Take Your Time | In the Shade of Ramadan 10.2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - How would you redefine your goals with the Quran in light of the advice in this episode? The companions also memorized slowly and made sure the verses were fully understood and applied. How can redefine your goals of memorization in light of this? -Umm Salamah, may Allah be pleased with her, described the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم recitation as 'deliberately clear, with each letter distinct from the next.' Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with her, said that, 'he would recite a surah so slowly and measured that it would seem longer than a surah of greater length.' (Faith First, 170) If you truly slowed down and allowed every word to be absorbed and internalized, how might that change your relationship with the Quran? -Imam Al-Ghazali talks about the role of the heart, the mind, and the tongue in recitation. Each has its job-- he said, 'The tongue’s duty is to pronounce the letters correctly and recite as beautifully as it can.' When you struggle to apply rules of tajweed, working hard to pronounce correctly, think about how that might impact your recitation? What is the job of the mind and the heart? PRACTICE Choose your favorite short Surah. Practice drawing out your recitation, reading it slowly, repeating it several times, thinking about each word, looking up the meanings, and perfecting your pronunciation as best as you can. READ MORE (Excerpt from Faith First by Magdy Al-Hilali (MAS Publishing) p. 170) Some of us believe that failing to complete the entire Quran in a month is tantamount to sin. While we should indeed occupy ourselves with the Quran and recite on a consistent schedule, making sure that a single day does not pass without reciting the Quran therein, there is no mandate to complete the entire recitation of the Quran in any specific time frame. Even the Companions, who dedicated their lives to the Quran, differed in how long it took them to finish reciting it in its entirety. Abu Dawud reported that the strongest among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah وسلم عليه الله صلى would recite the Quran in seven days, while others would recite it in a month, others in two months, and others in even longer periods than that. This is obviously not a license to drag out your completion of the Quran, but rather a reminder to set sustainable goals. There is tremendous benefit in reading daily and completing readings of the entire Quran periodically, but there is no deadline for that completion. When you are not forcing yourself to meet some self-imposed quota, the quality of the time spent reciting the Quran will make you naturally want to increase your daily amount, instead of burdening you.

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'If you truly slowed down and allowed every word to be absorbed and internalized, how might that change your relationship with the Quran?' This reminds of the difference between a conversation that is rushed vs a discussion that is calm and not rushed, where a person takes time to listen to what is being said, asks questions, seek answers, and tries to deeply understand what is being said. The 2 relationships would be very different.

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