Why Quran Study Demands Complete Commitment
The Importance of Quranic Study and Complete Spiritual Commitment
Summary
An imam at the Muslim Community Center of Tucson delivers a lecture on Quranic study and spiritual commitment, focusing on Surah Al-Qalam (Chapter 68, verses 1-4) which praises Prophet Muhammad's character. The speaker emphasizes the importance of systematic Quranic learning and reflection, contrasting it with casual listening. He discusses hadith reports about the blessings of gathering to study Allah's words, highlighting how Allah mentions such gatherings to His angels and grants mercy and forgiveness to those present.
The imam addresses broader themes of Muslim identity and community revival, discussing how Muslims have been stripped of their heritage through colonialism and must now reclaim their connection to the Quran. He criticizes the problem of "hesitation"—the inability to fully commit to either worldly or spiritual pursuits—using the metaphor of a hunter unable to choose between deer. He calls on the community to enter into complete submission to Allah and dedicate themselves entirely to learning and understanding the Quran, warning that partial commitment leads to failure in both worlds.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
[Arabic recitation]
Older that, you know, but you got a nice head of hair, too, you know. So, you know, either way kind of works for you. You know, , for the longest time, I always wore a hat. I was just always in the mood. I was so busy. So, I would just shave my head all the time because nobody's going to see it anyways, you know.
[Arabic recitation]
Used to have long hair and I cut it. You know why? For you guys. I cut it for you guys. So you don't say, "What kind of imam is this?" Long hair, right? It was a Tarzan imam. Well, I mean, you know, that's what the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam always had long hair. The only time his hair was short was when he would go for Hajj. That's it. Only time. You know, because especially in that time, in that culture, hair was always looked at on men as being, you know, a a strength, a presence. You know, times change. What are you going to do?
[Silence]
Allah subhanahaala he tells our prophet Sam and this is chapter number 68 8 and verses 1-4 as a recap he says subhanahu wa ta'ala that which translates to I swear I swear by the pen and all that they write all that the writers use it to Right. You, oh Muhammad, O messenger, are not in the least bit insane by the grace and blessing of your Lord. And indeed I further swear by the pen and all that they use to write they use it to write that for you is a great and unending reward. And indeed I further swear by the pen and all that it is used to write all that they write that you oh messenger are upon great and esteemed character. So, we've discussed these verses and we've discussed them in some detail, but I want to just take a moment here to mention something. There is a difference between a systematic class if you will and a lecture or a speech. A lecture or a speech or what they refer to the scholars refer to as a muhador right is something that the student or the listener doesn't really need to prepare for. you just walk in and listen to it and understand it right there. But something this is very important that you know no matter how skilled the teacher is, the listener has to do his part. This is a a relationship here, a two-way relationship, which means I give the knowledge, but you also have to seek it in order for it to in order for it to set in. And what greater knowledge is there than that of the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? That's why the prophet sallall.aii wasallam proclaims in no uncertain terms Amen. Is the best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us.
[Silence]
He said, "No people, no people meaning whether it's two people or 200, no group of people, whether they are slaves or free men, wealthy or poor, whether they are the the best or not, No Muslim man will gather in a house of the houses of Allah, any house of the houses of Allah, reciting the book of Allah and studying it amongst one another except that the mercy of Allah will engulf them and the tranquility of Allah will descend upon them and the angels will come to that gathering and surround it with their wings all the way into the heavens and Allah will mention those people by name individually in real time as it is happening. We gather in the house of Allah doing this right here. Allah is mentioning us and mentioning us by name to the angels that carry his throne, the angels that are closest to him. So and so and so and so and so and so and so they are in such and such house and they are reciting my words they are studying my words that's just the just that's just for attending right to the point that the prophet sallallahu alaii wasallam mentioned a group of people gathered remembering Allah which is what we they are doing and the angels come to report to Allah and he says what are they asking he said they are asking for your paradise he said and have they seen my paradise angels will say no will say how much more so if they saw it and what are they seeking refuge of from say well they are seeking refuge from your punishment from the hellfire And Allah will ask, "And have they seen the hellfire?" They will say, "No." He said, "How much more so would they beg if they had seen the hellfire? I forgive all of them." Then the angels will say, "Oh Allah, but there is a man amongst them who's not part of them. He's not one of them. He just happened to find himself at that place." You know, imagine someone who's passing through just happened to be in the masid, right? He didn't come for that purpose. He said, he said, "Those are people that no one who sits in their company. It is inappropriate for anyone who sits in their company to be of the miserable of the people of the hellfire." I forgive him too, just for being there. just just for being there even because he didn't intend. This is how important what we do here is. Don't ever be fooled by busy work, right? Busy work. Always the idea is, "Oh my gosh, you guys are just sitting in the masid all day. All day." No, not all day. We finished our dunya and now we're sitting here. The world is falling apart and you're all sitting in the masid. Yeah. So if we leave the masid right now, the world will be saved. It won't fall apart anymore if we're not here. It is time for us to buckle down and learn this book. Revive it. We come from hundreds of years, almost 200 years. Every one of us from every single country. We come from almost 200 years of colonialism and slavery. We have been stripped of our identity. We've been stripped of our history. We've been stripped of our religion. We don't even know our own book anymore. We can't even read our own book anymore. And so the buck has to stop with us. It has to. We cannot afford for one more generation to be us again. It stops here. Our children are going to be better than us and we are going to revive Allah's religion and the Muslim state in our hearts. Hopefully, Allah will then revive it for us in our in our reality. It's it's been said by some of the scholars of Islam.
