Day 1

Bismillah
As salaamu alaikum,

Here we go. The Challenge has begun. It is March 1st 2010. InshaAllah on May 1st it will officially end. I’m kinda starting to get nervous. The excitement is too much, but o the joy of knowing the Qur’an. I really have been waiting to do this my whole life. Every time Master Yoda gives me a new page it feels like my birthday. I am however still trying to figure out the exact format I’ll use to discuss these ayaat. All suggestions are welcome.

Ali ‘Imran is the third Sura (chapter) in the Qur’an. It has 200 ayaat and is 6 pages (i think) passed a juz long. The first 80 ayaat were revealed in response to the Christian delegation form Najran that came to question the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. So this sura is where the concerns of the Christian and Jews, but Christians in particular are addresses.

[3:1]
Alif. Lām. Mīm.

Just as chapter Al-Baqara, Ali ‘Imran begins with the letters whose meaning only Allah knows. These two are the only suras reavealed in Madina that begin with letters, which further emphasizes their sisterhood and reciprocal partnership. All the other suras that begin with letters are Makki, revealed in Makka.

When suras begin with letters, they seems to me to speak to a higher inquisitiveness of the human mind. Throughout our history and experience we have been searching for the answers to untold questions. Spurred on by the echos of past hardship and pain, we launch forward in the hopes that our children won’t suffer, however long or short, the ails which pained us. Much is learned and much is forgotten as each generation lives in it’s own time and experiences the repercussions of failed and achieved successes.

As we move forward it is the lessons of the past that hold the most value for our faith. The knowledge that lives beyond the confines of minutes and hours, and reaches generations and centuries ahead to show us how to live. Sometimes the knowledge warns us of the inevitable consequences of our actions, and sometimes it gives us the fortitude and strength to build upon the qualities and behaviors that Allah loves. And despite all else it gives us an awareness of the constant truth, “There is nothing to worship except Allah.” Only with that knowledge can we make our time on this earth splendidly magnificent.

These letters also strike another parable in that we don’t know what they mean and we will never know, difinitively, what they mean. Unless Allah teaches us we do not know. We cannot understand or preserve a Qur’an that is not in our hearts, written upon our souls and our minds, such that our tongues can recite it, our faith can be fortified, our thoughts can be enlightened, our hearts can be soothed and our feet can walk towards Allah.

There are some things that we will never know because that knowledge is not for us. But just because we have limitations doesn’t mean that we can’t reach the highest levels of human endeavor if we choose to act, and trust in Allah. I have a dream that I want to see before I die. Maybe it’s not a dream but an actionable hope. I want my children, and my family, and my people to know the Qur’an. I want us to express it from that same place we emit love, happiness and fear. I want us to rely on it more than a child upon her mother. And I want us live it everyday, freeing our spirits from the taints and confined of corruption.