Hajjah Amina ق talks about the rewards of reading the Quran and in particular of Surat al Fatihah and more specifically of the Aameen said at the end of al Fatihah. She tells two stories of S. Khidr (alayhi s-salam).

Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim

Allahumma Salli ala Muhammadin wa ala ‘aly Muhammadin wa Sallim

Sayyidah Hajjah Amina Adil ق , sohbat from the year 2000

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Allahumma la hawla wa la quwwata illa Billah Al Aliyyil al Azim. The Quran al-Azim ash-Shan. 

The Greatness of the Great & Glorious Quran is very great! A person who recites Quran, when he reads 1 letter of it he is granted 10 thawabs. When you say “Alif Lam Mim”, it is 3 letters. If you are reading something from Quran without ablution, you get 10 thawabs for each letter. If you read something from it by heart with ablution you get 25 thawabs for each letter. If you read through the pages, 50 thawabs for each letter. You should not take the Quran lightly because the Glorious Quran is the word of Allah, it is not like anything else. It has such big rewards, even inside Quran.. 

G. I missed that part. 

H.A. When you open the Quran & read it with ablution, 50 thawabs for each letter. This is because you open & read through it. If you read it by heart when you have no ablution but of course you are clean (ghusul), 10 thawab for each letter. If you read by heart with ablution 25 thawab. If you open the Quran & read through it, 50 thawab for each letter. If you read during prayer, for example Surat al Fatiha, Ikhlas.. for each letter you read, 100 thawabs. 100 thawabs for each letter you read when praying. 

G. Is what you read after finishing the prayer the same? 

H.A. No, it is not. After the salam, it is read by heart. It is considered as the 25 thawab. What you read during the prayer is different & what you read outside of the prayer is different. 

G. Then we can read Quran at the end of the prayer before salam?

H.A. No. You can’t do without making salam. There is a proper way of praying. You need to read surat al Fatiha, then you read at-tahiyyat etc. After this you can’t recite anything else. You have to make salam & exit the prayer. What you read after the salam is 25 thawabs for each letter because you are not in the prayer anymore. Yes. So now, when it is like this, what you read during the prayer & outside of the prayer is very different. The one during the prayer is much more different. Yes. 

Ilyas (alayhi s-salam) lived a very long life. And so did Khidir (alayhi s-salam) because he drank from the water of life. And they will also live until the Day of Judgement. They are alive.

One day the Prophet (ﷺ) was in the Masjid al Saadah. When he was sitting in Masjid al Saadah 2 men came. They were tall, very handsome men, didn’t look like the men of that time. They  greeted the Prophet (ﷺ). After they greeted, the Prophet (ﷺ) replied to their salam. He asked “Where are you coming from?” They said “Ya Rasulullah, we came to you for a need of ours”. When he asked “What do you need?” they said one of them is Khidir & the other is Ilyas. They were Prophets. “Our Lord granted us long life” he said. Ilyas (alayhi s-salam) lived a very long life. And so did Khidir (alayhi s-salam) because he drank from the water of life. And they will also live until the Day of Judgement. They are alive. One of them said “We made a dua to Allah because we had a request from the Lord of Heavens. We worshipped exactly for 1000 years saying “O Lord, please grant us this request”. After 1000 years when the question came “What is your request? What do you want?” They said “We want Surat al Fatiha”. Surat al Fatiha is only in the Quran from the 104 Holy Books descended from Heavens. It is not in any other Book. 

There was no reply to their question so they continued worshipping for another 1000 years. After 1000 years, the answer came saying “I can’t give you the Surat al-Fatiha because it belongs to My beloved Muhammad (ﷺ) & his nation. Surat al Fatiha is so precious that it only belongs to him”. They continued worshipping for another 1000 years. They worshipped for 3000 years. After they worshipped for 3000 years, a message came asking “What do you want?” “O Lord, since You won’t give us this, grant us long life that we reach S. Muhammad (ﷺ). We become part of his nation and we read Surat al Fatiha for once. After this take away our souls if You like”. 

