Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
COMMENTS:
1. Today’s Reading starts with TWO VERSES that make us stop in our tracks and RECONSIDER EVERYTHING WE HAVE EVER LEARNT (or failed to learn) about God and His Compilation:
The first, Verse 91 begins
“They did not hold God in His rightful Esteem …”
Although this verse is of the early Meccan era, it is Timeless, and applies to anyone who underestimates Who God Is, what His Attributes are, how His LIVING Message should be received, and ends up treating His Message as if it were a mere collection of ‘static sheets’ (قراطيس)!
Notice how the verse continues, commanding the Messenger Muhammad, peace upon him, to state to such persons a few eye-opening facts:
“They did not regard/esteem God His rightful Regard/Esteem[1] when they said, ‘God has not bestowed upon Mankind anything.’
Say: ‘Who bestowed the Compilation which Moses came with, a Light and Guidance to Cognizant Humans? You (pl.) make/render it into static sheets, (some of) which you display, and you conceal much, while you were given to learn what you did not learn, neither you nor your forefathers.”
Say: ‘God!’ Then leave them in their lurch (even as they are) frolicking/drooling.[2]
Notice that Moses’ Compilation was both (gifted) Guidance and Light, UNTIL it was made into static sheets by later generations of his followers. When God’s revealed Message was tampered with (parts mis-explained, parts concealed) it lost its Divine Properties. Much of its teachings and live guidance was lost to its followers.
2. And then we find, in Verse 92, a ‘second chance’ given to Humanity, a Blessed Compilation which, as the Qur’an says, any person of ANY faith who has Faith and Trust in the Hereafter, will have Faith and Trust in this Compilation:
Why? Because that is HOW such persons can maintain their relationship with God!
“And THIS is a Compilation we bestowed, of Abiding Benefit (Blessings), Confirming the truth of what was before it, so that you may warn the Foremost of all towns, and all around it. And those who have Faith and Trust in the Hereafter, do have Faith and Trust in it (this Compilation), and THEY, of their Communion are maintaining.”
From previous postings and definitions, our Regular Readers understand the full implication of these two verses:
The fact that the Qur’aan is ‘Live,’ superior in its attribute, delivering its principled Message in’ al-aan/ ‘in the now’ has been LOST to Humanity for the past one thousand years or more. We have been treating the Qur’an as a dry ‘Book’ full of inscribed sheets, and God has told us that it is NOT so- it is Mubaarak, of Abiding Benefit, which is the literal meaning of ‘blessed.’[3]
Also see, in Blog Post Day 64 Posting March 21st:
“Had we sent unto you a Compilation (inscribed) in a static sheet, and had they touched it with their hands, Those who Denied would have said, “This is manifest Sorcery!” (HQ6:7)
3. In continuation of that denial, Verse 93 tells us that NO ONE IS WORSE IN WRONGDOING ([4]أظلم) than someone who invents a lie in God’s name (intending it to be taken as God’s word) or says that he had received Revelation while he hasn’t received any, or that he too can ‘send down’ revelation like God’s (an indication that he does not believe in its Divine origins).
And then the verse TRANSFERS us to these wrong-doers’ deathbeds:
The scene is scary, the wrong-doers are reluctant to depart this earth, and the Nafs/Self of each clings tight to its body; they literally sink into the depths of ‘mawt,’ their physical death, which to the ‘thaalim’ is full of ‘thalaam…’ (The root-verb ‘thalama ظلم’ also indicates ‘Darkness!’)
At that point they fully realize the impact of all they had done AND what to expect.
Meanwhile, the Custodians/Angels are overpowering them.. (the term ‘bast + yad’ is always forceful, the ‘yad’ itself indicating ‘aid/أيد… power):[5]
“….Meanwhile, the Angels are overpowering saying: “Get your (own) Selves/Anfus out! Today you shall be rewarded with humiliating suffering due to what you were saying about God of Untruths, and you arrogantly dismissing His Signs!”
Verse 94 goes on, to the second part of death, when each Nafs/Self has left its body, and comes to its Creator, bare and alone, with nothing it may have possessed on earth, and with no intercessor:
“You all did indeed come to Us, each alone, as We created you (all) the first time…”
God speaks directly, TO US ALL, in this verse!
