Read your Qur’an as many times as you are capable! The Glorious Qu’ran is a book you shall read as often as you are chanced. This is the reason behind its eponymous name al-Qur’an, i.e what is read repeatedly.
It is because its owner wants its readability to be wholesome and every time but not seasonal that He has inspired the prophet ( Salla-llahu alehi wasalam) to organize it to Hisbu ( set) and Juzu ( section), so that the readers will not be tired of it! Hisbu and Jushu are divisional arrangements of the glorious Qur’an into portions and bits to make the readers of Qu’ran focused and committed to its reading.
It is also for easy readership of the lofty Qu’ran that Allah Has made it easy to understand and remember. For if a book is made easier to understand and remember by the author, the readers will not be tired nor weary to wanting to read it as often as they want! Allah says concerning this in the glorious Qur’an as follows:
” And We have indeed made the Qu’ran easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition? _ Qu’ran 54:16
Allama Yusuf Ali ( Rahimahu llahu Rahmatan wasi’a) while commenting on the verse above says that:
” While the Qu’ran sums up the highest philosophy of the inner life, its simple directions for conduct are plain and easy to understand and act upon. Is this not in itself a part of the Grace of Allah? And what excuse is there for any one to fail in receiving admonition?”
It is indeed parts of Allah’s grace on the Muslims that He Has deemed the Qu’ran to be documented and read in plain Arabic( Fushia) which are common and which is a lingua franca to all Arabian people as opposed to other variations of it ( Amiya) , which are linguistically different from the Fushia ones . The attestations to this fact are read in the glorious Qur’an as follows:
In Suratul-Zumari :39:28 , we read:
” It is a Qu’ran in Arabic without any crookedness ( therein): in order that they may guard against Evil”
In Fussilat: 41:3, we have :
” A Book , where the verses are explained in detail; _ a Qu’ran in Arabic , for people who understand ”
And in Suurah : 42: 7, we encounter:
” And thus have we revealed to you an Arabic Qu’ran, so that you may warn the mother city and those around it, and that you may give warning of the day of together wherein is no doubt; a party shall be in the garden and another party in the burning fire”
And in the next surah; in Saarufi: 43: 3-4, the reason for revealing the glorious Qur’an in Arabic language continues:
” Surely, We have made it an Arabic Qu’ran that you may understand”
” And surely it is in the original of the Book with Us, truly elevated , full of wisdom!”
The point of the Qu’ran being in Arabic is that it is plain and inte- lligible to the people through whom and among whom it was promulgated. Besides, it has been made to be in Arabic language for it brings the message of Grace and Mercy.
In the same vein, the revelation of the glorious Qur’an in Arabic has pointed to the fact that the previous revelations had been in other languages. Now the revelation is given in Arabia in Arabic itself, the language of the country which all could understand. And it is a beautiful language, straight and flexible, and fit to be the vehicle of sublime truths!”
One of the benefits of reading the glorious Quran is that it guides, gingers, inspires and spreads moral !It is such a wonderful book unlike a news paper that losses its freshness after a reading_continuous recitation of the Quran brings forth its freshness and enjoyment! This is what a part of the long Hadith of prophet Muhammad is pointing at :
” It is a a Book which miracle never waned and a Book which time can make weary nor uninterested ( like newspaper which is tied to a particular time)!”
It is such a book that has inspired many people to overcome their problems, turn their mess to blessing and giving hope to them that at the end of every problem is a relief!
Not only this, the Qur’an is a problem solver, an emotional booster and a disease’s ointment!In the Qiyamat ( Day of judgement) the Qur’an will act as an intercede to those mouths that read it every time here in this space!.The prophet said :
“Read the Quran, for it will come on the day of accountability as an intercede to its reciter!”
At this juncture, Parents and Guardians need to teach their children and wards the Qur’an, but if they can’t, they will need to enrol them in a Madrasat or an Islamiyya school or employ Arabic teachers to teach their wards as this is the first function of every parent in Islam!
