Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
The imam in Taraweeh is reciting the Qur'an. He is reading the Book of Allah, and he goes over verses that speak about Jannah and also verses that talk about Nahr. There are promises and warnings in the Qur'an during Taraweeh, but the people are not crying. They are not affected by it; it doesn’t move them. Then the dua begins, the imam raises his hands, and everyone starts crying. But is it the words of Allah? No, these are the words the imam has put together. The Kalamullah, the words of Allah, have not affected you; they have not touched your heart. There is something wrong here.
You need to revise your situation, look back and reflect.
Alhamdulillahi allathee anzala al-Qur'ana wa yassara, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lah, waffaqa lilqiyami bil-Qur'ani man ikhtarahu, wabassarah fa'amila bihi watadabbarahu wataghanna bihi wahabbarah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan abduhoo wa rasuluh, al-Qa'ilu al-mahiru bil-Qur'ani ma'as-safaratil kiramil bararah, wa sallallahu wasallama wa baraka 'alayhi wa 'ala alihi wa ashabihi allatheena jama'u al-Qur'ana fi sudurihim mussalimati wasuhufihi al-mutahharah. Amma ba'du.
My beloved brothers and sisters, the month of Ramadan and the Qur'an, Wallahi, the bond between Ramadan and the Qur'an is a very strong bond. The Qur'an, my brothers and sisters, as Allah says in the Qur'an: Ya ayyuhal nasu qad ja'atkum maw'idatun min rabbikum wa shifa'un lima fi suduri wa hudan wa rahmatun lil-mu'minin. The Qur'an is a reminder from your Lord, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is a cure for the hearts, guidance, and mercy for the believers.
If you are a believer who believes in Allah and the Day of Judgment, the Qur'an is a reminder for you. It is a cure—how many of us are suffering from so many different illnesses? The Qur'an is a cure. Wa shifa'un lima fi suduri wa hudan, a guidance. Are you looking for guidance? It is in the Qur'an. Are you looking for mercy? Wa rahmatun lil-mu'minin, and it is a mercy for the believers. Who is saying this? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No one else will tell you this except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Also, Allah says in another place in the Qur'an: Ya ayyuhal nasu, oh people, it has come to you proof, light from your Lord, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we have sent to you a clear light. Wallahi, my brothers and sisters, the person who has the Qur'an has light. You are not in darkness. You are only in darkness when you walk away from the Qur'an. Allah says it has come to you from your Lord, light, guidance, proof. Anyone who wants to see, will see it through the Qur'an. If you want guidance, it is through the Qur'an. If you walk away from this Qur'an, you will lose that light.
You will lose that wisdom. You will lose that insight, and you will be dumb, deaf, and blind.
My brothers and sisters, those verses are about the Qur'an in general, but the month of Ramadan is the month when our beloved Messenger ﷺ used to revive the Qur'an. He mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ was the most generous individual. There was no one more generous than Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and his generosity multiplied in the month of Ramadan.
When Jibreel would meet him—and guess what? Every single night, Jibreel would meet the Prophet ﷺ, and they would revise the Qur'an together. My brothers and sisters, do you know who is revising the Qur'an here? It's our beloved Messenger ﷺ and Jibreel. Both of them are messengers. This is the Messenger from the human beings, and this is the Messenger from the angels, both of whom are the best of their creation. Jibreel is the best angel, and Nabi Muhammad ﷺ is the best of the children of Adam.
Both of them are meeting each other in Ramadan to do what? To revise the Qur'an. Every single night, Jibreel would meet him. This hadith shows that that is what is required from every one of us. If Muhammad ibn Abdullah and Jibreel are revising this Book, why are you and I absent from it? Why are you and I not reading the Book? Why is our Mushaf collecting dust? Why is that the case? Where are our hearts? Where are our minds?
These narrations that we’re hearing right now—have we truly reflected on them? The majority of you have probably heard them, maybe in a Jum'ah khutbah, or every year when Ramadan is about to come. But the point is not about hearing it; it’s about how you reflect on this narration.
Has it changed you in the way that you deal with the Qur'an? Hafidh Ibn Rajab, a great scholar and giant in knowledge, said about this hadith, "This hadith alone indicates what?" It shows that it’s highly recommended to revise the Qur'an in the month of Ramadan. Not only that, but gather your friends, colleagues, family members, children, siblings, cousins, and neighbors. Tell everyone: “It’s the month of the Qur'an. Let’s all revise the Qur'an. Let’s all go back to the Qur'an.”
