Sunday, May 24, 2015

Commentary on the Quran: Chapter 1 Verse 3


Greetings! It’s time to continue my commentary on the Quran. If you have read my previous two posts, you would have noticed that I have started my commentary on the Quran, on the first chapter of the Quran: “The Opener”. I dedicated each post to one verse, this time, I am also dedicating this post to one verse. I finished posting my comments on verse number 2, it’s time post about the third verse. This time, I promise and I will Insha Allah keep my promise, I will make this short compared to the earlier two posts. Shall you require further commentary about the verse, go back to my Arabic post or the hundreds books out there about the commentary on the Quran. 

Chapter 1 Verse 3
الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Transliteration: “Arrahmani arraheem"
Translation: “The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful”

If you read the first post in my commentary on the Quran, you will notice I have a different perspective of God’s name: “Al Rahman” unlike most other Muslim Scholars. I have explained some of the reasons earlier in my previous post. However, it’s good to let you know how some Islamic’s scholars see the difference between the two names: “Al Rahman” and “Al Raheem”. Some Islamic scholars say that “Al Rahman” means that he is all merciful and to all in this life, but in the hereafter God is: “Al Raheem” specially merciful to those who worshiped him the way he instructed. Other Islamic scholars says: “Al Rahman” is all merciful, the Entirely Merciful while “Al Raheem” means the especially Merciful. Merciful to those he loves or pleased with. While they are widely accepted by Muslims however, I tend to not accept that. 

The reason for that I see it in this way: The two names are limited, God’s mercy shouldn’t be limited. That’s why I say, “Al Raheem” means he is Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, he is the Merciful in this life and he is the Merciful in the hereafter. His mercy reached everyone, but there are those who accepted it and there are those who rejected the mercy. While “Al Rahman” to me is a special name of God, like how “Allah” is a special name of God which can’t be translated. However, there are other meanings to this name I noticed, that “Al Rahman” is a name that is commonly used in Quran when the context requires to Show God’s great kingdom, God’s great attributes, God to be feared and respected. 

What I want to say is that God has two categories of Names, one category where all the names related to his mercy, forgiveness, beauty, love, …etc are grouped such as: “Al Raheem”, “The Source of Peace”, The Guardian, The Forgiving, The Giver of All, The Forbearing, The Loving One, …etc. And the second category where it shows God’s great powers, kingdom, greatness, names that let the heart somehow respect or fear God, such as: The Absolute Ruler, The Victorious, The Greatest, The Maker of Order, The Subduer, The Magnificent, The Highest, The Possessor of All Strength, The All Powerful, …etc the mentioned names would make anyone think twice before disobeying God, they call it in Arabic: “Sefat Al Jalal”. I would say the name that stands up above all the mentioned names is: “Al Rahman”, it’s the name that covers all the names under the second category, while the name: “Al Raheem” is the attribute that covers all the names under the first category. 

Now it’s time to start answering some questions? The first question, why “Arrahmani arraheem” was repeated twice, first in the first verse of the chapter and now here? Well to answer this question, let’s remember what I said in the first post. The first post was “Bismi Allahi arrahmani arraheem” Translation: “In the name of Allah , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.” So why in verse number 3 seems somehow repeated? Well, the first verse is a general verse that we start before reading any chapter of the Quran, we say: “Bismi Allah arrahmani arraheem” that we are going to start in the Name of Allah Al Rahman Al Raheem. We are seeking his blessing and mercy, we are reading for Allah but here in verse 3, the context is to answer the question: “Who is Allah?” so the answer came: “Arrahmani Arraheem” he is Al Rahman Al Raheem. 

The second reason is that in the first verse as mentioned can be read before any chapter, which somehow gives you the impression, that every chapter in this book is a Mercy from God. Like how the air is a form of Mercy, the stars, the water, the mountains, …etc they are signs of Allah’s infinite mercy when you really think about them. Similarly,  all chapters of the Quran are really have secrets and signs of mercy in them but only if you have this curious mind who dig deep into the meanings behind each chapter. 

