In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Sh. Musharraf Hussain. We talked about his life story as well as what inspired him to translate the Majestic Quran.
Dr. Musharraf Hussain is a Sunni Scholar and the chief Executive of Karimia Institute Nottingham. He came to Britain from Pakistan in 1966 with his parents to the town of Halifax, where he memorized the Quran, learned Tajweed and basic Quranic Arabic.
After completing a degree in Biochemistry at Aston University, he went on to gain a Science doctorate. He worked as a Scientist till 1990 and then decided to dedicate himself to serving the Muslim community.
He studied the Islamic sciences at a seminary in Pakistan under the guidance of Justice Pir Muhammad Karam Shah and then at Al-Azhar University, Cairo.
He was awarded an OBE in 2008 for his services to community relations in Britain. Formerly he was the director of the PGCE teacher training course and vice-chair of the Association of Muslim Schools (2000-2003) as well as the chairman of the Christian Muslim forum (2008-2010).
Interview transcript
Maruf: Hey, Assalamu alaikum! This is your host on Muslims On Fire. Today, I have a very special guest Dr. Musharraf Hussain. He is a doctor, he is a translator of Quran. He’s also the translator of my favorite translation of Quran, the Majestic Quran. Today, we’ll be talking to him, getting to know him and share his story. Without further, I welcome him. Assalamu alaikum, Musharraf! Welcome to the show.
Musharraf: Walaikumassalam! It’s a pleasure to see your bright wonderful faces. Well, I’m looking forward to this conversation with you. I look forward to it.
Maruf: That sounds good. So, this is the episode, this is very informal. Very close. I am sure, would like to talk to you, get to know you, your background story. So we usually always go way back to your childhood, many many years ago.
Okay. So having said that today, Mashallah, you are well established, you have your answer, is claiming institute. You’re doing the project Majestic Quran. You’re being translated as well. But way before we everything is started before your childhood.
Like if you look back down to your childhood, what do you think inspired you to become who you are or what do you think that the things that matter like to become other person who you are today? What would you say to that?
Musharraf: Very interesting and important question and you are right. In your childhood actually determines your outlook, your worldview and your behaviors and how you live your life radiates.
It is really the foundational part of our life, is the most important part of our life and the Prophet Salaallah Alayhiassalam into that when he said that every new born is born on its natural disposition, which very simply means everybody’s born as a true submitter, committed to Allah obedient, pure clean mind and heart and ready to flourish and have all the potentials.
But then he goes on to say for about and then his parents make him a Jew make him a Christian, fire worship and the other is the environment, the place you grow up, with the people who you grow amongst and that environment has a huge impact on your outlook, your life, what you learn, how you know what he gonna be.
I think it’s gonna be very simple. Yes, so it’s very powerful influencer on our lives. Yes, as I was born in Pakistan and I grew up in a village, a very beautiful Village in Punjab, dear, Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan and I went to a school there for about three years. My father may Allah blesses his soul, was school teacher there, but he had migrated to UK, you know in the 60s.
There were lots of Pakistanis who had come here because the British were desperate for labor for my father came here. And so my father came here in 1960 and in 66 he invited the whole family to join him. Yeah, so we traveled. I was eight when I came to Halifax, a beautiful town perched on the Pennines.
And so I grew up in Halifax. I still visit it very regularly and when I go there reminds me of my childhood and I love the streets, I love to walk on those roads and go on those on the Hills, is an amazing town and I started going to the mosque of the age of around about half eight and a half nine years, started reading the Quran and memorizing it as well.
And it was interesting that I think I must have been about 11 when an amazing teacher from Medina Sharif from Muslim nagari came to pursuing a tour of you can take him to our mosque in Halifax, and he read the Quran beautifully. Amazing and it is a proper carry.
He was actually the Quran and Tajbid teacher. So in those days, you know, we used to have rcorders, I had one of those cassette recorders. I had one of those small ones. So I recorded his tilawat and every day I used to listen to that several times and obviously, I was memorized the Quran.
So, he was reading from Surah Tauba, in which Allah said to be mindful of Allah and join and be with those people who are the truthful people and the believers should not remain behind if the Prophet (D) is marching out. They should be with him. Anyway, it was an amazing and you know the way he read it in a melodious beautiful way, inspired me and to become akari.
