Originally posted May 2012

The Qur’an Series: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX

I was not a conscientious Muslim. As I entered my freshman year of high school, I had one very specific goal which I was determined to accomplish: to become popular. “Piety” was not consistent with this goal – at least not in my perspective. It was for this reason that I expressed disdain when my dad announced we would be undertaking the religious journey to Mecca in the summer following my freshman year of high school. I recall telling a friend, “Man, I’m scared. I don’t want to change!” I knew people went to Mecca and then became super religious. I didn’t want that to happen to me.

Mecca

As we entered the Grand Mosque, my dad told my mom, my brother, and me to keep our eyes down until we reached the opening of the Masjid, until we were in a space which would allow for our first glimpse of the House of Allah, the Ka’ba, to be in our full view. As we walked through the halls of the Grand Mosque, I heard my mom and dad crying. I knew this was supposed to be a spiritual experience. I could see that they were going through something incredible, but I felt nothing. I felt absolutely nothing. Finally, we approached steps which led to a great opening. At this point, my dad instructed, “Look up.”

ALLAH! In that moment, my vision was suddenly filled with the beloved Ka’ba. As if awakened from the dead, as if beating for the first time, my heart was immediately gripped indescribably. It suddenly filled with this unexplainable, fully tangible presence of the Creator of the Universe. I began to bawl; I was struck with the realization that this feeling, this closeness to God, could only happen because He truly exists. I began to regret all I had done and all the time I had wasted; I began circumambulating the Ka’ba, weeping, begging Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) to forgive me.

When we returned to America, I had difficulty maintaining my spiritual awakening. I decided that I would begin to read the Qur’an. I reasoned that I could watch hours of television a day and so, at the very least, I had an obligation to read at least five pages a day. I hadn’t touched the Qur’an in years. I’m not Arab, I was not raised knowing Arabic; I had just learnt how to read the letters when joined together when I was really young, like many Muslim children. I hadn’t practiced reading Arabic in so many years that I was painfully slow at it; reading five pages easily turned into an hour ordeal, if not longer. I didn’t understand anything I read, but I kept trying.

One day, my mom passed by my room and suggested, “Maryam, why don’t you read it in English? At least then you’ll understand what you’re reading.” To me, this was a lucrative suggestion; I was a really fast reader in English. If I read half the page in English and half of it in Arabic, it’d take much less time to get through five pages a day.

I began and I transformed. Reading the Qur’an in English and being able to come to an understanding of what its message conveyed captivated me. I began to change internally and it slowly took hold of my external being; my thoughts, my intentions, my actions… I slowly began to internalize a conscientiousness that revolutionized my life. I was mesmerized by the Qur’an and it was then that I decided I would undertake memorizing it.

It took me over seven years to memorize the Qur’an. In the time span that I spent memorizing, I had other responsibilities simultaneously. I was either studying or working full time (or a combination of both), I was the president or lead figure of an organization or community work, and I had familial responsibilities. The only time I was able to focus almost completely on the Qur’an was when I moved to Egypt for eleven months, in which I dedicated about two hours a day to memorization while I also studied Arabic and did Arabic homework for about seven hours of the day. However, the majority of the memorization occurred in America, amidst a crazy schedule. I memorized while I had to take care of life responsibilities; you, too, can memorize while taking care of business.

10 Tips for Serious Seekers of the Qur’an

1. Realize the Reason, Know Allah is Your Guide
   • Why memorize the Qur’an? Because it will give you a constant, incredible, and personally special relationship with The Creator, with The Sustainer, with The One Who has power over all things.
     • You want the best of both worlds? It’s through the Qur’an. It’s through memorizing, understanding, loving and most importantly, living it. When one is sincere about memorizing it, one needs to be completely aware of the heavy responsibility and glorified honor of living as Allah’s servant and carrying His words in their hearts. This must translate into their actions. The key: Sincerity.
   • Make the Intention to Invest in Your Akhira (Hereafter)
     • The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) taught us,  ‘The Qur’aan will meet its companion on the Day of Resurrection when his grave is opened for him, in the form of a pale man. It will say to him, ‘Do you recognize me?’ He will say: ‘I do not recognize you.’ It will say: ‘I am your companion the Qur’aan, who kept you thirsty on hot days and kept you awake at night. Every merchant benefits from his business and today you will benefit from your good deeds.’ He will be given dominion in his right hand and eternity in his left, and there will be placed on his head a crown of dignity, and his parents will be clothed with priceless garments the like of which have never been seen in this world. They will say: ‘Why have we been clothed with this?’ It will be said: ‘Because your son used to recite Qur’aan.’ Then it will be said to him: ‘Recite and ascend in the degrees of Paradise,’ and he will continue to ascend so long as he recites, either at a fast pace or a slow pace.’ [Ahmad, Ibn Majah]
   • Know that Allah is with You
     • Allah Most High says in a Hadith Qudsi (record containing the words of God), “When my servant takes one step towards Me, I take ten steps towards him. When my servant comes walking towards me, I come running towards him.” Recognize that you are not alone; that it is the One Who revealed these words Who will help you learn and retain them. The struggle must begin with the servant, but the Lord is the One Who will continually open the way and aid you through the struggle.
2. When it’s Hard, There is Twice the Reward
   • Wait, what? You don’t understand Arabic? Wait, what? You aren’t Arab? Wait, you’re Arab, but your tajweed (rules of recitation/pronunciation) is really off?
     • For you, the Prophet ﷺ has shared words of encouragement, “Such a person who recites the Qur’an and masters it by heart, will be with the noble righteous scribes (in Heaven). And such a person exerts himself to learn the Qur’an by heart, and recites it with great difficulty, will have a double reward,” (Muslim).
3. Start Correctly and Use Technology
   • Find a Teacher or Qur’an Buddy, Learn tajweedand Work Consistently
     • When I first decided I would commit to memorizing, I found a teacher and told her I was ready. But I had never studied tajweed and my recitation was completely incorrect! She asked me, “Do you want to memorize, or do you want to memorize correctly? There is no point in memorizing it wrong and then having to go back and do it all over again.”
     • The most difficult test I came across with memorizing the Qur’an was not being able to find a consistent teacher. This sometimes led to many months of not memorizing anything and only working on review. When I didn’t find a teacher, I turned to friends who could help me with my tajweed and we became Qur’an buddies. On campus, over the phone, in cars in random parking lots, in-between running from one meeting to another, we would recite to one another and we would keep each other in check until we were able to find teachers. A teacher (or if you can’t find one, a Qur’an buddy) is CRITICAL to progress with the Qur’an.
     • One of the best things that has ever happened to me in my entire life, all praise and thanks be to God, was being blessed with the Qur’an teacher that helped me so immensely through my memorization: Shaykh Moheb. I learned love for the Qur’an, commitment to the Qur’an, a life of gratitude and incredible contentment because of the Qur’an and a balanced perspective through the Qur’an from him. Seeing I was not Arab and was trying to memorize the Qur’an correctly, he took it upon himself to see me through it. May God bless his family in both worlds. I made du`a’ (supplication)(fervently) for a teacher like this for many years and was blessed with more than for what I made du`a’, but it took patience and continual struggle until I was rewarded with a teacher of such caliber. Seek the best teacher you can find and if they are not there, keep making du`a’ for one and work through other avenues.
     • Use technology to assist you; to help practice your tajweed and help you memorize, there are a number of resources dedicated to those who want to memorize the Qur’an. If you have ever used one, please feel free to share what has worked for you!
4. Date the Qu’ran
   • When I was MSA President in college, I had many responsibilities added to my academic, work, volunteer, knowledge, and familial obligations. However, everyday, I made a special date with the Qur’an that no one could touch. My phone was away, my email was gone – I was booked for that time period and it didn’t matter how huge of an event I needed to prepare for the next day. Just as we make time for people, work and classes, we need to schedule in time to meet up with the Qur’an and strive to show it that we’re sincere and serious about a long-term relationship.
5. The Qur’an is Where the Party’s At
   • Sometimes, memorizing the Qur’an means denying invitations to social gatherings. Don’t get me wrong; it is ESSENTIAL for one’s spiritual and emotional well-being to be balanced and have social connections and relationships regularly. However, there will be times when the portion that must be memorized is going to take more time and that means leaving early from or not being able to make it to the party. These are sacrifices we make for Allah (swt) and the Qur’an and He replaces them with better if we pay attention.
6. Make Du`a’Constantly
   • In every prayer, in every moment of prostration, between every athan (call to prayer) and iqama (call to begin prayer), ask God to make us of the Ahlul Qur’an (the people of the Qur’an), those whom the Prophet ﷺ taught, “The people of the Qur’an are the people of Allah and His special servants,” (An-Nisa’i). Realize you are not alone. There are some du`a’ I began making seven years ago and they only have started to manifest six or seven years after I started making them rigorously. There will be times one might want to give up, one might feel like there’s no progress, one might feel like everyone else is finishing so quickly, so easily, and that nothing is clicking. Wait. Be patient. Keep working and keep making du`a’. Soon, everything will open because of your sincerity , work and du`a’ and when it does, every second of the struggle is so much sweeter and so much more worth it.
7. Trade a Mushaf (Qur’an) with Someone and Understand What You’re Memorizing
   • When starting, find someone else who wants to begin and give them a mushaf (written Qur’an) and ask them to give you one as well. This way, every time they or you work on memorizing, you’re both receiving incredible rewardsfrom each other’s memorization.
   • It can be more difficult to memorize if one has no clue what the meaning of the verses are. If one does not understand the language of the Qur’an, make sure to also keep a translation close by to read from it to contextualize the verses and pick up on the meaning.
8. Do Good Deeds “For the Sake of the Qur’an”
   • When one experiences extra difficulty in memorizing or has just finished a great portion, give some small financial or action-based charity and ask Allah (swt) to accept it for the Qur’an; ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala fervently for tawfiq (success), for sincerity, and for a love life with His Words.
   • The Qur’an is special and it does not “need” us. We need the Qur’an to guide us and to enrich our lives. The Qur`an isn’t going to just come to anyone who attempts to memorize it, then leaves it, then attempts it, then leaves it. It also doesn’t just easily lend itself to individuals who knowingly commit sins and persist in those sins without regret and without seeking to change. As one Shaykh taught, “The Qur’an is Aziz (dear, noble, venerated). If you don’t want to be with it or memorize it, then it’s not going to ‘wait around’ for you.” You want to be special to the Qur’an? Work for it through your righteous actions when you’re not working with it directly.
9. Honor One’s Parents
   • As I learned from an anecdote shared by Imam Suhaib Webb, the pleasure of one’s parents incredibly aids in easing the memorization of the Qur`an. The more one wants to memorize, the more one should increase in treating their parents with dignity, respect and appreciation through words, through actions and through merciful companionship. (Thank you Mom and Dad!!)
10. The Qur’an Should Spark an Internal Revolution
    • Even more important than memorizing the Qur’an is allowing it catalyze one’s transformation. If one’s character is not reforming and improving, there’s a serious problem. Check your heart from the start and keep checking it; one’s actions should become more balanced and stronger in quality when interacting with the Qur’an.

