Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
In the last Post we noted that Verses 94-95 spoke of communities in general, without specifying any single community, showing us the consequences that follow a certain course of COMMUNAL action.
Here we learn valuable lessons regarding the alternation of relief and adversity, each serving to shed light on the other; we know the full meaning and value of something, not only by experiencing it, but by experiencing -or at least knowing- its opposite:[1]
‘By their opposites are all things known / بأضدادها تُعرَف الأشياءُ’
That’s what Arabs have traditionally understood, and that’s what we spoke of on Day One when we started by showing how we recovered the meaning of Taqwa from its opposite in the Qur’an (Udwaan is not mentioned in any lexicon).
Below you can see what a 10th. Century scholar, Ibn Qutaybah said about opposites.[2]
Let us never discount the value of a negative experience! All experiences have value, and we do hope and pray that we come to recognize and appreciate our positive experiences well enough, without needing their opposites to help us.
Back to our verses:
The verses we are discussing show us the consequences that follow the course of a community’s actions, which continues until Verse 100, when the particular story of Prophet Moses, peace upon him, unfolds in Verse 103.
Yusuf Ali’s Translation of this Chapter.
Muhammad Asad’s Translation of this Chapter.
Their commentaries can only be read in verse by verse view.
COMMENTS:
PAGE 163:
- Verse 96 gives us a powerful statement starting with, ‘If only the people of the townships had faith and Awareness… ‘ which makes us stop to see what would transpire after that?
Here we learn of the Abiding Bounty/Blessings/Barakaat that would be released from the Exalted Expanse and the Earth to benefit such communities; communities who have both Eman/Faith AND Taqwa/Awareness.[3] Faith and Awareness seem to be the two requirements by which a community not only acquires -but holds onto- God’s abiding bounty. When communities belie and repudiate what God sends them, rather than have faith in it (and by having lost a chance at awareness remain in udwaan) God allows them to taste what they have earned.
This is indeed food for thought in our world today:
This helps us realize that we, who have faith and trust, should be actually out there, working harder, performing more good deeds to counter the harmful deeds that are taking place in our communities. But we should do so with Taqwa… not Udwaan .. or else we’d become part of their construct as well, albeit dressed in different colors.
2. Each of the next four Verses (97-100) when read in Arabic is literally heart-stopping! They begin with the same word -with slight rhetorical variation- asking the people of such communities (devoid of faith and awareness) whether they feel safe from getting what’s coming to them?
Indeed, how can they feel safe when it is God Himself delivering to them the consequences of their deeds when they least expect that! The consequences might come while they are asleep, or while they are frolicking or seeking their pleasures/drooling لعب (we spoke of ‘yal3ab- يلعب’ on Day 70).
Verse 99 in Asad’s explanation:
“Can they, then, ever feel secure from God’s deep devising? But none feels secure from God’s deep devising save people who are [already] lost.”[4]
Verse 100 speaks to all generations that follow one another! We shall discuss what Ali and Asad describe as ‘sealing the hearts’ shortly.
As Ali says in his comment:
“The stories which have been related should give a warning to present and future generations which have inherited the land, the power, or the experience of the past. They should know that if they fall into the same sins they will meet with the same fate: when through their contumacy[5] their hearts are hardened, they do not listen to the advice that falls on their ears.”
3. Verses 101-102 begin by addressing Prophet Muhammad in particular ﷺ before they become general. The stories of previous Messengers and their people served to remind the Meccans of their past, themselves being descendants of Prophet Abraham from his son Ishmael, peace upon both. The Qur’an was showing them (and Prophet Muhammad) their part in the full circle of Revelation. But what a warning this was to Qureish -and especially their elders- in whose midst these verses were being revealed!
In fact, these verses are a warning to anyone who belies God’s Message for all time. That is because the Qur’aan is superior in its attribute, delivering its principled Message in every aan (every moment/ ‘in the now’), teaching us here about:
The danger of habitualization which grows as we age:
When a person belies something outright, calling it false again and again, it becomes difficult to change one’s heart/mind, and when one is older (or arrogant), it becomes very difficult to admit one was wrong.
In the end, there comes a time, after all the opportunities have been missed, that the ‘qalb,’ the ‘heart/mind’ earns the ‘Tab3/طبع’ upon it, becoming ‘sealed’ due to the person’s repeated performance of the same habit, (‘habit’ in Arabic literally means ‘Tab3/ طبع’[6] a term which appears derogatively in the Qur’an).
What this means is that due to prolonged persistence, one’s heart/mind cannot abandon what it has long habituated for another habituation.
This information serves us well, especially if we are young enough (at heart!!) to change our habits.
In these verses the habituation mentioned was belying and denial, and we shall see other habituations as we progress.
