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose environment Now we have blessed, to point out him of Our indicators. Certainly, He’s the Listening to, the Seeing.” [Surah Al ‘Israa: 17;1]
![](https://m2w4k5m5.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/cole-keister-o9yAaWS-xtU-unsplash-scaled.jpg)
Al Aqsa [PC: Cole Keister (unsplash)]
This verse is describing some of the vital moments within the Seerah, generally known as Israa wa al-Mi’raj. This was the second when the Prophet engaged in his night time journey from the Ka’bah in Makkah to Masjid al-Aqsa in present-day Jerusalem and from there ascended by the heavens to have interaction in a divine discourse with Allah
to obtain the commandment of the every day prayers. There are variations of opinion as to the exact date of this occasion. In line with Aisha
, the passing of Khadija
passed off earlier than the commandment of the every day prayers.1 As such, proof means that the momentous occasion of Isra wa al-Mi’raj passed off inside the final 18 months of the Makkan interval of the Sirah.2 It was round this time, within the tenth yr of the Prophethood, that the Prophet
skilled immense social and emotional challenges. That is known as the yr of sorrow within the Seerah literature. It was on this yr that each the uncle of the Prophet
, Abu Talib and the Prophet’s
blessed spouse Khadija
handed away, inside 40 days of one another.3 Abu Talib and Khadija
represented the Prophet’s
two pillars of assist. Abu Talib, as the top of the Banu Hashim, probably the most famend and a strong clan of the Quraish, prolonged safety to his beloved nephew, which was important within the tribal system of Arabia. Khadija
by her unwavering love and assist of the Prophet
and his mission, was his pillar of emotional assist that he wanted to endure the challenges of his mission. Upon their passing, the Prophet
was in a susceptible state and wanted to look past Makkah for assist. He traveled to the neighboring metropolis of Ta’if, solely to be repelled in probably the most vile and abhorrent vogue. Pelted with stones by the silly riffraff of the town added to the grief and sorrow skilled by the prophet in these latter years of the Makkan interval. In a practice associated in Bukhari, Aisha
had requested the Prophet
if he had ever skilled a day harder than Uhud, to this, the Prophet
recounted how he was turned away from Ta’if. It was after the difficulties skilled all through this yr that Allah
in His Divine Knowledge willed that the Prophet
go on his miraculous night time journey.
The Evening Journey: A Large Blessing after Hardship
As is described in Surah Al-Israa, Allah had the Prophet
have interaction on this journey in order that He might present the Prophet
a few of His Divine indicators. This was a miraculous journey into the world of the unseen, the place the Prophet
interacted with angels and different divine creatures, led all the Prophets in prayer, ascended the heavens to greet plenty of Prophets and obtain council and recommendation from them, noticed the rewards and punishments of the afterlife, had a gathering with the Divine past the furthest Lot Tree from behind a veil, and was gifted with probably the most central act of worship that Muslims have been to carry out. All earthly conceptions of time, house, and actuality have been defied on that journey. After experiencing the magnitude of the realm of the unseen and catching a glimpse of a world past the stretch of human creativeness, how might the residues of worldly ache, issues, and challenges dim a coronary heart that was imbued with the sunshine of those realities? The timing of this occasion provides credence to Allah’s
saying within the Quran:
For actually with hardship comes ease!
Actually with hardship comes ease! [Surah Ash-Sharh: 94;5-6]
As we watch our brothers and sisters in Gaza dwelling by and experiencing a genocide in real-time, our Rohingya brothers and sisters languishing in refugee camps as survivors of a genocide, our Uyghur brothers and sisters being ethnically cleansed from their homeland in East Turkistan by imprisonment in focus camps, and all the different locations around the globe the place Muslims are struggling and going by hardships and oppression, we might really feel helpless and powerless. At instances, we might really feel that our prayers, sadaqah, letter campaigns, and protests don’t quantity to something. We must always by no means lose hope and stay steadfast, as the primary verse of surah Israa reminds us at its finish, Actually, He’s the Hearer, the Seer! All of our actions are essential and a way for change to happen. Change might come about eventually. Whatever the circumstances we see earlier than us, it’s paramount for us to take heed from the teachings of the Quran and to know that with these difficulties and hardships, ease will finally observe in a means that’s befitting to Allah.
