The first three Surahs to be revealed were al-’Alaq (The Clot), al-Qalam (The Pen) and al-Muzammil (The Enshrouded One).
(The chapters were not revealed in full though, for example only the first 5 ayaats of surah al-’Alaq were initially revealed)
Each Surah begins: al-’Alaq - “Read (recite) in the name of Your Lord“, al-Qalam - “Nun, By the Pen, and what they inscribe” and al-Muzammil - “O thou folded in garments! Stand (to prayer) by night..”
“Read”, “By the Pen”, Stand by night” - These early revelations convey to us that this deen is a religion of reading, writing and worship. A knowledge based deen, worship based on sound knowledge conveyed to us by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and preserved by Allah through the Scholars (may Allah be pleased with them).
Abu Yusuf relates from Imam Abu Hanifa who heard from the Sahabi ‘Abdullah ibn al-Harith ibn Jaz’a (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
”Whoever acquires an understanding of the religion of Allah, Allah suffices him in his matters of concern and provides him with sustenance from sources he could not expect.”
It is narrated that the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) said:
“I am leaving you something, taking hold of which will prevent you from going astray: the Book of Allah and my family, the People of my House. So take care how you follow me regarding them.”
al-Tirmidhi
Allah bless and send salutations upon Your beloved Muhammad al-Mustafa (صلي الله عليه و سلم) and bless his family and his companions, grant them gifts that please their souls and make us from amongst those that accompany them in the next life, amin.
The Sahabi Abu Sa’id (ra) narrates that Rasul Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “Allah All Mighty says; “If anybody finds no time for My remembrance and for begging favours of Me, because of his remaining busy with the Holy Qur’an, I shall give him more than what I give to all those who beg favours of Me.
The superiority of the Word of Allah over all other words is like the superiority of Allah over the entire creation.”
In other words, compared to those who are begging favours of Allah, He will surely confer some better reward on a person who remains so occupied with committing the Qur’an to memory or learning and understanding it that he hardly gets time for du’a.
Lack of a traditional family meal has produced a generation of kids with bad manners, head teachers have warned.
Since parents allow their children to eat while watching TV, the responsibility of teaching kids how to communicate with one another has come on the shoulders of schools. Source
The Arabic word for manners or etiquette - “adab”, also means “feast” or “banquet”. It was traditionally understood that during meal times children learned manners and proper etiquette. How to behave with adults, elders, siblings, those younger than them. They also gained communication skills from the dinner table conversation.
People from societies closer to “fitra” find it strange that some people have meals on their own, and those even more closer to fitra find it weird people eat on separate plates!
On a holiday to Marrakesh me and my wife met an American family who have settled there (2nd generation converts i.e. their parents converted so they were born Muslim), one of the highlights of our trip was havingsharing a meal with their family - one Tagine dish between 8 people, a couple and their two young kids and their grandparents. Sharing emphasised because this is one of the most important qualities you learn from this experience. It was Friday so it’s tradition to have meat, we had a delicious lamb tagine with couscous.
As we were the guests the people sitting next to us were breaking off the nice bits of the meat and placing it on our part of the bowl, doing it quite subtly as well that we didn’t always notice.
There is also more barakah in a shared meal, I didn’t think 1 tagine would be enough for 8 people but all of us ate until we were full and there were left over’s for the cats.
The Arabic language is filled with these beautiful insights, it is a miraculous language. It’s fascinating the ASC have found the link between manners and meals, while this understanding was built within the language of the Arabs since pre-Islamic times.
Wird / ورد (pl. Awrad) is a time of day or night devoted to private worship, a daily activity, usually nawafil prayer, Quran recitation, du’a, dhikr etc. Wird also means a watering place: animals coming to water. The root verb “warada” means to arrive, to come, to appear, to show up, to be found, to be met with, to reach.
The scholars of the heart say it is important to have a daily wird, an optional supererogatory worship, that by consistent practice of it you draw closer to Allah. About this Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf said whoever has no wird is a qird [monkey].
One of the most powerful wirds is by Imam Abu Hasan al-Shadhili (may Allah sanctify his secret) called Hizb al-Bahr (Litany of the Sea). A special du’a by the Imam and includes ayats from Qur’an. It is the most famous of Imam Shadhili’s Hizbs.
Following links explain more about the Imam and the Hizb -
