The Story of Prophet Ibrahim: Reality of Sensation and Perception plus Recognition.

In the holy Qur’an, there are many stories those can be taken as examples in our daily life. In this case of three different stages of how people make a sense of their surrounding world, then try to perceive it simultaneously and at last, they would like to give a meaning on what they have perceived, we want to take into consideration one story of Allah’s Prophet. In surah al- An’am, Allah told us about the recognition of Him by Prophet Ibrahim when he was a young boy. As mentioned by Allah in these verses 74 to 79:


“And (remember) when Prophet Ibrahim said to his father, Aazar: “How could you take idols as your gods? Indeed I see you and your people in obvious error.” And thus We gave Prophet Ibrahim insight into (Our) mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth, so that he might be one of those endowed with unshakable certainty of faith. And when the night overshadowed him with its darkness, he saw a (shining) star, and said: “Is this my Lord?” But when it set, he said: “I do not love things that set.” And when he saw the rising moon (shining), he said: “Is this my Lord?” But when it set, he said: “If my Lord does not guide me, I will most certainly become one of the people who go astray.” And when he saw the sun rising (in shining splendour), he said: “Is this my Lord? It is larger.” But when it set, he said: “O my people, far be it from me to ascribe divinity, as you do, to anything other than God.” “Truly, I have set my face and my person to Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth, upright as a true believer, holding firmly on the principle on oneness of God, and I am not one of those who ascribe divinity to anything besides God.”

          The first thing that we want to identify in these holy verses is what kind of senses used by Prophet Ibrahim when he tried to find out about his almighty Lord. As we noticed here, there was a word ‘saw’ in the translation. This word is a past tense form of word ‘see’, meaning that the Prophet used his eyes to look at the three various things of the star, the moon and the sun when all of those appeared on the sky. The sensation of seeing has been demonstrated by him in order to perceive the things that he saw. This first step was really important as it could be considered as the main gate of basis information or input to come into his cognition (thought and mind) and allowed him to determine and decide about the criteria of true God. By using this sense too, he could differentiate between the concepts of mortality and immortality at really basic level by saying “I do not love things that set”.
           The second thing that is involved in this story of Prophet Ibrahim was how did he perceive the things that he saw or in other word, the perception of the star, the moon and the sun. Generally, we knew that all of these three are shining unless in terms of their level of the shining. This was what the Prophet perceived when he saw all those. He asked himself as a way of making verification about either the star, the moon or the sun was his Lord. He compared their different level of shining as to affirm that which one is the most powerful. Perhaps during that time, he was thinking about the most shining among those three (the sun) could be considered as a god. However, his rational thought was denying this thinking because of his another perception on them.
           Before we look at that perception, we try to understand one more perception that led the Prophet continuously asking himself to confirm about his Lord. This perception of different sizes among them was made him knew that the sun was the largest among these three. Then, he almost affirmed that the size should be a criterion of god. This means that he was good at making decision about the most powerful should be the largest one. But then, he was still wondering why the sun at last could not be his Lord because of another perception as mentioned just now. So, what is actually the perception that made the Prophet denying the divinity of the star, the moon and the sun?

          Now, we move further to the answer of what is the perception that caused the denial of divinity towards those three by Prophet Ibrahim. If we notice in the verses 76 until 78, there was a repeated statement of “but when it set”. The Prophet denied the holiness of those things when he first said “I do not love things that set” in the verse 76 after the shining star disappeared from the sky and his sight. This illustrated that he saw the alternation of those things which reflected and proved that all of those should not be affirmed as his Lord. The most important thing, he realized that the star, the moon and the sun were no more than just creations of his Lord.
          Then, last step of recognition come on the stage. In this story, the Prophet actually wanted to identify and find out about his Lord. After he saw the three different things, he perceived them in terms of their shining competency as well as their various sizes. Nevertheless, because of their attribute of disappearance when the day has changed as night, therefore he started to refuse everything that is not everlasting from being worshipped by him. At this point, he recognized that all of these three in fact were only things that had no power to benefit or to harm himself without permission by the great Creator who administered their position.   

          Last but not least, Prophet Ibrahim declared that he would only worship the God who has created the heavens and the earth as well as everything in this world. He would not go astray as same as his people who were worshipping the idols. At the end, he recognized that Allah is the only one who deserved to be served and worshipped by him, not others than Him. Based on this story, we knew that the ultimate recognition in Islam actually to know Allah almighty and legitimate the oneness of Him. Thus, we should have an absolute faith in Him and believe that all of us will be accountable of what we have done in this worldly life before Him in the Day of Judgment. May Allah bless us night and day.

