In the name of Allah, al rahman , al rahim
All thanks and praise be to Allah, the master, sustainer and owner of all that exists.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the messenger Muhammad, his family, his companions, his followers and all those that were sent.

This is a new series where we'd look at some of the incredible and beautiful tools employed in the Quran... This would help us appreciate the depth of some of the Quranic ayahs... Amazing stuff.. It is inspired by brotheer Nouman Ali Khan's 'Divince Speech'.

This would go on concurrently with The Amazing Quran Season 2 where we are taking a journey through the first juz of the Quran...

The Amazing Quran Season 2 : https://www.nairaland.com/1007823/journey-through-quran-amazing-quran

This will be similar in some ways to The Amazing Quran Season 1 but more indepth and some different areas of focus, ayahs that have been discussed in Amazing Quran Season 1 will be excluded unless deeper discussions are required...

A prerequisite for this, can be found in The Amazing Quran Season 1, where there is a brief discussion of the arabic language ..

https://www.nairaland.com/972776/amazing-quran-season-1

May Allah accept it as an act of ibadah and purify our intentions...

tbaba1234: This is a new series where we'd look at some of the incredible and beautiful tools employed in the Quran... This would help us appreciate the depth of some of the Quranic ayahs... Amazing stuff..

This would go on concurrently with The Amazing Quran Season 2 where we are taking a journey through the first juz of the Quran...

The Amazing Quran Season 2 : https://www.nairaland.com/1007823/journey-through-quran-amazing-quran

This will be similar in some ways to The Amazing Quran Season 1 but more indepth and some different areas of focus, ayahs that have been discussed in Amazing Quran Season 1 will be excluded unless deeper discussions are required...

A prerequisite for this, can be found in The Amazing Quran Season 1, where a brief discussion of the arabic language is discussed..

https://www.nairaland.com/972776/amazing-quran-season-1

May Allah accept it as an act of ibadah and purify our intentions...

Ameen.

Areas of discussions

i. Difference between Modern Arabic and Ancient Arabic

ii. Figures of Speech

iii. The Perfect Choice of Words

iv. Sentence Structure

v. Shifting from Person to Person

vi. Features of Surah Yusuf (The most beautiful story)

vii. Order of Words

viii. When Allah Takes an Oath

ix. When Allah Gives an Example

x. Dialogue in the Quran

xi. Beginnings & Endings

tbaba1234: Areas of discussions

i. Difference between Modern Arabic and Ancient Arabic

ii. Figures of Speech

iii. The Perfect Choice of Words

iv. Sentence Structure

v. Shifting from Person to Person

vi. Features of Surah Yusuf (The most beautiful story)

vii. Order of Words

viii. When Allah Takes an Oath

ix. When Allah Gives an Example

x. Dialogue in the Quran

xi. Beginnings & Endings

looking forward to readind them

Divine speech starts today, Im excited, are you?

,,,

Yep!move on...

tbaba_1234: Divine speech starts today, Im excited, are you?

yeah bro, excitation mode activated , waiting o........

Sorry, i haven't started.... I have been down with a cold...

tbaba1234: Sorry, i haven't started.... I have been down with a cold...

Eeya sorry.wish u quick recovery.

tbaba1234: Sorry, i haven't started.... I have been down with a cold...

Get well soon.

tbaba1234: Sorry, i haven't started.... I have been down with a cold...

May Allah restore your good health amin.
Allahumo ishfi anta shafi, la shifa 'an illa shifa'uka, shifa'an la yugadiru saqman amin

tbaba1234: Sorry, i haven't started.... I have been down with a cold...

Never mind, may it be a purification, if Allah wills

^ Thanks for the good wishes.... JazakAllahu Khairan... So we begin Alhamdulilah

Difference between Modern Arabic and Ancient Arabic 1

A lot of people unfortunately do not know the difference between modern standard Arabic and ancient Arabic... A lot of people do not respect the fact that there is a difference between newspaper Arabic (modern standard Arabic (An-fusha) ) and old Arabic (usually called lisan al arab, thw language of the ancient arabs).

Even the best of Arabic spoken today is new Arabic- It is proper Arabic but it is new...

The Quran is in Old proper Arabic...

Applying new proper Arabic to the Quran could be dangerous so it is important that the separation is made...

We will look at two things:

i. Why are they different?
ii. What makes them different?

Why are they different?

Imagine we are having a conversation in 1912 and not 2012, would the english employed be different? yes

If i said something like : That is so cool

Would it be understood the same way in English?

If i said something like : 'I was googling something'

100 years ago

The response could be something like this: How inappropriate!!, you will do no such thing here, sir...

If i said something like : 'I saw your facebook'

100 years ago

The response could be something like this: Did you go into my house?, How do you know i sketch faces?

If i said something like : 'I was tweeting'

100 years ago

The response could be something like this: Are you a bird?

The words have come into existence as a result of technological changes, they now have different connotations... Technology is a good example of how society changes and words change...

Also when different nations come in contact with each other and have a lot of interaction, one language takes words from the the other language..... They start taking words from each other... Many of us can not speak our local languages without injecting the english language.... Languages impact each other...

