 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا وحبيبنا شفيعنا وقائدنا ومقررتي عيننا سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم يا ربنا لك الحمد كما ينبغي لجلال وجهك وعظيم سلطانك اللهم افتح علينا افتوح العارفين اللهم معلمنا ما ينفعنا وانفعنا بما علمتنا يا الله today's session will focus on the fifth outer action that draws us closer to Allah سبحانه و تعالى and gets us more prepared for the day when we will leave this dunya to meet Allah سبحانه و تعالى this outer action is reciting the holy Quran the Quran is the words of Allah سبحانه و تعالى and it is divided into 140 chapters and each chapter each surah consists of individual verses so these chapters vary in length some surahs consist of a few lines while other surahs run for many pages and each 20 pages of the Quran is called a jizah so some surahs consist of more than one jizah for example surah al-Baqarah is about two and a half jizah while surah al-kawthar is one line and a few words سبحان الله reciting the Quran is an honorable act you are reading the words of Allah سبحانه و تعالى and it is an honor it is a blessing that Allah سبحانه و تعالى gives a chance to his servants to talk to him using his words so when you want to talk to Allah the best way is to read his words which are revealed to سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم through جبريل عليه السلام and we all know that the Quran is a complete program it's a complete school, it's a complete system for our lives so when we go to school we learn and when we read the Quran we learn we learn the teachings, we learn the rules we learn what's prohibited we learn what's permissible we learn what we can do, what we cannot do what is righteousness, what is faithfulness we know everything through the words of Allah سبحانه و تعالى and whenever we read the Quran and we pass by the ayah that starts by then we have to pay close attention to what's after these words why? because what's after these words these words are all those who believe so Allah سبحانه و تعالى is calling those who believe in him and what's he gonna tell them he's going to give them an order or to prohibit something that they cannot do يا أيها الذين آمنوا أقيموا الصلاة أو you who believe perform your prayers so of course the Quran is filled up with these examples so the Quran provides insights into almost all aspects of our lives and Quran always brings the reciter the one who reads the Quran closer to Allah سبحانه و تعالى and there is no book more significant than the Holy Quran in a Muslim's life because this is the book of Allah that includes his words it includes messages it includes it includes a whole program that when someone follows then he will be on the straight path and the straight path will lead us to the high heavens so Allah سبحانه و تعالى has revealed the Quran to see the Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم over 1400 years ago and there are millions of copies of the Quran circulating in the world and these copies are all identical there is no change in a single letter no mistake in any single word and الله سبحانه و تعالى says in the Quran that he himself will guard this book and in Surah Al-Hijr ayah number 10 الله سبحانه و تعالى says surely it's we who have revealed the Quran and surely it's we who are its guardians so إنا نحن نزلنا ذكر و إنا له لحافظون this is these are the words of Allah سبحانه و تعالى this is the book of Allah سبحانه و تعالى that will be saved till the day after not a single alteration not a single addition not a single deletion nothing will happen to this book and do you know how or why how this will happen it's not only the Prince all over the world since the time of Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم till today and till that day after there are people who are blessed with the ability to memorize the whole Quran so the Quran is protected in the hearts of people so whoever recites to someone who is a hafiz then he will immediately figure out any single small mistake with the recitation of course when he revealed the Quran to Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that happened over years and every year جبريل عليه السلام used to review the Quran with Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم once every year Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم something that happened during the last year of his life and he said إن جبريل كان يعارضني القرآن كل سنة مرة وإنه عارضني العام مرتين ولا أراه إلا حضر أجني every year جبريل used to revise the Quran with me once only but this year he has done so twice and I think this pretends my death and there are two ayahs two surahs no one of them is an ayah the other one is a surah that when they were revealed Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم cried cried the ayah is اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم وأتممت عليكم نعمتي ورضيت لكم الإسلام دينا today I have perfected your religion and and and so when Sayyidina Abu Bakr