O Muslims - 28

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

6. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo itha qumtum ila alssalati faighsiloo wujoohakum waaydiyakum ila almarafiqi waimsahoo biruoosikum waarjulakum ila alkaAAbayni wa-in kuntum junuban faittahharoo wa-in kuntum marda aw AAala safarin aw jaa ahadun minkum mina algha-iti aw lamastumu alnnisaa falam tajidoo maan fatayammamoo saAAeedan tayyiban faimsahoo biwujoohikum waaydeekum minhu ma yureedu Allahu liyajAAala AAalaykum min harajin walakin yureedu liyutahhirakum waliyutimma niAAmatahu AAalaykum laAAallakum tashkuroona

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5:6. O you who believe! When you get up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows – and wipe your heads – and your feet up to the ankles.⁷ And if you are unclean, then cleanse yourselves. And if you are ill or on a journey or any of you has come from the privy, or you have had sexual contacts with women, and you find no water, simulate washing then with clean earth, and wipe your faces and your hands therewith. Allah does not want to place you in difficulty, but He wants to keep you clean and to complete His Favour upon you, so that you may be grateful.

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7. This is the divine order for ablution (wudu) before a salah. As may be seen from the divine wording, the order is for ablution before every salah. But Muslims here in the Indian subcontinent are in the habit of considering a wudu made for one salah as valid for another, coming hours later, during which interval they may attend to worldly work or engage in gossip with friends. This is one of many instances wherein today's Muslims go blatantly against specific divine instructions. No wonder then that they are devoid of Allah's Favour upon them. Please see the next Verse also in this context. The Muslims of today are breaking their covenant with Allah when they disobey the instructions.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 21^st of August 2020.

 

 

 

 

O Muslims - 20

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

43. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la taqraboo alssalata waantum sukara hatta taAAlamoo ma taqooloona wala junuban illa AAabiree sabeelin hatta taghtasiloo wa-in kuntum marda aw AAala safarin aw jaa ahadun minkum mina algha-iti aw lamastumu alnnisaa falam tajidoo maan fatayammamoo saAAeedan tayyiban faimsahoo biwujoohikum waaydeekum inna Allaha kana AAafuwwan ghafooran

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4:43. O you who believe! Go not to prayer while you are under the influence of intoxication^{30, 31}, until you know what you say, nor while you are in an unclean state – unless on the move from one place to another – until you take a bath. And if you are ill, or on a journey, or any of you has come from the toilet or you have been in sexual contact with the women, and you cannot get water, simulate the cleaning act then with pure earth, wiping your faces and your hands therewith. Indeed, Allah is Lenient, Forgiving.

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30. The human mind can be intoxicated in several ways. And the very next phrase in this Verse viz., 'until you know what you say’ makes the divine meaning of the Arabic term sukara, used here, clear. The Arabic term obviously, therefore, means a state of the mind in which the person concerned does not fully understand the implications of what his/her mouth utters. Such a state of mind could be brought about by all sorts of intoxicants, or even by drowsiness. And any person could also be in such a state when his/her mind wavers to thoughts other than that of Allah. And the person's thoughts are bound to waver particularly when he/she does not understand the meaning of the Arabic words uttered in prayers. Understanding the meanings of what we say is therefore an absolute must for our prayers to be heard, accepted, and answered.

31. Total abstinence from intoxicants was ordained under Verse 5:90. Obviously, this Verse, 4:43, was revealed before 5:90. This is in keeping with the divine plan of eradicating a deep-rooted evil habit in stages, and not abruptly. As a first step towards ordering total abstinence, the believers were asked not to come for prayers in an intoxicated state of mind. But, on that account, it would be wrong to say that Verse 4:43 stands abrogated by Verse 5:90. In fact, it would be wrong to say that any of the existing Verses in the Qur'aan are abrogated. Please see Verse 2:106 and study notes 150 to 154 thereunder and Verse 2:109 and study notes 161 and 162 thereunder in this context. Verse 4:43 is so construed by the All-knowing and Wise Author of the Qur'aan that its application in this regard is not negated even after the revelation of Verse 5:90. Moreover, as we have seen in the preceding note, the Arabic term sukara, used in Verse 4:43, implies a wider meaning than just being under the influence of drugs and alcoholic drinks.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 26^th of June 2020.

Prayers Prescribed

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

238. Hafithoo AAala alssalawati waalssalati alwusta waqoomoo lillahi qaniteena

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2:238. Guard the prayers and the middle prayer and stand for Allah in total devotion.^{451 to 455}

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451. To guard is to be careful about. To guard the prayers would obviously mean to offer the prayers properly at proper times as divinely prescribed. It is a variation of the divine command to establish prayers (aqueemis sualaat) given elsewhere in the Qur'aan.