So I started my journey and then eventually we came across Sheikh Abdul and I really was enchanted. I was really so I fell in love with the Quran at very early age and then very luckily, you know, I started memorizing as well and we had a wonderful teacher who taught us Arabic language. So I started learning the Arabic language at the age of 13.
Maruf: So, here’s a question from the show. Like one thing. I don’t know, what I want to understand with you is that when you said about age of eight, you started memorizing Quran, right?
Musharraf: I learned to read it and at the age of about 11, I started memorizing it.
Maruf: Okay. So like I mean right now you share one of the story is like what really kind of inspired you to start analyzing like this from this shape, right?
Musharraf: Sheikh khallilur Rahman, Kashmiri. He was from Kashmir, but also a teacher in Medina.
Maruf: That was inspiring. That’s why you started memorizing but when you’re memorizing, did you understand what you’re minimizing?
Musharraf: No, ou know, this is the sad part of Patrol know we didn’t we’d never knew anything of the plan and you know, this is a almost Majority of Muslim who are teachers those who memorize the Quran my own students. I have possibly more than 50 students who have memorized the Quran with me or in my Institute, but sadly no, they don’t understand.
Ad this is what really worries me and I really fret over this really works like what are we doing here? And so but what happened was immediately and then as I try As a teacher and became a head teacher later on. It became even more apparent to me.
And when I was doing my own study circles and teaching Quran and it’s translation nearly for 35 years, now. I’ve begun to realize what was happening, people just totally not in touch with this book which is doing surface with surfing which is doing the surface run.
We’re not going into the means of this wonderful book we had. We’re not doing the deep dive in, not really deep understanding. We don’t do the deep thinking that is what we should be doing the Fokkor, the Katabbor, Takelun, Talaamun. We’re not doing any of that aim of it. Memorizing It becomes a Hafizul Quran or becomes the carrier of the Quran means actually that.
A very good example in Surah Al Juma, you know that, you know the gives the example of the Jewish community that their scholars are light. The dumb kids who are carrying books, but sadly, you know, that’s a metaphor that what are the donkey to do with books and they just carriers and we have now become Hamirul Quran, carriers of the Quran without understanding it.
And that is why I don’t know whether that is one of the meanings of the verses told that the messenger will say, my Lord, my people abandoned the Quran. They did it, they ran from it, deflected from it. So that’s another very sad and we see it. I mean, since I started the translation back in 2014.
I, now, make it my own business and I will tell everybody when you read any verse of the Quran, don’t move on to the next without understanding it, don’t do the Tilawat. That’s what we are reading. Otherwise, you are not really benefiting from this wonderful book.
Maruf: Absolutely, we will come back to the translation part.So you said like 11 years old like I mean, how long did it take you to memorize the whole Quran – how many years?
Musharraf: I took a long time but I didn’t really get it until I was 18.
Maruf: So, I mean I also from your biography I understood like in the beginning you studied biochemistry, at this you got your PhD. Is that right? And what inspired you to follow this path, biochemistry and what happened? Most interesting like, right now, you don’t practice biochemistry, do you?
Musharraf: Well, I was good at science. I like science and I had a very good science teacher who was really very proud of me. And so, I studied biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology. These three it was cool in a joint honours by side.
And then I did a PhD but during all this time, I was actually doing my Islamic work as well. I was the president of the Islamic society in the University. I used to lead the Friday prayer. I used to manage one of the local mosques, which is now one of the biggest mosques in Birmingham and I used to manage and helped to run this Quran school and teaching your children.
So I was actually very much involved in the tower work at the Islamic places. I’ll tell you something, you know before that even in Halifax when I was memorizing. I was also teaching so by the age of 15, I was teaching Quran, also teaching the Noorani Qaida, teaching children how to read.
This is back in the early 70s. There were hardly any Scholars or Imams in you UK then, just a handful, you know, there wasn’t so, you know, they say one-eyed leader in once the blind, so, it was like that, you know.
I was teaching children how to read, memorizing my own and also I was by the age of 16. I was the secretary of the Halifax mosque, the big moscow’s, you could just imagine, you know, I was very kindly, deeply involved and I was developing, you know, I was really to be honest.
