Insincere Intent
I recently began to regularly memorize the Qur’an again. It was a result of reading a few inspiring and helpful articles that inspired me to start. (Mainly this one about qualities of a hafidh, these tips to memorize, and this blog of a teenage hafidh).
Whenever one begins to memorize the Qur’an it is especially important that they continually renew their intention and make sure that it is always for Allah (SWT).
Ironically, I’ve also been getting a lot of reminders about the importance of sincere intention lately as well.
Here’s a video from Brother Nihal Khan on Intentions,
He mentions a Hadith where there’s basically three people that meet Allah on the day of Judgement:
- A martyr for Islam that’s told that his martyrdom is not accepted because he did it for fame.
- A scholar of Islam that’s told his efforts of knowledge is not accepted because he did it for fame/title with the people.
- A rich, giving person that’s told his money given for Islam is not accepted because he gave it all for the people to admire him.
In addition that reminder, brother Arif Kabir also buzzed (i.e. Google Buzz) a Hadith that was insightful:
“The majority of the hypocrites found in my Ummah are its Quraa’ (reciters of Qur’an).” [Sahih: Reported by Ahmed, at-Tabrani and others. Sahih al-Jami‘ #1203].
After that, someone commented with a great nasheed that talks about this, and also references the same hadith above (about the three people).
May Allah help us to always be sincere and keep our intentions clear.
Share.
Filed under: Educate, Islam, Lifeblog | 4 Comments
Tags: arif kabir, diaries of a hafiz, hafidh, hafiz, hifdh, intention, jawaad khan, memorize, memorizing qur'an, muslim youth musings, nasheed, nihal khan, niyya, niyyah, qur'an, ramblings, rashad abdullah
Jawaad Ahmad Khan
Muslim. American.
And a little bit of everything else.Find me on:
-
-
(Random articles I write.)
-
*gaaaaaaaaspp!!!*
That hadith shook me. Great reminder… it’s not easy keeping your intention straight, but I believe, from personal experience, you have to build your iman first in order to set your intention straight… and be very introspective. You should be able to detect and stop a bad intention from developing, right away. It’s a scary thing. It’s easy to lie to ourselves about our intention. You know… I think in our society, we’re pretty damn good at lying to ourselves. The guy who has a bunch of female friends thinks he’s “just friends” with them… He tries to convince himself of that, but ya know the real story (so does he). Weird example, but it was the best I could think of
.
btw… it would be a good idea to read a bunch of hadiths on the benefits of memorization… if you’re wondering where you can find a compilation, try fada’il al-a’maal (you know, the famous book the tablighis love
).
jzk for the reminder. this got me thinking…
Yeah, after this series of reminders that came to me…I’ve just been renewing my intention over and over again…
you have to also ask Allah to keep your intention pure…And it is ESPECIALLY difficult these days when identity is such a lost thing…if you can’t be true to yourself…then you’re really lost, you can’t control your thoughts, your actions, or your own heart. We have to always find a way to tell ourselves what we truly are.
This also reminds me of the verse in Surah Hasr, (19 i think):
“And do not become like those who forget Allah, and He causes them to forget their own selves, it is they who are truly deprived”.
SubhanAllah, so true in our society.
Funny Arif’s post got me inspired to finish my hifdh as well. One would think that since I only have three surah’s left I would be hurrying to finish but I guess I’m just ‘lying to myself’ and putting it off for God knows what reason. tsk
I need to find some new creative ideas to keep me motivated to finish hifdh and to review everything I already learned.
SubhanAllah! Only 3 surahs?! May Allah help you to complete it!
What I’ve actually been doing (and I want to write a post on it) is not really memorizing, but “learning” it. When I go to my “memorizing spot”, I carry my mus-haf, an English Qur’an, a book called Themes of the Qur’an by Ahmad Sakr (which gives brief explanations on the themes of each surah), and tafsir ibn kathir, as well as my iPod touch.
No specific order, but I usually read the meaning, the themes of the surah, then memorize it with my mus-haf (and listening to a reciter from my iPod), then afterwards I’ll try to read the tafseer in ibn kathir.
It really has brought an understanding for me, rather than just memorization. Maybe you should try that out?