Surat al Fatiha was sent down twice. For whichever intention you read it bi-iznillah the Lord of Heavens accepts it. That is why we need to read Fatiha in every rakat of the prayers.

So we asked for it for 3000 years. Now this 3000 years are completed & we came to you O Rasulullah. Surat al Fatiha was sent down twice. For whichever intention you read it bi-iznillah the Lord of Heavens accepts it. That is why we need to read Fatiha in every rakat of the prayers. They said “So we came here like this O Rasulullah. We are not prophets anymore. Neither Prophet Ilyas nor Prophet Khidir but we are only men from your nation. They said “Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ashadu anna Muhammad al Rasulullah” & they become from the nation of the Prophet (ﷺ). They accepted to be from the ummah. Our Lord granted us such a great honor that He made us from the nation of the Muhammad (ﷺ) by birth, all the way from our ancestors without us putting any effort. He made iman straight to our hearts Alhamdulillah. May He not take it out. May He increase our faith.

So they said “teach us Surat al Fatiha O Rasulullah” Our Prophet (ﷺ) made them read it once from beginning to end. When they said “Wa La Ad-Dallina Amin” they asked “O Rasulullah, what does Amin mean?” It does not belong to Fatiha. When we say ‘Wa La Ad-Dallina’ Fatiha finishes. When we say ‘Amin’ it means ‘O Lord, may You accept'”. So then, when immediately they were saying “since we’ve already read Fatiha now we can..” and the Prophet (ﷺ) hushed them. He (ﷺ) said “Don’t say it”. When they were about to say “We have read Fatiha, you can take away our souls now. We reached what we wanted.” Prophet (ﷺ) stopped them. He said “The Lord of Heavens granted you life and He (subhanahu wa ta’ala) granted you power, granted you authority. Therefore now, one of you help my nation on the waters, oceans. And the other one help on the dry (land). Because my nation is a weak nation. There are many times they are in trouble so you come to their rescue at those times”. They accepted this. 

“But we have another request from you O Rasulullah”. “What is it?” “Tell us about the thawabs of this Surat al Fatiha”. With the abjad letters, there are 6 letters missing in Fatiha. For example, the letter “shin” is absent. Yes, He (swt) granted 3 kinds of miracles to the nation of Muhammad(ﷺ). For each one of these letters for example the 1st one, because the letter shin is absent,he doesn’t pass without iman. Who reads Fatiha doesn’t leave without iman. 2nd, he reaches the intercession of the Prophet (ﷺ). And 3rd, Allah grants him high levels. He may reach high maqams by it. So for each letter of these 6 letters Allah granted 3 kinds of miracles for who reads Fatiha. 

But now I can remember only for one letter. So after this, what did the Prophet (ﷺ) say? “If Allah granted me life till the day of Judgement so I continue to explain the thawabs of reading Fatiha I couldn’t have finished it- the thawabs of reading 1 Fatiha, for that one who read 1 Fatiha. Therefore I may tell you about the thawab of what is said after Fatiha, Amin, “Wa La Ad-Dallina Amin”. They said “Tell us O Rasulullah”. Our Prophet (ﷺ) informed that he is not able to say the thawabs of 1 Fatiha- it is not possible to finish nor explain. 

Then he said “Amin”. It is 4 letters with the abjadi letters, with old Turkish letters for example. ‘A, m, y, nun. It is read as ‘Aameen. He (ﷺ) said “Alif is written on the Throne of the ar-Rahman. Mim on the Kursi, Ya on the Tablet(lawh)  and Nun on the Pen. 4 of these letters come together & make Aameen. ‘A, m, y, nun. Yes. These 4 letters are written on 4 things. If a person says ‘Aameen after Fatiha The Lord of Heavens grants him from the thawab of that 4- Throne, Kursi, Tablet & Pen.” They were very touched by this & started shaking. 