I was a servant and that’s what I always thought to be as a servant of Allah, servant of the community and I still have that love for my community and my people. And I don’t think I would have been able to do what I’ve done. If I didn’t have that deep love for my community, for my people and all this was driven by the Quran, the Deen.
Maruf: Here’s a question that’s what you keep saying that the service who is fighting like, is it your father or your mother who was serving or you the correct me if I’m wrong. Like I mean, I’m mostly from Uzbekistan, but to be honest like until I was 20 years old. If you ask me if your Muslims. Yeah, I’m but I didn’t really understand what Islam is to be honest. I was just following my culture, right?
But then I came to Denmark. I began to actually saw that and figure out what the world is, what the hell means. I kind of rediscover Islam but I still believe that’s the same case. Even you are born as Muslim in a Muslim Society, you have to rediscover for them to yourself right.
Now, we talk about non Muslims. Yeah, you have to really search for but even as a Muslim you have to rediscover. I want to understand what inspired you or who was that?
Musharraf: You know, Maruf, used to, is slightly different that you say you came to Islam in real way by the age of 20. In my case, I was actually breathing, drinking, eating Islam. I’ll tell you what I mean by that. You know, when I was staying in the Masques, even earlier later on, we’re just prist to the chrishtians and you know those days that it’s a really respectful religion.
There was actually pride you know as Muslim and there was a respect of Muslim. This is obviously well before 9/11 and the Iraq War and Salman Rushdie affairs. So there was people respected those who aren’t from religious backgrounds.
And so for me, religion was everything and I was growing looking at it and the most environment, my parents who might as well. I was also read Urdu and English. I read Urdu magazines. I was in Florida by one of the great teacher of the Quran.
But I was reading his magazine and his articles, I was reading and also teaching it as well. But the point, I wanted to make a remember, you know a lot about the age of 15. We actually used to go to the church, you know and tell them to become Muslims. Come on. Because this is the truth and this is the confidence that we had and obviously we wouldn’t do that, now.
And you know I was in the chair of the UK. You know, but obviously we wouldn’t do that. That’s totally for all the pain. I did it about six seven years ago, I was invited by one of the professors from Oxford University to a baptist assembly, he was the president of it. So he invited me and he said we would have, this was their unusual assembly, and he said look, I want to help my congregation understand more about interfaces.
So I want we’ll have a discussion on this date. I said, yes, and you know, I said to him look his name was Dr. Nicolas wood. I said to him that look, I know deep down in your heart, you want to convert me in christianity and I’ll tell you I want you to be Muslim, right after we laughed all around.
But it’s different, you know, I was very fortunate to be able to announce, very proud of my Deen. I was hugely proud of it and I was teaching children in my school and the work was doing very well and helping to run the Masjid as well. So, my environment was very different.
I used to be a preacher at the age of 15 or 16 those who are my older brother’s friends and I used to go and preach to them and my little brother’s to tell him there how they should be praying, they shouldn’t be watching TV and it was sometimes, I would ask to turn that TV off and tell them to pray.
You know, I was quite assertive, not aggressive out and I won’t call it being aggressive, it’s being assertive. And so yes, I would call it a fundamentalist. I was a very a very ardent and I was not extreme but the proud Muslim and believed in the message.
Maruf: So like I mean, you studied biochemistry, at some point like you kind of decided to fully dedicate yourself to some Islamic studies. Right now is that you have. I would like, I said the reason so sorry if I keep asking this question, we always used to ask this question because we’re not interested in title. We want to understand your past.
You know what your journey because many people go to this thing’s and maybe some of them will inspired, you know, that’s what I’m sorry. If I don’t mask I want to come back like this my chemistry you are PhD you dedicate some time.
But at some point you said, you know, what you dedicate yourself to claim this to do it. Now the translation of the Quran what it’s to some of it may be easy, but I just want to understand what’s your policy.
Musharraf: Well, it was really interesting. I remember after my first degree in Biochemistry there were occasions when I thought you know, I should really be doing philosophy or humanity’s, what am I doing? But you know I’ve my own ways of doing things that now I understand the importance of it.
