By Jafaran Khan

We praise Allah for the life He has bestowed upon us, the knowledge He has bestowed upon us through our teachers to read the Qur’an, His will in allowing us to seek knowledge, the power that He entails upon our every harakah, and for the sight that He has allowed us to see the Qur’an, the hearing in which He allowed us to hear the beautiful recitation of the Qur’an, and for granting us the ability to recite the Qur’an. Also importantly, we praise Him for the blessing of being born as a Muslim and in the ummah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

We seek Allah’s help to also witness the above in our journey in connecting with the Qur’an.

As a teen, when we were learning the religion in our earlier days, we often chanced upon Shaykh Mansour As Salimi’s recitation on YouTube. For the recitation of Shaykh Mansour As Salimi would be done in a public setting in which it would also be a form of dawah for the youth, calling youngsters to turn back to Allah. For He is the Oft-Forgiving and Most Merciful. Shaykh Mansour As Salimi’s beautiful elocution of the Qur’an was something which was very soul-stirring and soothing. His voice has the tenderness of a mother calming her child, a soothing cadence that brings the soul to solace.

Those who believe and whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of Allah. Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find comfort.
Surah Ar-Ra’d (13:28)

O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance. Perhaps your Lord will remove from you your misdeeds and admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow.
Surah Tahrim Ayah 8

Upon hearing the verses and reading through the verses, it had a profound impact on ourselves. The verse from the Qur’an has taught us that one can only truly find solace in the words of Allah and in the places where the remembrance of Allah is present. The recitation of the Qur’an from Shaykh Mansour As Salimi has also sparked our interest in wanting to learn to recite the Qur’an properly and to recite it with proper articulation and tajweed.

Our relationship with the Qur’an was further sweetened through the experiences of learning tajweed. We are grateful that Allah opened for us the means to learn to recite the Qur’an with proper tajweed. Alhamdulilah for our teachers, who have taught us. May Allah reward them for every huruf that we recite, and may Allah elevate their status.

We loved the way how the Qur’an’s recitation is simply beautified by following tajweed and the clear articulation of the letters, regardless of there being no melodies involved. Such beauty is present in the Arabic letters, where the beautiful nuances articulated from the different parts of our vocal chords are as if it were water flowing out of a pitcher. Our observation from learning the Qur’an is that the one who recites the Qur’an beautifully is rather not being beautified from his recitation, but rather the Qur’an is what is beautifying the recitation. Upon Ustad’s mention, we have also observed how, as we recite something repeatedly from the Qur’an, for example Surah Al-Fatiha in our daily prayers, it doesn’t become something in which we become weary of, but rather it feels refreshing to recite it further.

One of the observations that we have experienced and also have testimonies from our Ustad is the ability in which, when the Qur’an is recited regularly, there is more barakah in our time. When the Qur’an is recited regularly, there is a noticeable increase in barakah in our time. There tends to be more efficiency, clarity, and ease in our day.

Tasks that usually feel heavy become manageable, distractions decrease, and the heart becomes more focused, and personally we felt that an hour feels much longer too.

Furthermore, beyond the tajweed of the Qur’an, we have also learnt the importance of looking into the “Tajweed of the Heart.” For in regards to the “Tajweed of the Heart,” we have defined it as such as we believe that the essence of the Qur’an is to transform oneself through purification and refinement of the inner state.

For Allah states in the Qur’an:

The Day when neither wealth will be of any use nor sons, except to one who will come to Allah with a sound heart.
26:89

We intend to strive to work on the Tajweed of our heart. May Allah facilitate it for us and allow us to return to Him with a sound heart.

TO WORK ON THE TAJWEED OF THE HEART, WE SAW THAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE VERSES WHICH WE RECITE, TO CONTEMPLATE OVER THEM, AND ALSO UPON RECITING THE VERSE, TO LOOK TO RECITE IT WITH MEANING.

We also chanced upon a quote which very well puts in place what we have discussed and would want to strive to achieve.

The quote states:

“Don’t tell people how much Qur’an you’ve read this Ramadan; let them see the Qur’an in you. Feed a hungry person, clothe a naked person, show mercy to an orphan, forgive someone who wronged you, revere your mother, smile for everyone. What really counts isn’t how far you’ve reached in Qur’an, but how far the Qur’an has reached inside you.”

May Allah make us the people of the Qur’an, and may Allah grant us the ability to emulate the character of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, whom Aishah (r.a) mentioned that he ﷺ emulated entirely the teachings of the Qur’an. May Allah purify and grant us the best of intentions in reaching Him.

اللَّهُمَّ ارْحَمْنَا بِالْقُرْآنِ، وَاجْعَلْهُ لَنَا إِمَامًا وَنُورًا، وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً. اللَّهُمَّ ذَكِّرْنَا مِنْهُ مَا نُسِّينَا، وَعَلِّمْنَا مِنْهُ مَا جَهِلْنَا، وَارْزُقْنَا تِلَاوَتَهُ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ وَأَطْرَافَ النَّهَارِ، وَاجْعَلْهُ لَنَا حُجَّةً يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

O Allah, have mercy on us through the Qur’an, and make it for us a guide, a light, and a source of guidance and mercy. O Allah, remind us of what we forget from it, and teach us what we do not know from it. Grant us its recitation throughout the hours of the night and the ends of the day, and make it a proof for us (and not against us), O Lord of the worlds.

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وسَلِّمْ على سَيِّدِنا مُحَمَّدٍ ، صَلاةً تُرْضِيكَ وتُرْضِيهِ ، وتَنْطَوِي بِها أَعْمَالي ونِيَّاتي وحَرَكَاتي وسَكَناتي فِيه