To escape the tight darkness into light..
To be reborn again.. and the past is forgiven..
The moment of feeling with Allah..
putting guidance inside your heart..
This can’t be perceived by any description.. by any feeling..
O Allah,
I called upon you.. and I strived..
I asked for your guidance.. and you have guided me..
With Qur’an I was able to step up..
O Allah..
O Allah..
Sheikh.. may Allah protect you.. I’m very happy to visit this beautiful institute..
this Qur’anic institute, Bayinah Institute..
May Allah, Almighty bless you..
I’m happier with your visit
And to fulfill your ambitions..
Sheikh, you’ve lived your teens here in America..
Yes
describe it to me?
I spent six years of my childhood at Saudi Arabia..
My father was representing the Pakistani Ministry..
And we were studying at a Pakistani School..
So, till the eighth grade, I was like that..
Then we moved to America..
At America, I entered the high school..
At the city of New York..
There, the situation is open.. completely..
I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan
I ask forgiveness from Allah, the Great..
Then you get used to it..
got familiarized..
Then I joined a class on Philosophy..
Non-Muslims.. most of them..
And the Muslims among them, were not practicing..
It is true what the prophet, SAW has said: ‘ the man is what his closest friend believes..
So, look carefully to those you choose as friends’
I tried that..
exactly.. yes..
one day..
A young man with a beard..
His look seemed strange..
he posted an advertisement. on the wall..
Then imagine.. what is this..
When I entered the room..
I saw that young man..
and another one..
and no one else was inside the room!!
Just friendship..
He didn’t ask me to come to pray..
He said, he must prey..
and it is Maghrib prayer time..
he didn’t invite me!
As if he didn’t expect that I would pray..
I was embarrassed..
but I stopped praying after a month..
again..
I saw a dream.. I was inside my grave..
and fire flame was entering the grave from all sides..
and it was said to me from above.. that, this is because you do not pray..
Then I waked up..
and I didn’t stop doing my prayers from that day..
Sheikh, how was your relation with Qur’an..?
My relation with Qur’an..
I started by translating it..
Then, I found that it is getting difficult for me..
So, I said to myself.. I must understand this Book first..
I bought a copy of the translation of Yusuf Ali..
I found that the English language was very difficult..
it was Shakespearean English..
In addition to the special style of Qur’an..
sometimes the verse might start by singular..
then it ends by plural
This doesn’t happen anywhere in any literature.. English.. Urdu.. any other language
and if I copy that on my writings..
in any test.. it is wrong!
The sheikh reads the verse in Arabic..
as it is..
then he translates it in Urdu..
I know Urdu too..
He translates to a simple Urdu..
But when he reads..
I see his face..
cheerful..
affections.. happiness..
Yes!
He reads a little.. then he looks happy..
After years I found the verse which he was reading..
“in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate.”
And I see the joy on his face..
Then he reads from the Arabic.. then he translates..
I used to listen to him.. every day..
After Taraweeh prayers.. we sit with him for four to five hours..
Till three or four O’clock on the morning..
At the end of the month.. I went to him..
He said.. this very easy.. learn Arabic..
where to learn Arabic..
He has an intensive course.. for three weeks only..
Three hours per day..
seven days a week.
How is the grammar..?
how to form sentences with a noun or with a verb..?
After that course..
he started to teach Arabic..
And he has enjoyed doing that!
And he visited..
more than 150 Islamic centers..
within America.
The Qur’an is not Tales of the ancients..
About you..
Qur’an is a miracle..
Its miracle made the Arabs helpless..
and Allah, Almighty didn’t bring us any miracle after Qur’an..
Because it is enough!
“And is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book which is recited to them?”
I was at the Masjid.. at New York.. and there was a man with me..
At my right side.. he was Arabic..
and at his right side was a Bangladeshi man..
we were praying together..
After we finished Salat.. the Bangladeshi man was crying..
all through the recitation, till the end of the Salat.. he was crying..
and the Arabic man was astonished!!
He said to him..
He answered: No, but I cry because I don’t!
This is a slap on.. the Arabic man
I called upon you.. and I strived..
I asked for your guidance.. and you have guided me..
With Qur’an I was able to step up..
O Allah..
The teaching goal of Sheikh Noman has evolved..
starting from sporadic courses..
to a distinguished institute to teach Qur’an..
called..
Bayyinah
They can read the Qur’an without understanding it..
and within six months..
They learn to do grammar and translation of the Qur’an too
They learn Grammar and translation of the Qur’an..
If you make a wish.. make it big..
So, it is translation with some interpretation.. for all the Qur’an
its good for students..
Sheikh, I know how much you care about media..
And here also at Bayyinah Institute.. all your products.. and what you say now..
you want to show it out on media..
Why do you care that much?
What amazed me about Sheikh Noman and about his story is that..
all his Dawah is about Qur’an..
If he conducts a lecture to Non-Muslims.. he would talk about the beauty of the Qur’an..
And if he is with Muslims.. he talks about the stories of Qur’an and reflection upon Qur’an..
And here.. at Bayyinah Institute.. I see all the posters are about Qur’an
“And do good as Allah has done good to you.”
“Every soul, for what it has earned, will be retained”
“do not forget your share of the world.”
Really, I loved this Institute.. and I admire this person.. for his love and aspirations to make Dawah with Qur’an
It’s my friend and my companion..
It is where I lean.. at my sorrow..
My son was to have a surgical operation..
a heart operation..
the young one.. his name is Khalid..
so, I used to go to the intensive care unit..
and stay there with him..
reading the Qur’an for hours inside the room..
He was not alone.. there were other kids in the room..
The same case as his.. heart cases..
The nurse came to me..
She said..
My criticism for you.. Ummah of Qur’an.. is out of love
for you..
because it is a sin to abandon Qur’an..
tomorrow the messenger is going to blame us.. are we going to be pleased..
Tomorrow, what are we going to say.. what’s our reply..?
I have noticed something on myself..
At the beginning, I was in a hurry..
to finish learning the interpretation of the whole Qur’an..
Now, I’m not!
I don’t want that..
I want what is better..
So, If I spent six months to learn something from Surat Al-Noor..
I would be happy..
It is how the Sahaba used to do, Sheikh.. Isn’t it?
Yes!
“And never say of anything, “Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,””
“Except [when adding], “If Allah wills.” And remember your Lord when you forget [it]”
“and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct.””
Sheikh Noman..
He strived for guidance.. and did an effort to reach it.. and worked hard
He loved the Qur’an truly..
But it is not about loving Qur’an only..
It is about to make an effort to understand this Qur’an..
When he loved the Qur’an.. he began to read the first translation..
then the second translation..
but, he didn’t find what he was looking for..
So, he decided to learn Arabic language..
He learned it..
and perfected it..
memorized Qur’an..
learned Tajweed..
And now he is perfecting the beauties of the Qur’an..
and he gives lectures about the beauty of the Qur’an and reflections upon the Qur’an..
All of this, is his work to reach the guidance of Allah, Almighty..
Guidance requires hard work and efforts
then you will have it by the will of Allah, Almighty..
Allah, Almighty says:
“And those who strive for Us – We will surely guide them to Our ways.”