I really do not understand the importance of the PHD by being chemits. Now, I thank Allah for it because you know science is one of the objective ways of understanding. It gives us a good understanding of the reality, that is not the reality, science is not a reality but it gives us a petition, a good interpretation of what reality might be and is beneficial and useful and It is totally different.
The Deen is you know, it has its own objectivity. It’s all evidence and burhan and its own arguments and proofs which are now very comprehensive. And so I was you know, I feel that you know, this is amazing. I’m really proud of being able to do the PhD in one of the most important biomedical sciences and biochemistry is the root of actually all the other medical sciences.
You really can’t do much either Which medicine without knowing chemistry’s and you can understand pharmacology how drugs were you can’t understand the physiology. If you don’t know the biochemistry. It is such a fundamental science. So I’m very proud that, you know, I have a very good understanding of how you know, when we hear about the medical advances, scientific advances.
I can begin to understand something of the world quite a bit of them and it just gives You know the sense of how Allah has organized His world, amazing complex, but an organized systematic manner and it just increases your faith to be observe and I’m like, I have a almost I can say that I have experienced what certainties, I’ve experienced the power of God, I’ve Variants how marvelous and amazing incredible power Allah has.
And the way He designs things and the way you know, he’s able to carry out those things. I experience it because you know, I did a little research and when we see some of the science that’s what it is. It’s experiential. So my faith is becoming very, I’m very proud to say it. It’s Ainul Yaqun then eventually leads to the Hakkul Yaqin in the final stage where you know the truth reveals itself to you.
So science is an amazing stuff, you know and nowadays, of course, everybody has to do up to GCSE Sciences here and but I would urge you Muslims all of them to the sides so important.
Maruf: Yeah, I mean if the Quran like Prophet (S) was always urging us like go and check it on. I try to always like a conversation.
Musharraf: Maruf, the modern historians of science. Those people who study the history of science in the west, non-muslims all of them except the fact that Muslims laid the foundations of modern science. There’s a distinction between modern science and Greek science and Roman science.
Greek and Roman science was really not empirical. The model science is empirical where you observe, you experiment, you measure, you way, you watch, you experiment and then you have hypothesis to prove or to disprove and then you arrive to a conclusion. Okay, that is called modern science who laid the foundations of it – Muslims.
Muslims were one of them here. Yes. Why did they do it? Because the Quran insists us. Haven’t they seen, how would they see how Allah created, this amazing animal the camel, how he raised the sky, is no place you can see, but there’s a canopy, okay.
And how he established all those amazing giants mountains which are you know, they seem to be permanent features of our world. Okay, and really amazing places. So what is that good or sokrates a observe, measure look, use your senses. That’s all science is about but who laid the foundations of swings and then of course it developed for nearly five hundred years.
So, you know from the seventh, till world really from the Earth from the Until the 14th century to the Medieval Time the Muslims were the ones who are developing, you know signs for nearly, good seven to eight hundred years, Muslims were developing.
Then the West did an amazing job of it. They borrowed this ideas and then they took it to another level, over the last 700 years. They’ve taken to another level cops the yes nearly 700 years, but we know we don’t To be ashamed or anything, you know, we took it from you know, we took the Greeks and Roman engineering and Greek science and changes it into Arabic, developed it the Western came and 80 quid from us. You know again part of this global village now and which we have it now.
Maruf: It’s a beautiful observation what you said like, yeah that’s better like more than the modern because when they say that the Dark Ages in Europe for the call The dishes and Muslim world. Yeah. Okay. So I think one of the things I would like to also discuss with you today is that I think we come back to this book The Majestic Quran again.
So I saw the first thought is to be honest with you. I saw this on the bit company called Launchgood, one of our friends, they’re doing that. Before this version, before I had on my hands, I would read it from the mobile app, you know the Quran like They can but one of the things I always get back to me was that for me personally, like I believe because since I don’t speak Arabic like fully I mean, I understand some words.
You need this. What’s it called? Because sometimes you read the translation you don’t feel like you are kind of being close to what you read and write. So, once I saw this, even the other I don’t know for me like every person is different. But for me, can you tell me that photo behind this like, where’s this from? Is it something from Asia, is it from Iran or some Asian country? What countries are from?
Musharraf: Well, this is actually from one of the Mosques Isfahan, Iran, and of course Uzbekistan.
Maruf: It’s very interesting.
