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Quran
Tafseer Class:
After
the students are taken through the morning timetable of Group time,
subject class, and the quarter-hour break, the Quran Tafseer class
commences. This class is divided into the following slots:
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Taking
down dictation of the Quran’s word-to-word translation for the
lesson of the day
-
Listening
to, and noting down, its tafseer
-
Listening
to the qir’aat (recitation) of the portion just studied
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Discussion
and Q&A (Question/Answer session) on the ayah’s,
if there is time
Tafseer class is conducted in the main lecture hall, as are
all the subject classes. Efforts have been made to build this hall
in such a way that it provides students with an extremely
comfortable and distraction-free atmosphere for learning. Some
physical features of the lecture hall include air-conditioning,
provision of a centrally-controlled sound system supplemented with
microphone and stationed speakers, chairs, benches and desks aligned
in rows, and carpeting.
Students are required
to follow disciplinary rules in order to make the environment even
more conducive to learning and for optimum absorption of the
lecture, such as adhering to the uniform code, being seated in the
hall on time, abstaining completely from eating and drinking,
maintaining silence, and not exiting the class during the lecture.
1.
Discussions:
In everyday tafseer,
if some difficulty is being faced by the students or if there is an
important ayah in the lesson, discussions or
exchanges-of-views are conducted. Everyone can participate in them
by expressing their feelings/views. Also, points for practical
implementation are derived, such as: "What does
Allah want us to learn from today's lesson?", "What is our
course of action in
contrast to what we have learned?", "How can we
change our actions according
to these ayah's?", and more.
2.
The
Heart of the Matter:
So
what is it that makes women leave their comfortable homes in the
morning, to attend a class that sounds so unrealistically strict?
Once
someone makes the commitment to study the Quran in-depth, just as
she once studied for a higher degree or board exams, in a setup
comprising of the ‘triangle of knowledge’ endorsed by Islam:
teacher, student, and book, she gains insight into the world of
Allah’s ‘kalaam’, as
sent down for His slaves.
It
is not just about gaining knowledge of what the Quran has to tell
us, or to learn up its translation to gain marks in the tests. Once
the ayah’s are studied in such a way that each Arabic word is
dissected into its root, its meanings analyzed, supplemented by a
contextual study of the event backdrop in which those ayah’s
were revealed, followed finally by a heart-rending analysis into our
own personal lives: relating the spirit and essence of the actions
those ayah’s inspired at
the time of their revelation, to how we can incorporate them in our own actions in today’s time, the student feels the distinct
pull of the Quran as it entices her to find out more, to know more,
of what her Creator wants from her, of how she can tread the path of
life in a way that will make her supremely successful in both this
world and the next.
The
Quran no longer remains a “book” – it becomes the magnetic
pull towards Allah that the heart finds irresistible, the
heart-softener that moulds a person’s thoughts and feelings in
such a way that she becomes willing to overcome any
obstacle in order to gain the sought-after pleasure of her Creator.
The Quran, being the spoken word of Allah for His slaves, comes
alive in the heart, clears away all doubts and fears, plants the
seed of authentic knowledge that brings forth sincere action, and
does away with the love of – and the associated pains and
disillusionments produced by – the temporary life of this world.
As the enlightening ayah’s fall
upon it day after day, the heart finds itself being gradually
inclined towards the ultimate and permanent destination of the
Hereafter, having finally found the solace it longed for, and
humbles itself before the One Being for whose remembrance it was
created.
Consequently,
at Al-Huda, there are three
avenues by which the Quran is studied and absorbed into the
heart:
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Arabic
Recitation and Listening:
The focus on correcting students’ Arabic recitation skills (tajweed),
and on making them listen to Arabic Quran recitation every day,
enables them to relate to the Quran in
the very language in which Allah chose to reveal it to
mankind.
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Memorization
of Urdu/English Translation:
By memorizing the word-to-word translation of one or two ruk’oos
of the Quran every day, bearing in mind that most of the Arabic
words of the Quran are repeated throughout, students eventually
begin to understand the Quran directly,
without needing to depend on a translation.
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In-depth
analysis of the meanings of the Quran: By listening to
detailed tafseer, having discussions on the ayah’s, and analyzing and pondering on its meanings, students
are able to develop a research-oriented way of understanding the
Quran that inspires them to race forward in putting it into
practice.
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