Thee more nations come in contact with each other, the more language changes... When technology changes, language changes

So what has happened since the beginning of Islam till now (abut 1500 years), society has changed in that time, the map of the world has changed, nations have interacted with each other in that time. It is impossible to say that that language did not change in that time. Language is carried by people, when people change , language change... All languages go through change...

When did this change start happening? This was discussed in The Amazing Quran Season 1,

https://www.nairaland.com/972776/amazing-quran-season-1

Some relevant quotes:

Ancient arabia was locked in between two major empires; the roman and the persian empire. However, none of these empires were interested in taking over arab wasteland. There was nothing attractive for them to acquire; no monuments, no big cities... It was just desert with not much else...

So while there was some influences from abroad, for the most part, the arabs enjoyed an isolation that enabled them to develop a sophistication in their language that few nations enjoyed. The language became a matter of arab pride and identity. To excel in language was a great achievement.

The spread of islam around the world led to a situation where the arabs were no longer as isolated... Islam spread to the point that the vast majority of muslims in the world were non-arabs. Non-Arabs muslims became the majority, this meant that the vast majority of muslims were 'Arabic 101' students... As a result, the average level of arabic went down. The arabs were more exposed to the world and the language started to deteriorate. so basically, globalization led to a depreciation of language.

Even the Arabs that knew better had to start using basic arabic to cater for this new population of arabic learners...

Another thing to consider, The language of business...

In the university, you might use big words

In the market, you use words that gets the message across, You don't need to use big words.... You do not need a lot of vocabulary

As the globalisation of Islam happens, most of the concern is business ... There is a lot of business happening so you just need to learn the vocabulary that will help you carry out your business... No need for academic stuff... You do have to look at the depths of arabic poetry to do business...

So the arabic starts deteriorating and the shahaba (companions) of the prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) noticed.... They started noticing it early.... Interesting stories: Ali(RA) is walking by, sees a bunch of children playing, hears their language and proclaims: 'Wallahi, This is not the Arabic we knew"

He is noticing it in his lifetime

Umar ibn Khattab (RA) during the golden age of Islam (his caliphate), He is so worried about the language and he gives a khutbah telling them :" Learn Arabic, It is part of your religion"......

There are other narrations:

One of the reported instructions ‘Umar wrote to Abû Mûsâ Al-Ash’arî and those under his governance during the former’s Caliphate was, “Seek knowledge and understanding of (fiqh) the Sunnah and seek knowledge and understanding of Arabic.”

Ibn Abî Shaybah, Al-Musannaf Vol.6 p126.

It is reported that he said, “Learn Arabic, for it strengthens the intelligence and increases one’s noble conduct (al-murû`ah).”

Al-Bayhaqî, Shu’ab Al-Îmân Vol.4 p187.

Umar (RA) speaking to a bunch of arabs and he is telling them to learn arabic, something is happening here; something is going wrong; He is telling them to take it seriously as it is apart of their religion...

So why is he saying it is a part of your religion?

The Quran was revealed in pure, uncontaminated, beautiful, rich arabic and if that Arabic becomes shallow and dirty... Our appreciation of the Quran becomes shallow and dirty as well... If your eye glasses are dirty, you can't see something clean anymore.

The arabic spoken today is great but it is still nothing compared to what the companions spoke, It doesn't even come close...

Knowing modern arabic is like having vision , I work on the street and i can see a rock... All i need are eyes to see the rock... Knowing anicient arabic is like having X-ray vision such that I can see the diamond in the rock...

Our eyes became weaker when arabic became weaker so we started seeing the Quran as just a book... The companions had this deep arabic so when they saw the Quran, immediately they saw the perfection, immediately they saw the diamond.

So when Arabic goes down, our appreciation of the Quran goes down... There are three preservation movements in Islam

i. Preservation of the Quran

ii. Preservation of Hadith

Equally important:

iii. Preservation of the Arabic : The old Arabic

Muslims from the first, second and third generations were going out in the desert to where globalisation hadn't reached and they are learning old pre-Islamic poetry which is also most of the time inappropriate... They are writing this in their tafsir of the Quran shamelessly.. They were more concerned about preserving the arabic of the Quran because this was the language of revelation...

Everything about the Arabic, there was a movement to preserve it... The great scholars of Islam would leave the city and go into to desert.. They went out there because the arabs in the desert hadn't lost the original flavour of ancient Arabic. They went out there to preserve the Arabic Language.

There was a scholar by the name of Al Asmai (not sure of the spelling), a jurist, a legal scholar, a grammarian. He wanted to do research on some words in the Quran.. He wants to know the original meanings from the original source but he doesn't want to go and ask them directly. He wanted to see it used naturally. So he goes into the desert, hanging out with bedouin arabs from different tribes just waiting for someone to use the the word 'mata'a'.

He can't find anyone using it so he is tired... He sits at the bank of a pond and there is little girl washing dishes with a sponge and her goat comes around, picks the sponge and runs away... and she cries: He took my mata'a

Then he got it: Mata'a was something used to do work but not necessarily something you enjoy.. things like a brush, a broom, etc

Compare that to modern Arabic, the word muta'a in modern Arabic means enjoyment, Is it different?? Totally different from classical Arabic... This is just a taste.

Our next post will look at what makes old Arabic different from new Arabic...

