Friday, August 26, 2022

Key Aspects in Qur'an 1st Edition

Key Aspects in the Qur’an

In the Name of Allah,

Most Gracious, Most Merciful

All Praise is due to Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala) and may Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala) exalt the mention of His Prophet and render him and his household, his Companions, and those who follow their way, safe from every evil, and grant them security on the Day of Resurrection.

In the name of Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala), We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala) guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. Whenever you want to pursue the truth and verify anything you hear about Islam, we urge you to please use the only valid and divine source of Islam, Qur’an.

NO TRANSLATION OF QUR’AN IS ACCURATE NOR CAN IT BE REPLACEMENT TO QUR’AAN TEXT. ONE CANNOT GUARANTEE THEIR AUTHENTICITY OR ACCURACY. PLEASE USE THEM AT YOUR DISCRETION.

Read Translation of Quran in Language Best Understood - Dr Zakir Naik

If you read the Qur’an it will surely benefit you in this world as well as in the hereafter. Read the Qur’an, if you don't know Arabic read the Qur’an in the language you understand. If you understand English read it in English, the language you understand the best, if you understand Urdu read it in Urdu, if you understand French read it in French if you understand German read it in German you read it in the language you understand. Irrespective of language, at least read the translation of the Glorious Qur’an, so that you can understand the message of your Creator. I'd like to give an example suppose a very close friend of yours who's a German he comes from Germany and he spends a couple of weeks with you, he being a German he can't speak English fluently, but he can converse with you, he spends a couple of weeks and even he goes back to Germany, he writes to you a letter in German because he cannot speak English fluently he cannot write English fluently, so he writes to you a letter in German. Now when you get that letter in German, you don't understand German, what will you do? But naturally because he's a close friend you will have that letter translated, you will want to know what your good friend told you from Germany. Don't you want to know what is the message the last and final message given by a creator Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala) you don't have to go in translate the Qur’an, the Qur’an al hamdulillah has already been translated in the major languages of the world.

Fi Zilal al-Qur'an: 'In the Shade of the Qur'an' is a highly influential commentary of the Qur'an, written during 1951-1965 by the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966). The book outlines Qutb's vision of a Muslim state and society. It is considered by some to be a comprehensive & far-reaching commentary, that takes a clear and lucid interpretation of the Qur'an. It has much influence throughout the Muslim world, especially amongst the ordinary lay practitioners of Islam. The work extends to 30 volumes that correspond to the 30 juz' parts of the Qur'an. It has been translated into several languages. The full set of 30 volumes covers the entire Qur'an. The aspects taken are from the titles in the contents given during the translation.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is by self only. Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala) Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

I pray to the Almighty that this humble effort may serve the purpose of bringing entire humanity in the fold of genuine religious fellowship.

A BRIEF GLIMPSE OF TOPICS IN

NOBLE QURAN

Makki Surah 1 (7 Ayah)

Al-Fātiĥah (The Opening)

1-7

Madani Surah 2 (286 Ayah)

Al-Baqarah (The Cow)

