Champion!
...because every student deserves a champion
In the name of Allah, the entirely Merciful, the especially Merciful
There is a hadith I have heard countless times from my different teachers over the years…
From my tajweed teachers as I tried to shape my mouth around the letters.
From my Qur’an teachers as I stumbled over my recitation.
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُبَيْدٍ الْغُبَرِيُّ، جَمِيعًا عَنْ أَبِي عَوَانَةَ، - قَالَ ابْنُ عُبَيْدٍ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَوَانَةَ، - عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ زُرَارَةَ بْنِ أَوْفَى، عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ هِشَامٍ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، قَالَتْ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " الْمَاهِرُ بِالْقُرْآنِ مَعَ السَّفَرَةِ الْكِرَامِ الْبَرَرَةِ وَالَّذِي يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَيَتَتَعْتَعُ فِيهِ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِ شَاقٌّ لَهُ أَجْرَانِ " .
`A'isha reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (as saying): One who is proficient in the Qur'an is associated with the noble, upright, recording angels; and he who falters in it, and finds it difficult for him, will have two rewards.
Sahih Muslim 798a
I used to hold on to the second half of the hadith, the part that promises double the reward for struggling.
It comforted me when my throat letters betrayed me, when the articulation of ص، ع and ض felt like a battle, when I had to first fill my lungs with air or swallow just to find where a sound should emerge from.
The one who struggles.
The one for whom recitation doesn’t come easy.
That was me!
That was my comfort.
I told myself, “this hadith is for me”.
My struggle is beautiful.
My mistakes are seen and In Sha'a Allah my effort will be rewarded.
I held onto that promise of reward like a lifeline.
Alhamdulillah!
This week (actually a few months ago, this has been saved in drafts), we started what I think might be my favorite chapter in Mishkāt —Kitāb Faḍā’il al-Qur’an, and then this hadith came up again.
And it felt comfortable, like I was home…
But then Mufti, in true Mufti fashion, shook my foundation.
"But this is not you guys. This is not for the students of knowledge.”
Aim to read the Qur'an properly. Get a teacher. Build fluency.
Sorry?! What!
Hard as it was to hear, it was good to hear. Because struggle is beautiful.
But growth? Growth is necessary.
We all need that one person who sees us more than we are.
Someone who doesn’t just console our struggles, who refuses to let us be satisfied with good enough, who won’t let us hide behind our struggles, but instead, reminds us, that we can push past it.
Sometimes, the bar we set for ourselves is often too low.
The Qur’an is not just something to check off, it is a path you walk, again and again and again.
I think back now and wonder, how many times did I almost settle for less because it was hard?
In what other areas of my life am I settling?
How many times did I almost convince myself that the struggle was the end goal, when really, it is not.
At least, not in the way we think.
To have a teacher who sees what you can be, who does not let you settle for where you are but challenges you to move forward is uncomfortable. However, it is also a mercy, a mercy that demands more, a stretching mercy if you like, but it is a mercy, nonetheless.
And it allows for so much personal growth. Alhamdulillah.
The best teachers don’t just teach or inspire, they call you to something higher. They see you. They see what you can be, long before you can see it yourself. They don’t coddle your weaknesses. They strengthen them. They tell you the words you don’t want to hear, because they know you need to hear them.
They hold up a mirror not just to reflect who you are but to show you who you could be. And then you fall in love with that version of you and keep striving for it.
May Allah keep us steadfast.
O Allah, bless our teachers in their knowledge, increase them in understanding, and wisdom. Guide them, grant them sincerity in their intentions and barakah in their time and then admit them into your Jannah without account. Ameen.
Āmīn
A well written article.