My boss was not happy with me when I didn't wear a tie in the meeting with the chairman. He told me, "Please, always be presentable in front of the Chairman". I asked, "Is tie mandatory in meetings with him?" He said, " No, its only mandatory when you give presentations, but you see the chairman likes it in general meetings also (it shows your RESPECT for him, don't treat him like an ordinary man)"
I thought: Office life is made to be easy and comfortable for everyone. But you 'Professionals' like to make life difficult for yourselves and for everyone else. I have enough official issues to contend with & I don't think the Chairman wants to make it difficult for me to meet with him (by wearing a tie every time I meet him)
Surprisingly, I never saw my boss without a tie in the office. Perhaps, because his utmost respect for the chairman has forced him to never be seen by the chairman in a condition that the chairman doesn't like (what to talk of disobeying him). Even though he knows its not mandatory, but for my betterment he wants to train/ groom me to keep my 'standard of obedience' way above doing just mandatory things.
About touching the Quran without wudhu part, better to ask an authentic Sheikh ul Hadith than reading the comments of a Sheikh ul Google.
The thing is showing respect is subjective from person to person. in some countries men read salah or quran with a prayer cap, in other countries they dont. Some muslims have no issue with placing the quran on their prayer mat, others would consider that blasphemous, and keep it high up. Some do not touch or recite quran unless with wudhu..others do... And so on.
When enforcing something thats not even required is not only off putting (eg whudu is not possible or a hassle hence quran is not read) it creates the mentality that its a must, and that is a problem in itself.
That is also where we get the confusion in that ladies cover their head during quran recitation or adhan but dont see the need otherwise when its actually required..
Which reminds me actually, of ladies of older generations who if during adhan did not have a dupatta, would simply lift their back kamiz tail and cover their heads... exposing their backs. Taking their respect to the extremes... Lol.
What this post have to do anyway What I shave th eladies of older generations head is covered round the clock and “Pallo ka kona haath se face pr rakhna” all the time.
This is another time you have addressed 'Muslims' as if you are not. Just curious. Please don't be offended.
And please don't give the answer like you did before.
If you are not or do ot want to reveal then its fine. :)
Now to the topic.
It is a matter of respect. Not sure if anywhere it is considered mandatory or would lead to 'sin' if a woman recites Quran without covering her head...especially privately.
Please correct me if wrong.
I'm talking in general. Just as we say humans or pakistanis when talking about either of those groups. I don't have to declare my affiliations before every post, do I? Now get over yourself and stop asking people for licences/permits to be part of a particular group.
Of course you can also assume your preferred meaning if it makes you any happier.
When enforcing something thats not even required is not only off putting (eg whudu is not possible or a hassle hence quran is not read) it creates the mentality that its a must, and that is a problem in itself.
That is also where we get the confusion in that ladies cover their head during quran recitation or adhan but dont see the need otherwise when its actually required..
BTW, itni kya museebat ayee hui hai quran parRhne kee agar aap ke pass head cover kerne aur wuzu kerne ka bhee time nahi hai. Allah miyan ko aap kee tasbeeh aur quarn kee zaroorat nahi hai, aap ko hai. Then if you want to do it, do it properly, dont try to find short cuts.
PEOPLE... I NEVER said that wudhu is not required for recitation of Quran. I said that my mom believed it was absolutely necessary to be in a state of wuzu during tasbeeh...and especially of certain ones such as Ayat Karima.
I was debating my mom's view that dupatta on the head is a MUST when reading the Quran.
I understand the whole doing it out of respect...I even understand the whole idea of saying that something is recommended or urging an act out respect......but saying that something is MANDATORY when it is not.....that's a whole another issue and it does fall under bidah ...IF it is not mandatory. I looked it up on the Internet/youtube....and showed my mom..and now the matter is cleared up.
I never said that Allah ko meri ibadat ki zaroorat hai, TLK......it is for myself and I do it for myself. However, I do believe that in our culture...saying that certain things are mandatory...can bring about a tediousness in religion. And Allah wants religion to easy and not a burden for us. I am not suggesting that we become lax and do whatever the hell we want and ignore "rules".....key word here being "rules." Rules should be followed. But if something is not a rule.....saying that it is.....is not right either.
There are some things that have been passed from generation to generation and people end up believing that they are a "must" to follow....and they may not have any place in the Islam/sunnah. That's not such an unreasonable thought, TLK. After all...keep in mind...the ancestors and communities of some of our prophets were following practices of their forefathers that they refused to give up due to comfort and tradition, but had no place in Islam.
And I agree with Diwana.....that there are many people who will zip through a spaara with dupatta/topi on head and in a state of wuzu.....and have absolutely no clue what they've read.....but greater emphasis is placed upon the practices (some of which may not even be REQUIRED) and not so much on comprehension which is the main purpose of recitation. And by this last comment...I don't mean to say that we should be reckless either (lest the bashing and assumptions begin again).
