How to have a conversation:

Estimated duration: 45-70 minutes—or as long as you want!

SETUP:
1. Choose one participant to be the Moderator. The Moderator will
conduct the first four rounds and keep time. The Moderator will
also participate in the Conversation.
2. Line up the following cards in order and place them face down
in the middle: Icebreaker, The BIG question, all Pair-share cards
in one pile, and Reflect. Shuffle the Go online, Watch, Ask, and
Read cards and place them in a pile in the middle.
3. You will need a screening device (e.g., a laptop) to collectively view
the videos linked in the Watch cards.
4. Make enough copies of the Takeaway card for each participant
and keep them face down in a pile to the side.
5. The order of the rounds is important!
6. Keep track of time to pace the Conversation! The Moderator yells
out “You have X minutes. Go!” Depending on which round you’re
in, you may modify time limits as you see fit.

REMEMBER TO:
THINK: Tap into your experiences, but also try to think outside of the
box. Some questions might challenge your ideals. Welcome it.
LISTEN: Always keep your eyes and ears open and give full
attention to whoever is talking. There is a lot to learn.
SHARE: Don’t be afraid to speak your thoughts. They’re central
to the game.
ENJOY: Above all, have fun! You’re in for a revealing experience.
ROUND 1 – ICEBREAKER:
The Moderator reads out the Icebreaker card. Participants are
instructed to listen carefully and follow instructions.
ROUND 2 – THE BIG QUESTION:
Come together as a group. The Moderator will read out the The BIG
question card. Participants jot down their answers on a paper or
device within the time limit. Everyone does this exercise individually.
ROUND 3 – PAIR-SHARE:
In this round, each participant must choose a partner and split into
pairs. Odd-numbered groups can create an extra group of three
people. The Moderator draws a Pair-share card and reads out the
first question on the card. Participant A of each group has a minute
to share their thoughts. Moderator calls out “Switch!” When one
minute is up, Participant B shares for a minute. Moderator calls
“Time!” and reads the second question on the card. Participants
again have one minute each to share. Go through all Pair-share
cards in this way. Give extra time for groups of 3.
ROUND 4 – GO ONLINE/WATCH/ASK and READ:
All participants come back together in a circle. One participant
draws a card from the deck in the middle and reads out one
question at a time. Each participant shares their thoughts after each
question. After the discussion, the person sitting to the right of the
previous questioner draws out a new card and reads it.
Note: If a Watch card is drawn: the Moderator must use the link on
the card to screen a video for everyone to watch. After viewing, the
participant who drew the card reads out the questions one at a time.
Discuss as a group after each question.
ROUND 5 – REFLECT:
The Moderator closes the discussion with the Reflect card by
reading out one question at a time and giving each person a chance
to answer and share their thoughts. There’s no time limit to the
Reflect card. The Conversation officially ends after everyone has
shared —but you can choose to continue for as long as you want!
THE TAKEAWAY CARD:
Distribute the Takeaway cards to each participant once the
Conversation ends. Participants should read these individually right
after the discussion or in their own time.
Icebreaker:
Rapid Retrieval
1 Choose any possible category (such as
‘food’, ‘brands’, ‘colors’, ‘countries,’ ‘books’, etc.).
2 Each participant must say a word that
belongs in that category (such as ‘burgers’,
‘Patagonia’, ‘blue’, ‘United States’, ‘The Hunger
Games’, etc.).
3 There are two rules:
a. Each participant only has 2 seconds
to say a word.
b. A word/phrase cannot be repeated.
Anyone who breaks any one of these rules
is out.
4 Game ends when there is only one
person left.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

The BIG question:
Why is the Qur’an
a miracle?

Grab a phone or a piece of paper and

jot down whatever comes to mind
when you hear this question. You have
1 minute. GO!

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Pair-share:
1 What has your general experience
with the Qur’an been like?
2 How do you feel when you read
the Qur’an? (e.g., uplifted, happy,
emotional, indifferent, etc.)

Pair up with the person next to you and take turns

answering the questions.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Pair-share:
1 If you’ve ever felt inspired by
the Qur’an, what verses, chapters,
or stories from it gave you that
feeling? Why?

2 If you can’t quite relate to that

feeling, what do you think has
hindered your connection with
the Qur’an?

Pair up with the person next to you and take

turns answering the questions.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Ask a question:
The character of the Prophet g
is well-documented as
someone who never sought
fame or power and was not
literate. Why is this significant
in the context of the Qur’an’s
revelation? (Think: What does
this say about its authorship?
Did the Prophet g have any
control over its revelation?)

