Return to the Qur'an - Dr Bilal Philips

[Applause] brothers and sisters today I would like to remind you of a topic which we hear from time to time but we always need to be reminded of and that is the place of the Quran in our lives as it is the speech of Allah it is the word of Allah in a way that no other book can claim it is the word of Allah and all of the deal based on the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu seldom is derived from the Quran so the Quran is the spring from which the river flows the Quran is the base the foundation from which the structure of Islam is built therefore the Quran should occupy a primary place in our daily lives as Muslims this is a necessity however we find that the Quran instead of being that book of guidance which it describes itself as saying dalek al-kitab will arrive fe puddin lil mater fee this is the book in which there is no doubt guidance for those who fear Allah so on one hand if we are not extracting guidance from the Quran it means that we are not of the multiple we are not of those who truly fear Allah instead we are of those who practice Islam culturally ritualistically traditionally we do as our parents did as our relatives our neighborhood our community the people of our country do we do as they do and that is the extent of our Islam fulfilling the ritual obligations to whatever degree we manage to fulfill it but that is not the Islam which will save us save us from the Hellfire that is no different from Christianity Hinduism or any of the other traditionally practiced religions where the followers for the most part don't even understand the teachings they just do as their parents their communities did there is no difference because if that Islam the ritual Islam was the one which would save us then we would have to say that God is not fair Allah God is not fair because who chose the families that we were born in did we choose we were born in Muslim families Muslim communities but we could have been born in Christian Hindu confusion is communities so if this is not our choice and Allah just put us in the Muslim family and the Muslim ritual is sufficient to carry us to paradise then we say it's not fair it's not fair that the Hindu would be born in the Hindu family and go to hell and the Christian and the Taoist are there any other of the existing religions if they follow the ritual as we follow a ritual where is the fairness here but Allah has clearly said well I of limo Abu Qatada and your Lord will not be unfair to anyone Allah is just so this means that we have to reconsider this Islam that we are practicing this ritual no different in concept from the ritual of the christians and the hindus and the others where do we start to fix it to make it right to make a difference between true islam and cultural islam the starting point as the Prophet SAW seldom used to say in his speeches he would begin it after praising Allah etc saying in a stock al-hadith Akita Baba the most truthful form of speech is the Book of Allah it would always begin with that reminder so this is where we need to begin we need to get back to the Quran and to understand it and to bring it into alliance to play a primary role in our day-to-day lives that currently is missing and the last month Allah in the Quran speaking about the time of the prophets of our solemn and of times to come he stated in surah al-furqan that's the 25th chapter verse 30 mahalo Rasool the Arab be in a coma Taha do hide and karana matura the messenger said Allah said the messenger said o my lord indeed my people have boycotted this Quran indeed my people have boycotted this crime in the time of the prophets allah wa sallam the Quraish sought to boycott the Quran they made a pact amongst themselves that no one would listen to it and they warned all the other tribes and the people who came to Mecca to beware of the cloud they boycotted the crime but in our times that boycotting amongst Muslims has become most dominant in cultural Islam the Quran is boycotted Nilayam scholar from the 13th century had identified five ways by which the Quran is boycotted the first which we introduced in the very beginning is neglecting to ponder over it or to comprehend it neglecting to reflect on its meanings seeking to draw understanding from it but only dealing with it from a ritual perspective where we put the verses on our walls this is the sign of the Muslim home today that we have some verses of the Quran on the wall ayatul kursi surah yaseen and so on and so forth some of these verses or surahs the prophet saw sell and spoke about among them will be the three coolness for example the prophetess Allen told us to recite the three Coons before we go to bed at night it's a protector also ayatul kursi the problem told us that but what we have done is we have had it written in the most beautiful calligraphic styles in some cases it's so beautiful and beautified that if we didn't know what it was we couldn't read it it's not readable it became an art calligraphy amongst Muslims became the alternative art form because we weren't allowed to make pictures of people and living things etc which other nations used for their artistic expression we focused on calligraphy and other areas is not only calligraphy but calligraphy became we became known for it the calligraphic styles beautiful and there is no harm if we are beautifying our homes with calligraphy there's no real harm but when it comes to Quran it becomes a whole because we are using the Quran to beautify the physical location not to beautify our thoughts to give us deeper understanding of the Quran and increase our practice of Islam but simply to please our eyes and for sure this was not the purpose of the car I'm sure we all understand that this is misusing the Quran so we have to ask ourselves when we go back home today and we look at these