Allah Is My Guide

Qur’aanic Verse 2.174:

Transliteration:  

174. Inna allatheena yaktumoona ma anzala Allahu mina alkitabi wayashtaroona bihi thamanan qaleelan ola-ika ma ya/kuloona fee butoonihim illa alnnara wala yukallimuhumu Allahu yawma alqiyamati wala yuzakkeehim walahum AAathabun aleemun

Translation:  

174. Surely, those who conceal what Allah has sent down, from the Book and earn a trifle price therefor - they, stomach not but the Fire in their bellies! And Allah will not talk to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them. And for them will there be a painful punishment.^{286 to 289}

Comments:  

286. The divine Books, parts of which got literally concealed by human beings, were those revealed earlier than the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan, on the other hand, cannot thus be concealed, as it is divinely guaranteed (verse 15.9) against such concealment. But human beings, under the influence of the Satan, have resorted to other subtle and ingenious means of concealment. Since a vast majority of Muslims around the world is now non-Arab, a part of the ‘clergy’ among them have gradually come to acquire a vested interest in creating a wrongful notion among other common Muslims. They (the commoners) are not taught the Qur’aanic Arabic as a language, but are taught only to recite the Qur’aan without understanding what they recite. An impression is created that it is very difficult for the commoners to acquire the capability to understand the divine Message in original Arabic. So, they have willy-nilly to go to the ‘clergy’ to know what Islam is.

287. It is in such circumstances that some of the common Muslims, in different parts of the world, have come to understand that invoking dead saints for redressal of their worldly problems, and visiting their graves for the purpose, is part of Islam! The ‘clergy’ that is responsible for misleading the Muslims thus, are guilty of concealing the fact that the Qur’aan condemns such activity as unpardonable sin of shirk.

288. Let alone some ordinary Mullahs thus misleading some uneducated Muslims, but even eminent scholars of Islam do unfortunately and unwittingly fall into the satanic trap of misleading educated Muslims, when the scholars resort to their own interpolations while translating the original Arabic text into other languages. The interpolations are justified on the ground of syntactic differences between Arabic and the language into which the Qur’aan is to be translated. The interpolations are also justified on the ground that these are based on explanatory notes, contained in the ahaadheeth or given by the earlier prominent commentators of the Qur’aan. But the interpolations, more often than not, help in changing the original divine meaning! However great in scholarship the commentator may be, it would be highly presumptuous - nay, blasphemous - on his part to assume that his interpolated word/words could explain or set right any ‘complicated’ part of the divine text! Such an assumption would indeed be blasphemous, particularly in the light of the oft-repeated Qur’aanic assertion that its muhkam verses are clear by themselves or are well-explained in its other verses. [Reference is invited in this context to Verse 2.99 and the corresponding Chapter Note 135 of these Studies.] And once a commentator takes a stand on the interpretation of a certain verse, and makes an interpolation in furtherance of his stand-point, it becomes very difficult for him to change that stand, even when he gets convinced later that his stand is wrong. The Satan sees his opportunity then, and gets busy in influencing the learned commentator to stick to his wrong stand, and thus unfortunately to conceal the true divine meaning of the relevant verse from his gullible readers.

289. It is therefore necessary for every Muslim to try and get at least a working knowledge of Qur’aanic Arabic. He/she may thereby be able to find out if anything is amiss in the translation. When I wrote to one of my own readers on this need of learning Qur’aanic Arabic, he said that it was a ‘tall, a very tall order’ to expect every Muslim to do that. I replied that he wouldn’t so dismiss the need, if he were convinced that his salvation from the Fire, in the Hereafter, very much depended on knowing the original divine Message of the Qur’aan in Arabic.

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The above is an extract from the just republished Qur’aanic Studies - Volume III on the regenerated website INVITATION TO SALVATION. Visitors may offer their honest comments in the space provided below.

    Qur’aanic Verse 2.107:

  

107	أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۗ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ

Transliteration  

107. Alam taAAlam anna Allaha lahu mulku alssamawati waal-ardi wama lakum min dooni Allahi min waliyyin wala naseerin

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Translation:

107. Are you not aware that, certainly, it is Allah who has sovereignty over the heavens and the earth? And none is there for you, other than Allah, as a wali¹⁵⁴ nor anyone who can help!¹⁵⁵

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Comments:

154. I find it difficult to find an appropriate English word for this Qur’aanic word, wali (plural: awliya). Some translators have rendered it as ‘guardian’ or ‘protector’. But in verse 10.62, the Qur’aan has called some good human beings as awliya of Allah. Surely it would be preposterous to call human beings as ‘guardians’ or ‘protectors’ of Allah! Let us therefore go to the literal meaning of the three-letter Arabic root word wali, which is to be close or near. It is used in the Qur’aan in that very sense. So when the Qur’aan says that good Allah-fearing persons are awliya of Allah, it means that Allah is so pleased with such persons that He has kept them spiritually close to Himself. In verse 2.257 we are told that Allah is the wali of the believers. In other words, Allah is so very close to the believers that He protects and guides them at every step they take in their worldly lives. In verse 60.9 Allah forbids the believers from being close to (tawallaw) only those who fight with them on religion, etc. It is in this sense that in verse 5.51 Allah asks believers not to take Jews and Christians as awliya. Otherwise, Allah makes it clear in verse 60.8, that He does not forbid the believers to have normal good relations with them if they do not fight with them (the believers) in religious matters, etc.