Jazaakumullahu khayra.very interesting

Wa iyyakum

What makes them different?

i. Depth of words

Words in old Arabic are deep, they are so deep... Most words in old arabic are tied to images... When you think of verbs like eating, sleeping, thinking... You do not think of an image when you think of the word 'thinking', It is an abstract idea. But to the Arabs, even those kinds of words were tied to images. There was deep imagery behind words...

EX: The word is 'akala which means 'to understand'... 'akl means intellect... But in old arabic, akl comes from the word ikal.... Ikal was a rope that the Arab will wrap around his head, nowadays they use a band to hold their scarves. However, In the olden days, it wasn't a security device for your scarf... When you travel, you travel with your camel.... The rope is used to tie the camel when they have breaks...

So they used the same word for the intellect as the rope used to hold the camel... What is the connection between the rope that holds an animal and the intellect?

They are saying that your intellect prevents you from doing stupid things, It is like a rope that holds you back like it holds the animal back... If an animal doesn't have a rope, it will go wherever it wants, it will eat whatever it want, it will do whatever it wants. If humans didn't have intellect, we will say whatever we want, go whatever we want, do whatever we want... It is a sign of our intellect that we hold ourselves back... We constrain ourselves...

That is why the word Akl is used... That is pretty deep... This is not even a religious explanation, that is just what the Arab taught of the word Akl... There is a reason why Allah chose this language to reveal his message. Before you even go into the religious understanding, even the linguistics are beautiful and on top of that we appreciate how Allah used it.

So that is one, depth of words... In Modern Arabic, that depth is gone.


ii. Precise Spelling

Arabic is different from other languages, you can the same word or very similar words spelt in in three or four different ways.. A example of that is the Arabic word for repentance ' Tawbah' ... The Quran uses three different words for repentance, all of them from tawbah.. it uses tawbah, Maatab, and taub...

When you look at the english translation , it says repentance no matter the word that was used.. If you ask an average arab, he will say it is the same thing... To the old arab even if you make a little change in spelling, something changed.. They paid attention to even the smallest changes... That is not a big deal to us anymore but it was a big deal to them back then.


iii.) Idioms and expressions

Even if you know the meaning of every word in the Quran, that is not enough... You still have to understand the idioms used by the ancient arabs... The idioms at the time of the prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) are not been used today, many of them are dead...

Language keeps evolving, the words may be the same but the way they are used changes...

When we want to understand the Quran we have to go back to the original idioms of the ancient arabs that has overtime changed.... So it becomes a historical study not just a vocabulary study. Without which, you will not understand, what is been said.

EX: There is an arabic idiom : Cut his tongue off

It is used in a hadith, You know, Evangelicals love that kind of hadith... "Their prophet told them to cut tongues off"

It is not meant to be translated literally... It was an idiom used by the ancient arabs..

As an idiom, It means: He is complaining a lot, give him some money so he stops complaining... That is what it actually means... The way of saying it in Arabic back in the day was : Cut his tongue off...

You can't take idioms literally and the Quran is FULL of idioms of the ancient... It is a study in itself.... Many translations do not take into consideration, the idioms... It creates a huge problem....

Another example, Allah describes Mountains as Awtad (Pegs), Many muslims use the literal translation that it relates to the deep roots of mountains that may also be true but the ancient arabs also used Awtad to refer to buidings, construction... By using the word Awtad, Allah is telling the arabs... look at my own construction on the earth.... look at the mountains...so no matter how elegant your house is, remember Allah's structures on the earth: Mountains...

Allah calls Pharaoh, Lord of the pegs (awtad)... Ibn abass interpreted it as the pharaoh having a secure building, Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: He owned many buildings; buildings are called awtād.... Of all the pharaohs, Ramsess II is most likely the pharaoh of the Quran (using the Quran)... One of his distinctive feature was of all the pharaohs, he had the most construction work... He had the most elegant buildings.....

As a monument builder Ramesses II stands pre-eminent amongst the pharaohs of Egypt. Although Khufu had created the Great Pyramid, Ramesses' hand lay over the whole land. True, he thought nothing of adding his name to other kings' monuments and statues right back to the Middle Kingdom, so that nowadays the majority of cartouches seen on almost any monument proclaim his throne name - User-maat-re ('the justice of Re is strong').

[P. A. Clayton, Chronicle Of The Pharaohs: The Reign-By-Reign Record Of The Rulers And Dynasties Of Ancient Egypt, 1994, Thames and Hudson Ltd.: London (UK), pp. 153-154. ]

Without understanding how the ancient Arabs used words, these interpretations are impossible....

Finally

iv Stylistics

The Arabs had style, They had ways of talking... Rhetorics, devices, They used tricks in their speech... They don't use those anymore but they used to use them..

One example:

Hasan ibn thabit (RA), a companion of the prophet was a very talented poet, and sometimes he made poetry praising the prophet, sometimes he would make poetry about his own tribe, The companions used to compete in good deeds and sometimes they had like leagues, only the teams were tribes, and they competed to see whose tribe can do the most good acts... So Hasan ibn Thabit would say poems urging his tribe on (like cheer-leading)... Talking about the generosity and bravery of his tribe...

