An inspirational story of love for the Qur’aan

08 Sep An inspirational story of love for the Qur’aan

~Letter from a dear sister~       

Please note, due to the nature of this document, I wish to remain anonymous.

May Allah Ta’aala save me from pride and fame in this world.

ASSALAAMU ALAIKUM,

The intention of sharing my ramadaan practise is solely and only to inspire people to make the most of this holy month, to spend this month in ibaadah to the maximum. May Allah keep me sincere,aameen.

Before the ramadaan in 1993, I was reading up on the holy month to familiarise myself with it and to prepare myself spiritually. I was reading the virtues of Ramadaan and I came across the statement of Hazrat Sheikh Zakariyya R.A., where he mentioned that in his home were quite a few women and during the month of Ramadaan, his granny used to to read 40 paras a day. That was 40 quraan in in 30 days. Subhaanallah, I was simply amazed and in awe of such a noble and seemingly impossible deed.

Remember that this did not take place during the time of OUR BELOVED Prophet Muhammad [sallalahu ‘alayhi wa sallam], but during the time of my great grandmother or grandmother’s time. Yes, between 60 to 90 years ago, I’m not too sure, but it was in the recent past.

I asked myself what stops us from doing so? Why do I feel 4-7 quraan khatams I make every year is sufficient? I also read up on the virtues of ishraaq and salaatud duha. When the ramadaan of 2003 commenced, after sehri, I would read tahajjud, then read quraan after that until fajr, then read quraan until ishraaq. After ishraaq, I slept for an hour then I was up again. I used to read quraan all the time in between my saalah and cooking and daily household chores. I would not be idle for even a few minutes but after zuhr I used to rest for about half an hour in the name of qailulah.

Lo and behold, before I went to sleep that night, I completed one quraan!

If the first day I had such an achievement, I could do so everyday.  It was a race against time. If I wasted an hour, I had to spend extra time to catch up. I also attended the local taalim once a week and a good 2 hours used to go. I would not sleep until I caught up. I was sleep deprived as well but I was getting a sweetness out of this. It also brought me to the realisation of the hadith regarding the ibaadah one did in once youth. I was 20 years old and single and I was running a home. My parents were at work daily so I had to see to the chores at home.

All praise to Allah, I completed 25 quraan  that ramadaan. Allah has made it possible for me every ramadaan to read at least 15 to 18 quraan every year. Now I’m a mother of three, my latest being 3 months old. I’m no more reading so much with these added responsibilities and sometimes no maid or part time assistant. But I still read  plus minus 10  quraan.  Allah keep me strong and free from pride.

My sister used to teach teenage girls at home. I never wanted anyone to know about this, but my sister told her students to make them aware that to read lots of quraan is possible. Don’t be satisfied with reading just one. Slowly it began to spread around. People know me as the one who reads a quraan a day. Allah makes it possible , with effort from our side, aameen.

Then we have the critics. Some say you read so much you will go off your head. Some said I shouldn’t be finishing a quraan in under  three days.

I used to read the virtues of quraan and in there its stated that sometimes Sayidina Uthman R.A. Used to recite one quraan in a single rakaah of his witr salaah. In the same way, Abdullah bin Zubair used to recite the whole quraan in a single night. Saeed ibn Jubair read out the whole quraan in  two rakaah salaah inside the kaaba. Thaabit Banaani used to recite the whole quraan  in one day and night.

Our ancestors in deen differed from one another in their practise of reciting the the entire quraan. Some of them completed one khatam daily as was the practice of imam Shaafi in months other then the month of ramadaan who read 2 khatams a day in ramadaan. Its stated that imam Abu Hanifa used to complete 61 khatams in the month of ramadaan, one in taraweeh and daily one khatam and nightly a khatam as well.

To recite a quraan a day takes a lot out of us as our time has no barakah, we are weak in imaan but its something possible. I also did this because I have an extreme love for the quraan. May Allah ta’aala accept my sincerity and make us excel in such noble deeds. May this inspire people to make as much salaah and tilaawah as possible in this holy month. Our freezers and accumulated savouries does make it possible. But we have to be at home and not driving around and doing shopping at all to achieve this in the month of ramadaan. If any one endeavours to do so, please donot neglect your spouse and children in this case. I do not read so much now as I have a family with 3 small kids and do what I can within my ability and capacity.

Firstly I need to say all this is due to my parents sending us to madressa from 3 years of age, Allhamdulillah im very fluent in quraan recitation with tajweed. If it wasn’t  for my parents who encouraged us in matters and importance of deen, I doubt I woudve ever been making efforts in striving to do good deeds. I may not seem prosperous in terms of this world as I have no worldly degrees but inshallah, I sincerely hope the little I do will be my ticket to jannah. May Allah grant my parents the best of both the worlds as I cannot in anyway repay them for what they have done for me in terms of my deen and dunya. The least I do in ramadaan for my parents is the first quraan khatam I make goes to my father, then my mother who also reads a lot of quraan although she has to still go to work 8-5 daily. May Allah grant my parents long life blessed with good health and khaatima on imaan, aameen.

May Allah make all this recitation a means of my companion in the qabr and a noor for me on the day of Qiyaamah. Aameen, thumma aameen.

SISTER IN ISLAAM