Tuesday 12 November 2013

Is memorising the Quran 1st or Seeking knowledge?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
 This is a reminder for myself and others. May Allaah reward our Ulama!


Should the student of knowledge start with memorising the Quran?
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious Most Merciful
BismiLahi Rahmani Rahim
What should the student of knowledge begin with, studying the aqeedah and the tawheed which is part of the Eeman? Or memorising the Quran
As it was reported that it was from the way of the companions and the sunnah to teach the children the tawheed before the Quran and not the contrary as it is widely spread amongst people.
Jundub Ibn Junada may Allah be pleased with him said:
We were with the prophet sala Allahu alayhi wa salam while we were young boys, so we learned faith (eeman) before the Qur’an, then we learned the Quran and our eeman increased.
Reported by Ibn Majah and authentified by Al Albani.
And on the authority of Abd Allah Ibn Umar may Allah be pleased with them, He said:
We lived during an instant of time in which one of us would receive Faith first before receiving the Qur’an and when the verses were revealed we would learn what they permitted and what they prohibited and what they forbade and what they ordered and what should be the stance towards them. But I have seen many men from whom one is given the Qur’an before Faith and he reads it from the opening of the Book to its closing and he does not know what it orders and what it forbids and what should be his stance towards it. He is like someone who is just throwing out dates, i.e.: he does not get any benefit from his recital.
Reported by Al Bayhaqi and Al Haakim who authentified it.
Ibn Al-Qayyim said:
If they reach the time of pronouncing, let them pronounce La Ilah ila Allah Mohammed Rassoul Allah, and that the first thing that knocks their ears, knowing Allah Glory be He, His Tawheed and He (Glory be He) is above His throne, and that He sees them and that He hears their words and that He is with them wherever they are…
Shaykh Muhammed Ibn Abdul Wahab had written a letter named “Teaching the children Tawheed”, he says in his introduction:
This letter is a benefit showing what obligations to teach the children before teaching them the Qur’an. So that the child becomes a complete individual upon the islamic fitrah under tawheed correctly.
As it was asked also:
Do we start learning what is mandatory from the knowledge of the prayer, the fasting and the purification? Or do we start with memorising the Quran?
Ibn Mubarak answered to that:
If you have what is sufficient for you from the Quran to perform your prayer then seek knowledge.
I say because seeking knowledge of the deen is mandatory and memorising the Quran is recommended, so you do not precede the recommended over the mandatory.
Written by Shaykh Abu Abdellah Maher Bin Dhafer Al Qahtani
Translated by Abu Maryam Jaouad Al Maghreb

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

yazakiAllahu khair sister, a beautiful reminder! salamualaikum!umm mouad

Homeschool Diary said...

Asalamualaikum,
This is a really interesting post. It leaves me a bit confused though. Kids who are five-ish are well able to understand the essential elements of the seen but maybe not in so much detail. Is it not enough to go through basic fundamental parts of the deen and memorise quran- which they can do very well at this age. And then as they get older deepen their understanding of the deen according to their ability.

Umm Maimoonah said...

Alaikum salaam Umm Mouad, wa iyyaaki.

Alaikum salaam Amatullaah, Allaah knows best. The Ulama are the ones who could really explain your concerns.

We learn from the young sahabahs that they were taught Eemaan and Aqeedah when they were very little, because I think Ibn Abbaas radhiyallu anhu was only 12 or 13 years old when the Messenger of Allaah sallaahu alaihiwasallam died and he had such a vast amount of ilm at that age.

From my experience I can tell you teaching Aqeedah from a very very early stage and giving lot of time to it has really helped.
Alhamdulillaah.

przygody na wyspie wiatrow said...

Assalamualaykum,
Jazakiallah khairan for this post. It helped me a lot with deciding which direction to go in our HE.

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