So He made a piece of poetry,

He says: 1. We own shiny bowls and they are so shiny they twinkle during the day
2. Our swords are constantly dripping drops of blood from rescue missions

Line 1: The words used for bowls is used when you use bowls for charity, you take bowls, put some gold coins in them and give it out as charity... So he says we have those bowls and even those bowls are shiny and expensive... So if the bowls are shiny, imagine what could be inside.... That is how generous his tribe is....
So the first line is saying how generous they are...

Line 2: Their sword do not even get a chance to get dry from the blood because they have to go from one rescue mission to another to another.... So they keep going on these missions...This is supposed to highlight the bravery of the tribe...

This is quite deep but Al- Khansa' (RA), A female companion of the prophet (SAW) and a more talented poetess, responds to his poetry and critiques it

She says, this is good but it needs some improvement...

She says : You used the word Jafanat, you should have used the used the word Jifan.. Jafanat means less than 10 bowls, you are not that generous... If you used the word Jifan it would have been more bowls... So you are not that generous... You said they twinkle, anything twinkles... You should have said they give off light... You say they twinkle during the day (Duha), everything twinkles during the day, You should have said they give off light even during the night time.

You say as siyafuna, our swords, as siyaf is less... as siyaf like 8 swords, what do you have? a gang... you should have used as siyufuna like an army... you said they drip with blood, you should have said the swords flow with the blood...

She tore him apart and these are just two lines... It is no hard feelings but they were really sensitive to style and when there is room for improvement, they will tell you... Never ever did they ever open their mouth abouth the Quran though, because they were just totally amazed by its style.

Also, the rules of grammar of old arabic and modern arabic are totally different.... If modern arabic has 10 rules , then old arabic has like a 100 sub rules... You see people who go to school to study modern arabic and decide they know enough and then write a thesis of their stupidity calling it 'grammatical errors in the Quran' without understanding the other 90 rules of old arabic...

People that could own them without opening their mouths never criticised the Quran... This includes both the muslims and the non-muslims...

This is why all muslims should be students of old Arabic and also new arabic because that is what is spoken now..... A better, deeper understanding of the Quran will only be gotten by understanding old Arabic...

Please forgive grammatical errors, i will correct them when i read through again...

Kindly leave a comment Insha Allah... Assalam Aleikum

Nevertheless,it's quite interesting and educative.May Allah increase you in knowledge,keep up the good work.

Figures of Speech

i. Come home from the doors

Allah says in the Quran " come home from the doors"... That seems to be obvious; Where am i going to come home from? the window ... So why even mention that?

The Arabic figure of speech ' He came to it from the front door" .. It means : when i do things i do them the right way, I do not cut corners..... It means i do things right, not by shady means...

When you follow the letter of the law and you do things the right way then it is like going home from the door... This is the place, you are supposed to go into the home from.... If you see someone going into a house from the window, from the back door or from the second floor... Something is already wrong.. This is not right...

Coming home from the front door means: do things properly...

Now a little story:

The arabs before Islam used to make hajj but they used to have some superstitions, one of the superstitions was if you left for hajj and you forgot something at home... It is bad luck to go back home so if you want to go back home, go from the window or the back door... don't go from the door, it is bad luck....

So Allah reveals this ayah in surah Al baqarah (rough translation)

They ask you [Prophet] about crescent moons. Say, ‘They show the times appointed for people, and for the pilgrimage.’ Goodness does not consist of entering houses by the back [door]; the truly good person is the one who is mindful of God. So enter your houses by their [main] doors and be mindful of God so that you may prosper. (Surah 2: 189)

So Allah literally told the companions to come home from the front door but He used this expression because he is not just telling us to do the right thing now, Coming home from the front door means whenever you do something, do it the legitimate way... Do not find a crooked way of doing things.. From now on, leave all those superstition, come to everything from the front door. Everything that has to do with your life, come to it from the front door.

The problem was covered in a comprehensive way, it didn't just solve that problem.. It solves many of the problems that will happen to the muslims..

Muslim no longer have the problem of coming home through the back door when they live for hajj but we STILL have the problem of doing shady things.. All these are dealt with by Allah telling us to " Come home from the door"...

It is interesting that it comes in the context of hajj, Hajj is one time when all our sins can be forgiven... But if you go to hajj, and the food you ate is Haram, the clothes are haram, business is haram... And you are begging Allah , holding the veil of the Kaabah, How can you be answered? A person who does this will not be answered because he does not approach his life from the front door.....

So we have to make hajj but we also have to straighten out our lives... Do not go to Hajj with your liquor store money or money made from corrupt acts or riba.... Go to hajj with some halal money..... If you eat zabiha chicken from lotto money, it is equivalent to eating pork... Haram money used to eat halal chicken is haram...

So guys lets all do things the right way: Come home from the doors....


ii. To throw stones in the dark

In the story of the people of the cave,

Allah says (Surah 18:22):
Sayaqooloona thalathatun rabiAAuhum kalbuhum wayaqooloona khamsatun sadisuhum kalbuhum rajman bialghaybi

[Some] say, ‘They were three, and their dog made four,’ others say, ‘They were five, and the dog made six’ throwing stones in the dark

rajman bialghaybi literally means throwing stones in the dark,

This expression is used for making wild guesses, When people make wild guesses, it is called 'rajman bialghaybi'... Literally it means throwing stones in the dark..

