surah maryam

How has Surah Maryam made me a better person?

Salaams

 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

Towards Perfecting Prayer : how the nations before us went wrong

Listening to the tafseer of Surah Maryam, I was really touched by the lessons taught regarding the importance of salaah (prayer).
From Salaam Studios, Shaykh Jangda in a month long Intensive course on Surah Maryam on YouTube eloquently explained how the really bad nations before us that were involved in the worst of sins and evil deeds. It all started with them being neglectful of the prayer. Some scholars interpret being neglectful as being reducing the quality of prayer by rushing, or delaying prayer or just not going to the Musjid at all. Whichever way it was, it was surely all downhill from there. 
Why is that? Well he explains, if you can’t be good to Allah ( ie  fulfill His rights), then how can fulfill anyone else’s?
It goes like this :
When you choose not to pray your salaah, you are in effect just looking after yourself. So then you stop feeling like helping other people as you are self absorbed with your own desires. That leads on to you interacting with bad people. Then, when at times you  feel a bit guilty, you start seeing the Day of Judgement- not something believable as a reality when you are so busy with having a good time here and now. This is how you can become totally distracted and on the wrong path.
We hear the stories about the people of the past that were destroyed… And it seems to us so distant from us – but are we not also guilty of neglecting the prayers to some extent… So in reality how close are we to becoming that way and how important is it that we halt our negligence of prayer right away!

 Related in Muslim : A man came to the Prophet (saws) and said O Prophet of Allah (saws),what is the act or deed most loved by Allah?The Prophet (saws) replied:  To pray ones prayers on time. The man asked further: What (deed or act most loved by Allah) next? The Prophet (saws) replied: Obedience to ones parents.The man asked further: What (deed or act most loved by Allah) next?The Prophet (saws) replied: Jihaad in the Way of Allah.

Some Very Practical Steps I have been inspired to take to perfect the prayer, as suggested from Shaykh: 
 1. Pray salaah when the time of the prayer starts  -It’s a really simple thought, but I found if I do this, I feel more relaxed during and after the prayer. I now live in a country where I am fortunate to hear the adhaan live, giving me every chance possible to do this. Knowing it’s a teaching from the sunnah is a great boost as well.
2. If the above is not possible (due to work or another valid  reason), then fix a personal specific time of prayer (within reason of course!), so in your schedule you know that at 2pm everyday you will pray Zuhr, for instance. Then you can work your day around this. Certainly in Europe during winter this became a must as the days were so short, and with an hour or so between the day’s prayers I had to set specific times to pray and not miss the time!
3. Work our salaah! When Nabi Muhammad (may peace be upon him), was sad when there was a pause between revelation, he was advised to turn to prayer as a means of still connecting to Allah. We can do the same. All we have to do is turn salaah from being a ritual to it being functional – a source of comfort, a way to connect and speak to Allah. And we know that through reciting Surah Faatiha,  Allah responds to us. How much more meaningful can the prayer now be for us?
Towards perfecting prayers Insha Allah,
M4life