Reinforcement and Punishment in the Quran

Yesterday when I was reading the three surahs those included in our memorization project, it just like a great pleasure for me when I found that many verses in those surahs are related to our discussion about operant conditioned learning in our last few classes. What did relate to the topic is reinforcement and punishment which in the holy Quran, Allah mentioned both of them clearly. The most obvious one is in the surah al-Waqi’ah whereas Allah told us about three different groups of people; al-Sabiqun al-Awwalun, Ashab al-Yamin and Ashab al-Syimal.

            The first two groups of al-Sabiqun al-Awwalun (the foremost in performing righteous deeds) and Ashab al-Yamin (those on the right hand) are people whom Allah promised with many various rewards in the hereafter. They all will enter the Jannah (paradise) peacefully as a blessing by Allah because of what did they have done during their worldly life before. Meanwhile the third group known as Ashab al-Syimal (those companions of the left) are people who will be punished by God with a grievous chastisement which consists of different types of punishment such as eating the Zaqqum-tree, drinking boiling water, the shadows of pitch-black smoke, scorching winds and all these of course are in the Fire of Hell (Jahim).

            Through this surah, Allah wanted to remind us about His great rewards towards anyone who is doing good deeds and at the same time, He warned us on His painful punishment. Therefore, if we truly understand this surah, as a Muslim should we learn to avoid any sin and do a lot of worships for the sake of Allah in order to become His beloved servant as well as Ashab al-Yamin; not the Ashab al-Syimal one. Indirectly, we can see that this will indicate the process of operant conditioned learning which stressed on the reinforcement (reward) and the punishment.

            By the way, now I already understood the contents of those surahs generally so far and if Allah wills, I will finish my memorization by tomorrow after doing a lot of maintenance rehearsal everyday by using repeated recitation and echoic method as I told before in my past posts. May Allah bless us……. :^)

Another Method to Improve Our Memorization

Assalamu’alaikum to everyone, Happy ‘Eid al-Adha al-Mubarak and may Allah bless us during this recent great holy celebration. On this stage right now, I am pretty sure that all of us already memorize many pages of those three particular surahs; Yasin, al-Waqi’ah and al-Mulk. Since this memorization project had been launched at first on early October 2011, we are now in the second month of period of the project meaning that it is already one month passed if we realize it.

            Now, I want to reveal another good method to make sure our memorization is really ‘pasted’ in our long-term memory, that is to repeat the surah from its last page backwardly to its first page as it in the mushaf. It sounds like quite difficult and rarely applied by some people who are fully involved in the course of Quranic memorization (tahfiz al-Quran). The rational of this method is for average people like us can clearly remember each page of certain surah and do know sort of each verse permanently (after many repetitions).

            Let us imagine when we are hiking a mountain and there are many several check points and camp sites along a particular track. We have to follow the right track in order to avoid from lost. After few days we have passing the check points and the camp sites, we finally arrive on the top of the mountain. Then, we have to go down back to the hill through the same track backwardly and to find out every check points and camp sites that we have passed by the days before. After we finished the hiking and going back to our homes, we still clearly remember the expedition and its surrounding when we are telling others about it. Why does this happen? Of course because we were hiking on both directions through the same track; going up forwardly and going down backwardly. Therefore, no wonder if we can clearly share our experience with others.

            Now, what if we do the same hiking for next several times? Fortunately, the condition of its environment can be permanent in our long-term memory and we can still share our experience with our grandchildren later on. So, it is just the same with our case of memorization. For me, we have to do it both directions in order to make it as one of our long-term memory and at last, we will remember it even we are in the golden-age one day. (Alhamdulillah so far I can do all this continuously and perhaps God will make everything easier for us, “Rabbi yassir wa la tu’assir rabbi tammim bilkhair amiin”)  

             

Arabic Language as the Quranic Language

Assalamu’alaikum to everyone, I hope that you all will be in the pink of health every time. This time, I want to reveal the greatest actual secret method in making our memorization easier. As we knew, the holy Quran was revealed by Allah in Arabic language, as He mentioned in many verses in the Quran:

“We have indeed revealed this Book as Quran in Arabic so that you may understand it (by using your intelligence).” [12: 2]

“(It was revealed) in the clear and fluent Arabic tongue.” [26: 195]

            Allah has sent down the Quran in Arabic so that its meaning and secrets can be understood. This is because; no other language apart from Arabic is capable of providing the vast meaning of the Quran. The Arabic language constitutes the most eloquent and clear, the Quranic vehicle of revelation, affording the most wide implications of meanings for its message. [Tafsir ar-Rahman, Interpretation of the meaning of the Quran; 398]