Dear Reader: You could probably guess what I felt, as I attempted to explain all these verses today. Not just personal concern at the responsibility to deliver as accurate an explanation of His Word as possible after the warnings we read above- but also the Certainty that THIS IS God’s Message to us all, no matter what label we carry or what ‘faith’ we think we subscribe to: HE IS OUR GOD, our Awe-inspiring God, and it is an absolute HONOR –for us all- to have received His Message!
As for skeptics who might question the existence of One God:
Imagine yourself (or someone whom you love most on this earth), in the most hopeless state you can think of. What would you do then? On whom would you call… or more importantly, WHO can answer your call? (Refer to Blog Post Day 64 Posting of March 22nd.)
4. We might mention another issue here which is often asked:
Why does it seem that most Muslim scholars prefer to repeat what others before them have said, rather than present fresh new research?
The verses above have probably given Readers an answer to why that seems so:
Although true scholars in fact have always done -and continue to do- painstaking, highly academic research, and many of them have come out to us with amazing truths, the debilitating fear of responsibility has nevertheless stopped many scholars from venturing away from renowned, widely accepted readings. This, and the fact that we do not have an atmosphere of healthy debate similar to that of earlier scholars, have both stopped our ‘Islamic’ scholarship from reaching its potential.
Note however, that Extremists have had no such qualms!
Extremists have always been quick to re-interpret, misinterpret, and motivate others to their way of thinking!
This is why it is CRUCIAL for our scholars to get together and explain the Qur’an contextually and linguistically, in as accurate a rendering as possible, an achievement which would not only replace the extremist readings, but would also make us ‘hunafaa’ (See Blog Post Day 11 for the meaning of ‘Haneef’).
As for each of us, we hope and pray that the beautiful gems we are able to uncover here -even as mere laypersons doing research- that these gems would give young people the incentive to pursue the path of scholarly study of the Qur’an, so all its original concepts can come to light.
If today’s recipients of the Qur’an could understand the Qur’an in a way as close as possible to its early Recipients; our generation too might become -as they were- the best of people benefitting Humankind!
5. Verses 95-99 re-introduce us to God:
“God is He Who……………”
The verses SHOW us Who He is by what He does, in a long list of His Blessings and Bounty which we are familiar with, and which we require for our existence.
Here we are shown that it is God Who splits open seeds and kernels/ فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَىٰ and brings the living out of the dead (95) and it is He Who breaks the dawn/ فَالِقُ الْإِصْبَاحِ and gives us nighttime for tranquility and the sun and the moon for us to take account of time (96).
These verses are well-explained by both Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Asad.
But, for us, at the TOP of that list, is Life being brought out of Death, and vice versa.
Note the variant endings “.. to people who know-97/ to people who secure understanding 98/ to people who have Faith and Trust -99”…which are related to the topic of each verse.
Also note Verse 98, how we are created from a single Self, after which there is (for us, as I understand it[6]) (مستقر ومستودع) a place of settlement and a place that thrusts us out. This could be referring to earth itself, or to the womb. (See Ali/Asad: ‘a place of sojourn/ time limit’ and a ‘place of departure/ resting-place.’)
6. This chapter is titled, al An’aam, and those of us who know Arabic would have noticed the root verb ‘na’ama’ ( نعم) which is related to 132 Qur’anic verses, [7] as well as to the Opener, the Faatiha, when we ask God to guide us to the Path of those upon whom He has bestowed His Grace/ His Blessings (Ali/Asad) أنعمت عليهم/an’عamta ‘عalayhim.
Commentators have traditionally understood this title to refer to the livestock mentioned in this Chapter, because these are called ‘an’aam’ in Arabic, and were for Qureish the greatest and finest of ‘blessings.’
The Lexicon tells us that the root-word’s variations are too plentiful to even mention, but that their connotation relates to only ONE thing: a comfortable, advantageous living in a state of well-being.
Perhaps we should widen the scope in which we understand the title ‘An’aam’ to include the many other blessings this chapter mentions!
Enough said!
Have a ‘Blessed’ Weekend full of In’aam إنعام’ !!
Our next Reading is from HQ6:100-116
Peace unto all!
[1] Generally speaking, there is a huge deficit in people’s regard of God and their esteem of Him, even in the basics of Who He Is and what He can do!