It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever reads a letter of the Book of Allah will be credited with a good deed, and a good deed gets a tenfold reward. I do not say that Alif-Laam-Meem is a letter, rather alif is a letter, laam is a letter and meem is a letter.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2910)
Ibn Kathîr, in his Tafsîr, informs us that Abu Bakr, Umar,Uthman, Ali and Ibn Masud all said that "the disjoined letters in the beginning of some chapters are among those things about which Allah has reserved knowledge to Himself."
The two sections red and green is the evidence to demonstrate that merely reciting the Qur'an is part of the purpose of the Qur'an ... It is because there are sections of it that we cannot possibly understand but we recite them nonetheless and each part is rewarded ... even the parts we cannot understand.
^Psya...I know that there are some parts of the Quran we won't understand or interpret correctly even. I usually read the English translation....and I admit that there are some parts I still don't get despite having a good grasp of English. BUT.....I still feel that one should try to understand the Quran....and not ONLY recite with nothing at registering in your head. It's the same way I feel about namaz. I don't want it to be just going through the motions....I want to have an IDEA...at the very least an IDEA/GIST of what I'm reciting. It's VERY generous of Allah to reward us for recitation even without understanding (though He sent the Quran to be understood by us)....Allah is generous enough to simply reward us for our good intentions even if we don't carry them out. But nevertheless....I still feel it's important to make an effort to understand what we're reading...though we may not grasp all of it.
^Psya...I know that there are some parts of the Quran we won't understand or interpret correctly even. I usually read the English translation....and I admit that there are some parts I still don't get despite having a good grasp of English. BUT.....I still feel that one should try to understand the Quran....and not ONLY recite with nothing at registering in your head. It's the same way I feel about namaz. I don't want it to be just going through the motions....I want to have an IDEA...at the very least an IDEA/GIST of what I'm reciting. It's VERY generous of Allah to reward us for recitation even without understanding (though He sent the Quran to be understood by us)....Allah is generous enough to simply reward us for our good intentions even if we don't carry them out. But nevertheless....I still feel it's important to make an effort to understand what we're reading...though we may not grasp all of it.
Peace Sister redvelvet
My point was not about generosity, but about purpose ... The Qur'an (means Oft Recited) simply to recite it is part of its obligation over us - it is the mechanism of it's literal preservation. However, the meaning of it is also necessary ... for us to gain conscious guidance from it ... but it works at the subconscious level too ... Another purpose of the Qur'an is to be a 'cure' or a medicine ... it works at a level, with miraculous effect.
Each of these are all important - it is not that the main purpose of the Qur'an is for it to be understood and the rest are consequential bonuses ... they are all part of the overall purpose of the Qur'an. People have been guided to Islam through merely listening to the Qur'an being recited, without understanding it at all. Making an effort to understand what we are reading - I agree with you.
When we realise what it is we are really reading - we will then treat it with the respect it deserves ... perhaps. Preparation helps us understand things and makes us more receptive to what is being portrayed ... and these are only rational reasons for being clean, tidy and purified (with wudu) before touching the mus~haf ... I hope this sort of helps ...
^ to understand quran, you should read tafseer from an alim (or of an alim). Translation would not help you or anyone.
I should have been more clear. When I wrote translation...I forgot to include the word tafsir/commentary. I try to read not only the translation but also the commentary. The latter provides more understanding. As for saying that the translation won't help anyone at all...I disagree. There are some parts (if not all) you might grasp by just reading translation.......I wouldn't say that you won't grasp it all. But yes.....a tafseer DOES give a much much deeper understanding that a translation alone can't provide.
I'm talking in general. Just as we say humans or pakistanis when talking about either of those groups. I don't have to declare my affiliations before every post, do I? Now get over yourself and stop asking people for licences/permits to be part of a particular group.
Of course you can also assume your preferred meaning if it makes you any happier.
I think you do know why I asked. If I wanted the license then I would not have said no need to reveal.
It just sounds odd when someone claims to be Muslim addresses like that, and especially when writes like a generalized statement from a third party observer.
Muslims like to make the religion hard for themselves even when they are told that their religion is made easy for them by God.
It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever reads a letter of the Book of Allah will be credited with a good deed, and a good deed gets a tenfold reward. I do not say that Alif-Laam-Meem is a letter, rather alif is a letter, laam is a letter and meem is a letter.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2910)
Ibn Kathîr, in his Tafsîr, informs us that Abu Bakr, Umar,Uthman, Ali and Ibn Masud all said that "the disjoined letters in the beginning of some chapters are among those things about which Allah has reserved knowledge to Himself."