             The holiest Book (the Quran) has been sent down in the holiest language (Arabic), to the holiest Messenger (Prophet Muhammad pbuh), through the holiest angel (Jibril). And this event took place on the holiest night (Lailatul-Qadar) in the holiest land (Makkah al-Mukarramah). Thus, the holiness of the Quran is complete in all aspects. [Tafsir al-Qaasimi, 9: 3502]

            So, what I want to emphasize here is that each of us as a Muslim should learn this particular wonderful language because of its special language styles (uslub al-lughah). Of course it is quite difficult for someone who do not know even a single word of this language or someone who has no any idea about it. For me, there is still a way and chance for us to simply learn the language in order to make our understanding of the Quran improves.

            Just want to share here; I personally have constructed a special method in learning the Arabic language which can help many people who has no basic at all to gain a better improved understanding of the Quran. The method I called as ‘Nur al-Anwar method’ is constructed based on my personal experience during learning this quite complicated language about eight (8) years before since I was first studying in Islamic secondary school (2001) until I finished my diploma level in tahfiz al-Quran wa al-Qiraat (2009). The good news about this method is anybody can learn the language and will understand it just in a few months; not as too long as my study before.

            Thus, I really want to strongly stress here that the Arabic language is the only one main secret key for foreigners particularly like us (a’jamiy) who are speaking other than the language to memorize the Quran quickly and easily. This has been proved by many memorizers of this holy revelation across time since the prophet Muhammad’s peace be upon him lifetime. The most important thing we have to remember is that learning the Arabic language is not a burden for us but actually it will increase the accomplishment of our daily worships towards Allah indirectly. May Allah bless us all time.

My Way to Memorize

Assalamu’alaikum to all, today I would like to share with all of you other steps of memorizing the Quranic verses. In my first post, I already mentioned about the most important basic steps in memorization of the Quran that is to be sincere first. This time, I will conclude all the rest steps I used before in order to share with all of you the best way to do the memorization. Here are the steps:

1)      Sincerity. Our heart must be sincere first and our intention must be based on doing worship (the memorization as one form of ‘Ibadah) for the sake of Allah. As the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said: “Indeed all started with the intent and practice for everyone is what is intended”.

2)      Familiarity means that we should use same mushaf from the first time we start our memorization until the end. Then, it also means same place to do like at one same corner in mosque and at same time every day, for instance after Isya’ prayer.

3)      Choose the right and suitable time. Some people might say that the best time to do it is before Subuh prayer (about 4 am to 5 am) and continuously after the prayer in the morning. However, others say that the best time is between Maghrib and Isya’ prayers then continuously after the Isya’ prayer at night. Actually, it depends on individual capability and convenience.

4)      Recite certain verses or pages those we tend to memorize repeatedly before we try to memorize them about ten times. It will be better if we see someone who is an expert in Tajwid and recite before him or her either he or she is our teacher or friend or relative. This is very important to do in order to make sure our recitation is good and right because the wrong and bad recitation will make it hard for us to memorize.

5)      Now, we have to make several phrases for each verse first and this will acquire a little understanding of Arabic language. It is okay if we do not know much about it but at least, we know how to divide the verse into certain short phrases.

6)      We have to start memorize every phrases one by one and try to repeat every single phrases in many times until we sure enough that it is sticky in our memory. Do this till we finish memorizing each phrase in one particular verse and then repeat it from the beginning part of the verse to the end continuously before we proceed to next verse and so on.

7)      When we are finished about half page of the mushaf, it is better for us to repeat it again from the first verse until the verse we stopped at. This step is to avoid our earlier memorization disappears from our minds because it is located in short-term memory storage at this point. So, we have to do simple basic maintenance rehearsal by repeating it and this is just the same thing we have to do in the another half page.

8)      Next, we need to combine both of the two halves page and repeat from the very beginning verse we memorized just now until the end of the page. During this, we are still doing the basic maintenance rehearsal.

9)      When we finished the memorization of certain pages of any surah, do find a partner to recite it in front of him or her in order to improve our memorization quality (this is the next maintenance rehearsal we should do).

10)  Another form of maintenance rehearsal is through auditory application (echoic) whereas we listening to any famous recitation from particular Imam (leader in prayer) using any audio device after we finished the memorization.

11)  Besides that, the best maintenance rehearsal I think is we repeat the memorization during performing a prayer in our daily lives.

To summarize, I hope we will get some benefits from what I have shared with you this time and soon, we could fully apply it in order to finish our projects successfully. Thank you.