A VERY long and personal post ahead with inspiring life lessons…

Growing up as an American Muslim of Non-Arab descent, I was taught to love the Quran. I developed a strong spiritual connection, despite my lack of understanding of its meanings and my inability to recite it.

When I got my first translation of the Quran, I fell in love with the message. My heart overflowed with a deep sense of appreciation for having a life manual on living a mindful and righteous life. I remember reading and highlighting each verse and translation that resonated with me.

I Wanted to Understand My Prayer (Salah) in Arabic

Even though I was getting the beautiful meaning of the Quran, I felt lost when I heard the recitation in prayer. I spent years standing in Taraweeh during Ramadan and weeping while praying, begging Allah to help me understand His message. I remember thinking that if the recitation of the Quran moves me so deeply when I don’t understand Arabic, imagine what will happen once I learn it.

I Prayed to Understand The Quran in Arabic

With sincerity in my heart and a strong desire to learn, I prayed for Allah to make the recitation and the understanding of the Quran easy. SubhanAllah, that’s when many doors opened one after another. I was pregnant with my firstborn in 1999, and I felt a deep sense of responsibility for learning my religion to pass on the knowledge to my children.

I had the intention to study 3 hours a day on my own to understand my religion better. Remember, this was at the early stages of the internet, and Islamic resources were not readily available. Allah provided me with one of the first intensive summer programs for 6 hours a day, 6 days a week taught by Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, Sheikh Waleed Basyouni, Dr. Mamdouh Mohammad, and many other notable speakers.

Allah is so merciful and generous! I was willing to give 3 hours on my own, and He gave me 6 hours with a full curriculum and excellent teachers! This intensive program taught me the fundamentals of our beliefs, and it was the beginning of my spiritual journey.

Alhamdulillah, I was awarded first place amongst my peers in the program that earned me an Umrah trip during Ramadan. That program completely changed the course of my life.

Learning Tajweed

Now that I had a better understanding of the fundamentals, I needed to improve my recitation and comprehension of the Quran. I started by learning tajweed, which I did with Dr. Hanaa Gamal for 8 months. Each class was 3 hours long, with great emphasis on pronunciation. Alhamdulillah, I benefitted greatly from this course, and it gave me the confidence I needed to recite.

As a non-Arab, it can be difficult to pronounce certain letters, and sometimes it’s frustrating.I remember crying a few times, thinking how much easier Arabic-speaking people have it.

Learning to Understand the Quran

One of my biggest duaa’s was answered when one of our Houston mosques arranged for Dr. Mamdouh Mohammad to fly down from Virginia every weekend for several months to teach his incredibly effective course, Arabic: The Bridge to the Quran.

I had a 4-month-old baby, and the class became my lifeline. I cherished studying every time my son would nap or go to sleep. The course taught us 500 common words in the Quran, which transformed my understanding.

The first time I heard the recitation of the Quran after months of this intensive course, I was overjoyed, and tears rolled down my cheeks in gratitude for being able to understand what was being recited. Imagine going from hearing the Quran and feeling it’s a foreign language to understanding most of the meaning. It was one of the most euphoric feelings I’ve ever experienced, subhanAllah.

I started taking additional classes of Tafsir to further my comprehension of the Quran. There was a point where I was taking 5 classes a week. I couldn’t get enough!

Purification of The Heart

Listening to Sheikh Hamza Yusuf provided me with the steps I needed to purify my heart and make Islam the top priority in my life, Alhamdulillah. When we moved to Egypt, we were fortunate to work with Sheikh Mohammad Hamzawy. He is certified in the ten recitations of the Quran and would come daily to help our children memorize and learn it.

I thought to myself: “What do I do with this golden opportunity of an Al-Azhar sheikh visiting our home every day?”So I committed to studying Tajweed, and Tafsir with him every day, seven days a week, for three years, earning me an ijaza in 2011 to teach tajweed, alhamdullilah.

It’s been a fulfilling 22-year journey, and I’m committed to being a lifelong student of the Quran inshaAllah. I’m nowhere close to where I want to be in my recitation or understanding the Quran. Insha’Allah with the more consistent effort I can continue to improve.

Where is Haleh Banani From?

Many people assume that I’m of Arab descent, I’m not, I’m Persian. I’ve married an Arab American and lived in Dubai and Egypt to teach our children Arabic. I didn’t want my children to struggle to learn the Quran the way I did.

You Get Double the Reward When You Struggle to Read the Quran

Those of you struggling to learn the Quran, whether Arab or non-Arab, revert or born Muslim, know that there is hope when you make a sincere intention to learn, inshaAllah.Don’t give up and remain motivated in your pursuit of studying the Quran.

As the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “One who recites the Quran beautifully, smoothly, and precisely will be in the company of noble angels. As for the one who recites it with difficulty, stammering or stumbling through its verses, (s)he will have twice that reward.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)