Reciting the noble Quran & ten inner prerequisites

Reciting the Noble Qur’an

Reciting the Qur’an disciplines the soul in many respects. It teaches man what he is required to do and stirs in him what he needs to purify his soul.

Reciting the Qur’an enlightens the heart and reminds it of every proper conduct. In this way, it aids the other duties of Islam bringing forth their fruits, such as the Prayer, alms-giving, fasting and the pilgrimage …

Reciting the Qur’an is more likely to be effective if one ponders over the meanings with humility and contemplation

The Ten Inner Prerequisites of Reciting the Qur’an

The ten inner prerequisites are:

1.Understanding the original meaning of the words in the Qur’an

2.Feeling of awe

3. Consciousness of the heart

4. Pondering over the meanings

5. Deep understanding

6. Abandoning the barriers of understanding

7. The feel that Allah is addressing you

8. To respond to the meanings of the words

9. To be aware that Allah is witnessing your recitation

10. To believe the words of the Qur’an are referring to you

~ Imam al Ghazzali

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Then rejoice :)

“If your intention in seeking knowledge is between God Most High and yourself and not merely to gain information, then rejoice! The Angels will spread out their wings for you while you walk, and the creatures in the sea will ask God to pardon you.”

[Imam Al’Ghazali in his Bidaya al Hidaya]

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Trust

The word trust contains an ocean of meaning, but underneath it all is the sense of responsibility, the sense of having to appear before Allah and to account for one’s actions.

[Muhammad al Ghazali]

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Nobody is born learned

Nobody is born learned. Learning is to be acquired.

Ibn Abbas Radhiallahu Anhu said:

“To discuss about learning in a portion of night is dearer to me than to keep up awake throughout the night in prayer.”

Allah advised us to pray thus: “0 Lord, give us good in this world and good in the hereafter – 2: 297.

In explaining ‘good’ in this verse, Hasan Basari Rahimahullah said that it means Knowledge so far as this world is concerned and Paradise so far as the hereafter is concerned.

Imaam Ghazali Rahimahullah

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Four Traits

Imam Ghazali mentions in his Ihya’ that Imam Junaid said,

“Four traits lift a person to the highest ranks, even if their works and knowledge are little:

(1) Forbearance (hilm)

(2) Humility (tawadu`)

(3) Generosity (sakha’)

(4) Good character (husn al-khuluq)–and this is the perfection of faith.”

[Ghazali, Ihya’ `Ulum al-Din]

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The duty of a husband and father

Lawful earnings become difficult as a result of marriage. There is in Hadith that if a man earns virtues to the height of mountain, he shall have to wait near the Balance and accounts will be taken from him of his wealth, of his expenditure, of his maintenance and other matters.

The children will say to Allah on the Resurrection Day: “0 our Lord, take from him the account of his duties towards us, he did not teach us what we did not know and he gave us unlawful food to eat without our knowledge. Take compensation from him for these. The Prophet Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam said: “Nobody will meet Allah with a greeter sin than with a sin of keeping his family members uneducated. Very few people will get release from this danger.”

Ihya Ulum Ad Din

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10 sayings (love and hate fillah)

These are collected in al-Ghazzali’s ‘Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din’ (2/195 onwards):

1 – ‘Umar bin al-Khattab said:

“If one of you is blessed with affection from his brother, he should hold onto that as tightly as possible, as it is quite rare for one to be blessed with this.”

2 – ‘Umar also said:

“Nobody is given anything besides his Islam better than a righteous friend.”

3 – ‘Ali bin Abi Talib said:

“Tend to your brothers, as they are your sustenance in this world and the next. Do you not hear the saying of the people of Hell: {“Now, we have neither intercessors nor close friends to help us!”} [ash-Shu’ara’; 100-1]?”

4 – ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar said:

“By Allah, if I fasted all day without eating, prayed all night without sleeping, spent all of my wealth in the Path of Allah, died the day I died, but had no love in my heart for those who obey Allah, and no hatred in my heart for those who disobey Allah, none of this would benefit me in the least.”

5 – ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud said:

“If a man were to stand for seventy years worshipping Allah between the Yemeni Corner and the Maqam of Ibrahim (at the Ka’bah), he would still be resurrected on the Day of Judgement with those whom he loved.”

6 – Ibn as-Sammak said, on his deathbed:

“O Allah! You Know that, even if I had disobeyed You, I loved those who obeyed You! So, make this for me a means of nearness to You!”

7 – Mujahid said:

“Those who love each other for Allah’s Sake, when they smile at each other, their sins fall from each other, just as the leaves fall from a tree before the winter.”

8 – al-Ghazali said, commenting on the saying of the Prophet: “The strongest bond of faith is to love for Allah and to hate for Allah”:

“Because of this, it is a must that a person have those that he hates for Allah’s Sake, just as he has friends and brothers that he loves for Allah’s Sake.”

9 – Abu Hurayrah said:

“The slave will be brought between the Hands of Allah – the Exalted – on the Day of Resurrection, and Allah will Say to him: ‘Did you love one of my awliya’, so that I can join you with him?’“

10 – al-Hasan al-Basri said:

“Being harsh against a fasiq brings you closer to Allah – the Exalted.”

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Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me.
-Imam Al-Ghazali

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