Ramadan: A Month of Mercy and Light
President Hamza Yusuf The Jewels of the Qur'an zaytuna college
An Online Ramadan Series May 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 5:30 PM PDT
Once again, viewers across the globe enthusiastically watched and shared Zaytuna’s annual Ramadan programming, a trend that has encouraged the College to expand its onlinelearning programs.
format. This series was also well received, with thousands of downloads from around the world. In honor of the blessed last ten days, President Hamza Yusuf taught Imām al-Ghazālī’s brilliant text, Jawāhir al-Qur’an, or The Jewels of the Qur’an. He selected the text to help enhance understanding of the Qur’an, as the great Imam wrote the text to categorize and explain verses in a thematic fashion. President Yusuf summarized each chapter with detailed slides that emphasized salient points.
The month-long schedule of virtual events opened with three pre-Ramadan preparatory sessions on the fiqh of fasting and zakat according to the Ĥanafī, Shāfi‘ī, and Mālikī schools. These sessions, which reached over 250,000 views, helped the College’s global audience acquire farđ ‘ayn (personally obligatory) knowledge to solidify the practical aspects of worship, while also providing spiritual lessons that connect the worshipper to the divine.
Zaytuna hopes to continue its efforts to offer both pre-Ramadan and Ramadan courses, talks, and podcasts that serve to awaken the heart and minds in the sacred month.
Imam Zaid Shakir led lessons from Laţā’if al‑Ma‘ārif, or The Subtleties of Perception, a classical work by Ibn Rajab al-Ĥanbalī, which lays out the virtues and acts of worship for each month, including Ramadan. As a first for the College, we launched an Urdu series by Imam Tahir Anwar, who provided tafsir on select chapters of the Qur’an, including al-Mulk, al-Insān, al-Ďuĥā, and al-Sharĥ. Zaytuna’s student counselor Sr. Heba El-Haddad recording a Ramadan podcast
Throughout the month, faculty and guest scholars shared valuable Ramadan reflections in podcast 17