Seeking a Secure Base

A Major Breakthrough

The Making of a Unique Community

The Sūrah’s Central Theme

1-29 The Message Spelt Out

The Qualities of True Believers

Believing in the Imperceptible

A Contrasting Picture

The Mark of Hypocrisy

The Enemy Within

A Divine Challenge

The Use of Parables in the Qur’ān

Allah’s Covenant with Man

Giving Life after Death

30-39 Man in Charge of the Earth

Establishing Man’s Authority

Man’s First Test

Points to Consider

Man, the Master on Earth

The Concept of Sin

40-74 Glimpses of Israelite History

Allah’s Covenant with the Israelites

Matching Words with Deeds

Two Sources of Strength

When Every Soul Stands Alone

A Long List of Favours

Ingratitude at Its Worst

Inviting Allah’s Punishment

Unhappy with Allah’s Bounty

Boastful Claims by the Jews

Where Mockery Is Inadmissible

The Episode of the Cow

A Murdered Man Brought Back to Life

75-103 Covenants Breached All the Time

Falsification of Scriptures

Reply to False Arguments

Going Back on Firm Pledges

A Long List of Contradictions

Claims Falsified by Actions

A Strange Enmity to an Angel

Casting Allah’s Revelations Away

Magic and Psychic Phenomena

The Nature of Magic

104-123 Jewish Efforts to Undermine Islam

Efforts to Undermine the New Religion

Begrudging Allah’s Grace

Claims without Basis

Unbelief Is All One

Jewish and Christian Arguments

124-141 Universal Faith

Abraham’s Covenant

Building the Ka`bah

A Faith to Pass to Your Children

The Argument Is Finally Settled

142-152 Change of Direction

A Middle Community and a Pure Faith

Clarification of Issues

The Final Say on the Direction of Prayer

Abraham’s Prayers Are Answered

When Allah Remembers His Servants

153-157 Acquiring Real Strength

The Power of Patience

Sacrificing One’s Life

158-177 Setting the Record Straight

A Very Significant Ritual

Suppressing the Truth

Those Using Their Reason

Alliances Fall Apart

Which Path to Follow

Things Forbidden to Eat

Suppression of Allah’s Revelations

What Constitutes Righteousness

178-188 Social Justice and Fasting

The Law of Just Retribution

Life Preservation through Retribution

Fasting: Its Nature and Purpose

Exemption from Fasting when Travelling

Obligatory Fasting

A Close Relationship with Allah

Further Rules on Fasting

Honesty at All Times

189-203 The Sacred Months, Fighting and Pilgrimage

The Islamic Transformation

The New Moon and its Significance

The Qur’ān and Scientific Truth

The First Order to Fight

Jihād: When and Against Whom?

The Ethics of War

Violation of Sanctities

A Symbol of Islamic Unity

Perfect Devotion at Every Move

The Journey Approaches Its End

204-214 The Nature of Islamic Society

Two Different Types of People

The True Meaning of Islam

A Caring and Peaceful Society

A Question Put to the Israelites

A Single Community and Divergent Views

When Will Allah’s Help Arrive?

215-220 Worse Than Murder

Balancing Kindness and Personal Preferences

What Things We May Love

Fighting in the Sacred Months

The Ultimate Aim of Islam’s Enemies

The Qur’ānic Method of Education

Dealing with Slavery

The Qur'an Can Never Be Translated Absolutely – Nouman Ali Khan

What makes the Qur’an so unique in the way in which it communicates, the way in which Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala) says stuff is so powerful and so incredible. You see the Quran when it's translated, maybe you'll get the content of what he says, maybe. What would you definitely not get, a hundred percent, how he said it, that's lost. What he said, maybe you get something out of translation, maybe, but how he said it is gone, that's it, because how he said it exists in what language? In Arabic, even if you explain it to somebody in Arabic in your own Arabic it's still not how he said it, you understand. So the creative beauty, the unique beauty, the unparalleled majesty really of Allah's words, they cannot be translated, something from the meaning can be translated, but the actual impact that the original words have nothing else can have.

In appreciating this gap between our attempts to translate the Quran and Allah's own words to appreciate this gap, you know what the Suyuti rahimullah said, he said if you can appreciate the distance between Allah (swt) and his creation, meaning how far above Allah (swt) has from his creation, then you have some idea of the distance between the word of Allah and the word of the creation.

What is translation? It is the word of creation, it can never be a substitute for the word of Allah, it can't be. This is not on what is lost in the content, we could talk about that - there's a lot lost in the content - but I want to talk to you about what is lost, in the beauty, in the style and how can we as non-Arab speaking audiences, as people that aren't exposed to the Arabic language, at least even begin that journey of appreciating the Quran and that light, that is something that has been held dearly by Muslims for a very very very long time and is almost entirely lost upon the Muslims in our times. You see when we hear that the Qur’an is a miracle, how is the miracle of the Qur’an presented? Mostly if you google, it the first thing very scientific phenomena in the Qur’an, isn't that true. Another thing you might get is some crazy number 19 theory, right, you'll get that some statistics. Another thing you might get is the Qur’an had predictions like Rome is going to be, it was dominated, but it will come back and take over again, predictions in the Qur’an. But do we believe that every ayah of the Qur’an is a miracle? Do we believe that, is it a miracle from the very time it was revealed or later on? From then, from its inception, the very big first communication we had with the Qur’an, the first interaction human beings had with the Qur’an, every last ayah of the Qur’an is a miracle. This is what we believe. How many ayah of Quran are predictions, very few. How many ayah of Quran are dedicated to scientific phenomenon, very few. How many of these things were even known to the Arabs of that time, almost nothing. So what is it that mesmerized these people, what is it that every time the messenger opened his mouth that there would be, some even said, they would be dumb found they didn't know what to say.

