Tarbiyah by Ilm

How does the Qur’an open its doors to us? | Dr Nayef bin Nahar

I randomly came across a Substack note encouraging people to watch a podcast episode with Dr Nayef bin Nahar. While it’s in Arabic, there are English subtitles available (and no, not those awful automated captions set by YouTube.) There were so many incredible reflections on how to approach the Qur’an: from guiding principles to tips on making tadabbur. Here are three gems I want to share:

Qur’an isn’t a book of information: it’s a manhaj to guide you
What I see as very important in dealing with the Quran, to guide your interaction and give you the ability to apply it to your reality, is to see it as a book of methodology, not information. If you approach the Quran seeking information, you might not find what satisfies you. But if you seek to build sound, mature awareness, you will certainly find what you need.

Look at this verse: Allah Almighty says, “And there came from the farthest end of the city a man, running.” (36:20) This man played a very important and dangerous role, He saved a prophet of Allah, yet his name wasn’t mentioned. Why? The Quran wants you to focus on his role. Because this role is required from you too. You must always act in such a role yourself. This man lives under an oppressive, frightening regime. A tyrannical system, Pharaoh’s regime, yet he found a way to act and save this reformer. No matter how blocked the horizon is, look for available spaces to move.

Do not take verses out of context
Let me give an example of somebody who takes part of a Qur’anic verse but leaves the rest. Allah says, ٱقْرَأْ بِٱسْمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ “Read in the name of your Lord who created” (96:1)

The word ٱقْرَأْ (“Read”) has been taken out of context in the modern era. People treat it as a verb relating to contemporary reading. Therefore, this expression has become common: “We are the nation of ٱقْرَأْ.” No, we are not. Other nations also read. In fact, some nations might read more than us.

But we are the nation of: “Read in the name of your Lord who created.” We are the nation of divine reading. We are the nation of reading that links the creature to the Creator. It does not view matters in isolation from the Creator who initiated the creation.

But when we extract the verse, under modern pressure in the current era, we end up viewing Qur’anic concepts materialistically. We see reading as a purely physical act. We glorify the subject of reading without finishing the verse: Read in the name of your Lord who created.

So, when I read cosmic phenomena, or read human and social phenomena, my reading must be an extension of reading Revelation. For example, when I read on “material competition” in human society, it is not through the capitalist model, nor through the Marxist model of material competition, but through Surah At-Takathur. The surah gives me the awareness to understand this phenomenon and its cure. By the way, Surah At-Takathur addressed material competition and solved it in this short section. So “Read in the name of your Lord who created it.”

Tips before Ramadan
You find a Muslim who has read the Quran for 20 years. Ask him: “Did you learn the meaning of any word?” A surah you didn’t know, did you learn it? 20 years of reading and you added nothing to your Quranic vocabulary? That’s a problem. So [this] Ramadan must be different. It should be a turning point with the Quran. How? Keep in mind this Ramadan to learn at least 10 Quranic words. When you finish the Quran, you see words you may not fully grasp. Aim to learn 10. Say you pass the verse: “Indeed, We granted you al-Kawthar.” (108:1) What is “al-Kawthar”? Learn it. Collect 10 this year, and 10 words next year. After 10 years, you will have 100 Quranic words. That’s a huge wealth. After 20 years, 200 words. A huge wealth.

Or search for the traits of a believer. Surat Al-Mu’minun mentions some, as does the end of Surat Al-Furqan. Gather these traits, then see which ones you lack. If a believer’s trait is missing, work until you acquire it. In the Qur’an it says, “and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace.” (25:63) But, in reality, what happens is when they address you, you end up fighting. So you have a problem with a trait. Start working to gain this trait, so by next Ramadan you are sure you have these traits.

Being attached to the prayer | Riyadus Saliheen | Sheikh Ibrahim Nuhu

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Seven are (the persons) whom Allah will give protection with His Shade* on the Day when there will be no shade except His Shade (i.e., on the Day of Resurrection)…” [full hadith here]

One of them is “a man whose heart is attached to mosques”. Does it mean we stay in all the time? No. We mix with the community.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The believer who mixes with people and bears their annoyance with patience will have a greater reward than the believer who does not mix with people and does not put up with their annoyance.” [ibn Majah]

In cases of fitna, then stay at home. Other than that, mixing with people is better. Look at the system: when did Allah tell us to stay in the masjid for long periods of time? Ramadan. If done right, I’tikaaf should be enough for you to live on till the next Ramadan.

Plus, this is not necessarily the masjid. But it is that your heart is attached to the prayer. So when you’re done with maghrib, your heart is waiting for isha. The most enjoyable act of worship to you is the prayer. You have to train yourself first. Train yourself to develop khushoo. When you’re done with the prayer, keep the next prayer in your heart.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself, so make supplication (in this state).” [Sahih Muslim]

The prayer is our salvation. The best way out of any tragedy that can take place in life is the prayer. On the Day of Judgement, Allah will ask the angels to check your prayers.