heard this ayah and he cried the other ayah that made him cry the other surah was so the first one was an ayah one verse the other one was a whole surah which was surah اللهم صلى الله عليه وسلم محمد صورة الفتح إذا جاء نصر الله والفتح ورأيت الناس يدخلون في دين الله فسبح بحمد ربك وستوفر إنه كان تبوابة so in this surah إذا جاء نصر الله والفتح Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم knew that this is سورة النصر الله says when when the victory of Allah has come and the conquest نصر الله والفتح the victory and the conquest of Makkah ورأيت الناس يدخلون في دين الله أفواجه and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes in groups فسبح بحمد ربك وستغفر then exalt Allah with praising exalt with praising الله سبحانه وتعالى and ask forgiveness of him إنه كان تبوابة indeed he is ever accepting of repentance so when this surah was revealed Sayyidina Abu Bakr cried because he understood that this is the announcement of the death of Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that the death of Sayyidina Muhammad is close and it's near one of the miracles of the Quran is that reading it again and again never boards the reader reading a book any book more than a few times no matter how much you love it will make you get bored of it finally you memorized it so why would you read it again except reading the Quran the more you read it the more you feel you want to read the more every single time you read a khatm you start a new khatm so the heart gets connected to the Quran and when the heart when Allah سبحانه وتعالى finds that looks at your heart and finds his book in your heart and finds the love of the one whom his book was revealed to in your heart the love of Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم then he will be happy with this heart and you will ask how can we raise our children how can we make our children hafiz you start with young age they are still young enroll them in schools for memorizing the Quran get them prepared to be of those whom Allah سبحانه وتعالى love them love their heart because it's filled with the light of the Noor of the Holy Quran if we ask ourselves okay what are the benefits of reciting the Quran daily why should we recite Quran before answering this important question I will emphasize that if you want your heart to be connected to Allah سبحانه وتعالى get your heart connected to the words of Allah سبحانه وتعالى get your heart connected to the to the words of Allah so why what are the benefits of reciting the Quran first of all the heart must be firmly firmly attached firmly in love firmly secured with the Book of Allah سبحانه وتعالى when the heart is then the body and the speech and your words will do the same when your heart is applying is working on the ayahs of Allah سبحانه وتعالى then you feel that you're reading about being faithful you cannot not to be faithful you are reading about being righteous you feel that you have to be righteous you're reading about Allah سبحانه وتعالى is over watching over you watching you then you want Allah to see you on worship state you don't want Allah to see you in disobedience state no so the Quran the chapters of the Quran will protect you when you memorize the Quran then the Quran is the one who protects you and when you read the Quran what will you find you'll find stories of the Prophet stories of the messengers stories of the previous nations and why are these stories mentioned it's not just a book of stories but it's mentioned so that we conclude the wisdom behind each and every story that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has put in the Quran so when you will get closer to Allah when you read his words and you calm yourself you calm your soul if if you are in any problem by reciting the Quran so you feel the powerful and the exceptional impact of the verses of the Quran especially when you understand the meanings behind each verse so when you read the Quran you read the the explanation of the ayat why these ayats were revealed what's the wisdom so what is the lesson behind these ayats so when you understand then when you recite the Quran you feel the Quran brings tranquility it has a special outstanding impact on the heart and on the soul it gives the reciter peace it gives him comfort whenever he had any problem he would start praying and when you pray the Quran so the Quran gives you comfort why because it nurtures the heart it nurtures the soul it eliminates anxiety when you read it and you understand it there will be no doubts you will feel that it's a complete system it will guide you to the right path to enlighten your heart and الله سبحانه وتعالى said in Surat Al-Rahad in ayat 13 surely the remembrance of Allah do hearts find comfort in the remembrance of Allah so this is Surat Al-Rahad and this is ayat 13 when Allah سبحانه وتعالى revealed these words Allah understands Allah gives people tranquility remembering Allah سبحانه وتعالى will put ease in your heart and سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم used to say in one of the narrations مجتمع قوم في بيت من بيوت الله يتدارسون القرآن إلا مجتمع قوم في بيت من بيوت الله يتلون كتاب الله يتدارسونه بينهم إلا نزلت عليه مسكينة وغشيتهم الرحمة وحفتهم الملائكة وذكرهم الله في من عنده سبحان الله what an amazing حديث so الله no people gather for people that assemble in the house of Allah سبحانه وتعالى or in a group to recite the book of Allah to learn it and teach it to understand it except tranquility descends upon them and mercy involves them وغشيتهم الرحمة وحفتهم الملائكة the angels will surround them وذكرهم الله في من عنده and Allah will mention them among those who are with Allah سبحانه وتعالى so what الله سبحانه وتعالى will remember them with a group who are better than those who are together these are the angels and there will be a reward for reciting the Quran so reciting the Quran will make you gain more rewards that increase your scale in the hereafter سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم said لا فله به حسنة والحسنة بعشر أمثالها so whoever recites a letter of the book of Allah will be credited with a good deed and a good deed is multiplied into 10 لا أقول أليف لا ميم حرف ولكن أليف ولا من حرف وميم حرف I do not say that the word is counted as one letter but is one letter is one letter and is one letter so the more you read the Quran the more reward you will get from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم ask ask people to recite and to increase their relationship with the Quran and we all know that Quran is the best protector for the reciters it saves from the devil so once you read Surah Al-Baqarah when you recite Surah Al-Baqarah when you recite the devil will be outcasted for three days out of your home and this is why the people of Allah read Surah Al-Baqarah at least twice every week so سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم said about the Quran and whoever recites it in his house at night Shaytan will not enter his house for three nights and whoever recites it during the day Shaytan will not enter his house for three days also of the benefits of reciting the Quran we know that there are certain Surahs in the Quran that have special merits but before entering before talking about this I want to emphasize something very important that Shaytan محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم has talked about and when he was talking to his companions about the Quran he was telling them that the Quran is an intercessor for the one who is reading it and Shaytan محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم said recite the Quran يقرأ القرآن فإنه يأتي شفي عن يوم القيادة before يقرأ القرآن فإنه يأتي as an intercessor for its reciters on the day of resurrection and of course Shaytan محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم he encouraged his companions to read the Quran and he said the one who has devoted to the Quran will be told to recite and ascend so يقول سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم لوم القيامة يقول لقارئ القرآن يقرأ ورقي فإن منزلتك عند آخر آية تقرأها وقما كما قال سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم so recite the Quran because he will reach his abode when he comes to the last verse he recites some people will say well we are not Arab speakers so when we we find it difficult to read the Quran so what happened there will be double reward for reciting the Quran hardly so many non-Arab Muslims find it difficult to read the Quran because they are not fluent in Arabic or sometimes they do not know Arabic there are people who can read the Quran and they cannot read anything in Arabic Arabic language they cannot read any other book so Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said to those who read it with difficulty so he he said يقرأوا القرآن وهو ماهي فيه فله أجرم والذي يقرأوا القرآن وهو يتحتعوا فيه فله أجرام او كما قال the one who is proficient in the recitation of the Quran will be with the honorable and obedient scribes the angels مع السفارة الكرام البرارة and the one who recites the Quran finds it difficult to recite and he is doing his best because he feels there is a special attachment to the Quran then he so he does his best to recite it in the best way he will have two rewards فله أشران so you don't have any excuse that okay I don't speak the language I so there will be help from Allah سبحانه وتعالى for those who who want to learn his words there will be divine help and they will they themselves will say oh when I started it was so difficult but now I'm more fluent it gets easier so the more you practice it the more you find it easier so as we mentioned that of the benefits of reciting the Quran it guides us to the straight path so it teaches us the ethical values that we should follow and what good deeds that we should do so that Allah سبحانه وتعالى will be satisfied with us if we talk a little bit about the secrets for reciting the Quran or what should we do what are the