The third reason is that I think because Allah started introducing himself in his book, the 2nd Verse“Alhamdu lillahi rabbi alAAalameen” Translation: All praise is due to Allah , Lord of the worlds” as I explained in previous post, God used his special name Allah then he described his position and how he is mostly known by human beings. This verse he started with his second special name: “Al Rahman” so one might ask who is Al Rahman? the immediate answer would be: “Ar Raheem” (The Entirely Merciful / The All Merciful) he answered with his most popular attribute. This is an excellent way to introduce God. In fact, even in our personal life we sometimes use the same way. Let’s assume we have so many names, we have so many positions, and we have so many attributes. I will start with my Name then I list my position and role, if the other didn’t know me yet, I will use my other Name which he may have heard of, if it didn’t get to know me, I will describe my most known attribute, if I did so at least he/she will come to know me better. 

So IF my original name is Abdulaziz and my other name is Ahmed, and my role is Strategy Management Consultant, I am tall, Kind person, I have great muscles, I am black, I am Arabian, …etc so what’s the best way to introduce me to another person or if you were talking about me, how would you let your colleague understand which guy you are referring to? You might say: “You know I am talking about AbdulAziz, the Strategy Management Consultant” if your colleague didn’t know me, you would say: “They call him Ahmed sometimes, he is the Arabian guy (If you are in community where Arabs are not there) or you might say the Black guy (if all around you are white people) you would use the most differentiated attribute to describe him. Similarly here, God first used his most popular and special name along with his mostly known position and role. The next verse he used his other special name with his most unique attribute, his mercy which cannot be compared with anyone, if all creations mercy to be grouped in one soul, it wouldn’t even be compared to God’s mercy. The Difference is far greater than the difference between drop of water compared to the sea. 

You might ask why God started with: “Ar Rahman” then “Ar Raheem” why didn’t he start this way: “Ar Raheem Ar Rahman” ? if you understood what I wrote previously you would have known the answer. The reason for that is because Al Rahman is God’s special name, cannot be translated, it’s like his other name Allah but comes after. Allah’s name covers all of Allah’s names, while Al Rahman covers all names of God except Allah so it makes sense it comes first. The second reason “Al Rahman” as I said covers all other names including the names under the category of the attributes/names that gives the meaning of great Power, Kingdom, Above All, …etc and also covers the other category of God’s names, the category that gives the meaning of Mercy, Love, …etc so that’s another reason why “Ar Rahman” before “Ar Raheem”. Because God punishes, God take souls, God created Hell, …etc all these acts requires more than being the Merciful, so if he said Al Raheem” only it will not cover everything. Since he started with: “Ar Rahman” it covers everything that exists, everything that existed, everything that will exists in the future” if you understood this you would realize you are reading an unusual book with great structure and wisdom behind it. 

Another thing, if you read the previous verse, God mentioned he is Lord of the worlds! one might ask: “What is Lord of the Worlds?” or “Why he is Lord of the Worlds? what’s the point of being: “Lord of the Worlds” the answer came in two words because he is: “Ar Rahmaan Ar Raheem” because he is God, God cannot be anything but God. And being Lord of the Worlds is nothing but God’s position, being the most merciful is no one but God, being the All-Powerful, The Owner and creator of everything is no one but God. Who can revive everything that died? who can punish those who after killing millions of human being and died, who can revive them and have judgment on them but God? who can forgive all sins but God? So God can only be God, so the answer came to a known question of Who, What, Why, How? in the name of Al Rahman.


Also this verse is a good reminder to human being reading the Quran, whenever you read you remember the two categories of Allah’s names, this would lead either to respect God, fear to disobey him because he is: “Ar Rahman” You would Love him, never lose faith or hope in him because he is “Ar Raheem”. There are so many other beautiful meanings you can get out of this verse consisting of two Arabic words only! However, I don’t want to make this longer, you can always refer to my Arabic commentary on this verse which is posted in my blog. I think I kept my promise this time, I tried my best to make this shorter than previous posts. Peace 

