O You Who Go

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

A few days back I heard my wife humming a few lines from an old Hindi song. It was from a film, and had its own romantic ramifications.

But I found myself explaining to her my own interpretations of those lines in an Islamic perspective. Below are those interpretations:

Kahan ja raha hai tu ae jane wale (Where are you going, O you who go)

Most men and women are wont to go about in this world pursuing their limited worldly objectives. They want to lead comfortable lives, with ample means to do so. They get upset if someone or something comes in the way of getting that objective fulfilled. Then they resort to doing things, fair or foul, that could overcome those hindrances.

This worldly life is the be-all and end-all of their existence. They don’t believe in any life after death. And they don’t believe in any divine punishments for any misdeeds on their part. So, they go on grabbing whatever they lay their hands on.

Some of them believe in and worship their personal gods. Some believe that some of their own kind, dead or alive, achieve divine powers, to whom they go to for redressal of any of their personal problems.

But whatever way they go in their worldly pursuits, there is a common, pervading feeling of unhappiness and unfulfillment among them. The poet addresses such a one in his line above.

Andhera hai man ka (A mental darkness it only is)

He is telling such a one that the latter is just groping in the dark. It is unlikely that he will find any real happiness and satisfaction because of the darkness that his own mind has created. The causes for the mental darkness are his misconceptions about the purpose of his life. He perceives that he is superior intellectually to any other form of life on this earth. That perception misleads him to the false belief that he is the master of what he surveys. It has led him to believe that there is no such thing as a Creator of this world/universe, which he thinks has come up on its own! He has become aware of the exquisite planning, wisdom, wizardry, craftmanship and care that has gone into the making of his own body, but he dismisses any idea of God bringing it into being and guiding and monitoring his actions here in this world.

That is his undoing; he continues to grope in the dark!

Diya to jala le (Just you put the light on please!)

The Maker Who has created him with such superhuman intelligence has not left him just to grope in the dark after his creation. HE has given him a mind which time and again prompts him to see the wisdom of recognizing the existence of the Maker. HE has provided evidences galore of His Existence. And He has sent down His Book of Guidance, the Qur’aan! This is the Light that is capable of extinguishing the utter mental darkness of the man. But the man, in his self-destructive arrogance, has refused to put that Light on!

The above poetic line beckons man to just put on that Light to put an end to all his misery.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 28^th of July 2017.

Word of Allah

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

In the 19^th July 2017 issue of the Indian Express, there was an article entitled Islam’s reform: Way to go. The ‘way’ shown therein was for Muslims to accept that Qur’aan is not the Word of Allah! In other words, to annihilate the very base of their religion!!

The Qur’aan is not the Word of Allah because it is not the Speech of Allah, the article pleaded.

Well, the Qur’aan has never claimed that it is entirely a direct speech from Allah. It is a Message from Allah conveyed to Prophet Muhammad (peace on him) through Angels. There are evidences galore to prove that it is truly and entirely a divine Message, immutable and fool-proof! Youtube.com videos providing such evidences are aplenty now.

Herein below I reproduce one of my many articles on the matter:

The Twelve

1.    Most Muslims may be aware of there being numerous astonishing numerical evidences of the Qur’aan being divine and not man-made. I too had read about it innumerable times, but had not brought myself to personally verify any of those.
2.    But, some days back, I did physically do the counting job on one such evidence. The word I chose was shahr, the Arabic equivalent for month. My information was that this word in singular occurred exactly twelve time in the entire Qur’aan to correspond with the twelve months in a year.
3.    Needless to say, I was not disappointed! The word shahr occurred in Verses 2:185 (twice), 2:194 (twice), 2:217, 5:2, 5:96, 9:36, 34:12 (twice), 46:15 & 97:3. Twelve times, totally!
4.    What’s so great about it, you may ask. The greatness in this is that the Qur’aan was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, bit by bit, during a long and extended period of 23 years in the seventh century AD. People in those days had no means to keep count of every word occurring in the Holy Book. There were no printing presses, not even paper – leave aside the modern-day computer! This counting could only be done then by Allah Almighty, and not by man. And this evidence came to light only recently, when man could have access to modern techniques.
And this is not the only numerical evidence! There are far too many of them to be humanly possible for a Book, produced in the 7^th century, to have. Click here to know more about this. One cannot dismiss an avalanche of such evidences as mere coincidences.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 21^st of July 2017

Worship

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

163. Wa-ilahukum ilahun wahidun la ilaha illa huwa alrrahmanu alrraheemu

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163. And the Being worthy of your worship is the One, and Only! None is worthy of worship other than He, the Gracious, the Merciful.²⁶³

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263. Allah, as we Muslims know, is the One and Only Being worthy of worship (Ilaah). 'Worship' connotes unquestioned obedience. We worship Allah if, and only if, we obey all His commands given in the Qur'aan. But we need to introspect, deeply and sincerely, whether we really do so. We need to introspect whether we do not have ilaahs, other than Allah, in the form of our own carnal desires and in the forms of other forces, human or otherwise, imagined or real, in the influence of which we often do things contrary to divine commands.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 14^th of July 2017.

