Doomsday

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Doomsday

Extract from Chapter 46 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

35. Faisbir kama sabara oloo alAAazmi mina alrrusuli wala tastaAAjil lahum kaannahum yawma yarawna ma yooAAadoona lam yalbathoo illa saAAatan min naharin balaghun fahal yuhlaku illa alqawmu alfasiqoona

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35. Then have patience (O Muhammad) just as those endowed with determination among the Messengers (of old) had patience! And be not in haste concerning them. The Day they see what they are promised (it will so appear to them) as though they had stayed but an hour of daytime.⁷ A culmination! Shall any be destroyed [then] save the profligates?

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7. The Day of Judgment may in fact occur thousands of years after a man dies. But when that Day does occur, it will appear to him as if it had occurred an hour after his death! So the Prophet is being advised, in this Verse, that he should not worry about the doomsday being unduly delayed for a wicked person. The doomsday will come to him virtually as soon as he dies. That will be the culmination of his life on earth.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 11^th of May 2018.

Intercession

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 34 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

23. Wala tanfaAAu alshshafaAAatu AAindahu illa liman athina lahu hatta itha fuzziAAa AAan quloobihim qaloo matha qala rabbukum qaloo alhaqqa wahuwa alAAaliyyu alkabeeru

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23. And intercession is of no avail with Him, except from him whom He permits. Until when fear is removed from their hearts, they (seekers of intercession) ask (those whom they considered to be their intercessors), “What is it that your Lord said?” They say, “The Truth. And He is the High, the Great.”⁷

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7. It is unfortunate that a majority among Muslims consider Prophet Muhammad (peace on him) to be their intercessor with Allah on the Judgment Day. In this they follow Christians who take Prophet Jesus (peace on him) as their intercessor. Both communities have gone astray from divine teachings. The divine teaching in this Verse is a categorical No to intercession, but the No has a rider by way of a test – to test mankind whether they would succumb to subtle satanic deviation inherent therein. After the categorical No to intercession, the Verse here alludes that Allah Ta’ala may however accept the intercession of him whom He may permit to intercede. But the Qur’aan has nowhere told us that Allah Almighty has permitted Prophet Muhammad or any other Prophet to intercede! The Muslims – and not Allah Almighty – have given their Prophet the permission!! They have thus fallen deeply into the unpardonable crime of shirk just as their Christian brothers have. Also, please see Verse 2:48 and the study note thereunder (Manzil I) in this regard.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 10^th of November 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

Ponder, Muslims!

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 23 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

105. Alam takun ayatee tutla AAalaykum fakuntum biha tukaththiboona

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105. Were not My Verses/signs recited to you and you rejected them? ¹⁵

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15. This is how Allah Almighty shall address those consigned to Hell-fire on the Day of Judgment. Muslims should ponder deeply, gravely and fearing whether they would be among those so addressed. Are they sure they do not reject the Qur’aanic Verses? Is not non-compliance of those Verses virtually and factually tantamount to their rejection?

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May we have the wisdom to understand properly and then comply with Qur’aanic Verses, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 21^st of April 2017.