 As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahabihi ajma'in We commence praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, sending blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam His household, his companions, may Allah bless them and bless every one of us and grant us goodness His Excellency, the President of this beautiful Republic of the Maldives as well as the dignities who are here, the judges, the contestants, my brothers and sisters I wish you the blessed month of Ramadan that it is as blessed as ever the best month from all the months that we have spent so far in our lives It is indeed the best month of the Islamic calendar and it is known as the month of the Quran Yes, there are so many things we should be achieving from this beautiful month Primarily we achieve taqwa which is the consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala The softening of the heart is something we should always be achieving in the month of Ramadan It is known as the month of mercy, the month of forgiveness, the month of closeness to Allah but it is the month where the Quran was revealed You and I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has said Indeed we have sent down this Quran on the night of decree It is the night when the decree is actually written It is also known as the night of power That night which is more powerful than one thousand months because of the value of the revelation of the Quran When I saw Anurul Mubin, I felt a calmness in my heart simply because it is to do with the word of Allah It is a dream come true for this beautiful nation When we give importance to the word of Allah, Allah gives importance to us Remember this Allah elevates through this word of His certain people who give it importance who take it as theirs who learn it, who put it into practice, who convey it to others who encourage people to give it importance And Anurul Mubin is one such way that we are encouraging people to value the message of the Quran to perfect its recitation to make it a part of our lives Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran He addresses all the people, Muslims, non-Muslims All the people, Allah says, oh people Indeed a reminder has come to you from your Lord in the form of the Quran In the form of the word of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala From your Lord there is a reminder Which means if I read the Quran there will be in it a reminder for me To do what? To soften To soften my heart towards the obedience of Allah I would love to become a person who earns not only this worldly life but the hereafter as well And this is why the winner is he who can have a good life here and an even more blessed life in the hereafter You know the dua mentioned in Surat al-Baqarah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us From among the people are those the successful ones who call out to Allah regarding both this world as well as the next Oh our Lord grant us goodness in this world goodness in the hereafter and save us from the punishment of hellfire So this is the balance that we are searching for We achieve it by listening to the reminder of the Quran by giving it importance It has in it cure for the diseases of the heart When you and I have a sickness It is either spiritual or physical The spiritual sickness everybody knows the Quran will cure it because there is a calmness Wallahi my brothers and sisters You can hear the recitation of those who participated in this beautiful Quranic contest Each one is unique It must have been so difficult for the adjudicators to decide who was first, second and third but they had to do it as difficult as it may have been It's the word of Allah The calmness of every single person's nature is achieved in the Quran If you hear Sheikh Mahmood Khalil al-Husari he recites differently from Sheikh Ali al-Hudayfi who recites differently from Abdul Rahman al-Sudays who recites differently from Sheikh Surud al-Shureim who recites differently from Sheikh Muhammad sadiq al-Manshawi who recites differently from Abdul Basit Abdul Samad and so on Why is the recitation different in the way it is? Delivered Because it's the beauty of the Quran Each one of us is calmed by a different reciter If I ask you today who is your favorite reader we will have 100 different names The reason is Allah caters for your nature and mind Allah quenches your spiritual thirst and mind through the recitation of the Quran By the remembrance of Allah By the remembrance of Allah the hearts will be filled Those who believe they achieve the calmness of the heart through the remembrance of Allah and the greatest remembrance is the words of Allah, the Quran You will achieve a calmness just from listening to the Quran I have come across experiments that have been made in western countries where they took non-Muslims and they gauged the condition of the heart in its pulse and they recited or made them listen to the Quran and you can actually quickly check it on YouTube if you want the impact or effect of Quranic recitation upon non-Muslims That was actually done by some young people who decided let's go and check if it's true today masha'Allah with social media everyone is so quick so they took a phone and they took their earphones they stopped random people in the west and they said I want you to listen to this and tell me how you feel without telling them what it is when they listen to it you can check it they are calm, they listen they are so calm and they