Now imagine , it is dark, you have some rocks and you just start throwing... Throwing at every direction , hoping to hit a target... Is it possible to hit the target? Yes, it is possible. Even if you hit the target, will you know? NO

What else is wrong in this scenario? You will hit something, you don't wanna hit.. You will hurt people... It is dangerous activity.. It is reckless behaviour..

In the story of the people of the cave, there were differences of opinions amongst the jews, some say they were absolutely three, other said they were absolutely five Etc.... All of them firm in their guesses.... Allah says this is as serious as throwing stones in the dark....

The question is what is the big deal? Why does Allah equate it to throwing stones in the dark, that can be dangerous?

In matters of religion, the moment, you start making stuff up, it can have serious consequences for guidance, even the smallest details...

Imagine,If they were originally seven (I am not saying they were) and someone made them three, another person makes them five... If a new prophet comes and confirms the truth of the story. They will disagree with him based on what they had concocted and therefore reject the prophet.... It is a small detail but it can be the difference between accepting and rejecting guidance..

It becomes a serious matter so don't make guesses in terms of religion facts. if there are things that are ambiguous say : i don't know...

This is why in Islam , even when our Scholars have differences of Opinion, At the end, they put "Allah knows best"....

Figures of Speech

i.coolness of the eyes

The arabs would use the term coolness of the eyes in two ways,

i. When the arabs travel in the desert, sometimes there would be a storm; When there is strom, the Arab has to cover his face but there is one part of the face, he cannot afford to cover and that is the eyes... If he covers his eyes, he can see... The sand is pounding his eyes until he finds a cave or some kind of refuge... When he finds a place to hide, his eyes are relaxed... The moment he found some refuge, He would say : My eyes just became cool... He finally found some peace for his eyes...

The expression was used when you find refuge from a storm.. eyes to be cool to the arab was the ame thing as finding refuge from a storm....


ii. The arabs had two figures of speech, they would say: Your eyes are becoming cool or your eyes are becoming warm...

'May Allah make his eyes warm ' was a curse in Arabic

They would say that because eyes becoming warm is the same thing as tears of sadness.

Eyes becoming cool are tears of joy...

Imagine at the airport, a mother is welcoming her son , another is seeing her son off... One mother's eyes are cool, the other one's eyes are warm... One is shedding tears of joy and the other is shedding tears of sadness.



The two meanings are

i. Finding refuge from a storm

ii. Being so happy that it moves you to tears; tears of joy

So how was this used in the Quran?

In surah Taha, Musa (peace be upon him) was told his story by Allah, the part of his childhood, he couldn't possibly remember... So Allah is telling Musa, his life story and part of that was that his mother put him in the water...

At that moment, his mother eyes must have been warm... She has two options, either let the baby get killed or take her chances by putting the baby in the water..

So Allah tells Musa (Surah Taha :40) (rough translation):

......then We returned you to your mother so that her eyes can become cool again...

So what does this tell us?

i. It was like the moment she left the baby, her life was a storm, no calm left and the only time she got refuge was when she saw her baby again...

ii. And the only kinds of tears, she has been shedding were tears of sorrow, and when she finally sees her baby, she starts crying again... but these are tears of joy...

SubhanAllah, so beautiful

If you understand the background, the expression just takes on a new flavour....

In surah Furqaan, there is a famous dua (rough translation):

those who pray, ‘Our Master, Grant unto us spouse and offspring who will be the coolness of our eyes" (Surah 25:74)

So what are we saying in this dua?

i. Ya Allah, Give me a wife, that i look at her and i am so happy, It makes me cry... Give me a husband that i am so happy, it makes me cry.... Tears of joy...

Children that make me so proud, i am so happy to see them , i am moved to tears even when i watch them sleeping... The offspring (thurriyyatina) also includes grandchildren, great grand children etc.... So when i see my grand child, i get teary...

ii. Also, We are saying, Ya Allah the world out there is a storm, let me find refuge in my spouse and my children.... They should provide the one place where i find peace

SubhanaAllah, such a beautiful du'a... It teaches to find joy in our family...

Figures of Speech

iv. To double up a chord and twist it

If Allah already decided to misguide people then why is it their fault? ever heard of that one?

Allah talks about this interesting concept when it comes to misguidance. It is a very beautiful construct... The way in which the quran describes things, it solves our philosophical problems, this is one of those places.

The ayah says:

أَمۡ أَبۡرَمُوٓاْ أَمۡرً۬ا فَإِنَّا مُبۡرِمُونَ (٧٩

Am abramoo amran fainna mubrimoona

Have they tied their rope? and if they have , We've tied our rope too (Surah 43:79)

Tying a rope??

What is this ayah talking about?

It presents an image of tying a rope... Let's talk about that..

'abram' is used in arabic when you tie a rope for construction, back in the day, they didn't use cement, they didn't use nail and hammer.... when they put things together... They use a rope to hold them together...

When making a construction, you can not make a loose knot.... you have wrap it around multiple times... reinforced and reinforced because the construction is never supposed to come apart.... This knot should never be undone... When constructing, the knot is extra reinforced so that it is never undone. It is not like tying your shoe laces.

This is used figuratively in the arabic language, when you make a decision and you are not going to go back on your decision.... You have tied it up, that is it.... It is set in stone... No going back...