Many people feel facing the challenge of memorizing the Qur`an is too difficult of a task. They may have tried it and given up, dabbled in it and lost focus or drive or simply refused to consider the idea because they feel it insurmountable. Think of memorizing the Qur`an like lifting weights. For a person who has never worked out and who desires the health benefits of increasing their strength, they may begin with just a few pounds. As they continue, the amounts they began with will feel insignificant in comparison to the heavy amounts they are now able to lift.

Similarly, beginning the memorization of the Qur’an seems difficult. One verse, two verses, may take a long time to memorize correctly; getting the pronunciation down perfectly may take years, remembering the order of the words may be a frustrating task. However, when one commits to it and makes it a part of their daily responsibilities, it becomes easier and easier. The two verses that took an hour to memorize will turn into the memorization of one entire page in fifteen minutes.

The Qur’an is easy and The One Who revealed the Qur`an tells us, “And We have certainly made the Qur’an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?” (Qur`an, 54:17). It just takes dedication, commitment and time. Even if it takes you, as it took me, seven years, ten years, fifteen years, imagine being able to say, “I had a seven-year memorization relationship with the Qur’an and the quality of my life improved in every second. Now that I’m finished, an incredibly exciting chapter of our long-term, eternal relationship is about to begin!”

We all seek for our hearts to be in a state of contentment, tranquility and ease. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala tells us, “Those who believe, and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah, verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest,” (Qur‘an, 13: 28).

The best form of remembrance is that of the Qur`an. Will you allow your heart to find rest through it?

We are sitting in the masjid. Front row, clean clothes on, ready to hear something that will inspire us, teach us, and give us gems of spiritual wisdom gleaned from the mountain of Prophethood. Our hearts fill with hope that today will be the day that a young, vibrant and dynamic speaker, or a wise, seasoned, and knowledgeable scholar will step up and deliver the message that our hearts so desperately yearn to hear.

A man steps up with a jumble of papers in his hand. He begins.

Speaking? No…Reading. Verbatim.

In an accent that makes us wonder if it was Arabic we just heard or an ancient form of Na’vi, “Today, we are going to learn about faith.”

The first fifteen minutes will be spent on telling you that iman means faith, belief.
The second ten will be spent telling you that you need more of it.
The last five will tell you that you suck for not having enough.

Your hopes are dashed almost immediately as you realize that there is no dynamic speaker or scholar today – but there is someone who is about to read to you the teacher’s notes from what might possibly be a second grade Sunday school class at the local masjid.

What will we do? First, we must understand that the purpose of the Friday khutbah is to remind, exhort, inspire, and engage the community on the spiritual, social, moral, ethical, philosophical, cultural, and political issues which affect it – and draw it all back to loving, serving, and glorifying God and improving the human condition. When the khutbah at any given masjid absolutely fails to do this on a long-term basis, we MUST bring it up to the management of the masjid in a polite, gentle, and eager manner. We cannot sit and complain if we are too lazy to advise and offer alternatives.

But on the actual day that we are delivered a khutbah which does not engage us, we still have a good alternative (excluding falling asleep or playing with our phones) – and that is to engage the khutbah ourselves.

First, we must learn to listen humbly to the khutbah. Then…we can actively engage it and have a good and productive time!

