Session 4 | November 20, 2014 | Al-Minhaal Academy

Topic:  Introduction to the World of Quran  |  Session 4
Speaker:  Sheikh Okasha Kameny
Date: November 20, 2014

_______________________________________________________

 The Way of Taking Knowledge   ~  كيفية التحمُّل

How did the early generation (salaf) of Muslims learn?

1. Listening from the reading or recitation of the sheikh.  السماع من لفظ الشيخ
2. Reciting or reading it back to the sheikh (this way the sheikh corrects any mistakes) القراءة عليه

To be a productive student you need to:  

• Take and learn knowledge from the sheikh - التحمل

• Give it back to the sheikh - الأداء

Session 3 | November 19, 2014 | Al-Minhaal Academy

Topic:  Introduction to the World of Quran  |  Session 3
Speaker:  Sheikh Okasha Kameny
Date: November 19, 2014

_______________________________________________________

There are 10 reciters or Quraa' (القراء) of the Quran.  Each of these had many students.  Each was known specifically to have two students that took much of their time in terms of learning (Example: The reciter Hamza had the students Khalaad and Khalf; the reciter Ibn Katheer had the students Qunbul and Ahmad).  Note that sometimes these students did not have direct contact with these teachers - that they learned indirectly through other students.  Nowadays, we read from the narrations of these well-known students.

Example:

Imam Nafi' القارئ was the teacher of Warsh الراوي
Warsh was the teacher of Al-Asfahan 
Al-Asfahan was the teacher of Rawdah 

In the order of teacher to student:
القراء (reciters - plural of القارئ)
الراوي (narrator)
راوي الراوي (narrator of the narrator)
راوي  راوي الراوي (narrator of the narrator of the narrator)

---

Terms to Know:

Levels of recitation	Level of reciter	Example of person
القراءة	القارئ	نافع
الرواية	الراوي	ورش
الطريق	راوي الراوي	الأزرق
الوجه	راوي  راوي الراوي	الأصفهاني

---

There are three broad levels of reciters of the Quran (from lowest level to highest):

1. القراء
2. القرءة
3. المقرئين

These levels will be explained in a later session.

Virtues of the Quran

Make sure you stick to the Quran because you lose it easily.  Muhammad (pbuh) advised of it.

Imam Al-Baihaqi said of the Quran:
فإن فيه علم الأولين والاخري
"In it is the knowledge of the earlier generations and later generations."

Because of the hadith of Uthman saying the best of you is he who learns Quran and teaches it, Imam Abu Abd Alrahman Al-Sullamee (ابو عبد الرحمن السلًمي)  left all studies and stuck to only learning and teaching the Quran.  In fact, he is present in all of the recitations.

Frequency in Reading the Quran
The habits of the salaf or early generations of Muslims were to recite the Quran with the following frequency:

1. Some used to recite the Quran 8 times during the day and night
2. Some used to recite it 4 times during the day and night
3. 3 times in one day and night
4. 2 times in one day and night
5. 1 time in one day and night
6. 1 time in 2 days
7. 1 time in 3 days (In the book of Itqaan, Asyuut said that this is hasan, or good/acceptable.  According to Abu Dawuud and Tirmidhi, that ِAbdullah Ibn Umar said whoever reads the Quran in less than 3 days will not understand it.  
• من قرا القران في أقل من ثلاث لا يفقهه
8. 1 time in 4 days
9. 1 time in 5 days
10. 1 time in 6 days
11. 1 time in 7 days (The majority of companions used to read it with this frequency)
12. 1 time in 8 days
13. 1 time in 9 days
14. 1 time in 10 days
15. Once in a year
16. Twice in a year (Whoever reads the Quran twice in a year has given it its full right.  Muhammad (pbuh) recited the Quran twice in the last year of his life).  

• It is narrated by Al-Hasan Bin Ziyad on the authority of Abi Hanifah that he said: "Whosoever reads the Quran twice in every year, has given the Quran its right"
• وقد روى الحسن بن زياد عن أبي حنيفة أنه قال : من قرأ القرآن في كل سنة مرتين فقد أدى للقرآن حقه 

Fact to Know:
About 90% of Muslims today read with the recitation of Hafs 'an Aasim. 

Person to know:  
Hamza bin Habib Al-Zayaat was the Imam of Al-Kufa in Iraq.  People never used to see him except that he was reciting Quran.  

Person to know:  
Aasim, the famous reciter.  It is said that his recitation was the closest to the tongue of the Quraysh.  When he died he had just finished reciting the verses of Al-An'aam, 59-60. 

 وعنده مفاتح الغيب لا يعلمها إلا هو ويعلم ما في البر والبحر وما تسقط من ورقة إلا يعلمها ولا حبة في ظلمات الأرض ولا رطب ولا يابس إلا في كتاب مبين  

And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record.

 وهو الذي يتوفاكم بالليل ويعلم ما جرحتم بالنهار ثم يبعثكم فيه ليقضى أجل مسمى ثم إليه مرجعكم ثم ينبئكم بما كنتم تعملون 

And it is He who takes your souls by night and knows what you have committed by day. Then He revives you therein that a specified term may be fulfilled. Then to Him will be your return; then He will inform you about what you used to do.