He (ﷺ) said “Should I say more?” “Yes, say more O Rasulullah”. He (ﷺ) said “Alif is on the forehead of Israfil (as)” There are 4 angels, they are the prophets of the angels. “Alif is on the forehead of Israfil(as). Mim on the forehead of Mikail (as). Ya on the forehead of Jibrail (as) & Nun on the forehead of Azrail (as).” All these four are the prophets of the angels. If a person reads Fatiha & says ‘Aameen he gets from the thawabs of those 4 Angels. And these 4 angels are so great ones that Israfil (as) is the one who will blow the trumpet. Mikail (as) is the angel who distributes the rizq/provisions. Jibrail (as) is the angel who brings the revelation to Prophets. Azrail (as) is the angel who takes the souls. So that one gets the thawabs of all these 4 angels. Israfil (as) was the one that when the Lord of Heavens ordered the angels to make sajda to Adam (as) was the first to make sajda. Therefore in between his two eyebrows are written the whole Quran. All Quran is written in between his eyebrows. The Lord of Heavens liked it, that he was the first one to fulfill the order of Allah & make sajda. Who did not make sajda was Iblis. He was expelled & thrown away. He was dressed with the ring of curse. Yes. 

He (ﷺ) said that the one who says ‘Aameen is granted from the thawabs of these 4 Angels. It is not a big thing to say one Aameen but the Mercy of the Lord of Heavens is so abundant, so wide. His servant may not think “can it really be so wide like this?” because the blessings & treasures of the Lord of Heavens are abundant. He grants, never rejects & He is looking for reasons to forgive His servants. After hearing all this, they got surprised even more. 

He (ﷺ) said “Should I say more?” “Say O Rasulullah”. He (ﷺ) said “Alif is written on Torah” The 4 Great Books descended from Heavens “Alif is written on Torah. Mim is written on Psalms.” It is the one sent to David (as). Torah is the Great Book sent to Moses (as) & Psalms is the one sent to David (as). Mim is written on that and Ya is written on the Bible which is also a Haqq Book. The unbelievers changed them, otherwise they are the Great Books. Yes. And after those, Nun is written on the Quran. There is a Surah starting with “Nun Wa Al-Qalami Wa Ma Yasturuna” (68:1) right below Tabaraka (surat al-Mulk). Therefore when one says ‘Aameen, the Lord of Heavens gives him thawab as if he read these 4 Books. Her name may be Aisha, Fatima, His name may be Ali…Doesn’t matter, all are Allah’s servants. Whichever nation they are from, when they become Muslim, read 1 Fatiha & say Aameen they get this”. So they even got more suprised. 

When he said “Should I say more?” & they said “Say O Rasulullah” “Alif is written on the forehead of Abu Bakr. Mim on the forehead of Omar (ra). Ya on the forehead of Uthman & Nun on the forehead of Ali. When these 4 come together, it is read ‘Aameen.” When they heard this, they got even more suprised. They liked it very much & said “O Rasulullah, it has such a great thawab?” He (ﷺ) said “This is the thawab of only one Aameen. Other than this, the thawabs of the rest of Quran no one knows other than Allah. Therefore “O Ikhwan, read the Quran. This is the Quran, this is the Order. Who sent it is ar-Rahman. Who found it is Ridwan. So read the Quran day & night”. (Tr qasida) Either read it by heart or through the Book, just read. Read! Because what came to the Prophet (ﷺ) first was “Read!” The first Verse was “Iqra'”, meaning “Read”. Read. So reading the Great & Glorious Quran has such blessings & rewards. Whether you understand its meaning or not. the reward is the same. So read- Read by heart, read for a person, read for something you want, read for cure.. For example if you read Fatiha for a cure, it becomes a cure. If you want something, if you have a wish, read Fatiha. For the honour of that Fatiha Allah grants you what you ask. So like this for everything, there is something from the Lord of Heavens. So after hearing all this, they liked it very much. So they would read it accordingly. 

Now we may say a story from the stories of Khidir (alayhi s-salam). Prophet Khidir is alive, so is Prophet Ilyas. 2 Prophets are alive on earth & 2 Prophets are alive in the Heavens till the Day of Judgement. When that day comes they will also die. No one will remain, no one will remain at all. The souls also die, all die. After the Lord of Heavens flattens the Heavens & Earths all He asks “Limani Al-Mulku Al-Yawma?- Whose will be the dominion that Day?” Where are those who say “my house, my land, my garden, my sultanate?” Whose will be the dominion today?” When the Lord of Heaven asks like this there is not even a mosquito alive that can answer. So He replies to Himself: “Lillahi Al-Wahidi Al-Qahhari” (40:16) All belongs to the One Who can crush & destroy everything. All came from Him & & belongs to him. It is not left to anyone. 