Monday, May 18, 2015

Commentary on the Quran: Chapter 1 Verse 2


This is the second post and another personal commentary on the Quran. To continue from the last post, I am going to post my commentary on the first chapter of the Quran: “The Opener” and this time I will focus on the second verse. Since I am being somehow lazy, I will try to make this a bit shorter than the previous post. The chapter is commonly named based on this verse, you will find many Arabian Muslims calls the first chapter of the Quran: “Surat Al Hamd” surat means chapter, Al-Hamd stands for the praise. This is usually common, some names of the chapters in the Quran are taken from the verses of that chapter, or a special story or an event…etc Anyway, the way it’s written in the copies of the Quran is: “Al Fatihah” which means “The Opener”. Anyway let’s start

Chapter 1 Verse 2
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Transliteration: “Alhamdu lillahi rabbi alAAalameen"
Translation: “All praise is due to Allah , Lord of the worlds”

I think this is an easy verse to understand, nothing hard to get. Clear, simple and utterly beautiful. Let’s turn on the engine of curiosity and start asking few questions. Why did Allah start with Praising himself? why did he select the word “Praise instead of All thanks”? Why did Allah say: “Al Hamdu” instead of “Hamdu” ? Some may think that I am being annoying by asking these questions, but believe me… the answer of such questions allows you to learn more about God’s words and feel it’s beauty. First of all ,vwhat is “Al Hamd” ? Many Muslims and Arabs use this word as an expression of giving thanks to God. You may hear them saying: “Al Hamdu Lillah I passed the exam” they use this term to express their gratitude and thanks to God for passing the exam, for getting money, for being gifted with a new born child, …etc but the word “Al Hamd” is more than thanks and gratitude, it has a greater meaning. The word: “Al Hamdu” not only it covers the thanks and gratitude part, but also means praises, praises to God. Praises for being the supreme God, praises for being the creator of the universe, of life, of mankind. What’s the different between “Al Hamd and Al Shukr”. Al Shukr means All thanks, all gratitude. While Al-Hamd all praises. We, human beings by nature, tend to thank anyone who does any good to us, if they give us money we thank them, if they help us we thank them, if they protect us, we thank them. However we, usually don’t thank those who didn’t do us any good. But we may still praise them. We say this man is a great person, a great scholar, an awesome soul, artist, smart, genius, …etc all these are different type praises but it does not necessarily mean you are grateful to them. 

Based on the above, you will understand why God said: “Al Hamdu “ instead of “Al Shukru” because Allah the God, is worthy to be praised even if he gave you something or he didn’t, he is worthy to be praised now, before and in the future. He is worthy to be praised even before creating the man.  Also, deserves to be praised after creating humanity and life. Now… why did Allah use the word: “Al Hamdu” instead of: “Hamdu” without the Al? if Allah wanted to be praised “Hamdu was enough, why did he add “Al”? in Arabic, adding the Al gives deeper meaning to the word, it means the whole thing, the whole praises, all that can be under the shadow of this world. So adding the two letters: “Al” before “Hamdu” it will cover all types of praises, this includes, all type of thanks, gratitude. So when we say: “Al Hamdu” we are declaring that all type praises, all type of thanks is for Allah. Which makes sense! Who but Allah, deserves all the praises and thanks? Allah has been always giving you blessings even though you are still in your mother’s womb, in fact, the protection you receive, the love that is born in your parent’s hearts, the food and the care you get from the doctors, …etc Don’t all this  require gratitude? Anyway, I am not going to write why we need to thank God, because it’s obvious. I just wanted you to notice the different it makes to add only two letters to a word, it gives it a greater meaning. 

Also another interesting thing what’s the importance of saying: “Al Hamdu lillahi”, because no human can gives thanks to everything God gave us. We humans sometimes feel bad if we gave someone 10 things and he only thanked us for 5 things out of the 10 we gave him, right? many of us at least expect thanks to everything we give, but God isn’t like that, why? because God is a merciful God, he knows that no matter how much humans try, even if they are given the chance to live for thousands of years, it wouldn’t be enough for them to thanks God for everything he gave them. So he accepted the least in few words: “Al Hamdu Lillahi”, it’s sad some people say God is demanding too much, if God was really demanding too much, even if we add the age of all human beings to our age it won’t be enough, because every breath we are breathing demands a gratitude, who can do this? every cell in your body requires a gratitude, every motion of electron requires gratitude if we are aware of it’s importance … yet God didn’t ask for you to thank him this way, because God is not a human being, giving him thanks wouldn’t add anything to his great kingdom, he simply gave us instruction to behave respectfully, and the instruction was very simple, very meaningful. 