Class: 20th December 2022

Charity to Family | Riyadus Saliheen | Sheikh Ibrahim Nuhu

Prioritise Poor Relations For Charity

Sa`d bin Abu Waqqas رضي الله عنه reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to visit me when I had a severe pain. I said: “I am suffering from such trouble as you are observing. I am a wealthy man and the only heir of mine is my daughter.” (Then Sa`d narrated the whole incident). [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Sa’ad started to think that his wealth might be too much for his daughter so he wanted to know if it was permissible to give at least two-thirds of his wealth to charity. The Prophet ﷺ said no.

I (Sa’ad) said: Should I give half (of my property) as Sadaqa? He ﷺ said: No. He (further) said: Give one-third (in charity) and that is quite enough. To leave your heirs rich is better than to leave them poor, begging from people; that you would never incur an expense seeking therewith the pleasure of Allah, but you would be rewarded therefor, even for a morsel of food that you put in the mouth of your wife. I said: Allah’s Messenger. would I survive my companions? He (the Holy Prophet) said: If you survive them, then do such a deed by means of which you seek the pleasure of Allah, but you would increase in your status (in religion) and prestige; you may survive so that people would benefit from you, and others would be harmed by you.” (Full hadith in Sahih Muslim)

This shows us that before we stretch our eyes to others, our family is priority. Most of us think charity to strangers is more valuable than to family members. That’s because you don’t feel like you’ve done something great when you do it for family. Instead you believe you’ll get more reward from strangers. This includes all family members who’s poor. (Why would you give a rich relative?)

The Result of Silatur Raheem

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Giving charity to a poor person is charity, and (giving) to a relative is two things, charity and upholding the ties of kinship.” (Sunan An-Nasai’i)

One of the best outcomes of silatur raheem (maintaining ties of kinship) are:
1. gaining rizq and
2. increasing your life span (according to an opinion) / barakah in your age (according to another opinion) / both an increase in life span and barakah (according to another opinion)

What happens if Allah blesses one’s age? If there’s something you need to accomplish and it’s possible to do in a year, Allah will bestow barakah upon this person and they’ll do it in a month. So even though they didn’t live long, just look at what they’ve left behind! For example: Imam an-Nawawi. Allah put barakah in his knowledge yet he died in his 40s.

Class: 28th Oct ’25

Life of Suhaib Ibn Sinan Al Rumi رضي الله عنه

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

Suhaib Ibn Sinan Al Rumi was an Arab boy who grew up amongst the Persians because his father was a governor of a Persian city. However, when he was a child, he was kidnapped by the Romans and sold into slavery for two decades. It was in their company that he began to speak the language of the Byzantian Empire i.e. Greek and he even ended up forgetting his native Arabic.

Life of Khabbab Ibn Al Aratt رضي الله عنه

What I set to accomplish through this series of posts inshaAllah is 1) to be consistent in watching The Firsts series by Omar Suleiman and 2) derive and share lessons that can help us understand the world today (at the moment, specifically in relation to the oppression of the ummah.) I don’t expect these posts to be lengthy as I’m not exactly sharing transcripts of the lectures, so these might end up being brief glimpses of a companion’s life through which we can extrapolate a lesson inshaAllah.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

This week, we are focusing on Khabbab ibn Al Aratt رضي الله عنه. I’d like to start with his background because it adds to the dreariness of what his life might have been even before the torture he endured prior accepting Islam. He was a slave purchased from the marketplace when he wasn’t even a teenager yet, and being a slave in of itself is no success story.

Ramadan reflections #1: Istigfar after a good deed

22 Ramadan 1442 // 5 May 2021

I was reciting the verses from Surah Baqarah (2:127-128) —

وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيم
And when (was) raising Ibrahim the foundations of the House and Ismail, (saying), “Our Lord! Accept from us. Indeed You! [You] (are) the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.

رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُّسْلِمَةً لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيم
Our Lord! [and] Make us both submissive to You. And from our offspring a community submissive to You. And show us our ways of worship and turn to us. Indeed You! [You] (are) the Oft-returning, the Most Merciful.

— and one thing I noticed was the usage of two pairs of Allah’s names back to back. It prompted me to figure out what connections I could make out of this (of course, within what’s permissible in sha Allah).

In the first aforementioned verse, we see how Prophet Ibrahim and Ismail عليهم السلام were beseeching Allah to accept their good deed of raising the foundation of the Ka’bah. In Ibn Kathir’s tafseer, it is said, “This is the behaviour of the sincere believers…they give away voluntary charity and perform the acts of worship yet…afraif that these good deeds might not be accepted of them.”

