Quran and Sunnah

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

Published

January 29, 2009

Amatullah

Bismillah

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

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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, alhamdulillah, 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 Allah is the highest Example.

In Surat Al-Inshirah, Allah ‘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 Allah ‘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 Allah 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 Allah shows His beloved صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Not only did the answer increase my love for Allah ‘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, alhamdulillah, 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, inshaAllah.

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 Allah to make this merger a success, Ameen.

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!

[youtube BaS5NsvZ4yM]

Br. AbdulNasir Jangda, our very own Muslim Matters writer and Imam in Dallas, TX has recently joined the Bayyinah team as well! InshaAllah 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 Salah.

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. InshaAllah 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)

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Amatullah

Amatullah is a student of the Qur'an and its language. She completed the 2007 Ta'leem program at Al-Huda Institute in Canada and studied Qur'an, Tajwid (science of recitation) and Arabic in Cairo. Through her writings, she hopes to share the practical guidance taught to us by Allah and His Messenger and how to make spirituality an active part of our lives. She has a Bachelors in Social Work and will be completing the Masters program in 2014 inshaAllah. Her experience includes working with immigrant seniors, refugee settlement and accessibility for people with disabilities.

22 Comments

Serendipitouslife

January 29, 2009 at 7:33 AM

Oh, for the time spent analyzing the language & style of Blake, Webster, Wordsworth, etc. in Literature class!
What was the worth of all that?
If we let these days go by without knowing & studying the miracles of language & style of the Quran, not only would we be depriving ourselves of iman-building through relationship with the Divine Book, but we would also be regretting that time spent (wasted) in the literature classes.

JazakAllahkhair for the excellent promo. Do we get to listen to part 2?

Reply
Al-Madrasi

January 29, 2009 at 9:14 AM

Anxiously waiting for the seminar in Banu noor…..

Reply
abu abdAllah, the Houstonian

January 29, 2009 at 9:26 AM

bismillah. alhamdolillah! innalhamdolillah: How”ar-Rahman — ‘Allamal-Qur’an — Khralaqal-‘insaan — ‘Allamahul-bayaan…”

Surah Ar-Rahman
الرَّحْمَنُ
1:
Sahih International: The Most Merciful
عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ
2:
Sahih International: Taught the Qur’an,
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ
3:
Sahih International: Created man,
عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ
4:
Sahih International: [And] taught him eloquence.

takbir! Allaho-Akbar!
We’re getting more awesome classes! Sweet. :)

Reply
bashir

January 29, 2009 at 10:52 AM

PArt 2 please!

Reply
Dawud Israel

January 29, 2009 at 11:42 AM

Teamwork is always the right way to go.
Keep it up ya’ll and good work Sr. Shirien and Sr. Amatullah. I think Sr. Amatullah is everywhere now in the blogosphere. :P

Reply
Shirien Elamawy

January 29, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Yes, subhanallah, I was just telling Sr. Amatuallah the same thing :). MashaAllah.

Part 2 will be available online in a few days only via http://www.understandarabic.com inshaAllah. This is a site we will restructure soon to be basically a place where people can get all the video, audio and articles from the Bayyinah Instructors. We have big plans coming soon inshaAllah.

So make sure you sign up (dont worry it’s free :) )

Barak Allahu feekom

Reply
NahyaN

January 29, 2009 at 2:56 PM

.that lecture was spectacular.
Bayyinah Institute is amazing at what it does and the instructors are great as well mashaAllah.

May Allah increase them in their success, ameen.
Nahyan

Reply
shirien

January 29, 2009 at 3:29 PM

I love the part in the lecture when he was speaking about hieroglyphics and the name Hamman ( i believe it’s around 18 or 19 mins into the video). Subhanallah. Honestly, the content of the lecture and the seminar that he is teaching is amazing, mashaAllah. May Allah reward Br. Nouman immensely, ameen.

Reply
Ahmed

January 29, 2009 at 8:10 PM

Has anyone attended one of the classes? Please honest critique, I don’t want a marketing spin. Jazakum Allah kheir.

Reply
Shirien Elamawy

January 29, 2009 at 8:41 PM

I kind of resent that comment, I take pride in knowing that I’m trying to do my job with integrity. Just because the standard is marketing or PR, doesnt mean I’m going to be dishonest, especially as a Muslim.

Khair,

anyone can answer your question InshaAllah. But I’d also recommend watching the video or just typing in “nouman ali khan” in YouTube and listening to his lectures yourself.

Wallahul musta’an.