say wow that was cool they don't know then they were told this is the Quran Subhanallah the Quran some people are saying it's a book that's supposed to make you hard and harsh my brothers and sisters I have a powerful message for you this evening a true sign of closeness to Allah is the softening of your character if your character is hard and harsh you are far from the Quran Allah is telling Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam it is because of the mercy of Allah that you are so lenient towards those around you if you were harsh and hard hearted they would have dispersed from around you they would not even want to listen to what you have to say so the softening is the mercy of Allah it's a sign of closeness to Allah those who want to harm others today we have an issue what's the globe of terrorism in the name of religion not just Islam but Islam is one of those faiths that is being hijacked by people who want to perpetrate crimes yet the Quran is the furthest away from that type of teaching even if you don't understand it it will calm you down so why are the people becoming filled with an inferno definitely it is not part of the teaching of Islam may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us to promote the religion in the most beautiful way Islam came to this lovely country that is 100% Muslim and to this part of the world in the most peaceful way remember that today we are completely Muslim how did it come to us in a peaceful way read your history you know it better than I do let's go to Far East Asia you will be able to see what happened there Islam entered through honesty and the character and conduct of the people who visited them when they dealt in a beautiful way people said I want to be like this when we listen to the Quran when we adopt the Quran we will be walking Quran when Aisha radiallahu anha was asked about the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam's character she did not know what to say so she said one word kana khuluquhu al Quran his character was the Quran which means whatever embodiment of the Quran is in this man you want to know what the Quran is all about look at this man you want to know what this man is all about look at the Quran subhan Allah and here Allah is saying softening of the heart because my brothers and sisters you and I know when Allah says there is cure for the diseases of the heart it's not only spiritual disease it is also physical disease you read the Quran Allah will grant you cure from physical disease now I'm sure we have heard from our scholars that this verse has cure in it if you want cure you read this verse or that verse they would say read this and that I always tell people read the Quran from cover to cover why? there are some sicknesses I don't know I have and there are cures in verses that I don't know where exactly they are but they are in the Quran so if I am to pick it up and to take from the cover putting a marker every day one verse how much? one it's a challenge my brothers and sisters I challenge you all I'm not asking for more and I'm not asking for me I'm asking for you read one verse read one verse of the Quran your life will change I swear by Allah your life will change learn to look after the Quran Allah will look after you listen to the verse We have revealed this Quran this reminder this revelation we will protect it from what? everything we will protect it many of us when we read this verse we look at it and we say that means Allah will preserve the Quran it is in its original form it is in its original form it is in its original form it is in its original form it is in its original form it is in its original form it is authentic it is legitimate etc etc that is only 1% of the meaning by the way there is 99% that we have slipped we have forgotten no one's drawn our attention to it anyone who gives importance to the Quran anyone who memorizes a verse anyone who memorizes a Surah and I know 100% of us seated here we know Surah Al-Fatiha off by heart am I right? Subhan Allah 100% of us have made an effort we learnt Surah we know Surah Al-Ikhlas maybe we know Surah Al-Kawthar we know a few we are expanding every day Ayatul Kursi we know these are verses of the Quran each verse is more valuable than the most expensive diamond on earth if you have it in your heart Allah says I will protect you I will protect you because I promised I am going to protect the Quran if you made an effort to look after it I have to look after you because you have it now in your heart when a person has the most valuable diamond in his hand and he walks on the street the jeweler will come to him and say come here wait walk with all these bodyguards Subhan Allah because you know what you have in your hand you are in danger Subhan Allah we need to look after you from those devilish people who might come and pinch they might even kill you as a result Wallahi the Quran is more valuable Allah says wait we will protect you we will send angels to look after you we will make sure that you are walking calm you are relaxed you might have challenges but you will be content when we have challenges in our lives that's the promise of Allah you will have a challenge every day you will have a new challenge the most beloved unto Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Muhammad peace be upon him had the biggest challenges he lost his father prior to birth he lost his mother he was born and orphan he grew up he lost the uncle who was looking after him