The reason this immediately caught my eye was due to something I once hear, which is this idea of istigfar after performing a good deed can be found elsewhere in the Qur’an, in surah Nasr. Allah says that when the victory comes (V1), which is the conquest of Makkah,

فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ تَوَّابً
Then glorify with (the) praises (of) your Lord and ask His forgiveness. Indeed, He is Oft-Returning.

Moreover, if you think about it, one of the sunan of post-salah is to make istigfar thrice.

So, why make istigfar after good deeds? It’s because we don’t know if it’s accepted. We don’t know if there was something deficient in what we did, if we were insincere, etc.

Hence, the action plan based off of this reflection: Make istigfar after good deeds.

Allah’s Name: Al-Wahhab

[Note that the notes are taken from Tahir Wyatt’s series on Allah’s names.]

Linguistic Meaning

The person (doer) who does something is in the form of verb “faa-il” الفاعل. Some of the human names that come in this form are as follows: Sawbir (root word: sabr. So the person who does that action is called Sawbir), Shaakir, Jaabir, Sadiq, etc.

Now we also have what is known as “Sighat l-mubalagha” (exaggeration). We’ll find many names of Allah in this. Some of such names also come in the form of “fa’aal” فعال. For eg:
1. Gaffar: So somebody who forgives is “gafir” but somebody who continues to forgive is “gaffar”
2. So al-Wahhab means: The Ever Giving, the Bestower

Life of Aisha bint Abu Bakr رضي الله عنها – Pt 1

_{[Note: This series of articles are extracted from self-taken notes from Ustadha Fatima Barkatulla’s lectures series. ]}

Most of us have had to be apart from family and friends for an extensive period of time during the pandemic. Perhaps that separation has continued to stretch even now. Given such circumstances, there are several amongst us who’ve faced some understandable sense of loneliness; we are social beings after all. But one thing we should remind ourselves is that Allah will always replace this void with something greater.

We still have the companionship of the righteous predecessors alhamdulillah. Their lives aren’t just preserved for simple rote learning. And during times like these, we see that they not only serve as sources of motivation, but serve as sources of friendship, of comfort. We will follow the religion of our friends, so who better to befriend than them?

In this series of articles, I’d like to delve into the life of our mother, Aisha bint Abu Bakr رضي الله عنها, as taught by Ustadha Fatima Barkatullah in her ongoing classes with extra benefits for good measure. When you read about her life, absorb yourself in it as you would in a tête-à-tête with a known friend. But before delving into the topic, let’s ask ourselves three questions:

Why must we intimately read the lives of the companions?
Why read the life of Aisha رضي الله عنها ?
Why does this subject matter to us in today’s age anyway?

Covering Faults of the Muslims | Riyadus Saliheen | Sheikh Ibrahim Nuhu

You should conceal the affairs of the Muslims. You should keep it secret unless it’s something that will cause fitnah amongst the community and lives will be lost. In that case, you should remind those who are concerned. Ultimately, you must deal each situation accordingly.

اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ يُحِبُّوۡنَ اَنۡ تَشِيۡعَ الۡفَاحِشَةُ فِى الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا لَهُمۡ عَذَابٌ اَلِيۡمٌۙ فِى الدُّنۡيَا وَالۡاٰخِرَةِؕ وَاللّٰهُ يَعۡلَمُ وَاَنۡـتُمۡ لَا تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ Verily those who love that indecency should spread among the believers deserve a painful chastisement in the world and the Hereafter. Allah knows, but you do not know. (24:19)

This ayah was revealed after the issue of Ifk

When the rumours spread, the Prophet ﷺ kept silent because Allah didn’t say anything. Vast majority of the companions stayed silent. Some companions spoke and that pleased the hypocrites. Some companions spoke and that angered the hypocrites more.

The Prophet ﷺ didn’t know what to do. He knows his wife was decent. There’s no doubt about her but he still asks regarding it. Later, when he (ﷺ) tells Aisha that if she did anything wrong, she should ask Allah to forgive her. However, if she didn’t do anything, Allah will tell the believers that there’s nothing wrong. Aisha then got annoyed at this because she realised he (ﷺ) lost trust in her.

Allah’s Protection through Prayer | Riyadus Saliheen | Sheikh Ibrahim Nuhu

Hadith in focus: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “When anyone offers the Fajr (dawn) prayer, in congregation, he is in the Protection of Allah. So let not Allah call him to account, withdrawing, in any respect, His Protection. Because, He will get hold of him and throw him down on his face in the Hell-fire.”
Sahih Muslim

Praying fajr in congregation is a contract between you and Allah to be protected by Him. Evil cannot come to except what Allah decrees for you and if He does decree bad, then that will be good for you. That’s why it’s a great loss for a Muslim to miss the Fajr prayer. We’re surrounded by all types of evil from those that of Satan to the evils of humans, but we’ll be having the protection from Allah if we pray in jama’ah.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Convey glad tidings to those who walk to the mosque in the darkness. For they will be given full light on the Day of Resurrection.” [At-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud] .