Musharraf: This was the first thing and that’s my student who is the designer and he’s also been dedicated to the Quran for the last seven years now, and this is the design he presented and I think everybody loved it. It’s beautiful. You know, this Islamic designs actually show how interesting and how complex, how interrelated the world is this is about interrelationships.
And that’s what biochemistry is about. Biochemistry is about how one thing is related to the next and there is a whole chain, you know of things, you know sometimes hundreds of steps in this chain. In example, to produce this amazing hormone called insulin, you know, which is so important for your metabolism.
Another are hundreds of steps to be able to produce that and complexity. I think this really shows it, actually, it’s a metaphor for complexity of life and the Quran is also revealing that complexity.
And I think just like this is so beautiful and attractive. That is the Quran is presenting life. You know that it is beautiful. It is colorful. It is amazingly, inter related to life. You can’t actually separate it. Yes. It is interrelated.
Maruf: Yes. Absolutely. I mean the first my first beautiful he was the cover but then when I opened the inside like I love even more because the translation was not only just what by world first by verse but it sounds like a pipe a graphs right and you have this headlines and on page of the summaries.
I got a real lot better, but I really wanna reserve and I just want to hear from your salad. Look. What inspired you like, to translate the Quran and I’ve been through all these translations, but I would like to hear from you, that’s all.
Musharraf: Maruf, after I finished my PhD, I worked as a research scientist in Nottingham. But in 1990, I decided to dedicate myself to my Deen. So I started to clean the Institute. I bought a place where we open out in mosque, again. I thought that you know
If I’m going to serve my Deen, I actually need to train myself properly and go and study. So I went to study in seminary in Pakistan with Muhammad Karim. He was a Mufassir of the Quran. He was also the Supreme Court as well as a great seminarian and had a great Seminary and it took me on and he told me great Hadith.
And then after I graduated from his Seminary, he sent me to Al-Azher in Egypt where I graduated again from the University of Allison and I came back in 94 to the UK and now I started to work with one of the boarding schools.
Maruf: So this is what the academy was founded?
Musharraf: That’s right. here after Crimea was already running now. So, I started working with the Al Karam School and as head teacher there. So, this is when you know my sort of teaching career begins and as a teacher one of the beauties of British education system is that it caters for the poor, the rich, for the weak, the stroke for the bright at, for not so bright.
It actually caters for everybody. It’s mass education, is the idea is that no should children have entitlement to education and type their basic human right to be educated and everybody should be given that opportunity equally without discrimination.
And so as I you know, so I think that I’ve championed that idea of you know education for everybody and equality and we’ve got to cater for everybody but it was another Islamic teachings in particular, there is some kind of elitism but you know only those who know Arabic, can have access and of course even they don’t have it. Let’s be honest most of the Arabic those who know Arabic even the Arabs.
Let’s be honest, majority will not be able to understand the Quran. There was an Arabic, Arabic is different in the sense that you need to know those vocabulary. You need to know the Quran’s style, to be able to understand it. Yes. I just so you know, there is no doubt what so ever.
The only way anybody can read standardly the Quran in their mother tongue unless they have mastered and spent something like 15 to 20 years learning the Quran and the Dean and spent all that day and night in it.
And I today unless you’ve done that you’ve got no chance no chance whatsoever. You must be joking. If you think after studying even four, five, six years in a good University Arabic that you can’t understand the pattern you just got.
It’s not so what I was finding was, you know, we’ve got to make the translation of the Quran understandable and we could spread this you know, and we couldn’t get people reading the translation. So I was always thinking, as I was doing my own study circles and teaching you know, the verse by verse translation.
First of all is really doing a huge damage because the Quran also revealed like that anyway, you know, seriously talks about, Quran revealed in verse of revelation. Verse packages were coming soon as welcoming or suddenly sections of them were coming together. So they are meaningful they have you know, and so I was beginning to think about, you know, sectioning already.
And I was beginning and then luckily, you know some Muslim scholars in India around about the 18th century actually did some sectioning. Very interesting and they didn’t in matic sectioning, Maruf. Back in 18th century and you know in our Majestic Quran you see this iron.This is the section of this was during the margins, this Aien signifies the beginning of a new section, of thematic section.
Maruf Okay. Now, I know something wanting more.
