Reading sūrah al-Baqarah and Āl-‘Imrān with tartīl (a slow and measured recitation) and tadabur (reflecting over the āyāt) is dearer to me than reading the entire Qur`ān hurriedly. Ibn ‘Abbās, raḍī Allahu ‘anh, in: التبيان في آداب حملة القرآن لإمام النووي – رحمه الله تعالى…
[So woe to those who pray] Mā’ūn:4 At first glance, how strange does this sound? Woe to those who pray. Woe to those who perform ṣalāh. Does it not catch your attention? Does it not conjure a sense of bewilderment? The next āyah clarifies this āyah and tells us why exactly those who pray have been cursed: [But who are heedless of their prayer] Mā’ūn:5 They pray but they are heedless in their ṣalāh and so Allah the Most…
Today is a day of celebration. A celebration for making it through the tests that led up to this day, namely: Ramaḍān and Ḥajj. And today is a gift from Allah – all the more reason to celebrate. =) How do we celebrate it? Definitely not by transgressing the limits of Allah, as many Muslims, sadly, do. We follow the Qur`ānic and the Prophetic guidance in celebrating it: [and that you must magnify Allah (i.e. to say Takbīr) for having…
[And you do not encourage one another to feed the poor] Fajr:18 The context of the above āyah talks about the polytheists of Quraish and their vile beliefs and actions, which included not encouraging each other to feed the poor. Notice, it does not talk about the actual act of feeding the poor, but simply encouraging it and motivating others to do it. And this is not the only place in the Qur`ān where the unbelievers are condemned for not…