What about the rare opportunity some people had of actually KNOWING a Messenger of God, yet -due to habitualization or arrogance- persisting in denial until they finally earn themselves the God-given title of ‘The Deniers?’
These verses were a consolation to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in that his effort would not make the difference between their faith or denial; he only had to make sure the Message itself was delivered. He was one of their own; one who -before this Message- they had loved, trusted, and respectfully called ‘Al Ameen/The Trustworthy.’ Their denial is on them.
3. Verses 103-104 begin the narrative of Prophet Moses, peace upon him, with Pharaoh and his people. Moses starts by introducing himself as the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds.
We notice the length of this narrative in comparison to the preceding summaries of the narratives of Prophets Noah, Hud, Saleh, Lot and Shu’ayb, peace upon them all.
Earlier, each of these Prophets was dealing with a group of people who were –all together- committing one or more of the Inviolables المحرّمات /AlMuHarramaat which deviate from the ‘Straightened Path.’ Each prophet’s mission was to introduce or reinstate the particular commandment/s he was entrusted to deliver, which would be one or more of these ‘Inviolables,’ attempting to raise people to a higher level of accountability relative to humanity’s advancement at the time. Moses, on the other hand, was reinstating them all (see ‘Straightened Path’ and Blog Post Day 77).[7]
In earlier posts, Readers would have noticed the skill with which Prophet Abraham, peace upon him, took his people from worshipping the corporeal to the transcendental, from revering idols and celestial bodies to worshipping God (as seen in Blog Post Day 69).[8] By Prophet Moses’ time however, peace upon him, humanity was ready for higher accountability, therefore his mission was to entrust them with so much more. Many of the Straightened Path’s Inviolables are still found in the Commandments of today’s Old Testament, as we saw in above Posting of Blog Post Day 76
4. In Verse 105 Prophet Moses affirms his truthfulness and integrity, stating that he has ‘clear evidence’- bayyinah بيِّنة -and informs Pharaoh of his request: “.. so send with me Bani Isra’eel!”
In the following verses (106-108) Pharaoh challenges him to show what Sign ‘Aayah- آية ’ he might have, so Moses flings his staff which becomes an evident serpent, and puts out his hand, which is observed to be shining white and luminous.
5. In Verses 109-112 we hear the discussion that took place between Pharaoh and his court, who immediately judged Moses in terms they could relate to:
- His motive they said, was the desire to rule instead of Pharaoh.
- They called him a Sorcerer, and said what he came with was magic
- Then they set forth their own ‘combat’ strategy, being famous themselves for having the best sorcerers.
Verses 113-114 tell us of the discussion that took place between Pharaoh and the most ‘knowledgeable,’ most learned, most accomplished of sorcerers; those he had summoned to face Moses.
6. Verses 115-116 begin to tell us of the all-important scene which took place between these skilled sorcerers and Moses (other Qur’anic verses such as HQ 20:59 give us further detail related to the occasion -a festival- and the time of day -morning).
They threw their staffs, literally ‘deceiving – سحروا /saHaroo [9]’ people’s eyes and striking them with ‘terror/awe,’ (Ali/Asad) and produced mighty sorcery (since the Qur’an is calling their sorcery ‘mighty,’ it must have been mighty indeed!).
7. MAGIC; SIHR سحر:
Let us compare 3 definitions of this word: the English, the Arabic, and the Qur’anic definitions:
- ENGLISH: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary mostly relates ‘magic’ to an extraordinary power or influence which is believed to overpower natural forces and seems to come from a supernatural source.
- ARABIC: Our 1,000 year old Lexicon gives us only a few words about this word:
“It is to produce falsehood in the guise of reality or truth; it is said to be deception” هو إخراج الباطل في صورة الحقِّ، ويقال هو الخديعة
‘khadee’عah- خديعة- a deception.
- QUR’AN: The Qur’an describes it best: Magic is ‘visual deception’ PLUS apprehension رهبة /rahbah. [10]
Other Qur’anic verses such as HQ 20:66 clearly show us that what ‘seemed to be happening’ to onlookers, was NOT happening in reality at all (the Magicians’ ‘siHr’سحر made people IMAGINE خيّل إليهم- يخيل اليه / yukhayyal ilayhi that the ropes and sticks were slithering on the ground).
The Qur’an is truly amazing! Magic is ‘striking people with rahbah/apprehension, unnerving them, and deceiving them into imagining that they are seeing something which in reality is completely different; what they see is but an illusion which they then believe to be true.’
Dear Reader:
I personally do not attempt to research the gheyb/unseen/الغيب beyond what God has spoken of, or beyond what I feel would help me in my daily life. But if any gheyb subject interests you, and you do more research, remember to compare and adhere to the Arabi Qur’an.
