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