Scholars' Viewpoint: Relationship of Muslims with Qur'an

Quran, the last Divine book, plays an important role in shaping the lives of Muslims and even its influence on Non Muslims which attracts them to it and embrace Islam. But many beleivers are not very sure what their relationship should be with Quran or how to establish a relationship with Quran.

Allah had given Divine books and scriptures to earlier people too but most of them parted ways with the guidance and truth that was contained in those books and scriptures and even added many additions and innovations to suit their needs rather than seeking guidance from the actual words of Allah.

It is also in many cases with Muslims. Although they recite it everyday, they do not know what they are reading and why. A large number of Muslims leave the explanation of the Quran to the scholars and listen to them what are they being told - not what they like to know. Unless we establish a strong relationship with Quran and know why we need to do it, we shall never be able to reach to the real truth contained in the Quran and seek guidance from it.

Please listen to eminent Muslim scholar and preacher Nouman Ali Khan on the Miracle of Quran and why and how Muslims should establish a relationship with this last Divine Book from Allah:

Nouman Ali Khan, born to a Pakistani family, is an American Muslim speaker and Arabic instructor who founded the Bayyinah Institute for Arabic and Qur’anic Studies, after serving as an instructor of Arabic at Nassau Community College. He has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the video above are that of the concerned scholar . We have shared these view as added information in better understanding of Islam. The reader may or may not agree with the view owing to their own perception. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

For more Scholarly views and videos, please read our reference page: Scholars' Viewpoint on Important Issues Related to Islam.

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.

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Why Islam Stresses on Respect of Parents

Islam places a great emphasis on relations to b build strong bonds between communities, tribes and nations. But of the relations, the importance of one's relation with one's parents is expressed explicitly and Muslims have been directed to respect and take care of their parents more than any relation in the world.

A Muslim must establish a strong bond with Allah and must never deviate from His commandments in living his life. After Himself, if Allah asks a faithful to respect and be kind to anyone is his parents. At almost a dozen places in the Holy Qur'an, it has been stressed upon the Muslims that they must recognize their parents and that this is second only to the recognition of Allah Himself. 

Your Lord has decreed: (i) Do not worship any but Him;26 (ii) Be good to your parents; and should both or any one of them attain old age with you, do not say to them even "uff (fie)" neither chide them, but speak to them with respect, and be humble and tender to them and say: "Lord, show mercy to them as they nurtured me when I was small." (Quran Surah Al Isra 17:23-24)

This verse enjoins that after Allah’s right, the greatest of all the human rights is the right of parents. Allah has forbidden children against disrespect to parents. We are told not to speak contemptuously to them: the word given in Arabic is “uff,” and even this simple groan of scorn is forbidden. Instead, Allah has told us to address them with honor and deference. Therefore, the children should obey and serve and respect their parents. The collective morality of society should make it incumbent on children to be grateful and respectful to their parents, they should serve them as they nursed and brought them up in their childhood. Above all, this verse is not merely a moral recommendation but is the basis of the rights and powers of parents the details of which we find in the Books of Hadith and Fiqh. Moreover, respectful behavior and obedience to and observance of the rights of parents comprise the most important element of the material education and moral training in the Islamic society and civilization. Incidentally, all these things have determined forever the principle that the Islamic state shall make the family life sound and secure by laws, administrative regulations and educational policy and prevent its disintegration.

And yet again Allah tells the believers to be good to their mothers for they have borne them for nine months with utter hardship, and raised him:

And We have enjoined upon man, to his parents, good treatment. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months. [He grows] until, when he reaches maturity and reaches [the age of] forty years, he says, "My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims."(Quran Surah Al Ahqaf 46:15)

This verse tells that although the children should serve both the mother and the father, the mother’s right is greater in importance on the ground that she undergoes greater hardships for the sake of the children. The same is borne out by a Hadith, which has been related with a little variation in wording in Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Musnad Ahmad, and in Adab al- Mufrad of Imam Bukhari, to the effect that a person asked the Prophet (peace be upon him): Who has got a greater right to my service? The Prophet replied (peace be upon him): Your mother. He asked: Who after her? He replied: Your mother. He asked: Who after her? He replied: Your mother. He asked: Who after her? He replied: Your father. This Hadith precisely explains this verse, for in it also allusion has been made to the triple right of the mother: (1) His mother bore him with hardship. (2) She gave him birth with hardship. (3) His bearing and his weaning took thirty months.

