Discovering the Treasures of the Qur’an with Bayyinah [and new Instructor]

Bismillah

[Posted by Amatullah. Written by Shirien Elamawy:  Marketing Director, Bayyinah]

She sat in the waiting room on the edge of her chair waiting for the doctor to give her any news about her husband. Her husband was driving home from the masjid with their 5-year-old son, when they got in a crash and the car flipped across the street median onto the other side of the street into oncoming traffic.

The boy, alḥamdulillāh, came out of the crash with no physical injuries — but was traumatized by the whole ordeal and could stop crying. The mother held her son close and whispered, “Shh, everything is going be okay… everything is going to be okay.”

And Allāh is the highest Example.

In Surat Al-Inshirah, Allāh 'az wa jal says in two ayaat we all know:

“Fa inna ma'al 'usri yusra”
“Inna ma'al 'ussri yusra”

“Then indeed with every difficulty there is ease, indeed with every difficulty there is ease”

I posed this question to our brother, Nouman Ali Khan. I asked him,

“I was wondering if you can tell me a little about what scholars have said about Allāh 'az wa jal saying the statement twice after each other. I heard scholars say that with every hardship/difficulty comes not one, but two eases. Can this be inferred by these ayat?”

Br. Nouman responsed by saying:

العسر is معرفة (definite) which implies it is the same difficulty. The word يسر is نكرة (indefinite) because of the تنوين and the lack of ال. It therefore implies two different eases. An ease and then another ease. Also, التنوين مفيد العظمة which tells us that with every difficulty there is tremendous ease. The other benefit of the تكرار here is counsel. Sometimes we look at language in a way that is too technical and forget that its actually a dialogue or conversation, in this case between Allāh and His messenger. Have you ever heard someone console a friend whose in the waiting room of the hospital because a loved one is in the ER? They'll say something like, it'll be ok, it'll be ok. This repetition is a display of love, affection, concern and support Allāh shows His beloved صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Not only did the answer increase my love for Allāh 'az wa jal, it increased my love for the beauty and linguistic miracle of the Qur'an.

I have many friends who have expressed to me they can only dream about a day when they can understand Arabic, just so they can “taste the sweetness of the Qur'an as many Arabs do.”

But the question now is, do Arabs really understand and know the beauty of the Qur'an like the Sahabah? This is an answer I got from attending Br. Nouman's session at the Texas Dawah Convention.

Br. Nouman informed us that there are four types of Arabic:

1. Spoken Arabic –Colloquial
2. Proper Arabic — such as the Arab newspapers use.
3. Ancient Arabic — such as the Arabic used by the Sahabah radi Allahu anhum.
4. Qur'anic Arabic — the perfection of Ancient Arabic.

Arabs today know mostly know spoken and proper Arabic, but it's really the Ancient Arabic and Qur'anic Arabic that we lack knowledge of — with its idioms, imagery and grammatical perfection.

We have a real chance now to understand the Qur'an as the Sahabah understood it. We have a change to learn it's language, its beauty, its miracle…

Bayyinah Institute is, alḥamdulillāh, one of the best institutions established today.

Bayyinah will be launching a brand new one-weekend seminar in 2009 called, “Divine Speech: Literary Characteristics of the Qur'an.” And this class will not be anything less than profound, inshā'Allāh.

Only a few weeks ago, they joined hands with the AlMaghrib Institute, the largest Islamic institute in the world.  With the new agreement between Bayyinah and AlMaghrib, students will be able to not only learn the classical sciences from AlMaghrib, but also forward their studies in the Arabic language and recitation of the Qur'an with Bayyinah. We ask Allāh to make this merger a success, āmīn.

Below is part one of Bayyinah's “Divine Speech Prologue.”  Br. Nouman Ali Khan gave this promo for Bayyinah's new seminar at City College in NY. This is a great chance for those of you who have never previously taken a Bayyinah class to get a taste of what attending a seminar would be like.  Enjoy!

Br. AbdulNasir Jangda, our very own Muslim Matters writer and Imam in Dallas, TX has recently joined the Bayyinah team as well! Inshā'Allāh in 2009 he will be teaching the Arabic 201 courses previously  taught by br Nouman and also a special one-weekend seminar on the vocabulary in ṣalāh.

I not only recommend that people attend this amazing seminar, but if I could drag each and every person there myself, I would — because of the knowledge and englightenment they would be gaining from it all. Inshā'Allāh this class is coming to your city or a city near you; register today by visiting the Bayyinah Student Center.

We have certainly facilitated the Qur'an for remembrace, then is there anyone who will put in the effort to remember? (54:17)