Now you would understand why Arab Muslims never say: “Al Hamdu” to anyone but to God, not even the messengers of God. You will never find in Islamic scriptures and writings something like: “Al Hamdu Li Mohammed” the reason for that, because Mohammed may be praised for ten to two things to more, he can be thanked for this or that, but the one who really worths all the thanks, all the praises is only God. So if you found in the future, anyone saying: “Al Hamdu to Messenger Mohammed or to the King, or the President” immediately tell them, stop being a liar. The only reason the King, the President or even the great messenger Mohammed could give you anything worth gratitude from your side, is because of Allah. If Allah didn’t create them, could they create themselves and give you what they give you? so you can give them all sorts of thanks and praises? Think about what I said for few seconds…

Why God started his book with this? I mean all praises to God, why is that? God is telling you, whatever that exists, whatever you are going to read is all due thanks to God. It’s also a way to show respect to the great God, that before you start, you are seeking his blessings (Previous post), then you started praising him. It’s like a loving servant of a king, he is trying to deliver a message to people, what  would he say? He could say: In the name of my King, he instructed to do this and that” or he could say before giving the instruction, “In the name of my King, the one who deserves all the praises and all thanks, the one who did this or that…etc he is instructing you to… “ which one do you think will be accepted more by the people? and which one do you think is more respectful to the king? of course the second. 

Let’s ask few more questions, why did Allah say: “Al Hamdu Lillahi? All praises and thanks to Allah? Why didn't he say: “Al Hamdu LiRahman” or All thanks and praises to Al-Raheem or to All-Mighty, …etc? if you read the previous post you would understand. Well, it’s because as I said previously, the name Allah contains all the meanings of the other great names of Allah. When you say Allah you are recalling all other names such as The Lord, The God, The Merciful, The All-Knowing, The Forgiver, …etc” so instead of listing all names, One is enough. If you think about it, it’s somehow contains mercy in itself, imagine if God asked us to praise him by all his names, who can do this? no one! Also if you are poor and you suddenly find hundreds of thousands on the ground and no one was there, you might recall the attribute of God the giver, or if you were close to die in a car accident, but somehow you survived, you would recall the “Protector” attribute of God, or if you repented to God and suddenly you feel a peace of mind and heart you might recall the attribute that God is all-forgiving. So instead of thanking God by using specific name, he made it easy to all human beings by teaching them the best way to give praises and thanks to him, and that’s by simple saying all praises and thanks to Allah. which is very simple in Arabic: “Al Hamdu Lillahi”, isn’t it beautiful? It seems I am failing to make this short, I am sorry. Please bear with me, I will try to finish it soon. 

Now to the second part of the verse: 

Transliteration: Alhamdu lillahi rabbi alAAalameen"
Translation: All praise is due to Allah , Lord of the worlds”

Rabbi AlAalameen in simple terms means the God of the worlds, or the God of all that exists. Be it plants, animals, humans, angels, stars, worlds, universes, …etc. Al Rabb in Arabic does have different meanings, it means the Lord, or the who educate and raises or the guardian, and it also means the sustainer. If you go in depths to each of these meanings with the Arabic roots you would understand why God used this term specifically in this verse, I will try to avoid that because it will make this very long. 

So this name of God: “Al Rabb” covers the above three or four different meanings, and I see it equivalent to the english word God. Allah mentioned he is “Rabbi AlAalameen” after saying all praises to Allah in his words: “Al Hamdu lillahi”, have you ever thought why? Think about it, assume you are talking to someone and you started praising God, and let’s assume that other person doesn’t know what is God, and he doesn't know any special name of God such as: “Allah or Al Rahman” what’s the best way to describe him? it’s by describing his position and greatest works or acts of God. The Lord of the worlds is his position, he created the world, he raised it (Made it come into existence the way its) and raises his creation and their guardian in sense of educating through revealing or other means and finally sustain and control existence. If you think about these three things, you would realise it’s basically covers in my opinion everything God does. I am going to explain in a second.