Musharraf: So, these great scholars of seminary in Delhi what they did was they divided the whole of the Quran in 500 the matching section. Every sura, whatever new theme becomes a put this Aien. Okay. This helps me a lot in my own. I have 1500 in the Majestic Quran, you have 1500.
It is not broke it down even further because I thought this was too crude, you know, is too crude for modern and too big for a modern, you know, we like bite sizes. Anyway, we have a very short attention span nowadays, so it’s much shorter.
So what I’m saying is already, you know, there was this idea. I was of attention to this when I was teaching. I would start here and here now. This was actually done by these great teachers when they were teachers of a seminary, masters of Arabic Quran and they used to get these young boys from villages and small towns coming to become eyelids at the age of eleven twelve years, but they were Hafiz of Quran.
Then you the program of by heart but didn’t understand a word of it. So these people said, okay, we’re going to help them. So by having these things they will. Some of these themes me in their own language in Urdu or Hindi, they would teach them that this is what it seems about. You already have it in your head.
So all you need to remember is that theme that title so already can you see there was this thematic approach, Mashallah, of course. I was also influenced by how the Bible is done. The Bible is also turn into small sections as well. Okay. I did my religious studies at the school. I was a quin Arias student and I got very good results in that.
So I was really Kin Bible student. I studied the focal spot in detail properly. So I you know, that’s also helped me to think about having these smaller sections at the headings. You know, Allah gave me a chance when eventually in 2014, although some very serious scholars had been telling me you better do a translation.
And I was sort of trying to avoid itbut in 2014, I just thought you know, I was in July and it’s mid July. I was doing my staff and started my first translation and so good. We were always thinking that how we gonna do this, how we going to publish it. So what we did was, we want did Sura Yasin. And it was a model first. We published in 2014.
We published through. Then was the second edition we published the first edition only use the different type of paper that people gave us feedback about the translation, about the sectioning, about all this we use that we’ve published 50,000 somebody sponsored 50,000 copies of this to show which we did.
We got an amazing response from people that encouraged us to explore and to continue with this idea of propitiated. So there was a lot of experiments. We did it as a scientist. That’s what I was used to it actually doing experiments, making sure we do things in there, so there’s a prototype tested.
We epointed an editor, we hired Dr. Edrick Rossy, his job was actually to, he was hired to edit my translation with proofreaders. We had a designer and we went through many states. I think you know the translation you might have seen what you’ve got there. It went through at least six, seven stages or six. Sometimes I had to write it with thinking, you know, it still needs a lot of work on it, to be honest, to make it even perfect.
We want to get it perfect. But even better every time, you know, we’re trying to improve as people send ideas. I want to use more idioms. I want to do a bit more powerful raising in the future. It’s a lot.
Maruf So, I mean, this is the first version but it was the same content you have published on Kindle right people cannot wait in a digital format, which is good and also audio version and I also saw the pocket version firm for just the English part much smaller.
Musharraf: Yeah. It’s lighter, easier. And as you proceed, I’ve already put a footnote and putting footnote. So the next, I’m going through it regularly, you know, I think today I put two footnotes. Yesterday, I did that this at evening, actually, I was on facebook as well, live so that people could listen to that and we were just talking about that because I do the explanation what if you are not there and people want to read we would they get that?
How do it link? Where is the link? I say just so it’s shallow what we’re trying to think about, now. You know, where we have the sections. So how did the link so two or three sentences explaining, the relationship transition transition asteroid. Why is it moving on to this? What is the relationship between these, the manasaba between them?
Okay, that’s how are we gonna do that? It’s itolix or in a different color. We’re going to experiment. How profuse should it be? We’ve got lots of ideas because I want the good thing about us is that already, you know, we have got some space here and each page there is actually enough space to be able to do that.
It’s as a teacher and as a scientist, our job is really to be always developing only Allah is perfect. We are into effect and we’re going to be getting better and better. We live in a digital age. After this, I’m hoping to put those linkages and then I hope to translate one of the my favorite Tafseers into English as well. And then I wanna to do my own Tafseer. I think I need to do more studies.
Maruf: I’ve a question. These are good for adults but are you guys thinking of anything for kids like?
