Quran Recitation and Translation Online in Arabic, English, and Urdu

Quran Recitation and Translation Online in Arabic, English, and Urdu

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The Name Imran Dhuha

Dear Dhuha,

Do you ever wonder what are the meanings behind your name? Mama and abah chose to name you as 'Imran Dhuha' because we think the name bears beautiful meanings. Here are some facts that we gather about your name..

The meaning of 'Imran'

'Imran' is one of the prophets of Allah. He is the father of the pious Maryam and the grandfather of Isa A.S. His family is among the four that Allah had declared in the holy Al-Quran, (after that of Adam A.S, Nuh A.S, and Ibrahim A.S)

'Imran' also means courtesy, virtue of good manners and dignity. In Malay, 'Imran' is exquisitely translated to the phrase berbudi bahasa.

Besides the bestowed meaning of your first name, mama is also a fan of Imran Khan, who is known as the Lion of Lahore. Famously noticed for his stunning good looks, Imran Khan is the world's most charismatic cricket player and a respectable politician.

The Meaning of 'Dhuha'

'Dhuha' in Arabic, directly means forenoon. Forenoon is the early part of the day between sunrise and meridian. In the holy Al-Quran, there is a verse called Ad-Dhuha -Yusof Ali had translated this title as 'The Glorious Morning Light'.

Dhuha is a beautiful morning period of serenity and hope. It marks the dawn of a new day, new hope and a chance for a fresh start.

It is also usually the busiest part of the day - it is when most children go to school and most people move about to earn a living. Even the birds leave their nest for food once the Dhuha period dawns the earth. However, if one can take a short break amidst his busy chores during this period to offer Dhuha Prayer, it does him well; InsyaAllah, God will grant him prosperity in life.

In some books, we also found that 'Dhuha' bears a symbolic meaning of exaltation of one's social standing by God due to his commitment to follow the teachings of Islam and his quest for knowledge.

Al-Mukhsinin

Al-Mukhsinin in simple words means ‘those who do good’. Needless to say, God loves those who do good deeds. We could all wish the names of our loved ones including our own are listed among the blessed Al-Mukhsinin. Nevertheless, among average Joe like us, who actually made it to the God’s list as Al-Mukhsinin is truly unknown. The best that we can do is just to stay focused on being a sincere and a devoted servant to our Creator. More than often this is something difficult to do for most people - myself included.

Now, the word ‘Al-Mukhsinin’, obviously contains the word ‘Mukhsin’; and ‘Mukhsin’ somehow reminds me the movie about a boy who had a tragic family background. He found some momentary happiness through a friendship with a girl named Orked who in the end, never forgave him over a small brawl till it was too late.

I’ve no interest here to either comment on the movie or to summarize further the storyline. It’s just that the movie ‘Mukhsin’ reminds me to none other than the late Yasmin Ahmad. Yasmin Ahmad was the writer and also the director of the movie ‘Mukhsin’ who passed away excatly on my 31^st birthday. As I was about celebrating my 31 years of life in silent gratitude, it was upsetting to hear another life of someone you know (though just briefly through her works and the media) was taken away to see her Creator on the same day. I took this as a personal reminder - birthdays & deaths are closely related. Each passing birthday marks each year closer to one's end of life. Time surely flies in the countdown to one's own death..

Back to Yasmin, some controversial talks concerning her past cropped up shortly after her death. You probably did come across defaming articles about her in Kosmo! Whatever it was that happened, that did not matter to me personally because we did not know the actual truth and what her difficulties were. I believe that one’s true position can only be judged by Allah, the Most Knowing and the Most Forgiving.

It was reported that there were hundreds of people regardless of colour & religion came in droves to pay their last respect during Yasmin’s 'solat jenazah' and her burial. Don’t you wish that your end of life in this temporary world would be given respect by many too, be it from loved ones, friends, strangers and foes?

Al-fatihah.