The two sections red and green is the evidence to demonstrate that merely reciting the Qur'an is part of the purpose of the Qur'an ... It is because there are sections of it that we cannot possibly understand but we recite them nonetheless and each part is rewarded ... even the parts we cannot understand.
I think the recitation and sawab part in Hadiths which are qouted above may have assumed that the person knows the meaning of Quran and has understandig of Arabaic language.
Some people may not like it and apologize for that but I personally feel reciting Quran without even knowing the meaning of what is being said is just does not make sense.
*Tafseer is just another step in understanding the Quran better but one has to at least know the meaning of what one is reciting.
*
Traditionally speaking recitation is done in such a way that the person feels good about reciting (while nodding his/her head) as fast as he/she can with absolutely no idea what was even recited.
And many people don't even know 10% of Quran by its meaning and live a whole life reciting the book a hundreds time!
Dear brethren, please stop lying to yourselves that islam is easy. Find out how hard our prophet had to work ie day and night. Islam does not and cannot come about unless we have prepared people mentally and physically to be able to remove problems from the society so that it is at peace. Not only the prophet brought about islam but maintained it as well and it remained intact for a few generations. Only due to lack of muslims' own effort to maintain it made it easy for its opposers to dismantle it never to be rebuild again.
All because mullas were put in place kings to ensure islam was derailed through misinterpretations and misrepresentation of the message. Today we have buyers and seller of salvation like christians.
Learn what terms like taubah, ghafar etc mean. Repentence means retracing one's steps back to the point whereof one strayed from the right course and then continuing journey on the right road. Ghafar is not about forgiveness but protection ie by following the program for peace we protect ourselves against harms that would otherwise hit us from all sides.
First of all do you ever think that there might be some people who might not want us to know quran? If the answer is yes then next we need to ask ourselves, are such people sitting idle are trying their best to prevent us from reaching the true message? If you think they are active then are you not helping them by staying ignorant and away from the message of the quran in various way? It is these people who told us you cannot understand the quran and we acceptred ok we cannot. Did that not make their job easy? We are also told a lot of irrelevant things about the quran which prevent us from reading the quran for understanding.
1) Learn to read arabic.
2) Learn to read your own language so that you are good at it.
3) read the quran with help of various translations
4) learn arabic for understanding it
5) learn about real world realities and try to connect the two and try and drive some sense there from.
Once you read the quran this way you will have some idea at least what the qurtan is really all about.
It is not just reading the quran that is important but its understanding. If your father wrote you a letter telling you to do something and you fail to get the message, what would be the point of the letter? Similar situation is faced by human here ie God has sent them a message for implementing and if they do not then message cannot be implemented and so the benefits promised though implementation of the program would be lost.
So we better stop looking for zabaani kalaami sawaab. Reading the quran does not bring any benefit unless we are reading it for implementation of the program it contains. It is like we go to the doctor when not well and he gives us prescription. We just keep reading prescription instead of getting the medicine and taking it as prescribed. Just like sick people do not get well just by reading prescription nor does human society become trouble free just by recitation of quran.
So please recognise the importance of quranic program and its implementation so that we could benefits from the solutions the quran promises us through creating the divine kingdom.
May God bless us with proper understanding of his message so that we could implement it as told and thereby reap the benefits=sawaab.
I think the recitation and sawab part in Hadiths which are qouted above may have assumed that the person knows the meaning of Quran and has understandig of Arabaic language.
Some people may not like it and apologize for that but I personally feel reciting Quran without even knowing the meaning of what is being said is just does not make sense.
*Tafseer is just another step in understanding the Quran better but one has to at least know the meaning of what one is reciting.
*
Traditionally speaking recitation is done in such a way that the person feels good about reciting (while nodding his/her head) as fast as he/she can with absolutely no idea what was even recited.
And many people don't even know 10% of Quran by its meaning and live a whole life reciting the book a hundreds time!
Dearest brother diwana
If it is not possible to understand the meaning of parts of the Qur'an then how can it be necessary? If a layman conducts his affairs as per what his learned teacher gives and explains to him to be from the Sunnah and the layman recites the Qur'an out of love without understanding ... He is a Muslim well rewarded.
We are asked to study Arabic - in our endeavour to understand Islamic scripture. It may be that we can never learn it ... then are we disadvantaged by our requirements? How can Allah (SWT) class piety as something hinged to understanding? Rather things like sincerity and effort are the basis for judgement.
It may be that someone does not have great understanding and it may be that he learns the Arabic and even after he learns the translation he does not understand it - so what has the translation availed him? I know people who when told in English and they being native English speakers what it means to be "guided on the straight path" - they will not be able to think beyond a tight rope act ... or what the word "guide" actually means ...
Trust me there are people out there who can't understand these things.
