In Pairs

 In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

سبحان الذي خلق الأزواج كلها مما تنبت الأرض ومن انفسهم و مما لا يعلمون

Glory to Him Who created pairs of all things – pairs of what the earth grows, pairs of their own kind, and pairs of what they know not!

Above is one of the divine Verses in Arabic, and its translation in English, from the Qur'aanic Chapter Ya-Sin.

It speaks of Glorious Allah creating all things in pairs. But there is an arithmetical code, wonderfully latent, in this Verse too!

The number of the Verse is 36, and the Chapter number in which it is placed is also 36!

So, Chapter number 36 is paired with Verse number 36 therein, to express the creation of all things in pairs!!

To the best of my knowledge and belief, the Qur'aanic Verses were not numbered when first revealed. The numbers were given them, in the order they were found placed, much later.

And also, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this arithmetical code here had not come to conscious notice, ever before!!

Such arithmetical codes in the Qur'aan are a legion. These are there everywhere therein. And these are placed for no other reason than to provide overwhelming evidence of the Qur'aan being divine. No human being could have ever done it even if the entire mankind had lent its support!

Would the skeptic still be adamant not to believe that this Qur'aan - first published long before all our modern amenities were ever available - could only have been divine, and not man-made?

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 16^th of July 2021.

FRIDAY SERMONS: Reading the Qur'aan

In my childhood, I do not remember any elder urging me to understand what I read of the Qur'aan! It was the general belief then that it was enough for a child to learn how to read it. Understanding it was never stressed upon!

This reprehensible attitude prevails even now, although the Qur'aan asks أفلا يتدبرون القرآن Will they not, then, ponder over the Qur'aan?... [Verse 47:24]

The ugly fact of the matter is that the so-called Muslims generally have abandoned thein Qur'aan, and have thus abandoned the Protective Hand of Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 21st of May 2021.

Justice Divine

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

40. Inna Allaha la yathlimu mithqala tharratin wa-in taku hasanatan yudaAAifha wayu/ti min ladunhu ajran AAatheeman

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4:40. Indeed, Allah wrongs not even to the infinitesimal extent of the weight of an atom. And if there is a good deed, He doubles it and bestows, from Him, a great reward.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 14^th of February 2020.

Divine Talisman

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 3 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

200. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo isbiroo wasabiroo warabitoo waittaqoo Allaha laAAallakum tuflihoona

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200. O you who believe! Be patient, exhort patience, maintain good relations with one another and fear Allah, in order that you succeed.¹⁸⁶

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186. This is a veritable divine mantra for success. But, alas, there are very few Muslims in today's world with a strong enough Faith to make use of this mantra! The Muslims wouldn't be in the doldrums, they find themselves in, otherwise.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 17^th of January 2020.

Divine Painting

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

138. Sibghata Allahi waman ahsanu mina Allahi sibghatan wanahnu lahu AAabidoona

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2:138. Allah has done the painting! ²⁰⁸ And who could be better than Allah in painting? And worship Him, we²⁰⁹ do!

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208. Allah has done – and is, in fact, continuously re-doing – the painting on His infinitely vast canvas stretching the entire Universe. We, the creatures, are of course unable to see the full picture. But whatever parts of it we can see make us marvel at the exquisite mingling of colours to produce the breath-takingly beautiful pictures of natural sceneries. No human artist can ever hope to come even remotely near the perfection divinely executed. Our heads ought to automatically bow in recognition of and in utter submission to the Great, Inimitable Artist.

209. And who could the pronoun 'we' here, stand for? The context of this Verse and the preceding one, suggests that it is the Angels conveying the Qur'aanic Verses that 'we' refers to here. It is the Angels, moreover, who can have a better view of the infinitely large divine Painting than we, humans, and therefore can appreciate its grandeur, better. It is this better appreciation that makes them sincerely worship Allah.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 28^th of June 2019.

