بِسْم الله الرحمن الرحيم
How do I prepare myself?
What are the stages of studying a Surah?
1) The Stage of Preparation (تهيئة)
2) The Stage of Studying (الدّراسة)
And this is further divided into two steps:
a) Brief study
b) Detailed study
3) The Stage of Memorization (الحفظ)
After you study the Surah, you'll be able to divide it into parts. And then you memorize part by part.
4) Review (المراجعة)
This is to review the meanings. If someone asks you for the verses which talk about the Dunya in that particular Surah, you should be able to recite it from memory.
What's the evidence for the aforementioned methodology?
The above is a suggested way of studying the Surah, based on the statements of the Scholars.
E.g. The word "تهيئة" is from the explanation of السعدي of the verses in [73:1-6]:
Allah commands the Prophet ﷺ; describing the time and action.
What's the time? The Prophet ﷺ should stand up for half or less of the night, or more than half.
What's the action? To get up and recite the Quran with ترتيل (slowly, in a pleasant tone)
Why do you have to do that?
Whenever إنّا comes after a command in the Qur'an, it's تعليلية.
Why at night?
At night it's easier to govern yourself more, and is more suitable to understand the word of Allah.
السعدي said:
"...فإن ترتيل القرآن به يحصل التدبر و التفكر، و تحريك القلوب به، و التعبد بآياته، و التهويؤ و الاستعداد التام له"
And He said:
"'إنَّا سنلقي عليك قولا ثقيلا" أي: نوحي إليك هذا القرآن الثقيل، أي: العظيمة معانيه، الجليلة أوصافه، و ما كان بهذا الوصف، حقيق أن يتهيأ له، و يرتل، و يتفكر فيما يشتمل عليه"
Tarteel helps the person make تدبر; to contemplate and reflect over the meaning. And it prepares one for reciting the Qur'an with contemplation.
And the Qur'an consists of mighty, noble, glorious meanings. Therefore it is worthy of being prepared for, to be recited with Tarteel, and to contemplate over its meanings.
We have to prepare ourselves before studying any Surah. You don't just open the Tafseer book whenever you want to study. You won't benefit from the way of studying, there'll be no effect on you.
So that's where we got the word "تهيئة".
The Stage of Preparation
How do I prepare myself?
1) Recite and listen to the Surah many times repeatedly.
Once, the Prophet ﷺ established the whole night with the verse [5:118]:
And the Salaf and the Tabi'een used to do this as well.
2) ملاحظة
While you're listening and reading, you need to observe and notice many things, such as:
-> Repeated words
-> Similiar words (in their root)
-> The Pillars of إيمان
-> The Stories
-> The Parables
-> The Rules - Halal and Haraam, commands, etc.
-> The Description of the People
-> Names of Allah
-> Actions of Allah
You have to observe the words of the Qur'an. Every word in the Qur'an implies great meanings. If you don't stop, think, and reflect, over their meanings, you'll never find out the wisdom behind mentioning that specific word.
E.g. In [102:1-2]:
At-Tabari said, "This verse is a proof for the punishment of the grave"
How did he reach that conclusion?
He said, "This is because Allah mentions about the people who are diverted by collecting and gathering worldly things, and Allah warns and threatens them with "حتي زرتم المقابر". This indicates there's a punishment in the grave.
Ali said, "We doubted the punishment of the grave, until Allah revealed this verse"
Ibn Abbas said, "'زرتم المقابر' means until you die and end up in the graves as visitors; then you will return to your original abode"
When we visit someone, we go for a short time, and then go back home. We'll be in our graves temporarily, then we'll return to our settling, final abode - in Paradise or HellFire. You won't be in your grave forever.
A bedouin first heard this verse and said, "By Allah, the visitor will not remain there forever. For sure, there's something else behind it"
There are people who deny Paradise and Hell. This one word builds your Aqeedah.
We shouldn't just quickly finish a Surah and take another. You have to read and study again and again.