calligraphic artistic works on our walls for beautifying our walls is it better that we have them on our walls or that we have those same verses in plain Arabic and then translate it into our languages because so many of us today as we are here don't understand Arabic so if the goal of the Quran is understanding reading the Quran the goal is for understanding then we need to have it in a language which we can understand we should strive to learn Arabic I'm not saying forget Arabic and just only deal with our own languages no Arabic is the language of the quad it's the language of Muslims some ignorant people say when they look at Muslims focus on Arabic ah it's an Arab religion it's for Arabs but no this is not true the vast majority of Muslims are not Arabs Arabs maybe are only 20% of the total population of Muslims in the world so it's not an Arab religion it's not true it might seem like that here in an Arabic country where Juma is normally in Arabic and you don't understand Arabic so if you go to any other masters you go there and sleep until the karma comes for you to make saliva you get up with you join the prayer so to somebody observing from the outside they may say it's Arab religion it's not for non Arabs but that's not the truth the truth of the matter is that the Quran the final revelation of Allah to humankind was in Arabic it was a language which Allah chose based on the fact that the final messenger was being raised up from among he was a warning why not English well because that final messenger was from Arabia so for him to deliver a Koran in English the very people who he was raised amongst he couldn't convey the message so it made sense that the final revelation should be in Arabic and Arabic is the unifying language of Musa Salam alaykom we all know it that is our greeting wherever we are whatever language Jesus used to greet his followers Salaam alaikum but today Christians greet with hi hello everything but peace be on to you and if they say it in English then the people who don't speak English don't understand where as-salaam-alaikum is known everywhere and if we were in Peking and we were walking down the street looking for a Masjid and masters in China don't look like masters in our countries we mainly maintain an Arabic Turkish Indian style in our building of mass street so you can recognize them the minaret etc but in China they didn't its Chinese style it looks like the other buildings so you could walk right past the master and have no idea now how else can you hear how else can you know the Adhan Allah Akbar Allahu Akbar but now if you say that in Chinese you will just walk by you would not have understood you couldn't find the Masjid and if you did manage to stumble into the Masjid and you want to join the people in prayer and the Imam instead of saying Allah Akbar he said something else in Chinese you'll be waiting to see what is everybody else doing you wouldn't know so the Arabic unifies the OMA the vast majority of whom are not Arabs but the understanding of that Arabic quad this should be the goal of every one of us to understand the quad if we don't have Arabic then we have to go with translation but we should still strive to understand the Arabic there are lessons available here at the center teaching Arabic towards understanding the choir we should take some time out of our lives they dedicated to understanding the Quran in Arabic and if we have that understanding then the Quran takes on a different meaning every prayer of the loud prayers prayers which are read aloud father mother guru Benicia every time we pray in the masjid and the imam recites verses from different surahs we will understand we will understand directly from Allah subhana WA Ta'ala what he say and surely that will make our prayers more meaningful isn't it our prayers will become more meaningful because we understand what Allah is saying to us and that message is to each and every one of us so learning Arabic is something that each and every one of us especially of us here in this country where Arabic classes are available back home in our own countries maybe it's much more difficult to find classes to learn Arabic much more difficult but here Allah has made it easy for us for us to neglect these opportunities here we are here for you ma but this Center is here for teaching Islam there are Arabic classes going on daily during the week we should avail ourselves of it if we are really serious about understanding the God otherwise as we said in that beautiful picture we have on the wall we have Arabic which we can clearly read and then the meaning in our local languages that we can reflect on so it can stand as a reminder now I'm not telling you to go out and put this on your wall because it's not from this window but if you put it on your wall it's not against the Sunnah okay so I'm just saying that if you're going to put it on your wall then put it in a form that you can benefit from it put it in a form that it will have some meaning in your life something to reflect on a reminder and also we should not use it for Baraka many of us when we put it on the wall in that calligraphy calligraphic form one it was for beautification and the other one are the reason it was for what for Baraka because we believe that when we put it on our wall it makes our home Islamic and a loss Baraka will come down on this hole this is what's behind it the issue of Baraka but is this what the promise or Salaam told us how to gain Baraka how to gain the blessings of Allah by sticking Quran on your walls definitely not the only Baraka that will come from it would be the Baraka from understanding what we have written as I described before there is where the Baraka or blessing will come we see the verse it's a reminder to us it's in our language we have understood it there is the Baraka but otherwise as we