Divine Test

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

140. In yamsaskum qarhun faqad massa alqawma qarhun mithluhu watilka al-ayyamu nudawiluha bayna alnnasi waliyaAAlama Allahu allatheena amanoo wayattakhitha minkum shuhadaa waAllahu la yuhibbu alththalimeena

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140. If you are hurt, then surely the community is similarly hurt. And We rotate such periods (of hurt) among mankind, and We do so in order that Allah may distinguish those that believe and pick up witnesses from amongst you.¹⁵² And Allah does not love the offenders.

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152. So the hurt that may afflict any person is a test from Allah that would distinguish him/her as believing or non-believing. If the person recognises the hurt as the test and suffers it patiently with prayers to the Lord, employing all fair means to overcome the effects of the hurt, he/she has passed the test. Allah Ta'ala then takes him/her as a witness to the truth of the hurt being only a test. On the other hand, if the person frets and fumes at the hurt, curses his destiny and does not hesitate to employ even foul means to overcome the effects of the hurt, he/she is an offender.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 30^th of March 2018.

Muslims of Today

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

139. Wala tahinoo wala tahzanoo waantumu al-aAAlawna in kuntum mu/mineena

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139. Be not weak and grieve not! And you should have an upper hand if you are strong in Faith.¹⁵¹

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151. And most Muslims of today are not strong in their Faith. So, they are weak as a community, and they grieve a lot.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 23^rd of March 2018.

Recipe for Salvation

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Excerpts from Chapter 41 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

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30. Those indeed who say, ‘Allah is Our Lord’ and then remain steadfast, the angels come down to them saying, “Fear not, nor regret, but rejoice in the glad news of Paradise that has been promised to you!”

31. “We are your close friends in this life and in the Hereafter. And in the Hereafter, you will get whatever you desire, and you will have therein whatsoever you ask for”

32. “As gift from the One forgiving, merciful.”⁶

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6. Verses 30, 31 and 32 above together constitute a brief divine recipe for salvation. The recipe is just to have an unshakeable belief in Allah being the Lord (i.e., one’s creator, nourisher, protector, guide, judge, benevolent ruler but also one to give severe punishment to the evil-doer, all rolled into one). It is easy for one to declare that Allah is one’s Lord, but Allah, from time to time, puts that belief to test throughout one’s life. It is important to pass those tests. The Verses also define what the salvation is. It is a gift from the Creator freely available to anyone who would conduct one’s life as per that practical recipe. But are there many takers – even among the so-called Muslims?

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 16^th of March 2018.

Inserting Frivolities in Qur'aan

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 41 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

26. Waqala allatheena kafaroo la tasmaAAoo lihatha alqur-ani wailghaw feehi laAAallakum taghliboona

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26. And those that suppress the Truth say, “Do not listen to this Qur'aan, and insert frivolities in it, so that you may prevail over the believers.”⁵

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5. During the time the Qur’aan was in the process of being revealed, people who did not believe in it used to disturb the sessions called to publicise fresh revelations, by indulging in talking to each other rather than listening to the revelations. That position still prevails. I have seen people talking to each other in the back rows of a Friday congregation while the Imam is explaining to them the significance of Qur’aanic Verses from the pulpit. They do not listen at all to the Imam. But, besides, there is something more sinister that is happening now! The Imam in most of the Masajid, especially in the Indian sub-continent, is haranguing his gullible audience with things that are not in the Qur’aan, or, rather, that are against the teachings of the Qur’aan! He urges his audience to seek the help of dead saints long back buried in their graves. He devotes most part of his Friday sermon in eulogizing the dead saints rather than the living Allah. And he quotes a Qur’aanic Verse in support of his diatribe, twisting its interpretation with man-influenced and error-prone ahaadeeth. And he spews venom against all those who do not agree with his twisted interpretation of the Qur’aan.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 9^th of March 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.

Light over Light

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 24 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

35. Allahu nooru alssamawati waal-ardi mathalu noorihi kamishkatin feeha misbahun almisbahu fee zujajatin alzzujajatu kaannaha kawkabun durriyyun yooqadu min shajaratin mubarakatin zaytoonatin la sharqiyyatin wala gharbiyyatin yakadu zaytuha yudee-o walaw lam tamsas-hu narun noorun AAala noorin yahdee Allahu linoorihi man yashao wayadribu Allahu al-amthala lilnnasi waAllahu bikulli shay-in AAaleemun

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35. Allah is Light of the heavens and the earth. His Light is as if there were a niche, inside the niche, a lamp and the lamp, inside a glass. The glass, as it were, a bright star, fuelled by a blessed tree of olive, neither of east nor of west, oil of which would glow forth even when no fire touched it! Light over light! Allah guides to His Light whom He wills. And Allah makes use of similitudes for mankind. And Allah is aware of everything! ^{9 to 13}

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9. "And there is none comparable unto Him." [Verse 112:4] So Allah makes use of similitudes or parables to convey to mankind some ideas about His unique Being. Similitudes, in terms of things mankind knows of. At the time the verse was revealed, over 1400 years ago, people had niches in the walls of their houses. They placed lamps there. The white-washed wall in the background acted as reflector to give comparatively better light to a room on a dark night. They used olive oil as a fuel for the lamp.

10. But no lamp then could be kindled without an external source of fire. And there was no source of energy, available to mankind then, that could be made to glow forth on its own. Allah therefore said that the source of His Light was unlike anything known to human beings then ("neither of east nor of west"). But in similitudes, references are made to things that are known to people. Why then did Allah make references to things unknown, in the similitude He gave?

11. The All-knowing Allah fashioned His last Book of Guidance in such a way that it would be valid for all future generations till the Last Day. HE knew beforehand then, of the generations that would be given the knowledge of a source of energy - a fuel - that would glow by itself, 'even when no fire touched it'! No marks for guessing that electricity is such a source of energy.

12. It is the electric current that makes the electric bulb glow, without fire (as people, at the time the Qur'aan was revealed, knew of it) 'touching' it. The reflector has replaced the old-time niche for the modern-day 'focus' light. And the fluorescent material of the glass cover, for the electric lamp, glows in addition, producing the effect so aptly described as noorun alaa noor (light over light) in the divinely given similitude.

13. It is thus abundantly apparent that the similitude given in verse 24:35 was meant for people raised on this earth after the discovery of electricity, rather than for people living at the time of revelation of the Qur'aan. By giving the similitude much before its time, the Almighty and All-knowing Allah has foretold the use of electricity, by future generations, for generation of brighter light.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 23^rd February 2018.

Good Deed, A Waste?

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

115. Wama yafAAaloo min khayrin falan yukfaroohu waAllahu AAaleemun bialmuttaqeena

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115. And whatever good they do, nothing will be suppressed therefrom.¹³¹ And Allah knows those who fear Him.

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131. There is a general apprehension, in the minds of those who do not have a strong belief in Allah, that the good one does is not adequately appreciated and, therefore, wasted. They are thus inclined to give as much publicity as possible to their good deeds, whereby they hope to get good names and other benefits for themselves. Had their belief in Allah been strong enough, they wouldn't hanker after such mundane benefits. They would be sure that Allah, their Lord, wouldn't let their good deeds go waste.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 16^th of February 2018.