Therefore one day again it was being mentioned in the gathering of kings. I think it was a Muslim state, it was mentioned about Khidir & Ilyas (as). And the King said “Since Khidr (as) is alive, then he must be in our countries, in Muslim towns. Here is our Muslim country. Is there anyone who saw him? If there is, he may show me. To who shows me Khidir I will give all  he wants. I really desire to see him. He must be somewhere here”. There was no one who saw or knew about Khidir(alayhi s-salam). So he calls for the crier to say “If there is anyone who has seen Khidir the King wants to see him. He may show him & the king will give him all that he wants from this dunya”. No one came out. One dervish baba said “Maybe Allah will help me & I will see him”. So he said “I can show you Khidir O my King”. “What do you want then?” “I am a poor person. I eat what I earn so I have no time to deal with this.” “How much time do you want?” He said “Give me 40 days & give me food, drink etc for 40 days”.. They said Ok. So loads of supplies were sent to him, of all kinds. They piled it up at his door. 

His wife said: “Effendi, what are these? Did they come by mistake or did you steal? We have never seen so much in our whole life”. “O woman, keep quiet. Let us eat & drink for 40 days & see what Allah will show us”. So he was thinking that he will eat & drink for 40 days & then show Khidir. She asked “Have you seen Khidir in your life?” “I haven’t seen nor do I know him. But I will beg Allah, maybe Allah helps. So keep quiet now”. That is what came to his mind, he will eat his fill & make dua. He will look, he will ask but he doesn’t know if he will find him or not. So just like this, the 40 days passed. The 40th night came &he said to his wife “O woman, give me your blessings & wake me up tonight at any time you can so that I can escape.” “Why?” “Because tomorrow they will execute me saying ‘you played such a game with the Sultan’. I wouldn’t like this but..” She said “Ok”. They went to sleep. 

Allah gave them such a deep sleep that both of them didn’t wake until the sun rose. They woke up with the loud knock at the door. Dervish baba looked and saw the soldiers at the door. They said “Come on father, all the high officials, the viziers, all the palace is full. They are waiting for Khidir & you. Take Khidir & come” they said. “Take Khidir & come.” There is no Khidir around! He got up, put on his old jubba again & went with them. He saw that all the high officials, viziers put on their best clothes. The Sultan was sitting on his throne. So walking past everyone, he went next to the Sultan & the Sultan put in front of him an official chair. He said “please sit here”. And also put another chair next to him then asked “What is it dervish baba, where is Khidir?” Because he prepared seats for Khidir & Dervish baba so that he can show people. “O Sultan, what can I tell you? I have never seen Khidir” he said. “But because I really needed it I said this thing, hoping that maybe I can see him. But I am in your hand now. You can cut my head or do anything you like. I am telling you now, I have never seen him & can’t show you”. 

“Sit here”, so he made him sit there. Sultan had fire coming out of his eyes. He gathered all these people. He waited for 40 days & there is nothing. He called his grand vizier. “Come o my vizier”. The vizier came. “What should we do now to this old man? He played this trick on us,  humiliated us in front of all these people. He didn’t bring Khidir nor did he say that he can bring him. What punishment should we give him?” That grand vizier got very angry, outraged. He said: “O Sultan! We should lay this one right here & cut his throat like a lamb. And then we should make his meat, legs, arms into pieces & hang each piece on a street so that all the people draw a lesson from it & never play such games with the government”. He looked, a small kid was sitting on the other side. He said “Kullu shai’an yarj’au ‘ila ‘aslihi” meaning “Everything returns to its origin”. The sultan looked at the child. He looked but nothing happened. 