Divine Attributes - 2

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

255. Allahu la ilaha illa huwa alhayyu alqayyoomu la ta/khuthuhu sinatun wala nawmun lahu ma fee alssamawati wama fee al-ardi man tha allathee yashfaAAu AAindahu illa bi-ithnihi yaAAlamu ma bayna aydeehim wama khalfahum wala yuheetoona bishay-in min AAilmihi illa bima shaa wasiAAa kursiyyuhu alssamawati waal-arda wala yaooduhu hifthuhuma wahuwa alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu

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2:255. Allah! None besides Him is worthy of worship. HE is forever living, abiding. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him ever. To Him belongs whatever there is in the heavens and in/on the earth. Who could intercede with Him, except by His leave? ^{482, 483} HE knows what is in their hands and what is behind them.⁴⁸⁴ And none can take anything of His knowledge except for what He wills. His seat of authority encompasses the heavens and the earth, and their upkeep tires Him not. And He is the One High above anything, the One Immensely Great.⁴⁸⁵

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482. In the light of the very categorical statement in the preceding Verse that there shall be no intercession on the Day of Judgment, this statement here, in the form of an interrogation, could only mean emphatic reiteration of that earlier statement. In Allah's presence, no one – not even a Prophet – can dare intercede on one's own initiative, against His Judgment or Will. That is what the interrogative statement here signifies. And if Allah gives permission for any Prophet or Angel to intercede, it means that it is, first, Allah's Own Will to pardon the person concerned.

483. It is important to understand this matter of intercession correctly. In the absence of this understanding, we're likely to fall into a satanic trap, and commit the abominable sin of shirk. Most Christians have already fallen into this trap. They have come to believe, absolutely, that whatever sins they commit here in this world, their Jesus is sure to intercede with God on their behalf and give them an assured entry into Paradise. See now what has happened to the Christians. They have forgotten God almost entirely and have taken to the worship of Jesus and his mother, Mary. This happening, in front of us all, has provided enough proof that if any group of persons considers any Prophet – or anyone else for that matter – as endowed with the power of intercession, that group is sure to raise that Prophet/person to divinity, and thus commit shirk. Most Muslims today are, I am afraid, dangerously close to following in the Christians' footsteps.

484. Verse 34:9 tells us, "Do they not then consider what is in their hands and what is behind them of the heaven and the earth? ..." This sentence in that Verse gives us a pretty good idea of the divine meaning of the Arabic term maa bayna aydihim wa maa khalfahum, translated literally here as 'what is in their hands and what is behind them'. The context there of the heaven and the earth indicates that 'what is in their hands' means 'what is in their knowledge' or 'what they are capable of knowing'. And 'what is behind them' means 'what is not in their knowledge' or 'what they are not capable of knowing'. The same divine meaning must be made applicable here to the very same phrase used in Verse 2:255 that we are presently studying.

485. This beautiful Verse is generally known as 'aayatul kursi' because of the word kursi (seat of authority) occurring therein. Along with Chapter 112 of the Qur'aan, this Verse gives us a comprehensive divine description of Allah, our Creator, and our Lord.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 31^st of May 2019.

Signs Galore

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

93. Waquli alhamdu lillahi sayureekum ayatihi fataAArifoonaha wama rabbuka bighafilin AAammataAAmaloona

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27:93. And say, “The praise is for Allah! He will soon show you His signs, and then you shall recognise them.”¹⁶ And your Lord is not unaware of what you do.

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16. Allah Ta’ala has surely shown many signs since the revelation of the Qur’aan that prove it to be genuinely divine. Refer the numerous posts under the Signs category in my blog RabbunAllah. And the discovery of such signs is a continuing process.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 12^th of October 2018.

Divine vs Man-made

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 4 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

82. Afala yatadabbaroona alqur-ana walaw kana min AAindi ghayri Allahi lawajadoo feehi ikhtilafan katheeran

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4:82. Do they not then ponder over the Qur’aan? And had it been from anybody other than Allah, they would certainly find in it many a contradiction.⁵⁴

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54. This Verse gives the criterion to distinguish a divine book from a non-divine one. In other words, it makes a divine statement to the effect that any book authored by a man, howsoever learned he may be, is bound to contain errors.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 24^th of August 2018.

Hadeeth

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Hadeeth

Extract from Chapter 7 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

185. Awalam yanthuroo fee malakooti alssamawati waal-ardi wama khalaqa Allahu min shay-in waan AAasa an yakoona qadi iqtaraba ajaluhum fabi-ayyi hadeethin baAAdahu yu/minoona

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185. Do they not ponder over the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever things Allah has created, and over the likelihood of their own death being near? What hadeeth⁷⁴ would they then believe in after this?