Does it take a lot of time to tie the rope in construction? It does.... So you have put a lot of time and effort into making sure this is your decision and you are not going back on it.

So Allah asks a question to the disbelievers in Mecca :

Is it the case that you have tied your rope? Is it the case that you have made up their mind that you will never, never accept Islam? And you have solidified this decision that there is no more room for conversation?

If that is the case? Allah says:

fainna mubrimoona

Then we have tied our ropes also.....

Now they tied their rope to become disbelievers,

What does Allah tying His rope mean?

It means: Fine, you will stay that way..... Fine, you will get hell then...

Allah did not guarantee them misguidance until they made their firm decision first.....

This tells you how guidance and misguidance works... People make a decision, Allah just confirms it.... Allah asks first even, you want it this way? Have you tied your rope? and if they have, they are done...

For those who are following Amazing Quran II, we stated the difference between Nouns and Verbs

Verbs are temporary and time dependent

Nouns are permanent

This is a very beautiful thing in the Quran and we should always keep note of it...

When Allah says: They (the disbelievers) have tied their ropes He used a verb,

When He (SWT) tied their rope, He used a noun...

Verbs are temporary,

Nouns are permanent

These guys are so sure they want to be disbelivers, so sure... Judgement day comes around, and disbelievers will wish they were muslim... Allah says in Surah al hijr (rough translation):

The disbelievers may well come to wish they had submitted to God (Surah 15:2)

They are going to wish to untie the rope, but Allah says too late, you already made your decision. Your decision, as strong as you think it is, is a verb ... It is temporary..

But Allah's decision is a noun, it is permanent... Allah is not going back on His decision but the the one who tied his rope in this world will regret his... It is amazing how this transition happens in the Quran..

Figure of Speech

V Stay into every valley

The Artists in the entertainment industry- The poets

This is critically relevant to our time

The arabs did not have hollywood, they didn't have the music industry, they did not have video games, but human beings have always wanted to entertain themselves, it has always been a part of human life. We love entertainment and Allah tells us as much in the Quran...

So how did the arabs entertain themselves? They had poetry, they used to watch movies in their head... The poet's job was to tell a story so elaborate that they could sit by a bonfire and watch it play in their head... That is back in the day, version of a concert... The poet is 'spitting' his rhymes in front of his crowd.. This was their entertainment industry... Not much has changed really, entertainment still boils down to music and story telling today...

This ayah is about the artists not the industry, the entertainer then was the poet... The poet played two roles:

i.) the music and movie (story telling) entertainer...

ii.) The philosopher ,

Philosophy on life and death, love and hate, good and evil etc came from their poetry. Their entertainment and their philosophy were tied to their poets...

i.) The entertainer

We know about musicians and movie actors...

When an artiste comes out with a song and it goes platinum, they become extremely wealthy and popular as a result, they end up with an award...etc.. Is that the end of their career? No, Now they have to come out with the next big hit

But the next song they come out with, is not as entertaining, It is not as popular as the first one... This applies to movies as well, the sequel was not as good as the first movie... Not as many sales, didn't top the charts..

Now the artiste starts feeling desperate, slowly they see their own decline. There is one thing more than money that an artiste wants: fame (comes with appreciation and acknowledgement) but after failed songs and movies; they start getting criticism and thumbs-down... Their popularity begins to wane..

They start thinking long and hard on how to keep themselves relevant... So they come up with a new song that is a little more controversial, more indecent, more shameless so that It might get more popular... This happens all the time... And if that fails, then they start looking at new things, they may drop the standards of decency even further

And if it still doesn't happens, they could shave their head, get drunk, get arrested or adopt a child from africa. So if they can't be mentioned at the award ceremony at least, they will be mentioned in the tabloids... At least, they will be mentioned somewhere.

What does that illustrate about the artiste ? whose life is to entertain people and be appreciated... They become more and more desperate to remain in the limelight and they are willing to try anything.

The poet is like that as well, The poet make a nice poem about a war, next week he come back with another poem about war.... The audience would say: We already heard that, give us another topic.. The poet has to look for a new genre now, he needs to come up with something new... He can't keep doing the same thing... He keeps doing this because he has to stay relevant.

Allah says about the poet:

أَلَمۡ تَرَ أَنَّهُمۡ فِى ڪُلِّ وَادٍ۬ يَهِيمُونَ (٢٢٥

Alam tara annahum fee kulli wadin yaheemoona

Didn't you see?, they go venturing into every valley there is (Surah 26:225)

They go off in every direction, Every valley here actually means every subject, they will go into every subject... They will scoop down to any low... They will go into any matter at all, they won't have any discretion... No consideration, Is this going to be a corruption or not?... Will i mess people up if i do this??.. There are no red lines...

We know artistes have power to influence the minds of millions of people. What you listen to, affects your thoughts and therefore your behavior and speech. The stuff you take in, is what comes out. If we take in a lot of entertainment and filth, what will come out is a lot of entertainment and filth.

Let's talk a little about the expression in the arabic language:

The expression in the Arabic Language is used for a camel when it gets lost. When a camel is lost and it is looking for water, it goes from valley to another.. Aimlessly wandering looking for water..

This is how Allah describes the artiste... The entertainer is aimlessly looking for fame, for acknowledgement, for recognition in every valley.