use it for Baraka this is not pleasing to Allah similarly as I have traveled around the Muslim world everywhere I would go there is a conference or a lecture an event Islamic always they will bring somebody to recite some verses from the Quran why Baraka it wasn't the practice of Prophet Muhammad SAW sama whenever he and the Sahaba would give presentations that they had Quranic recitation before and then they went and did it no it's not from this enough it's become the Sunnah of the Muslim nations today Muslim communities all around the world it's become like a Sunnah because I I cannot recall any place that I went to from Guyana South America to Mindanao Philippines I don't remember any place that we didn't begin any lecture or event without that so it's become the Sunnah becomes a Sunnah our so now for Baraka so what I would tell what I used to tell the various communities when I went I said at least first let me tell you this is not from the Sunnah but if you are so much in the habit of it and you feel you have to do it people will think there's something wrong if you didn't do it look at them you know fingers will be pointed did they begin their events without crime so it becomes a big thing could be harmful so you may be forced to do it just to not create a bad impression of yourself your movement your efforts your organization etc so I say to them at least after reading those verses and one point one that the verses should be relevant to the occasion the verses should be relevant to the occasion not just random verses I I gave a lecture in Nigeria about a month and a half ago and they brought some young girls who had memorized large portions of the Koran to recite some Quran before the event the event was on education and you know the importance of Islam ayahs in education etc and the little girls came and the Quran they told them to memorize to recite was from surah Maryam talking about Maryam when she became pregnant and the pains of the labor caused her to wish that she hadn't been born to cling on to a palm tree after the recitation you know I when I had to address the people I said to them what is the relationship between Miriam's pregnancy and having a child to Islam izing education no connection at all so at least if we're going to have this recitation we should choose verses that are relevant to the event but some people might say well what does it matter if we just give the meaning well because what has happened to us is that the Quran has become a ritual disconnected from our lives what we seek to do today is to bring the Quran back into our lives to understand it in a meaningful way that it would change our lives so the way to that the way forward in terms of our usage is that it should be relevant those verses should be relevant to the occasion that is a way of teaching people indirectly the Quran is relevant because there is nothing that we can speak about in which we cannot find some verses of the Quran relevant to may not be direct relevance may be indirect because maybe we're talking about atomic physics physics maybe we don't find a direct reference but the context in which we are talking about we can find relevance in the God because the Quran is for all times for all places and for all people so we should strive to make it relevant as Allah told us of a lie attended beroun and Quran am Allah to Lubin akazawa that was the laws reminder will they not reflect on the Quran or are their heart closed up locked up Khufu is a lock and truly today our hearts have become locked that is the reality of the Muslim world today our hearts have been locked up from the Quran so we need to open up our hearts the way is through understanding the Quran reading it and reflecting on its meanings whether it is in Ramadan or outside of Ramadan our goal is to understand the words of Allah better we read a little and understand a lot than to read a lot and understand little that's I think obvious mathematics we try to read and understand as much as we can and that's how the Sahaba learned the Quran from Rasul Allah Allah is Allah they said we used to learn the Quran ten verses at the time and we would not go on to another ten until we understood what we're in the first ten we understood it and we tried to apply it we were learning knowledge and application at the same time together that's how they learn the Quran and Allah gave them the success that he gave them we are here as a result of their efforts inshallah we can get back to understanding the Quran as they did and be able to affect and benefit the generations to come as I mentioned even lkm had mentioned five principles there is not enough time for me to go into all of them but I will just briefly run over the other four points and even now Khayyam had mentioned one is judging by it judging by the when we don't judge by the Quran we have boycotted to God so in the various situations that we find ourselves today whether it is the boycott going on now this boycott should be according to the Quran does the Quran justify support such a boycott No then it shouldn't be that is the way that we are supposed to deal with our affairs we have differences amongst us as Allah said four antennas am fishing for a dual alloy or Rasool if you disagree about anything then take it back to Allah and His Messenger taking it back to Allah means not that we sit and make duaa well we can make rock that's good too but that we take it back to the quad we use the Quran to judge in our affairs the right and wrong and the third point mentioned by a bloke a.m. was that we boycott the Quran by ceasing to act on its message as Allah said in surah here well HollyRod Baku will call our abukuma jeroni as the G blue comb and he said this is Professor Salam but sorry and a law said call on me and I will answer you today so much of the Muslim world calls on other than