Musharraf: Yes. Very good, Maruf. I want to say that we’ve already selected 40 Suras long chapters from short one, which one is the backbone of teaching the Quran. They really are the foundations of the Quran and teach the Akaid, main five pillars that teach the important stories, the important persons personalities of the Quran. Okay.
So, the idea is to have that version for teenagers, which would be Illustrated with photos of those places. For example, you know, the Rose City Petra which is with people of smoother, so you’d have picked. And you would have enough for example. Noah (A) ship wreck was on Mount our Julia, you know, which is the north east of turkey. I hope to visit that on the shores of Lake van.
So it makes it real that this isn’t just you know, the Quran talks about the fraud is the only book that I said talks about a lost city called Eram. Okay, in the empty quarter of Arabia, was discovered in 1993 by archaeologists, but they relied on the Quran and the Quran talks about how wonderful the city was. But when they did the excavations. There were amazed at that City.
So, you know, having pictures of the lost city of Eram and it’s Maps. I hope you know that they are dearest to make it convincing for of your people, make their faith strong. So yes, we’re going to be doing that. We’re also about to publish a summary of the whole Quran you know we did it in Ramadan.
Maruf: Yeah, I just went. Yeah, I followed that.
Musharraf: I hope you liked it, you know.
Maruf: It was very interesting what I did is I print out to read everything, everyday.
Musharraf: So, we would want to do is in sha Allah you said we’ve got the audio of the whole Quran in 18 hours. That’s amazing. This is very beautiful. We had it professionally done, but I hope to do the audio of that summery as well.
So and that would be one was something like five six minutes a day. So before you go to your Tarabih, you would listen for 5-6 minutes on the car wherever. So, you know what you are listening to and I have lots of projects. Just give us Dua and Tawfiq. And you know, we have the energy and friendship from people like yourself and I hope others who are viewing in a could come up with support in whatever way, you know, it’s difficult to need to build our network.
Maruf: Tell us where the listeners can find your projects.
Musharraf: Well, I think the best place is to go to Majestic Quran.com.uk. It is the best place to go. They can contact me personally as well and I’ll be delighted, you know, whatever people ideas, people have and what work they would like us to do. You know, it’s very sad to see that in a we can’t present the Quran in many places.
Simply because, in our translations, are outmoded, out cake, they use old language. They presented, you know in an old way verse by verse those as poetry, no other people of country did and I think we’ve got a very big job to convince people and I know it’s going to take time, probably five, six years.
0eople’ll start doing what I’ve done paragraphing giving headings. I hope but I’d love to see that because it is actually the modern contemporary way of presenting any writing. Yes, and why not the Quran and it’s got to be presented in a beautiful familiar way.
Why would you want to do it in Shakespearean language? Why would you want to represent it in an old way? It’s not fair. I sometimes say it’s criminal to be honest. Simply because it’s not the injustice and what it is that putting people off. Once you learn old Shakespearean english.
Then you say that these people are Shakespearean. Shakespeare is old history. He’s dead. His thoughts are dead, his ideas are dead. But the Quran isn’t. The Quran should be like, 21 century’s language.
English is pretty effective language. But it’s amazing language. It’s a great language. Now the world use it. I understand that 20 universities in China that uses English as the medium of teaching.
Maruf: Not only China I mean, even our countries used to be the russian-made now, they change it to English rate everything.
Musharraf: Arabic, Urdu, Chinese, English all these languages are created by Allah.
Maruf: He is the creator of everything anyway, so, I mean, it’s one of the last questions. I’d like to ask you check one. I look at you. I see when people look at you. You’re in a way a person immersed in Quran and doing all these projects which is Mashallah, may Allah increase you where we come back to us, we are like just normal people.
Normal people who may not be amerced everyday in the Quran, but what’s your advice for us? Like what should we do on a daily basis or on like, how can we keep this communication with Quran like life, you know as a normal labours of what’s your advice before us?
Musarraf: Well, you know, first of all, you must read this book of Allah, you know, I have a scheme which I suggest to serious students how they should do it, but just pick up the Quran sometimes and just open it randomly anywhere again, okay and read here. I was just opened, it is open at the miraculous deep sleep of the Assad would cough. Okay.
