To You What You Earn

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 2 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, discussing implications of a Qur’aanic Verse immediately following a narrative about Children of Israel:

134. Tilka ommatun qad khalat laha ma kasabat walakum ma kasabtum wala tus-aloona AAamma kano yaAAmaloona

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134. That was a community, now dead and gone! To it what it earned, and to you what you have earned. And you shall not be questioned on what they did! ¹⁹⁹

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199. Important implications of this divine statement are:

·         Divine assessment of people would not be based on the performance of their forefathers, but on what they themselves do individually.

·         No one can claim to be one of God's chosen people, and hence exempt from assessment of one's own performance.

·          We need not just ape what the Islamic religious scholars in the past said and did! For, we shall not be questioned on what they said or did. But we shall certainly be questioned on what we do in compliance of the divine commands contained in the divinely preserved Qur'aan.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 26^th of May 2017.

Abraham's Lifestyle

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract below is from Chapter 2 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, on a reference to Abraham in the divine Book:

131. Ith qala lahu rabbuhu aslim qala aslamtu lirabbi alAAalameena
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131. When his Lord told him, "Submit", he obeyed: "I submit to the Lord of the worlds!" [Please see note 194 below]

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194. And that, in essence, was Abraham's lifestyle! It is indeed the essence of the Allah-approved Religion of Islam. Complete submission to His Will! Let us take note particularly of the Name, Allah made Abraham choose here, from among His Various Names: Rabbil aalameen. Lord of the worlds! (Please refer to Note 1:5* above to understand the comprehensive Qur'aanic meaning of the term aalameen.) Every person is a khalifa (representative) of Allah to his/her individual world, where he/she has to take his/her own decisions. It is the nature of these decisions that make or mar that person. If he/she is deluded into thinking that he/she is the lord of all he/she surveys and makes his/her decisions accordingly, then he/she is doomed. If, on the other hand, he/she realises that Allah is the real Rabb (see Note 1:4**) of his own world as well as of all other individual worlds, makes his/her decisions fearing Allah, and submits completely to the results that follow as being from Allah, he/she would be the one to get befitting reward from the Lord.

*Note 1:5: This is the dictionary meaning of the Arabic word aalameen. It is in plural: worlds, and not world. In most of the places where this word has been used in the Qur'aan, it is accompanied by the word Rabb, as in this place. But there are a few places where it isn't, as in Verses 2:47, 3:97, 6:86, 6:90, 21:107 and 29:6. A close study of these latter Verses would show that the word is used in the same sense as in the sentence, "My world is different from yours." Every individual life is one's own individual world in the sense that his/her environment, conditions of living, circle of contacts etc. are different from others'. One's own world is, in other words, one's own individual life. It is to these millions of individual worlds that the Qur'aan refers to as aalameen. Allah thus declares that He is the Rabb of every individual life. If every individual would but submit completely to His will and obey His commands as given in the Qur'aan, the Lord will surely nourish and lead the individual's life to Success and Salvation! In the phrase Rabbulaalameen, however, Aalameen would include jinns, angels, all living things (besides human) and all inanimate things in the entire universe as well. Refer in this context Moses’ reply to Pharaoh in Verses 24, 26 and 28 of Chapter 32 (Manzil V). Rabbulaalameen could as well be translated as the Lord of the Universe. 

**Note 1:4: The original Arabic word is Rabb. It is a very comprehensive word, covering the meanings of Master, Owner, Nourisher, Developer, Guide, Provider et al. For want of a befitting corresponding word in English, the word "Lord" is used, although it does not convey the same comprehensive meaning. For the purpose of this translation, therefore, "Lord" is redefined to have the comprehensive meaning of the Arabic word Rabb.

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Mohammad Shafi
Friday, the 19th of May 2017.

A Thing Abandoned

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 25 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

30. Waqala alrrasoolu ya rabbi inna qawmee ittakhathoo hatha alqur-ana mahjooran

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30. And the Messenger will say, “O my Lord! My people did indeed treat this Qur’aan as a thing abandoned.”⁵

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5. The Messenger (Muhammad, peace on him) might have said so, exasperatingly, when in the initial period of his mission the people of his own tribe would not believe him. But from the immediately preceding context it appears that this is what he would say on Judgment Day when he comes to know of the sorry fate of a large number of people who claimed to be his followers after he left this world. Have not most of the so-called Muslims of today (early part of the 21^st century A.D.) indeed abandoned the Qur’aan? Do they ever refer to it seeking guidance in the conduct of their day-to-day lives in this world? The Qur’aan urges them to stand by and abide by the Truth with patience and with trust in Allah. Do they do that? At the slightest perception of danger to any of their worldly assets, they will not hesitate to abandon the truth and thereby the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan asks them to worship none but Allah. But they run to the graves of dead saints for redressal of grievances and for bestowal of bounties. They fail to understand that such acts of theirs are tantamount to worshipping the dead saints and thereby committing the unpardonable sin of shirk. The Qur’aan asks them to believe in the Hereafter. They do profess that they believe, but they betray their disbelief in almost every act of theirs in this world. They would rather abandon their morning prayer than abandon their sweet sleep. They do not bother to study for themselves what the Qur’aan says. They will try their best to educate their children to earn a lot and to have a good status in worldly life, but they bother the least to prepare them for the Hereafter. They do many, many such things to prove the prophetic statement in this Verse right.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 12^th of May 2017

Abraham's Prayer

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

An extract from Chapter 2 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

129. Rabbana waibAAath feehim rasoolan minhum yatloo AAalayhim ayatika wayuAAallimuhumu alkitaba waalhikmata wayuzakkeehim innaka anta alAAazeezu alhakeemu

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129. "O our Lord! Raise among them,¹⁹¹ a Messenger from amongst them, to recite to them Your Verses, to teach to them the Book and the Wisdom, and to purify them.¹⁹² Indeed, You are the One Omnipotent, the One Wise!"

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191. In the context of the preceding Verse, 'them' here obviously stands for the progeny of Abraham through his son Ishmael. And their progeny around the Kaaba are obviously the Arab people.

192. And we are aware that this prayer was heard, and responded to by the Wise and Almighty Allah several centuries later! HE did raise Prophet Muhammad (peace and Allah's blessings be upon him) for the very task Abraham and Ishmael had prayed for. During the intervening centuries, the Arab people had come to forget what their great forefather and Allah's Khaleel, Abraham, had stood for. They had fallen back to idol-worship, which Abraham had valiantly and steadfastly fought against! By Allah's grace, Prophet Muhammad recited His Verses to his people. He taught them the Book of the divine Verses, the Qur'aan, for 23 long years through numerous trials and tribulations. He thus convinced them of the wisdom of abiding by the divine commands contained in those Verses. He thus, through Allah's grace, purified a non-descript and utterly backward people into the most potent force that shook the entire world and brought about an ideological, moral and intellectual renaissance therein!

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Grant us the wisdom, Allah, to abide by Your Book & thereby get back our lost glory!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 5^th of May 2017.