I'm sure you will know of at least one person who is like this ... but they may be very sincere to their faith and pray five times a day. We only need to believe in the unseen. That is not hard. There is a position for scholars and they are there to learn and understand and guide others .... their account will be harsher - so their understanding will not mean they are more pious either.
But I accept the fact that you disagree with me ... It is hard to think of a Book that is just read without knowing what one is reading ...
I can recall a hadith that the Day of Judgement will not occur until the last person saying Allah Allah has died ... Before his death he will be asked what he is saying and he will not know - he will say that he remembered his forefather saying this and to repeat it gives him comfort.
So we better stop looking for zabaani kalaami sawaab. Reading the quran does not bring any benefit unless we are reading it for implementation of the program it contains. It is like we go to the doctor when not well and he gives us prescription. We just keep reading prescription instead of getting the medicine and taking it as prescribed. Just like sick people do not get well just by reading prescription nor does human society become trouble free just by recitation of quran.
So please recognise the importance of quranic program and its implementation so that we could benefits from the solutions the quran promises us through creating the divine kingdom.
May God bless us with proper understanding of his message so that we could implement it as told and thereby reap the benefits=sawaab.
Peace Mughal1
This view is very stingy ... and miserly ... When a person does wudu, wears clean clothes, sits down and beautifies the Qur'an in recitation ... they are being clean, they are protected in the state of wudu and they are not spending time doing useless things or haram things ... Avoiding sins by engaging in reciting the Qur'an is beneficial activity. I have spent many years reading the Qur'an as a child unable to grasp it, but totally captured in its sound and wanting to articulate the Words of God ...
To say what you say about it is wrong ... to read it for the sake of reading it - brings us closer to it and builds up our sincerity to it. These are real tangible and praiseworthy actions ... We should also STRIVE to understand it - but to say that "not understanding it" is useless is wrong. Part of the programme it contains is that it should often recited.
Furthermore - in my experience the people who understand it the most - are the same people who deem it praisworthy to simply recite ... they also encourage others to read it and they teach Arabic so others can understand it.
Dear brother psyah, please think about two different situations a) when all else is sorted out and you have time on your hands to do what you like and b) when nothing is sorted out and needs hard work for sorting out things.
When islam is implemented fully then if people have time to do things it is fine but while there is no islam in place and we just waste our time in trying to collect browny points then we are doing a great harm to islam and ummah. This harm may not be visible directly to individuals but over a a period of time it will become obvious as it always did.
Today the most important thing is learning and teaching proper islam properly so that we could implement the program for our own benefit as well as to show example to others. Anything we do that wastes this opportunity is doing wrong as I see it. Today understanding islam is of utmost importance because islam is no where to be seen among muslims. By ignoring this important point we are losing the sight of the purpose of revelation of the quran and the role of the prophethood. We are duty bound to implement islam not be happy with few rituals. The quran explains what piety means in quranic context, it means uniting humanity on basis of islam in order to get rid of problems that face mankind 2/177, 3/92, 4/36 etc.
The quranic terminology is very comprehensive eg take phrase KULOO WASHRABOO, it does not mean eating and drinking but learning the knowledge and participating ie learn and do things in order to accomplish and maintain the set out goal ie learn what peaceful society is all about then bring it about.
So we need to start looking at the quranic text in its wider context so that we could do justice to it and ourselves. We need to look beyond our own private salvation. If rest of human society is burning we cannot isolate ourselves from that fire for long it is soon going to engulf us as well. This world is a sea-saw or power struggle or tug-of-war if you like, so if we muslims do not pay attention to things to take them towards better end then nonmuslim ideologies and practices will take it more and more toward worse end. So islam is not about sitting in the corner looking for personal salvation the while rest of the world is burning.
I am trying to help muslims wake up and do what is need of time and not waste time in things that are of no benefit. They take people away from fulfilling deeni responsibilities. There is no islam in the world and we do nothing to bring it about and we think we are doing a great job, how sensible is that train of thought if we really come to realise it?
So I do not think that we are doing any good for ourselves or others by ignoring the main thing and carrying on with a few rituals. That makes islam a joke.
I therefore think it is of vital importance to know the quran for each of us because otherwise thiungs cannot be chnaged for the better. It is because if you can’t make me realise to do something and I can’t make you realise to do something then nothing can happen. This is why we need to take practical steps if we want to implement islam. Therefore we must learn isdlam before it comes to its implementation.
This is why when I talk about issues it is in this context. Undersatnsing even a single verse of the quran is better than reading the whole quran without any understanding at all. Any step that takes us nearer to our goal is the step that is worthy step any step that leaves us where we are is not a worthy step.
It is time we stopped hiding beyond baseless virtues and senseless piety.
May Allah give us sense of his message so that we could benefit from it.
What I shave th eladies of older generations head is covered round the clock and “Pallo ka kona haath se face pr rakhna” all the time.