Welcome, Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
We’re at our very first day of this exciting Qur’an reading!
Hopefully, at the end of one year, spending 30 minutes together here every day, we’ll be able to say that we have gone through the entire Qur’an in our attempt to fulfil our duty towards the command: Iqra!
Disclaimer:
I do not endorse any website we visit or necessarily approve of its content; our visit is for academic purpose only.
In doing research I will try to offer the links I find most helpful for that specific query.
If you find more suitable links please do point them out.
If you’re familiar with Arabic script, check out the ‘Tanzil’ link for any word in the Qur’an.
There, you will also get countless translations of the meanings of the Qur’an in so many languages (including the English of Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Asad).
However, for studying and comparing the detailed commentaries of Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Asad (which are footnotes in their original books), check out the Altafsir site: Yusuf Ali; Muhammad Asad.
The Arabic Lexicon I’ll be using is mainly that of Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha
مقاييس اللغة لابن فارس
My English-speaking friends speak highly of Lanes Lexicon.
Qur’an Pages 1 & 2 were read today:
Chapter 1, The Opener to the Compilation, & the first 5 verses of Chapter 2.
THE OPENER
(to the Compilation)
By the exalting attribute of God/Allah,
The Compassionate Creator,
The Unceasingly Merciful:[1]
All glorification is to God/Allah
Lord-Sustainer of the diverse worlds.
The Compassionate Creator,
The Unceasingly Merciful
Sovereign of the momentous Term
of Account
You Alone do we worship,
and of You Alone
do we seek support.
Gift-guide[2] us
the straightened Path[3]
The Path of those upon whom
You have bestowed Your Favor,
(those) who have neither earned severity
nor gone astray.
COMMENTS:
- Besides being The Opener to the Qur’anic Compilation, this chapter is distinguished from all others in a Muslim’s practice.
The Opener is also a pillar ‘rukn’ of EACH of the 17 units of a Muslim’s 5 daily prayers, which means that without it the prayer would be incomplete. Therefore, practicing Muslims recite it at least 17 times every day.
It is also the chapter which Muslims first teach their children, the chapter which accompanies life’s weighty decisions of business and matrimony, and the chapter to be read to loved ones as they are laid in their final resting places. It is with us in all of life’s landmarks.
It is a beautiful invocation, a prayer to God, seeking Him alone for support and guidance, all the while bearing testimony that it is Him alone Who is worthy of being worshipped. Where is ‘the straight path’ we seek? Take a look: (HQ 6: 151-153)
- GOD: It seems that most people on earth do believe in Him.[4]
Even among the world’s 16.3% unaffiliated, who do not identify with any particular religion, there are many who have stated in surveys that they do believe in a higher power.[5] No matter which word is used to describe The Creator, the fact remains that the vast majority of us does believe in such a force. But each of us has our own manner of belief, one that might -or might not- accept the accounts offered by ‘organized religion.’ This is quite natural. There is nothing on the entire earth as personal as one’s exclusive relationship with one’s creator. How can anyone outside of Myself and my Creator define it? And had I chosen to void, ignore, or simply downplay this relationship, it will still exist, independent of what I believe.
Many of us find much to criticize in ‘organized religion,’ often someone else’s, and sometimes our parents’ or our own. Upon looking closer we will find that our disapproval -or disappointment- is neither in the ‘religion’ itself nor in its messenger, but rather in how the followers of that ‘religion’ presented their faith to the world.
This is quite obvious in the transcript of Deepak Chopra’s CNN interview with Larry King: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0005/17/lkl.00.html
Faithful persons/Mu’mineen demonstrate their ‘Eman’ or faith and trust in God by action, bearing witness that there is no God but God, The Unique, The Incomparable, the Worthy of trust and reverence, the One To Whom we are accountable.
- Allah is NOT an uncommon word for “God.”
People call The Creator by different names, usually related to the languages they speak. Many of us realize that the English word ‘God’ corresponds to the German ‘Gott,’ the French ‘Dieu,’ and the Spanish ‘Dios.’ However, many of us might not realize that the corresponding word in Arabic is ‘Allah,’ and that any Jew, Christian, or Muslim whose language is Arabic would be using this word to stand for ‘God’. In fact, the Arabic Bible is all about ‘Allah’- in both its Old and New Testaments.[6] God has always been referred to as Elah, Eloah, Allah, in Aramaic, Hebrew[7], and Arabic languages.