452. And what are the prayer timings divinely prescribed in the Qur'aan? In the chronological order of revelation, the earliest revealed Verse prescribing a fixed time for prayers is 17:78. In this Verse the only time fixed is between the sunset and the deep darkness of the night – obviously the dusk, the time when we offer our maghrib prayers now. Then in Verse 11:114 Allah directs us to establish prayers at the ends of the day and proximities of night. This is an unambiguous description of the dawn (fajr) and dusk (maghrib) as the divinely prescribed revised timings for prayers (sualawaat). And now, in this Verse 2:238, we are currently studying, Allah is asking us to guard not only the prayers prescribed earlier, but also the prayer newly introduced under this very Verse 2:238 – the middle prayer. This is in keeping with the Qur'aanic practice of gradual, step by step, legislation. The timing of the middle prayer has got to be mid-way between the dawn and the dusk prayers prescribed earlier. It corresponds to the noon (zhuhr) prayer, or to the weekly Jumuah prayer, we now offer.

453. But where is the Qur'aanic authentication for our uasur and uishaa prayers? I do not find it anywhere. But interpreters twist the plain meanings of the above-quoted and other Verses of the Qur'aan to count the number of prayers in a day to five. They paraphrase li dulookis shamsi ilaa ghasaquinl layli in Verse 17:78, for example, to include therein the four prayers of zhuhr, uasur, maghrib and uishaa. They translate dulookis shamsi as declination of the sun as against the clear dictionary meaning thereof as setting of the sun. As we have seen above, Verse 11:114 would corroborate with Verse 17:78 if the meaning of the phrase in the latter Verse is taken as 'setting of the sun'. There are several other Verses in the Qur'aan wherein we have been directed to praise and glorify Allah and to read the Qur'aan and ponder over it, at various times of the day and of the night. But those Verses do not specify the timings as the timings for prayers (sualawaat). Those Verses only ask us to glorify Allah and to read and ponder over the Qur'aan at other times also, besides doing so during the prayers.

454. How the translators have twisted the plain meanings of the Qur'aanic Verses in this regard is too vast a subject to be dealt with completely in these footnotes. A cyber-friend has done a thorough research on the subject and has recorded his findings in an e-booklet. If he permits me, I shall, inshaAllah, publish his work on the index page of my website. [The work, SALAAH IN THE QUR'AN, has since been published. Click here to access it.]

455. The prayers ought to be for Allah alone. We should have no thoughts, other than of Allah, during the prayers. But the fact of the matter is that our prayers are contaminated by these other thoughts, and thus get devalued and unfruitful. The other reason for our prayers being ineffective is that we glorify and address others, besides Allah, during and after the prayers at places of worship. Places of worship should be exclusive for glorification of Allah alone. And of the Unseen, He alone should be addressed or called upon for anything.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 30^th of August 2019.

Acts of Great Courage

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Acts of Great Courage

In Qur’aanic Chapter 31, Luqman is mentioned as an icon of grateful persons in this world. His advice to his son is quoted therein as exemplary for anyone to follow and attain salvation. Below is an extract from that advice, English rendering of which is as in QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

17. Ya bunayya aqimi alssalata wa/mur bialmaAAroofi wainha AAani almunkari waisbir AAala maasabaka inna thalika min AAazmi al-omoori

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17. “O my son! Establish the Prayer, enjoin good, and forbid evil. And bear patiently any affliction that you may suffer. Those indeed are among acts of great courage.”

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 20^th of April 2018.

Allah Teaches Us Even How To Pray To Him!

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

286. La yukallifu Allahu nafsan illa wusAAaha laha ma kasabat waAAalayha ma iktasabat rabbana la tu-akhithna in naseena aw akhta/na rabbana wala tahmil AAalayna isran kama hamaltahu AAala allatheena min qablina rabbana wala tuhammilna ma la taqata lana bihi waoAAfu AAanna waighfir lana wairhamna anta mawlana faonsurna AAala alqawmi alkafireena

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286. Allah burdens not any being except with what it can bear. To it what it earns and on it befall consequences of its earnings. "Our Lord! Call us not to account if we forget or make a mistake. Our Lord! And put us not to such burden as You had put on those before us. Our Lord! And burden us not with what we have no strength to bear. And pardon us. And forgive us. And have mercy on us. You are our Protector, so help us against the people who suppress the Truth."⁵³⁰

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530. Thus Allah does Himself teach us how to pray to Him. HE is kind and considerate, and knows us much better than what we know about our own selves. HE articulates exactly what we would like to pray to Him about. We wouldn't ourselves be able to express our own thoughts so nicely. Oh! If only we had the wisdom to submit ourselves completely to the Gracious and All-knowing Lord of all of us.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 17^th of November 2017.