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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 God, or treats His Message as ‘static sheets’ (قراطيس)!
Notice how the verse continues, commanding the Messenger Muhammad, peace upon him, to state a few eye-opening facts to such persons:
“They did not hold God in His rightful Esteem when they said, ‘God has not bestowed upon Mankind anything.’
Say: ‘Who bestowed the Compilation which Moses came with, a Light and Guidance to the people? You (pl.) make of it 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 to their antics, plunging in their own predicament.”
Notice that Moses’ Compilation was both 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 Learning and guiding interaction 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 believes in the Hereafter WILL believe in:
Why? Because that is HOW such believing persons can maintain their relationship with God!
“And THIS is a Compilation we bestowed, of Abiding Benefit (Blessings), Confirming what was before it, so that you may warn the Foremost of all towns, and all around it. And those who believe in the Hereafter, do believe in it (this Compilation), and THEY, of their Relationship (with God), are maintaining.”
From previous postings and definitions, our Regular Readers understand the full implication of these two verses:
The fact that the Qur’an is Interactive, has been LOST on 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 of Abiding Benefit, which is the literal meaning of ‘blessed.[i]’
Also see, in 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 ([ii]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 their consciousness/ spirit clings tight to their bodies as 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 Angels are overpowering them.. (the term ‘bast + yad’ is always forceful. Remember Cain and Abel, in March 10th Reading? Copy, paste in Tanzil: بسط يدي).
“….Meanwhile, the Angels are overpowering saying: “Get yourselves out! Today you shall be rewarded with humiliating suffering due to what you were attributing to God of Untruths, and the arrogance in which you dismissed His Signs!”
Verse 94 goes on, to the second part of death, when each consciousness/ spirit 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 did indeed come to Us, each alone, as We created you 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 Posting of March 22nd.)
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 Posting of March 22nd.)
4. We must mention another fact:
Some might wonder why many Muslim Scholars prefer to repeat what others before them have said, rather than do fresh new research. The verses above have probably given Readers an idea of why that is so: A debilitating fear of responsibility has stopped many true scholars from stepping out of the norm. Unfortunately however, it has NOT stopped extremists! They have always been quick to interpret and motivate others to their way of thinking.
This is why it is CRUCIAL to 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’ (Jan 12th Post) returning today’s recipients of the Qur’an to a status similar to that of the early Recipients; we too can become the most admirable of citizens in our Human Community!
5. Verses 96-99 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 require for our existence.
But at the TOP of that list, He shows us Life being brought out of Death, and vice versa.
These verses are well-explained by both Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Asad.
Note the variant endings “.. to people who know-97/ to people who understand 98/ to people who believe 99”…which are related to the topic of each verse.
Also note in Verse 98 the different interpretations of (مستقر ومستودع) ‘place of sojourn/ time limit’ and the ‘place of departure/ resting-place’ according to Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Asad.
6. This chapter is titled, al An’aam, and those of us who know Arabic would have noticed the root verb ‘na’ama’ ([iii]نعم) which is related to 132 Qur’anic verses, 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.
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!
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!
[ii] (ظلم) أصلان:
-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.
[iii] (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.