later on sorry he lost the grandfather who was looking after him later on he continued and the people belied him one after the other when he went to Taif you know what happened in Makkah what happened then when he went to Medina the wars one after the other against who the best of creation the most noble of all prophets he lost all his children in his lifetime besides one all his children passed away in his lifetime the boys passed away when they were small the girls passed away when they were old why did Allah do this to the most beloved the most loved to come you and I down to say we belong to Allah we have to go back to him how many of us want paradise all of us well to go to paradise unfortunately or fortunately you need to pass away who wants to die no one so how are you going to go to paradise subhanallah so Allah says when you're ready I'm going to take you away and I'm not going to give you a choice because I love you more than you love yourself that's Allah be calm be happy Allah will grant it to you so Allah says we are taught by Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam ayatul kursi the reading of that one verse of Suratul Baqarah subhanallah you read it automatically you are protected you read Suratul Fatiha there is protection why because Allah says we reveal this Quran we will protect it so a half of the Quran is protected by Allah with bodyguards we cannot see because he has with him something that is more valuable than the most valuable items present on this earth the same applies when you make an effort to learn one verse I promise you I have had people come back to me and say sheikh you know what we try to memorize I'm not strong at reading Quran but I listen and I try to repeat repeat a few times only with the intention I want to please Allah this is His word even though I don't understand so much but it's the best word the word of Allah and I try to memorize one verse every week and wallahi you are so true I'm content I have so many problems but I'm a happy person people ask when you have problems how do I know is it a punishment of Allah or a test of Allah this is the month of Ramadan right a lot of the wars took place the month of Ramadan the battle of Badab took place month of Ramadan the answer is it's in the condition of your heart not in what is happening to you anything can happen to you if your heart is cool and calm it's a gift of Allah it's a test from Allah elevation of your status but if your heart is not calm you are angry you are upset you get absolutely absurd and you are so depressed that is a sign that perhaps you need to increase in your link with Allah develop it further so my brothers and sisters the heart the diseases of the heart where is the cure in the Quran not just the spiritual disease but also the physical diseases remember this the blessed month of Ramadan we are given it as a gift as soon as the moon is sighted what happens we move into a new mode there is a feeling it's called a Rouhaniya you know it's called a spirituality of this month that we feel in it because of the blessings that Allah has placed in the beautiful month of Ramadan it's the month where we are supposed to be abstaining from food and drink etc etc and also from bad words because the Quran teaches us development of character development of conduct development of wisdom we need to be able to have tact when we address one another we need to be conscious of the feelings of one another when you talk to someone speak to them considering how they will take what you have said this is why the prophet tells us the way you word your speech could actually be rewarding or sinful even though the message is the same when you belittle someone you are sinful when you give them importance definitely you will be given importance to by Allah give people importance no matter who they are greet them smile at them talk to them in a way that they feel that there is hope unfortunately when we talk of the Quran my brothers and sisters we usually doom people we usually give a message such that everyone is going to Jahannam I always ask the brothers who say this brother if everyone is going to Jahannam why did Allah make Jannah for what? there is no one there besides you Allahu Akbar may Allah take us all to Jannah brothers and sisters what a lovely month I have given you only a small introduction to this beautiful month of Ramadan a few points of benefit and I have made a challenge out to yourselves and myself to read one verse a day for the sake of Allah one verse a day if you have done more you can do more inshallah you expand according to your capacity but no one has an excuse to go below one no one start your day with it with the word of Allah and I promise you your life will change you will achieve the greatness of this world and Allah SWT will open for you the doors of jannah tul fir those imagine being resurrected and called out on the day of judgment called out on the day of judgment to come to a special gathering with Muhammad SAW on that day would be the day we would be proud of our achievement may Allah SWT gather us all with Muhammad SAW in the Akhira may Allah give us Jannah Ul Firdaus and may Allah SWT keep an Nurul Mubeen running and alive as a Sadaqa Jaria for those who have established it until we get to Jannah Ul Firdaus and we see the effort we have made for the Quran and we are really happy that Allah has protected us not just in this world but even on the day of Qiyamah I say this peace be upon Muhammad SAW