What's So Great About The Quran Anyways?! The Miracle of Our Book

Today an old friend posted on Facebook about how shocked he was when he started learning more and more about his religion of Christianity and how the Bible leaves parts out, changes details, etc... He was surprised how different his religion was from what he had learned of it.

And, it made me remember several years ago when I began researching more and more... when I felt like I needed religion in my life, but the religion my grandparents had passed down to me wasn't congruent with what I felt in my heart.

It was so painful.

And frustrating.

And it created this terrible sense of longing in me that nothing could quell until I found Islam.

But, it didn't stop me from trying to make Christianity my religion before Islam. When I delved deeper into the Bible, I found inconsistencies. Yes, there are things in it that don't make sense.

For example:

I did a skit in my freshman year of college when for a course we were asked to read the Bible.

The skit was about the difference between Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We each had our own disciple to tell the story of Jesus about and we made it like a Maury talkshow:

"OH NO YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT JESUS WAS SON OF MAN!"

Mark (Me!): Jesus was the son of man. 

Matthew and Luke: Jesus was the Son of God.

John: Jesus was God himself.

Guess what, in a Paternity Test of Jesus, God is NOT the Father.

But, that didn't bother me as much.

What KILLED me was the fact that what was in the Bible wasn't being practiced.

For example, the Bible says to wear hijab... I haven't seen a Christian hijabi yet.

The Bible says not to gamble... but 98% of the casinos are filled with Christians.

Now, please, keep in mind Muslims believe in parts of the Bible, and parts of the Torah.  One of the pillars of the religion is we believe in the Books - not just Quran.

I think the problem is that no one ever reads the Bible... and when they do, not literally.

My grandmother is a pretty devout Christian and she even admits that she doesn't think that The Bible is the word of God.  She reads the Bible every day.

People say it's an "interpretation."

Yes, not every Muslim person follows what the Quran says.  Of course not! We are all messed up, too! But at least I feel in Islam we all believe in Quran.  We all know that it is the Truth.  And that it is what we SHOULD be doing.  There is a shame about going against the Quran.  I can only think of one Muslim guy I know that shares on Facebook each time he gets drunk.

What I love about Islam is that we REALLY believe that the Quran is LITERALLY THE WORD OF GOD.

Straight up. From Him to us. 

AND, there are millions (sources say approximately ten million, but don't quote me) of men and women around the world that have the ENTIRE Quran memorized.

When I first learned about these people - called "Hafiz of Quran" - I thought about how many people have the Bible memorized, and soon realized what language would they memorize it in?

See, there are thousands of different versions of the Bible.

There's ONE version of the Quran.

Yes. That's what's so special. There's just ONE.

One.

O.

N.

E.

When I first learned that about Quran I was shocked! What the hell do you mean there's only ONE?

There is one version of the Arabic Quran. Every little letter and accent is the same. Every single one.

No matter which one you pick up.

Can you imagine if that was true of the Bible? The Bible has inconsistencies within ITSELF.

Let alone the entire book!

Yes, there are different translations of Quran.  I read a side-by-side Arabic - English translation, for example.

The Arabic is exactly the same as all other Qurans. The English, not so much.

Obviously there is no exact English translation for all Arabic words, same thing with German or Portuguese or Urdu, any other language.

That, in itself is a miracle to me. This doesn't allow for "interpretations." This means it is literal.

There aren't inconsistencies (except in places where rules changed during the revelation of the book- i.e. at first alcohol wasn't prohibited, but instead people were commanded not to come to prayer drunk and eventually, before the end of the Prophet Muhammad (saws)'s life, alcohol was then forbiden).

But, guess what, the Quran says "don't drink" so I "don't drink."

Imagine that!

My History Lesson: And, I friggin hate history, but from what I learned, the Quran was memorized by the Arab people during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) as he would receive a revelation he would repeat it.  At the time the Arabs were amazing memorizers and they would then memorize word-for-word what he said.  Many people all memorized the same words, so it was not as if it could be changed by some random camel rider. It was eventually written on the shoulder blade bones of camels and when the people decided to make the written copy - the one we use today - they gathered a bunch of different hafiz (memorizers) and wrote down what they had recited.  They were all consistent. Feel free to correct anything wrong I said in here, because this is straight from memory from 3 classes I took 2 years ago.

