The
first part of this is based on an extract from Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali's
Lata'if al-Ma'arif (pp. 179-182), quoted by Fahd bin Sulaiman
in Kayf Nastafeed min Ramadan (pp. 48-50). The advice given
in this article is all the more important now that we are in
the last ten nights of Ramadan. Imam Bukhari reports from 'Aishah
that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) would tighten his waist-cloth (i.e. detach himself
from his wives), spend the night in worship and awake his
family, during the last ten nights of Ramadan. Ramadan is
nearly over, so make the most of this precious opportunity!
Ramadan
has a special relationship with the Qur'an, of course: "The
month of Ramadan is the one in which the Quran was sent down,
a guidance for mankind, clear proofs for the guidance, the
Criterion; so whoever amongst you witnesses this month, let
him fast it." (cf. Surah al-Baqarah 2:185)
The word
'so' (fa) in this ayah leads to the following paraphrase of
one aspect of its meaning: "Fast this month because it is the
one in which the Qur'an was sent down" -- see Fasting in
Ramadaan by Ali al-Halabi & Saleem al-Hilali, Al-Hidaayah,
1414/1994, pp. 11-12.
Ibn 'Abbas narrates "that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) was the most generous person,
and he would be at his most generous in Ramadan because
Jibril would come to him every night and he would rehearse
the Qur'an with him." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Eng. trans. 6/486)
This hadith contains recommendation of the following:
-
Studying the Qur'an in Ramadan;
-
coming together for this purpose;
-
checking (one's memory/knowledge of) the Qur'an with
someone who has preserved it better;
-
increasing recitation of the Qur'an in Ramadan;
-
that the night time is the best time to recite, when other
preoccupations decrease and it is easier to concentrate, as
in Surah al-Muzzammil 73:6.
Further,
Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated from her
father (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who told
her that Jibril would rehearse the Quran with him (in
Ramadan) once every year, and he did so twice in the year of
his death. (Bukhari 6/485)
After
mentioning the above aspects of the Sunnah, Ibn Rajab talks
about the situation of the Salaf (the early Muslims) during
Ramadan:
"...
Some of the Salaf would complete reciting the whole Quran
during the night prayer of Ramadan every 3 days, others every
7 days e.g. Qataadah, others in 10 days e.g. Abu Rajaa' al-Atardi.
The Salaf would recite Quran in Ramadan in Prayer as well as
outside it. Al-Aswad would finish the Quran every 2 nights in
Ramadan; Ibrahim an-Nakh'I would do likewise in the last 10
nights specifically, & every 3 nights during the rest of the
month. Qataadah would regularly finish the Quran in 7 days,
but in 3 days during Ramadan, when he would study the Quran
especially, and every night during its last 10 days. Al-Zuhri
would say when Ramadan began, 'It is recitation of the Quran
and feeding of people.' When Ramadan began, Imam Malik would
cease narrating Hadith and sitting with the people of
knowledge, and stick to reciting the Quran from its pages,
while Sufyan al-Thawri would leave other acts of worship and
stick to reciting the Quran. 'Aishah would recite from the
pages of the Quran at the beginning of the day in Ramadan
(i.e. after Dawn), until when the sun had risen, she would
sleep. Zayd al-Yaami would bring copies of the Quran when
Ramadan began and gather his companions
around him. ..."
Ibn
Rajab later continues, "The forbiddance of completing
recitation of the Quran in less than 3 days applies to this
being made a regular practice, but as for favoured times such
as Ramadan, esp. the nights in which Laylat al-Qadr is
sought, or favoured places such as Makkah for the visitor, it
is recommended to increase reciting the Quran to avail the
time and place. This is the view of Ahmad, Ishaq & other
Imams, and the practice of others indicates this too."
The
purpose here is not to discuss whether or not the latter view
is correct or not, since that is purely academic for most of
us, as we do not get anywhere near reciting the whole Quran
in three days! However, the practice of the Prophet (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace), his Companions, and
those who followed their path, should be clear enough. As a
further example, Bukhari (3/79) quotes from the noble
Companion Zaid bin Thabit who answered the question, "How
much time was there between the pre-dawn meal and the Dawn
Prayer?" by saying, "Enough time to recite fifty ayat"; since
the practice of the Arabs was to measure time in terms of
everyday actions, this shows that the Sahabah were
pre-occupied with the Qur'an, especially in Ramadan.
Compare
all this with our sad state, when we talk so much about
establishing Islam, implementing the Quran, etc. and yet have
such little contact with it, maybe not completing its
recitation ever at all since childhood, or perhaps never!
Hence we become imbalanced in our understanding of Islam,
because there are ayat which we rarely or never hear or think
about; we repeat only certain selected ayat over and over
again; we lost the context of the verses, the overall flow,
argument and balance of the Quran, all of which is beautiful
& miraculous. Because of this ignorance we go astray from the
Straight Path, split up into sects, lose the blessings of
Allah ...
"We took
a covenant from those who said: we are Christians, but they
forgot part of the message with which they had been reminded,
so we ingrained amongst them enmity and hatred until the Day
of Judgment..." (Surah al-Ma'idah 5:14)
In Sahih
Bukhari (6/521), there is an amazing piece of advice from the
Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "Recite
the Quran as long as your hearts agree on it; if you disagree
about it, stop reciting it (for the time being)" -- studying
the Quran should bring people together!
In Surah
al-Mu'minoon (23:53), there is mention of the people before
us (in whose footsteps we would follow), who broke up their
Deen into sects (zuburan), each party rejoicing in what it
had. One understanding of this, from the word zuburan meaning
literally 'books', is that each sect left the Book of Allah,
& concentrated solely on the books of its own sect, so "they
split their deen up into books"!
The most
twisted, ridiculous, shallow ideas, innovations and
superstitions are propagated amongst Muslims when they are
away from the Quran, because any little knowledge of the
Quran would be enough to dispel them.
Hence, O
slave of Allah, leave aside secondary books and concentrate
on studying the Blessed Book of Allah in this Blessed Month
(use a good translation/commentary if needed), for it is the
source of all Knowledge in other books, and keep away from
wasting time, especially in futile discussions and arguments
which lead nowhere, for that is a sure sign of being
misguided, as the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) said, "Whenever a people went astray after they had
been on guidance, they were given to argumentation (jadl)."
(Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah - Sahih al-Jami' al-Saghir, no.
5633)
Finally,
remember that the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) will complain to Allah on the Day of Judgment that
his people neglected the Qur'an (Surah al-Furqan 25:30).
Neglect of the Qur'an is of different levels, as Ibn al-Qayyim
writes:
-
not reciting or listening to it;
-
not studying and understanding it;
-
not conveying its message;
-
not judging by it in personal and communal matters, at all
levels of society;
-
not believing in it.
All
Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.