Allah azza wajal put two things in the Qur'an, when somebody translates the Qur'an even in the best translation at the most they will try to capture some of the message, but it is impossible to capture the miracle of Qur'an. Miracle is only in the words of Allah (swt), his own choice of words that's what makes them miraculous. So if I try to tell you what an ayah means in English or an order or any other language I may be able to give you something about the meaning of the ayah, but I cannot cannot display to you the beauty and the miracle of the ayah that's impossible that really is impossible and I wanted to demonstrate to you.

The third ayah in Surah al-Muddaththir says in Arabic “ra-bba-ka-fa-ka-bbi-r” you notice something it's spelled backwards and forwards the same way, in English literature we call this a palindrome, something that spells backwards and forwards, the same way like Bob or racecar, an interesting palindrome in English.

Allah azza wajal gave our messenger ṣallallahu ta`ala `alayhi wa sallam, words that he didn't write down, Allah (swt) tells him you didn't write anything down with your head, you don't know how to write, so this is entirely an oral exercise for the messenger ṣallallahu ta`ala `alayhi wa sallam and he once he says something, he doesn't edit it, he doesn't correct it, that's it. Allah (swt) revealed it and that's it, there's no “I didn't mean to say that, let me change the way I said it etc etc” right. It's exactly the way instructed him to recite, the challenge for mankind is you see the ayah, the simple translation of the ayah would be “declared the greatness only of your Lord” that would be a simple translation. Try to say declare the greatness only of your Lord in English or French or German or Japanese or Chinese or Italian or Russian or Urdu or Farsi you pick the language, say it so that it spells backwards and forwards the same way and say it. So you only have one attempt orally no writing down, no looking up in dictionaries. How possible is that Subhan Allah, I can translate the ayah, but could I translate the miracle in English, if I tell you “declare the greatness only of your Lord” you get some of the message, but do you get the miracle you don't get the nur, the miracle of Qur'an is in the Arabic language and this is just one small example in the Qur'an. Every ayah has its own miracle, every ayah presents its own miracle. The tragedy of our times is most people don't even know the message of Qur'an and for the people who know the message of Qur'an, the vast majority of them don't know the miracle of Qur'an, so this is something that's almost lost a treasure, that's lost from the general knowledge of the Muslim population and just imagine, if our children even knew five ayah and they knew what they meant and then they knew the miracle in those ayat, wouldn't they have a different kind of imagine, those ayah it would mean something more to them.

This is what you see a difference between our Eman and the Eman of the Sahaba. One of the reasons among the many reasons is that when they heard Qur'an they heard the message and they also heard miracle, there are two things at the same time, we at the most we hear one thing, so this is one reason to definitely be a student of the Arabic language, because we want to appreciate the Qur'an in its message and we also want to taste the beauty of it miracle.

Muslim believes that every word in the Quran is exactly from Allah (swt), you can't add to it, you can't take away from it, if Allah (swt) describes the Qur'an is al Qur'an al Hakim, the Quran full of wisdom, we can never separate wisdom and Qur'an. Allah (swt) would say the same thing the Arabic language, for one word has 12 different uses, there are 10 different kinds of anger there are dozen different kinds of just seeing, you know different kinds of subtle impatience, different words for it and then why uses different words in different places.

You know we need to build a thirst for the choices of words Allah (swt) makes because they're so precise and there it is impossible to pick another language, that can do justice to that precision, it's very difficult even if you translate one word for anger as fear as you know, for example you take and you translated as anger and another Arabic word for anger you translated as rage most people do the know the difference between anger and rage, same thing to us right, he was full of anger, he was full of rage, I mean we use these words interchangeably. The Arabic axiom is, there is no one word that is the perfect substitute for another word, every word has its own connotation every word has its own little taste, so Allah’s words are very difficult to communicate in another language the most you can get is some general idea, but if you want to get precise we need to resort back to the Arabic language.

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Friday, August 26, 2022

Key Aspects in Qur'an 1st Edition

The Qur'an Can Never Be Translated Absolutely – Nouman Ali Khan

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