Ramadan and the Quran

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Barakzai, true i need guidance. I ask for it in every rakat every day.

But you seem to be very arrogant. You have no qualifications in sciences of hadith. In fact i am sure without translation you cant even guess what is written in bukhari. Yet you are here forcing your understanding on others. Have some humility.

Would you allow me to operate on you just because i read a few books on surgery in the library? I dont think so.

We Afghans have a problem. Especially the ones who study medicine. We tend to think we know everything after one university degre e.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

The false assumption that quran should be finished in ramadan. When everyone starts doing it it will be considered as a part of our religion by ignorants. Therefore, just like the Prophet saw, we should have variations in our voluntary acts of worship.

For not everyone is rational and sadly people assume that whatever people do must be correct.

No one here made that assumption. Everyone here knows that there is no sin in not doing it and that its not mandatory.

1400 years later, no one has stated its a direct command from God to do tarawih each and every night and to finish the Quran. Rather, its you saying the tarawih existed in congregational form in the Prophet's life, raising the question about whether it is mandated or not, not the "ignorants."

If you poll 100 Muslims, I have enough confidence in my people to know that that the overwhelming majority know tarawih is not compulsary in the initial and that reciting the whole Quran in Ramadan is not compulsory either.

Nonetheless, if some strive for noble deeds that find their predecessor actions in the behaviors and mannerisms in the Prophet and his companions, and do not make it a burden on others, there is no harm in it.

And once again to reiterate,

1) The Prophet used to recite the Quran in total every Ramadan
2) Omar congregated the suppliants behind a leading hafiz

and there truly is nothing wrong with those that seek to model their actions off this approach.

I have yet to see any documentation from any person in 1400 years making this act mandatory or anyone mistaking it as such.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Barakzai, true i need guidance. I ask for it in every rakat every day.

thats a good thing

But you seem to be very arrogant.

To the contrary, I am pressing my argument because I in earnest view yours as without merit and grossly negligent

You have no qualifications in sciences of hadith. In fact i am sure without translation you cant even guess what is written in bukhari.

I didnt need it. The fellow form Madina university in Saudi did it for me. It was you that sought to define bidah, when you meet the same qualifications

Yet you are here forcing your understanding on others.

Not so. Rather, I am ensuring your misunderstanding is not taken to heart

Have some humility.

I do, but that doesnt mean conceding to you that you are right when you are clearly and utterly wrong

Would you allow me to operate on you just because i read a few books on surgery in the library? I dont think so.

No but I would allow you to ask questions and review the literature and not think I knew more than you simply because I have a title after my name. You would be amazed about how much you can learn by listening to patients

We Afghans have a problem. Especially the ones who study medicine.

Sure, because its the doctors who are making it so that every good act amongst the people has to be approved by a board headed by Bin Baaz. I wont take that to heart

We tend to think we know everything after one university degre e.
Thats not an assumption I ever made, but you are welcomed to think I did

x

[khushal]

Muhammad (S), according to our traditions, used to recite the whole of the Quran during Ramadan, and before he entered eternity and stepped beyond our worldly view he recited it twice in his final Ramadan.

This custom would translate into individualized tarawih up to the reign of the great Caliph Omar Bin Al Khattab. The latter ordered the tarawih process such that one of the 4 great memorizers, Ubaay ibn Kaab would lead the now time honored, ummah wide tarawih.

From our beloved Afghanistan to the far reaches of Africa, to remote corners of the globe, and in the heart of many nations throngs gather to recite the whole of the Quran from beginning to end in one month. The imams, the over whelming majority of the time, do this from memory with a series of hafizaan standing behind them as checks on one another for accuracy. When one projects this back across 1400 years it means that every single one of those years the people themselves have been safe gaurding the constitution and bedrock of Islam in the masses. Every one of those years, all across the world in large and small gatherings the whole of the Quran has been publicly recited.

Every so often the American congress gathers to read the American constitution publicly. A few elite lawyers may have the whole of it memorized word for word. On the other hand, a poor man in Mumbai will hear the Quran recited every year of life publicly in 30 parts during the Ramadan period, as will a man in Chicago, and a man in Kandahar, etc etc.

This reminds me of the famous book, Fahrenheit 451. All books are burned in Bradbury's dystopia and the end result is a cadre of people who commit great works to memory because the collective human mind cannot be done away with.

Whereas those men memorized the sense of the books they sought to preserve, we here all know that there is the utmost meticulousness in reciting the Quran from memory.

What a great comfort to know that even here on PF alone, we could probably put together a large portion of the Quran verbatim from our collective memory. Beyond that, in many single cities in the West, the whole Mushaf could be collected and checked by multiple witnesses within the span of days

I understand the sentiment these days that we ought to know the translation of what we recite. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Yet there is something astounding and amazing about the fact that across this world there exist folks from many language groups and walks of life that memorize and recite every cadence and every syllable in pure classical Arabic and that even these non Arabic speaking peoples can contribute to the process of safe guarding the Quranic text.

For this reason, take the time to memorize at least 1 surah during Ramadan so that you can be a part of this collective whole that can witness to a section of the mushaf should it ever need recollection.

Every ramadan, take up the practice of the prophet and do your own personal jamaa al Quran by going over what you have memorized in full.

I always here people say that it is non sense to read or put certain ayats into memory in a language that is not understood by the reader by arguing that the message is what is important so the translation is what should be read and put into memory. I now see the logic behind the custom. Thanks.

[Admin Khan]

[MENTION=1547]khushal[/MENTION]
I get very happy when people learn from someone on PashtunForums. I feel like one my goals is achieved.
[MENTION=1772]BarakzaiAbdali[/MENTION]
I am indebted to you for that useful post.

[khushal]

@Admin,
I have learned a lot here on PF and much from you Admin. I feel indebted to you for creating this website. I think you have done a great service for Pashtuns, especially the ones that are outside of Pashtunland. Thank you.