It was mentioned that Ibn Abbas's neighbor spoke to another man saying, "Ibn Abbas would recite a verse and stay silent for the time I'm talking to you. Then he'd read another verse and keep silent" The man asked why he did that. He said, "Because he was contemplating over the meaning of the verse"
Ibn AlQayyim said, "The meanings of the Qur'an revolve around the following:
1) Tawheed and its evidences - Allah's Ruboobiya, Uloohiya, Asmaa Wa Sifat
(Those who study the Qur'an and say they don't want to study Tawheed don't know the purpose of revealing the Qur'an)
We have to notice the names of Allah, His attributes, and His actions.
2) الإيمان بالرسل and the proofs of their Prophethood and Messengership
3) Belief in the Angels; who are the messengers of Allah to the creation. We should notice their disposal of affairs by the permission of Allah, the duties they're appointed with.
4) Belief in the Judgement Day. You have to focus on four things:
a) Knowing Allah's Names and Attributes which are shown on that Day.
E.g. In [40:16]:
We have to know the impact of these names before we meet Allah on the Day of Judgement.
b) The details of the delight and torment
We have to focus on the detail of the delights and torment mentioned in every Surah. And in every Surah the type of delight and torment is suitable to the theme of the Surah.
E.g. سورة البروج
In this Surah the disbelievers persecuted and burnt the believers. The punishment specified for the disbelievers in [85:10] is:
E.g. A Surah talks about المستكبرين (The Arrogant). The punishment mentioned is usually humiliation.
In [40:60]:
c) The deeds of both parties; the believers - what they did which made them deserve the delight of Paradise, and the disbelievers - what they did which made them deserve the torment.
d) Allah's perfect justice in that day, and how Allah praised His noble self on that day.
In [34:1]:
Even when the people of hellfire enter it, they won't feel wronged. These verses will build up your Aqeedah. Allah never wrongs His servant; they are the ones who deserve the punishment.
5) The Commands and Prohibitions
There are more than 25 ways of knowing if a verse is a command from Allah.
E.g. Through a direct command from Allah
E.g. It can come in the form of praising the Prophets. Like when Allah praises Ayyub for being patient, Nuh for his gratefulness, etc.
E.g. Or in the form of Allah where praises the people of Paradise for certain actions.
E.g. When Allah praises that attribute or mentions it's description.
E.g. Or when Allah dispraises a certain attribute.
6) The Stories and Parables
E.g. سورة الغافر
One story is mentioned in this Surah, which hasn't been mentioned in any other Surah in the Qur'an: The Believer in the People of Pharoah who hid his faith.
His story has only been mentioned in Surah Ghafir. Why? Because the whole theme of Surah AlGhafir is about الجدال (Argumentation). The believer was disputing about the truth. Musa brought the truth, and Pharoah disputed regarding the truth.
How do we know that this Surah is about الجدال? In the first three verses, Allah mentions His Names and Attributes. Then, in Verse 4:
In Verse 5:
In Verse 35:
In Verse 47:
Even when they're in the HellFire they're disputing.
In Verse 56:
In Verse 69:
Whenever a word is repeated many times in a Surah, it means that the Surah is about that matter.
And Allah repeated the word "كبر" and it's derivations in this Surah - to indicate that those who dispute have pride, arrogance, in their hearts.
Therefore when clear evidences from the Qur'an and Sunnah come to us, we shouldn't argue. Take it and apply it in your life.
Don't say "The teacher said Niqab isn't obligatory". If the evidences from the Qur'an, Bukhari, and Muslim come, don't let one opinion let you become hesitant. If the evidence is clear, take it. Every teacher will come with something; you need to go along with the proof.
3) القراءة التفهيمية - Explanatory Recitation
In this step you read the verse and try to explain it to yourself word by word. If you can't explain it to yourself it means you don't know the meaning of that word.
And if you don't understand, you have to ask about it - by going to the Tafseer books, the scholars, etc.
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