I was quickly interrupted when I did not fluently recite the Qur’an.
«الماهر بالقرآن مع السفرة الكرام البررة، والذي يقرأ القرآن ويتتعتع فيه، وهو عليه شاق، له أجران» رواه مسلم
Two months ago I was in Oman briefly. I took the chance to visit Habib Zaid bin Abdul Rahman BinYahya who is now based in the Aal Bayt Mosque in the coastal town of Salalah, the point of entry for most people entering Yemen in the past recent years.
He used to head Markaz an-Noor in Tareem, under the supervision of Habib Omar BinHafidh. They focused on digitization of books and restoration of manuscripts, among other things.
I got there after Maghrib and we joined in their daily Qur’an recitation circle. Their format was each person read a page, top to bottom. And like elsewhere the sequence moves to the right (anti-clockwise).
Other than Habib Zaid, in it was also two other descendants of the Prophet. One from San’a and another from Indonesia. Both scholars. As well as a qualified/trained al-Qur’an reciter, or a Qaari’.
The reciter, was next to me. He was splendid as expected. And then came my performance, if you follow the humour. I knew it was going to be so bad, that I was already amused.
I started and I was quickly interrupted when I did not fluently recite the Qur’an. The reciter says to everyone quoting a Prophetic Hadith, narrated by Mother of the Believers ‘Aaisha, He says,
‘“Whoever recites the Quran and masters it by heart, will be with the noble righteous scribes (in Heaven). Moreover, whoever recites the Quran and stutters with it, and it is difficult for him, will have a double reward.” [Reported by Muslim]
What a blessing this is. We are in company of someone who unlike us, attains double the reward.’
And then I continued reading,
Besides what is obvious, what I find with the learned, and I mean learned as in any regular Muslim who seek to manifest the teachings of Islam (and not exclusive to scholars), they keep themselves conscious about not doing anything that may cause you to distant yourself from God, even by a little.
And then the next point is to keep themselves conscious about trying to sincerely do something that may cause you to get closer to God, even by a little.
It could be a side remark, or sharing a cup of water, or even a smile.
*FYI: There is a WhatsApp group made up of random people, people who are not used to reading the Qur’an but want to. They assist each other in sowing the culture of reading the Qur’an. Each random member of the group write (at least) one page number that they will read at a time and place of their convenience. If the person wants to read more, write another page. If none, don’t have to write/type at all and only write when able to. If you’re interested, send a WhatsApp message to this number, and wait patiently to be added in. +60193345466. Google Peace Meal Qur’an Culture Club to find out more.
Asalaamu alaykum akhi. I will be interested in joining the group, how do i join ?