Part I: Points to Consider in Listening to the Khutbah

1. We worship Allah – we do not worship the spiritual high that may sometimes come with worshiping Allah. Often times, we are blessed with incredible feelings of profundity, awe, and grateful servitude when worshiping Our Creator. These feelings and states are mentioned in virtually all the books of tazkiyyah (purifying the soul). However, we should always strive to worship our Lord whether that feeling comes in a prayer or not, whether the khutbah is intellectually and spiritually stimulating, or not. The worship is to obey Allah’s command, not to chase a spiritual or intellectual high. One of the greatest mistakes of the saalik (one seeking spiritual closeness to God), is to focus on the spiritual high, and not on the worship itself. If the spiritual high ever falters, he begins to doubt his worship and may even become lazy in it. He has made his goal the feeling, not the actual act of obedience and submission to Allah.

So we should remind ourselves that just being in the masjid and listening to the sermon, is by itself a blessed opportunity to worship God and follow the Sunnah of His Prophet (saw).

2. We must be humble in what we think we know when we think we’ve heard something similar.

Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah (may Allah have Mercy upon him) wrote:

“If a person started telling you or your group something that you know very well, you should pretend as if you do not know it. Do not rush to reveal your knowledge or to interfere with the speech. Instead, show your attention and concentration. The honorable follower Imam ‘Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: ‘A young man would tell me something that I may have heard before he was born. Nevertheless, I listen to him as if I have never heard it before.’

Khalid bin Safwan Al-Tamimi, who was with the two caliphs Omar bin Abdul Aziz; and Hisham bin Abdul Malik, said: ‘If a person tells you something you have heard before, or news that you already learned, do not interrupt him or her to exhibit your knowledge to those present. This is a rude and ill manner.’ The honorable Imam ‘Abdullah bin Wahab Al-Qurashi Al-Masri, a companion of Imam Malik, Al-Laith bin Sa’d, and Al-Thawri, said: ‘Sometimes a person would tell me a story that I have heard before his parents had wed. Yet I listen as if I have never heard it before.'”

Al-Hafiz Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi said in a poem:

“A talk never interrupt
Though you know it in and out”

Recognizing that new shades of meaning, new contexts, and new ideas may be exposed to us about verses and ahaadith that we had heard before, should keep us humble and eager, listening for knowledge.

Often times, we will hear the beginning of a verse or hadith, and quickly complete it in our heads, mentally turning off our listening because we assume we already know exactly what will be quoted as well as how it will be explained. This practice, when it becomes a habit, will keep us from learning new, important, and amazing tidbits of knowledge in the Friday khutbahs.

3. Listen for gems. Every khutbah, even a bad, lazy, ill-prepared one, has at least one gem of reflection for you if you seek.

Even in the khutbahs which seem to be incredibly boring, or have been drawn verbatim from the most ancient Islamic text – we will find that the beauty of Prophetic wisdom still colors the speech and will bring to us at least one beautiful gems. In a khutbah I once listened to, as I was almost on the verge of slumber due to a long day at work, it was repeated over and over again that the dunya (this world) was bad. There was an almost drone-like recitation of various ayat with a lack of proper Arabic pronunciation that made me cringe, and English grammar which was reminiscent of Yoda from Star Wars.

Then suddenly as the khutbah drew to a close, he quoted Imam Ghazali’s beautiful analogy: “The believer is the ship and the dunya is the water. As long as the water remains outside the ship, it will sail through it. But once the water enters the ship, it will sink. So navigate through the dunya but do not let it enter your heart and sink you into itself.”

The analogy nearly brought a tear to my eye and I wondered what a loser I would have been had I just dozed off like the others had done or played with my phone or stared at the wall blankly. Regardless of who is speaking, if the khateeb is aiming to remind you about our Lord, we should pay attention, and such gems will find their way to our ears – and insha’Allah – our hearts.

Part II: Engage the Khutbah

4. Whenever repetitive advice is given, remember in your mind that you aren’t the best you could be at this and start taking down points in your head about how to improve.

Often times, the advice given in khutbahs is repetitive and not crafted in a manner that is particularly engaging. The khateeb may do little more than quote some verses and ahadeeth that you could have looked up yourself. There is no effort to make you think and make you ponder upon your condition –  and you have heard it hundreds of times before, from parents, teachers, Sunday school instructors, ‘ulama, other khateebs, and from books and lectures. This advice may be centered around:

• You should pray (more/better/on time);
• You should read Qur’an (more/better/with reflection);
• You should give charity (more);
• You should be kind to people;
• You should be more pious and aware of God;
• Etc.

None of the above statements are weak or simple. Behind them are oceans of wisdom. The people of knowledge and dynamic speakers have the blessing and ability to give the above advices their DUE RIGHT, and put them forward with the kind of zeal, energy, and enthusiasm, that the power and greatness of such advice deserves. Your khateeb on a given Friday may not.

Rather than smugly thinking to ourselves: “I know this advice” and tuning out the khateeb, the best way to benefit is turn the repetitive advice of the khateeb into a self-reflection and thinking process that will give you enough steam to last the rest of the khutbah while paying attention. Use the time to plan and strategize how you will implement the advice, instead of sitting there bored and sleepy. Examples are:

• Pray Better: “What can I actually do to make my prayer better. Should I learn more about what I am saying? Is there a way I can make sure I wake up for fajr? How can I focus better in Salah…maybe I should learn the translations and explanations of more Surahs, etc.”
• Read Qur’an: “What can I do to better my own relationship with the Qur’an? What is my favorite moment with the Quran that I can remember that made me realize how awesome God is and how wonderful His book is? How can I try and relive those moments and how should I begin reading again? What is my favorite surah and why do I love it so much?”
• Be Kind: “When do I lose the most patience with people and act without kindness? Am I rude to anyone? How can I be a better person in treating my family? My kids? Strangers?”

So, when it has become clear to us that the khutbah will be no more than a list of repetitive sentences about the same advice, we should take that time to actively begin finding our shortcomings in our application of that aspect of the deen, and start creating a strategy to better ourselves as we listen.

5. When Qur’anic verses are quoted without due justice to the message or meaning of the verse, begin pondering about the ayah and how it connects to what is being said. If you know the deeper explanation, ponder upon it.

Often times, a khateeb may quote a Qur’anic ayah and give a terrible translation or explanation of it that does not do it justice. Rather than becoming bored or upset about it or letting the verse go, think about the explanation you have read or learned and how you can better implement the message in your life.

If the khateeb says:

“And Indeed you (Oh Prophet) are upon the most supreme and excellent of character.”

and then does not provide any detail, we should start to think of all of the wonderful stories we know about how the Prophet’s character was beyond question. From his generosity to the weak, his kindness to his family, his tenderness towards slaves and orphans, his smile and attitude which would make each person feel that he was the most beloved to him. Then allow this to connect into the khutbah to fill in the blanks that the khateeb may not have filled in himself.

6. When Ahadith are quoted without explanation, think about the implications of the Ahadith in your life, and imagine what the context of the Prophet must have been like based on whatever information you have.

Many times, we hear various Ahadith repeated in khutbahs without due justice or connection to the subject matter. Often times we hear: “Actions are by intention” and we immediately become bored because we have heard that hadith ever since the beginning of our understanding of Islam.

Instead of becoming bored, we can ponder upon the state of our own intentions in every action we have taken that day, that week, or that month. We can think about what the Prophet’s environment was like at the time when the migration to Madinah had just occurred and some people had migrated for various reasons such as monetary gain or to marry someone, rather than for the sake of the Allah and His Messenger. We can imagine what it was like when the Companions heard the Prophet say this, and relayed it to each other. We can think about why so many hadith collections begin with this hadith.

