Tuesday 26 February 2013

Cattle - a Sign for Mankind

Qur'aanic Verse 40:80:








Transliteration:

80. Walakum feeha manafiAAu walitablughoo AAalayha hajatan fee sudoorikum waAAalayha waAAalaalfulki tuhmaloona


Translation:

80. And you have in them (cattle) benefits – and to satisfy by their means a need in your minds, you are carried upon them, as upon the ship.11


Study Note:

11. Cattle had been giving numerous benefits for mankind during the time of revelation of the Qur’aan. They continue to give numerous benefits even in this modern age. They are still used to drive carts and plough fields in villages where modern facilities have not yet reached. Generation of milk and milk products has become a big business now. Animal hides are used for making various things like belts, bags, shoes etc. Animal meat continues to be a major food item. During Hajj time animals are sacrificed in their thousands, and yet cattle species are far from being extinct. Wild animals, on the other hand, would be in danger of becoming extinct if their hunting is allowed indiscriminately. Herein is a sign, for one who ponders, of divine Hand working behind the scenes, for benefit of mankind.


The above is an extract from yet-to-be-published Qur'aanic Studies Manzil VI.

Thursday 21 February 2013

Meaning of Arabic Word 'Aalameen'

Qur'aanic Verse 1:2:






Transliteration:

2. Alhamdu lillahi rabbi alAAalameena


Translation:

2. The praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds 5


Study Note:

5.  This is the dictionary meaning of the Arabic word aalameen. It is in plural: worlds, and not world. In most of the places where this word has been used in the Qur'aan, it is accompanied by the word Rabb, as in this place. But there are a few places where it isn't, as in Verses 2:47, 3:97, 6:86, 6:90, 21:107 and 29:6. A close study of these latter Verses would show that the word is used in the same sense as in the sentence, "My world is different from yours." Every individual life is one's own individual world in the sense that his/her environment, conditions of living, circle of contacts etc. are different from others'. One's own world is, in other words, one's own individual life. It is to these millions of individual worlds that the Qur'aan refers to as aalameen. Allah thus declares that He is the Rabb of every individual life. If every individual would but submit completely to His will and obey His commands as given in the Qur'aan, the Lord will surely nourish and lead the individual's life to Success and Salvation! In the phrase Rabbulaalameen, however, aalameen would include jinns, angels, all living things (besides human) and all inanimate things in the entire universe as well. Refer in this context Moses’ reply to Pharaoh in Verses 24, 26 and 28 of Chapter 32. (Manzil V).


The above is derived from Qur'aanic Studies Manzil I



Tuesday 19 February 2013

Hadeeth

Qur'aanic Verse 7:185:











Transliteration:

185. Awalam yanthuroo fee malakooti alssamawati waal-ardi wama khalaqa Allahu min shay-in waan AAasa an yakoona qadi iqtaraba ajaluhum fabi-ayyi hadeethin baAAdahu yu/minoona

Translation:

185. Do they not ponder over the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever things Allah has created, and over the likelihood of their own death being near? What hadeeth74 would they then believe in after this?

Study Note:

74. This Arabic word has been used in the Qur’aan variously in the meanings of (i) story, (ii) discourse, (iii) speech, or (iv) the Qur’aan itself. In the context of the preceding sentence, in this very Verse, the word here could connote the broad statement as under:
The orderly behaviour of the entire universe gives enough proof of the existence of a super-intelligent Being faultlessly governing it. When that Being can so control such a gigantic thing, He can obviously do the far less complex task of managing and controlling, inter alia, every human life. It is this Being – Whom we call Allah – that is guiding mankind in the proper conduct of their lives, through this Qur’aan. Every human being should grasp this Reality before it is too late. No one knows when death would come. It may be just round the corner.
But the word hadeeth came to acquire another meaning after the completion of the revelation of the Qur’aan, and the departure of the Prophet from this world. Centuries after the death of the Prophet, his orally reported sayings, and those of his companions, came to be recorded in writing. And these recorded sayings came to be known as ahaadeeth (plural of hadeeth). Allah Almighty knows all about the future. And at the time of the revelation of this Verse, He was aware of this future meaning of the term hadeeth. He (Allah), in that sense, is disapprovingly hinting here at future generations of the Muslim Ummah believing in such man-influenced, error-prone ahaadeeth in preference to the well-explained teachings in the Qur’aan, which can also be taken as referred to by the pronoun hu in baAAdahu of the Arabic text. The Verse is thus telling us categorically that the Qur’aan is the best hadeeth; one need not go after other ahaadeeth

Wednesday 6 February 2013

The Atheist

The Atheist

Who made the clock on the wall?
Or who made the tennis ball?
The atheist has no hesitation
That these are things of creation

Who then created the earth?
None, he answers without mirth

And who did create universe so vast
That its enormity makes man aghast?

No, no, none, cries the atheist
I believe in God, not the least

The earth, the universe, just happened all
God is a creation of minds small

When told: every effect does have a cause
The atheist asks, after a pause:

Who created God then
And who created God's creator, and when?

A beginning does have every effect
If you, O atheist, would but reflect!

But God - an effect He is not
He has no beginning slot

HE always has been and always will be
HE is not a creature like honeybee

If God be there, the atheist says,
Why games of cruelty He plays?

Why are innocents cruelly killed
While poor suffer, coffers of rich get filled?

The atheist speaks like frog in well
On questions unknown does he dwell

What knows he about things outside
His narrow well-view, worldwide

What knows he about child that dies
In distant land, or why there a woman cries

Individually, or collectively, no man
Knows the reasons fully, nor can

Reasons are known to one Entity
And to none else, of a certainty

That Entity is the Creator of all
Whom the atheist doesn't call
Poor fellow's bound to have a great fall

For, refused he has to open
Basic objective of life human.