my romance with the Quran
& so it began somewhere in 2006 in a small town, where I used to make trips from a certain BS5 6TH to all o'er the Northwest of England, averaging almost 200 plus miles per day when I did. My partner in crime was a 1998 teal Kensington Rover, which despite my 183 cms was a snug fit & a really really nice ride.
used to start off early since I had more than 8 to 10 places to be as a Customer Services Engineer (my only stint as an engineer ...... lolx). So during this brush with hardcore science where I was responsible to swap out POS Terminals & got the high from being called an engineer, 20 seconds after people who were walled stiff looking at the classic terrorist facade ... a la moi... warm up. I mean one almost pressed the panic alarm button once till the time I said, You awight & then as always the smile, the charm ++ & the grace of being excessively polite. Another story in itself someday, so yeah where was I. Hmm yes, the long trip with the idyllic scenery where for miles it was green & blue in one of the most picturesque sceneries I have ever seen (even online).
my bluetooth dock for a 5th Gen Ipod, which only had two playlist options, had over 3000 english tracks ranging from classics, to world music to trance, to blues to instrumentals. The second playlist was an ordu of urdu tracks, while the second playlist was an eclectic mix of a few hamds & naats. The thought of keeping so many soings & no religious ones had alays weighed on my mind; being only an either rare classic qawwali or un-rare NFK bufff, my arabic nasheeds were limited to A is for Allah only by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens). My guilty conscience made me search one day for Nasheeds & among them came Mishary's Allah humma la sahla illa ma...... & one of my favorites assalamulaika ya Rasul Allah by Maher Zain. Mishary Al Afasi's voice just captivated me to no end & i downloaded a lot his nasheeds which grew my islamic appetite also.
The actual breakthrough came when i found he had an online free Quran which I slowly listened to during my drive & then it happened. I came across Surah Qaf, Mishary's rendition, which left me absolutely stumped. That was where the actual flashbang happened & it led to me remembering the almost half of the 1st ayah.
went through a lot, a lot of miles too, but this has stuck with me since when & has gradually developed into me memorizing by listening to this divine revelation, innumerable times. It resonates with me, the sound, the nuances, the flow. I even feel it in my head, hopefully soon in my heart. After i memorized it, one day thought to look at what i was reading.......
a right bolt from the blue, the transliteration had me literally shivering due to fear, it is, they are the words of The Akbar, The Maula and they hold such a depth that i cannot even fathom. The words "...closer to you than your jugular..." were my only solace; for years on end when i would be simply intimidated by the Majesty of the the Kitab. AS i learnt what was being said, i was actually connecting to the nuances in the Qaf & am slowly over a period of time memorizing them to my heart's desire.
then one day the light of my life, when I am about to drop her off tells me "Baba, recite that first ayah for me; just that bit because i really like you reciting it" finito, it was a milestone in my life, I had achieved something. Since then this Ramzan I for the first time in jehr recited it in a jamaat that i was conducting with them & i broke down, because I for one do not believe that the majesty or language or love or perfection can be captured by the likes of me yet Allah has as eternally been kind enough to stoke my life with His words.
so here I am, this is me & i wish, pray & ask that my romance continues with the Quran, though I am honestly not able to even come within parsecs of this Kalam. I wish & I pray that Allah delivers me to understand this in all earnest & I wish to force the qareen to actually understand the implications in this. I am still Alhamdo Lillah happily memorizing this, with the Right Dread that comes with it, but still since He is nearer to me than my jugular, hence i rest easy.