When the prophet (salla-llahu alehi wasalam) was asked on the responsibilities of a father to his child, he was reported to have replied thus :
” ……….. He ( The father) is to teach him ( child) the Book of Allah ( The glorious Qur’an)
Sequel to this is the necessity of giving or paying salary to the teachers who deem it fit to teach the Quran . We read the prophet ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam) on this as follows:
“The One who in actuality needs to be given salary is the one who teaches the book of Allah!”
The attitude of most parents to disregard the Quranic teachers and play down their functions in the life of their children by not paying the token the Islamiyya schools are taken as monthly school fees or weekly wages should stop henceforth !
The notion that Islamiyya schools are for God and the teachers working there are to expect their rewards from God only is a bad one and poor attitude to the welfare of the Arabic and Islamic teachers who themselves have children to spend and cater for. It is a big irresponsibility on the part of the parents in Islamiyya schools to want the teachers of their wards to be walking in the neighborhood with tatter clothes, worn-out slippers and spent health which are fall- outs of not paying a regular fees at the end of the week or month as they are doing regularly in the Western- styled schools!
There are also some parents who abandon their wards to the care of the teachers of Islamiyya schools without paying a penny for the many years the children will spend in the schools. This has prompted the teachers to devise many godly and ungodly means to eke out living! Some of these children are set up to go begging or scavenging for left out foods in ceremonies or elsewhere!
Parents and Guardians, should know that the above is the foundational requisite a parent and a guardian needs to offer his wards and children for better future.
Failure to do this, will have a bad result on the socio-religious life of the children.Children who are not properly educated on their religion’s precepts and law are the one that abandon their religion at a slight opportunity or join the extreme group that kill others at every opportunity! A stitch in time saves nine says a maxim, it is quite essential to put the children on a sure footing now for the benefit of tomorrow!
And as it was succinctly observed by Ibn Qayum al-Jaosy , man needs knowledge more than he needs food, especially, essential knowledge of islamic religion such as learning the book of Allah, al-Qur’an. It is on this again that Muslim parents must strive to invest in the future of their wards by investing the wards in the knowledge of the glorious Qur’an!
Not only this, the progress of these children in Islamiyya must be monitored as their progress in western and trading schools are. They must not be left to themselves to cater for themselves or allow them to roam streets and corridors of ceremony to beg for food, thereby portraying Islam as religion of indecency !
In addition, they must be called one time or the others to read and revise what they are learning in the presence of their parents and guardians so that the culture of reading the glorious Qur’an will be entrenched in their consciousness at their formative stages of life!
For we have seen many a child who had learnt the glorious Qur’an when growing up but for the lack of constant and deliberate reading at that formative years, they had abandoned it completely and embraced a life of inanity even for not just reason. Were they being they were properly orientate while growing in the arts of reading the glorious Qur’an and monitor concertedly thereafter, they might not have strayed elsewhere and embrace negative culture!
Alas, if parents should ponder the merits and rewards inherent in the Quranic education of their wards ,they will realize that nothing is more rewardable, enlightened, and blessed than it! Among the rewards of a parent that gives his wards the benefits of Quranic education are :
The parents that enrol their wards in Qur’anic school will have the same rewards as the children they enrolled in terms of the special rewards the prophet(salla-llahu alehi wasalam) has pointed to for a beginner in the study of the book of Allah who will have double rewards for striving to read the Quran. And when the children are later certified as being proficient in its reading, every time they read it, the parents will also be equalled to them in the scale of rewards!
On the Day of Qiyyamah( resurrection) , the parents of a child who has learnt the Book of Allah on earth and who has surreptitiously worked with its knowledge will be crowned with an apparel which illumination will be shinning more than the Sun . We read this in an Hadith of the prophet(salawatu llahi alehi) as follows:
” He who learns the Quran then use its knowledge righteously will have his parents decorated with a Crown which illumination will be more finer than the illumination of the Sun on earth; then what do you think on who work excellently like this!”