Feedback on New Moon

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Continuing from the Sermon for last Friday, let me discuss here some critical feedback I received thereon.

In the opinion of one critic, there could be no such thing as a global lunar calendar. He wouldn’t even agree that there is any global solar calendar either. In an example he cited, at the time it was 8:43 am of 4^th July in Australia this year, it was still 3^rd July at his place.

I pointed out to him that it was Tuesday in Australia at the said time on 4^th July there, and Monday 3^rd July at his place. But when 4^th July did come to his place it was Tuesday there too! ‘Despite the difference of time zones, the same (Gregorian) calendar is in use at both the places! That is what I mean by a globally viable calendar. The Qur'aan envisaged such a globally viable lunar calendar.’ People like him are coming in the way.

Nevertheless, despite such irrational opposition, more and more countries are now veering round to the Qur’aan-envisaged global lunar calendar. At present, it has just been for Ramadan fasts – some of the other countries merely following Saudi Arabia. But for the legal inception of a globally viable lunar calendar, an international agreement on the nitty-gritties thereof – a la of the Gregorian Calendar – is required. Most of the details, like the international dateline, of that Calendar can ipso facto be adopted. But the moot point for the lunar Calendar would be as to when, after the birth of the new moon, the lunar next month would start, internationally.

A brother has suggested, “If on any solar date (irrespective of local time and place), New Moon is born, then the next solar date will be the first day of lunar month in every part of the world.” I think that’s a viable suggestion, but it has got to be internationally approved and applied.

The only international body, I can think capable of doing that, is Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Any reader in a position to contact the Organization, may kindly bring this important issue for their consideration and resolution.

A brother from Australia thinks that it’s time to consider this matter we are discussing as too prolonged, and it should be closed to make way for discussing other urgent matters like minority bashing in India.

To the brother from Australia, and to many other Muslims, the question of having a globally viable lunar calendar is unimportant. For, they all have the Gregorian solar calendar to go by for their day-to-day needs.

I think this general attitude among Muslims is at the root of their all-too-palpable despicable position as a community in the world today. The community has become a favourite whipping boy for every Tom, Dick and Harry. It is as if Allah Almighty has withdrawn His Hand of Mercy from them. The Qur’aan had warned them of this ignominy if they ceased to follow it. It had told them, in no uncertain terms, that they should establish a globally viable lunar Calendar for their day-to-day mundane activities. The Muslims completely neglected this divine instruction. And the Rabb of all mankind transferred this responsibility of establishing a calendar viable for them all, to the Christians. For, otherwise, their increasingly global activities would be in chaos. The Christians then established the internationally viable solar calendar. And the Muslims were doomed for their disobedience! But even now, the Muslims can resurrect a globally viable lunar calendar, for, it can, I am informed, correct the slight lacuna inherent in the solar calendar.

And as for the Muslim bashing, the Qur’aan tells them that if they say that Allah is their Rabb, and solemnly abide by that conviction, come what may, they would have nothing to fear, nor would they grieve [Verse 46:13].

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 7^th of July 2017.

The New Moon

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

1. Muslims generally all over the world follow the Gregorian calendar. So they come to bother about sighting the new moon only at the onset of the month of Ramadan, or for determining the Eidain days.

2. But here, as in many, many other matters, the Muslim Ummah has fallen into unseemly controversies, rendering the Islamic calendar an object of mockery! That too when the Creator has graced them with the Qur'aan, the divine Book of Guidance divinely guaranteed against all pollution, adulteration and corruption!! But, as our beloved Prophet (peace and Allah's blessings be upon him) would cry out in the Hereafter, his Ummah has 'indeed abandoned this Qur'aan as a thing of no importance' (Refer Q: 25.30)

3. Yes! We, the Prophet's Ummah, do sometimes refer to the divine Book for answers to problems facing us. But we do so half-heartedly! We are not absolutely sure that we would find the answers there!