He said to the grand vizier “Go back to your seat” & called the second vizier. And he asked him “What do you say about what the grand vizier said? What punishment would you give him?” He said “O Sultan, the punishment he said is very little for him. There are stones used to pound meat & wheat to cook keskek (Turkish meal). So with this stone we should pound his meat&bone like pounding keskek & leave a handful of it on every corner of the country. So the whole world hears & never does such a thing again”. He said “Ok.” And as they were speaking, the old man shrank back helplessly. When this second one spoke, the child again said “Kullu shai’an yarj’au ‘ila ‘aslihi- everything returns to its origin.” 

Again the Sultan looked to that side. He said “Go & sit in your seat”. That 2nd vizier went  & he called the 3rd. He asked this 3rd one “What do you say O my vizier? What punishment should we give him?” He said “O Sultan, The other 2 viziers are right in what they said, this poor one deserves this punishment. If you hang him, cut him or pound his meat with his bones no one can tell you anything. There is no one who will say ‘Don’t do O Sultan. Leave him O Sultan’. Therefore O Sultan, this wouldn’t be an honour for you. It is not something that will give any benefit. What is suitable for Sultans, for great men, is to forgive. This one did such an insolent thing & if you forgive, they will say “look at the greatness of the Sultan.” Your honour will go higher. Everyone will appreciate you. But on the other hand if you do the other way, whether they pity him or not, no one will say anything. You can do as you like. But what is suitable for you is to forgive, “Man la yarham, la yurham”. He who shows no mercy, will receive no mercy. If you forgive him then Allah also will forgive you. If you forgive this one’s mistake, then My Lord Who is greater will forgive your sin O Sultan” he said & stopped. 

The boy again said “Kullu shai’an yarj’au ‘ila aslihi- everything returns to it’s origin” When he said like this, the Sultan looked again. He asked to the old man: “Is this one your son or grandson?” He said “I saw him when I came here. I thought he was with the officials”. “Whose kid is he?” No one’s. “Whose son are you?” And he said “Who did you want? Why did you gather here?” The Sultan said “We wanted Khidir”. “I am Khidir” he said. He reached like Khidir in the most difficult time (Turkish saying). So he said “I am Khidir. The purpose of seeing Khidir is to take advice.” He said “Ok then, these 3 viziers of mine passed 3 kinds of judgement. But you answered all 3 of them the same-everything returns to it’s origin” “O Sultan, that grand vizier of yours is the son of a butcher. He is accustomed to this- he cuts throats, cuts into pieces & hangs here, there.He sends the meat pieces to the other side of the country. You send him back that he becomes the head of the butchers. Because now he came to power. When he comes to power he  sees all the people as sheep that he will cut everyone in pieces & send. Your second vizier is the son of a cook who makes keskek. He pounds wheat, pounds keskek and also what do they call those who harrow the wheat? So he is used to this. And when he comes to power now he thinks everyone should be pounded & harrowed. Send him away too & he will be the head of cooks, head of keskek makers. He is not suitable to be here in power. And this 3rd vizier of yours is the son of a vizier. He knows to forgive. When someone makes a mistake he knows to cover his mistake. He knows to forgive a person’s mistake. This one is the son of vizier. Keep him & consult him. Bring people like him to power O Sultan. 

And about this incident, you are faulty also. You don’t take care of the poor. This poor one had to do such a thing to eat 40 days of food. So he said this thing. But look, still Allah has sent me because his intention was pure. So you consider these things & help such people that Allah also helps you And no one again does such an insolent thing to you”. He said this & disappeared. 

Where is Khidir? No Khidir. Where can he be? Now in the east, now in the west. He is like this. And Khidir (as) is such a holy one like this. He appears very rarely & it is not certain where he can be. And he reaches a person in his most difficult time & saves him. So consider everyone as Khidir, as a good one. Keep your heart beautiful. For everyone you see, say “this is a good person”, you get no harm. But if you say for everyone you see “this is bad”, you also get badness. Yes. 

Ila sharafin Nabiyyi sal-Allahu alaihi wa sallam,wa alihi wa ashabihil kiram. Wa ila arwaahi sa’eeri sa’datina Al-Fatiha, also for S. Khidir & S. Ilyas.