Yusuf Ali tells us when he speaks of the word ‘Qadeer’ in his footnotes after explaining HQ 4:149:
“Qadir: 1 have translated it more fully than most translators. The root qadara not only implies power, ability, strength, but two other ideas which it is difficult to convey in a single word, viz., the act and power of estimating the true value of a thing or persons, as in 6:91; and the act and power of regulating something so as to bring it into correspondence with something. ‘Judgement of values” I think sums up these finer shades of meaning.”
[2] ‘La3aba’ could be about ‘playing’ and could also be about ‘salivating’ (perhaps it might sometimes indicate both? Here, as well as other instances of the word, it seems to be about ‘drooling in pursuit of worldly pleasures’.. but God knows best).
لَعِبَ: كَلِمَتَانِ مِنْهُمَا يَتَفَرَّعُ كَلِمَاتٌ. إِحْدَاهُمَا اللَّعِبُ مَعْرُوفٌ. وَالْمَلْعَبُ: مَكَانُ اللَّعِبِ. وَالْكَلِمَةُ الْأُخْرَى اللُّعَابُ: مَا يَسِيلُ مِنْ فَمِ الصَّبِيِّ. وَلَعَبَ الْغُلَامُ يَلْعَبُ: سَالَ لُعَابُهُ.
مبارك: ثابت الخير، ثبوت الماء في البركة [3]
[4] ظلم: اصلان
-خلافُ الضِّياء والنور.
-ووَضْع الشَّيءِ غيرَ موضعه تعدِّياً.
فالأوَّل الظُّلْمة، والجمع ظلمات. والظَّلام: اسم الظلمة؛ وقد أظْلَمَ المكان إظلاماً.
والأصل الآخَر ظلَمَه يظلِمُه ظُلْماً. والأصل وضعُ الشَّيْءِ [في] غير موضعه؛ ألا تَراهم يقولون: “مَنْ أشْبَهَ [أباه] فما ظَلَمَ”، أي ما وضع الشَّبَه غيرَ موضعه.
[5] (أَيَدَ) أَصْلٌ وَاحِدٌ، يَدُلُّ عَلَى الْقُوَّةِ وَالْحِفْظِ. يُقَالُ: أَيَّدَهُ اللَّهُ، أَيْ: قَوَّاهُ اللَّهُ. قَالَ تَعَالَى: {وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ} [الذاريات: 47] . فَهَذَا مَعْنَى الْقُوَّةِ.
Remember the two sons of Adam in Blog Post Day 56? These two words told us how the aggressive brother killed the aware, who said he would never do anything in his power at all to kill his aggressive brother.
[6] ‘Mustaqar’ (HQ 6: 98; 11: 6) is from the root-verb ‘qar,’ from which we also get “al-qaraar al-makeen (HQ 23:13; 77:21) both words mentioned in the Qur’an in reference to the womb. This is made very clear in 22:5:
وَنُقِرُّ فِي الْأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى…. where God says He settles in the wombs what He wills to a specified term.
‘Mustawda3’ is from the root-verb ‘da3/دع’ which is about pushing/thrusting away, as in HQ 52:13; 107:2 (the one who thrusts away the orphan).
[7] (نعم) فروعُه كثيرة، وعندنا أنَّها على كثرتها راجعةٌ إلى أصلٍ واحدٍ يدلُّ على ترفُّهٍ وطِيب عيش وصلاح. منه النِّعمة: ما يُنعِم الله تعالى على عبدِه به من مالٍ وعيش. يقال: للهِ تعالى عليه نِعمة. والنِّعمة: المِنَّة، وكذا النَّعْماء. والنَّعْمة: التنعُّمُ وطيبُ العيش. قال الله تعالى:{وَنَعْمَةٍ كَانُوا فِيهَا فَاكِهينَ} [الدخان 27]. والنُّعَامَى: الرِّيح اللَّيِّنة. والنَّعَم: الإبل، لما فيه من الخَيْر والنِّعمة. قال الفرّاء: النَّعم ذَكَرٌ لا يؤنَّثُ فيقولون: هذا نَعَمٌ وارِدٌ؛ وتُجمَع أنعاماً. والأنعام: البهائم.