So what else was the poet's role? The philosopher

ii. The Philosopher

Anyone who has taken a philosophy course knows the nature of philosophy.

Philosopher love going into any valley, same with the arab poet.....

What if? Going into any valley beginning with the words 'what if?'

Some famous what ifs:

What if God could make a boulder so big, He can't even pick it up himself?

What if there is a God?

What if there is no God?

What if it is just aliens that are sent down these books?

What if it was all changed?

What if we are not alone?

What if we are alone?

What if Muhammad (S.A.W) never existed?

Once you start 'what ifs' there is no end to it because every valley is now open.... They venture into every valley. When you live in a world of what if, you are denying what is...

The reasoning in Islam is Inductive reasoning based on what is... Look around you..... Look at the mountains, the stars, the ruins of old nations, the birds, yourself, the sky, the earth, the camel, your fingers...

Pay attention to what is around you... look at reality, don't look at the abstract... The Quran overwhelming deals with what is... The problem with people who lose their faith is that they start venturing into every valley with 'what ifs' and forget what is...

In one ayah, Allah describes the artistes and philosophers as people straying aimlessly into every valley.... Subhana Allah...

Two Posts today!!

Kindly leave a comment, Insha Allah!

Resuming Soon Insha Allah, Please make dua.

Figure of Speech

i. Lower your Wings

Another amazing figure of speech

The imagery in this ayah is about birds, when a bird raises its wings, it is flying... When it is lowering its wings, it is landing.

The Arab poet will say to his friends: I like you, you always lower your wings, why are you showing me such an attitude today? Why are you raising your wings today?

When a bird raises its wings, it is showing off what it can do, It can fly, you can't. When it lowering its wings, It is like it is saying ' Look, i can fly but i am going lower myself for you anyway.

I am humbling myself before you even though i have the ability to fly.

First meaning

1. When you are humble even though you have a choice not to be humble, that is lowering your wings. Humility despite power.

Another meaning,

The image presented is that of a hen who has eggs she has to protect, when a snake comes, the hen lowers her wings over the eggs to protect them and might even take the snake bite on the wings to do so. The mum protected her eggs by lowering her wings

Second meaning

When a parents protects a child. that is also called lowering the wing.


Allah uses this expression to talk to us about our parents, it talks about our parents, when they have reached an older age.

Your Lord has commanded that you should worship none but Him, and that you be kind to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say no word that shows impatience with them, and do not be harsh with them, but speak to them respectfully and lower your wing in humility towards them in kindness and say, ‘Lord, have mercy on them, just as they cared for me when I was little.’

It talks about how we deal with our parent we are adults, when we have developed our 'wings'. Allah says, Now that you have got your own wings, lower them.

Humble yourself before your parents, even though you think you are smarter, even though you think they don't know anything, Even though you think they are been unreasonable.

They are still your parents.

You can't talk back, take the verbal abuse, take it because Allah told you to. Respond with kindness.

Apart from humbling yourself, lowering your wing also means protecting your parents just like they did for you when you were younger, it is your time to take the role of the hen protecting the eggs. Don't let them hear about your problems, be positive with your parents.

Make dua, Insha Allah, We should complete this soon...

Figures of Speech

vii The town turned over its roof

This expression is used in a couple of ayat in the Quran,

Allah says (roughly translated):

22:45 How many towns have We destroyed, which were given to wrong- doing? They tumbled down on their roofs. And how many wells are lying idle and neglected, and castles lofty and well-built?

Does it mean the towns were somehow flipped over? What does it actually mean?

Actually, Allah is describing something more elaborate.

In abandoned buildings, the first thing that starts to damage is the roof because it is the most exposed part. After a while, the roof wears out and falls into the building. The walls within are now more exposed to rain and water which begins to weaken it, insect activity and the other elements contribute to this weakness of this wall as well. Eventually, it becomes so weak that when a strong wind blows, the walls fall on the already collapsed roof..

Allah describes towns that has been destroyed such that no one inhabited it for a long time, then wear and tear sets in and leads to the collapse of the walls on the roof.

Allah describes this entire process by simply telling us that 'the town was turned on its roof'. SubhanAllah, it is beautiful.

This expression is also used in surah Kahf in the story of the farmers, Allah describes the garden as falling of the trellises

And so it was: his fruit was completely destroyed, and there he was, wringing his hands over what he had invested in it, as it drooped on its trellises, and saying, ‘I wish I had not set up any partner to my Lord.’ (Surah 18:42)

The wealthy farmer had trellises on the ground with which he held the delicate plants. The farm was surrounded with date palm trees. These date palm trees provided protection for the more delicate plants from the impact of the winds, there were a security measure for the plants.

Allah is describing a situation here where the date palm trees fell on the trellises and destroyed the farm. The means of security for the farm was the way, it was destroyed.

SubhanAllah, The way Allah describes these things is just so beautiful

Figures of Speech

This would be the last post on figures of speech, It will be a short one In sha Allah.

Viii. To untie tongue

Allah relates to us, the dua of Musa (alayhi salam)in Surah Taha:

Moses said, ‘Lord, lift up my heart 2 and ease my task for me. Untie my tongue, so that they may understand my words (Surah 20: 25-28)

To untie tongue has two meanings, one is literal . Musa (alayhi salam) had a stutter, so just like the english expression to get 'tongue-tied'. He is asking Allah to prevent him from getting tongue tied because when he gets nervous or angry, the stutter gets worse and the words would not come out.