The commandments to respect the parents continue. Here in Surah Al Isra 17:24 there is a perfect prayer given for children to recite so that Allah may have mercy on parents:

“And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: ‘My Lord! Bestow on them your Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood’”. 

The phrase “lower to them the wing of humility” has been interpreted as an image of the way birds spread their wings out of protection and love for their young. Our treatment of our parents is shown in the same way: we should be humble, respectful, and loving towards them

In Surah Luqman (31:14), Allah says:

وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ وَهْنًا عَلَىٰ وَهْنٍ وَفِصَالُهُ فِي عَامَيْنِ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ إِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرُ

"We have enjoined upon man care for his parents. His mother carried him in weakness upon weakness and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents, for to Me is the final destination."

Although man has been directed to respect and act in kindness to his parents, there is one exception - and that is if the parents ask him to associate anyone with Allah:

And We have enjoined upon man goodness to parents. But if they endeavor to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them. To Me is your return, and I will inform you about what you used to do. (Qur'an Surah Al-'Ankabut 29:8)

According to traditions quoted by Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Abu Daud and Nasai, this verse was sent down in respect of Saad bin Abi Waqqas. He was 18 or 19 years old when he embraced Islam. When his mother, Hamnah, daughter of Sufyan bin Umayyah (niece of Abu Sufyan), came to know that her son had become a Muslim, she said, “I will neither eat nor drink nor sit in shade unless you disown Muhammad. The rights of the mother are superior even according to Allah’s command. Therefore if you disobey me, you will be disobeying Allah too.” Saad was perplexed and came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and told this entire story. At that, this verse was revealed. Possibly other young men who embraced Islam in the initial stage at Makkah were also confronted with similar situations. 

However, while the same theme has also been repeated in (Surah Luqman: Ayat 15), showing compassion to the parents is still stressed:

But if they endeavor to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them but accompany them in [this] world with appropriate kindness and follow the way of those who turn back to Me [in repentance]. Then to Me will be your return, and I will inform you about what you used to do.

This means that even if our parents strive to make us commit the worst act in Islam, we must still treat them with justice. There is no concept of leaving our parents in Islam, even if they are disbelievers. To further elaborate this point, there is a saying from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, narrated by Asma, the daughter of the Prophet’s good friend, Abu Bakr. Asma once asked the Prophet (pbuh) how she should treat her mother, who was a polytheist. The Prophet of Allah replied, “Treat your mother well.”

Our indebtedness to our parents is so immense that it is not possible to repay it fully. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has on many occasions stressed the importance of both parents so that they should be respected. While he kept a mother on a much higher pedestal and said:"Paradise lies under the feet of the mother," he has also said: "Allah's pleasure is in the pleasure of the father, and Allah's displeasure is in the displeasure of the father." Thus he sums up: "He who wishes to enter Paradise through its best door must please his parents."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has also been quoted as saying: “Every righteous child who casts a look of mercy and affection upon his parents shall be granted, for every look of his, rewards equivalent to that of an accepted Hajj.”  Those around the Prophet questioned: “O’ Prophet of Allah!  Even if he were to look at them a hundred times a day?”  The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) replied: “Indeed!  Allah is the Greatest and Most Kind.”

It has also been attributed to The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, saying:

أَلَا أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِأَكْبَرِ الْكَبَائِرِ ثَلَاثًا الْإِشْرَاكُ بِاللَّهِ وَعُقُوقُ الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَشَهَادَةُ الزُّورِ أَوْ قَوْلُ الزُّورِ

Shall I not tell you about the worst enormities? They are three: idolatry against Allah, disobedience to parents, and false witness. [Source: Sahih Bukhari 2511]

If the Prophet has associated disobedience to parents with idolatry and falsehood, the worst sins in Islam, then this tells us that disobedience is not a sinful deed we should take lightly.
May Allah keep us on the right path and help us in repaying our parents for what the troubles and hardships they have endured in raising us and letting us stand on our feet and let us not disobey them in any form, lest it hurts them and we earn wrath of Allah. Aameen.

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Why and How to Establish a Strong Relationship with Allah

Man is not born in isolation, for living he has to have relationship with other around him. Thus we understand that relationship is the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected. We have our parents, the two most near and dear one who brought us into this world, raise and rear us and make us stand independently on our feet. Due to them, we also have the loving relation of brothers and sisters, uncles and cousins.

Moving out of our closely bonded relation of family, we make friends, acquaintances or people we mere know them as they come by in our lives. In nutshell we cannot live an ideal life without being connected or related to others. For a life living all by itself may turn one into a lunatic or no man.

