AL MAUN

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

Assalamualaikum

Title: Surah Al-Maun

Pernahkah kamu melihat orang-orang yang mendustakan agama?

Merekalah yang mengusir anak-anak yatim.

Mereklah yang tidak memperdulikan orang-orang meskin.

Celakalah orang-orang yang solat itu;

Yaitu mereka yang lalai dalam solat mereka,

yang bersifat riya' dalam melakukan kebajikan,

dan yang enggan memberikan bantuan(zakat).

I find this surah beautiful, and I'll explain why in a later paragraph. I had to memorise 9 surahs for my Tafseer exam and surah Al-Maun is among one of the 9 surahs that will be tested. I didn't sleep a wink on Monday night because I decided to give my beauty sleep a go, so that I could use my sleeping time to memorise the 9 surahs. Alhamdulilah, I was able to memorise all of the Surahs, except for Surah At-Takatsur within that few hours. I eventually went to bed at 4am and I decided that I would wake up at 6am to perform my Subuh prayers, (in wihch I did) and then I thought perhaps, I could do a little bit of Quranic reading upon completion of the Subuh prayers. Unfortunately, I went to bed as soon as I've completed my Subuh prayers because I was toooooooooooooooooooooo sleepy already.

When I was memorising Surah Al-Maun, it was already close to 3 a.m. My sister was already soundly asleep on the bed, and the house was very very quiet. I was already very sleepy and I had this thinking. Oh-this-surah-is-very-short-and-so-i-should-be-able-to-memorise-them-in-minutes. And so I hurried on with my memorisation. But unfortunately somehow, my brain just could not absorb the lines well enough. I keep mistaking the second line for the third and vice-versa. And then, just as I was about to give up and turn in for the night and save memorising Surah Al Maun for tomorrow, it dawned upon me that perhaps, I should memorise the tafseer of surah Al-Maun first.

And that was exactly what I did. I took out my Tafseer textbook, and flipped to Surah Al-Maun. When I read through the Tafseer, I couldn't help but cry. The first line of the surah captured my attention aptly. Well I think it could be because of the fact that the Surah begins with a question.

As I read through the tafseer for line 2(merekalah yang mengusir anak-anak yatim) and line 3(merekalah yang tidak memperdulikan orang-orang miskin), my heart just sank. How could anyone be so evil, cruel and mean towards the orphan and the poor?

When I moved on to line 4(celakalah bagi mereka yang bersolat), my heart went dup dak dup dak dup dak like crazy. And then at line 5(yaitu orang-orang yang lalai dalam solat mereka), my heart almost stopped beating for a second and then the next thing I knew, I was crying! Because you see, during my 'jahil days', I didn't really take my solat seriously. It was like a touch-and-go solat style. What a fool I had been all these while!

This surah is like a knock on the head. And then, after I have read the whole tafseer of Surah Al-Maun, and have memorised the tafseer by heart, only then did I realise that it was so much easier for me to memorise Surah Al-Maun, upon having after understanding the tafseer of the Surah. Alhamdulilah.

Latest update:
I just got back from my class and when I recited Surah Al-Maun to my Ustaz, I recited them off by heart and Alhamdulilah, Ustaz was pleased with my reading. Yay! =)