God creates, he created the universe, planned how the world would run and executed his plan through his direct interference or indirect. He placed the mechanism out there, he created mankind, man and woman, …etc all these acts of creation is part of the God name: “Al Rabb” and it’s the first of the three main works. The second part is sustaining the world and controlling it, so if God wrote death upon someone, he sent his punishment… sent his angels to do this or that, …etc all these type of acts fall under sustaining and controlling. God answers prayers, God supports his messengers with his Powers, God gives his messengers miracles, …etc all these type of works is part of the guardian. It’s simply one word God used: “Al Rabb” but it covers all the above, and honestly dear reader, is there any better way to describe God? You describe his position, his main acts/works/…etc in less than one short verse. If God used any other name of his beautiful name, it wouldn’t give the above meaning to the verse. If he used his most known names or special names/attributes, some might not know that’s why he didn’t use Allah or AlRahman, I mean he didn’t say: “Allahu AlAalameen” or “Rahmanul AlAaalameen”. Imagine if I keep praising myself, you might say: “But who are you AbdulAziz” If I answer: “I am AbdulAziz I am Ahmed, or Mohammed, or Ali, or Omar…etc” it wouldn’t give the one asking me any information. However, if I gave them my position, my role, what I do, …etc they would say yeah now it make sense why is he praising himself or deserves praising. Try it with atheists, or Christians, Jews, Hindus, tell them All praises to Allah” not all of them understands what’s Allah, but all of them understands what is God. Similarly, if a Jew came to me and said, all praises to Yahweh I wouldn’t understand who is he referring to, but if he said God I would definitely understand. If Christians said all praises to Jesus, to me as a Muslim I know Jesus as great messenger of God, so when I hear they say this, it comes to my mind they are praising Jesus not the supreme God who created the universe. But if they said all praises to God, I would immediately understand who they are talking about. 


If you understood what I said, you would realize the above international translation of the verse is lacking somehow in the meaning of “Rabb”. They translated as Lord of the Worlds, while its ok but doesn’t indicate the deeper meaning of God’s name: “Ar Rabb” as mentioned above. Alright I promised I will try to make this short which is a promise I failed to keep. If you are interested in knowing more about this verse, I wrote 3 blog posts in Arabic and they are available in my blog. Thank you for reading and may God bless you, your family and loved ones. 

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Commentary on the Quran: Chapter 1 Verse 1


It’s been a while since I last posted anything in English, so here is a post for my Non-Arab followers. I’ve written several posts about self-development and spirituals, this time I will focus on a verse of the Quran. Best thing to read, is the words of God, best thing to write about is God, best thing to talk about is God and his words. While Arabs can easily understand the Quran and they can easily find the beautiful structure of the Quran verses and its relation to one another, it’s quite hard for Non-Arabs. 

I think one of the best ways to understand the Quran is having a curious heart, a heart that seeks understanding, a mind that’s trying to find the relation/link between two things, a heart that’s willing to learn more. As Walt Disney once said: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” Having the mentioned, you would definitely going to discover beautiful pearls and gems of the Quran, you would open new doors to understand the Quran. We have those cosmetic lenses that enables us to see stars light-years away, similarly, with pure and sincere heart boosted by curiosity, it would be able to shed light on treasures deep hidden in the Quran, if God wills, you might discover beautiful gems of the Quran verses that may not be discovered after centuries. 

Those beautiful gems would increase your faith, as you will start realising, no human being can have such hidden treasures in mere words. Don’t read the Quran to find flaws because you will be wasting your time, countless tried, countless shamefully failed. Try to make sense of what you read and start wondering. I don’t want to waste your time with introductions, let’s take example of the first chapter of the Quran. Chapter #1: “Al Fatihah/The Opener”. What I will do, I will take each verse, with its transliteration and international translation so it might be easier for non-Arabs. 

Chapter 1, Verse 1: 
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Transliteration: “Bismi Allahi arrahmani arraheem” 
Translation: “In the name of Allah , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.” 