Now if our relation with human beings is important, do we need to have a relation with Allah, God to some? There is a Deity which has created this fathomless universe with so many blessings so that we humans and animals could live with ease and happiness. A deficiency of any of these blessings could turn our lives into nightmares. If Allah has created everything for us, then we are obliged to connect to Him and establish a relationship that of a Deity or Lord and of a servant.

"Indeed, your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne. He covers the night with the day, [another night] chasing it rapidly; and [He created] the sun, the moon, and the stars, subjected by His command. Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds." [Surah Al A'raf 7:54]

There is no denying that "Allah is the only true Provider. It is He who has bestowed on man such faculties and capabilities as seeing, hearing, thinking and articulating-attributes which man cannot live without, but which he cannot create for himself. It is He who has made available the resources of the external world which man may discover, exploit and develop but, again, cannot create."

As a thank you it becomes our foremost duty to obey and prostate to Him for He has created us for nothing else but to worship Him:

"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." [Surah Adh Dhariyat 51:56]

In fact the world "Islam" means total submission to Allah. And this forms the basis of our relationship with Allah. As His subjects we have to submit faithfully and fully to His will and seek guidance as brought by His Prophets. But this submission must be total and all-embracing. A Muslim submits his entire ‘person’ to his Creator as his only Lord and Master. No part of his life can be exempt from the need of divine guidance or from the writ of divine sovereignty.

One could go on and on to describe reasons to establish a connection to one's only Creator, a connection without which we can neither be a good servant nor in a position to seek His forgiveness and bounties. I came across a beautiful lecture which just in few minutes says it all as to why and how we need to connect to Allah and establish and strengthened our relation with Him for we need Him to live happily in this world, and the hereafter.

Please watch the explanation of establishing a strong relationship with Allah in a video below by Professor Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, a Pakistani Muslim theologian, Quran scholar, Islamic modernist, exegete and educationist, on the subject. The video is in Urdu, but has English subtitles for those who cannot understand Urdu:i:

Shouldn't we say it is time to reconnect to Allah, if we haven't done it already?

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10 Benefits of As Salat (Prayer)

"The closest a person is to Allah is when he is in prostration."

The obligatory prayers, As Salah, five times a day is the second most important pillar of Islam. But in a broader background, prayer has always been made mandatory on all prophets and messengers of Allah and their followers to thank Allah for those so many bounties and blessings that have been showered on the man. Ever prophet and messenger has been specifically asked to worship Allah and be thankful to Him. When Allah spoke to Prophet Musa (Moses, peace be upon him)specifically made a mention of it:

"And I have chosen you, so listen to that which is inspired to you. Verily, I am Allah! There is none worthy of worship but I, so worship Me and offer prayer perfectly for My remembrance." [Surah At Taha 13-14]

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) have on many a occasion instructed his followers to offer prayer for it would save them from embarrassment on the Day of Judgement:

"The first matter that the slave will be brought to account for on the Day of Judgment is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be sound. And if it is bad, then the rest of his deeds will be bad." [Recorded by al-Tabarani. According to al-Albani, it is sahih. Al-Albani, Sahih al-Jami, vol.1, p. 503.]

Prayer in fact is the means of direct communication between a Muslim and Allah and Allah certainly listens to his subject when he takes time out of his busy life five times a day and prostates and thanks his all powerful Creator for everything that he has been blessed with. Though an obligation, if one puts one's heart and soul in it, it becomes a means of soothing and alleviating one's depression for the mere fact that none other than Allah is attentive to his prayers. 

Prayers have many befits like it enriches one's soul, protects one from the evil ideas, washes away one' sins besides purifying one's soul. This also spiritually cleanse our souls and inspires and strengthens one's faith. I could list more but recently I came across a video which explains 10 benefits of prayers. And believe me these benefits have been so eloquently explained that I was almost spellbound by the narration and instantly thought of sharing it with my readers so that they too benefit from it and make their prayers more meaningful and complete.

Watch this beautiful video which explains ten benefits of prayer, As Salah, in such a fascinating way that will attract to the prayer even those who have not been regular in their prayers and bring them more closer to Allah than ever before:

Summing up benefits of prayers, please read this verse from the Holy Quran: "Indeed, mankind was created anxious: When evil touches him, impatient, And when good touches him, withholding [of it], Except the observers of prayer - Those who are constant in their prayer" [Surah al-Ma'arij 19-23]. So let us derive maximum benefits from our prayers so that we are pardoned and forgiven of our sins, beside being spiritually cleansed.

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