4. In one such half-hearted attempt at finding the answer to the problem under discussion in this article, we discover the Qur'aanic verse 2.185. "Month of Ramadan! That month in which was sent down the Qur'aan as Guidance for Mankind and with clear evidences for the guidance and for the distinction made between right and wrong! Whoever then amongst you witnesses the month, he/she should fast therein! ....", so runs the beginning part of the said verse. And in our not-too-sincere efforts at finding the guidance as promised therein, we grab at the phrase 'witnesses the month', as a drowning man would catch at a straw!

5. And we say, "Eureka!" We interpret the phrase, 'witnesses the month' to mean 'witnesses the new moon heralding the month'. We forget that by thus interpolating our own imperfect words, we are casting doubts (nauzubillah) that the Qur'aan contains the perfect words of the Perfect Author!

6. And we thus conclude that for terminating any lunar month, at any particular place 'A', at 29 days, factual witnessing of the new moon, at that particular place 'A' itself, is necessary. We thus have the phenomenon of our Eidain being observed not only on more than two different days in different parts of the world, but also on different days at the same place! And, we remain blissfully unaware that calendars based on such a principle would be unfit and inadequate for international transactions and dealings.

7. Aren't we aware that the interpretation we have given to verse 2.185 is rather a stretched one? We indeed are! But then we had to find some Qur'aanic support for a hadeeth we're accustomed to believe in, more passionately.

8. English translation of one version of the hadeeth in question goes as follows: "The Prophet (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) said: 'If you sight it (the new moon of Ramadaan), then fast and if you sight it (the new moon of Shawwaal), then end the fast. And if it is obscured from you, then complete thirty days (of Sha'baan)'". There may be different versions of the hadeeth in different books of ahaadeeth, but the point to be noted in all the versions is that the Prophet had laid emphasis on the sighting of the new moon for ending the month (either Shaabaan or Ramadan) on 29th day.

9. Anything in the ahaadeeth, as reportedly said by the Prophet, is absolutely sacrosanct for us. So we twist the meaning of verse 2.185 to bring it in tune with the hadeeth quoted above. Never mind the fact that the hadeeth got recorded in writing centuries after the death of the Prophet. We give scant thought to the prospect that the hadeeth could have been contaminated with the personal words of, not one, but a chain of narrators, in the centuries-long meantime!

10. But had we been a little more sincere in our belief that the Qur'aan is the perfect Book from the Perfect Creator, we would not have been disappointed for long. Just 3 verses away from verse 2.185 is verse 2.189. It reads, "They ask you about the new moons. Say, 'These are fixed points of Time for Mankind and for the Pilgrimage.' ..." Let us now sincerely and deeply ponder over this divine statement.

11. Verse 2.189 specifically mentions the new moon. It is obviously therefore more relevant to the issue in hand than verse 2.185. And yet we have ignored verse 2.189. Reasons? We don't know; and even if we know, we don't wish to give expression to those reasons.

12. It is also interesting to note that the new moons are spoken of as points in time - points to demarcate fixed periods of time - for the entire Mankind. The periods of time so determined should be so as to be applicable to all the nations on earth. Our Wise Lord therefore did purposely not put the condition of sighting the new moon for the determination of those points in time. The Creator of all things in the Universe knew that the new moon is a celestial phenomenon that occurs when the moon just slips off a particular position, in between the earth and the Sun. HE knew that this phenomenon occurs exactly at a predetermined point in time. And He knew that in course of time He would be pleased to impart this knowledge to Mankind.

13. But this knowledge was not given to the people among whom the Prophet lived. He (the Prophet) had no alternative then but to tell his people to sight the new moon to determine whether any particular lunar month would end on its 29th day!

14. But we, whom Allah has given the knowledge, fail to understand this apparent dichotomy between what the Prophet reportedly said and what Allah, through the Qur'aan, says. We fail to understand that the hadeeth was time-specific, while the Qur'aan was meant to cover all times till the Last Day. We fail to understand that the Muslim community during the time of the Prophet had not spread to all parts around the earth as it is spread today.

15. We do accept the sunset and sunrise timings at a given place without actually sighting the sun set or rise. Even for the purposes of our prayers! Likewise we should have no reservations in our minds on accepting the scientifically determined new moon timings. Based on these fixed timings, a common Islamic lunar calendar for international use can be drawn up by Muslims of all nations sitting together in a conference.

16. The All-knowing Allah has left enough scope for such a conference to use its discretion to work out the detailed procedure for arriving at the common calendar after proper and meticulous studies. The conference could consider adapting the methodology adopted for the Gregorian calendar to the special needs of a lunar calendar. The Qur'aan would require the conference only to base their deliberations, taking the fixed new moon timings as the reference points.