I guess the point of the entire post is for two reasons:

1. If you are going to claim a religion, at least read the book. If you are Jewish - BE JEWISH. If you are Sikh - BE SIKH!  I don't care! Just know what "Being Jewish" means. Know what the Book says. Know the fundamentals of your religion. Go to temple. Go to church. Go buy a dreidel.  Do what you want.

And, don't tell me you don't agree with aspects of my religion that are also a part of yours.

2. If you're Muslim, please, we need to be so proud of our Quran.  Alhamdulilah wa subhanAllah what a miracle!!! 

I said before: "I would stay up as late as possible reading Qur’an and crying knowing that I was reading the truth. I reflect on how beautiful it is that Allah (swt) gave all of the other Prophets the power to perform miracles for the people of their time to see, but he gave Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alayhi wa salaam) a miracle that I get to hold in my hands every day, the Qur’an."

Really, it is such an immense blessing and we can't take it for granted.  I'm totally guilty of it, too.

You buy a fancy $200 golden Quran, but you never take it off the shelf.

It's not a decoration.  This isn't Pottery Barn.  This is a miracle.

May Allah (swt) help us all to come closer to Him through whichever path He has decreed for us.  Even if you're not Muslim, He chose a path for you. May He make us all passionate about our knowledge of Him through His Book, and inshaAllah someday I - and millions of others - will become Hafiza of Quran.

Now That You're Muslim, You Have To Hate America, Right?

I will credit my lovely friend Sarah with this gem.  I love her, but this question is absolutely ridiculous. She asked me during the middle of a meeting as if it was dancing around in her head for years, and she thought it would be appropriate to ask at that exact moment. "So, now that you're Muslim, they make you hate America, right?"

I cracked up. I thought she was joking.  But within a second I saw in her face that she was DEAD SERIOUS.

"Umm, no Sarah, I love America.  Being Muslim has nothing to do with America."

Then, she asked "Didn't your Prophet hate America or something?"

"No, Sarah, our Prophet Muhammad (saws) lived hundreds of years before America was founded."

"Oh, I always thought that was a rule."

I considered shaking her and forcing her to read a book.

The media is so manipulative of people's thoughts that they make hundreds of assumptions based on what they see on television. So much so that they think hating America is one of the pillars of our religion.

America was never mentioned in our religion's fundamentals - it's not in Quran, Hadith, etc... - in either a positive or a negative way.

And NO, I DON'T HATE AMERICA! I LOVE AMERICA! 

If I didn't, I wouldn't live here!

I don't love how all people act in America, I don't love that people wear booty shorts in WalMart, I don't love that people think I don't speak English because I look different, I don't love corn dogs and bacon, But I LOVE AMERICA.

I love our freedom, I love my grandfathers for serving in America's Armed Forces, I love that in a 40 hour drive from the East Coast to West Coast I saw every possible climate you could ever imagine, I love that I can love the soldiers while still hating the war, I love that I can write this blog because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion,

I participate in the Pledge of Allegiance, and I know the National Anthem. And still, I took my shahada, and I know Al-Fatiha.

Being Muslim doesn't make me hate my country. Unfortunately, however, this country makes you hate Islam.

You've heard of Islamophobia, but I've never heard of Americaphobia.

I'm sure the vast majority of my Muslim brothers and sisters don't look at you with hate when you walk by them on the street, however, we often are looked at in this way.

Being a Muslim in America does change my perspective, yes.  It makes me critical of the lack of morals people have, yes.  It also makes me critical of how "God-less" people can be.  How some people think nothing can control them, but they forget God made them, and His plan is THE PLAN.

Just because you're the CEO of the company, doesn't mean you're the CEO of your fate.