Reply
- Amad
  
  January 29, 2009 at 9:15 PM
  
  Sr. Shirien, I don’t think Ahmed meant it the way you took it. You are obviously committed to it and have a vested interest in it. If I rave about AlMaghrib but also work for it, for instance, my opinion will be obviously a bit colored. Not because I am not sincere about how much I like the organization, but there is an obvious conflict of opinion. It is fair to ask for the opinion of a general student from the class, who is not associated in an official position with the organization. As soon as money is charged, which I believe is a necessary component of any sustained effort (otherwise no one cares), then requests for reviews from unassociated parties do become fair play. For what it matters, I found one of Br. Nouman’s class on conflict resolution in communities to be very good, but have not taken the Arabic one.
  
  Reply
Shirien Elamawy

January 29, 2009 at 9:28 PM

oh absolutely it’s fair game. I agree with you. But in general you will see Muslims assuming that just because you are in a marketing or PR position then you must be sugarcoating.

I don’t necessarily blame people for thinking that way. Because it’s the perfect example of bias. But I think it’s important to assume that Muslims that are in the field are not doing it just for the sake of selling, but because they sincerely believe in and love what they are marketing.

I would highly recommend everyone to ask around and see what the “Bayyinah Experience” is all about.

But this article was not written with a “marketing spin,” because there is no spin involved :). Just because I’m the marketing director doesn’t mean I didnt find the content of the video to be profound (because I did) :)

Even in the general field of PR work, Muslims or non-Musliims, we’re taught that we can be non-objective but we have to NOT be deceptive.

At the end of the day if you lie to people and sugarcoat stuff, they will not trust your writing or promotions in the future no matter how great it is, so it’s important people review things honestly.

I hope that clears things up. No worries, no feelings were hurt or anything :)

For all of you who have taken Bayyinah classes before, feel free to write about your experience.

Wallahu alem.

Reply
MM Associates

January 29, 2009 at 9:47 PM

@ br. Ahmed: The divine speech classes haven’t been offered yet, but I’ve taken more than 100 hrs worth of classes with br Nouman, and they have been very, if not the most, beneficial classes to me walhamdulillah. This is coming from someone who is not a born Arab and learned the language later (just like br Nouman). I cannot help but think that Allah ta’ala granted br Nouman the talents and tawfeeq to bring this language in an EASY style to the masses. How many books, tapes, CDs are out there to teach Arabic? Yet have any of them done what Bayyinah has?
I remember there was a 60ish year old convert sister taking the class with me, and by the end of the class, she was understanding the Qur’an….brother, that is something special! wa lillahil hamd.

Like Shirien said, his videos and lectures are all over the net–go to HalalTube for his videos, and you can get your own opinion from there inshaAllah. And Allah knows best.

(Amatullah)

Reply
ibnabeeomar

January 29, 2009 at 10:00 PM

Ahmed – Nouman and AbdulNasir are both part of the specialists staff on MuslimMatters. Why don’t you take a look at their articles and talks that can be found all over our site?

Reply
Z

January 29, 2009 at 11:10 PM

I really miss the class :(. It was amazing… I’d take classes with Bayyinah forever!

Reply
Samir Hashmi

January 30, 2009 at 12:05 AM

You can get a sample of Nouman Ali Khan’s teaching style from his online webinars. Just go to bayyinah.com. click on student center, and register for a refresher course. Its designed for people that already took the class, but it gives you a good taste of his teaching style. I just registered for it today and I am finding it immensely beneficial.

Reply
Ahmed

January 30, 2009 at 12:16 AM

Thank you for you responses. I will follow your advice and look at the videos. Jazakum Allah kheir

Reply
Abd- Allah

January 30, 2009 at 2:32 AM

Jazakum Allah Khair!
Alhamdulillah.

Reply
Ahsaan

February 8, 2009 at 6:57 PM

I have heard lectures by Sheikh Abdul Nasir and I look forward to taking his classes.

Reply
Halalbuzz

February 23, 2009 at 6:08 AM

assalam alaikum,

I’ve heard many good reviews from brothers and sisters who attended Bayyinah.

MM did a good job by having a disclaimer above (i.e. written by marketing director) like most TV stations when they show an infomercial.

May Allah help Muslims to learn the language of His book

Reply
h

May 18, 2009 at 2:34 AM

Become a FAN of Shariah Program – Learn Arabic Online- today on Facebook:
http://cli.gs/Z726YT

Reply
Huda

October 26, 2015 at 2:09 PM

Jazakallahu khairan

Reply