Nouman Ali Khan

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan gives a soulful and impactful lecture that deals with the importance of and the lessons one must imbibe and inculcate from the day of Jumu'ah. Those people who were given knowledge of the Book of Allah but chose to stay ignorant about it are like the donkey that carries a load that it cannot benefit from. Those who claim to be the only Friends of Allah are challenged to desire death if they are in fact truthful. There cannot be a more true measure of one’s proximity to Allah! Those who know they have done well have no qualms and apprehensions about death. The death we try to run from incessantly will eventually catch up with us. Hence, it is of paramount importance that we rectify and better our actions while there is still time. It is sinful to engage in worldly activities whilst unprepared for Jumu‘ah, once the Adhan of Jumu‘ah is called. The worship and obedience of Allah are better than futility and business, though the latter has to be done when necessary.  Listen intently and be mesmerized by the lecture.

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan delves on the benefits of Salah and how the Prophets of Allah AS lay prominent stress on this most fundamental aspect while preaching the Deen to the Ummah. One of the benefits of Salat is that we connect directly to Allah and hence, is supposed to bring light into our life. Every Salah is supposed to be a source of light in our life. Every salah is supposed to be us getting refueled, rejuvenated. When a person really established salah, when they really, truly establish salat in their life, then they feel a Noor, a light, a tranquility, peace, a calm, a love, that they’ve never felt before and the only place they get it is in salat and the highest form of that is described in the Qur’an as Qurrath ul’ ain. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ says that Salah is the coolness of his eyes and that the highest form of his tranquility was kept in the prayer, was put in the prayer and when he made salah, he found the most peace. And if this is the greatest gift that can be had in this world, a connection with Allah SWT, a relationship with the Master, then for everyone that we love, we will want them to have the same gift genuinely.  The Ustadh then emphasizes on the need for Sabr in our existence which is an endearing quality and is highly appreciated by Allah SWT.

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan shares with us the accounts of one particular Sahabi that we can draw specific lessons from. The initial part of the lecture dwells on a comparison in the stature and authority of Musa AS and Haroon AS. There’s a big difference in the way of leadership between the two. For all of us, we have not seen Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and for the Sahaba that were seeing him, they had not seen Allah.  They had not seen miracles from the sky, or anything supernatural, save a few of them who saw some particular incidents that we can pinpoint.  But for these specific companions of Musa AS who were in dire straits such as they were about to be executed by a tyrant ruler, whilst standing in the desert on the trust and promise made by Musa AS. It was not so easy for the companions of Musa AS to easily trust him in the wake of these trials and dangers.

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan delves on the Ayahs at that start of the beautiful Surah Al Mu'minoon which emphasizes on the characteristics of believers. Allah (SWT) began this Surah saying:  Those you truly believe, those who have really attained a majority in their faith, these are the people that have already attained success, implying that they have already put a lot of work in to get there. Those who are especially when it comes to their Salah, they have this quality called Khushu. Those especially for the goal of cleansing themselves, purifying themselves. The people that inherit the highest Paradise.  When it comes to the things they are trusted with and the promises they make, they don’t just fulfill them, they watch over them. Hence, we must pray to Allah (SWT) that He help us fulfill these obligations and expectations and make these difficulties ahead of us in cleansing ourselves easier for all of us and bring the love of the Quran and the love of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ into our hearts and into the hearts of our family.