It's ironic to me that people have these terrible misconceptions, and yet when shows like "All American Muslim" are shown on television, no one watches them.  The show was cancelled because of its lack of popularity.  Controversial statements against Muslims are wildly popular on Fox News, though!  Please take some responsibility for your ignorance.

For my Muslim friends, can we please make it a priority to show how proud we are to be Americans? And that Islam and America can "go together" peacefully? Put on some red, white, and blue hijabs or SOMETHING. Wave a darn flag once in a while!

And for my nonMuslim friends who don't want to be ignorant, please read a book.  And don't believe every single thing you hear or see on television, or what the first thing on the top of Google says.

May Allah (swt) clear up all misconceptions about our religion and help us to learn to live together in Peace.

What Are Some Moments That Drew You Nearer to Islam? One of The Life Changers

I've had a lot of amazing moments in time that drew me closer to Islam and that helped to build my love for it... reading Surah Ad Duha, the first time I read a full sentence in Arabic, praying Taraweeh every night in Ramadan, listening to the sheiyk's recitation at my "home" masjid, there are hundreds of amazing moments that shaped my faith. They are the kind of moments that when I look back on my conversion, I find the most peace in. They put this feeling in my heart that I can't describe. I can recollect them with so much detail, but one moment really melted my heart.

Everyone who has ever met me knows that I cannot wait to be a mother - more than anything else in this entire world. I've always loved children.

The day I went to take my shahada I was anxious, nervous, thankful, excited, a million emotions going on at one second. But, I got to the masjid, met the women that had helped me to make the "shahada appointment," and went to pray jumaa in the masullah - or the prayer room.

Once I got inside, I sat towards the back.  It was before I knew the sunnah of praying two rakat when you arrive at the masjid.  So I sat while everyone else did their thing.

I was so confused! Why are these people praying now? I thought we all do it together? I thought the sheiyk led it...  I get it now, but was just confused at the time.

While I waited for everyone to finish their two rakat, secretly freaking out in my head that I had no idea why these people were praying right now, I looked around.

Our masjid at home is set up so that the women sit behind the men without any partition except for a significant area of carpet that the men leave between them and us.

While I was sitting there, an old Indian man in his eighties came and took a spot in the the men's section with his two-year-old grandson.

I was already in love with this little boy's outfit.

He was wearing a SWEATERVEST, people! A SWEATERVEST.  What in this entire world is cuter than a little Indian boy in a sweatervest? I will tell you, absolutely NOTHING.

His grandfather started to pray and the little boy mimicked every single movement that his grandfather was doing with such excitement and passion.  He obviously wasn't required to pray at age 2, and I would have expected that he would be all over the place running around, jumping, screaming.

No, he was as standing there, completely still, with his hands folded, his giant eyes (mashaAllah) checking to make sure that he was doing the same thing as his grandfather every few seconds.

And he prayed.  He put his forehead to the ground and prayed. Just like every other grown man at that masjid.

The difference was, however, he was so extremely excited to do it.  He couldn't wait to learn. He couldn't wait to pray.

Yes, I may have had an extra 18 years on this little guy, but he and I were the same on that day. We're both newly Muslim. We were both learning.  We both had that passion and excitement that had dwindled in the hearts of the other people around us.

And at that moment I felt at peace. I knew that this religion was no doubt for me and all the nervousness went away.

When I watch the children at the masjid, the little three year olds with their hijabs and their bangs out, the little boys in kufis and thobe, I love that passion.  I love that sincere love for Islam.

And, I think we need to bottle that and sell it as a fundraiser ;) I don't care about your baklawa, I want this excitement!

That little boy will never know how much he impacted me, but I honestly believe that Allah (swt) put him there as a reminder for me. May he be rewarded for this tremendous gift Allah gave me through him with that memory, and may he continue to have this passion for his entire life.

Next time you're at the masjid - whichever one you go to- come a little early and just look around. Watch the little kids, and find that passion in yourself all over again. May Allah (swt) grant you, myself, and all Muslims that love for Him and Islam that the little boy showed me every single time you pray.