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74. This Arabic word has been used in the Qur’aan variously in the meanings of (i) story, (ii) discourse, (iii) speech, or (iv) the Qur’aan itself. In the context of the preceding sentence, in this very Verse, the word here could connote the broad statement as under:

The orderly behaviour of the entire universe gives enough proof of the existence of a super-intelligent Being faultlessly governing it. When that Being can so control such a gigantic thing, He can obviously do the far less complex task of managing and controlling, inter alia, every human life. It is this Being – Whom we call Allah – that is guiding mankind in the proper conduct of their lives, through this Qur’aan. Every human being should grasp this Reality before it is too late. No one knows when death would come. It may be just around the corner.

But the word hadeeth came to acquire another meaning after the completion of the revelation of the Qur’aan, and the departure of the Prophet from this world. Centuries after the death of the Prophet, his orally reported sayings, and those of his companions, came to be recorded in writing. And these recorded sayings came to be known as ahaadeeth (plural of hadeeth). Allah Almighty knows all about the future. And at the time of the revelation of this Verse, He was aware of this future meaning of the term hadeeth. He (Allah), in that sense, is disapprovingly hinting here at future generations of the Muslim Ummah believing in such man-influenced, error-prone ahaadeeth in preference to the well-explained teachings in the Qur’aan, which can also be taken as referred to by the pronoun hu in baAAdahu of the Arabic text. The Verse is thus telling us categorically that the Qur’aan is the best hadeeth; one need not go after other ahaadeeth.  

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 4^th of May 2018.

The Qur'aan

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 3 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

138. Hatha bayanun lilnnasi wahudan wamawAAithatun lilmuttaqeena

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138. This is a plain, well-explained, address for mankind, and a guidance and good advice to those who fear Allah.¹⁵⁰

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150. Obviously, what is referred to here is the Qur'aan. But alas! Most Muslims themselves have abandoned it [refer Verse 25:30]. They do only a ritualistic reading of it, without understanding what they read, as if that's all that the Religion requires them to do! And they are blissfully content therewith!! They never bother to use it as the source of divine guidance and good advice.

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I would also like to draw readers’ attention to my earlier post, Obey the Messenger!, in this context.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 2^nd March 2018.

Belief in part of Scripture

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Belief in part of Scripture while suppressing another

Excerpt from Chapter 2 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, addressed primarily to the Children of Israel:

85. Thumma antum haola-i taqtuloona anfusakum watukhrijoona fareeqan minkum min diyarihim tathaharoona AAalayhim bial-ithmi waalAAudwani wa-in ya/tookum osara tufadoohum wahuwa muharramun AAalaykum ikhrajuhum afatu/minoona bibaAAdi alkitabi watakfuroona bibaAAdin fama jazao man yafAAalu thalika minkum illa khizyun fee alhayati alddunya wayawma alqiyamati yuraddoona ila ashaddi alAAathabi wama Allahu bighafilin AAamma taAAmaloona

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85. Yet, it is you who kill your own people and drive a section from among you out of their homes, aiding and abetting in sin and hostility against them. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, and it is, in the first place, unlawful for you to drive them out! Do you then believe in part of the Scripture while you suppress another part thereof? Recompense to whoever does so amongst you, is nothing but ignominy in this world. And on Resurrection Day, they will be condemned to intense torment. And Allah is not unaware of what they do^{111 & 112}.

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111. Here's another indirect divine warning for us Muslims, the nominal followers of the Qur'aan! We swear by the Qur'aan, as the Jews swear by the Torah. And like the Jews' suppressing parts of the Torah, we do ignore and blatantly act, knowingly or unknowingly, against divine commands in the Qur'aan. There are examples galore; but, here, I would like to throw light on just one - a glaring one.

112. In Verse 17.110, as pointed out in note 108 above, Allah Ta'ala instructs us not to be too loud in our prayers. But here, in my part of the world, I do often hear Masaajid loudspeakers broadcasting even the prayers, besides the Azaan! Not only are the non-Muslims around disturbed by this, but it disturbs even the Muslims praying in nearby Masjid. This apart, what is more disturbing, inscrutable and universal is the blatant disobedience of the other part of the divine edict. This other part ordains that the prayers should neither be muted nor of too low and feeble sound. Even so, it's a great mystery as to why we say parts of our prayers, like those of Zuhr and Asr, in absolute silence! No wonder then, that ignominy has hit us – and hit us badly, all around the world.

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Will we, the Muslims, ever realise what has hit us? Grant us the wisdom to improve ourselves, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 24^th March, 2017.