Allah whether they be Imams or saints or whatever angels we have people Muslims in different parts of the world calling on other than Allah we're not acting according to the message of the Quran and we make excuses that no we're making dua but the consul's have said a DA who a bada dua is worship yes if you call on a saint to help you you are worshipping that saint the fourth point was by refusing to listen to it as the Quraish didn't listen in the past today we don't listen in other ways we will have Quran playing in the house we'll have it playing in our cars we are playing in many different places but the Quran has become background music just like the non-muslims they will have their favorite singers whatever they'll have that stuff playing in the background all the time everywhere you go well we have it playing in the background also and we're not listen to it it's just background ambience this is boycotting the Quran you might say what is it's not a good thing in your car to have Quran playing instead of music yeah it is but it's still not what it should be because before when you used to listen to music that's how you used to use it now you're using crayon in the same way that may be a step up it's better than the music but it's still not where it should be nothing you have that Quran Arabic with translation in your language again so that it takes on more benefit more meaning and the fifth point is that we don't avail ourselves of its curative power ISM Allah describes the car the Quran in surah fussilat verse 44 cool who alladhina amanu who then what if I say it is for those who believe the Quran for those who believe is guidance and a cure guidance and a cure and there are number of verses Oh known as aluminum core anima washi far one rahmatan lil move meaning and I revealed from the Quran what is a cure mercy and mercy for the believers so this cure this idea of the Quran being a cure it's found in a number of different places in the Quran however when we look at all the verses we see a clarification as to what was intended when Allah said was she far only Moffett sudoers and a cure for what is in the hearts it is a spiritual cure it's not like the drugs that we get from a drugstore you go to the pharmacy you have a sickness the pharmacist gives you certain medicine you take it you drink it and you get cured now we do have Muslims doing similar things you have a sickness you come to the share or the MALDI or the maulana and he writes in saffron on a dish some verses from the quran he pours water and it gives it to you drink it and we drink it obviously I have to say where did this come from is that what the quran is speaking about and we have water you can go now to Muslim stores where they will sell Zamzam and then also sell water that shakes one so blue on the ship has bottles in front of him he undoes all the bubbles he recites some crime he blows then he closes it back up and these bottles are you know his name is put on it blown on by cher so-and-so and we go to the stores and we buy it depending how big the share his you know it's more costly right you know this is something we can laugh at but you have Muslims believing in this very sincerely they have misunderstood the cure of the choir the car of the quad is a spiritual killer it's not a drugstore a pharmacist or pharmacy so the main point of the hood but today was a reminder to reconnect with God let us get back to the car bring the Quran into our lives in a meaningful way that we read a little bit and strive to understand a lot that we make it the guidance that Allah said it was kuden need multiple I asked Allah so Allah to bring the Quran back into our lives to forgive us for our negligence and our ignorant of the past and to keep us firmly on the path to understanding the Quran and to living our lives in a with it we ask Allah to give us the guidance to spread this understanding to our children and our families and to be a beginning point like a ripple in water reaching far beyond our families to the rest of the Ummah because each and every one of us if we do something good pleasing to Allah it will have a domino effect so I asked Allah to keep us firmly attached to the pond to keep our hearts in love with the vibe to keep our minds guided by the plan and to keep our actions in accordance with the God seeking knowledge and obligation made easy thought about studying for a long time tuition fees keeping you from actually starting Islamic online university has led a revolution and online learning the world's first tuition free degree BA in Islamic studies access to the knowledge any place anytime anywhere it just doesn't get any easier than that classes text assignments completely online set your own schedule for the semester no overseas travel required for the exams subjects taught by qualified english-speaking scholars weekly live sessions in virtual classrooms with curricula based on those in el-medina University in Saudi Arabia as har University in Cairo and other reputable institutions around the world why wait any longer he pages a symbolic registration fee and are ready to begin the adventure of higher education the most diverse student body of any University in the world a hundred and thirty thousand plus registered students from two hundred and 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Channel: Bilal Philips

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Keywords: belief in books, belief in revealed books, torah, psalms of david, gospel of jesus chirst, injeel, scrolls of abraham, Qur'an, Koran, Does muslims believe in bible?, God in Islam, bilal philips, bilal philips khutbah, bilal philips sermon, digital minbar, islamiconline university, iou, islam way of life, Return to the Qur'an

Id: YkdGdHIYYOk

Length: 48min 30sec (2910 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 24 2017