[Silence]
Revive the Muslim state in your hearts truly and Allah will then revive it for you in your real world. I know that many of us are suffering from something because all of this brainwashing that we come from, all of this colonialism that we come from, all of this this real number that's been done on our heads, every one of us from every country that we've come to come from that we suffer from the greatest enemy of knowledge and advancement for the Muslims and the Muslim state. You know what it is? Hesitation. Hesitation only serves to kill. Hesitation. We're not all the way in the dunya and we're not all the way in the we're just we're kind of in this weird bizarre middle ground. I can't completely devote myself to the duny entirely because I'm afraid. But I'm also can't completely devote myself to the hereafter because I'm afraid I'm going to miss out on the dunya. So we hesitate and what ends up happening? We miss both. Imagine with me if you're a hunter and there's two there's two you know bucks there or two deer whatever you're hunting, right? and you put that deer in your sight and just as you're going to squeeze the trigger, another slightly bigger deer comes out. You look at you say, "Wow, that guy's looking good. Let me go with him." And just as you're going to squeeze the trigger, a third comes out. That's a little better. And then what's going to happen if this keeps going on? you're going to go home hungry. You're not going to go home with anything. And so hesitation is what is killing us. It's killing our dunya because we don't commit to it entirely. So we're left behind and it's killing our because we don't commit to it entirely. So we're left behind. So we are the children of who? We are orphan children. people who neither neither flourished in the dunya nor in the hereafter. And this is why Allah tells us oh you who have believed enter into he didn't say Islam that's what's intended but he didn't say Islam what is submission Give up the fight. Stop fighting the light. Stop it. Stop fighting the light. Stop hesitating. Every time you go to do something good, that whisper comes and nags you. Oh, you're going to do this now, but tomorrow you have this to do and you have that to do. You can't pray right now tomorrow inshallah. And this is what we keep doing because we give shaitan today and he promises us tomorrow. And that's how the relationship has been. So we we we don't get anything done. We hesitate. We don't dedicate ourselves to any one thing entirely and completely. Allah says, "Enter. Give yourselves into submission entirely. Surrender. Surrender. Let go. Let go." Try it. Try letting go entirely and and completely holding to the hereafter. rack your brain and do as best as you can for the hereafter. Try it for a week. Try it for two. A shaitan will always take you back. If you're if if not shaitan will always take us back, right? Try it. Imagine if we took everything we did seriously. Right. I'm in the class. I'm in the class. I am at work. I'm at work. I'm at home. I'm at home. And we're present for the moment. We would rule the earth. We would. And sometimes we look and we say, you know, the Muslim are being left behind. Why is it? Well, we suffer from a lot of problems. We have a hard time running even a single masid without tearing each other to bits. What would we do to the world if we got a hold of it? In the ca in the state that we're in right now, we have to learn submit ourselves entirely. And it all begins with the Quran. And I swear there is no sweetness on this earth greater than reading, learning, memorizing, understanding, and existing with the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And there is no heart pure. And there is no heart more tranquil. And there is no mind stronger and there is no will more powerful than that of a human being who has been given the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala subhanahu wa so basically the the moral to the story read the verses before you come in right every day we do one or two verse read them think about them ask questions prepare so that you get what you're coming for bring must have with you. Open it. Follow along. There's only so much I can do to spoon spoon feed. You have to open your mouth and chew it and take it. Right? So, we don't want to continue the u cycle. We want to stop it with us.
[Arabic recitation]