If possible, try to place the hadith into the context of the Seerah of the Prophet and understand what life must have been like for the Companions when this Hadith was stated.

Allowing our minds to think, ponder, and reflect, will allow us to engage the hadith to call us to action and reflection, rather than almost arrogantly responding in our minds with: “I’ve heard that one already so many times!”

7. When all else fails, start drawing together all the knowledge and everything good you have heard on this subject and bring it to bear upon the material the khateeb is presenting. Focus upon softening your heart through these thoughts and letting them settle in your mind, and then focus on small practical steps to implement the advice of the khateeb.

If the khutbah (ex. about gratitude to God) is going extremely bad, and you understand for the 50th time that you should be grateful to Allah and no new information has been provided in the past 10 minutes, you should begin to think about every single hadith, verse, idea, beautiful thought, and awesome statement you have ever heard on gratitude toward Allah, and allow those thoughts to inspire you. Reflect upon them to make up for the lack of reflection in the khutbah and allow them to carry you away in the journey of reflection and implementation.

8. Don’t judge the khutbah, judge yourself.

No matter how bad a khutbah is, it is not a speech competition or a show. It is not meant to be picked apart by our critical – sometimes arrogant – minds for intellectual deconstruction over lunch.

The khutbah is meant to advise you and remind you. No matter how bad it might be, the point remains, we are not as good as we could be in pleasing Allah and perfecting ourselves as His slaves. Rather than focus on how bad it is in telling us to be grateful, we should focus on the actual idea of being grateful. Take the good, leave the bad. Be grateful that you are blessed with the guidance of being in the masjid.

9. For students of tajweed, Arabic, and Islamic studies:

Be careful of letting arrogance enter into your heart as your listen to the khutbah. Many khutbahs you hear may be given by people who have not studied the recitation of the Qur’an, the Arabic language, or any subjects in Islamic studies akin to what you have studied.

This can easily become an opportunity for Shaytan to come into the heart and whisper about how much more knowledge you have than this person and how it sucks for you to sit there and listen. This is a trick. Rather, think upon your own state 5 years, 10 years, 15 years ago, and be grateful that Allah brought you to hear His words today.

This winter has been freezing. True, the temperatures in these usually frigid months have been much more mild than usual. Little snow has fallen in places that are normally coated in a sheen of white by the middle of November. Yet, for our community, it has indeed been a bitter cold season to bear. The tepid weather has been in sharp contrast to a stinging chill that has seeped into our spirits in the last few months, leaving us feeling forlorn, hurt and exposed to the elements. It has been a harsh winter; our community attacked from the outside, dehumanized and ‘otherized’ by the ignorant, and further assailed by those who feign our best interest, seeking to reassemble our faith in their foolish hands, all while donning the garb of ‘sincere reformer’ or ‘holy warrior’.

As we find ourselves in this spiritual winter – dejected, overwhelmed, and frustrated – we take comfort in the spring: the spring of the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, this month of Rabi’a al-awwal (literally ‘the first Spring’) – the month in which the Prophet ﷺ was born and died and in which some of the greatest hallmarks of his life occurred. We warm ourselves in his remembrance, his example and his teachings, that are illumined and resplendent, lit by Divine Light.

We learn from him ﷺ the meaning of struggle, as he again, and again, and again, withstood harm and abuse in the cause of faith, and instead of giving up or deferring all to God’s plan, worked in God’s way, and gave all of himself to this cause until his last breath.

We learn from him ﷺ to give pause, and context and consideration to our struggles – connecting it with those who came before us, and who encountered suffering and adversity that shook them, too, and that worried them, too, until they cried, ‘When will God’s help come?’ and the response was – God’s help is indeed near.

We learn from him ﷺ the inevitability of false prophets, those who speak while steeped in ignorance, and the critical importance of knowledge. He taught, “You are living in a time that has many fuqaha (people who have deep understanding of religion) and your lecturers and preachers are few… and when action is preferable to knowledge. But there is coming a time upon this community in which the preachers will be many, but those who understand the religion will be few… and in those days, knowledge will be better than action.” ((Quoted from at-Tabarani by Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah in his audio series, “Sacred Law in Secular Lands.” ))

Lastly, we learn from him ﷺ to overcome a deep-seated cynicism and to have hope even in the darkest hour. Even when he ﷺ encountered some of the worst of the life of this world and the worst of human nature, his belief in his Lord was constant, his faith luminous. With the weightiness of the prophetic mission, a life replete with tribulation and difficulty, and his community facing some of the worst of oppression and bloodshed, he, may God’s blessing be upon him, never lost himself in despair, but instead saw suffering through the lens of one who believes in Allah and knows that everything that happens is within His knowledge and from His wisdom. We see a hopefulness, a confidence in Allah’s plan, that brighter days were coming soon and that this ummah (community) has a future, by God’s leave.

May we be tremendously inspired by him ﷺ, by his every good quality and character, by his life in constant Divine remembrance, by every teaching he conveyed and lesson he enacted ﷺ. God grant us leave from dark and cold days, and bring us into days of warmth, hope, growth, beauty and light.

Ameen

“There is nothing that has gentleness in it except that it is beautified, and there is nothing that has harshness in it except that it makes it ugly. So be calm, O Aisha!”

The above words were spoken by our beloved Messenger ﷺ to his wife, `A’isha radi allahu `anha (may Allah be please with her). A group of people had passed by the Prophet ﷺ and our Mother `A’isha, and said to him: “As-sa’amu `alaykum” (death be upon you).”  It was a wordplay on “As-salaamu `alaykum (peace be upon you)”, with the intent of ridiculing the Prophet ﷺ. `A’isha (ra) became so angry that she rose up and began yelling at them that death should be upon them, and the curse of God, and so on.

At this, the Prophet ﷺ turned towards her, and spoke these words, telling her to calm down, and not to lose her composure, even in the face of personal insult. This man, our Messenger ﷺ, was the pillar of tranquility in an ocean of chaos. Our mother Aisha (ra), did this out of a pure, sincere, and unyielding love for the Prophet (saw). Not out of any arrogance or pride. For her it was an anger rooted in love, a desire to protect her Prophet from those who hated him. May Allah be pleased with her.

When told to calm down, to stop being judgmental—the response comes in one of many flavors:

• “Brother, I am enjoining the good and forbidding the evil!”
• “We are defending the Sunnah!”
• “When people are harsh against the Sunnah, we will be harsh in defending it!”

And so on.

Over what kinds of issues? Not the serious lack of counseling services in the community. Not the difficulty that our youth are having in protecting their faith from intellectual attack. Not the issues of domestic abuse, poverty, family breakups or homelessness afflicting non-Muslims and Muslims around us.

But the length of our pants and whether or not they are above our ankles, the lengths of our beards, etc. Perhaps one’s adherence or lack thereof to a group or organization. What we think about pseudo-philosophical concepts about the essence of God’s attributes.  Such meanness and harshness occurs not over what is physically affecting people, but over a disagreement between opinions in our minds. Over varying textual interpretations that result in different legal opinions or a creedal points unknown to the majority of the world’s Muslims.

