I just completed the tafseer of Surah Maryam, following the intensive series by Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda. I was motivated to start this when during my early weeks of pregnancy I kept hearing from people around me that Surah Maryam is a very good surah to recite during pregnancy. I researched a bit about the wisdom behind this, but could not find any concrete Hadith to support this notion, and whilst we know all of the Quraan is beneficial to us at any time, I wanted to know why this particular Surah was called out to be one to recite specifically during pregnancy. Well I was not satisfied with a seemingly unsupported claim, and so I decided that instead of only just reciting this surah, I wanted to delve a little deeper and understand the meaning of this surah, and what made it so remarkable and beneficial during pregnancy.

I came across this incredible tafseer series on the surah, and decided to dedicate the months of my pregnancy to completing the whole tafseer by Shaykh. I found it to be immensely captivating, blowing my mind at times when learning about the powerful message revealed to us by Allah, and marvelling at the absolute genius in the way the surah moves from one story to the next, lesson after lesson, covering many of the prominent prophets in Islam.

I have shared my many aha moments in blog posts over the past few months (as they were inspired to me, and now at the end of this amazing journey, I feel a little sad – this series made up a large part of my pregnant life – from the early weeks in London when I was challenged with food aversion and spent most time relaxing at home to keep up my energy, to later times when the tafseer kept me company as I prepared dinner in my new kitchen in Istanbul. No doubt my little one once born Insha Allah will recognise Shayk’s voice for many years to come! May Allah bless Shaykh and accept all the efforts of himself and his team (Salaam Studios).

I really love the last point that Shaykh made when he concluded the tafseer – he reminds us that nothing we do in relation to the Quraan – be it reciting, memorising, studying it is the end game. It is all not of value unless it  enters our hearts, manifests in a practical way in our life and changes us. Whenever we listen to such talks, the question we should ask ourselves is not “How much do I now know?” but rather “How has this made me a better person?” Powerful.  We are accountable to practice upon all that we learn – a huge responsibility. It’s also profound to realise that the way the surah ends is Allah talks about who are the people that can earn His Mercy – it’s the ones that “believe and do good deeds” – so a very apt message to end on.

Praying I can implement all that I have learnt, and use this to inspire others,
Insha Allah
M4Life