Day 10: Qur'an Class

I had my second Qur'an class today. Subhan Allah we all made so many mistakes while reciting the fateha (the first sura of the Qur'an) which Muslims recite a minimum of 17 times a day while praying. Especially with the BasmAllah. We all pronounce it "besm Allah" when actually it's "beesm Allah." I tried to console myself by telling myself that at least my mistakes were ones we all made, but I wasn't really all that successful. And it turns out I'm not really good at reciting in front of many people; I get really nervous.

And I just felt worse when the teacher—who, coincidentally, also happens to be Egyptian— advised us to get a Qur'an teacher when we get back home and some of the students said they wouldn't be able to find one. I thought of the numerous teachers I had had as a child and never appreciated. And how, as we say in Arabic "al ta'alom fel segh'ar kal na'sh 'aal hajar wal ta'alom fel kebar kal na'sh 'aal ma'" (Learning while you're young is like carving into a rock and learning when you're old is like carving into water).

My teacher thinks I should memorize Surat al-kahf (The Cave) while I'm here. I was thinking of Surat Yaseen since it's half the length of al-kahf, but al-kahf it is. That's 110 verses in 11.5 pages, which is an average of almost three pages a week. It sounds better when I say 5 verses a day but still I don't think I'll be able to do it. But insh'Allah I aim to have at least half of it memorized.

Today's Quote: All Muslims know three Hadiths: "Acts are by intentions," "Estafty qalbak [Ask your heart]," and "Religion is [making things] easy" which they use to justify their actions. They do bad deeds but say their intention is good. They make their own decision regarding questions they have, not realizing that you should only "ask your heart" if you find that scholars are equally divided over the issue. They ignore things they should do because they say they're too hard. Sheikh Imaad