Ar-Riba

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Ar-Riba

Extract from Chapter 30 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

39. Wama ataytum min riban liyarbuwa fee amwali alnnasi fala yarboo AAinda Allahi wama ataytum min zakatin tureedoona wajha Allahi faola-ika humu almudAAifoona

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39. And what you give for profit so that the increase is at the cost of other people's amwaal (property, dues) then it is not a lawful increase/profit with Allah.⁷ And what you give in charity seeking Allah's pleasure – the givers of such charity are the ones who will get their return multiplied.

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7. Herein lies the Qur’aanic definition of Ar-Riba that gets prohibited in Verse 2:275. For further details in this regard please read What is Ar-Riba, a Chapter from the book ISLAM AND INTEREST. What Allah dislikes is a gain that is sought to be made by usurping the rightful amwaal (properties, earnings, dues) of others. Such gains are termed Ar-Riba wherever else the Qur’aan refers to these, as in Verses 2:275, 3:130, 4:161, etc.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 26^th January 2018.

Fear Allah

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

102. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo ittaqoo Allaha haqqa tuqatihi wala tamootunna illa waantum muslimoona

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102. O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not but as those who have surrendered themselves completely to Allah.¹²⁰

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120. Death may come without any warning signals. Man should therefore never postpone surrendering himself to any future date. That future date may never come in his life.

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Allah is Beneficent and Merciful. So, fear Him not as one would fear a despot. Fear Allah here means that one should be afraid of doing anything against His instructions in the Qur’aan.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 19^th of January 2018.

Spider Web

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 29 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

41. Mathalu allatheena ittakhathoo min dooni Allahi awliyaa kamathali alAAankabooti ittakhathat baytan wa-inna awhana albuyooti labaytu alAAankabooti law kanoo yaAAlamoona

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41. Patrons – in lieu of Allah – that people take to, are like a web of a house that the female spider builds. And, certainly indeed, the most debilitating of all houses is the spider's house – if they but knew!^6a

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6a. One ought to see, in this context, the YouTube video in which it is shown how a fly gets helplessly ensnared in a spider’s web! Moreover, biologists came to know about the fact, that it is the female which builds the web, much later than when it was indicated here in this Verse.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 12^th of January 2018.

Muslim Position

On the Editorial Page of the Indian Express issue dated December 27, 2017, there is an article giving a frank analysis of the position the Muslims find themselves in. The article in question is entitled ‘The Other, The Enemy’ by Abdul Khaliq, secretary general of Lok Janashakti Party.

For their sorry plight as depicted in the article, the Muslims themselves, largely, are responsible. They are Muslims only in name. They are badly divided among themselves. And, more importantly, they hardly follow the divine instructions given them in the Qur’aan. Had they – a majority among them, at least – followed those instructions meticulously, their position would not be as bad as that article depicts. For, in that case, they would be under the safe protection of Allah Almighty.

Kindly see, in this context excerpt below from Chapter 46 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

13. Inna allatheena qaloo rabbuna Allahu thumma istaqamoo fala khawfun AAalayhim wala hum yahzanoona

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13. Those indeed who say, ‘Allah is Our Lord’, and then remain steadfast, they shall have no fear then, nor shall they grieve!⁵

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5. Refer also, in this context, to similar Verse 41:30, which is a further elaboration of this Verse here. The Verse depicts, in a nutshell, the character of a believer in this world.

That character is missing in the Muslims of today. They may well declare, with their tongues, ‘Allah is our Lord’, but the declaration does not come from their hearts. Their belief is not strong enough to withstand the trials and tribulations of this worldly life. The weakness of their belief makes them neglect the Qur’aanic do’s and don’ts. So, Allah makes them suffer at the hands of other communities here. Allah subjects them to this suffering to make them realise their waywardness and turn back to absolute Trust in Him. If they do not learn their lesson, they may continue to suffer, not only here, but, Allah forbid, in the Hereafter as well!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 5^th of January 2018.

