A Few Thoughts

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

Bismillahi Rahmanir Raheem

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

A few nights ago, a friend called me and asked me to go over the story of Hazrat Umar (r.a), and how he reverted to Islam. We discussed the story, and went over the part where the first verses of the Quran that he read were the opening lines of Surah Ta-Ha:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1. Ta-Ha

2. We did not reveal the Quran to you to make you face hardship.

3. Rather to remind him who has the fear of Allah.

4. It being a revelation from the One Who created the earth, and high heavens.

5. The All Merciful has positioned Himself on the Throne.

6. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens, all that is on the earth and whatever lies between them and whatever lies beneath the soil.

7. If you pronounce the word aloud, then it makes no difference for He certainly knows the secret and what is even more hidden.

8. Such is Allah. There is no god but He. For Him are all the Beautiful Names.

It made me think. The verses that changed the heart of Hazrat Umar are the exact same ones in all copies of the Quran today. The verses that I'm reading in 2013 are the exact same verses that Hazrat Umar (r.a) read all those thousands of years ago in his sisters house, and they changed him in an instant.

It was this Quran that we have with us today and take for granted that changed these amazing men and women.

If you read about the state of the Arabs before the coming of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), you'll see that they were idol worshippers and they put all their hopes and prayers to a statue that they made with their own hands. They were adulterers, alcoholics and murderers.

Then, through the same Quran and Sunnah that we have today, they became the people of Allah. Their names are still remembered today and will be remembered until the end of time. 

We have exactly what they had - the same words, verses and chapters. It's up to us to make use of it, and allow it to change our hearts just as it changed theirs. 

May Allah give us all the ability to become like the Sahabah (r.a) and Sahabiyaat (r.a)

Ameen.

Wasalaam!