The Words of Coco Chanel, “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable” (Coco Chanel.13) can surely be associated with the man I have chosen.
No doubt I attended the class simply because I did not find anything interesting to me that semester. I was stuck with few choices. It was either writing creative poetry or this: Quran Intensive at Bayyinah Institute. Even though a flaky girl like me has her own experience in writing, I became tired of the same scenario where most people were more creative than me. It was the end of Junior high and I had wanted a change of scene, something that appears to be a little easier than what I currently do. Instead it transformed me into a Quranic Tafseer guru. The credit goes solely to his doing, Uztaz Nouman Ali Khan, the bearded looking Scholar that became my Mentor, my inspiration, my world leading Scholar of current times.
From the onset he walked in, he began to be an inspiration to me. He always flips the pages of Quran with his hands while doing tafseer which made us wonder whether it was a form of disorganization or typical genius. His strong sense of humor, his fluent Arabic accent, his classical Arabic morphology and grammar woke me up from my deepest slumber. I categorically remember his big popping eye balls and how he opens them wide when excited about a particular Surah. Whenever he walks in, he asks about the thematic Tafseer of surah Nas and Falaq.
I chose to write on Uztaz Nouman because he has been a great inspiration in my life. He has inspired me improve in the field of Quranic Exegesis. Even though a personal interview with the scholar wasn’t granted, enough literature will be presented to justify him as an inspirational person, a world leading Scholar.
I will start by introducing him as a Pakistani young Man born in Berlin, Germany and raised in former East Berlin, on a very hot and sunny day 4th day of May in the year 1978. He is 180cm tall, and 75kg in weight. He has Hazel Grey eyes and a black hair. He is a father of 7 children: Khalid and Husna to name a few. He is a man with great sense of humor.
He attended Pakistan Embassy School from grades 2-8. The scholar’s love and passion for Arabic commenced while he was in elementary school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While he was studying in Pakistan, he was awarded a scholarship for being among the top 10 students with the highest scores in national Arabic studies board examination in 1993. In the United States, he later began to study under Dr. Abdus samie, the founder of Quran College, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
He has currently adopted the unique methodology and teaching methods in which he translated the world of Abdus samie into English to serve as a benefit to his students. Currently Uztaz is dedicated to a long project of 7 years for conducting linguistic and literacy focus of the Quran exegesis series into English language. Nouman Ali Khan also served in Nassau Community college as a professor In Arabic studies till 2006. He is without a doubt an expert in classical/standard Arabic studies. Through his renowned institution for Arabic and Quran studies (Bayyinah), 20,000 students graduated worldwide.
Some of his great publications were some popular books, namely Revive your heart: putting life in perspective and Divine speech: Exploring Quran as literature, Bondhon: Guardian publication, Lecture series (audio/video) namely, Arabic with Husna in multiple volumes, Dirilt kalbini: Timas yayinlari, the dream package, Quran intensive, that’s messed up, Quranic gems and getting to know. In addition to the above, there are hundreds of lectures touching on all aspects of Islam from patience, Taqwa, islamophobia, powers of Quran verses, heart softeners etc. on Muslim central.
Among other things he inspired me with is courage to start a Journey of Quranic sciences, something I never ever thought I could do. He made me realize that we can make our horizon as wide as we want it to be and also inspired me to reach to the stars without any limits. The ummah have carried with it a knowledge worth living for, a knowledge that can be preserved for future generations, a knowledge that makes you hungry for more, a knowledge that makes you inquisitive, increase your taqwa and tawakkul in Allah, a vivid knowledge to perceive, a knowledge to remember.
There is no doubt in my mind that Uztaz nouman Ali khan is one of the most leading scholar of our times particularly to the youth. Majority of people find him very inspirational which led the “Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jorda” to name him as the top 500 most influential Muslims in the world. He uses examples in all that he does and we all aspire to be like him one day. May Allah rain his countless blessings on him for giving us opportunity to love and learn the Quran the way we do. Ameen
Signed
BeingMuslimah
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