Person to know: 
Zayd Ibn Thabit was assigned by Abu Bakr to compile the Quran into one book.  This assignment was done after the Battle of Yamama (battle from among the Apostacy Wars- Ridda Wars), when 700 of the companions who were among reciters/memorizers were martyred.  'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) feared that the Quran may be lost due to the death of those who memorized it and advised Abu Bakr to collect it.  In compiling the Quran, he had the condition of needing 2 companions to confirm the same ayah.

There was one verse in Surah Al-Ahzab (مِنْ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ) that they Zayd couldn't find written except with the companion Khuzeemah.  Having the verse written was a condition for him to accept an ayah into the compilation.  A companion remembered that Muhammad (sa) one day said that the testimony (shahadah) of Khuzeemah is equal to two.  At that point, this one verse was accepted.


Differences in recitations
Out of the 10 imams/reciters, only two were pure Arab.  The rest were Mu'aalee, or slaves. 
The two reciters - Warsh and Hamza - have a lot of muduud in them, and require a lot of breath.  
Among the easier recitations, according to Sheikh Okasha, are the following:

1. حفص عن عاصم
2. بن كثير
3. السوسي

Why do we have two riwayahs coming from the same one teacher?
Example:  Shubah and Hafs were students of Aasim and they each of their own riwayah.  
They most likely were taught more than one recitation, but each became known for that specific recitation.  

Session 2 | November 18, 2014 | Al-Minhaal Academy

Topic:  Introduction to the World of Quran  |  Session 2
Speaker:  Sheikh Okasha Kameny
Date: November 18, 2014

_______________________________________________________

There are 4 broad categories of Quran reciters/learners (characteristics of each category will be described in future classes):

1. Al-Mahir  الماهر
2. Al-Qari   القاري
3. Al-Muqri  المقرئ
4. Al-Wahya'en  الوحيين

Person to know:  
Abu Mizahim Musa Bin Alkhaqany  ابو مزاحم موسى بن الخاقاني

Died in 325 after hijrah.  He was the first imam to write a book on Tajweed.

Uthman Ibn Affaan & the Quran 

It was narrated from Uthman Ibn Affaan (may Allah be pleased with him), that Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) said:

خيركم من تعلم القران وعلمه

The best of you is he who learns the Quran and teaches it.

The day Uthman (ra) was killed, he died while reciting the following verses from Surat Al-Baqarah, verses 135-137:

They say, "Be Jews or Christians [so] you will be guided." Say, "Rather, [we follow] the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth, and he was not of the polytheists."Say, [O believers], "We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him."So if they believe in the same as you believe in, then they have been [rightly] guided; but if they turn away, they are only in dissension, and Allah will be sufficient for you against them. And He is the Hearing, the Knowing. 

He was killed while reciting the last of the aforementioned verses:

Allah will be sufficient for you against them. And He is the Hearing, the Knowing. 

فسيكفيكهم الله وهو السميع العليم 

Out of the four rightly guided khalifahs, Uthman was the one who served the Quran the most.  

Abdullah Bin Umar narrated the following hadith:  

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "لا حسد إلا على اثنتين: رجل آتاه الله هذا الكتاب. فقام به آناء الليل وآناء النهار. ورجل آتاه الله مالا. فتصدق به آناء الليل وآناء النهار". 

 “There is no envy except in two cases: a man whom Allah has given this Book so he stands to recite it during the day and night, and a man whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it during the day and night.”

Famous sayings on the Quran:
Al-Nu'man Bin Albasheer said, "The best act of worship is to recite the Quran."
Al-Imam Al-Baihaqi said,  القران أصول العلم The Quran is the foundation of knowledge.

Dignity that knowledge of the Quran brings
During times of war when martyrs were many and there would be a mass burial, the Prophet (pbuh) used to bury the ones with more knowledge of the Quran first, asking "Bring forth those with the most Quran?"   قدموا أكثرهم قرآناً
They would then bury those with the most knowledge of the Quran first, thereby giving that person more respect and dignity even in death.

Al-Khaniqi poetry on the Importance of Tajweed
وإن لنا أخذ القراءة سنة * عن الأولين المقرئين ذوي الستر

Arabic to know:

Each bayt sha'ar (poetry) consists of 2 masraa'  (مصرع).  

The above bayt has two masraa' separated with a *.  

Two ways of writing:  1.  Regular prose is called Al-nathr  النثر  and 2. Poetic way of writing is called الشعر

In Arabic poetry (الشعر) there are 16 bahr (oceans), or different types.  

In the past, poetry was called اغاني, which is commonly understood today as song/singing.  Nowadays Arabs use the word شعر to describe poetry and not اغاني

أَيَا قَارِئَ القُرْآنِ أحسِنْ أداءَه * يُضاعِفْ لك اللهُ الجزيلَ مِنَ الأَجْرِ

Fact to Know:

اركان القران

There are 3 pillars or conditions of Quran - اركان القران 

If one condition is missing, then the Quran is not valid.  Conditions will be mentioned in a later class.