Now that is what means literally but there is another meaning. A figurative meaning. The arabic language is full of these kinds of idioms with imagery.

You see, the knot is a symbol of confusion. Imagine you were about to give a speech and you were nervous. You have arranged your points from 1-5, but because of your nervousness, you moved from point 5, to point 2, then to point 1...etc... You mixed everything up like a knot.

By asking Allah to untie his tongue, Musa is also asking that his points are coherent not confused. That he can deliver his points in the correct order and in an organized fashion. The two requests by Musa (alayhi salam) are captured by the term 'untie my tongue.

SubhanAllah.

I think you guys would love this section

The Perfect Choice of Words

There are two words used for heart in the Quran: Qalb and Fuad..

Example 1:

Allah uses the two words in the Quran for heart but in one very interesting case Allah uses both Qalb and Fuad in the same ayah.

Allah says:

Waasbaha fuad u ommi moosa farighan in kadat latubdee bihi lawla an rabatna AAala qalb iha litakoona mina almumineena (Al-Qasas (The Narration) [28:10])

In the beginning of the ayah, Allah uses fuad but he uses Qalb at the end. Both of those words were talking about the heart of Musa's mother.

Now let's see the english translation :

The next day, Moses’ mother felt her heart fluttering away––if We had not strengthened her heart to make her one of those who believe, she would have revealed everything about him (Al-Qasas (The Narration) [28:10])

In the beginning of the ayah her heart was fluttering away.. At the end, Allah gave firmness to her heart.

In the english translation you heard the word 'heart' twice but in the Arabic or the Quran , you heard two words: Fuad and Qalb.

Let's understand the difference:

The normal word for heart is Qalb, the unusual word for heart in arabic is fuad. Fuad is not used in normal circumstances, you talk usually about a person Qaib.

So what is fuad?

Fuad relates to when you are emotional overwhelmed. The imagery is that of a heart engulfed in flames. Imagine putting a piece of flesh into a fire such that the fire surrounds it. That piece of flesh would be a fuad.

It is used to describe a situation when a heart is on fire, maybe because of anger,love, fear , grief,stress, excitement, anticipation, or worry...etc. When thing overwhelm your heart, it becomes fuad.

When your heart calms down, it becomes Qalb.

Back to the story:

Musa's mother just saw her baby again, she is so excited that her heart became fuad- engulfed with the flame of excitement, Imagine the excitement when you see your child again after dropping him in the water. Only a mother can understand this, her heart became engulfed with flame such that she would have revealed everything about the baby.

At that point where a mother sees her baby in the arms of another, she could jump for joy or scream : 'my baby'. But if she does it, her and the baby are dead. It must have been difficult to control herself.

Allah said her heart was leaving her chest, she almost exposed her secret, the only thing stopping her was the intervention of Allah. So Allah gave firmness to her 'Qalb'. Only Allah could have done that to a mother.

The entire psychological transformation and Allah's intervention in her emotional state is captured between the words 'fuad' and 'qalb'.

What a tragedy we don't know this when we read in translation.

SubhanAllah.

Please read the post above first:

Example 2

Another ayah where the word 'fuad' is used:

Allah says:

Wala taqfu ma laysa laka bihi AAilmun inna alssamAAa waalbasara waal[b]fuad[/b]a kullu olaika kana AAanhu masoolan
(Al-Isra (The Journey by Night)[17:36])

Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true: ears, eyes, and heart, you will be questioned about all these. (Al-Isra (The Journey by Night)[17:36])

Allah says that He will ask questions about our seeing, hearing and our Fuad.

Imagine a man who had a tough day at work, his boss queried him, he lost a contract. He is really angry on his way home and then he gets into a traffic jam. Someone then hits his car.

He is so angry on his way home that when he gets home, he picks a fight with his wife. He goes to the mosque to cool off.

When he gets back, He apologises to his wife: "my anger got the better of me, that is not me, It is my Fuad."

Many times we commit sins when we are overwhelmed by emotions, love, anger, grief etc.. We also make excuses using those emotions.

Allah says that before Him, we will be questioned about the times when our hearts were overwhelmed by emotions and we committed sins. The excuses we use to justify our actions will no longer be there.

SubhanAllah.


Example 3:

Sometimes, we get really passionate about an Islamic cause but that passion does not last. The messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not have the luxury of losing passion, Allah tells us how the passion in his heart was sustained using the word fuad.

Allah says:

Waqala allatheena kafaroo lawla nuzzila AAalayhi alquranu jumlatan wahidatan kathalika linuthabbita bihi fuad aka warattalnahu tarteelan (Al-Furqan (The Criterion)[25:32])

The disbelievers also say, ‘Why was the Qur
an not sent down to him all at once?’ We sent it in this way to strengthen
your heart [Prophet]; We gave it to you in gradual revelation.



By using Fuad, Allah is telling us that the passion in the heart of the messenger is strengthened by the Quran. You can't get this from translations.

For us, a way to strengthen our Fuad when engaged in Islamic work is to reconnect with the Quran.

SubhanAllah.