Now there is a huge debate among Muslim scholars, that this verse is considered a verse of the first chapter, or a verse to be recited before reading any chapter of the Quran, regardless of the debate, let’s think of it. What does it mean to say: “In the name of Allah , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.” It means my friend that you are going to start reading in the name of Allah. Muslims uses “Bismi Allah” before almost any act they do, before starting work, before eating, before drinking, before talking, …etc The reason for that it means in the name of Allah I will start reading, in the name of Allah I will start writing, in the name of Allah I start do this or that. As for “Al Rahman” and “Al Raheem” they are two popular names of Allah. 

Most scholars says that: “Al Rahman” means the All-Merciful or the Entirely Merciful. While “Al-Raheem” means the All-Merciful especially merciful to his good servants. There are other definitions but most of them are close to each others. However, I have a different thought about this, in a fact a thought that almost no other Muslim might agree with me but anyway. To me “Al Rahman” it’s a special of name of Allah, similar to Allah, you cannot translate it, can you translate Allah into English? No! the Arabic and English are the same, similarly I think: “Al-Rahman” is the same, you cannot translate it in English, if you want to translate it in English you have to use: “Al-Rahman” it’s very special name of Allah. That’s why in the Quran Allah said, call Allah or Al-Rahman to him belong the most beautiful names, he mentioned these two names specifically, that’s why I think they are the two special names. 

The other reason why I think that, because Allah has a name: “Al Raheem” which is almost identical to what scholars translates Al-Rahman. Why do you limit the name of “Al-Raheem” especially merciful to Muslims or good servants? no I don’t agree with them, I think Al-Raheem means the “All-Merciful and Entirely Merciful”. While “Al-Rahman” is a special name which you cannot translate, because its not based on an attribute. Most of Allah’s names are taken from his attributes (Sefat) or based on what Allah does (Afa’al). For example Allah is the all-mighty, so you will find a name suitable for this attribute which is: “Al Azeez”, or Allah forgives his servants which is something Allah does, so you will find a name based on this called: “Al Ghafoor or Al Tawaab…etc”  but Allah is not based on his attributes or acts, it’s special name, same thing for Al-Rahman. This is in very short my opinion. 

That’s why when you ask: “Who is Allah” you start mentioning the names of Allah, you say: “He is Al-merciful, he is the Lord, he is the Almighty” those names describe Allah, but Allah don’t use “Allah for example to describe his name: “Al Raheem or Al Rahman” because it’s very special name. When you say Allah its as if you recalled all the names of Allah. But if you said: “Al Raheem” it doesn’t cover all names of Allah it covers only the merciful part. If you wanted to describe the powerful part you would use another name: “Al Qawi/ The All-Powerful” and this Al-Qawi doesn’t cover the other attributes of Allah. However, if you mentioned Allah it covers all names and attributes of Allah.

Also in my study of the Quran, I noticed that Allah uses the name: “Al Rahman” usually when the verses gives indicator about God being the supreme, the greatest and description of his great power and kingdom, description of his great powers in this world and hereafter, and when there is a connection with his creation. While “Al Raheem” it’s usually used when a forgiveness or mercy is required, or when there is a description how God helped his creation, or how beautiful is God and description of his great love. So in short, the Name Al-Raheem it covers all the other beautiful names of Allah that have a meaning of beauty, mercy, forgiveness, healing, protecting, …etc while the name: Al-Rahman covers all the beautiful names of Allah that indicates might, power, kingdom, strong, punishment, …etc while the name Allah it covers every name of Allah, it covers both side, the beautiful side and the great side, it covers what Al-Rahman covers, and it covers what Al-Raheem covers. If you understood what I am saying, you would understand why Allah started with “Allah then Al Rahman then Al Raheem” and why he didn’t start listing all his names or 10 or 20 of his names, because they cover every other name and covers everything that exists in this world. 

It also works as a great reminder to humanity, that before you start doing anything, before you read, before you say anything, before you write anything, remember the God. Remember he is Allah, remember he is “Al Rahman” the one who could remove you out of existence anytime, remember his powers, remember his greatness. If you remembered this, you would never dare to hurt any soul in this universe. Remember Al-Raheem, remember all the mercy and love of God, remember that no matter how much you sinned, no matter how many short comings and weakness you may have, you are seeking the blessing, mercy and protection of Al Raheem. If you remember this, you will start giving the poor, remembering how God gave you before you ask him, you would protect the weak like how he is protecting you, remember being merciful to your kid, husband/wife, to the patient in the hospital, …etc it’s only 3 Names you need to remember to straighten your path in this life. 

