An excerpt from a khutbah that I gave discussing the statement of the Prophet: “And Alhamdulillah fills the scale”.

The complete hadith is as follows:

( الطهور شطر الإيمان ، والحمد لله تملأ الميزان ، وسبحان الله والحمد لله تملآن – تملأ – ما بين السماوات والأرض ، والصلاة نور ، والصدقة برهان ، والصبر ضياء ، والقرآن حجة لك أو عليك ، كل الناس يغدو ، فبائع نفسه ، فمعتقها أو موبقها ) رواه مسلم

“Purity is half of faith and the praise of Allah fills the scale; glorification and praise fill up what is between the heavens and the earth. Prayer is a light, charity is proof (of sincere faith), and patience is illumination. The Quran is a proof for you or against you; all people go out early in the morning and sell themselves, either setting themselves free or destroying themselves.”

The khutbah focuses on what alhamdulillah means, some examples of its usage in Qur’an and how alhamdulillah can fill the scale of good deeds.

‏قال رسول الله (إن لكل شيء حقيقة و ما بلغ عبد حقيقة الإيمان حتى يعلم أن ما أصابه لم يكن ليخطئه و ما أخطأه لم يكن ليصيبه)صحيح رقم2150

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “Everything has a reality. The reality of faith is that which has hit you couldn’t have missed you and that which has missed you couldn’t have hit you. No one can be a true slave of Allah unless he/she realizes the reality of faith.”

Some implications of this realization:

1) Letting bygones be bygones. If it didn’t happen then nothing could’ve made it happen.

2) Being positive and looking at the future. Dwelling on the past isn’t going to change it. Nothing I can do now will change it.

3) Not being down if opportunity is missed, nor overly excited if capitalized.
May Allah give us such incredible faith that leads to positive actions, ameen.

Tilawah is generally translated as recitation and most often used in the context of reciting Qur’an. However, linguistically it has two basic meanings: to read and to follow.

The reading part is obvious from the general translation. However, to demonstrate that tilawah also means to follow, consider this: the Arabs would call a baby goat that was just weaned off its mother a “tilwu” (from tilawah) because it would follow the mother everywhere.

Check out the video and its 2nd part (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WfcFzaVtmM) for more details, the usage of the word in the Qur’an and its implications.

Bismillah.

There are a few words that are used in the Qur’an to describe the way Qur’an should be recited. I will focus on two of these words: tarteel (ترتيل) and tilawah (تلاوة). This post will discuss the meaning of the word tarteel, its usage in the Qur’an and its implications.

Meaning of Tarteel

Linguistically, tarteel is a noun related to the verb rattala (رتّل). Both these words originate from the word ratl (رتل).

The word ratl (رتل) means something that is beautifully composed. In Arabic: حُسْن تَناسُق الشي. The Arabs of the past would say someone who has has white, gapless teeth with no crookedness to have ratl (رتل) teeth.

As you can see from the imagery of teeth, ratl means something that is beautiful, harmonious and orderly.

Usage in the Qur’an

The word tarteel is used in two parts in the Qur’an.

Surah Muzzammil

يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُزَّمِّلُ ﴿١﴾ قُمِ اللَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا ﴿٢﴾ نِّصْفَهُ أَوِ انقُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا ﴿٣﴾ أَوْ زِدْ عَلَيْهِ وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلًا ﴿٤﴾

O you who wraps himself [in clothing], (1) Arise [to pray] the night, except for a little - (2) Half of it – or subtract from it a little (3) Or add to it, and recite the Qur’an with measured recitation. (4)

Surah Furqan

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ الْقُرْآنُ جُمْلَةً وَاحِدَةً كَذَٰلِكَ لِنُثَبِّتَ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ وَرَتَّلْنَاهُ تَرْتِيلًا ﴿٣٢﴾

And those who disbelieve say, “Why was the Qur’an not revealed to him all at once?” Thus [it is] that We may strengthen thereby your heart. And We have spaced it distinctly. (32)

Translations by Sahih International.

For an explanation on these two sets of ayahs and their relation to the linguistic meaning of tarteel, please refer to these videos:

Meaning and Implications of Tarteel

Putting together the linguistic meaning and its usage in the Qur’an, we can see that tarteel means three main things: clarity, well-paced and serene.

• Clarity: making sure that every letter and every consonant is crystal clear. This can be derived from the imagery of the ratl teeth discussed above.
• Well-paced: making sure that the recitation is decipherable. This can be derived from the usage of the word in Surah Furqan.
• Serene: making sure the experience of recitation is a serene experience. This can be derived from the context of Surah Muzzammil and the description of the Prophet’s recitation.

I pray that Allah gives us the ability to recite the Qur’an with tarteel, ameen.

An excerpt from a khutbah discussing what it means to truly worship Allah.

Summary:

- Allah says, ” يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ – O mankind, worship your Lord”. The word اعْبُدُوا has two origins: 1) to worship 2) to enslave/be a slave of someone
- Worshiping Allah is doing things that make Allah happy.
- Being a slave of Allah is being happy with what Allah does to us.
- Allah gives us several reasons to worship Him in the ayaat without even mentioning how to worship Him, highlighting how important it is to make the “why” a part of our discourse.

The discussion is based on the following ayaat from Surah Baqarah (2):

“O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous – (21) [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. (22)”

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ﴿٢١﴾ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَّكُمْ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّـهِ أَندَادًا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٢٢﴾