etiquettes for reciting the Quran there are some important things that we have to to mention and first of all when we want to read the Quran we have to to remember that we are not reading any book it's the book of Allah so we have to read it with while we are on وضوء state it's better to have وضوء to read the Quran and to read it with respect to read it clearly to try to understand it now some people will say if I don't have وضوء then I don't read the Quran say no and you can read the Quran of course you can when you go to bed you might have وضوء or you might not have وضوء before you fall asleep and we will talk about this which is what's the weird of the Quran what's the routine of the Quran you read آية الكرسي you read the 3 قولs and you ask سبحانه وتعالى you make دعاء and this is your weird of the Quran before you go to bed now you can be on a وضوء state or you might not be having a وضوء state that's fine so someone might ask when is the best time to read the Quran I would say at night why there's no one nothing to distract you you are with Allah سبحانه وتعالى 100% to earn our sleep everyone is sleeping you are alone with Allah سبحانه وتعالى ألا يحب كل حبيب أن يختري بهبيب doesn't everyone who is in love like to be alone with the one who we love we love Allah سبحانه وتعالى so قيام الليل is a manifestation of our love to Allah سبحانه وتعالى so what do you talk to your lover you say the words that he loves and the words that Allah سبحانه وتعالى love is his words the Quran so when you read the Quran at night your heart is clear so you receive the light of the Quran way more than when you read it during the day and this person is talking to you when you are answering that one so at night you are alone with Allah سبحانه وتعالى and سبحانه وتعالى now we come to the point that we mentioned earlier that there are certain surahs in the Quran that have special benefits or special merits so what are these these stories what are these these ayas are these surahs I will start with the very first Surah of the Quran Surah Al-Fatiha أبسعيد ساد قال لي رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ألا أعلمك أعظم سورة في القرآن قبل أن تخرج من المسرد فأخذ بيدي فلما أردنا أن نخرج قلت بلا يا رسول الله قال قلت يا رسول الله وعلي منك أعظم سورة في القرآن قال رسول الله الحمد لله رب العالمين and he recited the these surah هي السبع المثاني والقرآن العظيم الذي اوتيته سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم said to him shall I teach you the greatest surah in the Quran before you leave the mosque and then he took he took him by the hand and when they were walking they were they said to سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم what is it and said الحمد لله رب العالمين he recited سورة الفاتحة and he said السبع المثاني and by السبع المثاني سورة الفاتحة is called السبع المثاني so another name for سورة الفاتحة السبع المثاني and what does this mean what does these two words mean سبع is seven and the مثاني is the repeated so it's the seven repeated so this is called السبع المثاني and we repeat سورة الفاتحة in every prayer so it's a seven that are repeated a lot and so it is السبع المثاني and the great Quran which is given to me how come that سورة الفاتحة is the great Quran it is said those who explain the Quran المفسيرون they said that سورة الفاتحة talks about is a summary for the whole Quran and books and books were written about just the the explanation of سورة الفاتحة سبحان الله again another that gives us the benefits of other سورة أبو الدرداء رضي الله عنه قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من حفظ عشر آيات من أول سورة الكاف عصمة من الدجال وفي رواية من آخر سورة الكاف so أبو الدرداء رضي الله عنه reported that say in the Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said whoever commits whoever memorizes the first 10 آيات من سورة الكاف will be protected from the الدجال from the antichrist and in another narration it is the last 10 آيات of سورة الكاف سبحان الله so another another let's talk about سورة الميك سورة الميك تحمي صاحبها من عذاب القبر so سورة الميك protects the one who reads it from the punishment of the grave after death سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم says read Sura الميك to protect yourself from the punishment of the grave again another Sura of course each and every Sura has some secrets and secrets and lights and insights but I'm just talking about just a few few examples we know that when سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم went with for the journey of الإسراط والمعراج he came back with two the last two آيات of Sura to al-Baqarah and they were given to him as a gift to his ummah so these are the last two آيات of Sura to al-Baqarah are like great treasure from the treasure of the paradise those who recite Sura to al-Baqarah and Sura to al-Imran what is the secret for that what's the benefit of that سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم says يأتي القرآن وأهلوه الذين يعملون به في الدنيا تقدمون Sura to