Why does this happen to us when almost nothing is more important in our religion than the subjugation of our egos to the Power and Oneness of God?

The Remedy

“Islam takes us and throws us so we fall totally in love with The Creator. Yet, somehow some of us turn it into a way to look down upon the creation.”

This happens because somewhere along the line in striving to love God, the ego—the innermost part of our soul which continuously wishes to be glorified and exalted over others—made our religiosity a means of doing just that. The religion exists to crush the ego, and enslave it towards the worship of its Creator.

When we say AllahuAkbar (God is the Greatest), the true meaning of this, when one explores Arabic grammar, is “God is the Greatest Above All Things”—including our loves, our hates, our desires, our weaknesses, our dreams, our hopes, our very essences. Success in reaching our desires is only through His permission, and the power to overcome our weaknesses is only through His Mercy. This phrase is formulated to remind us of Allah’s greatness over ourselves and over every element of our lives. It acknowledges the overwhelming power that is Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He).

On the ego’s path to enslavement and the realization of recognizing Allah (swt) alone as the sole object of adoration and love, our ego sought a way out so it would not have to undergo such tribulation and destruction; so that it would not have to give up its position as the one that is praised and feels valued.

That ego essentially hijacks the religiosity of the individual and takes it on a detour. What is that detour? Rather than letting Islam be Islam and allowing the soul to get lost in the wonders of Allah’s power, the limitless nature of His love, the magnanimous breadth of His Mercy, the immeasurable depth of His knowledge, the care and affection that He showers upon His creation—the ego detours the soul into LOVING ITSELF.

When the soul begins to love itself, it becomes dissatisfied with not only God, but with God’s creation. It sees its own knowledge, opinion, and worldview as superior to all others. In order to maintain its false notion of being humble, it will even fake humility to those on the outside: “I’m nobody, I’m not knowledgeable”—while secretly harboring contempt for all those who follow different opinions or ideas about Islam. It is easy to recognize this tendency in ourselves. It happens when our religious discourse, our religious speech, and our religious vocabulary become less about loving God, adoring his Messenger ﷺ, bettering ourselves and more about creedal disagreements, legal fine points, and how one group is bad or another is good.

When religion becomes more about how one person does not practice the way that pleases us  (even if we are correct in expressing the opinion of orthodox Islam) than about how we can please God, the religion has essentially turned into a tool to make us feel better about ourselves.

This does not mean we should turn off legitimate criticism in religious discourse. Enjoining the good and forbidding evil means that we must take an active interest in our communities, and in striving to develop our communities and our religious practices in a way that is healthy, natural, and allows Muslims from all backgrounds to be included and non-Muslims to feel welcome.

Rather, it is time we examine our deeper motives and feelings when we criticize and put forth negativity: “Am I criticizing and putting forth negativity because my criticism and the way I am putting it forth will actively help to prevent harm and bring benefit? Or am I criticizing to ridicule, make myself feel better, and make others see me as superior?”

Answering this question correctly and being sincere is the difference between the religious jerk and a servant of God.

I want to study Islam:

The Scholar

The contents of this part are based upon the principle that ijtihaad in most of its forms is still possible in our time. For those who do not follow this opinion, this post is still largely applicable as it is expected that a full scholar would be able to partially or almost completely fulfill the conditions mentioned in one respect or another.

The Scholar as we will discuss here is the Muslim who is able to give a legal fiqh verdict of a worldly issue as being permissible or forbidden. This is what most people expect when they hear of an “Islamic Scholar”—someone who is able to analyze the reality of a questioner and the time and place in which they live and deduce legal advice or make a ruling or decision on an issue from the texts of fiqh.

Keeping these presumptions in mind, the conditions by which one becomes a Scholar have been mentioned in almost every text in the science of usool-ul-Fiqh since the times of the early scholars, and although they differed often in the wording and the details, they were almost unanimous in the core understandings and categorizations of these conditions. They are as follows:

1) A mastery of the Arabic language, which consists of the science of Arabic grammar and syntax (nahw), the science of the morphological states of Arabic words (sarf), the science of rhetoric, prose and expression (balagha), and thorough experience with Arabic literature, both pre-Islamic and around the first century of Islam (adab). An individual who interprets a verse in the Qur’an or a hadith without an understanding of Arabic risks committing a major sin, even if he interprets it correctly.

2) A mastery of usool-ul-fiqh and the understanding of which literary, deductive, inductive and intellectual devices to give precedence to in different circumstances. Also included in this is the mastery of the underlying principles of Islamic Law (al-qawaa’id ul-fiqhiyyah).

3) A mastery of transmitted evidence. This is comprised of having understood, studied and memorized the Qur’an in its entirety and most of the transmitted sunnah (although it was differed upon as to whether memorization of these was as important or not). With regards to the sunnah, being able to sift through narrators and narrations and determine weakness, strength, hidden defects, or additions is also a condition.

4) What has often been described in very different ways as: the mastered ability to do fiqh. This requires an individual of not just perception, intellect, understanding and fulfillment of the previous conditions, but also having studied one of the four schools of fiqh in Islam. The issue is not about the need to stick to a particular madhhab, but rather there is no doubt that one who has not pored over books of fiqh will find him or herself lacking in the ability to think like a scholar, much less be one.

5) An understanding of the reality of the Muslims. Being a Scholar is not just about having mastery in the sciences of Islam, but it is also about understanding the world and its complexities. Legal verdicts and decisions have to take into account not just the texts, but also the cultural, social, psychological, scientific and situational parameters of the issue being addressed. In a world where information is easily exchanged over vast distances and realities, this has become a rapidly accepted condition of being a Scholar.

Studies of this magnitude continue for the lifetime of a Scholar, and the initial foundations can take anywhere from 10 to 20 years pf study with teachers, after which numerous years of self study are often required before the Scholar is ready to tackle problems in the real world. One of the ways to distinguish such a scholar is his ability to generate new Scholars in addition to Muslim Activists.

It should be noted that a Scholar comes in a variety of competencies according to the level of mastery. Those who are still in the process of becoming one are called “students of knowledge,” while those who are able to give a legal verdict are of different levels and strengths. It is also possible for a Scholar to be an activist at the same time, and they may be much more effective in their activism than the average Muslim Activist.

Note: What is not from the conditions of being a scholar in Islam:
– a B.A., M.A. or Ph.D. in Islamic Studies
– study with a certain group of scholars in a certain region of the world.
– a preference for certain opinions in theology or law over others.
– being male, of a certain ethnicity, older in age, dressing a certain way, having a long beard, wearing a turban or shemagh or thobe or bisht
– fame or the title of Ustadh, Shaykh, Mufti, or Allaamah before the name
– of the Prophet’s ﷺ family

I want to study Islam:

The Activist

As the Informed Muslim progresses, he/she may eventually make the choice to move on and become a Muslim Activist. A Muslim Activist can differ quite dramatically from the Scholar, the key difference being that a scholar is equipped to issue a legal fiqh ruling and has fulfilled the conditions to do so, while the Muslim Activist is not. This will be discussed further in the next section (The Scholar). The Muslim activist is often an imam of a mosque, a caller to Islam or a specialist in a field other than the Islamic Sciences, such as philosophy, language or politics. A Muslim Activist is unable to generate new, independent scholarship, although he or she is able to generate more Informed Muslims and can share information with other Muslim Activists on a basic level.

The first step for a Muslim Activist, beyond fulfilling the learning responsibilities of the Informed Muslim, can vary depending on the type of activism in which the individual wants to be involved. For example, a Muslim Activist involved in political discourse should be well informed of the political theory and ideas involved, as is the case with other activism, such as those who are interested in addressing issues in atheism, Orientalism or general community and youth work.

With regards to Islamic Studies, it is highly recommended that the Muslim Activist maintain a consistent pattern of learning of the Islamic Sciences whether in Arabic or his or her native language (although the former is highly recommended due to the abundance of materials available). Learning related to his or her area of activism should be more rigorous than in others. For example, an individual participating in discussions on politics should have a general working knowledge of Islamic law in at least one madhhab (school of Islamic legal thought) as well as the field of siyasat-ul-shari`ah (politics of Islamic law). An individual dealing with atheism should be well versed in the different understandings of Islamic theology and its foundations, and the activist in the field of Orientalism should be well versed with the ins and outs of the hadith (narrations) and Qur’anic Sciences. Please note these are general recommendations and can vary depending on the specificity of the activism involved.

A teacher or mentor in the Islamic Sciences and and in the particular field of activism is strongly recommended for the Muslim Activist, and if this mentor is a Scholar (as described in the next article), then that is better than having a more learned Muslim Activist as a mentor, although not necessary.

The Muslim Activist is not permitted to give a legal ruling, and should not be involved in teaching or interpreting classical texts. He or she can still teach Islam but should be very careful to teach others by way of referencing the works of scholars (whether contemporary or classical) so as to protect his or herself from the major sin of giving a legal verdict or interpreting a verse of Qur’an or hadith without the necessary knowledge.

I want to study Islam:

The Informed Muslim

This is the first category in discussing the study of Islam amongst Muslims. To begin, what are the objectives of this group? According to the scholars of jurisprudence, it is to learn enough about your religion to fulfill what is compulsory upon you with regards to your relationship between you and your Creator. For some this is simple; for others it can require a bit more effort. What is required? Here are some key categories:

1) Basic `aqidah (creed): what is compulsory for a Muslim to believe about Allah, His messengers, the angels, the holy revealed books sent down to His prophets, the Last Day, divine predestination and life after death. It is also important for a Muslim to learn about how to cure the illnesses of the soul and heart according to Islamic principles.

2) Basic Fiqh (jurisprudence): what is compulsory when it comes to prayer and reciting the Qur’an, zakat (giving in charity), fasting and hajj. Also required is knowledge of rulings that are known by default in the religion, such as the major sins and words or actions that can remove you from Islam. More may be required for others, such as learning about usury in transactions for businesspeople and medical ethics for those who are in the medical field.

3) Removing Doubts: whatever a Muslim needs to learn to keep doubts from destroying his or her faith. This can differ from person to person. Many may not require much, but some people may require extensive reading in side topics. For example, a new Muslim who is leaving Christianity may require more in the way of the Islamic critique of Christianity, and a Muslim who experiences doubts because of atheism may need to do further reading or studying in topics that address the status of Islam with regards to other universal philosophies, Orientalist critique, or the superiority of Islamic ethics. For most Muslims, a few YouTube videos, articles, and sometimes books can suffice for this.

Everything else the Informed Muslim learns after these is extra. However, the Informed Muslim is encouraged to continue in learning whatever he or she feels will benefit their faith, such as learning Arabic, memorizing the Qur’an, learning and reflecting over the meanings of the Qur’an, and other facets of Islam through any means available to them whether online, in print or with a teacher.

As for how the Informed Muslim is to accomplish this, nowadays alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah) it has become quite easy due to the plethora of online content, TV shows, literature, community and masjid (mosque) events, classes and da`wah (preaching) programs and institutes organized in most Muslim communities. It is not necessary to have a teacher, although it is better, especially if the Informed Muslim is confused about something. It is always preferable to know someone who you can ask questions; this may be a Muslim Activist or a Scholar.

Needless to say, it is also important for the Informed Muslim to put in practice what he or she learns, primarily by fulfilling compulsory acts of worship at all costs. Other additional acts of worship are recommended to increase in incrementally over time. If the Informed Muslim lives in a non-Muslim country, community involvement may be much more important than additional acts of worship whether through the local mosque, charity organization or other religious organization.

On Arrogance & the Student of Sacred Knowledge 

Purifying one’s heart is a critically important matter for all believers, as the Qur’an and teachings of our Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) emphasize, but for one traveling the path of sacred knowledge it is an even more crucial endeavor.  This is because the state of one’s heart has a very real effect on how one perceives knowledge and how it manifests in one’s deeds.  When one’s heart is sound, knowledge can be absorbed and understood properly and enlighten and illuminate one’s inner state.  It then has a positive and meaningful effect on one’s intellect and limbs, such that it can bring benefit to oneself and others.  This is perhaps one of the reasons why everything on earth—even the ants in their hills and the fish in the sea—prays for the religious scholar, as a prophetic tradition teaches ((Tirmidhi)) .  The benefit of their knowledge has far-reaching effects and touches them all.

On the other hand, when one’s heart is not sound and is plagued by spiritual ailments, the knowledge one attains can actually bring about serious harm.  It can become an obstacle that blocks and impedes one’s path to Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) in various ways, and can hurt others if that knowledge is misinterpreted, misapplied or misused.  These abuses of knowledge are often done on an unconscious level, the spiritual causes of which—related to the heart—are often overlooked.

The spiritual heart has been likened to a mirror.  If a mirror has not been polished and contains certain blemishes and distortions, it will reflect objects in a faulty and distorted way.  The reflection will be in accordance to the state of the mirror, and not the reality of the object itself.  In the same way, spiritual ailments and contaminants that plague and darken the heart, disconnecting it from Allah (swt) and occupying it with negative characteristics, can mar and distort one’s perceptions of knowledge and one’s ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and bad, and beauty and ugliness.

It is for this reason that one must couple one’s devotion to the Islamic sciences with a deep commitment to the spiritual purification and nourishment of one’s heart.  Imam Nawawi advised, “Purify your hearts (for knowledge) the way land is purified for cultivation.”  And the great scholar and tabi`i (follower) Uways al-Qarni said succinctly, “Keep watch over your heart.” (“Alayka bi qalbik.”)

On Arrogance & Pride

One of the most common spiritual ailments of the student of sacred knowledge is arrogance and blameworthy pride.  Such pride does not necessarily consist of dressing or acting in a dignified manner, but as a tradition of the Prophet ﷺ   teaches, it is “to reject the truth and to have contempt for people.” ((Sahih Muslim))

One may wonder how a student of sacred knowledge—who has dedicated him or herself to understanding and learning the truth—could reject or disdain that truth.  Such a distaste or dislike may come to one’s heart when the truth contradicts one’s own understanding or one’s deeds.  It is at the moment when we are confronted with our own errors, failings or missteps that we may feel a hostility or resentment towards truth.  We may dislike being corrected, or turn a blind eye to the soundness of another opinion in order to defend our own position or that of the group to which we ascribe.  Confident in our own understanding, beliefs or actions, we may work to manipulate or alter the truth to suit our own interests and desires, instead of seeking to submit to and accept it.

If one feels anger or resentment when one is corrected or shown the truth of another opinion, this is a sign of blameworthy pride.  If one feels an inner resistance to accepting the truth at the expense of one’s own ego, reputation, or image, this is a sure sign of misplaced priorities and a prideful heart.  One should remind oneself of the serious danger of pride—an atom’s weight of which will bar one from Paradise, as we learn from a prophetic tradition ((Sahih Muslim)) —and about which Allah (swt) says in a sobering warning in the Qur’an, “I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right.” (7:146)

If one is unable to accept criticism or advice from others, or is overly sensitive to the way one is given advice, this too is a sign of pride that needs to be remedied.  One’s focus should be on one’s own self and not on the one correcting and advising.  One should actually feel relief and happiness when shown one’s mistakes and given the opportunity to rectify them.  Imam Al-Ghazali likened a companion who points out one’s mistakes to kibreet al-ahmar, a very rare natural material, while the noble companion `Umar said, “May Allah have mercy on the one who gives me the gift of showing me my defects and weaknesses!”

The second element of arrogance the Prophet ﷺ mentioned is having contempt for others.  A student dedicated to the study of the sacred sciences and who is often immersed in high-level discourse and ideas may begin to feel a sense of superiority over others, and consider them and their concerns lowly, unimportant or irrelevant.  One may also feel a sense of self-righteousness when considering others who are sinful or evidently heedless of religious practice.  The fact that one may be shown a level of respect and deference due to one’s knowledge may also feed into this feeling of being better than others.

One of the biggest pitfalls arrogance causes a student of knowledge to fall into is a feeling of entitlement.  One may begin to see their knowledge or accumulation of good deeds as a result of their own abilities, and as a guarantee to Paradise, an immediate access to gnosis of Allah Most High, or a legitimate license for contempt and disdain of others.  This folly is what a person of wisdom alluded to in their statement that sometimes “the thickest veils between man and Allah are the wise man’s wisdom, the worshiper’s worship, and the devotion of the devout.” ((A statement attributed to Bayazid al-Bistami))

The great 18^th century scholar Uthman dan Fodio stated that self-recognition is one of the most important keys to curing arrogance.  One should contemplate on the fact that one came into being from non-existence—a state of complete insignificance, ‘a thing unremembered’—and was then created from something base and lowly (earth) and then a thing unclean (a drop of sperm).  This is our origin, until Allah (swt) granted us faculties and senses, and brought us from a state of death to life, incapacity to capacity, and from ignorance into awareness and knowledge.  Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an,

“And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and intellect, that perhaps you would be grateful.” (16:78)

One must remember that any good deed one has been able to perform, any knowledge one has been able to attain, is from the grace and tawfeeq (facilitation) of Allah (swt) alone and not from our own selves.  Deep consideration of our humble origins and the reality of the Source of our knowledge can help us overcome our arrogance.

In this spirit of self-realization, one should also call to mind one’s sins and realize that one holds an honorable position among people only because Allah (swt), from His compassion, has concealed one’s sins and misdeeds.  Being able to deliver a heart-moving lecture, masterfully quote prophetic narrations or recite Qur’an in a beautiful voice may inspire the admiration of people, but it is Allah (swt) who knows whether one’s own heart has actually been moved, whether one abides by those narrations in solitude and if those sacred words have gone ‘past the throat’ and have had a meaningful effect on one’s limbs.  There is no place for arrogance or pretences when one considers their true state before Allah (swt), and contemplates deeply on the bare and exposed state one will find themselves in on the Day of Judgment.

One must further realize that it is not knowledge in and of itself that grants a person a high rank with Allah (swt), but deeds that are pleasing to Him both in their outward form and their inner reality.  Namely, it is the sincerity and mindfulness with which an act is done that can make ‘a small deed great and a great deed small.’  We should therefore be wary of underestimating the deeds of others and exaggerating our own self-worth.  In addition, we do not know people’s ends, and it may very well be that one who is now a sinner will develop a deep sense of remorse and impoverishment before Allah (swt), and die in a state of sincere repentance, while one seemingly headed for Paradise will misstep and end up far distant from Him.

Hassan al-Basri used to say, “I will not leave a room until I feel I’m the worst person in it.”   We too should make this our attitude and mindset when we deal with others, and remember often our true state.

Finally, an important way of counterbalancing pride in one’s heart is to lower oneself to the very people one feels arrogance over, and to seek out tasks which help break one’s ego and increase one in humbleness and humility.

Some examples of such deeds could be:

• Initiating the greeting of salaam (peace), especially when one feels that they should be greeted first.
• Giving gifts and supplicating for those who point out one’s defects and faults.
• Being generous with one’s knowledge and teaching others, even in subjects that seem simplistic or below one’s level.  Once, a scholar of great learning passed away and was seen in a dream by one of his students radiant and happy, wearing the garments of Paradise.  The student asked him, “What deed raised your rank in Paradise?  Was it your mastery of a particular science or understanding of a certain high-level principle?” He responded, “I used to go to the village and sit with some elderly illiterate women and teach them al-Fatiha.  It was this deed that raised my rank in God’s sight.”
• Physically serving others, especially the elderly and the poor, in tasks that are humbling to one’s ego.  Some examples could be bending down to give someone their shoes, cleaning a public or shared area for which one is not usually responsible, cooking and serving a meal to another, helping an elderly person wash or change their clothing, or any other deed to which the ego may feel an aversion.
• One notable shaykh (scholar), who would often sit with many powerful and influential people, was absent from his class one day and his students found him cleaning the bathrooms of the masjid.  He told them, “This is so that my ego remembers who it is.”
• Seeking to be in a state of Allah’s remembrance constantly, and supplicating frequently for His refuge and protection from arrogance and other spiritual ailments.
• Spending time in honest introspection and contemplation on one’s inner state, thoughts, and deeds, and consciously renewing one’s intentions.  Imam al-Jurjani said, “Intentions are a spring the well of which is sidq (a state of truthfulness and candor between oneself and Allah, free of artifice and self-delusion) and only from it does sincerity emerge.”

Conclusion

The great scholar and jurist Imam Shafi’i said, “None of you will seek this knowledge with a domineering attitude and exaggerated self worth and succeed. However, one who seeks this knowledge, struggles with his/her soul, [enduring] strained provision and [struggles in the] service to the scholars is successful.” ((This and several other quotes from this article have been taken from various classes with Imam Suhaib Webb, and from an excellent article of his that can be found here.))

We ask Allah (swt), the Controller of hearts, to help us be in His constant remembrance and to uproot arrogance, pride, and other spiritual ailments from our hearts.  O Allah, do not let us be of those who are turned away from Your signs due to our arrogance.  O Allah, make any increase in knowledge we attain a means for us to draw closer to You and refine our character and our hearts.  O Allah, let us be of those who come to You on the Day of Judgment—the Day when neither wealth nor children will avail us—with sound, pure and enlivened hearts.  Ameen.

I want to study Islam: Part I

By Samir Hussain

As we thankfully continue to hear more Muslims in our generation utter this phrase, it becomes necessary to discuss the topic of “studying Islam” in detail. Over the years, I have come to realize that most people like myself were clueless as to how to study Islam. Thanks to a plethora of unqualified individuals ascribing knowledge to themselves (some, unfortunately, held in high regard by many Muslims), this critical problem does not seem close to a resolution. We all understand why Islam needs to be studied; the benefits in both this life and the next are mentioned in enough sources, classical and modern, even online. But very few people today have actually done it properly and then been able to convey effectively why that method was the “proper” way to do it in the first place. Also, older recommendations from the books of usool-ul-fiqh (the science of deducing and inducing rulings and meanings from the texts) may be irrelevant for the vast majority whose goal is not to become a mufti (scholar of Islamic law) or a scholar.