Now let’s use the engine of curiosity and let’s see what we will find out! It’s time to start asking, Why this verse at the beginning of the Quran? Why Allah used the three names: “Allah, Al-Rahman and Al-Raheem” ? Why did he use three names instead of 99 Names? part of the answer I already answered above, because Allah is the most special name of God’s names, come after the second most special name which is Al-Rahman. What about Al-Raheem? why Allah used this name? Well simply, because the most popular and the greatest attribute of God is his unlimited and infinite Mercy. Every nation in every generation, those believers knows God as the most merciful. The mercy of God covers the whole universe, it reaches everyone, it’s us who welcome this mercy or reject it. There are those who accepted it, and there are those who rejected them even though it reached them. I am not going to write about God’s mercy as I’ve already posted several posts about God’s mercy in my blog, you can always read them. Now every time you read the Quran or start doing anything, think of those three names, you are starting by remembering your God’s greatest names and greatest attribute. 

Now let’s give a second round of thinking, why at the beginning of the chapter we say: ““Bismi Allahi arrahmani arraheem” it’s as if the human being is saying: “I am reading Allah’s words, I am able to read thanks to Allah being merciful giving me the tools I need to read and understand, I am reading this for the sake of Allah” you are not reading for another God, you are not reading depending on your own power, if it wasn’t for God, you wouldn’t be able to read, you are not reading words written by human being. 

You might wonder that I said the name Allah it covers all the names of God, then why he didn’t say only: “In the name of Allah” and thats it, why he added two other names! Simply because the first name is the special name the real name of God, would you as human being understand everything if you only heard this name? Let’s assume I tell my name is Steve! so what? it doesn’t give you any other information, but if say: “My name is Steve the Great” you would get to know me bit more, if I add more information you would know even more. Now let’s assume there is someone with so many names, what we would be doing? we would select his name and his greatest attribute or other name. For example, the Arabs have more than 90 names alone for the Lion, but if they want another to understand about the animal they are talking about, they are not going to list all the lion names, they would his name and maybe the greatest attribute or nick name, such as: Lion, the King of Jungle. In this verse, is similar, Allah started with his two greatest name then he mentioned the greatest attribute, the All-Merciful, Al-Raheem. 

Do you see the importance of this verse being the first, do you see it’s beauty and the great context and relation to the coming verses? The next time you read this first verse in your prayer or simply reading the Quran remember what I said in this post, feel the beauty of this great verse. This was a summary and only few things one can understand from the first verse of the Quran, I actually wrote in Arabic four long blog posts about this verse alone, so in case you can read Arabic please refer to them as there are more details, this is almost a summary of those posts. I wrote it specifically for New Muslims or Muslims who don’t have commentary books on the Quran. 

Actually, one of my current dreams is to publish my own commentary about the Quran in Arabic, but my dream is almost unattainable in my life time. As you can see, I wrote around 3 to 4 pages only to have a summary commentary on one verse in English. My Arabic commentary on the verse was more than 15 pages. If I am not mistaken, the Quran consists of 6236 verses! multiply this number by 15! that would be around 93540 pages! If we assume the average number of pages in one book is 250 pages! Can you imagine how many books I have to write to meet my expectation? Around 375 Books! 


But let’s assume I am not trying to satisfy myself, but to help others, let’s assume I will write 3 pages for each verse, that would be 18708 pages! and again if we assume the average number of pages in a book is 250 pages, it means I would need to write 75 books! do you understand now why I said my dream is unattainable! In addition to that, I am a lazy person! Anyway Let’s hope that Allah gives me the power so at least I post some of my commentary on other verses like this even if it’s only in my blog. At least it’s better than nothing.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