So listen, messenger while they laid in the clear opening of the cave, you can see the sunrise then move away from them and turn to their left as it set. This was from the signs of God. Anyone guided by God is truly guided and anyone gone astray won’t find a guide nor a protector.
You thought they were away, but they were asleep. We kept turning them from the right to left at the entrance of the cabes, lay their dogs with its hope for all four legs, stretched out, will you to stumble across them? You would be filled with the fear, turn your back to them and flee, you know, everything on the Quran to think and to fear Allah, to think about bigger things.
What the Quran does is, you know, we human beings, of course, we work hard physically and doing our work or learning our livelihoods and tired of you get bored. We get really fed up with it. And what do they do? All the kaffir would do this, goes and has a drink, can’t escape those frustrations and that hard work or they would go and watch a movie. Escapism.
Yeah, but for us, you know, it’s coming to this book for that solace, for that relaxation and to actually get to come back to the real world, you know after your being stuck in the Dunya, you come into their observe around you and you’re distracted really from the reality, come back to the reality. So the best way to do that is to read Quran regularly.
You know and now listen to the audio and then this get back has many other advantages, Maruf. You can open It without Oju. It doesn’t need to do Oju to read it. you know the Quran is only Arabic Quran.
Anything else is not Quran that is interpretation professional. When Piclthall presented his Quran in 1932 the Al-Azhar And Seikh Almudena Knee and said look, this is my you know translation hard work and he was pleased that he said to him that this is not the Quran .
For example Mojave. This is the interpretation of the meanings of interpretation of the message of this is the mission of the Quran that you presented and that’s good. And that’s how we should look at it and this so the real Quran is the Arabic and so you can handle those paper back without Ohu, have it on your desk.
You know, why hide it, put this away. So it automatically the Shelf that’s ridiculous. If it’s on the top shelf. There’s something wrong. Let me share a story with you. Interesting. It’s about a you know, the person invites his Imam to his house for a meal for Dua. Imam comes to his house and has a meal and this person has his fun out. Okay.
It is summer. The fan is blowing and it ended he had some money on that table. Okay, the money flu, you know, this man is gone to the kitchen to get the food. So the chef is when he comes back and at the share has God this man says I had a hundred pounds a year. Nobody else other than the Imam who came here. And so you had all those bad ideas about him.
And some time again, you know, this is few months again after obviously, you can’t say to him that you’ve stolen my money you know, his wife says, you know, let’s invite that Imam again it’s like that evolved again the poem I’ll invite this year. And he invites him and the other talking and he says, you know last year she has something happened in my house like this, you know, there was some money here and it sort of disappeared and you were the only person and you know, it’s check began to cry.
I’m just wanted to do so. Sorry. I’m not trying to embarrass you. I’m not you know, I don’t mean you know this other he says no, I’m not crying.
So that it says I’m crying because that notes money was blown I took it and I put it inside the Quran you have. And I put it on the shelf and what I’m crying about is that it’s been months now and it just shows that you haven’t touched the Quran.
How do you not touch the ground? He would have found them any day. And you know, this is the problem, you know, this is a place where the Prophet (S) said that my people have abundance book. We don’t touch it for months. And then we say, you know, there isn’t bad kind of life. There is a spirituality in our lives. We don’t get well, you know, this book is the one that really reminds you.
It puts you and it takes you in touch with the reality, but you’ve got to understand it’s message, you’ve got to use your head. You’ve got to be serious student of it. So I really urge you when you read, you know passage, reads it’s translation always, reflect on it and every day just ask. I have a scheme, you know, worksheet which you can go through asking yourself what is lesson for me, today.
Then what’s the moral lesson? What is the spiritual lesson, what is the social lesson? How should I relate with others and so on it’s a very simple scheme. I have devised and I’ll be happy to share that will be very well.
Maruf: I mean one of the things I was reflecting what you said is that like every day we give food to our bodies. If we don’t, we don’t survive that long and the mental as you said, sometimes we learn, sometimes we entertained to keep our wives busy, but I will come so and that’s the medicine, right?
That’s the subject, went back to take a time and the Quran is the best place to go and and having said that I really really thank you for being here for sharing this. May Allah reward you. I really think you again. I’m grateful for your time here until we see you next time. Assalamu alaikum!
Musharraf: Walailumassalam!