Let’s look at the process one step at a time.

The most important question to discuss is: “What do you want to achieve through your study of Islam?”

I will use this to organize the rest of this series, as differing goals in studying Islam necessitate different methods of studying it. For the sake of brevity, let us suppose that there are 3 categories here:

1) You want to study to be an Informed Muslim and survive the day-to-day challenges of holding on to your faith in a scary world where extremism in all forms is abundant and the demands of a modern lifestyle constantly occupy your attention.

2) You want to be a Muslim Activist, someone who helps to clarify misconceptions about Islam, teach Muslims the basics of their religion and call people to the truth, and help with social issues within the community.

3) You want to be a Scholar, someone who is eventually able to do proper scholarly ijtihaad (original or independent interpretation of Islamic law) and give fatwa (a scholarly religious ruling or opinion on Islamic law) (at some level), raise new generations of scholars, and help the ummah (Muslim community) as a whole deal with novel issues.

I will deal with each separately in turn. As you have obviously noted, the first category consists of the vast majority of Muslims. The second are a small minority and vary in their capability, and the third are a rare few whose names are often obscure to most people and only known to a handful of senior students of knowledge pursuing higher studies. It is important to note that this categorization is specific to levels of knowledge and qualification to speak about the religion only. As for implementing Islam properly, having taqwa (consciousness of God) and being a righteous individual, this applies to all Muslims regardless of the level of knowledge, as both a housewife and a faqih (expert of Islamic law) are obliged to follow the same obligatory and supererogatory actions according to the Qur’an and sunnah (teaching and practices of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him).

Part I

I want you to take a moment and think back to all of the Islamic events, conferences, lectures. halaqahs (circles) or any related gatherings you have ever attended. Try to remember the impact that the speaker had on you, the moments of inspiration that had you promising yourself that today would be the day you would change.

My question is: have you?

When I was younger, I remember feeling a strong excitement whenever the next Islamic event was around the corner. Like so many Muslim youth, I was part of a clique, so to speak, that would not only attend these events, but feverishly advertise them through networking and social media. Truthfully speaking, it sometimes became less about the event itself, and more about being part of a group that got to listen to popular speaker X on popular topic Y.

It felt inclusive…at the time.

Yes, I was learning about the basics of my deen (religion) which helped to create a foundation on which I could build my religious identity. However, at some point, I couldn’t help but realize that I had been met with a wall.

Somewhere along the way, the topics at such Islamic events started to meld together; certain stories, ahadith (sayings and traditions of the Prophet ﷺ) and Qur’anic verses were so often quoted that the impact they had on me were gradually dulled. I couldn’t help but find myself yearning for something deeper and more meaningful. I had also become keenly attuned to (and, later, excruciatingly bored with) the jokes and attention-grabbing tactics that many, if not most, of the speakers employed in order to engage the audience.

I soon realized that I had stumbled upon a spiritual plateau. This realization was marked by the reality that despite the numerous Islamic gatherings I had attended, I had barely changed. Sure, my mental bank of basic Islamic knowledge had grown, but when I was honest with myself, I had to admit that very little of that knowledge had actually translated into practical action on my part.

Upon realizing this, I felt consumed by guilt. Was I a hypocrite? After attending so many Islamic gatherings – to the point where everything sounded the same – why was I still battling with the same demons? Why did I commit the same sins? Why did my books and notes end up lost or collecting dust somewhere?

And then it hit me: I had come across a spiritual blockage which, at some point, had led me to a pause in practical learning and replaced it with a sophisticated and glamorized means of information collecting. I had collected a library of profound ahadith, ayat (verses from the Qur’an) and stories that made me feel good, but would eventually be stored in the back of my mind, rarely to be accessed again.

While at one point these events served as beneficial reminders for me, they now began to fill a spiritual void; one where I was falsely – and temporarily –  left feeling good about attending the event for the sake of doing so, and not necessarily for having left it a better person.

For so long, I couldn’t quite put my finger on the anxiety I felt once I noticed how bored and uninspired many of the events left me feeling. It was only through intense research at the time, and my current training as a psychotherapist, that I came across a way of defining my experience: spiritual bypassing.

In a fantastic piece in Psychology Today, Dr. Ingrid Mathieu says about the issue:

“We’ve gotten progressively more skillful in our methods: turning away from drugs or alcohol to alter our consciousness and turning towards things like self-help books, meditation, yoga, prayer, and special diets. In some ways, we are now spiritually distracting ourselves from our feelings, thinking that we are walking a healthy spiritual path.

“This experience is called spiritual bypass. Spiritual bypass is a defense mechanism. Although the defense looks a lot prettier than other defenses, it serves the same purpose. Spiritual bypass shields us from the truth, it disconnects us from our feelings, and helps us avoid the big picture. It is more about checking out than checking in—and the difference is so subtle that we usually don’t even know we are doing it.”

How many of us have yet to recognize the ways in which we have used spiritual bypassing as a defense against our deeper emotions and issues?

Once I became aware of this concept, I intentionally increased my self-awareness. I made sure that I attended events and circles that were relevant to my spiritual journey and that genuinely interested me. I also began to shed the position of the passive event attendee and instead assumed a role of critical thinking and engagement (something which unfortunately got me into a little trouble sometimes). What I discovered shocked me and helped me lift some of the self-blame and shame that I felt towards my spiritual plateau.

Firstly, I came to question (out of curious truth-seeking, not hostility) the actual organizations or groups hosting such events: What was their mission? What was their history of active community engagement and service? What were their underlying Islamic values and concepts? What progressive strides have they made in my community – or have they at all?

I also began to actually question the speakers from whom I was learning – something that we are usually conditioned not to do, especially as young Muslims. I began to attune myself not only to what the speaker was saying, but to how they said it and how it made me feel. I also began to consider the context from which they came. Shortly, I realized that much of why I couldn’t connect to particular speakers, or why their words would often leave me feeling uneasy, was due to our completely different worldviews and experiences. I began to see why I, as a young, coloured, educated Somali-Canadian female was having trouble connecting with what the speaker (who was often an older South Asian or Arab* male with orthodox Islamic knowledge) was telling me about Islam.

It wasn’t about race or politics; it was about relatedness. My difficulty with establishing congruence between the Islam I was learning in these controlled environments and the Islam that I faced on a day-to-day basis stemmed not from an inherent deficiency in my sensibilities – or that of the speaker – but deeper issues rooted in race, privilege, authority, socio-economic status, gender, upbringing, education, perspective and hierarchy, to name just a few.

In time, I began to see how my true struggles were not being addressed at these events. Yes, it was nice to learn about our wonderful and enriched Islamic history, but what did that mean for me right now? What did it mean after I left the event? I am sure the onus of responsibility to create meaning and connection lies mostly with the individual; however, what about the roles of our speakers, Islamic organizations and workers?

*please note that these ethnic groups were used as an example for the purpose of highlighting cultural differences. Such differences, however, are not limited to individuals from these groups.