The Air Shifted
Surah al-Insan with heart and soul
In the name of Allah, the entirely Merciful, the especially Merciful
You know that feeling when you are praying in congregation, and the imam starts to cry?
His voice breaks and then there is a sudden, gut-wrenching shift in the air. You feel small, like you have accidentally walked into something special, deep, private and sacred while still carrying the lightness of the world.
Like you are in the wrong place at the right time.
That was me.
Except this time, there was no congregation, no imam in the front leading salah, not knowing if I was present or not. It was just me and my dear teacher, sitting across from me, alone, in class.
We were going through the tafseer of the last portion of Surah al-Insan
إِنَّ هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ يُحِبُّونَ ٱلْعَاجِلَةَ وَيَذَرُونَ وَرَآءَهُمْ يَوْمًا ثَقِيلًا
Indeed, these people love the fleeting world and leave behind them a heavy day.
She started giving examples of what distracts us. She has been throwing shade lately at modern obsessions, especially skincare routines. We laughed.
Then she moved to the next ayah.
نَّحْنُ خَلَقْنَٰهُمْ وَشَدَدْنَآ أَسْرَهُمْ وَإِذَا شِئْنَا بَدَّلْنَآ أَمْثَٰلَهُمْ تَبْدِيلًا
We have created them and strengthened their forms, and when We will, We can change their likenesses with [complete] alteration.
Without warning…
…she started to cry.
I sat there, still holding onto the last traces of a smile, completely unprepared.
It was not the kind of crying you could ignore. Not a quiet tear, not a pause with a deep breath. And she just kept talking so I had to hold into the look.
She removed her glasses, wiped her tears, and I just sat there, stuck between the echo of our laughter, a confused half-smile on my face, and the weight of what had just unfolded.
I felt like I watched her heart receive it before my mind and ears had even registered what was happening.
And me?
I was still catching up.
I am still catching up!
I thought about how lightly we take things, how easily we brush past the heavy. [Cue: the previous ayah]
How often we sit before the Qur’an like it is something to study rather than something that is meant to undo us and then…
We move too fast.
We stay too distant.
Almost, too cautious.
"We created them, strengthened them, and if We will, We can replace them entirely."
Look how fragile we are, how temporary.
She put her glasses back on.
The lesson continued like nothing happened.
But something had shifted.
And this is not like crying in front of the television at the same scenes of the same movie [erm…don’t digress]
It is the words of Allah…
To be undone by words you have read a hundred times before.
…O to be of the people of Qur’an
عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنَّ لِلَّهِ أَهْلِينَ مِنْ النَّاسِ قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَنْ هُمْ قَالَ هُمْ أَهْلُ الْقُرْآنِ أَهْلُ اللَّهِ وَخَاصَّتُهُ
Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, Allah has His own people among humanity.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, who are they?” The Prophet said, “They are the people of the Quran, the people of Allah and His chosen ones.”
Source: Sunan Ibn Mājah 215
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani
May Allah ﷻ make us among them. Amin.