‘Allah’ also is a common term in many parts of the world where people do not speak Arabic. Most of these countries have Muslim majorities[8]. Visitors to other countries, such as Malta[9], a Roman-Catholic Apostolic republic, often feel amazed upon discovering that the Maltese worship ‘Alla’ and fast ‘Randan.’[10] Having embraced their heritage,[11] ‘Randan’ is the Maltese word for the Christian season of Lent!
- ‘Rahmaan’ and ‘Raheem’ are not similar attributes of God, as commonly believed.
Lengthy research in the Qur’an and in Arabic language AND grammar have shown that ‘Al Rahmaan’ is The Compassionate Creator. The term ‘Rahmaan’ in the Qur’an does NOT occupy the place of an attribute comparative to ‘Raheem’, as most commentators have said, but rather carries the same weight as the word ‘Allah (H.Q: 17:110).[12] Check it out HQ:25:59; 67:3.[13]
While God has many beautiful attributes, Allah is considered a ‘Divine Utterance/لفظ جلالة’ and Al Rahmaan seems to be of similar caliber.
Rahmaan is therefore another name for Allah, it is unique to Him and relates to creation, as the entire 55th chapter called ‘Suratul Rahmaan’ indicates:
- This compilation certainly IS gifted-guidance for the Aware ‘al Mutaqeen.’
Heedful, or Mindful is the chosen translation, but we glean further understanding of the meaning of ‘taqwa’ (Awareness) from the Qur’an, since it does give us its antonym TWICE.
An old Arabic saying goes, “By their opposites are all things known,”[14] which is true. This specific issue is so drastically important today because there are those who see themselves as ‘Heedful’, ‘Mindful’, and ‘God-conscious’ while their actions in fact display the exact opposite:
The antonym for ‘taqwa’ is ‘udwaan,’ which means ‘aggression!’[15]
Enough said for today.
The only way to understand any message and arrive at its intent is to apply the intellect in an unbiased reading of its entire original content. Translations or explanations are inevitably influenced by the knowledge/background/leanings of interpreters (this blog included).
Peace unto all!
[1] Ra-ha-ma: to show kindness, compassion, tenderness, mercy.
‘Raahim:’ he who, at a certain place in time, is being compassionate/merciful.
‘Raheem:’ He who is always compassionate/merciful.
THE Raheem: The Unceasingly Compassionate/Merciful.
[2] Hada: to guide, to grant, or gift something to someone you love, quoted in the Prophet’s Hadith:
“Gift one another, love one another.”
Also the term ‘hedi,’ the animals we slaughter for the love of God and then ‘gift’ the poor.
الهدية: ما أهديت من لَطَف إلى ذي مودة (كما جاء في الحديث: “تهادوا تحابوا”). والهدي منه.
[3] Qa-wa-ma: Straight, upright. Something upright is ‘Qa-im.’
Straight in itself ‘Qiyam. ’ Something straightened or set straight is ‘Mustaqeem.’
[4] https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/
[5] https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-unaffiliated/
[6] Upon searching the Arabic Bible website (http://www.enjeel.com/search), I found that ‘Allah’ (الله) was mentioned 974 times in the Arabic Old Testament. As for the New Testament, after 1000 entries were displayed, I was asked to narrow the search since ‘Allah’ occurs too often in the New Testament.
[7] The word for God in Genesis 1:1 is elohim, a plural form of a more basic root-Hebrew word for God, (eloh).
[8] More than half of the 48 Muslim majority countries are NOT Arab.
[9] The 3-island Republic just south of Sicily.
[10] from Ramadan, the Arabic name of the Islamic holy month of fasting
[11] From 870 CE to 1091 CE, the islands were almost exclusively Muslim in religion and Arabic of language.
[12] ASAD: “Say: Invoke Allah or invoke Al Rahmaan, by whichever you invoke Him, His are the attributes of perfection. And be not too loud in thy prayer nor speak it in too low a voice, but follow a way in between.”
[13] الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ الرَّحْمَـٰنُ فَاسْأَلْ بِهِ خَبِيرًا ﴿الفرقان: ٥٩﴾
الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا مَّا تَرَىٰ فِي خَلْقِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ مِن تَفَاوُتٍ فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَىٰ مِن فُطُورٍ ﴿الملك: ٣﴾
[14] بأضدادها تعرف الأشياء
[15] Mentioned twice in the Qur’an: in chapter 5:2 and 58:9
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