Dhuha and His Mid-Term Exam

My first son, Dhuha will be 6 this October. It's amazing how the time flies.. for all you know, this sweet little guy will be starting his primary school by year end. It's only like yesterday that we changed his nappies... Anyway, 2 weeks ago Dhuha was telling us that he will be sitting for his maiden mid-term exam. Even the class teacher reminded us to let Dhuha attend his kindy without fail during the period. Well, we were not so sure what to do, frankly, it was the 1st time handling our own child facing an exam and we thought it was too early for him though - he should be playing rather than worrying about exams at this age! So, in the end, I told him to relax, and he just need to try giving his best without worrying about others who can do better or finish up earlier than he can because each of us is different in our abilities & special in different ways. He just need to give the best he could within his means and let God do the rest. And so the exams went... The result for the whole bunch was plastered on the front door of his class last Friday. To our surprise, Dhuha claimed the 1st spot in his class! It turned out that he got 100% for his Malay language, 99% for his Maths & 98% for his English. Heheh.. That was cool Dhuha! Congratulations! Even mama & abah didn't get those kind of scores in Primary 1. Ermm.. I've got a mixed feeling about this though - yes, very happy and proud of course, yet there's a stint of pity for him. Honestly, I wasn't really fond of the idea of a mid-term & later a final exam purely on paper for a child attending a kindergarten. They should be playing more at this age rather than bringing homeworks & fretting about exams.. "Why bother to feel older than your age?" I would have thought.. But yes, I'm seeing his cousins strugling with exams at early age too. The curiculum for early education at kindies may need a revision. There's so much ado about measuring a child's achievement in liguistic & logics through standard book works. What about the rest of other portions of intelligence? Well, Howard Gardner said that there are at least 9 types of Intelligences associated with human - visual/spatial, linguistics, logics, kinesthetics, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist & existantialist. So a child should be evaluated based on the various branches of skills. One may not do well in maths & languages exams, yet it's shallow to judge that he is not being smart enough.. do look further, he may be a genius in music or arts, or highy skillful in both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. I wish the assesments at kindies are more holistic in nature, enabling the child to recognize his forte in different branches & appreciate them. To Dhuha & Ilhan, whether you're the first in class or not is not really important to mama & abah, though we will be happy if you deservingly earn it. It's important that you give the best you can in your own terms. Remember, it is never guaranteed that you may always be on top all the time by trying your best, but rest assured that if you keep on giving your best, you'll be satisfied & at peace knowing that you've tried and gave all that you can, the rest as we said, you leave it to God; Don't be afraid & don't worry sons! Remember, each of you are born special in your own ways with different inteligences and abilities in different areas; We hope we manage to give you fair chances to play in the parks, visits friends & relatives, create your own artwork & masterpieces, have short trips to granmas', zoos and beaches, sing your heart out, watch some cartoons, understand your muqaddam & read your favourite story books. Life is definetly not all about scoring A's on paper, it's a lot more than that!

To Dhuha and Ilhan

To our dearest sons - Dhuha & Ilhan,

We hope that sometimes you would not mind wearing used clothes, eating homemade
ice cream and leftover dishes, for there are children in the world who never get
the taste of new clothes on their skin, and who almost have nothing to eat - far from having any chocolate or ice cream treat

Later, when you have to share a bedroom with your brother, it's all
right to draw a line down in the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the
covers with you because he is scared or because he would like to tell you his problem - we hope you'll let him

When you want to see a Disney movie or play out in the field and your brothers and sisters want to tag along, we hope you take them

We hope you enjoy the smell of the grass and fresh air outside better than computer games and the TV. We hope you enjoy reading books, and when you learn to use hi-tech gadgets and computers, you also learn how to add and subtract manually in your head

We hope you learn to make your bed, do laundry and wash the car - and we hope nobody gives you a brand-new car when you are 18

We hope you learn progress through your mistakes, you learn humility when facing humiliation and that you learn honesty when cheated

We hope you would not mind getting a scratch for fighting for something you believe in

May you feel the joy of holidays

May you feel the sorrow of funerals

May we punish you when you attempt bad and nasty things;
May you distinguish between bad deeds and the good ones

May we hug you and kiss you when you repent and do good; may you learn to forgive and being forgiven

These things we wish for you sons - good times, happiness, and hard work, with a dose of tough times and disappointment; for all these will make you a great man when you grow up.

Remember sons, we love you very much!