Righteousness

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

92. Lan tanaloo albirra hatta tunfiqoo mimma tuhibboona wama tunfiqoo min shay-in fa-inna Allaha bihi AAaleemun

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92. Never shall you attain to righteousness unless you spend from what you love. And Allah is indeed aware of anything you spend.^{105 to 107}

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105. Man loves wealth. He thinks it could bring him comfort in this worldly life. His thoughts do not go beyond, to the life in the Hereafter. But Islam teaches him that this worldly life is temporary and only a test; it is the everlasting life in the Hereafter that really matters. And the Verse 92 here tells us that unless we overcome our love of wealth by spending from it, we cannot be righteous enough to deserve comfortable lives in the Hereafter.

106. We can of course incur necessary expenses, from our own wealth, on our own selves. But we cannot waste the wealth on our own selves beyond our genuine needs. Allah would be aware of it, if and when we do it. And Verse 2:215 tells us on whose genuine needs to spend our wealth that is in excess of our own individual needs.

107. Man loves other things also, besides wealth. He loves his spouse and children, for example. Verse 92 here could be extended in its implications to cover these other objects of love too. Our love for our own children, for instance, should not come in our way of standing firmly for justice in any matter involving them.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 29^th December 2017.

Promoting Shirk

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Promoting Shirk

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

78. Wa-inna minhum lafareeqan yalwoona alsinatahum bialkitabi litahsaboohu mina alkitabi wama huwa mina alkitabi wayaqooloona huwa min AAindi Allahi wama huwa min AAindi Allahi wayaqooloona AAala Allahi alkathiba wahum yaAAlamoona

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78. And, indeed, there is among them a section who so twist their tongues with the Book that you may think it is from the Book, and it is not from the Book. And they say it is from Allah and it is not from Allah. And they knowingly utter a lie about Allah.⁹³

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93. This Verse might well have been revealed in the perspective of the Jews and the Christians trying then to change the contents of the revealed Books with them. But, in our present-day perspective, we need not get concerned with what those people did then. The Qur'aan is valid for all times. Let us therefore look at this Verse in our own perspective. And let us first look to what we ourselves do with our own Qur'aan, before looking to what the Jews and the Christians are doing with their Books. We are fortunate, by Allah's Grace, that the Arabic text of the Qur'aan is divinely protected. But Arabic is not known to all the Muslims. In fact, a majority from among them do not know Arabic; nor are any sincere efforts made to make Arabic a compulsory subject for all Muslims to learn, all over the world. In this scenario, Satan has manoeuvred the majority Muslim mind into thinking that it is enough for them to learn just to read the Qur'aan. It is indeed a satanic handiwork to delude the intelligence of the Muslim mind against the imperative need to understand what one reads from the Qur'aan. The Moulvis and the Mullahs have, in the circumstances, become the Arbaab (Lords), besides the One Lord, of the common Muslims. For, they (the common Muslims) literally gulp down what their religious leaders tell them, right or wrong. And the Moulvis and Mullahs, many of them semi-literates themselves, often give the commoners a wrong picture of Islam. Besides, in the translations & commentaries of the Qur'aan in other languages, not only do human mistakes creep in inadvertently, but deviations are advertently made to cater to views promoting shirk.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 22^nd December 2017.

Divine Punishment

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

56. FapaImma allatheena kafaroo faoAAaththibuhum AAathaban shadeedan fee alddunyta waal-akhirati wama lahum min nasireena

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56. "So I punish, with severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter, ⁷¹ those who suppress the Truth. And they shall have none to help them."

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71. Had the preposition fee (in) been used also before akhirati (Hereafter), then it would have meant that the severe punishment would be given both here and in the Hereafter. But the construction of the phrase here, – treating 'here and the hereafter' as one unit in relation to the prefix 'in' – indicates that some suppressors of the Truth may not be subjected to the severe punishment, in this world. Suppressors of the Truth, as the Qur'aan repeatedly says, are bound to be punished severely in the Hereafter. And incorrigible suppressors of the Truth like the people of Noah and the people of Lot are known to have suffered severe punishment in this world also.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 15^th of December 2017.