Surah Kahf
Background
![The Night is Darkest](https://m2w4k5m5.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/hafizh-haqqani-CUGJLfVPkq8-unsplash-scaled.jpg)
Surah Kahf [PC: Hafizh Haqqani (unsplash)]
The second surah within the fifteenth Juz is Surah Kahf. Surah Kahf is located proper in the course of our present-day mushaf. It’s a surah that we’re inspired to recite each Jumu’ah, as a practice relates that “Whoever reads Surat al-Kahf on the day of Jumu’ah, may have a lightweight that can shine from him from one Friday to the following.” Moreover, among the many blessings of this surah is that the opening verses are a safety from one of many biggest fitan that Muslims will face, that of the Dajjal.4
There are 4 primary tales in Surah Kahf: the story of the youth who fled to the cave; the person with the 2 gardens; the story of Musa and Khidr; and the story of Dhul-Qarnayn. Every of those tales are a treasure trove of classes and priceless pearls of knowledge. For the sake of brevity, I’ll be reflecting on the primary of those tales, from which the surah derives its title.
The Story of the Sleepers of the Cave: Inserting this Life in Perspective
The story of the youths who sought refuge within the cave is recounted from verses 9-27 of Surah Al Kahf. Allah tells us of their story:
Or have you ever thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription have been, amongst Our indicators, a surprise? [Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and stated, “Our Lord, grant us from Your self mercy and put together for us from our affair proper steering.” So We solid [a cover of sleep] over their ears inside the cave for plenty of years. Then We woke up them that We would present which of the 2 factions was most exact in calculating what [extent] they’d remained in time. It’s We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in reality. Certainly, they have been youths who believed of their Lord, and We elevated them in steering. And We made agency their hearts once they stood up and stated, “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. By no means will we invoke moreover Him any deity. We might have definitely spoken, then, an extreme transgression. These, our individuals, have taken moreover Him deities. Why do they not carry for [worship of] them a transparent authority? And who’s extra unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie?” [The youths said to one another], “And when you might have withdrawn from them and that which they worship apart from Allah , retreat to the cave. Your Lord will unfold out for you of His mercy and can put together for you out of your affair facility.” [Surah Al Kahf: 18;9-16]
Classical sources of tafseer carry forth a lot of opinions in regards to the particulars of this story. Nonetheless, I needed to give attention to the essence of the story encapsulated within the above verses. Finally, these youths have been honest individuals who feared persecution by their society. The risk was so severe that they have been compelled to cover away, searching for refuge in a cave. They sacrificed their properties, households, and all different comforts and attachments. Viewing this story from a materialistic perspective, these youths misplaced all the things and have been destitute. Nonetheless, in actuality, they preserved what was most essential and important. Their religion and beliefs. Our temporal existence when in comparison with the eternity of the following world, is however a drop in an ocean.
Although I’ve learn this story a whole lot of instances over time, in gentle of the deprivation and struggling occurring to the individuals of Gaza, this story holds a lot extra which means for me at this second. It jogs my memory of the truth of how life can change into unbearably troublesome, to the purpose that we could also be pushed to caves within the mountains. This may be a depressing and pitiful scenario to be subjected to by anybody’s reckoning. Nonetheless, if one can maintain quick to what’s most essential, to what provides which means to life on this world and supreme success within the everlasting realm of the akhira, the scenario described above is success.
Our brothers and sisters in Gaza’s persistence, steadfastness, and can to outlive within the face of wicked oppression and brutality is an inspiration and reminder for the ummah of what success in its truest and most uncooked expression appears like. Their instance brings this and so many different classes within the Quran to life, putting the deceptions of this life in perspective with the realities of the following.
Associated:
– Overcoming Trials | The Message of Surah al Kahf
– The Magnificent Journey: Al-Israa’ wal Mi’raaj