لا تتعجلوا و اتركوا الغلو



السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته… أكتب هذه المشاركة لكي أذكّر الشباب و طلاب العلم الذين يتأثرون بدعاة الحداثة و يغلون فيهم أن لا يتعجلوا و لا يغلوا فيهم. كما أن بعض طلاب العلم يغلون في مشايخ أهل السنة أو علماء السلف، فكذلك اليوم نجد بعض طلاب العلم و الشباب يغلون في المفكرين و الفلاسفة و أصحاب الخطاب التنويري، و كل منهما مخطئ في غلوه. وفي هذه المشاركة أنقل لكم مثالا على أهمية عدم الغلو و التعجل و تقليد الآخرين. الدكتو عدنان إبراهيم، مفكر أحبه حقا لوجه الله و أحب كثيرا من أطروحاته الفكرية الجميلة، لكني في الحقيقة أخذت بنصيحة الوالد أن أحذر من تحقيقاته في علم الحديث. و السبب في ذلك أن الدكتور قد تأخذه الحماسة فيتعجل فيصدر منه ربما بغير عمد أخطاء، و هذه الأخطاء قد تكون شنيعة. وللأسف هناك عدد ليس بقليل من المسلمين يغلون في الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم و كأن كل ما يقوله صحيح أو كل توجهاته الفكرية صحيحة، صحيح أنهم لا يدّعون ذلك و لكن أفعال البعض منهم تثبت هذا الإعتقاد الخفي والله أعلم بالسرائر. إليكم المقطع الذي يبين فيه الأستاذ الباحث أبو عمر خطأ شنيع جدا للدكتور عدنان إبراهيم: 


لو أن الدكتور الفاضل عدنان إبراهيم ذكر عن أحد من علماء الحديث أخطأ مثل هذا الخطأ لعل الشباب و طلاب العلم الذين تأثروا بالدكتور عدنان إبراهيم مقتوا المحدث و استحقروه و سبّوه و وصفوه بأشنع الصفات ولم تقبل له شهادة. ولكن بما أن الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم أخطأ هذا الخطأ الفادح فإنهم سينكرون عليك بإظهار هذا الخطأ وذلك بأن هذا الخطأ لا يساوي شيئا عن بحر حسنات الدكتور (وهي بالفعل كثيرة). و لقالوا كل إنسان يخطئ، لكنهم للأسف لا يلتمسون هذه الأعذار للمحدث! هذا ما أسميه عدم الإنصاف و العدل أو كما يسمى باللغة الإنجليزية Double Standards

أتمنى حقيقة أن يرد الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم على ملاحظات الأستاذ أبو عمر الباحث، فإنه رد عليه ردا علميا. لن أتهم الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم في نيته وجل من لا يسهو. كم من المحدثين اسقطت شهاداتهم بسبب غلطة أو كذبة ونحن لا ندري هل تعمدوا الكذب أم لا، فلو طبقنا على الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم نفس المعايير التي نطبقها على المحدثين فيتطلب ذلك عدم قبول الأخبار منه وعدم الثقة بالعلم الذي ينقله، أليس كذلك؟ في الحقيقة استمعت إلى الكثير من خطب و محاضرات الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم فأجده أحيانا يتعجل و “يتحمّس” فربما يتفوه بكلمات لم يلق لها بالا. 


لم أكن لأكتب هذه المشاركة لكني أرى هذا من الظلم، فأنا أحيانا أستشهد بكلام الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم عندما يكتشف خطأً عند غيره، فليس من العدل أن أخفي خطأ الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم و يتوهم الناس بخطأ البخاري الذي لم يخطئ فيه (والبخاري كغيره يخطئ) فأنا لن أفعل كما يفعله البعض يدافعون عن عدنان إبراهيم و ينصرونه و لو كان مخطئا وحتى لو كان على حساب مسلم آخر. فكما أن الدكتور أخي فكذلك البخاري و الإمام أبو حنيفة إخوة، فكما أني أحرص أن أنفي الكذب الذي ينشره البعض ضد عدنان إبراهيم لأنه أخي فكذلك ينبغي أن أفعل مع هؤلاء خاصة أن هذه المواضيع من اهتماماتي. هذا والله أعلم و أسأل الله أن يوفقني و إياكم و يوفق أخي الأستاذ الباحث أبو عمر و جزاه الله خيرا على بيان الحقيقة و أسأل الله أن يوفق أخي الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم و يجزيه خيرا على ما يقدمه من علم للمسلمين.