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan delves on some Ayats from Surah al Baqarah where one of the main conversations is what people follow, who they end up following & why they follow who they follow. And on Judgment Day everybody stands up we see that there are trendsetters and there are trend followers. What happens next? Allah SWT is talking to people of the book, and through His Messenger ﷺ, He commands them to good things and forbids them from evil things. He makes permissible for them good and pure things and he makes impermissible for them filthy things. Hence, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ tells us to do good things, keep us away from bad things, open the door to pure things for us and close the door from filthy things away from us, so we stay away from the filthy things. So, he is setting a trend of sorts for the progress of Deen. As time goes in an ummah, society and its pressures starts mixing in and we get drawn into the obligation to abide by not what Allah says but the obligation to abide by what society says. The additional chains, additional burdens can all be eased if we embark on the path that the Messenger ﷺ sets to let go of those burdens. We think we follow societal pressure because it will make life easy. It makes nothing but make life harder.  Hence, it is mandatory that we pray that we are not of the people who are followers of evil trends but the kinds of people that are the right trend followers in the light of Deen. we should follow the path set by Ibraheem (AS) and understand the Book of Allah the way it should be understood and avoid falling into the tide of cultural forces and pressures. We should be of those who understand His book, love His book and implement His book in our lives. We must pray that Allah opens the doors of wisdom and the wisdom of the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ to all of us.

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan shares with us a couple of reminders from the middle of Surah al Baqarah. In these Ayahs, the Sahabas get inaugurated and congratulated from Allah that they have become a distinct nation, a distinct Ummah and now they also have a unique identity,  We must pray that Allah makes us the people of the Quran like the Messenger ﷺ envisioned us to be. Also, we must make Dua to Allah that we understand the beautiful legacy of Messenger ﷺ and make us appreciate the unthinkable gift, the un-imaginable gift of whose value can not be placed -the gift of Qur'an so that Allah helps us become ‘Ummatan Wasatan’.

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan acquaints us with the Qur’an being an incredible literature from many different angles. We can study this subject from many different points of view.  The first of the viewpoints that is delved upon is precision in word choice or accurate word choice. The believer knows that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah. The speech of a human being is not necessarily calculated down to the word, but the speech of Allah is perfect because it comes from a source that is perfect. And that is illustrated with hundreds of thousands of examples in the Qur’an.  An interesting comparison is drawn from two words - Makkah and Bakkah. They both occur once in the Qur’an: once in the Qur’an in Surat Muhammad wherein Allah SWT uses the word Makkah and the word Bakkah. What is the purpose of this? Listen intently. Allah's speaks about tranquility often in the Quran. The Arabic word for tranquility is “As-Sakeenah”. “He is the one who sent tranquility into the hearts of the believers, he sent it into the hearts of the believers. “ But in Suratu-l-Fath and Surat-At Tawba, Allah says: “He sent tranquility upon them.”  In one place he says in the same Surah He sent tranquility inside their hearts; in another, He says he’s sent the tranquility upon them. What is the meaning of this? The Qur’an is remarkable, stunning, mesmerizing literature to which there can never be any comparison even as we consider having an impact not just from a religious point of view but even from a psychological point of view. One can not be affected by anything one would ever listen or read as one will be by the Qur’an.`

Ustadha Nouman Ali Khan delves into the topic of the lecture, “Literary characteristics of the Qur’an” which comprises the introductory phase of his talk. Allah says in the Qur'an “haadha balyaaghu li-n-nas”.“Balyaagh” in Arabic means that which reaches someone else, a communication. The Qur’an is meant to reach people. It is a message to people.  Hence, Ustadh speaks about the essential components of communication which is aimed at an appreciation of the Qur’an that is almost lost entirely upon people who are not students of the Qur’an and Arabic which is the majority of Muslims. There are three components of speech: the first one – the speaker, the second one – the content, the speech and the third one – the style, how they speak – the medium.  When we turn to the Qur’an we ask ourselves, and we ask ourselves revisiting the question, the Qur’an is a miracle. The Qur’an is remarkable. The Qur’an is stunning in its beauty and communication. It’s remarkable and incredible in three other ways too - it’s remarkable in that the speaker is incredible, the speaker himself. What else is incredible? The speech. What else is incredible? The style.  In the next part of the lecture, we are made aware of who Hamaan is. Who is Haman in the Qur’an? He is the minister or one of the ministers of Fir’awn. Hamaan is mentioned in the Qur’an about six times. Why so? Listen intently. Then, we have acquaintance with two stories - the story of Tufayl ibn Amr ad-Dawsi and the story of ‘Utba ibn Rabi'ah.