As salaam alaikum my dear,

Welcome to the reflection corner! It’s so lovely to have you here.

Alhamdulillah, I finally managed to press send on this first letter to you all. To be honest, I’ve been staring at this screen for a while these few days, wondering how to start this off.

The thing is, when I announced that I’d be taking time off from social media and I was setting up this reflection corner instead, I didn’t really think too much about it. I was only expecting a couple of you to join me, and I was so excited to just share all the random reflections I had over the month.

But quite a few joined me (and a huge Jazakallah khair for that 🤍)! And it made me start entering this rabbit hole of whether starting this corner was a good idea, because…who am I really to be talking to you about the Quran?

I say ‘started to enter the rabbit hole’ because just I started to rethink everything, by Allah’s permission, it was His very Words that ended up being the reason I needed to carry on forward. 

Setting for you the scene

It was around early afternoon yesterday. The few hours of the day so far had been spent typing and then deleting and then retyping this draft. This was coupled with flipping through a gazillion different tabs, from my journal that had a few jumbled thoughts of how all this was a really bad idea, to all the different reflections I wanted to share. To sum it up, I was a bit of a mess. And hungry. And tired. And my brain had had enough. I could feel it rolling its eyes at me, ready to go on standby mode just to save itself from dealing with anymore of me.

Oops.

At this point, I decided it might be a better idea to just switch to something my brain might not hate me for. So I decided to tackle an easier task on my to do and so opened up my (virtual) notebook and pressed play on the tafseer lesson of Surah Duha.

And alhamdulillah for that.

Surah Duha - a Surah of comfort

Surah Duha is one of those surahs that are already a favourite for many. Just reading the translation makes you feel like you’re tucked into a warm cozy blanket, surrounded by comfort and security. Comfort and security, not from anyone, but from The Most Loving, The Protector.

In just 11 short verses Allah reminds the Prophet (s), and in extension you and me, that He will always be there for you, just like He has been for every step of your way till today. (If you have never looked into its meaning, I highly recommend checking out this short 7 min summary).

I’d love to delve into the details of all the verses but that may mean me rambling on for a bit too long! So, I’m going to stick to the one verse that stood out to me - the one that felt like the sign that I was waiting for.

This is the final verse of the surah and a really interesting verse.

I have always wondered what favours is Allah referring to in this verse that He is commanding us to talk about. Does it mean any blessings? So does that mean a rich businessman should be telling everyone about their big cars, their mansion, etc.

Or imagine someone who’s really talented at school. Are they meant to be saying ‘I’ve been so blessed by Allah. He has blessed me with such a genius brain which is why I am at the top of the class.’ Essentially, they are talking about the favours Allah has given them. Buuut, it feels more like showing off…and isn’t that a sin for us in Islam?

—

So what favour is Allah asking us to talk about then?

To understand that, we need to backtrack.

When we look at the verses just before, it is Allah reminding our Prophet (pbuh) of all the different moments that Allah was there for him and helped him through - from providing him security as an orphan, to providing him richness when he was poor, to guiding him when he felt lost.

Every one of us have had similar moments of difficulty in our past. From the fear of failing exams to the struggle to conceive, we all have faced something. And looking back now, months or even years later, we are able to see, even though it was difficult to see in the moment, Allah was there for us. He was the one who helped us out.

One of the interpretations is that the favours that we are meant to talk about are these moments - the moments of difficulty that Allah helped us through. Because it is what gives yourself and the people you tell the strength and tawakkul (trust in Allah) we need for the difficult moments of today.

But there is also another interpretation that the ‘favour’ mentioned in this verse is the Quran - the biggest favour given to His messenger, and as extension to all of us. Allah is telling you and me to talk to each other about the Quran.

And subhanallah, the combination of both these interpretations was the very intention of starting this small reflection corner on the internet.

When I think back to those moments where I felt the most awe and connected to His Word, it’s surprisingly not always the lectures or classes by the best of Shuyookh. Although, they added depth to my understanding of His Word, it’s usually the ordinary moments with real life people about real life situations that spark it -

• a story from my mum’s friends struggle and her tawakkul in Allah through the story of Musa

• a late night car drive with a loved one talking about their fear of sincerity and their love for the story of Nuh

• a WhatsApp post about a verse in Surah Baqarah from a random sister on a group chat.

These are just a few of many moments where I drew closer to the Quran because of the real life stories of other people who used the Word of Allah as their support, their comfort and their guide. 

Ordinary people sparking the extraordinary.

So with that, I pray I can maybe be that ordinary sister in this corner of the internet sparking a small bit of extraordinary for you.

And I pray we can all be of those who constantly connect to the Quran ourselves and share its impact on us with one another.

Ameen 🌻

Tadabbur Tip

This is something I want to add to every letter I send out. I’ll be sharing a tip in every letter to help you start your journey of reflection (tadabbur) with the Quran. I know how daunting it can feel at the start, so I wanted to share some of the pointers that have helped me over the years! I’ll try to keep it as short as possible too since I don’t want these letters to be too long.

Tip 1: Know the context of the Surah or verse you are trying to reflect on

When you look at a new Surah or verse, it can always feel daunting. The translation might not make much sense to you, and you have no idea where to start ‘reflecting’.

At this point, your first step would be to understand the context of the verses - when and why were these verses revealed to our Prophet (pbuh). This is known as the asbab un nuzul (reasons for revelation).

The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) over the course of 23 years! And no verse was sent randomly. Each one was revealed to him based on the situation he and his companions were in. It was revealed to guide them for those specific moments, which means if we can understand the context, we can understand how these verses can be a guide for us too, in our situations.

If you are listening to the tafsir of the surah, usually the teacher will give you the context. But if you are looking for a quicker resource, check out the Quran Project. It is a Quran translation that begins each Surah with an introduction that details the time of revelation and the moments of the seerah that relate to it.

And finally - 📖 Ramadan Planner!

A few of you had asked how I used Notion to plan my Ramadan, so I decided to make it into a template!

I know we’re a week into Ramadan and so I don’t know how useful this will be, but…you never know. Feel free to download and make use of it. I pray you find it helpful Ameen.

Wow, that was a bit long! Jazakallah khair for sticking till the end.

I hope to see you next Friday too inshaAllah.

If you have any reflections or comments before then, please feel free to hit reply. I’d love to hear inshaAllah 🤍

From the reflection corner,

Thasneema