Also, find the person with the most knowledge when it comes to the Qur'an. Let’s read in front of them. If there’s a teacher, a scholar in your neighborhood, or if your imam is willing, take your family members with you and read with him. That’s what this month is about.
Abdullah ibn Abbas also said—pay attention to this hadith as well…
My brothers and sisters, every single one of you here, insha’Allah, wants to enter Jannah—and so do I. I ask Allah that He makes us from the people of Jannah. But you know what? I ask myself, and I want all of you to ask yourselves today this question: We want to enter Jannah. So did the Prophet’s companions. They all wanted to enter Jannah, but the effort they exerted is not the same as the effort we exert. They were exerting every ounce of energy they could possibly muster.
Look at the great giants of Islam. I’m baffled and mind-boggled when I see the likes of Al-Imam Al-Shafi'i, who finished the Qur'an twice every single day in the month of Ramadan. That means he finished the Qur'an 60 times in the month of Ramadan.
He wants Jannah, and I want Jannah, but I’m not doing what he’s doing. Shouldn’t I be competing with him? Shouldn’t I say to myself, “Listen, this is the route to Jannah; let me copy him, imitate him.” If you can’t be like them, copy them! Imitate them. For indeed, imitating the righteous is a virtue in and of itself.
Twice, my brothers and sisters, twice in the month of Ramadan. I sat down and calculated it. How many hours would Al-Shafi'i spend reading the Qur'an in the month of Ramadan? I might be wrong, but I roughly came to the conclusion—about 15 hours every single day. Every single day! 15 hours is the time Al-Shafi'i would spend reading the Qur'an to finish it twice. How many of us even spend an hour on the Qur'an?
The Prophet ﷺ told us in a hadith: “There is not a group of people who gather in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it together, except that tranquility will descend upon them…” Why are you depressed? This is the reason why you’re depressed—you’re missing this. You’re stressed because you lack tranquility. Here it is: the Prophet ﷺ is telling you: “Tranquility will descend upon them, and mercy will cover them, and the angels will surround them…” The angels will be around those who are reading the Qur'an, and the best part: “Allah will mention them to those in His presence…”
Imagine—if a famous person posted your name or picture on their social media, and everyone saw it, how would you feel? You’d feel happy, right? You’d say, “Wow, I got a shout-out!” You’d feel honored just because a human being—sometimes someone who might not even be a Muslim—posted your name. But imagine this: Allah mentions your name. He says, “Look at My servant, such-and-such, who is reciting My Book.” That is the highest honor you can achieve.
So my brothers and sisters, Ramadan is the month where you need to revive the Qur'an. Some of you might say, "I can’t read the Qur'an; I don’t know how to read it." Abdur Rahman, your video here has motivated me. I understand the importance of reading the Qur'an, and I want to, but I can’t. What should I do in this situation?
I have a solution for you you don't have to worry make sure next Ramadan Inshallah Ta'ala that you study the Qur'an but this one has happened what's happened it's happened you don't know how to read but I've got a solution for you. You listen to the Qur'an you get a reciter and you put the headphones in your head and you finish the Qur'an by listening to it. Our Messenger ﷺ did this. Did what? He listened to the Qur'an from his companions. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله تعالى عنه he said قَالَ لِيَ النَّبِيُّ the Prophet said to me ﷺ اِقْرَأْ عَلَيْيَ read on me. قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بِالْمِسْعُودِ imagine this Nabil ibn Muhammad saying to you read on me. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud was baffled. He said يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَقْرَأْ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَيْكَ أُنزِلْ shall I read the Qur'an on you and the Qur'an came down on you? There's no reciter as good as the Prophet. Imagine today if a reciter said to you the biggest reciter, let's say محمود خليل الحصري said to you read the Qur'an on me الله أكبر. So Allah الله أكبر saying to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud اقرأ علي read on me, and he said أَقْرَأْ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَيْكَ أُنزِلْ am I going to read the Qur'an on you and the Qur'an came down on you? قال نعم the Prophet said yes, read on me.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said okay, فَقَرَأْتُ سُورَةَ النِّسَاءِ he said I recite Surah An-Nisa meaning he's hafidh as well masha'Allah. Surah An-Nisa is very hard; it's a complicated surah. It's got actually hard surahs in it, verses in it, like for example the ayat of Mawarith, the ayat of Inheritance where Allah Ta'ala says وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ أَزْوَادُكُمْ يَوْا يَسْتَفْتُونَكَ فِي النِّسَاءِ يَوْا يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ يَوْا وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ يَسْتَفْتُونَكَ فِي النِّسَاءِ he didn't reach يستفتونك لكن يُوصِيكُمُ الله, and he read وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ verse. It's got inheritance, a bit complicated. He started it from the beginning بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ he read it. Do you know who he's reading it to? The Prophet. So he read it and he read it and he read it.