No source is higher nor any evidence more authentic than God’s Words.
Everything else has been processed through human narration or interpretation and will naturally be colored by perception (even what is written in these pages; despite authors’ attempts at neutrality, people can only convey what they understand and perceive).
But we might all agree on one thing:
It is time to shed the yokes of superstition.
Enough said!
Our next Reading is from HQ 7:117-137
Peace unto all!
[2]Ibn Qutaybah (213-276 AH/828-889 CE):
“Virtues become distinct through their opposites, therefore goodness is known through evil, benefit through harm, sweet through bitter, little through plenty, small through big, and the inward through the outward.”
ابن قتيبة: “فضائل الأشياء تعرف بأضدادها، فالخير يعرف بالشر، والنفع بالضرّ، والحلو بالمر، والقليل بالكثير، والصغير بالكبير، والباطن بالظاهر.”
[3] Remember that Eman is always about Faith AND Trust; the two words in Arabic (‘eman and amn’ share the same root-verb ‘amana.’ You cannot have full faith in someone you do not trust fully, and vice versa.
[4] Readers of Arabic will note that Asad above explained ‘makr/مكر ‘ as ‘deep devising’ (see his note), while Ali said ‘plan.’ Well-explained by both because ‘makr’ is indeed about planning and devising deeply, unbeknownst to others, artfully strategizing to get something done, which could be negative or positive, depending on who is doing the ‘makr’ and towards what end.
The Qur’an in HQ35:43 tells us that the negative kind, the ‘bad devising/makr/المكر السيء’ ends up engulfing none but its own instigators.
Al Isfahani’s explanation below also shows us two kinds of ‘makr,’ the good and the bad.
الراغب الأصفهاني:
المَكْرُ: صرف الغير عمّا يقصده بحيلة، وذلك ضربان: مكر محمود، وذلك أن يتحرّى بذلك فعل جميل، وعلى ذلك قال: وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْماكِرِينَ [آل عمران/ 54] . ومذموم، وهو أن يتحرّى به فعل قبيح، قال تعالى: وَلا يَحِيقُ الْمَكْرُ السَّيِّئُ إِلَّا بِأَهْلِهِ [فاطر/ 43]
[5] I couldn’t help smiling! Contumacy means ‘stubborn resistance to authority; willful contempt of court.’ Yusuf Ali -a lawyer- would so naturally choose this word!
[6] طبع: هو مثلٌ على نهايةٍ ينتهي إليها الشيء حتى يختم عندها يقال طبَعت على الشيء طابَعاً. ثم يقال على هذا طَبْعُ الإنسان وسجيَّتُه. والطَّابع: الخاتم يُختَمُ به.
[7] The Straightened Path (HQ 6:151-153) names ‘Inviolable’ certain deeds which form, together, THE blueprint to Humanity’s wholesome existence on this earth, and THE springboard which allows each of us to grow in fulfillment of our physical/mental/spiritual potential.
[8] Prophet Abraham’s observations formed part of his QUEST, and as you can see, the word quest is about quest-ioning- something which the Qur’an values as a way to uncover knowledge.
His observations regarding ‘who or what is truly worthy of worship’ were made so that everyone would ask themselves the same, and arrive at the same answers. At a time when people were accustomed to worshipping A PHYSICAL ENTITY; a figure they had MANUFACTURED, could TOUCH, and could SEE, Prophet Abraham took them to entities beyond their doing, to celestial bodies which they had always revered but could only see, and then from these to the CREATOR of those celestial entities: God Himself.
If they were the creators of the idols they worshipped… WHO is the Creator of all existence?
With reference to HQ6:76 we can check out Ali’s note 898 which tells us of Abraham’s ‘spiritual enlightenment’ and Asad’s note 69 which tells us of ‘Abraham’s gradual grasp of the truth, symbolized by his intuitive progress from an adoration of celestial bodies – stars, moon and sun – to a full realization of God’s transcendental, all-embracing existence.”
[9] سحر: خَدْعٌ وشِبههُ، ووقتٌ من الأوقات. السِّحْر، قال قوم: هو إخراج الباطل في صورة الحقِّ، ويقال هو الخديعة. وأمَّا الوقت فالسَّحَر، والسُّحْرة، وهو قَبْل الصُّبْح. وجمع السَّحَر أسحار.
(It is interesting to note that the second connotation of the root verb ‘saHara’ relates to the early hours of morning, the ‘saHar’ (a common name for Arab girls), the plural of which is ‘as-Haar’ أسحار which Arabic Readers encountered in HQ 3:17)
[10] I’m using the term apprehension for now, by the time I find a better word because ‘rahbah’ is about fear and awe combined.