05 Apr Hifdh Journeys: Morning Qur’aan
:::Guest Blog Post:::
By: Umm Muhemmed
Mornings are blessings, but for many of us they present a certain number of challenges: lunches, breakfasts, the first change of clothes, the first spill, the second change of clothes, the second spill, and so on. No matter whether we are mothers, aunts, daughters and even accomplished planners, all of this chaos seems to visit us in the fleeting moments of the morning. So what to do?
Keep our cool, right? Yes. We all know that a negative reaction amidst chaos only exacerbates, but what more? How can mornings be made more manageable, and hopefully more enjoyable?
As aspiring huffadh, we know that Qur’aan is our answer, and that recitation by its very nature has the potential to calm our own selves and, if presented in a generous and beautiful manner, calm our loved ones as well. How then do we integrate this into our morning routine, amidst the spills and clothing changes?
We wake, and fajr salah grounds us. We start to prepare for others, but first pause to select a recording or start our own recitation of Surah Ya Sin. With Qur’aan undergirding the mundane chores of the morning, these chores actually do become ibaadah. Our little ones wake, reluctantly. We ease them out of bed, with a du’a and nasheed. Again, enlist recordings to ease your own load here.
But then, amidst the most poetic and sentimental verses of nasheed, a fight ensues with the socks. We can’t grasp why. Surely the socks did nothing wrong, but there is a fight over an errant seam. Almost all the socks are thrown on the floor; the seam of one sock is pulled out, and the sock is ripped. Breakfast has not yet started, and it is only Monday.
But we are aspiring huffadh, so a sock should not rattle our soul. HeSWT is in the minutest detail and in the grand landscape. Yes, AllahSWT is here and so too the memory of his beloved ProphetsPBUT and their example of calmness, tenderness, perseverance and clarity, even amidst morning routines and ripped sock seams. Nothing is too mundane or too profound.
With this reminder, breakfast happens, almost seamlessly. And our little family is car-bound, en route to school (others may be bus-bound or walking, or simply charging off to work in alternate transport).
What happens next will inshaAllah encourage and touch all, whatever your next destination may be. In our little car (sometimes termed a ‘hifdh mobile’), we commence a recitation of Surah Ar Rahman as we review part of the sunnah suwar which we have memorized as a family. I anticipate a fight as two young children jockey for attention, but then we come to ayah 13, and the youngest in the family, not yet five, surprises us by saying :
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاء رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (55:13)
The elder child offers ayah 14 and 15 as a couplet and then again the younger pipes in with ayah 16 and a repetition of:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاء رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (55:16)
We complete the entire surah in this manner, with the youngest contributing all 31 repeats of the verse ‘Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?’ Through the rear view mirror, I can see her smile, but her smile is also evident in her voice. Her brother has started smiling too, and I am, well, to put it mildly, elated, alhumdulilah.
Suffice it to say, all mornings are not quite like this. The children do argue about suwar (Nas or Naba, Fil or Fajr…) and when we will listen to the news and (which) nasheed, but there is always the potential for bliss, facilitated by the miracle of the Qur’aan. In fact, anything is possible in hifdh and life, provided we are open to the blessings.
Umm Muhemmed is a student of Hafidha Rayhaanah Omar, the founder of Fee Qalbee. In 2012, she authored A Qur’aanic Odyssey: Towards Juz Amma, which narrates the story of a home-based hifdh experience, published by Greenbird Books. Umm Muhemmed’s blog may be found at: http://aquraanicodyssey.wordpress.com. Presently, based in Texas, she is also a practicing development economist, with a focus on Sub-Saharan African electricity policy.
Jazaakillahu Khayran, Umm Muhemmed, may Allah Ta’alaa reward your time, efforts & incredible contributions to the world of Hifdh – ameen.
If you wish to feature as a guest blogger or contribute research material on tahfeedhul Qur’aan, I’d love to hear from you! Please email: rayhaanah@feeqalbee.com so that we can feature your writings & reflections in upcoming blog posts.
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