حَتَّى أَتَيْتُ إِلَى هَٰذِ الْآيَةِ until I reached this verse, what verse? ayah 41. He read 41 verses and he reached the verse فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ. Do you know what verse he reached? He reached the verse where Allah is saying سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ how is your situation going to be? فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ how is your situation going to be, Muhammad? The day we bring all of the nations and they testify against you and you are testifying against them, how is your situation going to be? That verse is addressing the Prophet.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said when I recited that ayah فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَىٰهَا أُولَٰئِ شَهِيدًا when I recited that verse, the Prophet said حَسْبُك حَسْبُك الآن stop it now, stop now. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said فَلْتَفَتْتُ إِلَيْهِ I looked at the Prophet, فَإِذَا عَيْنَاهُ تَضْرِفَان the Prophet's eyes were just watering, he was just crying. That's what it does to the believers: it touches their heart, the meaning they understand it. You know what's really shocking my brothers and sisters.
I'm telling you this, it shocks me and it baffles me. The Imam in Taraweeh is reciting Qur'an, he's reading the book of Allah, and he's reading, and he goes over verses that speak about Jannah and also verses that talk about Nar, and there's وَعَد وَعِيد (promises and warnings) in the Qur'an in Taraweeh, and the people are not crying, they don't get affected by it, it doesn't move them.
Okay, the Dua starts, the Imam raises his hand, and everyone's crying. And the Dua — is it the words of Allah? No, the Imam has put these words together. Some of the Dua or majority of the Duas are what? Where it's not even the Dua from the Prophet ﷺ, it's Dua that the Imam has constructed together.
Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not saying that the Dua is not something very powerful. I'm saying yes, but Kalamullah (the words of Allah) has not affected you, has not touched your heart. There's something wrong, there's something wrong here. You need to revise your situation and look back.
The Prophet is crying, فَإِذَا عَيْنَهُ تَضْرِفَان (and his eyes were watering). You know what the word تَظْرِفَان means? It's watering, gushing with tears ﷺ. He's crying. Bukhari and Muslim both narrated the Hadith. Another wording in Muslim actually says, فَرَفَعْتُ رَأْسِ عَبْدُ الْحَمْدِ I raised my head, فَرَأَيْتُ الدُّمُوعَهُ تَسِيلُ I saw his tears were pouring, pouring. تَسِيلُ means pouring ﷺ.
Because the Qur'an, my brothers and sisters, as I said before, it does that to the believers. It touches their heart, it brings tears to them. But when your heart is hard, rock solid, it won't affect it. أَلَمْ يَأْنِنِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن تَقْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَلا يَكُونُ كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدُ فَقَسَّتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَكَثِيرُ مِنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ The heart has become tough and rough, so then the Qur'an will not affect you.
Guess what? The Sahabas رضي الله عنهم were like that when it came to the Qur'an. Meaning what? They were connected to the Qur'an. The recitation of the Qur'an was like that. One day, just like Abdullah ibn Mas'ud read on the Prophet, Umar, look what he did. Umar, Ameer al-Mu'mineen, Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه. He said to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari:
يَا أَبَا مُوسَى ذَكِّرْنَا Remind us, ذَكِّرْنَا رَبَّنَا Remind us of our Lord, يَا أَبَا مُوسَى Remind us of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى. So what does he do? He started to recite, he started to read, and they started to listen to him. And Abu Musa al-Ash'ari had a beautiful voice, as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, قَدْ أُوتِيتَ مِزْمَارًا مِنْ مَزَامِيرِ آلِ دَاوُودِ "You have been given the voice from the voices of Nabila Dawood." Beautiful voice of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, beautiful recitation he had.
