Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
Yesterday’s Reading was SO interesting! It ended by giving us one reason why God sent Messengers to mankind: Our Lord-Sustainer would not bring about the break-down/expiry/death’ of wrong-doing townships without their people having been warned. This detail is very important! [1]
COMMENTS:
1. Today’s Reading continues, indicating the importance of our deeds and their results IN LIFE:
Verse 132 shows us literally, that to each there are ‘darajat,’ as in further ‘treading/footing’ related to what they had been doing/ how they had been progressing, ‘darajat’ that raise them (in Life, as in HQ6:165; 43:32. See Blog Post Day 19 and Blog Post Day 47 for the definition of ‘da-ra-ja’)
There seems to be a misconception amongst most of us that the benefits of our good deeds are reserved for the afterlife. Do we not see the countless tangible benefits to be had, here, in this life?
Yusuf Ali’s interpretation of this verse.
Muhammad Asad’s interpretation of this verse.
Notice Asad’s addition of the words ‘shall be judged,’ which are not in the Arabic. Asad, like many interpreters, obviously considered the ‘darajat’ here the ‘degrees’ of the Hereafter.
Interpreting the meanings of Qur’an is not a simple task!
2. Verses 133-134 assure listeners of the Self-Sufficiency of their Lord, versus their own temporary existence on earth, adding that what they are being promised shall indeed come to pass.
In Verse 135 the Messenger ﷺ is commanded to tell them to continue working ‘upon’ their position, indicating that where they stand should not be where they stop at, because they could rise if they tried! The Messenger is also told to inform them that he himself is WORKING (present continuous), and they shall indeed come to know to whom the Abode shall ultimately belong. The verse ends by stating that The Wrongdoers cannot achieve ‘FalaaH/Success!’
(This seems to validate our understanding of verse 132.)
3. Verses 136, 138-139 discuss several customs rife among the shirking, idol-worshipping tribes of the time, related to their committing infanticide, their animal sacrifices for other than God, their gender-bias as to who eats what, and their arguments with which they -in effect- seek to confuse people regarding their ‘Deen/ Accountability Standard.’
Both verses 138[2] and 139 end by warning that God shall recompense/repay them (what they deserve), first, for their fabrications/lies, and secondly for THEIR DESCRIPTION, [3] which indicates that they elaborated on the falsity, adding further description so as to convince.
Let us stop for a moment and check the scenario mentioned in these verses to see whether it also speaks about OUR time:
- The foods consumed, devoid of God’s Name being mentioned.
- The negative practices that have become custom in a community.
- The inviolable activities that are allowed or even encouraged.
- The rhetoric, the talks, the discussions, the media etc.. with people echoing and forwarding fraudulent material.[4]
The warning ‘سيجزيهم وصفهم/sayajzeehim wasfahum’ is very important (and chilling) to us today, at a time when we’ve become accustomed to cruising the media, seeing how such attempts at selling us falsities constantly charge past rhetorical elaboration, to all kinds of tools, tactics, and trickery.
4. Verses 137, 140 tell us about their human sacrifices, how slaughtering their own children was ‘embellished’ زُيِّن /zuyyina or ‘made alluring’ to the Shirkers (the idol-worshippers who shirked God by ‘associating partners’ with Him).
Regarding verse 137, read Ali’s notes here and Asad’s note here
5. Verse 141:
“For it is He Who raised1 gardens, (some) with arched vegetation as canopy,2 and (others) without arched vegetation as canopy – and the palms, and the plants of different edibles/flavors, and the olive, and the pomegranate- (some) similar and (others) dissimilar. Eat of its fruit when it bears fruit, and grant its due (to the needy) at the time/on the day of harvest, and do not commit excess; indeed, He loves not The Excessive/ al Musrifeen!”
What a beautiful verse, which tells us what we were given on one hand, and how to enjoy it by sharing with others without committing excess (either by wasting the bounty, or by overindulgence).[5]
6. Our last verse in today’s Reading goes back to the subject of Livestock, An’aam, which are also of His bounty given to us for their use and their meat. Verse 142 indicates that, of these Livestock, some are for burden/carriage and some are for their meat or wool,[6]and that we should eat of what God has provided and not follow the mis-steps/ footsteps of the Deviant/Sheytaan, for he is, to us, an evident enemy.
The Qur’an shows us what are considered ‘the missteps of the Deviant/Sheytaan.’
Our next Reading is from HQ6:143-151
Peace unto all!
[1] The ‘Warners’ often were Messengers. Our beloved Messenger ﷺ was both a ‘Bearer of Glad Tidings/Basheer’ and a Warner/Natheer.’ Quite a few verses speak of that.
In HQ35:24 there is additional information which assures us that every ‘community/nation/ummah’ was sent a warner!
إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ بِالْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا وَإِن مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ إِلَّا خَلَا فِيهَا نَذِيرٌ ﴿فاطر: ٢٤﴾
[2] Regarding Verse 138, read Ali’s note here, and Asad’s note here.
[3] For what their tongues falsely describe, as in 16:116.
[4] And the easiest way is by giving a spin to familiar ‘names;’ when a beautiful word such as ‘integrity’ is now used for machinery and data, replacing what once was principled humanity, and the word ‘escort’ is now used for high-end prostitutes, replacing what once was the genteel practice of being accompanied, and ‘love’ is now used for all kinds of illicit acts replacing what once meant deep, heartfelt commitment… humanity’s principles become diluted and people are made to accept, even seek, the unacceptable.
Many Arabic words have similarly taken such twists amongst Muslims, such as the word ‘Hijab’ given to what is in reality a ‘khimar/woman’s head cover;’ by using the word ‘hijab’ many have made it into a ‘barrier/screen,’ which is what the word means. The Urdu language takes this issue a huge step further by calling women ‘عورت Aurat/ ‘عورة which makes her very presence an ‘exposure,’ a weakness, as the word ‘awra’ is used in the Qur’an. This word seems to have entered Urdu through Persian, where one connotation seems to be that of a woman (although Persians do not call women’ awrat’). In common Arabic usage the word is not only about ‘exposure,’ but also about a body’s nakedness, and one’s private parts.
Misnaming something/someone ALWAYS reflects upon your behavior in its regard:
Now, realizing that a woman is a ‘awrat’ to Urdu-speaking men, can we still be surprised to find some men ‘hiding’ her at home or mistreating her?
Yet misusing names is a human affliction, working both ends of the same coin, gripping society psychologically and making people lose their balance and tilt towards an extreme.
The work of influencers has always begun with words. Descriptions. Attributes. Names.
I recall here Sheykh Hamza Yusuf (@20:30) speaking of how early Muslim women never wore black until a poor Iraqi merchant in Medina needed to sell the bulk of the new black fabric he had. No one was interested until a famous poet wrote a poem describing how beautiful the women looked in black: DESCRIPTION = WASF (which each of us shall be recompensed for).
Needless to say, the merchant sold all his ware, with demand for more. Successful marketing.
1‘ansha’a/to raise, from root-verb nasha’a.
نشأ: يدلُّ على ارتفاعٍ في شيء وسموّ. ونَشَأَ السَّحابُ: ارتفع. وأنْشَأَه الله: رفَعه. ومنه: {إنَّ نَاشِئَةَ اللَّيْلِ} [المزمل 6]، يراد بها والله أعلمُ القيامُ والانتصابُ للصَّلاة. ومن الباب: النَّشْءُ والنَّشَأ: أحداث النّاس. ونشأَ فلانٌ في بني فلانٍ. والنَّاشئ: الشَّابُّ الذي نشأ وارتفَعَ وعلا. وأنشأ فلانٌ حديثاً.
2
عرش: يدلُّ على ارتفاعٍ في شيء مبنيّ، ثم يستعارُ في غير ذلك. من ذلك العَرْش، قال الخليل: العرش: سرير الملِك. وهذا صحيحٌ، قال الله تعالى: {وَرَفَعَ أبَوَيْهِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ} [يوسف 100]، ثم استُعير ذلك فقيل لأمر الرّجُل وقِوامه: عرش. وإذا زال ذلك عنه قيل: ثُلَّ عَرشُه. ومن الباب: تعريش الكَرْم، لأنّه رفعه والعريش: بناءٌ من قُضبانٍ يُرفَع ويوثَّق حتَّى يظلّل. وقيل للنبيّ صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم يومَ بدرٍ: “ألاَ نَبْنِي لك عريشاً”. وكلُّ بناء يُستَظَلُّ به عَرْشٌ وعَريش. ويقال لسَقْف البَيْت عَرْش. قال الله تعالى:{فَهي خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِها} [الحج 45]، والمعنى أنَّ السَّقف يسقُط ثم يتَهافت عليه الجُدرانُ ساقطةً. ومن الباب العَرِيش، وهو شِبْه الهَوْدَجِ يُتَّخَذ للمرأة تقعُد فيه على بعيرها. ومن الباب: عَرَشْتُ الكرم وعَرَّشْتُه. يقال: اعتَرش العنبُ، إذا علا على العَرش. ويقال: العُرُوش: الخِيام من خشبٍ، واحدُها عريش.
[6] ‘Farsh’ is about spreading something like a ‘mat,’ which could be related to the wool/ skins that were used as bedding, and was also used as a term for younger/smaller animals that cannot carry burdens.
فَرَشَ: يَدُلُّ عَلَى تَمْهِيدِ الشَّيْءِ وَبَسْطِهِ. يُقَالُ: فَرَشْتُ الْفِرَاشَ أَفْرِشُهُ. وَمِنْ ذَلِكَ: الْفَرْشُ مِنَ الْأَنْعَامِ، وَهُوَ الَّذِي لَا يَصْلُحُ إِلَّا لِلذَّبْحِ وَالْأَكْلِ