155. In the Qur’aanic light delineated in the preceding Note, the obvious meaning of the latter part of this verse is that if anyone were not to accept Allah as his/her wali, there could be no one else who could be that person’s wali or helper. If one accepts, without any reservations whatsoever, Allah as one’s wali, then there could be one’s other awliya among  living believers, by way of being one’s confidants, advisors and helpers in worldly and spiritual matters. But there could be no question of any person, dead or martyred, or of any unseen being (jinn) of becoming a wali or helper of a living person. If one takes such a being as one’s wali or helper, besides Allah, one is committing the sin of shirk (polytheism). Alas! A majority of the Muslims today are openly indulging in this unpardonable sin. Allah asks, “Do then those who suppress the Truth think that, other than Me, they can take My worshippers as awliya? …” [Q: 18.102]

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The above extract is from Qur’aanic Studies - Volume II, which I have now republished on my new reconstructed site. In this extract from my Studies, I have tried to understand the Qur’aanic meaning of the Qur’aanic term, Wali. I invite  visitors to offer their own responses in the space provided on the Blog.

Mohammad Shafi 

 Verse 2.65:

وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ الَّذِينَ اعْتَدَوْا مِنْكُمْ فِي السَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ 65.

Trnsliteration: 

65. Walaqad AAalimtumu allatheena iAAtadaw minkum fee alssabti faqulna lahum koonoo qiradatan khasi-eena

 Translation:

65. And you did indeed know those of you who committed transgression on Sabbath⁷³. So We told them, “Be you monkeys, despised!”

Comments:

73. The dictionary informs us that Sabbath is the religious day of rest kept by Christians on Sunday and by Jews on Saturday. The Qur’aan informs us, in verse 4.154, that the Jews were specifically commanded not to transgress the strict observance of their Sabbath. That is, they were asked to take an obligatory rest from usual pursuits for earning worldly wealth. In verse 7.163, the Qur’aan further informs us how a township of Jewish fishermen were put to a test, by making the fish in the sea more easily available, for catching, on the day they observed Sabbath, than on other days! The fishermen failed in the trial and committed transgression. It is this transgression that is alluded to here.

 Verse 2.66:

جَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ 66

Transliteration:

66. FajaAAalnaha nakalan lima bayna yadayha wama khalfaha wamawAAithatan lilmuttaqeena

Translation: 

66. We set it then as an exemplary punishment for those present at that time and for those who lived thereafter.⁷⁴ And We made it a lesson for the pious!^{75 & 76}

Comments:

74. We have seen earlier, in verse 63 of this Chaper, that Allah raised the Mountain over Moses’ people to coerce them into abiding by the Book of Allah given to Moses. Here is another method adopted by Allah to coerce the recalcitrant Jews. The punishment meted out to the fishermen breaking the Sabbath Law was made an example of, to warn off the other Jews against breaking any divine commandment.

75. During the pre-historic times before the advent of the Last Prophet (peace and Allah’s blessings be upon him), Allah sent direct signs for the people to recognise prophets sent to them. HE also gave direct signs to warn them against disobedience of divine Law. This is what we learn from various anecdotes mentioned in the Qur’aan. The direct signs were given obviously to compensate those people for the lack of means to acquisition of knowledge that Mankind now enjoys. We cannot but marvel at the tremendous divine sense of justice in this! So we do not witness those direct divine signs now. But we do witness indirect signs of warnings. Like the ignominious state of Muslims all over the world at present. It’s a divine sign warning us against our neglect and disobedience of the divine commands contained in the Qur’aan (see also Chapter note 70 above). And in the Qur’aan itself, the caring hand of our Caretaker can be seen, as here in this verse, asking the pious to take a lesson from past history.

76. The pious amongst the present-day Muslims do have to take a lesson from this episode in Jewish history. For, the Qur’aan too prescribes abstaining from our worldly affairs for a short period on Fridays. In verses 62.9 and 62.10, Allah commands the Believers to leave off business from the time the Muazzin gives the call for the Friday noon prayers till the end of the prayers. If we flout this command, Allah may not now turn us into apes, but our aakhira is bound to be ruined! And, despised like apes we already are; we may further be despised in this very world!

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The above is an extract from webpage Qur’aanic Studies - Volume I. I had to rebuild the page, with much difficulty, after my earlier webhosts cheated me by deleting my entire data of 17 Volumes of the Studies, without informing me. I have yet to reconstruct the other 16 Volumes.

Mohammad Shafi