17. And till such time when the wisdom, of holding such a conference and accepting its recommendations unanimously, dawns on the Muslims, they ought to adopt the lunar Calendar followed at Makkah internationally. This would bring about the needed uniformity and rationality in the Muslim world. The reference to Hajj in Verse 2:189 gives the divine Authority for such a move.

Mohammad Shafi

Divine Punishment

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

The ancient tribe of Thamood did not believe that one of their own brethren, Salih, was Allah’s Messenger sent to them. And they asked for a Sign. They were given a she-camel and were warned of divine punishment in case they harmed her. But they did harm her! The extract below, from Chapter 26 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, discusses the punishment meted out to the tribe and the lesson to be learnt therefrom by the modern man:

158. Faakhathahumu alAAathabu inna fee thalika laayatan wama kana aktharuhum mu/mineena

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158. And then the punishment befell them. There is indeed in this a sign, and most of them believed not.⁶

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6. The ancient tribe of Thamood was given the sign of the she-camel. And yet most of the tribe did not believe. Other pre-historic tribes too were given such signs, and most of them, likewise, believed not. They were deficient in knowledge as compared to the peoples of this historic age. Allah Almighty had therefore given signs to His Messengers sent to those peoples so that they could thereby recognize the Messengers as authentically from Allah. But no such extraordinary or miraculous sign was given to Muhammad (peace on him), His Messenger sent for this historic age, claims to the contrary prevalent among some misguided sections of Muslims notwithstanding. Nothing in the Qur’aan supports such claims. The Qur’aan, on the contrary, urges the believers to look around them and to ponder over the innumerable natural phenomena contrived specifically for sustenance of human and other lives on this planet. The provision of absolutely essential things like free air and almost-free water, the occurrence of day and night continually succeeding each other, the deliberate tilt of earth’s axis at a particular angle to cause seasonal changes, the mind-boggling orbital movements of trillions and trillions of the heavenly bodies in a perfect mathematically correct balance of centripetal and centrifugal forces without bumping into one another, and innumerable such phenomena in nature provide signs galore, for those who reflect, of a super-intellectual Being in perfect control. The miraculous signs of old are now redundant and superfluous.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 23^rd of June 2017.

Martyrs

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

154. Wala taqooloo liman yuqtalu fee sabeeli Allahi amwatun bal ahyaon walakin la tashAAuroona

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154. And say not unto those who are killed, in Allah's Path, as dead. Nay! They are alive, but you perceive not.^{247 to 249}

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247. It's one of the observed hard truths about life on this earth, that good work done in Allah's Path doesn't often get recompensed here. People have died, or have been killed, while struggling to traverse steadfastly on that Path. Seeing this happen, many of the others have fled from that Path. Should we follow suit? Allah has given us the freedom of choice. And if we follow suit, exercising that freedom, what would we get? Maybe, we would get some worldly wealth, and some worldly position. But at what cost? At the price of our abandoning good things like honesty, fair play, justice, truth et al. And even if we bid goodbye to such good things, are we sure that we would get the worldly pelf and position? Not at all! Worldly life is very uncertain. Today we set about getting the world by fair means or foul, and tomorrow (who knows?) we may die! And who knows what's on the other side of the divide? Maybe, what these religious people say will come true. What if, because of our abandoning belief in Allah and in the Hereafter, we may be put into that Hell-fire they talk about, to suffer there forever!!

248. If only we would think rationally thus, Brothers and Sisters, there is really no real alternative to Allah's Path! Although Allah has given us the freedom of choice, it's a choice between certainty or uncertainty, salvation or doom. So, come! Let us be certain in our belief in Allah, and in what He tells us. HE tells us here not to consider those killed in His Path as dead. Let us have absolute belief in this, although we are not capable of understanding the divine statement. Being mere creatures, we do not understand many things. But our Lord, the absolute Creator, knows everything. So, let's believe Him, for our own good!

249.   In Verse 3:169 and in Verses immediately following that Verse, we are further informed that the martyrs in Allah's Path receive provisions from Allah and that they rejoice in Allah's bounties! Allah tells us there, that He shall not let the supreme sacrifice of such believers go waste. It is thus apparent that the martyrs shall enjoy a pleasant continuity of consciousness even immediately after the end of their worldly lives. Unlike others, who shall be in a state of unconsciousness extending to even thousands of years, till they are resurrected in the Hereafter! That is an additional divine reward for the martyrs*.

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*It may well be noted that modern-day suicide bombers, who are responsible for killing innocent lives besides their own, cannot qualify to be called martyrs in Allah’s Path.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 16^th of June 2017.