Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
I hope you are using the tools added to our project. At the altafsir website there also are many explanations in Arabic, such as al Zamakhshari’s from which I quoted yesterday.
It’s so much easier with such tools at our fingertips. May God reward all the early scholars who toiled over their work without adequate writing material, penning and compiling, and all who added effort to theirs, and those who ultimately placed these references at our fingertips!
Indeed, without those whom we call in Arabic ‘إخوتنا الذين سبقونا بالإيمان-our brethren who preceded us in faith’ we would be lost!
COMMENTS:
- In yesterday’s reading, the Qur’an gave us an account of Moses’ trial with his people; how, although he had freed them, they did NOT seem capable of freeing themselves from their concept of servitude, which had spanned generations. Their story is not unique in that sense, but serves as an example of the power which perception holds over reason. During Moses’ 40 days of absence, they turned to worshipping a calf instead of God, but God forgave them. As we understand, He was giving them a chance to grow and mature, to rise in faith, knowledge, and self-respect above their past. In verse 52, ‘yashkurun’ is from the root verb ‘sha-ka-ra’ which means to appreciate; increase, enhance, be productive which is THE TRUE PROOF OF GRATITUDE, because just feeling something without evidence of it is not worth much.
- In studying the effects of slavery one must note that persons who have never been free, tend to, not only lack qualities of leadership, but also to find difficulty in accepting any kind of change -even when for the better. This seems to be one of the main reasons behind the lack of positivity which Moses’ followers were notorious for, which the Old Testament describes in some detail. Perhaps we can now understand one reason why God made Moses’ mother give him up. She had to do so in order for him to be adopted into the family who had ultimate power, setting free his inborn strengths and gaining the qualities of leadership necessary to take his people out of servitude. Freedom is indeed worth cherishing.
- In today’s pages we have 5 instances of the Children of Israel’s disobedience mentioned, and one mention of their ‘killing Prophets with no right.’ We also find them substituting the rightful words to say with other words, or preferring a larger variety of lower-grade foods than the few excellent staples God had provided for them, and even profaning the Sabbath. The Qur’an says that in their story and in the consequence they earned is a lesson to all who are Aware. Sadly, throughout history, very few of us remained Aware, as proven by our status quo today.
- The word ‘Misr’ in Arabic means ‘within limits,’ as in land within boundaries, or shortage of provision.[1] That was to be their portion (verse 61) after having asked for inferior sustenance and argued with Moses, so they were told to descend ‘Misr,’ the plural of which is ‘amsaar’ of lands. This was a descent in status, as evident from the rest of the line… “and ignominy and humiliation overshadowed them…” Most scholars however just say that the Children of Israel were told to descend to Egypt. The Arabic name for Egypt has been Misr since Amr Ibnil Aas named his stronghold there ‘The Tented City’ (Misr al Fustaat) circa 641 AD. Its Greek name, relative to the Copts, was Aigýptios.
- Asad explains eloquently, how Verse 62 lays down a fundamental doctrine of Islam, that salvation is ultimately conditional upon belief in God, in Judgment Day, and righteous action in life. This is quite clear in HQ:4: 48, 116, which indicates that other wrongful beliefs and misdeeds do stand a chance for forgiveness, depending on each person’s reality known by God Alone.
- This chapter’s title (The Cow/The Heifer) is taken from verses 67-73, which describe a specific incident. Both Ali’s and Asad’s commentaries tell us that if a murder is committed and the murderer is unknown, the Mosaic law states that community-elders in surrounding areas should seek absolution or else be considered collectively responsible. This law is mentioned in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 21:1-9. “All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer … and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.” It seems that they were reluctant to do so, and complicated the issue so that, instead of getting ‘any cow’ to do the job, they needed a ‘specific’ cow.
Enough said!
Our reading for tomorrow is from verse 70-83.
Peace unto all!
المِصْر، وهو الحدُّ؛ “اشترى فلانٌ الدَّارَ بمُصورها”، أي حدودها
والتَّمَصُّر: القليل من كل شيء؛ قال ابن سيده: هذا تعبير أَهل اللغة
والمِصْر: واحد الأَمْصار.