Fantastic and Meaningful Video Series for Ramadan

The Yaqeen Institute has produced a truly inspiring series of videos discussing the Quran Al-Kareem, called Quran 30, studying each day a different juz’ from the Quran via zoom. No better way to spend Ramadan, especially for English-speakers who want to understand the Arabic Quran but only know a few words in Arabic.

Ramadan, Honoring the Quran

Ramadan is first mentioned in the Quran as the month in which the Quran was sent, literally “sent down.” Thus its significance as a month of fasting (and other forms of abstention) is very closely related to the Quran. After all, the Quran is central to Islam; it is the sourcebook for the religion, for everything from jurisprudence to inspiration to wisdom of a more intellectual  nature. It is a guide to life, in essence whose language and presentation is often allegorical or via parables or metaphor, all this being expressed in one Arabic word mathal. 

The Sixth Pillar

The five pillars of Islam are widely known in the Muslim world to refer to first, a declaration (literally “I bear witness”) that there is no God but Allah, and that Mohammad is His Prophet. The name Allah is the Arabic Word for God and does not mean some other “deity.” The second pillar is the establishment of daily salat, referring to a form of worship often translated as “prayer,” but with specific protocols such as a direction to face and exact times of day to be performed. The third pillar is the zakat, which refers to a portion of one’s income to be paid to charity set aside specifically for the poor. The fourth is to fast for the month of Ramadan, and the fifth is performance of the Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah at least once in one’s lifetime if able. But there is a sixth important pillar missing from this list: reading the Quran.