The second day of LLSP 2015 was marked by Dr. Zainab Alwani’s lectures: “Approaching the Qur’an”, “Tafsir, Ta’wil, & Ijtihad”, and “Islamic Jurisprudential Reasoning.” The lectures centered around strengthening our relationship with the Qur’an while developing a holistic approach towards Qur’anic readings in order to truly understand its meaning.
Dr. Alwani began her first course, “Approaching the Qur’an,” by asking each participant to describe their relationship with the Qur’an. Many students described similar feelings, particularly the common desire to become closer to the Qur’an. One student explained, “I’m stronger and a better person when I open the book for guidance…the main reason I’m at this program is to develop my relationship with the Qur’an.” Another said, “my relationship with the Qur’an has always been really personal…it’s just a one-on-one interaction with God in a way.” All students expressed an infatuation with Qur’anic Arabic and the joy they feel in listening to the Qur’an in Arabic. While Dr. Alwani agreed that nothing equals learning to read and understand the Qur’an in Arabic, she emphasized the Qur’an’s universality no matter the language in which it is written and encouraged participants to explore the Qur’an in any way they can and in any language they can understand.
“I have a group of sisters here who are ready to take a journey with the Qur’an…This is truly a historical moment for all of us” … “I want to give you some keys to open some of the closed doors, but the rest is up to you,” said Dr. Alwani.
During the “Tafsir, Ta’wil, Ijtihad” course, Dr. Alwani discussed with participants how to use the Sunnah as a guide in their personal journeys with the Qur’an. She also provided them with a methodology to follow to gain full understanding of the Qur’an:
1- Understand the unity of the Qur’a
2- Understand attributes of the Qur’an
3- Read the Ayahs repeatedly
4- Find the main theme of the Surahs
5- Look for the sub themes that build on the main theme.
6- Look for words or phrases that are written repeatedly, and think about their significance to the Surah you’re reading
7- Ponder on your findings and conclusions and think about what Allah is telling us through this Surah.
To end the day, Dr. Alwani split the participants into three groups, assigned each group a Surah to discuss, and encouraged them to follow the steps in her methodology for approaching their assigned Surah. After lively discussions, participants reconvened to share their discoveries. One student described her discussion with peers, saying: “I enjoyed dissecting this Surah…I probably never would have thought of some of the things others said on my own, and I found myself reading the same ayah repeatedly just to see if I could understand it in a different light…” After a full day of working with the Qur’an, participants expressed their gratitude for their time with Dr. Alwani. One participant noted, “through [Dr. Alwani’s] patience, she even taught me to be patient with the Qur’an itself…to give it time and to focus on the meaning.”
In day 2 of LLSP, participants enjoyed working through their relationships with the Qur’an and are looking forward to using their newfound understandings throughout LLSP!
EN 
AR