O Muslims - 58

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART II:

69. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la takoonoo kaallatheena athaw moosa fabarraahu Allahu mimmaqaloo wakana AAinda Allahi wajeehan

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33:69. O you who believe! Be not like those who offended Moses, but Allah cleared him of what they said.¹⁴ And he had an honourable standing with Allah.

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14. The Qur’aan does not specify what his people had said that offended Moses. Jewish and Christian scriptures do give some details, but since Allah Ta’ala, in His wisdom, has not thought it fit to divulge the offending accusations, we should not even try to find out what those were. People of Medina had also similarly offended Prophet Muhammad, but the Qur’aan has not divulged what that offending episode was, except for giving a general admonition to the people against believing in unsubstantiated rumours.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 19^th of March 2021.

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.

  

Obey the Messenger!

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Pasted below is an extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

132. WaateeAAoo Allaha waalrrasoola laAAallakum turhamoona

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132. And obey Allah and the Messenger so that Mercy is bestowed upon you.^{144 to 146}

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144. This Qur'aanic directive to obey the Messenger is grossly misunderstood. The Messenger is no longer living in this world, and there is no question of his issuing any directives now in person, which could be obeyed. The directives he had issued, while he was living, under Allah's guidance, are most authentically incorporated in the Qur'aan. So when the believers obey the directives in the Qur'aan, they in effect obey both Allah and His Messenger. But a majority of the Muslims now say that obeying the Qur'aanic directives alone wouldn't be akin to obeying the Messenger. He (the Messenger), they insist, had issued some detailed instructions for practical implementation of the divine directives in the Qur'aan. These practical instructions, they say, are contained in the ahaadeeth. According to these Muslims, then, the divinely approved Religion of Islam is not complete and perfect without the ahaadeeth!

145. The majority contention of the present-day Muslims as above, clearly contradicts many Qur'aanic statements like those quoted below:

·         "...We have missed nothing in the Book..." [Verse 6.38]

·         "...It is not a concocted hadeeth but a confirmation of what preceded it and a detailed explanation of everything and a guide and a mercy for the people who believe." [Verse 12.111]

The Muslim contention in fact betrays their lack of belief in the Qur'aan.

146. It is an accepted fact that the ahaadeeth contain many contradictions. And in the light of the divine criterion laid down in Verse 4.82, such writings cannot be from Allah. So by treating these non-divine writings at par with the divine Verses of the Qur'aan, the Muslims are committing the unpardonable sin of shirk. Nay, they are committing a sin worse than shirk. They are rejecting the divine Verses which say that everything is explained in the Qur'aan, and they seek the explanation instead in the error-prone, man-influenced ahaadeeth. They, in effect, believe in men narrating the ahaadeeth to the recorders, hundreds of years after the death of the Prophet. But they do not believe in Allah!! May the GhafoorurRaheem make them realise, before it becomes too late, that they are, by doing so, inexorably hurtling themselves into a painful doom.

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Guide us to the Right Path, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 25^th November, 2016.