al-Baqarah وآيات عمران تأتيان كأنهما غيابتان بينهما أو كأنهما غمامتان سوداوان أو كأنهما ظلتهم من طير صواف تجادلان عن صاحبهما سو سورة البقرة وآيات عمران سوف يكون أبدا so they will come those two Suras if they were they were shades between which there is illumination or as if they were two shades two shady clouds or as if they were shadows of lines of birds so what would they come they would come arguing on behalf of those who reside them and we all know Sura to al-Mulk Sura to al-Mulk تجادل عن صاحبها يوم القيامة وتمنع عذاب القبر so Sura to al-Mulk will argue with Allah سبحانه وتعالى on the day of judgment and it will save the person who resides it from the punishment of the grave Sura to al-Waqarah ابن مسعود قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم منقرأ Sura to al-Waqarah في كل ليلة لم تصبه فاقة أبدا so ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه said whoever resides Sura to al-Waqarah every night will never be afflicted by want will not be poor and ابن مسعود himself used to order his daughters to recite Sura to al-Waqarah every night now some people would say but we cannot read so what do we do and as I just mentioned just learn the alphabet learn the how to connect the letters how to form words how to read them when you finish this this first step then there are there are plenty of resources available online that provide recitation listen listen to reciters and I would recommend a very important page which is tenzil.net that's t-a-n-z-i-l dot n-e-t tenzil.net this is an amazing website it has the page of the Quran and to the left it has a lot that so many information the first thing to the left of the page you will have a search it has a search engine if you know a word in the Quran and you write it it will give you all the ayahs that contain that has this word that you are searching and it will give you a list of all the ayahs and you can click on anyone any certain verse so to read the word that is in this ayah and next to the search engine you will have another way to search if you know the surah and you know what ayah is the word you can just click on that and below that there is a recitation and if you click on the arrow you will find a lot of reciters maybe you can find at least 20 reciters or maybe more and you can listen to them and below that there is a translation if you want to understand what you are reciting or what you are hearing so this is an important a very useful helpful website it is called and you can use it as one of the resources that is online and if you know how to recite then the next step is to memorize one time one of my students who was working on تجويد إجازا she was reciting the whole Quran and she was looking for to get تجويد إجازا one time she said to me I want to memorize can you test me and I said yes by the way this person is a non-Arab speaker who knows how to speak Arabic but she knows how to read the Quran this is a special blessing and there are many people like this but what's so different in her when she said can you test me and I said of course so the next time she came and she started reading the Quran by heart she started first page second page third page fourth page not a single mistake and when she when she stopped I said to her can you tell me what is the secret you are not an Arab speaker so when you when you read you do not understand the meanings of what you are reading normally Arab speakers when they memorize they connect the words together they connect the stories together how are you doing it and she said read each page 100 times 50 on one day 50 times and the next day I review it 50 times until by the end of the 100 times that I read it I I can see it while I am closing my eyes I can see it in front of me I can see the page in front of me I am closing my eyes imagine the connection the the faithfulness the truthfulness of the sincerity of how connected the heart of this person is to the Quran and Subhanallah so there are so many ways that you can get yourself connected to the Quran and as I mentioned children to be connected to the Quran start with them when they are young Subhanallah the words of Allah just hit your heart even if you don't understand them when you listen to a reciter who reads beautifully from his heart you feel that it's not him who is reading it's his heart who is reading so you feel that there is a connection between your heart and the words that you are listening to and you feel that there is a special light that has got into your heart this is the secret of the Quran this is the miracle of the Quran which was revealed to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW 1400 years ago and it's will continue till the day after and those who recited the Quran the words of Allah will be highly rewarded on the Day of Judgement وصلى الله عليه وسلم سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم يا ربنا لك الحمد كما ينبغي لي جلالي وشيكا والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته