Radical Islam

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Donald Trump, in his inaugural address as President of USA, said that he would work for complete eradication of ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ from the surface of the earth.

What is Radical Islam he is referring to? Does it include ‘terrorism’, as he mischievously implies?

History is witness to an extraordinarily shining example of Radical Islam set by none other than Prophet Muhammad (peace on him) himself! For 13 long years, his own people at Makkah had relentlessly harassed the Prophet just because he declared, ‘There is no god but Allah!’ Then they – the Makkans – had sent armies to eradicate the nascent Islamic State at Medina, á la our Donald now, from the surface of the earth, but without success of course! And when the Prophet later marched triumphantly into Makkah, he pardoned all his arch enemies there!! There was no mass massacre, no raping of women on a massive scale, and no massive destruction of public properties, as routinely done by modern national armies when they conquer neighboring territories!!!

That was the true exhibition of Radical Islam! Peace, mercy, goodwill, justice towards one and all!

But it is too much to expect Donald Trump to sincerely study what Radical Islam is! Like any Tom, Dick, and Harry, he goes by common perception. And the common perception among a large number of non-Muslims is that Islam is an evil religion!

And I blame the Muslim community all over the world at large, themselves, for this utterly false perception. The Qur’aan advices them to continue doing good and righteous deeds, without fear and favour and despite facing trying adversities, and to have patience and trust in the One Creator of all in giving them ultimate justice.

Muslims of the modern world, generally, have failed to follow this Qur’aanic advice. Faced with seemingly unending atrocities and injustices around them, they lose patience and faith, and resort to retaliatory violence which may affect even innocents. They have thus lost Help from the Guiding Divine Hand, and are obviously facing ignominy as envisaged in the Qur’aan.

They are themselves responsible for the negative image of Islam Donald Trump gets on his retina.

Guide us back to the Qur’aanic Path, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 27^th January, 2017.

Iblees

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Excerpt [Verse 2:34] from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, depicting Satan disobeying Allah Almighty:

34. Wa-ith qulna lilmala-ikati osjudoo li-adama fasajadoo illa ibleesa aba waistakbara wakana mina alkafireena

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34. And when We asked the angels to prostrate ^{27 & 28} before Adam, prostrated they all except for Iblees ²⁹. He (Iblees) refused and was proud ³⁰ and became one of the suppressors of Truth!

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Notes:

27. One may think that it is the prerogative of Allah to be bowed or prostrated to. And Allah does say, "...Prostrate not to the sun or to the moon, but prostrate to Allah Who created them, if it is He Whom you worship." [Q: 41:37] But here, in Verse 2:34, Allah Himself asked the angels to prostrate to Adam who was but a creature of Allah. To understand properly the truth behind this apparent contradiction, one must remember that to worship is to obey completely and unquestioningly. When Allah Himself asked the angels to prostrate to Adam, He was just testing their absolute obedience to Him.

28. There is another instance mentioned in the Qur'aan of a man, Prophet Yusuf (may peace be upon him), being prostrated to by his brothers and parents [Q: 12:100]. That was in the nature of an involuntary act in divine fulfilment of the inerpretation of a dream seen by Yusuf in his childhood. Neither this instance, nor that of the angels prostrating before Adam at the express order of the Almighty Creator, should be taken as a precedent for us humans to prostrate before any created thing. For us, the standing divine command, as given in Verse 41:37 quoted above in the preceding Note, is to prostrate only to Allah!

29. In Verse 18.50, Iblees has been described as Jinn.

30. Justifying his pride, Iblees is quoted, in Verse 7:12, as saying, "I am better than him (Adam). You created me from fire, and him You created from clay."

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Save us from Satanic pride, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 20^th January, 2017.

Khalifa

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

An excerpt from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, depicting the divine scene when Allah informs Angels of His intention to create Man:

30. Wa-ith qala rabbuka lilmala-ikati innee jaAAilun fee al-ardi khaleefatan qaloo atajAAalu feeha man yufsidu feeha wayasfiku alddimaa wanahnu nusabbihu bihamdika wanuqaddisu laka qala innee aAAlamu ma la taAAlamoona

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30. And when your Lord said to the angels, "I am indeed going to establish a vicegerent^{22 to 25} on the earth", they said, "Will You establish therein those who would spread discord therein and shed blood? And we glorify You with praises, and sanctify You!" He (Allah) said, "I know that which you do not know."

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22. Khalifa is the word used in the original Arabic text and it is important to understand the divine meaning thereof. One of the dictionary meanings of this word is 'successor', but this meaning cannot be applied in the context here. Allah obviously wanted to make the first human, Adam, a Khalifa on the earth and so there is no question of his being a 'successor' there. Earlier to Adam being sent to the earth, Allah's was the only, and complete, sway over there, and it would be preposterous to think that Almighty Allah would appoint any 'successor' to Him, Himself!

23. It would therefore be most appropriate to take the other meaning viz. 'vicegerent' or, so to say, a viceroy acting as the Absolute Sovereign's deputy ruler in a specific region of the Sovereign's vast dominion and exercising some of His delegated powers to a limited extent.

24. And in Verse 35:39, the Qur'aan speaks of the entire mankind being made the Khalaif, or the vicegerents (in plural, that is), on the earth. This Verse and other Verses like 6:165, 7:74, 7:69 etc. go to show that it is not Adam only who had been made the Khalifa, but that human beings that came through his progeny to inhabit this earth so far and that would come in future, are all the Khalaif or Khulafa on this earth. In some translations, this plural word has been wrongly interpreted as 'successors'. All human beings are Allah's vicegerents on this earth. They are, in other words, His deputies, everyone having control over his/her respective little world (aalam).

25. But these little deputies tend to forget their real position and status. They forget that they are only deputies of their common Sovereign, the real Nourisher and Sustainer of all their little worlds (Rabb-il-aalameen). They forget that Allah is, as do Verses 6:165 and 10:14 explain, only testing them by the limited delegation of some of His powers to them. Allah is testing whether His deputies are exercising their delegated powers justly and fairly for constructive creation within the spheres of their little worlds, remembering all the while that they are answerable to their Sovereign for all their acts of omission and commission.

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Grant us the wisdom to deserve being Your Vicegerents on earth, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi 

Friday, the 13^th of January, 2017

Meelaadunnabi

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extracted below, from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, are my renderings of Qur’aanic Verses 19:12 to 19:15 into English and my study note #2 on these Verses. These relate to Prophet John (Yahya).

12. “O John! Hold on to the Book firmly.” And We granted him the authority over men while he was yet a child.

 13. And We gave him the gift of compassion from Us and of purity, and he feared Allah.

 14. And ever courteous to his parents, he was never insolent, disobedient.

15. And peace on him on the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he is raised to life again.²

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2. The plain meaning of this Verse is that Allah is ever well pleased with John – at his birth, his death and his resurrection on the Judgment Day. It gives no authority for any celebration of his birth and death anniversaries. And yet some misguided Muslims quote this Verse as divine authority for celebrating the birth and death anniversaries of our Prophet (peace on him) and of other saintly persons. Such celebrations, as we do see in cases of other celebrities, amount to nothing but showy and ritual eulogy of the persons concerned. They do not lead to any character-building on the parts of the participants in such celebrations. The Muslims should rather emulate the example of our Prophet by trying to abide by the Qur’aan, as the Prophet did, in their day-to-day lives.

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Guide us all to the Right Path, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 6^th of January, 2017