To Catch a Dream
Everyone has dreams. Today I want to talk about one of my dreams. No, not the dreams you get when you go to sleep. These are the things that you really want to do one day. So, one of my dreams is about The Qur'an as you can see in below.
It is important for us to know the content of the Qur'an. The Qur'an is
divine speech. This is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala (SWT) tells us how we should conduct
ourselves. It is like a "manual" for mankind. And, Rasulullah sallahu alayhi wassalam (SAW) would
explain about the Qur'an verses through his Hadiths. So, it is imperative to have these two aspects studied together in tandem, hand in hand.
Before I talk about my dreams, let's remind ourselves about Ramadan. It will start on Tuesday, April 13th. about a week from now. Ramadan is a month of Qur'an (as mentioned in the Qur'an). The first revelation of the Qur'an was sent down to Prophet Muhammad SAW by the archangel Jibreel alayhi salam (AS) during this month. So, besides fasting, we are highly encouraged to read and contemplate the Qur'an verses during Ramadan. Make a schedule for daily Qur'an reading of at least 30 minutes. Do your best to read the Qur'an, okay! Selamat Berpuasa!
Okay, back to my dreams. I want to be able to:
1. Recite Quran correctly, with correct letter pronunciations and with good tajweed rules.
2. Know Arabic Language to understand what I read.
3. Know the deep meaning (tafsir) of the Quranic verses.
Tajweed
What is Tajweed? One definition I found:
The word "Tajweed" means to improve, to do better. Tajweed of the Holy Qur'an is the knowledge and application of the rules of recitation, so the reading of the Qur'an is as recited by or beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Mercy of Allah be upon him).
It has been my dream to improve my Qur'an reading. I needed a Tajweed and Qur'an teacher for that purpose and I always made duaa for that. Out of the blue, in 2018, I found out that one of my Arab friends here in Indiana has a certification in Qur'an Tajweed and she was willing to teach the basic rules of Tajweed and proper enunciation to me and my friends. So, we had a weekly Tajweed class at the Masjid. After we were done with the basic rules, we would take turns to read the Qur'an and identify the rules throughout our reading. The teacher would correct our recitations when we make mistakes. When COVID-19 came, we switched to virtual class via Skype. We met weekly too. I have friends from Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in that group. Right now, it seems that everyone is busy. So, we don't meet as regularly as before. Now, I think my Qur'an recitation has improved a lot. I am very grateful to Allah SWT for making a way for me to learn Tajweed rules for better recitation.
Arabic Language
It is important for all Muslims to know some Arabic. At least we know what we are saying in our daily solat. And, it will make a lot of difference knowing the meaning of the Qur'anic verses when we read or hear them.
In 2014, my quest for acquiring the Arabic Language began. I made a decision to learn Arabic online so I signed up for the Intensive Arabic Course offered by Islamic Online University (IOU). It was a free course. I only needed to pay the registration fee. It had a series of recorded lectures, quizzes, tests and weekly live sessions. In every lesson, we were given a passage to read, comprehend and answer related questions. The focus was mostly on grammar and word usage. It was really good. I learned a lot. The only drawback was that I didn't improve my Arabic pronunciation skills at all. But I could read, write and understand some Arabic which actually helped me in understand about fifty percent of the Qur'anic verses. That was quite an improvement! However, I quit after completing five semesters as the grammar was getting too difficult to follow. Nevertheless, I was determined to continue improving my Arabic skills.
By the grace of Allah SWT, in October 2020, I found another opportunity to continue my quest. One of my FB Malaysian friend was talking about an Arabic course broadcast live on a FB page. I got interested in it so I watched the replay of that broadcast and I made the commitment to join that online class. It is called Bayyinah Dream. The teacher was already a well-known public figure to those who follow Islamic lectures online. I had watched a lot of his lectures particularly on the tafsir of Qur'an before. His name is Nouman Ali Khan. He has been teaching Arabic for 20 years, but this is the first time he is broadcasting live from Euless, TX. I'm glad I made this choice. I'm really enjoying every session of his class and I could relate to what I have learned before at IOU. This Arabic course has a different approach than the one from IOU. The focus in the Bayyinah class is on the grammar, more important on the application with the respect of the Qur'an including the rhetoric behind it. During the last ten minutes of the class, the teacher would pick some verses from the Qur'an, apply the grammar and discuss the interpretation. I really enjoy this format. It's two-in-one; learning the Arabic and the Qur'an interpretation in one class. Right now, the class is held one hour a day, five days a week. All sessions are recorded on the Bayyinah TV website. So, whoever is interested can access these sessions to learn at their own pace. Thousands of students are following the class right now. The students are from everywhere in the world! Some are from Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Kosovo, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Australia, etc. Apart from having two students with him in the studio, the teacher would recruit participating students to actively join the broadcast as part of his teaching pedagogy.
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| 4 students join the live class, son and mom, and daughter and mom. |
Tafsir
According to Wikipedia, tafsir refers to exegesis, usually of the Qur'an which attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding and conviction of God's will.
I started the journey by reading a PDF tafsir book called Tafsir Ibn Kathir. For every verse studied, other verses in the Qur'an and the hadiths of the Prophet related to that particular verse will be discussed. It was a long and slow process, and needed a lot of commitment. It has been a while since I last opened the pages of the PDF book. Then, in July 2020, my friend, an ex-teacher of MRSM Perlis, suggested a tafsir program from a scholar (Sheikh Said Karawia) based in Malaysia via FB. He broadcasts live lectures daily. My friend sponsored my membership and now I am a registered student of Tafsir Class of Sheikh Said. I am so happy and honored to be one of his students! I appreciate how he would explain every single verse in exquisite detail. They would usually come from other verses of Qur'an and from the traditions (seerah) or Hadiths of the Prophet SAW. In addition, he would share his contemplation and reflection of the verse discussed on how it applies to us.
Personal Reflection
Who would imagine that I get to fulfill my dreams especially when I am living in a small town in the US! I truly believe that any dreams with good intention would be fulfilled if you make sincere duaa to Allah SWT. He will surely show the path to your dreams eventually. I did make a lot of duaa! All I can say is that Allah SWT has made it easy for me to gain all the knowledge that I have been wanting to have by making them accessible to me in ways I have never thought of. I am truly grateful to Allah SWT for these opportunities.
I hope my journey will inspire all of us to learn more about Qur'an and Islam.
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