So my brothers and sisters, Ramadan is coming, and it's gonna leave, and some of us have not even opened the Mus'haf, let alone read what's inside it. Haven't even opened the Mus'haf, haven't even gone the direction of where our Mus'haf is in the house. It's collecting dust. How is that possible? How is that the case as a believer who knows that the Qur'an came down in this particular time? شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنَ It's the month in which the Qur'an came down.
Umar رضي الله عنه, one day, he said to his companions: مَا تَقُولُونَ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى "What do you guys say about the verse of Allah?" وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسِ يَتْقُولُونَ فِي دِينِ اللَّهِ أَفْوَاجًا فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرُ وَإِنَّهُ كَانَ تَوَّابًا What do you say about that verse?
عَبْدِ اللَّهِ مِّنْ وَعَبَّاسِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ May Allah be pleased with him and his father, he actually, do you know what he said? He brought an understanding of this verse which the other companions couldn't. He said, رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَمَهُ اللَّهُ لَهُ This verse إِذَا جَاءَ نَصُرُ اللَّهِ "That the Prophet's death is about to come." He got an understanding from this surah that no other person got from it.
So the verse إِذَا جَاءَ نَصُرُ اللَّهِ وَالفَتْحُ فَذَاكَ عَلَامَةُ أَجَلِكُ مَا أَعَلَّمُ مِنْهَا إِلَّا مَا تَعْلَمُ "All I know of that surah is what you understood from Ibn Abbas." Meaning your understanding of what the surah is, is the same understanding that I also have of the surah.
So my brothers and sisters, what is that? He's saying that you've pondered and you've contemplated correctly, and you've extracted the correct understanding. And that's why Abdullah Ibn Abbas, because of that understanding of the Qur'an that he had, because of him pondering over the Qur'an, Umar R.A who took him, he was a teenager, he used to sit in the parliament (if that's the correct way of saying it) or if that's the correct choice of word, you can sit in the committee of the Ahlul Shura (those who make decisions).
Abdullah Ibn Abbas, who was a teenager, was sitting with them because of the Qur'an.
So my brothers and sisters, what am I saying? Ramadan is about to come. If you can't read the Qur'an, if you cannot recite the Qur'an, and you don't have that knowledge, listen to the Qur'an. As for if you can read the Qur'an, then Inshallah Ta'ala listen to this, Bi'in Ilahi Al-Karim. You can finish the Qur'an once a month. Every day you just read one juz. Every day, a juz, a juz, a juz. سَيَقُولُ سُفَهَا تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ كُلُّ طَعَامِ And you carry on like that, every day one juz. 30 juz, you finish in 30 nights or 30 days. Maybe if it's 20 nights, you just hurry up and you finish it one day early.
If you wanna go in, and that's not enough for you, and it shouldn't be one time, it's still too little. Ramadan is about the whole time, it's the Qur'an. So what do you do? You finish it every 7 days. If you wanna finish it twice a month, you can. The first 15 days and the second 15 days, you can, no problem. So you read two juz every single day. That means you finish the first 15 days, and then the next 15 days you finish it again. You can.
But there's something that the Sahabas used to do, which is that they used to recite the Qur'an every 7 days. They would finish it. It's called fami bishawq. You start from Surah Al-Fatihah. You take it to Surah Al-Ma'idah, from Surah Al-Ma'idah to Surah Yunus, from Surah Yunus to Surah Bani Israel, Fami bi Bani Israel. It's the same name, Fami bishawq Bani Israel. From Surah Bani Israel, from Surah Ash-Shu'ara, from Surah Ash-Shu'ara to Surah As-Saffat, from Surah As-Saffat to Surah Al-Qaf, and from Surah Al-Qaf to Surah An-Nas.
7 days, you finish the entire Qur'an. Those are the people who can. If you think, "No, I'm not gonna even... I wanna compete with the Sahabas. I wanna compete with the Tabi'een and Itiba'u Tabi'een. I wanna compete with the great giants of Islam." Good! That's how the mindset should be.
Finish it every 3 nights, 10, 10, 10. Every 3 nights, you finish the Qur'an. If you can finish it every single day in the month of Ramadan, may Allah make it easy for you. The reward is with that.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ask Allah to make us and you from the people of the Qur'an, and to benefit us with His noble book, and with the guidance of His messenger, and with the guidance of the leader of the messengers. And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
And may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the final prophet and messenger, and upon his family and companions.
Subhanaka Allahumma, and with Your praise, I bear witness that there is no deity but You. I ask for Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance.