Take turns sharing your answers with

the whole group.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Ask a question:
What do you think
makes the Qur’an
universal and timeless?

Take turns sharing your answers with

the whole group.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Go online:
Google “the most read
books in the world.”
bit.ly/3dhIjG1

1 What are the top three results? How many

copies of each have been printed and/or sold?
2 Innumerable millions of Muslims today do
not merely purchase or read, but memorize
the entire Qur’an by heart—each of its ~600
pages, 114 chapters, 6,236 verses down to the
letter and vowel sound, in the original Arabic
form, while observing the tajwīd rules that
govern Qur’anic pronunciation, despite that
usually not being their native tongue. How
does this staggering number of Huffāz (those
who memorized the Qur’an) compare to those
numbers from the top three results of your
Google search? How does this illustrate the
Qur’an as a miracle given to the Prophet g?

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Watch:

bit.ly/2CAgEmX
Play from minute 15:05 to 26:26s
1 Share a point from this clip that stood out
to you the most.
2 Why is comparing the Qur’an’s revelation
to the Prophet g with literary works (like
Shakespeare’s) a bad argument?
Grab a tech device and enter the link, or
point your phone camera to the QR code.
Then, take turns answering the questions
with all participants.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Watch:

bit.ly/2YHZZ8q
Play from minute 2:19 to 7:55
1 How does the topic of I’jāz al-Qur’an serve
as a foundation for our beliefs as Muslims?
 
2 What is the one miracle of the Prophet g
that will remain with the world until the end
of time?
3 Do we have blind faith in the truth of the
Qur’an? How do we look for truth?
Grab a tech device and enter the link, or point
your phone camera to the QR code. Then, take
turns answering questions with all participants.

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Read:
When al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah—a staunch
enemy of Islam until his death—was asked
to critique the Qur’an, he responded, “And
what can I possibly say? There is not a
single man among you who is more versed
in poetry than I, or in prose, or in the poems
of even the jinn. And by God, what he says
bears no resemblance to any of these
things. By God, his statement which he
utters has a sweetness to it, and a charm
hovers over it; its highest parts (surface
meanings) are fruitful and its depths gush
forth without end. It dominates and cannot
be dominated, and it will certainly crush all
that is beneath it.”

1 The Qur’an was delivered to a people who

were masters of the Arabic language. Earning
the title of “poet” was most revered, but
extremely difficult, requiring decades of practice.
Given that context, what do Walid ibn al-
Mughirah’s comments reveal about the Qur’an?
2 These masters of language were given the
challenge to produce “something like” just one
chapter of the Qur’an (the shortest is only 10
words). Instead, they “spent fortunes trying to
smear his name and worked tirelessly to prevent
a single verse from reaching...visitors to Mecca.”
Why didn’t they simply accept the challenge?
Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org
Read:
“While spell-check and similar features afforded
by modern technology have mitigated
many lapses in our writing, our emails and
text messages still fall prey to spelling and
grammatical errors. Now consider the
premodern scribal tradition; rewind before
technology, before the printing press, before
erasers, before literacy of the masses. It
should not surprise us to have hundreds of
thousands of misaligned manuscripts for
the religious texts of the past—irrespective
of whether this was done innocently or
maliciously, and irrespective of whether
originals of that text were available for cross-
verification. But with the Qur’an, there were
no variant versions due to the original being
preserved, its mass-memorization, its strong
poetic rhythm which facilitates that, and its
daily usage in a Muslim’s life, which together
constitute a genius reinforcement mechanism
unrivaled in history.” -Abu Zakariyya

1 Do you know someone who has memorized

the Qur’an?
2 If even today, 1400 years after its revelation,
people are still memorizing the Qur’an cover to
cover, what does that say about its authenticity and
preservation?

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Reflect:
Do its mysterious linguistic form, its perfect
blend of persuasive and emotive address,
its inexplicable precision about past and
future truths, its harmonious theological and
legal framework, its gripping transformative
allure all not suffice to indicate the divine
origins of this Qur’an? Is it conceivable that an
unlettered man from 7th-century Arabia could
spend 40 years of his life preoccupied with
shepherding and trade and then bring the
world—overnight—a linguistic masterpiece
with intricate details of lost knowledge from
the bellies of books that never existed in
his age, and from books that would only be
written more than a millennium later?

1 If you cannot access the Qur’an completely

through its linguistic prowess in Arabic, what else
indicates that it is not an ordinary book?
2 Why is the Qur’an an inimitable miracle?

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org

Takeaway:
We hope you had a
great conversation!
Here’s something to think about:

bit.ly/2Z0toLd

Adapted from Inmitable Qur’an Article at yaqeeninstitute.org